pd06no00 Remarks at a Reception for African-American Religious Leaders...

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    Similarly, the Act's anti-trafficking provisions represent a major 
step forward in my Administration's ongoing effort to eradicate modern-
day slavery. In 1998, on International Women's Day, I issued an 
Executive Memorandum directing my Administration to combat this 
insidious human rights abuse through a three-part strategy of 
prosecuting traffickers, protecting and assisting trafficking victims, 
and preventing trafficking. We worked hard with Democrats and 
Republicans in Congress to craft comprehensive and effective legislation 
that would strengthen our ability to implement this strategy. I am 
pleased that this bipartisan effort has resulted in this landmark anti-
trafficking legislation.
    Over the past several years, we have taken every opportunity to 
shine a bright light on this dark corner of the criminal underworld, in 
part by continually raising with leaders around the world the need to 
work together to combat this intolerable and reprehensible practice. 
Last spring, the United States and the Philippines co-hosted a regional 
conference attended by over 20 Asian and Pacific nations to develop a 
regional action plan to combat trafficking and protect trafficking 
victims. The United States proposed and recently concluded 2 years of 
negotiations on a United Nations protocol to combat trafficking in 
persons which, for the first time, will require countries everywhere to 
criminalize trafficking and will provide a framework for enhanced 
protection of and assistance to victims.
    I want to thank the First Lady, the Secretary of State, and the 
Attorney General for their leadership on this important issue. The 
Secretary of State, as Chair of the President's Interagency Council on 
Women, has led my Administration's interagency development and 
coordination of international and domestic anti-trafficking efforts. The 
First Lady has worked tirelessly to bring this issue out of the shadows. 
She has helped to mobilize the international community to address 
trafficking as both a human rights issue and a global crime problem. The 
Attorney General created the National Worker Exploitation Task Force to 
work in partnership with other agencies, particularly the Department of 
Labor, to coordinate the investigation and prosecution of trafficking 
and other cases of exploitation. The Task Force is training our Nation's 
Federal law enforcement officials and has established a hotline to 
report trafficking cases.
    The Act creates new felony criminal offenses to combat trafficking 
with respect to slavery or peonage; sex trafficking in children; and 
unlawful confiscation of the victim's passport or other documents in 
furtherance of the trafficking scheme. It also creates a new ``forced 
labor'' felony criminal offense that will provide Federal prosecutors 
with the tools needed to prosecute the sophisticated forms of 
nonphysical coercion that traffickers use today to exploit their 
victims. Under H.R. 3244, any person convicted of any of these new 
criminal offenses would be subject to forfeiture of his or her assets 
and required to pay full restitution to his or her victims. These new 
offenses and the tougher sentences called for by this legislation will 
assist Federal prosecutors in ensuring that traffickers are convicted 
and appropriately punished for their crimes.
    The Act also authorizes essential services and protections for 
victims of trafficking. Within the United States, H.R. 3244 establishes 
a Cabinet-level interagency task force to combat and monitor 
trafficking, provides eligibility to trafficking victims for a broad 
range of Federal benefits, and requires procedures to improve Federal 
law enforcement's identification of trafficking cases and

[[Page 2664]]

