Sean Patrick Maloney: “I thank Ranking Member Lantos for yielding me this time, and really thank him for his consistent voice and work for…”

“I thank Ranking Member Lantos for yielding me this time, and really thank him for his consistent voice and work for human rights across the globe and for his particular focus on moving this legislation forward as well as Chairman Smith. And to my dear friend and colleague Deborah Pryce, with whom I worked on the End Demand for Sex Trafficking Act, which has been incorporated in this bill, I thank her for her tenacious, determined persistence in working towards bringing this to the floor. I thank you deeply. This bill seeks to reduce the demand for sex trafficking by providing critical funding to law enforcement to prosecute the demand side, the purchasers of commercial sex acts, sex traffickers and exploiters. Sex trafficking in people is modern-day slavery, and human trafficking is the slavery of the 21st century. I had no idea what a huge, huge problem it is: Over 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, mostly women and children, and potentially many more are trafficked within our own borders. This is a $10 billion worldwide industry and the second largest organized crime ring in history. On the committee on which my colleague Deborah and I serve, she serves as the chair and I as the ranking member, the Domestic and International Monetary Policy Subcommittee, we had a series of hearings earlier this year on tracing and trying to track the flow of funds that are derived from trafficking.…”