Political Quotes

“I thank the vice ranking member for yielding. And I thank my friend and colleague from California for his leadership and support on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the FIND Trafficking Act. The fight against online sex trafficking has been one of the most important endeavors since I first came to Congress. I have worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to update our Nation's laws to effectively combat contemporary methods used to exploit our Nation's women and children. The fact of the matter is that sex trafficking has moved from the streets to the internet. Traffickers advertise, buy, and sell women and children, using online marketplaces with impunity. Last April, my Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, or FOSTA, became law, and many websites engaged in sex trafficking shut down to avoid liability for their crimes. This was a tremendous step forward, but our job is not finished. The reality is that sex and drug trafficking are extremely profitable, and there are still websites that are knowingly facilitating criminal activity. Traffickers are increasingly using the anonymity of virtual currencies, like bitcoin and others, to finance their networks of exploitation, both online and off-line. These criminals use virtual currencies to avoid detection and prosecution, a practice that creates an unprecedented challenge for financial regulators and law enforcement.…”