Senate Dems Stall Anti-Trafficking Bill over Abortion

A bipartisan anti-human trafficking bill has stalled in the Senate after Democrats took issue with an abortion provision they say they had not noticed before.

Up until this week, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 authored by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and cosponsored by both Democrats and Republicans, had been expected to pass without hestiation.

"I doubt if there will be problems on my side," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday. "If there is, I will work to clear them."

But Reid changed his mind after Senate Democrats complained just this week about an anti-abortion provision within the 68-page bill, which has been available for two months. Democrats are now threatening to keep it from passing.

The legislation seeks to increase penalties for those convicted of human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children. It also sets up a domestic trafficking victims fund comprised of fines paid by those convicted of sex trafficking crimes.

Both parties would like to see these components made into law, but they disagree on one small clause that refers to the Hyde Amendment. That is the law that bars the use of funds to pay for abortions, except in the case of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in jeopardy.

According to Sen. Thune, R-S.D., the Hyde Amendment has been used in bills drafted by both parties since 1976.

"The ironic thing about what's evidently now, in the eyes of the Democrats at least, derailed something that has such unanimous support here in the U.S. Senate is language that they all voted for as recently as December of 2014," Thune said in a press conference Thursday.

"The Hyde language is something that no matter where you are on abortion politics has been a position that has been a consensus view around here that tax dollars shouldn't go to support abortions. Yhat's been the case here literally since 1976," he said.

Democrats say, "a number of people feel that it was by sleight-of-hand" that the provision was added into the bill.

Republicans, however, claim the clause had been a part of the bill since the very beginning when it was unanimously passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee last month. Cornyn insists some Democrats knew of the language before this week.

"It was out in the public domain for a month before it was marked up in Judiciary Committee on Feb. 26, and all members of the Judiciary Committee voted to support it," he said.

"This objection that came up just a couple of days ago, I think its worth noting, has been called a phantom problem. The reason why it's a phantom problem is because its basically the same provision that's been the law of the land for 39 years," Cornyn said.

Cornyn also pointed out previous instances where the Hyde Amendment has been applied outside of the appropriations process, one being Obamacare, which every single Democrat voted in favor of.

Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said in a press conference he will allow Senate Democrats to vote Thursday afternoon to remove the provision in an effort to ensure the bill passes and human trafficking victims recieve benefits as soon as possible.