Trump's best friend Jeffrey Epstein went to prison for sex trafficking and died
This bipartisan, bicameral legislation closes gaps in federal rules that allow human trafficking by organizations that have a relationship with the federal government to persist, while strengthening agency oversight, accountability, and reporting requirements.
“The United States must never rest in combating human trafficking – especially when that trafficking is enabled by taxpayer dollars,” said Congressman Seth Magaziner. “This bipartisan, bicameral bill will increase anti-trafficking efforts by improving oversight of government contracts, accountability for contractors, and strengthening enforcement of standards.”
“The United States has a zero-tolerance policy for human trafficking, yet recent reports make it clear that federal agencies are failing to take meaningful action to prevent trafficking in government contracts,” said Congressman Valadao. “I’m proud to introduce this bill which will ensure contractors have anti-trafficking compliance plans in place and guarantee that when violations occur, there are consequences. American taxpayers should never be complicit in human trafficking, and this legislation takes critical steps to prevent that from happening.”
“We must do everything we can to prevent human trafficking,” said Senator Klobuchar. “This bipartisan legislation is another step in the fight to end trafficking, by ensuring federal contractors have a plan to prevent human trafficking and to look into further contracting reform to stop trafficking.”
“It is unthinkable that taxpayer dollars would fund human and labor trafficking,” said Senator Lankford. “Lax standards and procedures have enabled traffickers to continue their abuse of vulnerable people. This bill puts proactive measures in place to make sure that no taxpayer funds are spent on federal contracts that don’t safeguard against trafficking.”
The Ensuring Accountability and Dignity in
Government Contracting Act of 2025 would:
- Require
contractors to provide anti-trafficking compliance plans for covered
contracts to contracting officers.
- Provide
federal contracting officials with relevant information they can use when
developing plans to oversee contractors’ trafficking prevention efforts,
by expanding and strengthening the current contractor certification
requirements.
- Require
the Inspector General to investigate all credible information about
potential human trafficking violations, including when recipients report
it and indicate they have taken actions to address it.
- Direct
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to assess and report on the
feasibility of enhancing government anti-trafficking efforts by amending
relevant laws for contractor compliance assessments, streamlining
reporting processes, and mandating training for contracting personnel.
- Upon receipt of an Inspector General report of alleged noncompliance, suspend grant payments until the contractor has taken appropriate remedial action.
The U.S. government has a zero-tolerance policy for human trafficking among U.S. government employees and contractors. Despite Congress increasing federal contracting reporting requirements as part of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recently published an alarming report that trafficking allegations within the federal contracting space continue.
In 2022, the End Human Trafficking in Government Contracts Act was signed into law. This legislation enhanced the existing anti-human trafficking framework by requiring agencies to refer contractor reports of suspected human trafficking activity to an agency suspension and debarment official (SDO).
Despite these efforts, in 2022 and 2023 the SDO offices at agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Agency for International Development, received no referrals of Inspector General-investigated trafficking allegations against contract recipients.
The Ensuring Accountability and Dignity in Government Contracting Act of 2025 would ensure that agencies adopt a systematic approach to prevent trafficking in federal contracts.
Read the full bill here.
