[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 18 (Tuesday, January 28, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H601-H605]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      KEEPING GIRLS IN SCHOOL ACT

  Mr. PHILLIPS. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2153) to support empowerment, economic security, and 
educational opportunities for adolescent girls around the world, and 
for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2153

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

       (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Keeping 
     Girls in School Act''.
       (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act 
     is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Appropriate congressional committees defined.
Sec. 3. Findings.
Sec. 4. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 5. Secondary education for adolescent girls.
Sec. 6. Global strategy requirement.
Sec. 7. Transparency and reporting to Congress.

     SEC. 2. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

       In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional 
     committees'' means--
       (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
     Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and
       (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
     Appropriations of the Senate.

     SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) Adolescence is a critical period in a girl's life, when 
     significant physical, emotional, and social changes shape her 
     future.
       (2) Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable to HIV/
     AIDS, child, early and forced marriage, and other forms of 
     violence which are detrimental to their futures, as evidenced 
     by the following statistics:
       (A) Each year, 380,000 adolescent girls and young women 
     become newly infected with HIV, more than 1,000 every day, 
     and comprise the fastest-growing demographic for new 
     infections in sub-Saharan Africa.
       (B) Each year, 12,000,000 adolescent girls around the world 
     are married before their 18th birthday, and more than 
     650,000,000 women alive today were married as children.
       (C) Child marriages often interrupt schooling, limit 
     opportunities, and impact the physical, psychological and 
     social well-being of such girls. If there is no reduction in 
     child marriage, the global number of women married as 
     children is projected to increase by 150,000,000 by 2030.
       (D) One-quarter to one-half of girls in developing 
     countries become mothers before the age of 18, and girls 
     under 15 are five times more likely to die during childbirth 
     than women in their 20s.
       (3) Approximately 130,000,000 girls around the world are 
     not in school, and millions more are failing to acquire basic 
     reading, writing, and numeracy skills.
       (4) Girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are three times 
     more likely than boys to be kept out of school, particularly 
     in countries affected by conflict.
       (5) Due to discriminatory gender norms and expectations, 
     disparities in access to safe and quality education manifest 
     early in a girl's life and continue to become more pronounced 
     throughout adolescence.
       (6) Girls living with disabilities are less likely to start 
     school and transition to secondary school than boys living 
     with disabilities and other children, and just 1 percent of 
     women with disabilities are literate globally.
       (7) While two-thirds of all countries have achieved gender 
     parity in primary education, only 40 percent have achieved 
     gender parity in secondary education.
       (8) Adolescent girls who remain in school are more likely 
     to live longer, marry later, have healthier children, and, as 
     adults, earn an income to support their families, thereby 
     contributing to the economic advancement of communities and 
     nations.
       (9) Since July 2015, more than 100 public-private 
     partnerships have been formed between the United States 
     Government and external partners to support innovative and 
     community-led solutions in targeted countries, including 
     Malawi and Tanzania, to ensure adolescent girls receive a 
     quality education.
       (10) The United States Global Strategy to Empower 
     Adolescent Girls, published in March 2016, has brought 
     together the Department of State, the United States Agency 
     for International Development, the Peace Corps, and the 
     Millennium Challenge Corporation, as well as other agencies 
     and programs such as the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS 
     Relief (PEPFAR), to address the range of challenges 
     preventing adolescent girls from attaining an inclusive and 
     equitable quality education leading to relevant learning 
     outcomes.
       (11) According to the United States Global Strategy to 
     Empower Adolescent Girls, which is the first foreign policy 
     document in the world solely dedicated to the rights and 
     empowerment of girls globally, ``[w]hile the Millennium 
     Development Goals improved outcomes for girls in primary 
     education, they also highlighted the need for a targeted 
     focus on adolescents and young adults, particularly regarding 
     the transition to and completion of secondary school''.
       (12) PEPFAR, through its DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, 
     Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) Initiative, has 
     worked to address a number of the specific barriers to 
     education that adolescent girls face.

     SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) every child, regardless of place of birth, deserves an 
     equal opportunity to access quality education;
       (2) the United States has been a global leader in efforts 
     to expand and improve educational opportunities for those who 
     have been traditionally disenfranchised, particularly women 
     and girls;
       (3) gains with respect to girls' secondary education and 
     empowerment have been proven to correlate strongly with 
     progress in gender equality and women's rights, as well as 
     economic and social progress, and achieving gender equality 
     should be a priority goal of United States foreign policy;
       (4) achieving gender parity in both access to and quality 
     of educational opportunity contributes significantly to 
     economic growth and development, thereby lowering the risk 
     for violence and instability; and
       (5) education is a lifesaving humanitarian intervention 
     that protects the lives, futures, and well-being of girls.

     SEC. 5. SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS.

       (a) Authority.--The Administrator of the United States 
     Agency for International Development may enter into 
     acquisition, assistance, or results-based financing 
     agreements, including agreements combining more than one such 
     feature, for activities addressing the barriers described in 
     subsection (b) that adolescent girls face in accessing a 
     quality secondary education. Such activities shall--
       (1) set outcome-based targets to demonstrate qualitative 
     gains;
       (2) use existing United States Government strategies and 
     frameworks relevant to international basic education and 
     gender equality, including evidence-based interventions, to--
       (A) integrate new technologies and approaches, including to 
     establish or continue public-private partnerships or to pilot 
     the use of development impact bonds (the results of which are 
     verified by an independent evaluation);
       (B) to the greatest extent possible, apply quasi-
     experimental and scientific, research-based approaches;
       (C) promote inclusive, equitable and sustainable 
     educational achievement; and
       (D) support a responsible transition to education systems 
     that are sustainably financed by domestic governments; and
       (3) ensure that schools provide safe and quality 
     educational opportunities and create empowering environments, 
     so that girls can enroll in and regularly attend school, 
     successfully transition from primary to secondary school, and 
     eventually graduate having achieved learning outcomes and 
     positioned to make healthy transitions into adulthood.
       (b) Specific Barriers.--The barriers described in this 
     subsection include--
       (1) harmful societal and cultural norms;
       (2) lack of safety at school or traveling to school, 
     including harassment and other forms of physical, sexual, or 
     psychological violence;
       (3) child, early, and forced marriage;
       (4) female genital mutilation;
       (5) distance from a secondary school;
       (6) cost of secondary schooling, including fees, clothing, 
     and supplies;
       (7) inadequate sanitation facilities and products available 
     at secondary schools;
       (8) prioritization of boys' secondary education;
       (9) poor nutrition;
       (10) early pregnancy and motherhood;
       (11) HIV infection;
       (12) disability;
       (13) discrimination based on religious or ethnic identity; 
     and
       (14) heavy workload due to household tasks.
       (c) Coordination and Oversight.--
       (1) In general.--The United States Agency for International 
     Development Senior Coordinator for International Basic 
     Education Assistance, in coordination with the United States 
     Agency for International Development Senior Coordinator for 
     Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment and the Ambassador-
     at-Large for Global Women's Issues

[[Page H602]]

     at the Department of State, shall be responsible for the 
     oversight and coordination of all activities of the United 
     States Government carried out under this section.
       (2) Development of agreements.--In the development of 
     results-based financing agreements described in subsection 
     (a), the Senior Coordinators shall consult with the United 
     States Agency for International Development Innovation, 
     Technology, and Research Hub or any successor center that is 
     responsible for developing innovative tools and approaches to 
     accelerate development impact.
       (3) Coordination with other strategies.--Activities carried 
     out under this section shall also be carried out in 
     coordination with--
       (A) the United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent 
     Girls described in section 6; and
       (B) the United States Government Strategy on International 
     Basic Education, including its objective to expand access to 
     quality basic education for all, particularly marginalized 
     and vulnerable populations.
       (d) Acceptance of Solicitations for Awards.--The 
     Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
     Development shall seek to accept solicitations for one or 
     more awards, pursuant to the authority in subsection (a), to 
     conduct activities under this section beginning not later 
     than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
       (e) Monitoring and Evaluation.--The Administrator of the 
     United States Agency for International Development shall seek 
     to ensure that activities carried out under this section--
       (1) employ rigorous monitoring and evaluation 
     methodologies, including ex-post evaluation, to ensure that 
     such activities demonstrably close the gap in gender parity 
     for secondary education and improve the quality of education 
     offered to adolescent girls;
       (2) disaggregate all data collected and reported by age, 
     gender, marital and motherhood status, disability, and 
     urbanity, to the extent practicable and appropriate;
       (3) adhere to the Policy Guidance on Promoting Gender 
     Equality of the Department of State and the Gender Equality 
     and Female Empowerment Policy of the United States Agency for 
     International Development; and
       (4) use, to the extent possible, indicators and 
     methodologies identified by the Interagency Working Group for 
     the Strategy on International Basic Education.

