18. Huge bipartisan support over in the house. Passed unanimously through the Judiciary Committee and will be one of the amendments to this bill. I just want to, again thank senator murray for her leadership. Weve been a team on this and weve been able to work with senator cornyn and our friends across the aisle to get this done, and i will end by saying it is also time to confirm the next attorney general of the United States, loretta lynch. Thank you, i yield the floor. I came to the floor to talk about the work of the senate and particularly the justice for victims of trafficking act, but i would say to my colleague and friend who ive worked with on so many important issues that i also look toward to once we get past todays business that we look forward to working together with you on patent reform criminal Justice Reform also to continue our i think, very Productive Partnership on open government and transparency particularly the freedom of information act legislation. Mr. President before i talk about the justice of victims of trafficking act, i have to note its my responsibility, my duty, my honor to note that todays a very important day in texas. This is the san ya seen toe day, and for those who dont know what that is, this is the official state holiday that honors texas independence where 910 soldiers led by general sam houston won the decisive battle of the texas revolution. So its not the battle of the alamo that gave texas its independence, thats the one that people perhaps remember the most. Maybe its because of the movies and the books that have been written about that. Actually the battle of the alamo didnt turn out too well. Virtually everybody was killed. But it gave rise to the opportunity for these 910 men led by general sam houston on san jacinto day to win the decisive battle of the texas revolution. And now almost 180 years later, i think its only appropriate and fitting that we recognize the bravery and their sacrifices on in pursuit of our dream of freedom. But on the subject of the justice for victims of trafficking act, this has been a strange experience, starting as we did on something that passed unanimously in the Judiciary Committee. 30 cosponsors on a bipartisan basis, and all of a sudden to have this legislation stuck here in the United States senate. And i wont relitigate the reasons for that because frankly, i think we have now found a way forward for this legislation. As the majority leader, senator mcconnell, and the democratic leader, senator reid, announced in this morning. Its going to take a little bit more work by this senate. There are perhaps a handful of amendments that well have an opportunity to vote on. Although i know it is the desire by everyone is for us to finish this trafficking bill as soon as we can and then we can address the concerns that the Ranking Member from vermont senator leahy, has about the nomination of the attorney general. Senator mcconnell has made very clear that once we get trafficking resolved, which ate ate it appears were on a path to doing then we can turn to the lynch nomination. Ive actually been somewhat surprised and more optimistic than ive been in a long time about how the senate is beginning to Work Together from passing a budget to dealing with the broken doc fix that had been the law of the land since is the 97 since 1997 which required us to come back and patch every six month toss a year. And the reforms that actually were negotiated by Speaker Boehner and leader pelosi in the house which we passed by an overwhelming margin here in the senate. And then if you consider our what happened in the Foreign Relations committee on the iran sanctions issue a unanimous vote the health education, labor committee, senator alexander, senator murray announcing a an agreement to move forward on the reauthorization of Early Childhood education. We have some very Good Progress thats being made and, for example, on trade i just came from the the Senate Finance committee i think there is a path forward on trade Promotion Authority and consideration of the transpacific partnership. The is that the United States the truth is that the United States has roughly 20 of the worlds purchasing power which means 80 of the purchasing power in the world lies beyond our borders. We have 5 of the worlds population meaning 95 of the worlds population lies beyond our borders. And the opportunities we have to grow our economy and help small and mediumsized businesses and the people, the middle class families that work at those businesses is very exciting. So the point is i think we after a long period of dysfunction in the United States, we are starting to see the United States senate work again the way it should work, the way it has historically worked through the committees to build consensus on legislation that can then come to the floor, to have senators whether they be in the majority or the minority to offer constructive suggestions about how to solve our nations Biggest Challenges and then to Work Together to send these to the president and get his signature. So there is a lot of positive things happening in the United States senate. And i hope for even more positive things to occur in the near future. But i have been focused like a laser for some time now on justice for the victims of Human Trafficking. When i think for a minute about the fact that the typical victim of Human Trafficking is a 12 to 13yearold girl whos been sold essentially, into sex slavery and who has lost control over her life and perhaps to their mind, to her mind her future, i cant think of a more compelling need for the United States senate than to try to offer a lifeline to these victims