to provide for trafficking victims' safety and assistance while in the 
Government's custody. The Act also authorizes the Attorney General to 
provide grants to develop programs to assist victims of trafficking. A 
cornerstone of H.R. 3244 is that it makes trafficking victims eligible 
for a temporary nonimmigrant visa so that they can remain in the United 
States to help law enforcement in the prosecution of traffickers and 
receive needed protection and assistance.
    The Act establishes international initiatives to enhance economic 
opportunity for potential victims and public awareness programs on the 
dangers of trafficking and available protections for victims. The Act 
encourages other countries to take steps to implement protection and 
assistance for trafficking victims and to prosecute traffickers, and 
authorizes the President to assist countries to help them meet certain 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The President may 
withhold assistance from countries that are not making significant 
efforts to bring themselves into compliance with these minimum 
standards. Traffickers can themselves be sanctioned. H.R. 3244 also 
expands existing reporting on the nature and extent of traf-ficking in 
each foreign country, which will build upon the Department of State's 
current coverage of this issue.
    Traffickers who prey on vulnerable women and children should have no 
place to hide, and victims of trafficking must be treated with dignity 
and afforded vital assistance and protection. I expect this legislation 
to be of immense benefit in rooting out this despicable practice and in 
helping future Administrations carry on the vital work that this 
Administration has begun.
    The Act also contains new authorities to compensate American victims 
of terrorism and their families. I am pleased that the Congress and the 
executive branch have been able to reach agreement on legislation that 
reflects our shared goals: providing compensation for the victims of 
international terrorism and protecting the President's ability to act on 
behalf of the Nation on important foreign policy and national security 
issues.
    There are certain provisions worth noting. First, those persons 
electing to receive 110 percent of their awarded compensatory damages 
with statutory interest and court-awarded sanctions relinquish all 
rights and claims to all amounts awarded and will be deemed to be 
compensated in full for their judgments. Those persons electing to 
receive 100 percent of their compensatory damages with statutory 
interest and court-awarded sanctions relinquish all rights and claims to 
compensatory damages and amounts awarded as judicial sanctions, and, 
necessarily, any related interest, costs and attorneys fees. So as not 
to interfere with important national interests, H.R. 3244 makes clear 
that persons who receive such payments are prohibited from attaching or 
executing against certain types of property in order to satisfy other 
amounts awarded.
    Second, Congress has reaffirmed in this Act my statutory authority, 
which is the authority provided under the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 
U.S.C. App. 5(b)), where appropriate and consistent with the national 
interest, to vest foreign assets located in the United States for the 
purpose, among other things, of assisting, and where appropriate, making 
payments to victims of terrorism.
    Third, H.R. 3244 repeals the Presidential national security waiver, 
provided by section 117 of the Treasury and General Government 
Appropriations Act, 1999, which was applicable to the requirements of 
subsections (a) and (b). Section 117(b), which amended the Foreign 
Sovereign Immunities Act to permit awards of punitive damages against 
certain defendants in certain circumstances, as well as section 117(a), 
have never been operative because I executed the national security 
waiver on October 21, 1998. In its place, H.R. 3244 provides a national 
security waiver applicable to section 1610(f)(1) of the Foreign 
Sovereign Immunities Act, and addresses the other national security 
concerns covered by my earlier waiver by repealing section 117(b) of the 
Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 1999, and modifying 
section 1610(f)(2) of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Upon my 
signing of H.R. 3244, I am exercising the discretion given to me by 
section 2002(f) of this Act to waive section 1610(f)(1) of the Foreign 
Sovereign Immunities Act.
    Fourth, H.R. 3244 makes the United States fully subrogated to the 
rights of the

[[Page 2665]]

persons who receive payments under this Act, to the extent of the 
payments. The Congress reaffirms my authority to pursue these subrogated 
rights as claims or offsets against Iran in appropriate ways, including 
negotiations leading to any normalization process. In addition, no funds 
are permitted to be paid to Iran, or released to Iran, from property 
blocked under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act or the 
Foreign Military Sales Fund, until such claims have been dealt with to 
the satisfaction of the United States. The determination that the claims 
have been dealt with to the satisfaction of the United States will be 
subject to Presidential discretion.
    This legislation is a measure of the United States Government's 
commitment to the victims of terrorism, to deter future acts of 
terrorism, and to defend the United States from its evils. It is not 
designed to preclude any other means to this end. The United States will 
continue to pursue an aggressive, comprehensive policy incorporating 
diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence, and other means to protect its 
citizens.
    In conclusion, I would like to recognize and congratulate the 
bipartisan sponsorship of, and support for, the ``Victims of Trafficking 
and Violence Prevention Act of 2000.'' Its enactment is an achievement 
of which all involved may be justly proud. It will serve us well in the 
years ahead as we continue to do what is needed to detect and eradicate 
trafficking in persons, violence against women, and other reprehensible 
forms of criminal conduct.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 October 28, 2000.

  Note:  H.R. 3244, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection 
Act of 2000, approved October 28, was assigned Public Law No. 106-386.


<DOC>
[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents]
 [frwais.access.gpo.gov]
                         

[Page 2665-2668]
 
Monday, November 6, 2000
 
Volume 36--Number 44
Pages 2651-2760
 
Week Ending Friday, November 3, 2000
 
Remarks on the Budget and Legislative Agenda and an Exchange With 
Reporters

October 28, 2000

    The President. Good afternoon.
    Q. Got it right.
    The President. I got it right. I'm making progress. [Laughter]
    As I said yesterday, when this Congress has acted in a spirit of 
genuine bipartisanship, we have made profound progress. Yesterday I 
signed the VA/HUD bill that invests in the health of veterans, advances 
welfare reform with 75,000 housing vouchers, strengthens AmeriCorps, and 
invests in cutting-edge scientific research with the largest increase 
ever in the National Science Foundation.
    Earlier this month I signed an Interior bill that creates the 
largest appropriation for lands preservation in our Nation's history. I 
also look forward to signing the bipartisan foreign operations bill, 
which will fund our debt relief initiative for the poorest countries in 
the world.
    And just a few moments ago, I signed a vitally important and 
bipartisan Agriculture appropriations bill. This legislation will fund 
our Nation's agriculture programs for the coming year and provided much 
need help to our farmers, our ranchers, our rural communities, who have 
suffered everything from devastating droughts to low commodity prices.
    It also contains the largest increase ever in development funding 
for rural and Native American communities that have not shared in our 
Nation's prosperity. It will help to create new businesses and expand 
current ones in small towns and rural areas. It will help rural 
communities attract new residents, and with funding for new health 
clinics and improved water systems, it will improve the quality of life 
all across rural America.
    The bill also will help us provide humanitarian relief and 
development loans to countries that need help, and promote the sale of 
United States goods abroad. The bill modernizes our food inspection 
system with increased surveillance and more food inspectors.
    Finally, this bill includes commonsense reforms that will let food 
stamp recipients own a dependable car and have decent housing. If we 
want people to go to work, they have to be able to get to work. They 
shouldn't have to choose between a car they need to get to their jobs 
and the nutrition and shelter they need for their children.

