So committee will come to order. Without objection recess at any time. We will begin the subcommittee hearing with the gentleman from california. The pledge of allegiance. Thank you. We welcome everyone to todays hearing on the exploitation of children in United States and abroad. I now recognize myself for an opening statement. I am grateful all of you are here today both the witnesses the member of the committee and then also the audience. We appreciate you being here. I wish we did not have to hold a hearing on this topic. That would mean children in our country and abroad are safe from exploitation. Unfortunately that is not the case. It is a fact our children are not safe online. And it is unacceptable. Predators use the internet to trick and exploit innocent children. Children are trafficked. Through social media apps. This is the worst type of evil. To our strong survivor leaders in the room and watching from afar we see you, we hear you and your Voice Matters and we appreciate
Im sorry were a few minutes late in the beginning. We did have a vote in the floor and in the middle of it a colloquy concerning our schedule. This time i recognize myself for five minutes for an Opening Statement. Good afternoon and a warm welcome to each of our witnesses who are going to join us today. We are here on what has turned out to be an oabsolute lee gorgeous day in washington d. C. But were here to talk about an ugly, sorted subject. And that is online sex trafficking. Or its the name of as the organization describeds it more bluntly, slavery. As the stings continue to proliferate, those that thought slavery was something that could never happen in 2017 america have had to confront the terrifying reality that not only is it happening, its on the rise and in large part because the internet, the technological master piece of our time has made it much easier to do. And both the house and the senate this year were facing up to the challenge with a long over due conversation dri
Im sorry were a few minutes late in the beginning. We did have a vote in the floor and in the middle of it a colloquy concerning our schedule. This time i recognize myself for five minutes for an Opening Statement. Good afternoon and a warm welcome to each of our witnesses who are going to join us today. We are here on what has turned out to be an oabsolute lee gorgeous day in washington d. C. But were here to talk about an ugly, sorted subject. And that is online sex trafficking. Or its the name of as the organization describeds it more bluntly, slavery. As the stings continue to proliferate, those that thought slavery was something that could never happen in 2017 america have had to confront the terrifying reality that not only is it happening, its on the rise and in large part because the internet, the technological master piece of our time has made it much easier to do. And both the house and the senate this year were facing up to the challenge with a long over due conversation dri
We will now come to order. Im sorry that we are a few minutes late, but we have this thing that we have to do around here called votes. We had a vote on the floor and in the middle of it a colloquy. I recognize myself for five minutes for an Opening Statement. We are here on what has turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous dc. In washington we are here to talk about a very , sordid subject, and that is online sex trafficking. Or its the name of, as the organization describes it more bluntly, slavery. As the stings continue to proliferate, those that thought slavery was something that could never happen in 2017 america have had to confront the terrifying reality that not only is it happening, its on the rise and in large part because the internet, the technological masterpiece of our time, has made it much easier to do. In both the house and the senate this year we are facing up to the challenge with a long overdue conversation driving towards effective action. With this hearing, its my
Floor and in the middle of it a colloquy concerning our schedule. At this time i recognize myself for five minutes for an Opening Statement. Good afternoon and a warm welcome to all of our witnesses. We are here and white house turned out to be an absolute gorgeous day in washington, d. C. , but we are here to talk about a very ugly subject, and that is online sex trafficking, or as the name of ms. Smiths organization describes it more bluntly, slavery. As the stings and the headlines continue to proliferate, those who thought that slavery was something that could never happen in 2017 america, have had to confront the terrifying reality that not only is it happening, it is on the rise. And it is on the rise in large part because the internet, the technological masterpiece of our time, has made it much, much easier to do. In both the house and the senate this year, we are facing up to the challenge with a long overdue conversation driving toward effective action. With this hearing, it i