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
Important challenge we have got in our lifetimes. It is always going to be the most important challenge. If we do not get this right, we have got nothing. It is education and it is climate. I have [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2024] we will break away at this pointer for live coverage of the u. S. House. Lawmakers are considering a handful of bills today, including one that doubles u. S. Customs area of operation in coastal waters. Live coverage of the u. S. House is here on cspan. The clerk h. R. 53433, a bill to amend the Small Business investment act of 1958, to exclude from the limit on leverage certain amounts invested in Smaller Enterprises located in rural or lowincome areas and Small Businesses and Critical Technology areas and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuan t to the rule, the gentleman from texas, mr
Mr. Hatch mr. President . The presiding officer president pro tempore, the senator from utah. Mr. Hatch the senate is not in a quorum, right . The presiding officer the senate is not in a quorum call, senator. Mr. Hatch mr. President , i represent a generation of lawmakers brought up on the principles of bipartisanship and compromise. And i believe that these very virtues of the key to my success as a legislator. By putting these principles in practice as chairman of the finance committee, i was able to pass more than 40 bills sent to law during the last congress. And by working with my friends across the aisle over many decades of Public Service, ive been able to pass more legislation than anyone alive today. Mr. President , i draw from these personal experiences to illustrate a simple point. In an era of endless gridlock and increasing polarization, there is no alternative to civility and healthy debate. We would do well to remember this in light of the frustrations we have all felt
We were waiting until all the documents were circulated. This hearing will now come to order. Senator mccaskill and i have called this hearing to address the difficult but really important subject of sex trafficking. Over the past seven months the city has conducted a bipartisan investigation into how sex traffickers increasingly use the internet to advance their trade and evade detection. The name of this investigation is very straightforward. We want to understand how lawmakers, Law Enforcement, even private businesses can more effectively combat the serious crime that thrives online in this black market. As cochair of the Senate Caucus to end Human Trafficking and maybe more importantly is someone who represents the state has experienced some abhorrent sex trafficking networks, and maybe most importantly as a father, this is an issue i feel strongly about and have worked on over a number of years. I have spent time with those dedicated to fighting this crime and those victimized by
Online sex trafficking and backpage. Com. The ceo of back page. Com was asked to testify, but he declined. Witnesses who did appear before the Senate Committee on investigations included washington States Deputy attorney general and a lawyer with the National Center for missing and exploited children. Okay, thank you all for being here this morning. We were waiting until all the documents were circulated. This hearing will now come to order. Senator mccaskill and i have called this hearing to address the difficult but really important subject of sex trafficking. Over the past seven months the city has conducted a bipartisan investigation into how sex traffickers increasingly use the internet to advance their trade and evade detection. The name of this investigation is very straightforward. We want to understand how lawmakers, Law Enforcement, even private businesses can more effectively combat the serious crime that thrives online in this black market. As cochair of the Senate Caucus t