Ann Wagner

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I rise to honor the passing of Janet Marie Torrisi-Mokwa. Jan was a dear friend and a dedicated leader in the St. Louis community. While we mourn this tragedy, I would like to celebrate Janis life and her many contributions to Missouri. She was a passionate advocate for an array of issues she held near and dear to her heart, including the protection of animals, the empowerment of women, and care for those in need. Jan recently celebrated 25 years of marriage to her husband Joseph Mokwa. She is also survived by her mother, Marie Torrisi; brother John Torrisi and his wife Claudia; nieces, Kaci and Amy; stepdaughter, Aimee Goodrich; and grandchildren, Danny, Julia, and Josephine. Jan was one of those people who was truly larger than life. She had a warm presence, an infectious positivity, and an unparalleled effect on others. Today we honor her insatiable spirit her countless contributions to our community, and the lasting impact she had on people from all walks of life. In His Sermon on the Mount, we are reminded by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that those who mourn are blessed and will be comforted. I pray that during this difficult time, the Mokwa family, their friends, and neighbors are graced with that blessing from the Lord. Mr. Speaker, our community will dearly miss Jan's tremendous energy and bright smile. Her upbeat attitude and persistence will continue to live in each and every person she touched.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, in April, my bill, the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, or FOSTA, became law. FOSTA allows Federal, State, and local prosecutors to go after the online businesses that are trafficking our children. Signing FOSTA into law has decimated the online sex trade that fuels human trafficking in America. Scores of major websites that promoted sex trafficking and prostitution have shut down, and countless lives have been saved. Our communities are better off now because of FOSTA: fewer victims are being trafficked; buyers are no longer able to easily purchase women and children; and fewer pimps are getting their payday. The online slave trade has never been more fragile than today. After passage of FOSTA, global ad volume declined 87 percent from the daily average. Websites that dominated the illegal sex trade shut down for fear of being prosecuted. Websites like Massage Tolls, The Erotic Review, and Escorts in College are gone. Household names like Reddit, Google, PayPal, and Microsoft updated their terms of service to ensure that platforms aren't being abused by traffickers. Additionally, the Department of Justice shut down backpage.com, and its owners were arrested. Right now, we have this criminal enterprise on its heels. Buyers and pimps don't know where to turn, and traffickers are getting 90 percent fewer responses than they got on Backpage and the other leading trafficking sites that shut down. The bottom line is websites are doing everything they can to avoid criminal liability, while trying to keep their criminal enterprise alive. But the loopholes that they were utilizing no longer exist. Financial institutions are also cracking down on accounts used by trafficking. CC Bill, the payment processor of these porn and trafficking hubs stopped processing credit cards for websites that facilitate prostitution. CC Bill was the domestic credit card processor of last resort, and websites are now struggling to find a viable alternative. Together, we are putting the online slave trade out of business. As trafficking becomes less profitable, fewer victims will ever be sold and raped. FOSTA is striking fear in the hearts of America's pimps and online predators. Law enforcement is seeing real results, and that is why FOSTA is being called the most significant anti-trafficking law in nearly 20 years. Experts have repeatedly said that sex trafficking will flourish until market force of risk is increased and we create a real criminal deterrent. FOSTA establishes that deterrent, and as a result, fewer businesses will ever, ever enter the sex trade. Sex advertising is at a new low for this decade. And this Congress has demonstrated that we can and will hold accountable the businesses that profit from the sale of our most vulnerable. It is because of the massive bipartisan majorities of both the House and the Senate that FOSTA is law today. The results we are seeing in our communities are proof that Congress can, and does, work together to achieve real results for the American people. Lives have been saved, fewer children and women are being sold into slavery, and trafficking and prostitution websites are being shut down. We are delivering real results for real people and our country is better off now because of it.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of giving Americans more choices when deciding how to save for healthcare expenses. The legislation we are voting on this week will increase the number of Americans who are eligible to contribute to tax-free health savings accounts and expand the use of HSAs to cover direct primary care and over-the-counter medicines. HSAs make it easier for people to take a proactive approach to their own healthcare. It is time to give Americans more access and more choice and affordability when spending their hard-earned paychecks. Our legislation will also reduce premiums, roll back burdensome ObamaCare regulations, and give Americans more options and control when dealing with personal issues of healthcare. I look forward to casting my vote for all Missouri, especially those in Missouri's Second Congressional District. They deserve the freedom to do what is best for their families.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today in support of the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act of 2018, and I urge its immediate passage. This progrowth legislation is a continuation of the work that our committee has done over the last year. We are tailoring regulations for small and midsized companies while protecting investors by giving them the broadest of investment opportunities. I am especially happy to see my bill, the Modernizing Disclosures for Investors Act, included in this package. H.R. 5970 will go a long way in improving and simplifying disclosure requirements for small and emerging growth companies that, for years, have struggled with the size and the complexity of these quarterly financial reporting forms. Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the chairman and the ranking member for their work to get this bipartisan bill to the floor. It was no small task. Again, I urge all Members to support this bipartisan legislation.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. I introduced this bill to improve U.S. efforts to prevent mass atrocity crimes. The legislation honors the legacy of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and his life's work to fight evil around the world. Mr. Wiesel was just 15 years old when the Nazis deported him and his family to Auschwitz. Having witnessed the near total destruction of his people, he spent his life defending the persecuted. As Mr. Wiesel understood so well, the true horror of genocide is that it is preventable. We are haunted by repeated failures and missed opportunities to end these tragedies before they begin. There is more the United States can and must do to help vulnerable communities and persecuted people around the world. The reality is that good intentions and platitudes like ``never again'' have not prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians at the hands of the Assad regime nor the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma. When I introduced this legislation, I thought of the Bosnian community in St. Louis, my hometown. This community has shaped what St. Louis looks and feels like. It has added great cultural diversity to the city, immense intellectual capital, thriving small businesses, and a strong religious presence. Two decades ago, members of our Bosnian community were refugees. In 1995, Orthodox Serbs, under the command of General Ratko Mladic, initiated a horrific ethnic cleansing campaign against majority-Muslim Bosniaks. The bloodshed forced 130,000 Bosnian refugees to seek new lives in the United States. It is fitting that today we remember the victims of the Bosnian genocide just a few days after its 23rd anniversary. I am continually amazed by the resilience of our Bosnian neighbors. Their courage has inspired me to seek change. The Elie Wiesel Act expresses Congress' strong support for better utilization of existing resources, particularly the Atrocities Prevention Board, which is dedicated to coordinating U.S. atrocity prevention and response, and the Complex Crises Fund, which supports agile, efficient responses to unforeseen crises overseas. Additionally, we require the administration to evaluate existing prevention efforts, report on countries at risk of genocide and mass atrocity crimes, and recommend concrete improvements to our early warning systems. The bill also mandates that U.S. Foreign Service officers are trained in atrocities recognition and response. Should this bill become law, America's diplomats will be better equipped to act before violence spirals out of control. The Elie Wiesel Act establishes that it is the official policy of the United States to regard atrocities prevention as a core national security interest and to address root causes of conflict through our humanitarian, development, and strategic endeavors. Let me be clear, Mr. Speaker, genocide is preventable. The United States is the global leader in genocide and atrocities response, but we must shift our attention towards prevention so that no one ever becomes a victim in the first place. H.R. 3030 is an important first step. I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) for his cooperation on this piece of bipartisan legislation, and I urge its support.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of this amendment, of which I am a proud cosponsor. Nearly 1 year ago, I traveled to Korea, Japan, and China. I visited the DMZ and the Chinese border town of Dandong. I watched as trucks loaded with goods drove across the China-Korea Friendship Bridge into North Korea. Mr. Chair, 70 percent of North Korea's trade passes over that bridge, and it was a stark reminder that, in order to change North Korea's malign behavior, we need sanctions that undermine the financial networks that keep the Kim regime afloat. Over the past year, the President has taken tremendous steps towards disrupting North Korean cash flows, but we still have an imperfect understanding of where and how North Korea gets its revenue, and our limited knowledge has weakened international sanctions. This amendment would require the Director of National Intelligence to study North Korean financial and trade networks, weapons sales, labor exports, and supply chains to better understand the sources of the regime's revenue. It would aid the international community in closing gaps in sanctions against North Korea. The report will help us support our diplomats as they seek to restore stability on the Korean Peninsula. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this critical amendment.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 requires most SEC registrants to file a form 10Q quarterly report with the SEC. The form 10Q includes condensed financial information and other data prepared by a company and reviewed by independent auditors. Although technology has evolved rapidly over the years, the form 10Q used today was adopted in 1950. My legislation, H.R. 5970, the Modernizing Disclosures for Investors Act, requires the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC, to report to Congress the costs and benefits of form 10Q and recommendations for decreasing costs while increasing transparency and efficiency of quarterly financial reporting. Specifically, my bill requires the SEC to look at emerging growth companies that are particularly susceptible to the burdens and complexities associated with current reporting requirements. In recent years, annual and quarterly reporting requirements have grown in size and complexity, making it more difficult for investors to determine relevant information, often leaving them overwhelmed and unable to