of Human Trafficking. And thats what this legislation that, hopefully we will act on today, perhaps no later than tomorrow is designed to do. It creates a fund that could be as high as 30 million not from taxes, but from fines and penalties paid by people who commit sexual offenses and basically represent the demand side of the Human Trafficking equation. And we have found a way now on a bipartisan basis to move this legislation forward so we can offer a hand to rescue these victims of Human Trafficking. We can give them an opportunity to heal, and we can provide them some hope for a better future. You know, i know all of us by virtue of our, the privilege of office that we serve in have heard stories from constituents about Human Trafficking. And i remember quite clearly Brooke Axtell of austin texas, who now works with a number of nonprofits and has basically turned her tragic story into serving others who have likewise become victims of Human Trafficking. Brookes story is really almost beyond belief. She says at age 7 she was sexually abused. She was literally held captive in a basement and sold to men who would pay money to have sex with her a 7yearold child. Brooke has brought to light her pain and has begun to heal as a result of having been rescued and been given a helping hand but she has now turned her tragic story into hope by helping others find a way out of a life she herself experienced. She found a group called survive healing and empowerment which is a Healing Community of survivors of rape abuse and sex trafficking. Another horrific story that ive heard, im sure just like all members of the senate have heard coming from their states because this is not something isolated in one state, this is national indeed its an international phenomenon, but another woman ive had the privilege of meeting with and who shared her story with me was melissa wood worth from the Dallas Fort Worth area. Melissa was 12 years old when she was told into the sold into the sex trade by a family member. Unbelievable. Eventually, she was pulled out of school to be trafficked full time when she was in the sixth grade. Her life, as she describes it became a prison. She was literally chained to a bed in a warehouse she says and ebb doored regular beatings endured regular beatings and obviously, sexual assaults. She was even once there was even once an attempt to set her on fire by one of her abusers. And all the while she says she was forced to serve between 530 men every day. She said she wished she was dead as heartbreaking as melissas story is, just as sad is the way she was treated after she escaped her captors. One of the big changes weve made, at one point we claimed victims were the criminal because they had engaged in prostitution. But the idea of a child prostitute is an oxymoron. A child cannot consent to a life of prostitution. And what we find in looking at the victims of Human Trafficking is many of them are minuted and coerced manipulated and coerced and forced to engage in this sex activity for the economic benefit of their johns or their pitches or their traffickers pimps or their pacifickers. This is all about money. This is about the face of evil that treats human beings as an object a thing without the basis dignity that and respect which all human beings are entitled to. But as ive said, one of the problems with the way we used to treat victims of Human Trafficking is we treated them like the criminal. And that was all too common an outcome for trafficking victims who were left with very few options but to ultimately return to a nightmare that, sadly, exists in our country. That is gunning to change. It needs to change even more which is another reason why we need to pass this bill. This is the kind of legislation that i think in many ways is unique, because it is a nonpartisan piece of legislation. All this legislation is desouped to do is to help victims of Human Trafficking get rescued and then begin to heal and get on with their lives. Its designed to provide muchneeded resources for victims of Human Trafficking plain and simple. Out may be nothing more than a safe place to sleep protected from the people who would continue to abuse them. And its designed to help people like Brooke Melissa and so many others, the tens of thousands of victims of Human Trafficking. This legislation would not only provide health for those victims, but would insure that children like melissa are treated like victims and not criminals. It would also add Law Enforcement tools to help authorities rescue victims and to take down human traffickers and the organized criminal networks who support them. Thats an important point because Human Trafficking is not a mom and pop business. This is run by organized crime and criminal networks, some of them international or transnational. So, mr. President , i want to thank my colleagues for caring for caring about people like melissa and brooke and the many examples of Human Trafficking that weve all been introduced to. And i want to particularly express my gratitude to all of our colleagues for working on this and not giving up until we found b a pathway found a pathway towards success. This bodys consideration of this bill has proven that compromise and bipartisanship need not be relics of the past in todays washington, but they are very much alive and well, particularly when the need is so very great as it is in this area. So now for the sake of these victims, lets get this important legislation passed and provide crucial help for the children trapped in modern day slavery. I want to just conclude, mr. President , by saying a few thank yous. I know its a little premature but we would not