[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 163 (Monday, September 21, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H4589-H4592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 STRENGTHENING THE OPPOSITION TO FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION ACT OF 2020

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 6100) to amend title 18, United States Code, to clarify 
the criminalization of female genital mutilation, and for other 
purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 6100

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening the Opposition 
     to Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2020'' or the ``STOP FGM 
     Act of 2020''.

     SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

       The Congress finds the following:
       (1) Female genital mutilation is recognized internationally 
     as a human rights violation and a form of child abuse, gender 
     discrimination, and violence against women and girls. Female 
     genital mutilation is a global problem whose eradication 
     requires international cooperation and enforcement at the 
     national level. The United States should demonstrate its 
     commitment to the rights of women and girls by leading the 
     way in the international community in banning this abhorrent 
     practice.
       (2) Congress has previously prohibited the commission of 
     female genital mutilation on minors. Female genital 
     mutilation is a heinous practice that often inflicts 
     excruciating pain on its victims and causes them to suffer 
     grave physical and psychological harm.
       (3) Congress has the power under article I, section 8 of 
     the Constitution to make all laws which shall be necessary 
     and proper for carrying into execution treaties entered into 
     by the United States.
       (4) Congress also has the power under the Commerce Clause 
     to prohibit female genital mutilation. An international 
     market for the practice exists, and persons who perform 
     female genital mutilation in other countries typically earn a 
     living from doing so.
       (5) Those who perform this conduct often rely on a 
     connection to interstate or foreign commerce, such as 
     interstate or foreign travel, the transmission or receipt of 
     communications in interstate or foreign commerce, the use of 
     instruments traded in interstate or foreign commerce, or 
     payments of any kind in furtherance of this conduct.
       (6) Amending the statute to specify a link to interstate or 
     foreign commerce would confirm that Congress has the 
     affirmative power to prohibit this conduct.

     SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO CURRENT LAW ON FEMALE GENITAL 
                   MUTILATION.

       Section 116 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
       (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
       ``(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), whoever, in any 
     circumstance described in subsection (d), knowingly--
       ``(1) performs, attempts to perform, or conspires to 
     perform female genital mutilation on another person who has 
     not attained the age of 18 years;
       ``(2) being the parent, guardian, or caretaker of a person 
     who has not attained the age of 18 years facilitates or 
     consents to the female genital mutilation of such person; or
       ``(3) transports a person who has not attained the age of 
     18 years for the purpose of the performance of female genital 
     mutilation on such person,
     shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 
     years, or both.'';
       (2) by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:
       ``(c) It shall not be a defense to a prosecution under this 
     section that female genital mutilation is required as a 
     matter of religion, custom, tradition, ritual, or standard 
     practice.'';
       (3) by striking subsection (d); and
       (4) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(d) For the purposes of subsection (a), the circumstances 
     described in this subsection are that--
       ``(1) the defendant or victim traveled in interstate or 
     foreign commerce, or traveled using a means, channel, 
     facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign 
     commerce, in furtherance of or in connection with the conduct 
     described in subsection (a);
       ``(2) the defendant used a means, channel, facility, or 
     instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in 
     furtherance of or in connection with the conduct described in 
     subsection (a);
       ``(3) any payment of any kind was made, directly or 
     indirectly, in furtherance of or in connection with the 
     conduct described in subsection (a) using any means, channel, 
     facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign 
     commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce;
       ``(4) the defendant transmitted in interstate or foreign 
     commerce any communication relating to or in furtherance of 
     the conduct described in subsection (a) using any means, 
     channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or 
     foreign commerce or in or affecting interstate or foreign 
     commerce by any means or in manner, including by computer, 
     mail, wire, or electromagnetic transmission;
       ``(5) any instrument, item, substance, or other object that 
     has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce was used to 
     perform the conduct described in subsection (a);
       ``(6) the conduct described in subsection (a) occurred 
     within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of 
     the United States, or any territory or possession of the 
     United States; or
       ``(7) the conduct described in subsection (a) otherwise 
     occurred in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.
       ``(e) For purposes of this section, the term `female 
     genital mutilation' means any procedure performed for non-
     medical reasons that involves partial or total removal of, or 
     other injury to, the external female genitalia, and 
     includes--
       ``(1) a clitoridectomy or the partial or total removal of 
     the clitoris or the prepuce or clitoral hood;
       ``(2) excision or the partial or total removal (with or 
     without excision of the clitoris) of the labia minora or the 
     labia majora, or both;
       ``(3) infibulation or the narrowing of the vaginal opening 
     (with or without excision of the clitoris); or
       ``(4) other procedures that are harmful to the external 
     female genitalia, including pricking, incising, scraping, or 
     cauterizing the genital area.''.