make sound investment decisions. Furthermore, some companies believe that current reporting requirements have become a barrier to registering as publicly traded companies, as noted by a 2011 report by the IPO Task Force. The report, which was prompted by the JOBS Act of 2012, found that 92 percent of public company leaders said that the administrative burden of public reporting was a significant challenge to completing an IPO and becoming a public company. Finally, I would like to note that my legislation is timely. At a recent SEC oversight hearing, Chairman Clayton highlighted in his testimony that: ``We should regularly review whether we have disclosure requirements that are outdated, duplicative, or can otherwise be improved.'' In addition, just last week, the SEC finalized a rule expanding the definition of smaller reporting companies, which will allow them to be eligible for scaled disclosures. Before I conclude, I want to take a minute to thank Congressman Gottheimer for his willingness to work across the aisle and to get this bill to the finish line. With the passage of H.R. 5970 just last evening, we have provided yet another example of how Congress can work together in a bipartisan manner.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of the Fisher House Foundation amendment No. 13. Often, servicemembers must travel hundreds or even thousands of miles for medical care. For more than 25 years, Fisher Houses have provided a home away from home for the family members of those who are receiving treatment at a military or VA Medical Center. These houses provide stability, convenience, and one less thing to worry about for families as their husbands, wives, sons, or daughters undergo treatment. Each time I visit the St. Louis Fisher House at Jefferson Barracks, I witness firsthand the dedication of the staff and the volunteers who assist the families of our veterans and servicemembers. An increase in funds will allow the construction of more Fisher Houses, providing lodging to thousands of military families. We know that a family's love is the best medicine, and good care makes the tough days bearable. I look forward to casting my vote in support of this important foundation. Together, we can make the lives of those who heroically serve our country just a little bit easier. Mr. Chair, I thank the chairwoman for all of her leadership. I thank the gentleman for his cosponsorship and for his yielding me this time.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, since returning to a Republican majority 8 years ago, the Financial Services Committee has set out to introduce and pass progrowth legislation that lessens the burdens unfairly put on community banks and credit unions and the customers they serve. Today's bill will allow for these institutions to do what they do best: focus on their communities. Mr. Speaker, this is something to celebrate. Under the leadership of Chairman Hensarling, our committee has continuously made the case that the former administration's efforts were not only misguided, but made basic financial services less accessible to small businesses and low- and middle-income Americans. With passage of today's bill, that changes. American families' and businesses' access to credit will improve. This is credit they can and will use to buy a new car, achieve the dream of homeownership, expand their businesses, and, most importantly, create jobs. It is my sincere hope that we continue the momentum of today's vote and work with our Senate counterparts to roll back Washington red tape to further our Nation's economic growth and to continue to give hardworking Americans better access to affordable financial products. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this much-needed bipartisan legislation.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of a bill that, frankly, is long overdue. While former CFPB Director Richard Cordray indicated in testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services that the Bureau's guidance was ``nonbinding,'' the damage was already done. The Bureau's attempt to regulate an industry that the Dodd-Frank Act specifically told them they could not regulate is the very reason our committee has worked tirelessly to bring accountability to an agency that has none. Sadly, this guidance has become symbolic for everything that is wrong with the CFPB. So why are we here today? Why does this Congress care about guidance put out in 2013? Let me read section 1029 from the Dodd-Frank Act: ``the Bureau may not exercise any rulemaking, supervisory, enforcement or any other authority, including any authority to order assessments, over a motor vehicle dealer that is predominantly engaged in the sale and servicing of motor vehicles. . . . '' Unfortunately, we have seen, time and time again, an agency that is willing to issue regulation by enforcement. Since the 2013 guidance came out, the Bureau has issued over $200 million in out-of-court settlements to auto lenders based on guidance that was flawed from the very start. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, our staff has issued multiple reports detailing the Bureau's baseless enforcement agenda. Because of their work, the CFPB can no longer hide behind, as one report noted, junk science. I thank the chairman, and I urge all my colleagues to support this bipartisan effort.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for his outstanding words and his support, his support and that of Representative Randy Hultgren on sponsoring and cosponsoring with me my piece of legislation, the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act. This truly is an issue that is not just about human rights and giving voice to the voiceless and speaking for the most vulnerable in our society; it is about human dignity across our globe. It is about the U.S. responding to these conflicts in the way that only we can and should do and provide the kind of moral authority and support to do so through both our Congress and through our foreign service officers and others who are working across the globe. So I thank the gentleman for his fine words. I now yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Tenney).

