Wagner Praises New Round of Legislation to Combat Sex Trafficking

Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Ann Wagner released the following statement after the United States House of Representatives passed a series of bills that will prioritize the problem of human trafficking in federal agencies, authorize additional training for law enforcement to spot the signs of sex trafficking, and provide resources to child protective services to identify and assist those in its care who may have been trafficked and exploited:

"Today the United States House of Representatives took another step to end the scourge of sex slavery," said Rep. Ann Wagner. "The House passed, in strong bipartisan, a series of bills that will protect innocent victims from being exploited and trafficked. I would like to thank my colleagues who have joined my efforts in stopping the horrors of sex trafficking. But our work doesn't end here; it starts with Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid."

"It has been over three months since the House passed legislation I authored, the SAVE Act, in overwhelming bipartisan fashion. When it comes to protecting the most vulnerable members of our society, political affiliation is blind to helping our daughters and granddaughters, our friends and neighbors, from the evils of sex trafficking. That's why I am, once again, calling on Harry Reid to take up these bills to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. Together we can ensure that the sexual exploitation and enslavement of these victims be shut down once and for all, but not if Harry Reid continues to obstruct the voices of these innocent angels."

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To watch Congresswoman Ann Wagner's floor speech on these bills to combat sex trafficking, please click on the image below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UM1GWBEyhs

To learn more about the SAVE Act, please click here.

Here is a summary of the bills the United States House of Representatives passed this week.

Human Trafficking Legislation for Week of July 22-25, 2014.
1. H.R. 2283- Smith (R-NJ): Human Trafficking Prioritization Act- elevates the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the State Department to Bureau level.
2. H.R. 3905- Beatty (D- CA): To improve the response to missing children and victims of child sex trafficking- requires grant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to be used (among other things) to operate a cyber tipline to provide online users and electronic service providers an effective means of reporting Internet-related child sexual exploitation in the area of child sex trafficking (currently, child prostitution).
3. H.R. 4449- S. Maloney (D-NY): Human Trafficking Prevention Act- Amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to require training for federal government personnel related to trafficking in persons
4. H.R. 4980- Camp (R-MI): Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act- This bipartisan legislation includes numerous provisions that will encourage states to reduce the incidence of sex trafficking among youth in foster care, empower and promote normalcy for foster youth, quickly move more children from foster care into adoptive homes or the homes of relatives, and increase the amount of child support provided to families in which one parent is outside of the U.S.
5. H.R. 5076- Heck (R-NV): To amend the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act to increase knowledge concerning, and improve services for, runaway and homeless youth who are victims of trafficking: Amends the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA) to increase knowledge concerning, and improve service for, runaway and homeless youth who are victims of victims of trafficking.
6. H.R. 5116- Meadows (R-NC): Human Trafficking Detection Act of 2014: direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to train Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel on how to effectively deter, detect, disrupt, and prevent human trafficking.
7. H.R. 5135- Noem (R-SD): Human Trafficking Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Act: requires the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking (PITF) established under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to identify best practices and strategies to prevent human trafficking and review federal efforts to combat trafficking and better protect and recover trafficking victims.