[[Page 2666]]

    This is a good bill for America. It helps hard-hit farmers, 
ranchers, and rural communities; improves the safety of our food; and 
takes the next steps in welfare reform. Of course, there are also things 
in the bill I don't like. It says it allows the importation of lower 
cost prescription drugs from other countries but leaves the power of 
deciding whether or not to import these drugs to the drug companies, 
meaning it will do nothing for seniors and others struggling to pay high 
prescription drug bills.
    It purports to allow the export of American products to Cuba, yet it 
makes it virtually impossible for family farmers to arrange the 
financing that enables such sales to take place. Moreover, the 
legislation is designed to impose new restriction on our efforts to 
foster people-to-people contacts and bring reform in Cuba.
    It also includes objectionable trade provisions and doesn't restore 
food stamps for legal immigrants. And it contains fewer resources than I 
requested for clean water for farms and for climate change.
    Nonetheless, I decided that, on balance, this bill advances the 
interests of the American people. That's why I signed it, and that's how 
progress is made, when we work together and have honorable compromise. 
No one gets everything he or she wants.
    I still have the feeling the congressional majority has not yet 
decided whether they want to work with us in this way on the remaining 
bills, or just score points and leave town. On Medicare, we sent the 
majority a very detailed proposal. We said when it comes to more 
resources, the priority should not be HMO's but teaching hospitals, 
rural hospitals, home health agencies, children with disabilities, and 
pregnant women and children who are legal immigrants. The congressional 
leadership so far has virtually ignored that proposal.
    The story is the same on taxes. We put forward a good-faith 
compromise and then offered to work to craft a bipartisan tax bill that 
meets the test of fairness to children, to seniors, to millions of 
Americans without health coverage, and to small business. The answer we 
got was disappointing: Instead of meeting with us, instead of working 
with the White House and/or congressional Democrats, the Republican 
leadership instead crafted their own partisan tax package and passed it 
on largely a party-line vote.
    Again I'm asking the congressional leaders to instruct their tax 
negotiators to meet with ours tomorrow, so we can find common ground on 
tax relief for America's families. We don't yet know how the education 
and health bill will work out. I hope the majority doesn't choose the 
path they took on the tax bill, or the Commerce/State/Justice bill, for 
that matter. Instead, we should do what was done on the agriculture bill 
I signed today; on the VA/HUD bill; on the Interior bill--the bipartisan 
path that invariably leads us to progress.
    We said very specifically what our schools need--smaller class sizes 
and modern classrooms, investments in accountability, turning around 
failing schools, and teacher quality. There's no secret about what the 
right course is. Our priorities are clear, and we're ready to work with 
them in good faith, just as we have on all other bills.
    Again this morning, Congress voted for a stopgap spending bill for 
today and quickly left town for the weekend. That's like going to work 
in the morning, punching the clock, and going back home. Our budget team 
is working all weekend, ready to meet. We need to come together on a 
budget, meet on Medicare, work out a fair tax cut bill, raise the 
minimum wage, and pass the new markets legislation.
    Tonight we turn back the clocks, and we gain an hour. We ought to 
put that extra hour to good use. We're here; we're ready; and we need to 
finish the job.
    Thank you.

Relations With Congress

    Q. Mr. President, does it bother you that your insistence on just 
single-day extensions of the emergency spending bill has provoked 
considerable anger and irritation on the Capitol? Trent Lott says it's 
humiliating. Arlen Specter said you're intimidating Congress--I'm sorry, 
Trent Lott said it was harassment. Does that bother you? Do you think 
this works against you?
    The President. Well, I hope not. I'm not trying to harass them. I'm 
just trying to get them finished and get out of town. They want

[[Page 2667]]

to go home and campaign, and they have a right to. They need to 
campaign, but they need to finish their jobs.
    And I think it's highly--it's frustrating for Senator Lott because 
the real problem here is that the rightwing of the Republican caucus in 
the Senate so far has not permitted the Republicans to meet with the 
Democrats and work out a compromise on these last bills, as we have on 

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