     SEC. 6. GLOBAL STRATEGY REQUIREMENT.

       (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter for 
     not less than 10 years, the Ambassador-at-Large for Global 
     Women's Issues at the Department of State, in consultation 
     with the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's 
     Empowerment and the Senior Coordinator for International 
     Basic Education Assistance at the United States Agency for 
     International Development, shall--
       (1) review and update a United States global strategy to 
     empower adolescent girls;
       (2) provide a meaningful opportunity for public review and 
     consultation on the strategy; and
       (3) submit the strategy to the appropriate congressional 
     committees.
       (b) Initial Strategy.--For the purposes of this section, 
     the ``United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent 
     Girls'', published in March 2016, shall be deemed to fulfill 
     the initial requirement under subsection (a).
       (c) Consultation Required.--In reviewing and updating the 
     strategy under subsection (a), the Ambassador-at-Large for 
     Global Women's Issues, the Senior Coordinator for Gender 
     Equality and Women's Empowerment, and the Senior Coordinator 
     for International Basic Education Assistance shall, as 
     appropriate, consult with--
       (1) the heads of relevant Federal departments and agencies 
     their designees, as well as experts on adolescent girls, 
     gender equality, and empowerment issues throughout the 
     Federal Government;
       (2) the appropriate congressional committees;
       (3) representatives of United States civil society and 
     multilateral organizations with demonstrated experience and 
     expertise in empowering adolescent girls or promoting gender 
     equality, including local civil society organizations and 
     beneficiaries where possible; and
       (4) local organizations and beneficiaries in countries 
     receiving assistance pursuant to the strategy, including 
     youth and adolescent girls' organizations.

     SEC. 7. TRANSPARENCY AND REPORTING TO CONGRESS.

       (a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, and biennially thereafter for 10 
     years until each activity initiated pursuant to the 
     authorities under this Act has concluded, the Administrator 
     of the United States Agency for International Development, in 
     coordination with the Secretary of State, shall submit to the 
     appropriate congressional committees a report describing--
       (1) the activities initiated under the authorities provided 
     in this Act; and
       (2) the manner and extent to which such activities are 
     monitored and evaluated, in accordance with section 5(e).
       (b) Availability.--The report required by subsection (a) 
     shall be made available on a text-based, searchable, and 
     publicly available website of the United States Agency for 
     International Development.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Phillips) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. McCaul) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Minnesota.


                             General Leave

  Mr. PHILLIPS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on H.R. 2153.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Minnesota?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. PHILLIPS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Keeping Girls in School 
Act, and I want to thank my dear friend and colleague, Representative 
Lois Frankel, for her hard work on this bill.
  Access to education should not depend on whether a child is a boy or 
a girl. Yet around the world, 130 million girls are kept out of school. 
Fifteen million girls of primary school age will never enter a 
classroom.
  Think of what that means for their futures and for their ability to 
lead prosperous lives.
  We know what a difference just a few years of school makes. On 
average, when a girl in the developing world receives 7 years of 
education, she marries 4 years later and has fewer children. Better 
educated women tend to be healthier and live longer, and women with 
secondary school education earn almost twice as much as those with no 
education at all.
  When women and girls have access to education, they lift up their 
entire communities. In societies that make strides in education 
equality, we see better health outcomes, improved economic well-being, 
and greater security for everyone. That is why getting more girls in 
classrooms should be a foreign policy priority of the United States of 
America. It is the right thing to do. It also helps drive stability and 
prosperity in the long run.
  But today, too many still face barriers like harassment, early 
marriage, disabilities, and lack of access to hygiene. These barriers 
conspire against girls succeeding, particularly adolescent girls.
  This bill highlights those barriers to keeping girls in school all 
around the world and requires USAID to support activities addressing 
them throughout their existing work and into the future.
  I am very proud to support H.R. 2153, and I am grateful to Members on 
both sides of the aisle for helping push it forward.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Keeping Girls in 
School Act.
  I want to thank Representative Frankel and Representative Brooks for 
their leadership on this legislation.
  The United States has been a global leader in funding programs to 
support women and girls from around the world. We recognize the 
importance of empowering women to succeed, and that starts with 
receiving an education.
  This legislation codifies the existing U.S. strategy to empower 
adolescent girls, which coordinates efforts between the Department of 
State, USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Peace Corps, 
and PEPFAR to ensure that our development assistance programs are 
addressing barriers to girls' attendance in schools. It also supports 
efforts to ensure girls receive a quality secondary education and have 
the support necessary to stay in school.
  We know that when women and girls are educated and supported, they 
are more likely to invest in their families and in their communities.
  Last year, I was honored to travel to Cote d'Ivoire to launch the 
Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative alongside Ivanka 
Trump and a Senate delegation. W-GDP seeks to reach 50 million women in 
the developing world by 2025 through efforts to empower and enable 
women to be entrepreneurs and productive members of the workforce.