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her kind words. The gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Tenney) is also a leader in this cause and this effort that is really about, as we said, human dignity and human rights across this world. We want a day when no longer are these refugees suffering, whether it is in Syria. On the day that President Macron addressed a joint session here in this very Chamber, the President of the People's Republic of France, that stood with the United States, along with the United Kingdom, in the bombings against Syria that were targeted against those who had been barrel-bombed and victimized and murdered by the Assad regime in Syria. We share a common bond with the Bosnian community. We both have very large Bosnian communities, many of whom started out as refugees some 20 years ago. Now, as I said, the cultural diversity, the business, the religious presence has been just wonderful to see flourish in a district like Missouri's Second Congressional District, so I recognize the common bond that we have there. I thank Ms. Tenney for participating in this Special Order that goes to the heart of genocide and mass atrocities across our globe. I know that the people of Ms. Tenney's district in New York are also appreciative of all she does there to represent them and those who are the most vulnerable in our society, so I thank the gentlewoman from New York. I now yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) for his kind words. He is a leader and a senior member of our House Foreign Affairs Committee, and I also have the privilege of serving on it. It is an honor to have Congressman Chabot here at this Special Order during Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month to give voice to those millions of victims and to say we live for a time when this is nonexistent in society. I look forward, Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, to offering my amendment to the State Department Authorization Act of 2018, asking the administration to study countries at risk of genocide and mass atrocity crimes and crafting the kind of training regimens for U.S. foreign service officers that are so very important. I look forward to the time when my piece of legislation, the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, will, Mr. Speaker, be signed into law. It will improve the U.S. efforts to prevent mass atrocity crimes, and I think we all, in this Chamber, on a bipartisan level, Mr. Speaker, continue to hope and, more importantly, to work towards a time when America says, ``Never again,'' and our actions reinforce our words. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for coming out. I thank those advocates on the Friends Committee on National Legislation's stand. Together we remember the Carl Wilkens Fellowship and so many others that stand with the victims of genocide and mass atrocities. It is an honor to be with my colleagues here tonight and with the advocacy groups that stand for the millions that say, ``Never again.'' Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month. Today we remember the millions of victims of genocide throughout history, and we recommit to working toward the day when genocide and mass-atrocity crimes are not only inconceivable, Mr. Speaker, but they are nonexistent. April marks the commemorations of some of the worst genocides in history, including the Holocaust and Rwandan, Cambodian, and Armenian genocides. Time and again, senseless bloodshed has ended innocent lives and fractured families and livelihoods. My hometown, St. Louis, is home to the largest Bosnian community outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This community has shaped what the city looks and feels like. It has added great cultural diversity to the city, immense intellectual capital, thriving small businesses, and a strong religious presence. Two decades ago, members of our Bosnian community were refugees. In 1995, Orthodox Serbs, under the command of General Ratko Mladic, initiated a horrific ethnic cleansing campaign against majority Muslim Bosniaks. The escalating bloodshed forced 130,000 Bosnian refugees to seek new lives in the United States. Thousands were murdered in Srebrenica. Today I wish to honor these brave men and women. The resilience of our Bosnian neighbors has enriched our city, and their courage inspires me. It has inspired me to seek change. Tomorrow I am offering an amendment to the State Department Authorization Act of 2018 asking the administration to study countries at risk of genocide and mass-atrocity crimes and craft training regimens for U.S. Foreign Service officers. Should this bill become law, America's diplomats will have the know- how to respond to those conflicts on the ground and act before violence spirals out of control. Most importantly, this amendment establishes that the official policy of the United States of America is to regard the prevention