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Through unified oversight efforts on the part of Democrats and Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight – as well as in the entirety of the People’s House – justice for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s heinous crimes is coming to fruition. These efforts have been consistent throughout the 119^th Congress and began via a resolution that formalized the federal government’s investigation into Epstein and his associates that I led through the House Rules Committee. More recently, the House voted unanimously to hold Leon Black, a known Epsteinassociate, in contempt of Congress for his stark refusal to testify about his knowledge, involvement in, and ties to Epstein’s trafficking network. Indeed, no stone is being left unturned, and the facts confirm this.

This far, our work on the House Oversight Committee has yielded 19 depositions and transcribed interviews, the releasing of approximately 65,000 pages of documents from the Epstein estate, throngs of Epstein’s bank records, and two referrals to the Department of Justice for further investigation of the former Mayor of Miami Beach and a French celebrity hairstylist who were named by one of Epstein’s former assistants.   

Alongside these ongoing, bipartisan oversight efforts, there is more to this process that is already underway. Important legislation has been filed to further combat sex trafficking and protecting the rights of survivors.  

I’ve recently signed on as an original cosponsor to the Survivor’s Voice Protection Act, authored by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY). This legislation ensures that private contractual provisions cannot be used to prevent survivors from disclosing sexual abuse—defined as any criminal sexual abuse and assault, the sexual grooming of minors, or human trafficking—while creating additional accountability for trusted individuals to protect minors by establishing a legal obligation for fiduciaries to report suspected grooming behavior to a law enforcement authority. 

Further, the Survivor’s Voice Protection Act would define “grooming” in federal law for the very first time – a pertinent development that can and should be implemented. It would define “grooming” to mean conduct that is intended to establish an emotional connection with a minor, including manipulation, trust-building, or influence in order to facilitate acts of sexual conduct.

Representatives Ann Wagner (R-MO), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), and I have introduced the bipartisan Sex Trafficking Demand Reduction Act that would strengthen existing criteria used by the State Department that would accurately measure a foreign nation’s efforts to eliminate sex trafficking. Foreign nations that do not meet the strict, upgraded requirements imposed by the State Department may be subject to restrictions on U.S. foreign aid. If a foreign nation chooses not to make a serious and substantive effort to combat sex trafficking while at the very same time seeks foreign aid from the United States, there must be consequences. If there’s a through line stemming from the Epstein investigation, it’s that the market and demand driven by sex buyers fuel the profitability of human trafficking.

While significant progress has been achieved on a bipartisan basis in the House Oversight Committee to expose Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, associates, and other criminal dealings, there’s still more work to be done. I’m proud to work alongside colleagues on both sides of the aisle to conduct this work, to bring accountability to the victims of Epstein’s despicable crimes, and to bring meaningful reforms so that victims and survivors of these kinds of crimes can remain protected.

Published in the Greensboro News & Record