On the recordDecember 13, 2012
as the end of this Congress quickly approaches, I urge the Senate--Republicans, Democrats, and Independents--to come together and pass our bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. More than a century after the Emancipation Proclamation and despite the fact that slavery is now illegal everywhere in the world, modern- day slavery, or human trafficking, still occurs throughout the world-- including in the United States of America. The Polaris Project estimates that there are more than 27 million victims of human trafficking worldwide today. To put that in perspective, that is more people than the population of Texas. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act is a bipartisan bill that was carefully crafted with the input of victims and service providers to reflect critical improvements to existing law. I have worked hard to try to address concerns expressed by Republican Senators and to ensure bipartisan support for this legislation, which Congress has reauthorized three times before. The result is that our current bill, which was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee more than a year ago, now has 54 cosponsors--including 14 Republicans. This bipartisan legislation seeks to stop human trafficking at its roots by supporting international and domestic efforts to fight against the causes and punish the perpetrators of trafficking. It also provides critical resources to help support victims as they rebuild their lives.…
