December 21, 2018

Today, the House of Representatives voted on final passage of S. 1862, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2017, and H.R. 2200, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization. These two bills reauthorize key funding for international anti-trafficking programs and strengthen the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

Humanity United Action strongly applauds the determination and leadership of Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Representative Karen Bass (D-CA) for their tireless efforts to ensure these very important bills were passed into law. The commitment they showed during this long process to working in a bipartisan and constructive manner on behalf of trafficking victims is truly exemplary.

With the passage of S. 1862 and H.R. 2200 and the passage earlier this week of S. 1311 and S. 1312, Congress has now fully reauthorized, with overwhelming bipartisan support, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) through FY 2021. In addition to reauthorizing anti-trafficking funding and programs across the federal government and strengthening the TIP Report, these four bills increase focus on the need for prevention, expand services for trafficking survivors, provide training and support for federal law enforcements, and uphold the U.S. government’s commitment to eliminating recruitment fees which are used to make workers vulnerable to trafficking.

The work of Senators Corker and Menendez, Representatives Smith and Bass, and the authors of S. 1311 and S. 1312—Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)—on this reauthorization was extraordinary. These eight members are true champions and Humanity United Action is grateful for their refusal to give up on these bills and for their commitment to a full and complete TVPA reauthorization.