[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 69 (Thursday, May 8, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2876-S2878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Collins, Mr. Kirk,
and Mrs. Shaheen):
S. 2307. A bill to prevent international violence against women, and
for other purposes; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to join with my colleagues,
Senators Boxer, Kirk, Menendez, and Shaheen, in introducing the
International Violence Against Women Act of 2014. This bill makes
ending violence against women and girls a top diplomatic priority. It
would permanently authorize the State Department's Office of Global
Women's Issues and the position of the Ambassador-at-Large for Global
Women's Issues.
It requires the administration to develop and implement an annual
strategy to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls for
each of the next 5 years. This legislation will ensure that the efforts
begun under President George W. Bush and continued by President Barack
Obama to combat gender-based violence will be a priority for future
administrations as well.
We have witnessed great strides in women's equality in our own
country and in much of the developed world over the past century.
Across vast swaths of the globe, however, violence against women and
forced marriages are everyday occurrences. One out of three women
worldwide will be physically, sexually or otherwise abused during her
lifetime, with rates reaching 70 percent in some countries.
This violence ranges from domestic violence to rape and acid
burnings, to dowry deaths and so-called honor killings. Such violence
is often exacerbated in humanitarian emergencies and conflict settings.
Violence against women and girls is a human rights issue, a public
health epidemic, and a barrier to solving global challenges such as
extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS, and conflict.
The world has just seen an appalling example of women and girls being
treated as property and bargaining chips in Nigeria, where the
terrorist group Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 school girls and is
threatening to sell them into sexual slavery and into forced marriages.
Tragically, there are reports that some have already been sold into
child marriages. Boko Haram's leaders said the girls should get married
and never be educated. He has said:
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I will marry off a woman at the age of 12. I will marry off
a girl at the age of 9.
In fact, the very name of this terrorist group roughly translates to
the phrase ``Western education is sinful.'' Sadly, this is a viewpoint
that is not just limited to terrorist leaders, though it is difficult
to think of a more egregious example of abuse against girls than what
we have just witnessed in Nigeria. The International Center for
Research on Women says that one in nine girls around the world is
married before the age of 15, a harmful practice that deprives girls of
their dignity and often their education, increases their health risks,
and perpetuates poverty. The practice of preventing women from
attaining their full potential by targeting them for violence and early
marriage is still far too common in far too many countries around the
world.
The International Violence Against Women Act ensures that our country
will take a leadership role in combating these problems. It establishes
that it is the policy of the United States to take action to prevent
and respond to violence against women and girls around the globe and to
integrate and coordinate efforts to address gender-based violence into
U.S. foreign policy and foreign assistance programs.
Specifically, our bill will foster efforts in four areas. First, it
will increase legal and judicial protections by supporting laws and
legal structures that prevent and appropriately respond to all forms of
violence against women and girls, including honor killings and forced
marriages. For example, our bill will support our State Department's
work with other countries to help those nations reform their legal
systems by providing technical expertise and model laws and building
the capacity of their police and judges.
Second, our bill will increase efforts to build health sector
capacity, integrating programs to address violence against women and
girls into existing health care programs focused on children's
survival, women's health, and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Third, our legislation will focus on preventing violence by changing
community norms and attitudes against the acceptability of violence
against women and girls.
Fourth, our bill will focus on reducing females' vulnerability to
violence by improving their economic status and educational
opportunities. Efforts would include ensuring that women have access to
job training and employment opportunities and increasing their right to
own land and property, allowing them potentially to support themselves
and their children.
Our bill will require the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to
Gender-Based Violence Globally to identify 5 to 20 eligible low- and
middle-income countries for which comprehensive individual country
plans would be developed. The bill requires that at least 10 percent of
U.S. assistance to prevent and respond to violence against females be
provided to nongovernmental organizations, with priority given to those
headed by women.
As the Presiding Officer well knows, violence has a profoundly
negative impact on the lives of women and girls. In addition to being a
pressing human rights issue, such violence contributes to inequality
and political instability, making it a security issue as well as a
moral issue for all of us.
I am committed to working with my colleagues to end violence against
women and girls and to provide the assistance and resources necessary
to achieve this goal, and I am pleased to be the principal cosponsor of
Senator Boxer's bill.
______
By Mrs. McCASKILL (for herself, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Levin, and Mr.
Rockefeller):
S. 2308. A bill to designate Union Station in Washington, DC, as
``Harry S. Truman Union Station''; to the Committee on Environment and
Public Works.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I am truly delighted that my colleagues
from Missouri, Senators McCaskill and Blunt, have today introduced
legislation to name Washington, DC's Union Station after our 33rd
President Harry Truman, legislation of which I am proud to be an
original cosponsor.
It is long overdue that we honor President Truman in this way. While
much, in life and in politics, loses its luster as time passes, the
Truman Presidency has only grown in stature and historical significance
over the decades. There are many reasons for this, but let me focus on
just a few.
First, history has shown the significance and wisdom of Truman's
leadership in forging America's post-war foreign policy consensus.
Truman and America understood the hard lesson of World War II: that a
failure to engage in the world could have tragic consequences for our
Nation, for our friends and allies, and for humanity. He understood the
importance to the free world of helping to rebuild our chief enemies in
that war, Germany and Japan. He understood the importance of working
across party lines to build and maintain a consensus for these policies
so that they did not depend on any one President or party to continue.
We in Michigan are especially proud of the role that our Senator
Vandenberg, a Republican, played in helping to build this consensus
along with a Democratic President. Their hard work resulted in one of
our Nation's most lasting and important achievements, ensuring
America's enduring role in leading a rising tide of freedom around the
world.