     SEC. 4. REPORT.

       Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act, and annually thereafter, the Attorney General, in 
     consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the 
     Secretary of State, the Secretary of Health and Human 
     Services, and the Secretary of Education, shall submit to 
     Congress a report that includes--
       (1) an estimate of the number of women and girls in the 
     United States at risk of or who have been subjected to female 
     genital mutilation;
       (2) the protections available and actions taken, if any, by 
     Federal, State, and local agencies to protect such women and 
     girls; and
       (3) the actions taken by Federal agencies to educate and 
     assist communities and key stakeholders about female genital 
     mutilation.

     SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of the Congress that the United States 
     District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan erred in 
     invalidating the prior version of such section 116 (See 
     United States v. Nagarwala, 350 F. Supp. 3d 613, 631 (E.D. 
     Mich. 2018)). The commercial nature of female genital 
     mutilation (hereinafter in this section referred to as 
     ``FGM'') is ``self-evident,'' meaning that the ``absence of

[[Page H4590]]

     particularized findings'' about the commercial nature of FGM 
     in the predecessor statute did not ``call into question 
     Congress's authority to legislate'' (Gonzales v. Raich, 545 
     U.S. 1, 21 (2005)). Nevertheless, the Congress has elected to 
     amend the FGM statute to clarify the commercial nature of the 
     conduct that this statute regulates. But, by doing so, 
     Congress does not hereby ratify the district court's 
     erroneous interpretation in Nagarwala.

     SEC. 6. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

       The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 
     complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall 
     be determined by reference to the latest statement titled 
     ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, 
     submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the 
     Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such 
     statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) and the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. 
Armstrong) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is a long time in coming. And I extend a 
general thank you for all of the legislative bills on the Committee of 
the Judiciary that have come before us today, and the staff, and the 
excellent work they have done. And let me particularly thank the 
Subcommittee on Crime for the great work they have done on this 
legislation, strengthening the opposition to Female Genital Mutilation 
Act, or STOP FGM Act, to amend current law to ensure that the horrific 
practice of female genital mutilation is Federally prohibited 
consistent with constitutional restraints.
  Let me indicate that we have been asked to engage. It is always good 
to know that the Congress can do things to fix a skewed system that 
harms individuals every single day, and in this instance, it is many 
young people.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill would ensure that it is a Federal crime to 
knowingly:
  One, perform, attempt to perform, or conspire to perform female 
genital mutilation or FGM on a minor;
  Two, while being a parent, guardian, or caretaker of a minor, 
facilitate or consent to the female genital mutilation of the minor; or
  Three, transport a minor for the purpose of the performance of female 
genital mutilation on the minor.
  The bill would also increase the statutory maximum term of 
imprisonment for a violation of the statute from 5 years to 10 years, 
though these are not mandatory minimums.
  The bill is necessary because a district court in Michigan recently 
dismissed the first Federal prosecution under the existing FGM statute, 
finding that the acts prohibited did not have a significant nexus to 
interstate commerce. We had to engage in fixing this issue.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6100 addresses this issue by explicitly requiring 
that one or more of the following circumstances must exist. The 
defendant or victim's travel in interstate or foreign commerce, the 
defendant's use of a means of interstate or foreign commerce, payment 
of any kind made using any means, channel, facility or instrumentality 
of interstate or foreign commerce, and the defendant's use of a means 
of communication affecting interstate or foreign commerce. We are 
therefore confident that this updated prohibition will pass 
constitutional muster and it is critical that we take these steps to 
update this statute.
  Mr. Speaker, the one thing I will say is, we cannot let what is a 
technical, legal act by the court to continue to provide no protection 
for young, innocent victims. In the United States, approximately 
500,000 women and girls were at risk for FGM or its consequences, and 
more than 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk for FGM annually, 
worldwide.
  The U.S. Government has acknowledged the international implications 
of FGM. For instance, in 2018 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
initiated Operation Limelight USA, an outreach program designed by 
ICE's Homeland Security Investigations Human Rights Violators and War 
Crimes Unit, and I thank them for their work to educate travelers on 
the dangers and consequences of FGM.
  Yes, it is being done here in the United States, in pockets around 
the Nation, where these women are mutilated for life. These girls, at a 
very young age, are mutilated for life in the United States, where we 
have been discussing on this floor your due process, the sanctity of 
your own body, your privacy rights under the Ninth Amendment.
  In addition, both the FBI and the Human Rights and Special 
Prosecutions Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of 
Justice work domestically to prosecute and investigate cases involving 
FGM. We want to give them the tools that they can use to get it right.
  Federal law enforcement agencies acknowledge that FGM is a global 
issue and they work with international partners to eliminate this 
horrific practice. FGM, therefore, is considered to have a substantial 
effect on interstate commerce because, although illegal, there is an 
established interstate and international market for the practice.
  I include in the Record an article about female genital mutilation.