[[Page H603]]

  I was also proud to be a cosponsor of the Women's Entrepreneurship 
and Economic Empowerment Act which was signed into law last year. We 
must continue our bipartisan efforts to ensure United States' support 
for women and girls around the world is strong.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Keeping Girls in 
School Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PHILLIPS. Madam Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentlewoman 
from Florida (Ms. Frankel), who is the author of this important bill 
and my dear friend.
  Ms. FRANKEL. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Minnesota for 
yielding.
  Madam Speaker, I want to start by thanking my very good friend, Susan 
Brooks. Over the past 7 years together we have been involved in many 
efforts to advance women and girls. It is an honor to work with the 
gentlewoman.
  I thank my other colleagues for the support to bring this bill to the 
floor. It is a bipartisan, bicameral bill. It is sponsored by Senators 
Murkowski and Shaheen in the Senate. It is called the Keeping Girls in 
School Act.
  Madam Speaker, I am going to start with a question:
  Why should Americans even care that there are 130 million girls 
around the world who are kept out of school?
  That a young girl in a Malawi village is too frightened to walk miles 
to a secondary school for fear of sexual assault?
  Or that a 12-year-old girl in Mozambique is forced to marry and 
denied schooling?
  Or that hundreds of girls are kidnapped from school by Boko Haram 
terrorists who believe women should be cooks or sex slaves?
  Or care about the 14-year-old in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai, shot in 
the head by the Taliban because she wanted girls to be educated?

  So why should Americans care that there are 130 million girls around 
the world who are kept out of school?
  Madam Speaker, there are 130 million reasons to care. According to 
the Malala Fund, the international nonprofit organization that fights 
for girl's education, cofounded by Malala, girls' education strengthens 
economies and creates jobs. Millions of girls being educated means 
there are more working women with the potential to add up to trillions 
of dollars in global growth.
  When girls are educated, communities are more stable and can recover 
faster from conflict. Extremism grows alongside inequality. When a 
country gives all its children secondary education they cut their risk 
of war in half.
  Educated girls are healthier citizens who raise healthier families. 
They are less likely to marry young or to contract HIV, and they are 
more likely to have healthy, educated children. Each additional year of 
school a girl completes cuts both infant mortality and child marriage 
rates.
  Madam Speaker, when the Keeping Girls in School Act is put into full 
force, it will mean that countries where girls are educated will be 
more peaceful, making violent conflicts less likely and countries more 
prosperous, allowing them to be more self-reliant and participate in 
international trade. This means a safer and more economically vibrant 
world.
  The Keeping Girls in School Act recognizes the progress made in 
closing the gender gap for primary education in developing countries 
like Vietnam, Tunisia, and Nepal, and recognizes that we must do more 
to advance our young girls around the world.
  This legislation focuses on the unique obstacles keeping adolescent 
girls from accessing quality education at the secondary level. It will 
give USAID innovative tools and new funding mechanisms to address and 
reduce barriers that keep girls out of school--barriers like female 
genital mutilation, sexual violence, HIV infection, family obligations, 
and lack of safety.
  This legislation would also codify and require updates to the U.S. 
Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls, bringing together civil 
society organizations, the private sector, and governments around the 
world to prepare girls to become the leaders of tomorrow.
  I am going to end today, Madam Speaker, by paraphrasing a poem about 
a young girl's plea to her father in Kenya. It goes something like 
this:

     Father says to her: You are grown up, and I am going to marry 
           you off.
     I say: I don't want a husband.
     Our fathers say: A daughter is good because we marry her off 
           and we get a crate of beer.
     Our mothers say: A daughter is good; the bridegroom will 
           surely buy us presents.
     And I, the daughter, say: Mother, father, give me an 
           education because a husband without an education is 
           nothing.
     Father, look at other communities that have educated their 
           daughters and reap good fruit.
     Father says: I will take my beloved sons to school and my 
           beloved daughters will look after the cattle.
     I say: O, father, let the daughter go to school.
     Educating a girl is educating a nation.
     Misery will surely be a thing of the past.
     And goodness will spread like a good aroma.
     Let's surely then educate the daughter.

  Madam Speaker, when our daughters are educated, the world will change 
for the better.
  I urge support of this very good bill, the Keeping Girls in School 
Act.
  Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
Indiana (Mrs. Brooks), who is the lead Republican cosponsor of this 
bill.
  Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support 
of H.R. 2153, the Keeping Girls in School Act.
  I want to thank my very good friend from Florida, Representative 
Frankel, for championing this incredibly important legislation, and 
also my colleague, Representative McCaul of Texas, for helping ensure 
that this was through the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
  I am the mother of a daughter, and from birth I let her know that she 
could be anything she wanted to be. If she wanted to be a lawyer, a 
doctor, a nurse, a teacher, or an engineer, she could do whatever she 
wanted.
  We all know too well that many girls around the world are not so 
lucky. As my good friend, Representative Frankel, just talked about, 
Malala of Pakistan was shot at the age of 15 returning from school. I 
am very proud that the Children's Museum of Indianapolis in my home of 
Indianapolis will be inducting her into the Power of Children Exhibit, 
because she has fought for the human rights of girls and children being 
able to go to school.
  She was shot returning from school, and the Malala Fund is now 
focusing on her activism and trying to make sure that girls have the 
right to go to school.
  As we have learned, 130 million girls don't have the opportunity to 
go to school, and it is impossible for them to consider their big 
dreams and goals. So this bill is about breaking down these barriers 
that women and girls face in attending and staying in school.

                              {time}  1515

  We know that the evidence has already shown, if we can keep girls in 
secondary education, it can boost economies of low- and middle-income 
nations by as much as $92 billion, annually. It can cut childhood 
deaths by 50 percent, annually. It can reduce violent conflict in 
countries, and it can reduce child marriage by 66 percent, annually.
  Studies show that girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are three times 
more likely than boys to be kept out of school, particularly in these 
countries where there is so much conflict. Yet, if we keep girls in 
school past fourth grade--and we are trying to get them through high 
school--we know that their wages will rise, their countries will be 
better, their communities will be better.
  With our foreign investments, why wouldn't we want to take all of the 
incredible aid that we provide and make sure that there are strategies 
in place to make sure that girls get education?
  This bill outlines that inexhaustible list of 14 barriers that keep 
girls from entering and remaining in secondary school. So let's bring 
together the State Department, USAID, Peace Corps, Millennium 
Challenge, and PEPFAR to address those challenges.
  We know that young girls like Malala, who is leading the way, is a 
child who is so powerful in her voice because of what she went through. 
We know that, when girls succeed, nations and our world will succeed.
  Madam Speaker, thank you, and I urge passage.
  Mr. PHILLIPS. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman 
from Pennsylvania (Ms. Houlahan),

