I’ve always had a soft spot for bashing Jeff Sessions, but I never thought I’d get a target this juicy:
Recently, the U.S. Senate was moments away from passing landmark legislation that would have provided critical care and shelter to child sex trafficking victims in America. The Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2010, bi-partisan legislation introduced by Senators Wyden (D-OR) and Cornyn (R-TX), had already passed the Senate unanimously and the House with minor changes. But when it came time for the Senate to approve those changes and give hope to thousands of trafficked kids, one man stood in the way: Senator Jeffrey Sessions of Alabama. Why did Senator Sessions vote for child sex trafficking?
My guess was “procedural BS related to the deficit” which would have been pretty loathsome, but the actual answer is much worse. Apparently Sessions flip-flopped on the merits at the behest of the Concerned Women of America who feel it should be possible to legally prosecute children forced into prostitution. After all, they’re prostitutes and prostitution is illegal. My understanding is that some real cranks won in 2010, but it’ll be hard for anyone to capture the “America’s Worst Senator” title away from Sessions.
Update
It’s now my understanding that the Change.org post I linked to in this item is unfair to Sessions in some respects. Look for another update soon when I understand this better.
Update
,On closer reading, Change.org’s description of Senator Sessions’ motives appears to me to be inaccurate. Instead, the issue is that the House and Senate versions of the bill were in fact different. The differences are characterized by the main advocates for the legislation as extremely minor, but Sessions disagrees and the holdup is specifically about those differences rather than a change of opinion on the merits of the underlying bill. I apologize for the error — Sessions is still not my favorite legislator, and he should still let the bill goal forward, but this looks like a case of over-zealous advocates misleading about what’s happening.
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