Lawmakers aim to reduce slavery

Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at helping end global slavery.

The proposal would establish The End Modern Slavery Initiative Foundation, which would fund programs outside of the United States that work to eliminate or prevent slavery. The foundation would focus on significantly reducing slavery within seven years.

{mosads}“There are 27 million people today … around the world, that are enslaved, in rug-making facilities, brick kilns, all kinds of sex trafficking…These are crimes of opportunity, average business people [worldwide] are making money by enslaving people,” Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during an interview about the legislation Sunday with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The foundation would require $251 million in funding from Congress over eight years, according to a fact sheet from Corker’s office. The foundation would also need $500 million from foreign governments, and additional $750 million in private funding.

The legislation is expected to move quickly. Corker’s committee is scheduled to vote on the proposal Thursday.

The legislation follows a pair of committee hearings Corker held earlier this month on the best way to end modern slavery.