An enduring but little noticed facet of the process of federal lawmaking is the way in which U.S. government agencies often engage in promoting — or opposing — legislative proposals. It’s one of those gray areas of government (and the Constitution) in which the traditional separation of powers among the legislative, executive and judicial branches is blurred, if not ignored, as federal bureaucrats whose job is it to implement and uphold laws enacted by Congress instead engage in behind-the-scenes efforts to either kill proposals they don’t like, or advocate enactment of legislation they favor.

This dynamic appears to be operating full throttle in Washington as the Senate takes up a House-passed measure to strengthen the nation’s anti-slavery law, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. Not only did the House approve the new bill, it did so overwhelmingly by a margin of 405 for to only 2 against. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better example of clear legislative intent.

Yet the Department of Justice is opposing the bill in the Senate, apparently hoping to either kill it outright or persuade Senators to back another, weaker proposal.

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