The Administration strongly supports enacting anti-trafficking
legislation that will strengthen and institutionalize advances made, as
well as provide new and necessary tools, in the fight against
trafficking in persons and the protection of trafficking victims. While
the Administration supports the overall purpose and many of the
provisions of H.R. 3244, we have concerns with a number of provisions of
the bill and will continue to work with Congress as the bill moves
through the legislative process to address these concerns.
The Administration strongly opposes the bill's broad sanctions
provisions, which we believe will have a debilitating effect on the
fight against trafficking. These provisions could require the United
States to impose sanctions on governments that are working with the
United States in good faith in nascent and fragile efforts to combat
trafficking. The bill's sanctions would: (1) be counterproductive to
cooperative multilateral efforts needed to track down and punish
traffickers, such as the proposed UN protocol on trafficking; (2) punish
minor governmental violators as harshly as major governmental violators;
(3) undermine the crucial efforts of non-governmental organizations in
other countries working to help victims; (4) cut off U.S. foreign
assistance designed to fight trafficking in persons, including law
enforcement training and related support; and (5) discourage
governments, many of whom have begun to address the problem but lack the
resources to do so, from combating trafficking.
The Administration also has other concerns, some of which include:
The temporary residency visa ("T- visa") provision is likely to be
too restrictive. We intend to work with Congress to craft a provision
that would effectively address fraud concerns and provide additional
flexibility to address trafficking situations.
The bill would make criminal prosecutions of perpetrators more
difficult. For example, it provides no jurisdictional basis for
prosecution for the proposed sex trafficking of children criminal
offense.
The new reporting requirement would duplicate existing reporting
requirements and likely divert scarce resources away from other
efforts to combat trafficking. The Department of State already has
expanded reporting on trafficking in its annual Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices, and is taking additional steps to comply with
new trafficking reporting requirements enacted in the FY 2000
Consolidated Appropriations Act.
The Administration has made the fight against trafficking a priority
and wants to work with Congress to amend this important legislation to
address these concerns.
Pay-As-You-Go Scoring
H.R. 3244 would increase direct spending and revenue; therefore, it
is subject to the pay-as-you-go requirement of the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1990. The bill does not contain provisions to
offset the increased direct spending. Therefore, if the bill were
enacted, its net budget costs could contribute to a sequester of
mandatory programs. OMB's preliminary scoring estimates of this bill are
under development. The Administration will work with Congress to avoid a
sequester. | 