have gotten this far if it werent for the help of organizations like rights for girls shared hope international, coalition against trafficking women, the end child prostitution and Trafficking Organization the National Association to protect children and members of our staff here in the United States senate who have worked so hard to get us where we are today. I want to express my gratitude to senator klobuchar, senator murray understand some of the people who are going to be reserving time are not yet here, and i want to remind my my colleagues on the floor that we have a piece of legislation thats coming up that no one is really plugged into right now but its going to be coming before us in a very short period of time. Back in 2011, i introduced a bill and passed a bill. Its called the pilots bill of rights. It was something that was very meaningful to a relatively small number of people, but these are singleissue people. It strove to correct a problem in our Justice System that that existed for as long as i can remember. Having been an active commercial pilot for the last over 50 years and there arent too many in the United States senate, in our delegation in oklahoma, i was the only one up until a couple of years ago so its only natural that i receive comments from a lot of people concerning problems they had with the f. A. A. There are a lot of great people in the f. A. A. , and a lot of them that i have worked with for many many years but there are also some and this is true with any regulatory body, anyone who has the authority over individuals. I remember, mr. President back many years ago when i was the mayor of tulsa we had a great police force but all it takes is two or three of them to be bad guys. Were seeing that around today. That gives a Bad Reputation to the lot of them. The same is true with some of the people who are working with the f. A. A. I can remember helping others and i always did come to their aid when they felt they werent getting the proper justice but it really didnt register with me until it actually happened to me and here back about three years ago flying an airplane into a a texas airfield that was not a controlled field there was activity going on on the runway, without any notice had been advised and without anybody actually knowing this, and with permission i landed on that runway. This is a runway in far south texas. Its a 9,000feet runway. They were working on 9,000 feet of it, so it was very easy to come in. That because of certain individuals who had some other reasons to be critical of me, all kinds of things happened as a result of that. In fact, just recently, they have even had some cartoons talking about how i landed on a runway and were chasing people off the runway. None of that was true. But this is what happened. They proposed to have a violation against me, and i was totally helpless, knowing as many other hundreds of others have had this experience i never had, of knowing i could lose my license on the whims of one individual in the field. Now, it wouldnt have been as critical to me. Thats not how i make my living. But look at some people who do do make their living that way. They would just because of one individual who didnt like bob hoover is a good example. Bob hoover is i guess in his 90s now arguably was the most gifted pilot that i could ever remember. He was the one who i say to the chair, he would put a glass of water up on his dash and do a barrel roll and not spill the water. I have been with him when that happened. Well one guy in the field didnt like him for some reason, and they they staged a violation, and he could have and did lose his license. Now, i had to come to this body, and it took a year and a half to pass a bill, to allow bob hoover to get back in. Well thats an extreme example but nonetheless that happened, and thats what was happening to me. So anyway, we passed the pilots bill of rights, and the main thing there we were trying to do is extend two pilots the same protections under the law that other people have. Weve heard the phrase many times youre guilty until proven innocent. Well in one area in our society, that is true and has historically been true, and that is for violations or alleged violations against pilots. So anyway, we passed this, we corrected some things that the that havent really come to fruition. For example a note on this noteat is something that is supposed to be published by the f. A. A. If there is anything going on in an airport such as construction on a runway that create a hazard so the pilots then have to look up the notems. The problem is there is no guidelines where they can find a notice to airmen. So we corrected this we thought in the pilot bill of rights. However, it wasnt as good of a correction as we thought it should be. So we now are coming back with the pilots bill of rights to and by the way, i have to tell you, mr. President i had 67 cosponsors out of 100 United States senators, so this is something that was very popular and passed with overwhelming majorities. So what were doing now with pilots bill of rights is about four things. First, the medical certification process is one that is kind of interesting because theres no uniformity. Someone could have a physical problem, a medical problem. He might be in Chicago Illinois or he might be in tampa, florida and hell have a completely different interpretation by the medical examiner as to what should be the remedy of that persons problem. So this puts the uniformity back in there and then it does something, and this is going to be something that people who dont understand and are not listening to me right now might might state that this would be someth