of genocide and atrocity crimes as a core national security interest. However, this is just one step in the right direction. The U.S. Government must improve how it responds to conflicts. Last April, I introduced the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act to improve U.S. efforts to prevent mass-atrocity crimes, named after the courageous Auschwitz survivor. The legislation honors the legacy of Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and his life work to fight evil around the world. Mr. Wiesel was just 15 years old when the Nazis deported him and his family to Auschwitz. He was the only member of his family to survive. Having witnessed the near total destruction of his people, he spent his life defending the persecuted. In his honor, we fight to rectify injustice and protect the most vulnerable in our society and across the globe. As Mr. Wiesel understood so well, the true horror of genocide is that it is preventable, and the U.S. Government has the tools to effect real change. The Elie Wiesel Act would affirm the mission of the United States Atrocities Prevention Board and its work to coordinate prevention and response efforts. It would also authorize the Complex Crisis Fund to support agile, efficient responses to unforeseen crises overseas. This time, when America says ``never again,'' our actions will reinforce our platitudes and our words. I thank the Chair, Mr. Speaker, and I thank all of my colleagues who share in this fight. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern).

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Hensarling for yielding. My hat is off to the vice chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, my good friend, Congressman Tipton, for this fine piece of legislation. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1116, the TAILOR Act, and I urge its immediate passage. According to the most recent estimates, the 147 new regulations created under the Dodd-Frank Act have resulted in $40 billion in additional regulatory costs. Unfortunately, this one-size-fits-all approach trickles down to consumers and small businesses in my home State of Missouri, who, for years, have struggled to keep up with these unnecessary burdens. I would like to take a moment to share how those burdens have had a real impact on the constituents of Missouri's Second Congressional District. Due to new regulatory burdens imposed under the Dodd-Frank Act, a local credit union in my district contacted my office to tell us how they were forced to redirect their efforts away from helping their customers and into bureaucratic studies of how the new rules affected the credit union. Third-party costs skyrocketed, as the credit union was forced to spend more money on outside vendors and lawyers for guidance. Instead of providing their customers with new products or decreased costs, employees shifted their focus toward compliance efforts. Congressman Tipton's bill, which enjoys bipartisan support, is yet another example of Congress getting it right. This legislation will focus on the institutions model and risk profile, which will, in turn, allow financial institutions like the one I previously mentioned to focus their time and resources on the communities that they serve. Again, I am proud to support my good friend from Colorado, Congressman Tipton. I urge all Members to support his bill.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman from Alabama, my friend, Mrs. Roby, for her fearless leadership and support on this issue. Today we bring, Mr. Chair, H.R. 1865, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, or FOSTA, to the floor, finally. Mr. Chair, I want to thank my partners on the other side of the aisle, my dear friends, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, for their tireless support on this effort. The sad truth is that sex trafficking is a crime as old as the Nation itself. Over the past few years, Congress has routinely taken bipartisan action to fight it, yet sex trafficking seems to continue unabated. This is largely because the methods of recruitment and sale of sex trafficking victims have evolved with technology, and U.S. laws have remained stagnant. Today, when the House votes on FOSTA, we will be sending a clear message: businesses that sell human beings online can no longer do so with impunity. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act explicitly allows enforcement of Federal criminal law, but courts have mistakenly found that it does not allow robust enforcement of State criminal law. Last summer, 50 State attorneys general called on Congress to untie their hands to allow them to bring justice to the websites that sell our children and the victims. Empowering our State and local prosecutors is in the best interests of the American people. Federal prosecution is discretionary, and the vast majority of crimes are prosecuted at the State and local level. Most websites engaging in the online sex trade are first identified at the local level and should be quickly addressed before they ever reach the size of Backpage.com. Without proper State and local enforcement, there is no real criminal deterrent against businesses looking to enter the sex trade. Today, we will change that. FOSTA will allow prosecutors across the country to protect their communities without fear of section 230 preemption. FOSTA will produce more prosecutions of bad actor websites, more convictions, and put more predators behind bars. It will provide a meaningful criminal deterrent so that fewer businesses will ever enter the sex trade and fewer victims will ever be sold and raped. Clarification of section 230 is desperately needed. In August 2017, the Sacramento Superior Court dismissed charges brought against Backpage by the California attorney general, saying: ``If and until Congress sees fit to amend the immunity law, the broad reach of section 230 of the Communications Decency Act even applies to those alleged to support the exploitation of others by human trafficking.'' Today, Mr. Chair, Congress sees fit to amend the immunity law to hold accountable websites that support exploitation. FOSTA also creates a new crime targeting websites that are intentionally promoting prostitution, and it encourages States to use or adopt similar laws. Unfortunately, sex trafficking ads are written to evade law enforcement. Looking at these ads, you usually can't tell that force, fraud, and coercion were used against the victim or that the person depicted in the ad is a minor. Because indications of knowledge of sex trafficking are typically hidden, it is nearly impossible for prosecutors to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the website operators knew that the ads involved sex trafficking. This is why prosecutors tell me that they would oftentimes prefer to use prostitution laws instead of sex trafficking laws when charging these websites. Sex trafficking laws are written to target pimps, johns, and businesses, but are not always the best tool against the online sex trade. FOSTA gives prosecutors the freedom to use both State sex trafficking laws and the State prostitution laws, and lets prosecutors decide how best to do their jobs. Importantly, prosecutors will be able to seek a higher penalty for websites that promote prostitution and recklessly contribute to sex trafficking. Online sex trafficking is flourishing in America because there are no serious legal consequences for the websites that profit from the exploitation of our most vulnerable. FOSTA, combined with the SESTA Walters amendment that adds back in victim-centered provisions from my original language, will finally create these serious legal consequences. Today we are voting to keep our commitment to trafficking survivors, both by empowering them to hold accountable the websites that stole them and by arming prosecutors with the tools they need to ensure that the most vulnerable members of our society are never sold online in the first place. I trust that my colleagues will join me in this vote to fundamentally transform the fight against online sex trafficking in America.

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for bringing up the Walters amendment to H.R. 1865, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, called FOSTA. The Walters amendment reinstates critical pro-victim provisions from my original bill. It also reflects the work that has been done in the Senate on these provisions, which are the meat of S. 1693, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, or SESTA. FOSTA has over 175 House cosponsors and SESTA has over 67 Senate cosponsors. These two bills depend on each other to address the problem of online sex trafficking. Mr. Chair, we should not allow Big Tech money and special interests to try and overdefine this conversation and override our criminal justice system. FOSTA amends section 230 to allow for stronger criminal enforcement against websites that profit from human trafficking, and SESTA amends section 230 to allow for stronger civil enforcement against websites that profit from human trafficking. They are two sides of the same coin and they must pass together. We need both criminal and civil tools to properly combat the highly ``lucrative'' industry of online sex trafficking. Moreover, it is imperative that we clarify that section 230 does not impair or limit the ability of trafficking victims to use the Federal private right of action that Congress clearly provided in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Two years ago, the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that there is a fundamental tension between these private right of action and section 230. Today, by voting ``yes'' on the Walters amendment, the House will dispel this tension. No website is immune from civil liability for knowingly facilitating the sale of trafficking victims.

