WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Renee Ellmers spoke this morning to the symposium on human trafficking hosted by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Below is an excerpt from her speech:

"I am a nurse and before I came to Washington, I worked with my husband in our general surgery practice in Dunn, North Carolina. Now that I am in Washington, I am taking those lessons and skills and using them to help repair the health of our nation - which we've all seen is no small task."

"Trafficking has been around for thousands of years, as it continues to adapt to new ways of exploitation. As a nation founded on the ideals of protecting our citizens from harm, it is our duty to do everything in our power to enforce the laws that we have and continue to perfect them as things continue to evolve. But focusing on these laws is only one part of the overall picture. We must also concentrate on how our public health is working on this issue and how the survivors are treated so that they can regain their lives."

"That is why this symposium is so important. We do not have all the answers, but we do know the problems and that they must be addressed. Doctors and nurses, patients and victims, Democrats and Republicans - we are all here because each of us has been impacted by the violence and abuse happening all around us. We are here to say 'enough is enough.'"

Click Here to read Congresswoman Ellmers' full speech from this morning.

This morning's symposium on human trafficking was hosted by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, Advisory Council on Child Trafficking (ACCT) and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women. The symposium featured prominent leaders from the academic, health, and public policy fields.

Fellow speakers included Todd Park, U.S. chief technology officer and Assistant to the President, Dina Habib Powell, Goldman Sachs global head of corporate engagement and president of Goldman Sachs Foundation; HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; Tory Burch, CEO of Tory Burch, founder of Tory Burch Foundation, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; Withelma "T" Ortiz, 2011 Glamour magazine "Woman of the Year", Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.

For more information on today's symposium, click here.

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For more information, please visit Congresswoman Ellmers’ website at www.ellmers.house.gov or call (202) 225-4531.

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