[[Page H604]]

my friend and colleague on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
  Ms. HOULAHAN. Madam Speaker, when I rise for women and girls around 
the world, I do so with the awareness that the barriers that we face do 
not exist in a vacuum, that a woman's right to education, to bodily 
autonomy, and to self-determination are all connected. To combat these 
barriers, we must enact comprehensive legislation that relies on years 
of data, studies, and advocacy efforts to establish a truly equal world 
across gender lines.
  According to UN Women, every additional year of primary school 
increases girls' eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. It also encourages 
them to marry later, to have fewer children, and leaves them less 
vulnerable to violence.
  In our effort to achieve gender parity, it is crucial that we work 
with international partners and global organizations that are making 
great progress on this issue. Initiatives like the U.N. Joint Program 
to End Child Marriage are looking at this issue holistically, with the 
understanding that social protection, health, education, and social and 
behavioral change must all be addressed in order to spark sustainable 
changes for women and girls around the world. That is why I cosponsored 
the Keeping Girls in School Act, which would empower girls by 
increasing their educational opportunities and economic security.
  Girls and women deserve to be educated, to be economically 
independent, and to be the deciders of their own fate, and that is what 
we believe in the United States, and that is what we need to fight for 
in all corners of this world. I encourage all of my colleagues on both 
sides of this aisle to join me and to take a stand for women and girls 
across the globe.
  The first step on the path to a more peaceful world starts with the 
empowerment of women and girls. A vote for the Keeping Girls in School 
Act is a vote for equality, for empowerment, and for a safer and more 
prosperous world for us all.
  Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, yesterday in this Chamber we honored the 
life of a dear friend of mine, a colleague I came into the Congress 
with in 2005, Michael Fitzpatrick, and it was quite an honor to know 
him and to call him my friend. With that, I want to yield as much time 
as he may consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick), 
his brother and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
  Mr. FITZPATRICK. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend and my 
colleague, Mr. McCaul, for yielding and for his kind words and for his 
friendship.
  Madam Speaker, first, I want to thank the entire committee, including 
yourself, Madam Speaker, Representative Frankel, and Representative 
Brooks, for all of your and their work on this very, very important 
issue.
  As a co-chair of the bipartisan International Basic Education Caucus, 
I want to join with all of our colleagues today to voice our strong 
support for H.R. 2153, the Keeping Girls in School Act, a bill that 
many of us helped introduce.
  Today, as was echoed earlier, many girls worldwide are not in school, 
and this bill will work to close the gender gap between boys and girls 
and work to keep girls in school through the high school level, when 
girls are at the highest risk of dropping out.
  This is a commitment of the U.S. to support programs, policies, and 
resources to help vulnerable girls stay in school. This bill will 
provide results-based aid grants, lower the cost of secondary 
education, and make sure that schools are safe for all of our children.
  We must work to ensure that girls in every country are able to stay 
in school so that we can empower them in order to reduce poverty and 
create safer, healthier communities. The Keeping Girls in School Act 
will help reduce barriers girls around the world face when trying to 
remain in school and help them access more opportunities.
  Madam Speaker, the top line summary of H.R. 2153 states this bill is 
``to support empowerment, economic security, and educational 
opportunities for adolescent girls around the world.'' However, this 
bill will do much more than that. This bill provides opportunity. This 
bill provides hope. This bill will give some of our most vulnerable a 
chance to succeed.
  As Madam Speaker said earlier, we need to be a voice for the 
voiceless. And, Madam Speaker, I want to thank you for doing just that, 
yourself and Representative Brooks, because these 130 million girls, 
they need a voice, and we are going to be that voice for them here 
today.

  Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Waltz), a distinguished member of the United States 
military who served our country so well overseas in some very dangerous 
places.
  Mr. WALTZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this 
important legislation.
  Every child deserves access to a quality education--every child--and, 
unfortunately, that is not always the case for girls around the world. 
Adolescent girls, in particular, are most at risk of dropping out of 
school.
  Worldwide, there are about 61 million girls between the ages of 6 and 
14 who are not in school, and that is unacceptable. It is just 
unacceptable.
  Madam Speaker, as a Green Beret who has operated all over the world, 
I have seen this up close and personal. I have seen this firsthand. I 
can tell you this from my experiences: I know firsthand that, where 
women thrive in business, where women thrive in civil society, in 
politics, and in government, extremism doesn't. That is it. Where women 
thrive in all of those places, the extremists do not.
  So this isn't just an economic issue, although that is a very 
important one, or a humanitarian issue. This is a national security 
issue--for the United States of America, for the Western world, for the 
entire world.
  For me, in one of my combat tours in Afghanistan, an Afghan elder I 
knew, whom I developed a relationship with throughout this tour, in 
every meeting kept talking about his secret weapon, his secret weapon. 
This was how we were going to defeat the Taliban and defeat the 
extremists, with this secret weapon.
  I finally demanded to see this secret weapon. It wasn't a missile. It 
wasn't a weapon, per se, at all. It was his teenage daughters. That was 
his secret weapon. What he was doing was he was sneaking them out of 
Afghanistan and over to India to be trained as a lawyer and a doctor.
  He pointed to them and said: Commander Mike, this is how we are going 
to defeat the extremists. This is how we are going to win.
  So I echo my colleagues who have mentioned the hero Malala Yousafzai. 
My favorite quote from her is: ``Extremists have shown what frightens 
them most: a girl with a book.''
  So as a father of a young woman who is here with me today on the 
floor, about to turn 16, this is personal for me. This legislation is 
especially important to me. And every girl around the world, like her, 
deserves the chance to attend school and access a proper education. 
This legislation is a critical step in increasing these opportunities 
for young women, globally.
  I want to commend my colleague and fellow Floridian, Madam Speaker, 
Representative Frankel, for her leadership on this issue. I also want 
to thank Ivanka Trump for her leadership.
  Girls' education and women's empowerment should not be a partisan 
issue at all. It is an American issue. It is one of leadership, and it 
is one of human rights, of basic human rights.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. McCAUL. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  We have heard some really powerful testimony about the rights and the 
role of women throughout the world, and I think back to my own time as 
a counterterrorism Federal prosecutor, to chairman of the Homeland 
Security Committee, and now my role on the Foreign Affairs Committee. 
Where women are oppressed, democracy and freedom is oppressed. Where 
extremism exists, the rights of women are denied.
  I also want to thank you, Madam Speaker, Ms. Frankel, for your 
leadership in bringing this bill to the floor.
  It is a national security issue. I really view it that way because, 
where women are empowered, we don't have extremism.
  Chairman Engel and I will be at the Canadian Embassy this night 
talking about the Global Fragility Act and the ONE Campaign and Bono's 
efforts to

[[Page H605]]

stabilize the world, stabilize this whole region from extremism. What 
we found, whether it was Boko Haram taking 270 Catholic grade school 
girls hostage, to the Taliban raining down on educated women or women 
trying to get an education, to the story of Ms. Yousafzai, to killing 
women in the streets, it is absolutely unacceptable.
  I am proud today that we stand as Americans and not as partisans 
standing for the rights of young women. I have four daughters myself, 
and they live in freedom, and they know education is important. But 
women around the world deserve this right. Regardless of where you are 
born, women and girls around the world deserve this right.
  We have seen it from Afghanistan, to the Sahel, to Pakistan and, 
really, all over the world. I think the number, 130 million. I love the 
quote that the biggest threat to extremism is a girl with a book. That 
is what we are going to change.
  Madam Speaker, thank you for your boldness and your courage and 
leadership in bringing this to the floor, and I yield back the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. PHILLIPS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume for the purpose of closing.
  Madam Speaker, I want to thank you, Congresswoman Frankel, for your 
hard work on this measure. You have been a tireless advocate for women 
and girls here at home and all around the world.
  I also want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Waltz), my 
colleague, who had brought his daughter here to the floor moments ago 
in a heartwarming gesture. I, too, am a father of two extraordinary 
daughters, Daniela and Pia. They have received the blessings of 
education and know how lucky they are. They, like me and like so many 
of us here in the U.S. House of Representatives, know how important it 
is to extend that same blessing to every girl around the world. That is 
why this is one of those areas in which American leadership is vitally 
important.
  The benefits of supporting education for women and girls are as clear 
as can be. But more than that, helping more people live up to their 
potential and to pursue their dreams is a great reflection of our 
values, the values that should be at the very center of American 
foreign policy. Girls' education must be made a strategic development 
priority.
  This is a good measure, which I am pleased to support, and I urge all 
of my colleagues to do the same.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Frankel). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Phillips) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2153, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________