The Current

Many people celebrated last Thursday when Congress reached a bipartisan budget agreement. Avoiding another government shutdown is surely reason to be thankful, but at IJM, we donned our party hats for another reason, too.

 

You see, within the multi-trillion dollar U.S. federal budget, there is a tiny line item that we care about a lot: the budget for the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office). Their budget represents just .0007% of the total federal budget, but they orchestrate all U.S. government efforts to combat slavery worldwide. Last week, Congress voted to substantially increase the TIP Office’s budget. This is money that the TIP Office can now use to bring people out of slavery. 

 

In addition, the new budget includes $5 million to fund the Child Protection Compact Act (CPCA), a small provision within the larger Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act that Congress passed last February. The CPCA represents a new way of funding the fight against slavery, by focusing resources and attention on select countries that need help and are willing to fight the crime. It’s a legislative and funding victory five years in the making.

 

WHAT A BUDGET BOOST MEANS

Compared to the $32 billion traffickers generate in profit every year, a budget boost far short of that may not seem like a major achievement. But, at a time when almost no programs are receiving budget increases, this budget hike for programs to fight human trafficking shows two things:

  1.  Congress appreciates the good work of the TIP Office and their careful stewardship of foreign assistance funds.

  2.  Democracy still works. Congress is responding to thousands of meetings, phone calls, letters, and postcards that you generated over the last five years, urging lawmakers to use their power to end slavery. 

 

If there is one thing I’ve learned after almost 15 years as an organizer, it is the importance of acknowledging and celebrating victories along the way. Congress didn’t close the book on slavery last week, but your unfailing voices were heard, and change happened.