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman from Alabama for yielding. Mr. Chair, in recent years, sex trafficking has moved from the streets to the internet. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has witnessed an 846 percent increase in suspected child sex trafficking reports. Eighty-one percent of these reports concern online trafficking facilitated by websites that help traffickers post advertisements of child victims. I find it hard to imagine that if a neighborhood business hosted a slave auction, the auctioneer would not be considered liable. But that is actually what is happening with websites like backpage.com and hundreds others. I have spoken with State and local prosecutors across America who want to hold online advertisers accountable for facilitating traffic and promoting prostitution, but they cannot. Section 230 has been interpreted so broadly that courts have ruled in favor of backpage.com in criminal and civil cases, despite the website's clear criminal conduct. These rulings defy congressional intent. Twenty-two years ago, Senator Jim Exon from Nebraska, the sponsor of the Communications Decency Act, stated that ``the information superhighway should not become a red-light district.'' Section 230 was an amendment to the CDA that intended to motivate websites to screen explicit content in ``good faith,'' and to shield websites from unfair liability for third-party content. However, section 230 was never intended to shield websites from liability for criminal conduct. Congress did not intend to allow businesses to commit trafficking crimes online that they could never commit offline. It never meant to imply that criminal conduct can hide behind the defense of legitimate publishing or editing. H.R. 1865 is a long-overdue clarification of section 230 explaining to America's courts that State and local prosecutors are not handcuffed from protecting their communities and that the State laws should be freely enforced against websites that unlawfully promote prostitution and sex. Mr. Chair, the Jackson Lee amendment will help us track the use of this new crime, and I am delighted to support it. I thank the gentlewoman for offering it. Mr. Chair, I am horrified that children and adults are sold on the internet like a T-shirt or takeout. I am horrified that human beings are sold with impunity and have no access to justice. Today, please vote ``yes'' for justice.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me. Mr. Speaker, I love this opportunity to testify on the rule for H.R. 1865, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, or FOSTA. This legislation has been born, sadly, out of necessity, but has been truly a labor of love for me since I was first elected to Congress over 5 years ago. The bill is the result of meetings with trafficking survivors across the country who have been victimized by the online sex trade and unable to access either justice or relief in our court systems. Today's consideration of the bill is an historic achievement, a long- awaited clarification from this Congress that the businesses that sell our children online can no longer do so with impunity. It is a clear statement that there are serious legal consequences for websites that actively profit from the exploitation of our most vulnerable. It is a wake-up call to America's judicial system, making clear that section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not provide immunity to websites that are actively engaged in modern-day slavery. FOSTA is a recommitment to Americans that Congress never intended to create a system that allows businesses to commit crimes online that they could not commit offline. It is in many ways just a simple statement of the obvious: Congress does not believe--and did not ever believe--that rape was a perquisite of a free and open internet. This bill is a promise to our State and local law enforcement and prosecutors. Congress is making it clear that we believe in and support their missions to protect our communities. Combined with the Walters amendment, which reinstates victim-centered provisions from my original bill last April, this legislation is now a guarantee of the fundamental rights of the most vulnerable members of our society. It is a message to the children and victims who have been robbed of their basic dignities that Congress hears them and is responding to the injustices that they all have faced. It has not been an easy journey to get to this point, to find middle ground with the tech industry and the victims' advocates to incorporate the concerns of prosecutors and the law enforcement community to move this bill through committee and to get both FOSTA and the SESTA Walters amendment to the floor today. So I am very grateful for the many, many people who joined my crusade to restore justice to the brave children, women, and men across our country who have been sold online. I am grateful to Chairman Goodlatte and his team for going the extra mile in helping us include a strong, new crime that will enable prosecutors to better target online trafficking and prostitution. I am grateful for the Energy and Commerce Committee and House leadership and their willingness to prioritize this issue. I must give a big thank-you to Majority Leader McCarthy, our Whip Scalise, and Speaker Ryan for leading the way in doing the right thing for America's children. I am grateful for Senators Portman and Blumenthal and Senators Cornyn and McCaskill for carrying SESTA on their shoulders and advocating for a solution that allows victims to access the civil remedies that they deserve. I am grateful to each and every one of our 176 bipartisan cosponsors, many of whom personally stopped on the House floor to hear and express their concerns about victims of online sex trafficking. I especially want to mention Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty who fought the good fight on the other side of the aisle for what is truly a landmark, for a bipartisan piece of legislation that is going to save lives. I am also so thankful for my dedicated staff who have poured their hearts, their minds, and their lives into this fight in more ways than the public will ever know. FOSTA, combined with the Walters amendment, which is SESTA, will provide better civil justice for victims, more prosecutions of bad actor websites, more convictions, and more predators behind bars. Because of this package, fewer businesses will ever dare to enter the sex trade and fewer victims will be sold into modern-day sex slavery. Last, but most importantly, I am in awe of and grateful for the contributions of the survivors in this fight to turn FOSTA and SESTA into law. It is heartbreaking to watch survivors struggle to piece their lives back together alone while our justice system shields the websites that sold them. That is why I introduced this bill, and that is why it must become law. I expect this piece of legislation to sail through the Senate and make its way to the President's desk so that we can put those bad actor websites behind bars, deter others from entering this ecosystem, and make sure that there are rights and justice for our victims. