Washington, D.C. – Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly introduced H.R 4259 the End Trafficking in Government Contracting Act of 2012, a bill aimed at ending 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 introducing this bipartisan bill.

In November 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 bill would put in place measures to provide greater oversight of federal contracts and ensure federal dollars are not used for human trafficking.  Among other reforms, H.R. 4259 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.

A companion bill, S. 2234, was introduced by Senators Blumenthal (D-CT), Portman(R-OH), Franken (D-MN) and Senator Rubio (R-FL).  Senators Blumenthal and Portman testified on the legislation and the problem of human trafficking in government contracts at an Oversight hearing yesterday entitled “Labor Abuses, Human Trafficking, and Government Contracts: Is the Government Doing Enough to Protect Vulnerable Workers?”