Patrick Leahy

As a parent and a grandparent, when I look at the ages of some of these people and the vulnerability of them, and even the adults, the fact that they are so totally vulnerable, they are treated as chattel, not as human beings, in 2011--I…

As a country that has been a beacon of hope to so many who face human rights abuses abroad, the United States has to address this continuing injustice around the world but also here, too.

And it was happening with no prosecutions before.

Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery. You cannot call it anything else.

I look at the District of Columbia, which has the same population as my State of Vermont, and I remember a year or so ago reading in the paper that they had as many murders over a weekend as we had in a year in Vermont.

So what you have is a case where they will use these children, try to bring people down to these resort areas, enslaving the children for that.

I am proud that my own State of Vermont recently passed a comprehensive anti-trafficking law that includes criminal penalties, prevention programs, and services for human trafficking victims.

Traffickers prey on the most vulnerable members of society, and no country is immune.

The bipartisan support for this bill in the Senate reflects the widespread focus on combating human trafficking in diverse communities across the country.

My colleague is correct in his reasoning and his understanding of what is intended by section 5. The methods used by Edison in producing multiple failures for electric light bulbs were no less commercial uses before the ultimate production…

I thank my colleague for the question. His understanding is correct. So long as the prior use begins more than 1 year prior to the effective filing date of a subsequent patent or publication by a later inventor, the initiation of…

Yes. My colleague and I are in agreement that it is our intention, as the sponsors of this comprehensive measure, that the prior use right set forth in section 5 of H.R. 1249 shall vest when innovative technology is first put into…

I will say to my good friend that he is not the first to raise this issue with me and the other Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees who have worked on this bill. I have discussed section 5 at length with the distinguished…

My colleague and friend from Missouri is correct Prior user rights, if properly crafted and asserted, can be of great benefit to keeping high-paying jobs here at home.

Reserving the right to object, the Senator from Oklahoma knows that the basic thing he is trying to do is something I had supported. As he knows, I put it in the managers' package. He also is aware that my belief is--obviously we…

I will speak later about the comments made by the distinguished Senator from Alabama. He has been very helpful in getting this patent bill through. He is correct that this amendment he speaks to is one added in the other body, not by us…

I know the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I know them. I trust Senator Inouye, someone awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery and valor in World War II. I trust the senior Senator from Mississippi and the…

I have outlined where we stand in comparison to the progress we made when the Senate moved to confirm 205 Federal circuit and district judges during President Bush's first term. Three years into President Obama's administration, we have…

The church should be thy priest's keeper in terms of civil liability.

Well, thank you. And, incidentally, Mr. Baker, I think the House of Representatives would find it very difficult to accept the mandatory minimum, and certainly I do not intend to include it in the bill that I will put forward.

Protecting American consumers and businesses from cyber crime and other threats in cyber space has been a priority of this Committee for many years--I might say a bipartisan priority--and we continue that tradition today.

I think we can always use more resources.

You know what I am saying. In the normal criminal code, you could have some kid who takes a car joyriding and leaves it.

I would note that we have been working with Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Grassley, and their staffs on a common solution to address this issue.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.