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Chair and our colleagues because, when we vote today for FOSTA and the Walters amendment, our survivors will know that they are not alone and justice will indeed no longer be out of reach.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1153, the Mortgage Choice Act, provides needed clarity to the calculation of points and fees for qualified mortgages, or QM, especially for those companies affiliated with real estate brokers. Established under the ability-to-repay/QM section of the Truth in Lending Act, H.R. 1153 would amend the definition of points and fees and allow more loans to qualify, thus increasing choices for all borrowers. Chairman Huizenga's bipartisan legislation does not create a QM loophole like some would argue. Instead, H.R. 1153 rightly attempts to level the playing field, regardless of whether the lender is affiliated with a title agency or not. In addition, H.R. 1153 does not allow high-cost loans to qualify as QMs. By allowing loans with the same points and fees to be treated equally under the law, Chairman Huizenga's bill corrects one of the many flaws of the post-Dodd-Frank era. Thanks to the Mortgage Choice Act, it will now be easier for low- and moderate-income Americans to buy a home. I commend my colleague, Chairman Huizenga, for his bipartisan work on this issue, and I urge all Members to support this legislation.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for their support. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in support of S. 1438, the Gateway Arch National Park Designation Act. And I would like to start by thanking Senator Blunt and Congressman Clay for their leadership on this issue. Renaming the Gateway Arch and the area surrounding it will finally make its name consistent with how people from around the world identify it, and our city. We are, indeed, the gateway to the West. In 1935, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial was created as a unit of the National Park Service, and, today, it includes a museum, the old St. Louis courthouse and the Gateway Arch National Monument. It was built to honor the role that President Thomas Jefferson played in opening the American West and the settlers who followed the footsteps of Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery. In addition, it encompasses the old St. Louis courthouse, where Dred Scott filed suit seeking his freedom, furthering the fight to ensure that all men are, indeed, created equally. It was also the site where, in 1872, Virginia Minor asserted that women were citizens of the United States and, therefore, were entitled to vote. The Gateway Arch itself is the largest man-made monument in the United States of America and has been welcoming visitors to the banks of the Mississippi River since its construction in 1965. When people come to visit the Gateway Arch National Park, the name will now reflect the Gateway Arch, but it will stand for so much more. Visitors will see how St. Louis embodies its history as the Gateway to the West. Explorers, settlers, civil rights leaders, and many more have passed through our city and found promise in what lies ahead. That is the spirit our city embodies, and the name of our national park will now match what is at the heart of our culture.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I am frustrated, I am fed up, and I am concerned for our soldiers, their families, my constituents, and all Americans. People are filled with uncertainty. They are confused, and, honestly, so am I. Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats shut down the government over a deadline that does not exist. They voted against a bill they have no issues with. Democrats have recklessly put 9 million children at risk of losing their health insurance. Over 2 million members of our military, the men and women who risk their lives to protect us, are not being paid. It is time for Senate Democrats to join us and reopen the government. They need to join us in passing the Children's Health Insurance Program, and they need to join us in putting our military readiness, our American soldiers, and our country before political gamesmanship. Stop the Schumer shutdown.

Mrs. WAGNER

Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, today I include in the Record a tribute that means a great deal to me, my family, and my staff. Tomorrow we bid farewell to my Chief of Staff of five years, Christian Morgan. Every day, Christian has exemplified the conservative principles for which my office fights. His love for his family, faith in Jesus Christ, and undying belief in what our country stands for have led my office from the day I was sworn in, and his presence will be felt long after his departure. Christian led by example; he was always the last to leave the office and the first to arrive. He guided, motivated, and empowered my staff and myself through fiscal cliffs, our historic fight against human trafficking, and countless pieces of legislation that improved our community in St. Louis. I owe Christian a great debt of gratitude that I will never be able to fully repay, and today we bid him, the man who steered the ship, a fond farewell. It is a sendoff to a person who always kept a level head, was slow to anger, and quick to listen and lead with a spirit of humility. Christian truly embodies our guiding mission to serve a cause greater than oneself and be a voice for the most vulnerable. We wish him the very best moving forward, and we are grateful for Christian Morgan's service and sacrifice to our office, the Second District of Missouri, and our Great Nation. May he always remember these words in Romans 5: 4-5, ``Endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.''