Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), chair of a House panel on global human rights, gave the following remarks on the house floor supporting passage of the Trafficking Prevention in Foreign Affairs Contracting Act:

     I want to thank my good friend and colleague, the distinguished chairman, ED ROYCE, for his persistence and creativity in finding new ways to hold the administration accountable for preventing human trafficking, especially in government contracting, as is required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 and the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013.

     It seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that U.S. Government procurement should be the quintessential example of how to buy goods and services from reputable vendors. The TVPA ensures that contracts are lost if there is complicity in trafficking and that responsible parties are prosecuted if they, in like manner, are complicit in human trafficking.

     H.R. 400 targets a key piece of the law for practical implementation and brings our government one step closer to ensuring that U.S. tax dollars are not going to companies that look askance at human trafficking by their contractors and subcontractors.

     Again, this is a very important bill. I want to thank the distinguished chairman for his leadership on this.