A second aspect of the Truman legacy is his commitment to open,
ethical and responsive government. He achieved public notice in the
Senate as chairman of a committee tasked with fighting fraud and waste
in defense contracting during World War II. He was among the earliest
Washington politicians to call for lobbying reform. Ever since Truman's
time, any government official who has sought to deflect responsibility
or accountability in that time-honored political tradition of buck-
passing has suffered in comparison to the Truman policy that ``The Buck
Stops Here.''
Lastly, I will mention this: Harry Truman was a simple man. He was
regularly described as ``plain''--and to his detractors, this was no
compliment--but he wore it as a badge of honor. He understood that this
Nation was built on the hard work, dedication and commitment of
ordinary working people--because he came from ordinary working people.
He talked straight, often bluntly. He demonstrated that one could rise
to the highest office in the land based not on clever rhetoric or by
currying favor, but by charting the best course for our Nation and
clearly explaining that course to the people we all serve. He proved
that wisdom is in the power of our ideas--nothing more and nothing
less.
It was a train that carried Harry Truman on his ``Give 'em Hell,
Harry!'' whistle-stop tour during the 1948 campaign. It was from a
train that he held up that famous headline--``Dewey Defeats Truman''--
that serves to this day as a rallying cry for the underdog. He rode the
train from Union Station a lot, going home to be with his beloved wife
Bess. So naming the train station of our Nation's capital, within sight
of the Capitol where he served so well, is a fitting tribute.
I join my Missouri colleagues in urging the Senate to adopt this
legislation and pay due honor to President Harry Truman.
______
By Mr. ROCKEFELLER (for himself and Mr. Manchin):
S. 2310. A bill to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint
coins in commemoration of Mother's Day; to the Committee on Banking,
Housing, and Urban Affairs.
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the
Mother's Day Commemorative Coin Act. I am proud to be joined by Senator
Manchin in this important effort.
Mother's Day is a special event for all West Virginians because this
annual tribute to mothers began in our state. In 1908, a West Virginia
woman by the name of Anna Jarvis petitioned her local church to declare
May 9th as Mother's Day. She hoped that this holiday would serve as a
day to remember and honor our mothers, and to promote peace and
understanding. Within a year, all 46 States celebrated Mother's Day in
some fashion, and in 1914, Congress and the President declared the
second Sunday of May ``Mother's Day.'' This May 9 will mark the
centennial for the national recognition of Mother's Day, and this bill
provides an opportunity to commemorate this important holiday and
further recognize the
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millions of American mothers whose essential role in all of our lives
canna be overstated.
The legislation I am introducing today would recognize Mother's Day
by authorizing the Treasury to mint a commemorative Mother's Day coin.
Profits generated from the sale of these coins would be donated to the
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the National Osteoporosis
Foundation. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has advanced cures
for catastrophic pediatric diseases through research and treatment; and
the National Osteoporosis Foundation is considered our Nation's leading
voluntary health organization.
In the U.S. alone, 10 million people have osteoporosis, and 80
percent of those who suffer from this disease are women. This
legislation not only honors our nation's mothers, but also helps to
raise funds to fight a serious disease that disproportionately impacts
women. Thousands of mothers and their children have benefited from the
efforts of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the National
Osteoporosis Foundation, and they are well-deserving of our support.
Therefore, I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation to
honor every mother in our country.
I can think of no better way to celebrate Mother's Day than by
helping to promote the health of American mothers and their children.
______
By Mr. REED:
S. 2312. A bill to amend titles 5, 10, and 32, United States Code, to
eliminate inequities in the treatment of National Guard technicians,
and for other purposes; to the Committee on Armed Services.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I introduce the National Guard
Technician Equity Act to address inconsistencies in the dual-status
technician program.
Over 48,000 National Guard dual-status technicians serve our nation.
They are a distinct group of workers--as civilians, they work for the
reserve components, performing administrative duties, providing
training, and maintaining and repairing equipment. However, as a
condition of their civilian position, they are also required to
maintain military status--attending weekend drills and annual training,
deploying overseas, and responding to domestic disasters and
emergencies--thereby creating their ``dual-status.''
As a result, dual-status technicians are caught between the
provisions that govern the Federal civilian workforce and the military
in numerous ways. First, under existing law, a dual-status technician
who is no longer fit for military duty must be fired from their
technician position, even if they are still fully capable of performing
their civilian duties. This bill would give technicians the option of
remaining in their civilian position if they have 20 years of service
as a dual-status technician, so that the experience and skills of these
dedicated employees will not be lost.
Second, dual-status technicians do not have the same appeal rights as
most other Federal employees, including those civilians in other
Department of Defense positions. Federal employees who are covered by a
collective bargaining agreement have the right to file a grievance and
proceed to arbitration, or file a case with the Merit Systems
Protection Board, MSPB. Currently, dual-status technicians may appeal
to the Adjutant General in their state, but not to any neutral third
party. This bill would allow them to also appeal to the MSPB for
grievances unrelated to their military service.
Third, most reserve component members are able to obtain health care
coverage through the TRICARE Reserve Select program. However, dual-
status technicians are ineligible, despite their mandatory military
status and reserve service, because they can participate in the Federal
Employees Health Benefit Program, FEHBP. FEHBP plans can be more
expensive than TRICARE Reserve Select, thereby adding costs and
limiting health care options for these Guard technicians. My
legislation simply calls for the Government Accountability Office to
study the feasibility of converting the coverage for National Guard
dual-status technicians from FEHBP to TRICARE Reserve Select.
The National Guard Technician Equity Act also allows technicians to
receive overtime pay and requires the Secretary of Defense to report to
Congress on the adequacy of leave time provided to Federal employees
who are members of the National Guard for required military training.
I urge my colleagues to support and cosponsor the National Guard
Technician Equity Act, and join me in pressing for inclusion of
provisions of this bill in the National Defense Authorization Act.
____________________