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. Presiden
Committee will come to order. Welcome to todays commerce, justice, and science subcommittee hearing examining the department of justices disco year 2016 budget request fiscal year. Let me welcome Loretta Lynch to her first hearing before this subcommittee as she assumes the important spots ability of serving as our nations chief Law Enforcement officer. Welcome. As you begin your twoyear term as attorney general, i believe it is critical for you to return the office of attorney general to its constitutional purpose which is to enforce the laws of the land, not the degrees and winds of the president. The president has a white House Counsel and pretty plenty of attorneys arguing for his point of view on immigration environmental regulations and more. The attorney general, i believe, is the servant of the loss and citizens of the United States, not the president. I want to encourage you, madam attorney general, to consider this perspective carefully as you begin your service in a job that
The resources may be there and available for the cities, that smaller communities, we are losing it young people. It can be so significant to the health and morale and safety. I would ask that you work with us. I have other questions i would like submitted for the record. Most specifically with the codification of the brady obligation and statute. I would like further followup on that. Senator last year, we had the victims of child abuse act we reauthorized both programs. Childrens Advocacy Centers funded do interviews. They are respectful of the delicate needs of childhood victims of abuse. I was disappointed to see the budget only ask for half of the money to keep these programs. Is been your experience with childrens advocacy programs . Loretta lynch senator, my experience has been based primarily with my experience as a u. S. Attorney. We found the childrens Advocacy Centers to be extremely powerful. It has been in dealing with children who may be related to victims of human traffi
And girls that emphasizes how pressing and pervasive this problem is on our campuses. I am attending an initiative in connecticut to try to raise awareness about it and i would like your commitment that you will work with me and others on this committee on this issue. I look forward to working with you on that important issue in the statistics are alarming. 20 of all young women are either assaulted or an attempt of an Sexual Assault. Usually this happens and there freshmen are early part of their sophomore years. We have used those statistics in the work of the task force of the president has put together to deal with that issue and we look forward to working with you and other members of congress and trying to come up with meaningful ways that we can deal with an issue that has too often been if not ignored not given the attention it deserves. Just so no one thinks that this issue nearly involves rhetoric. There is a legal basis for legal action and federal title ix in protecting wom
Let me just say on the issue of trafficking i welcome your comments on that score. I have proposed a resolution, bipartisan resolution with my colleague rob portman who is not a member of this committee basically saying that there should be more vigorous enforcement of these laws particularly around the time of the super bowl because the trafficking on web sites like back page. Com and tends to increase during this time so i welcome your comments. And let me just add briefly, to take senator leahys comments, i want to thank you and the department of justice for really over these past years viewing these legal issues on their merits, on their legal merits putting politics aside. The Justice Department went through a dark area in my view under the Previous Administration when politics far too often became part of the analysis and i want to thank the career, Justice Department employees who worked so hard and long under you to make sure that the rule of law is berserk. Let me turn to a pa