Rob Portman: “I rise today to offer my support to the underlying legislation we are considering on the floor today. This is the most…”

“I rise today to offer my support to the underlying legislation we are considering on the floor today. This is the most significant antitrafficking legislation to come before the Senate in over a decade. As I said earlier when I offered a couple of amendments, I am very pleased to be in this body on a nonpartisan basis, not just a bipartisan basis, to be able to address this issue, and I would like to thank the Senators who have worked hard in their committees to make that possible. I thank Senators Cornyn and Klobuchar for their work. I see Senator Wyden is here, Senator Leahy is here, Senator Grassley is here, and others who have been involved with this. They and their staffs are to be commended. It has been a good process. It is an issue a lot of us care about. Why? Because it is one that affects our States and our constituents in very significant ways. Last year I cofounded and I now cochair the Caucus on Human Trafficking with Senator Blumenthal, and we have had a number of good meetings and conferences here on the Hill bringing experts together and raising awareness of this issue. Unfortunately, this horrible crime affects every single part of our country. In Ohio this came to my attention initially because in parts of Ohio, along the I-75 corridor, particularly in Toledo, there were higher incidences of prosecutions of human trafficking. A school group actually brought this to my attention several years ago.…”