In the News

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed Congressman Gerry Connolly’s bipartisan, bicameral amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to end human trafficking of foreign nationals employed by U.S. contractors in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in some U.S. embassies in the Middle East. Connolly was joined by Reps. James Lankford (R-OK), Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Elijah Cummings (D-MD) in offering the amendment.  The NDAA bill, including Connolly’s amendment, passed the House on Friday.

Late last year, Rep. Connolly, Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on procurement policy, and Chairman Lankford (R-OK) held a hearing that revealed human trafficking by contractors and subcontractors with contracts under Department of State, USAID, and other federal agencies.  These practices include seizing workers' passports to trap them at a work site, lying about compensation, engaging in sexual abuse and generally keeping workers in a state of indentured servitude.

"Personal autonomy is at the very heart of American values,” said Connolly. “Human trafficking is the antithesis of that value and can never, anywhere, be accepted by our government, its contractors or subcontractors, period.”

Connolly’s amendment would put in place measures to provide greater oversight of federal contracts and ensure federal dollars are not used for human trafficking.  The amendment will:

• Require every contract to have a clause allowing contract termination in the event of human trafficking and penalties for contractors who engage in trafficking.
• Lists indices of trafficking, such as revocation of passports and high recruiting fees, which require agency investigations and corrective action.
• Require large overseas contracts to have compliance plans to prevent trafficking.
• Require agency investigation of trafficking complaints or evidence of trafficking; and expands fraud in foreign labor contracting penalties to work performed outside of the U.S. on federal contracts.