                    [From CNN Health, May 11, 2017]

       3 US Women Share the Horrors of Female Genital Mutilation

                            (By Sonia Moghe)

       East Lansing, Michigan (CNN)--Rahel Musa Aron was just 7 
     days old when the elders of her community in the African 
     nation of Eritrea performed a centuries-old ritual on her 
     tiny body, cutting off her clitoris and burying it.
       Nearly six decades later, the Christian church leader and 
     mother of three daughters sits at home in this Midwestern 
     city and wonders.
       What would the small sliver of skin have meant for her 
     life? Would childbirth have been different? Has she been 
     missing out on a deeper level of intimacy with her husband of 
     40 years?
       ``I'm sure that it has affected my feeling,'' Aron, 58, 
     told CNN. ``If it was not cut, maybe I would have enjoyed 
     whatever I would have enjoyed. It's a very sensitive area. So 
     if that's cut, imagine--imagine what I miss.''
       Often discussed in whispers, the issue of female genital 
     mutilation grabbed headlines last month when, for the first 
     time, US prosecutors used a decades-old law that bans the 
     practice to charge two Detroit-area doctors and a medical 
     office manager in a case involving two 7-year-old girls. Now, 
     several women in the United States who endured the procedure 
     when they were young are sharing their stories--all with 
     elements that mirror the Michigan case--in hopes of ending it 
     for good.
       When her own daughters were born, Aron decided the custom 
     endured by her mother and her grandmother would die with her.
       ``What I believe is, if (the clitoris) wasn't necessary, 
     God wouldn't have put it there,'' said Aron, a deaconess at 
     St. Luke Lutheran in Lansing, Michigan. ``If it was not 
     important, it would have not been there. It's part of our 
     body. It is there for a reason.''
       Aron's scars aren't as severe as those borne by many of the 
     200 million women and girls around the globe--nearly a 
     quarter of them younger than 15--who have undergone the 
     practice, dubbed FGM or, to some survivors who dislike that 
     phrase, female ritual cutting.
       The procedure, in which genital organs are altered or 
     injured for non-medical reasons to suppress sexuality, long 
     has been deemed a human rights violation. It's practiced at 
     all educational levels and social classes and among people of 
     many faiths, including Muslims and Christians, though no 
     religious text calls for it.
       Though often undertaken as a cleansing custom, experts 
     roundly agree it has no medical benefits--and carries myriad 
     health risks, from childbirth and menstrual complications to 
     severe infections, post-traumatic stress, even death.
       Still, the practice persists, mostly in African and Middle 
     Eastern nations--and in the United States, where the 
     estimated number of girls and women who have undergone it or 
     are at risk has tripled since 1990 to more than 500,000. The 
     increase reflects rapid growth in immigration from countries 
     where FGM is common.
       While anti-cutting advocates hail efforts to hold offenders 
     accountable, this case also raises questions about whether 
     the accused--all members of the Dawoodi Bohra sect of Shia 
     Islam--are being targeted because of their faith. Meanwhile, 
     some worry that high-profile prosecutions could drive the 
     practice deeper underground, further endangering the very 
     girls and women the law aims to protect.
       As the issue has gained attention, Immigration and Customs 
     Enforcement and the FBI opened national tip lines where 
     anyone

[[Page H4591]]

     can report their experience or suspicions. But as several 
     advocates told CNN, the most important conversations may be 
     happening in homes and places of worship, as survivors share 
     their stories and work to end FGM.
       ``This thing,'' Aron said, ``needs to be talked about.''


