TVPRA

Your Voice Matters: Plan an In-District Meeting with Your Members of Congress

During the month of August, senators and representatives return home to their states and districts for a congressional recess—a perfect opportunity for you to schedule an in-district meeting with them in your area. Your priorities matter to them most, so make sure your voice is heard this summer!

Kim Merida, an advocate from North Carolina, shared with us about meeting with her elected officials last summer.

Today marks the one year anniversary since the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), S.1301, was introduced in the U.S.

For nearly a year and a half, advocates like you have been working hard to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Thanks to your efforts, the bill has 40 Senate cosponsors from all across the political spectrum—we are so grateful for your tireless work to pass this bill that will help end trafficking at home and around the world!

We’ve come so far, but we’re not stopping here. IJM is teaming up with World Vision, Polaris Project and Safe Horizon to gain even more suport for the TVPRA and to ensure that it passes quickly.

Last Thursday, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 12-6!

We are excited that this critical legislation will now move forward for a full Senate vote, but there’s still more work to be done. Senators Coburn (OK), Cornyn (TX), Lee (UT), Sessions (AL), Graham (SC), and Kyl (AZ) each voted against passing the TVPRA out of committee. It’s critical that these members hear from anti-slavery advocates in their states before the bill is voted on by the full Senate.

How you can help:

If you live in Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Alabama, South Carolina, or Arizona, please call your Senator and politely express your disappointment that they did not support the TVPRA in committee and your hope that they will support the bill when it reaches the Senate floor.

On a chilly December day in 2009, my friend David and I crammed into a taxi and made our way through the DC streets to Capitol Hill. To say that I felt butterflies would be an understatement. We were minutes away from an appointment at Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson’s office, and I still had no idea what I was going to say.

Our aim was to ask the Senator to help introduce the Child Protection Compact Act, and I was frantically trying to come up with something persuasive to convey.

For the past two months, advocates around the country have been lobbying for Congress to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2011 (TVPRA) through our annual In-district Meeting Campaign. Since August, we've seen the introduction of the TVPRA in the House of Representatives, and 26 Members of Congress have signed on as cosponsors, joining the original two sponsors of the bill. In the Senate, 9 new cosponsors have signed on since the August in-district recess!

Your work to bring attention to this bill really makes a difference! We have been encouraged by the stories and pictures many of you have shared from your meetings, and we want to share the good work you are doing.

At last, the legislation we have been working on for almost a year, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, is getting traction in Congress!  I am happy to report that the House Foreign Affairs Committee reviewed the bill (HR.2830) day before yesterday and passed it unanimously out of the committee.  Our hats go off to Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), the principal sponsor of the TVPRA—and the author of the original TVPA, passed in 2000—who shepherded the bill through the process.