The Current

Advocacy News + Updates

Great news: the Human Trafficking Prioritization Act (H.R.2283) is headed to the House floor for a vote within the next two weeks! Many of you have worked hard on getting this little bill to where it is today, and it's time to send it over the finish line of its journey through the House. Will you make a quick call to help see it through? 

Call your representative today and ask them to vote YES on H.R.2283 when it comes to the floor.

Here is all the information you need to make this quick, easy, but important phone call!

  1. Find out who your representative is and write down their name.
  2. Dial 1-866-720-3733 (FREE)
  3. Say (note the brackets, indicating places where you can personalize the script!):

Hi, my name is [YOUR NAME] and I’m calling from [YOUR TOWN, STATE] to ask Representative [YOUR REP’S NAME] to vote YES on the package of anti-trafficking bills that is coming to the House floor in the next two weeks. In particular, I’m calling in support of H.R. 2283, the Human Trafficking Prioritization Act. I’m really hopeful that this legislation will be enacted. Will you please pass my message on to the Congress[MAN/WOMAN]? Thank you!

Thanks, friends! Let's get those phones ringing off the hook. We'll keep you posted, and hopefully be back with good news in the upcoming weeks!

***

Wondering why this little bill is such a big deal? Here's a snippet of a blog post we wrote a little while ago, answering that exact question:

 

The Little Bill That Could Do Big Things

My colleague Tim Gehring calls these bills “little, because they don’t cost anything, they don’t create new bureaucracy, and they don’t add duties:  all they do is change the name of the TIP Office to Bureau, and change the title of the Ambassador-at-Large who heads it to “Assistant Secretary of State.” But, as Tim goes on to say, this little bill does a great deal. With that one small change of name, the TIP bureau would have the stature of the State Department regional bureaus that so often resist making an issue of modern day slavery. Upgrading the TIP Office within the State Department will allow the Office’s head, Ambassador Lou CdeBaca, the daily opportunities to be able to speak into important decisions that affect the fight against human trafficking. All too frequently, Ambassador CdeBaca isn’t even at the table when key decisions are being made about U.S. diplomacy in slavery-burdened countries.