[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
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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.
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