                         `Special girls' trip'

       The FBI started looking into the Detroit-area case in 
     October, when investigators learned that female genital 
     mutilation was being performed at the Burhani Medical Clinic. 
     Investigators in February learned that two 7-year-old girls 
     from Minnesota went to the clinic with their mothers for a 
     ``special girls' trip'' that they weren't to tell anyone 
     about, documents show. One girl told the FBI their mothers 
     took them to the clinic because ``our tummies hurt'' and a 
     doctor would ``get the germs out.''
       There were three people in the office, ``one to clean up 
     and two to hold (the child's) hands,'' the girl later told 
     investigators. The FBI says they were local emergency room 
     physician Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, clinic director Dr. 
     Fakhruddin Attar and his wife, Farida Attar, who managed the 
     office in Livonia, Michigan, court records show.
       The girl said she took off her pants and underwear and laid 
     on an exam table with her knees near her chest and legs 
     spread apart, documents show.
       Nagarwala then gave her a ``little pinch'' in the area 
     ``where we go pee.'' She said the doctor told her and her 
     friend ``no bikes and no splits for three days,'' and the day 
     after the procedure, the area ``hurted a lot.''
       The girl said she and her friend got cake afterward because 
     ``they were doing good,'' documents show. An exam found the 
     girl's labia minora removed or altered, her clitoral hood 
     looking abnormal, plus scar tissue and small healing cuts, 
     court records show.
       The Attars and Nagarwala each face two counts of female 
     genital mutilation, one count of conspiracy to commit female 
     genital mutilation, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct 
     an official proceeding. The physicians could face life in 
     prison if convicted.
       ``This brutal practice is conducted on girls for one 
     reason: to control them as women,'' Daniel Lemisch, acting US 
     Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said in a 
     statement. ``FGM will not be tolerated in the United 
     States.''
       But attorneys for the accused say their clients are being 
     persecuted for practicing their religion. Nagarwala has 
     pleaded not guilty on all counts; the Attars have not entered 
     pleas, but their attorneys argue they are not guilty of all 
     the charges.


               Cleansing ritual not illegal, lawyer says

       Nagarwala acknowledges performing a procedure on both 
     girls, her lawyer, Shannon Smith, said. But it wasn't female 
     genital mutilation, she said, according to court documents; 
     it was a non-invasive, religious cleansing ritual in the 
     Dawoodi Bohra tradition, rooted in India.
       Nagarwala, who has been terminated from her job at Henry 
     Ford Health System in light of this case, claims she used a 
     long scraper-like tool to wipe a small portion of mucus 
     membrane from the girls' clitorises, then put the membrane 
     onto gauze for their parents to bury, Smith said, adding that 
     her client denies removing tissue and says there was no 
     blood, documents show.
       The political environment surrounding the federal 
     prosecution concerns Dina Francesca Haynes, a human rights 
     attorney who has worked on hundreds of FGM cases.
       ``During a time when vigilantism and xenophobia (are) high, 
     the likelihood that doctors of particular national origins 
     would be targeted seems to also be an additional risk,'' 
     Haynes told CNN. ``It makes me uncomfortable that the first 
     prosecution here looks like it's focusing on a particular 
     community of people.''
       Haynes doesn't like when ``my human rights issues are used 
     for a bigger agenda,'' she said.
       Leaders of the Dawoodi Bohra mosque in Michigan, one of 
     several hubs of the sect in the United States, said in a 
     statement that they offered to help investigators.
       ``Any violation of US law is counter to instructions to our 
     community members,'' they said. ``It is an important rule of 
     the Dawoodi Bohras that we respect the laws of the land, 
     wherever we live. This is precisely what we have done for 
     several generations in America. We remind our members 
     regularly of their obligations.''
       CNN's calls to mosques attended by the girls' parents and 
     the defendants were not returned.


                         `Never talk about it'

       This case has caught the attention of FGM survivors across 
     the country, who share a common story: They were cut at a 
     young age and told not to speak of it.
       In 1947, Renee Bergstrom was 3, living with her white, 
     fundamentalist Christian family in rural Minnesota. When her 
     mother saw her toddler touching herself, she worried.
       ``So, she took me to a doctor who said, `I can fix that,' 
     and removed my clitoris,'' Bergstrom told CNN.
       Bergstrom remembers seeing her mother at the end of the 
     table. She remembers the pain. And she remembers feeling 
     betrayed.
       ``Later the day it happened, . . . she carried me around 
     until I quit crying,'' Bergstrom said. ``Even when I was very 
     little, she told me it was a mistake, but I was to never talk 
     about it.''
       Now, nearly 70 years later, Bergstrom said the procedure 
     affected her entire life. Severe scarring fused part of her 
     labia; the skin wouldn't stretch when it came time to deliver 
     her three children.
       Now Bergstrom has teamed up with another survivor in 
     Minnesota, a Somali woman, to spread awareness in the area's 
     large Somali community. They give pamphlets to expectant 
     mothers who survived the procedure so they can help their 
     doctors understand birthing options.
       As she works to help immigrants from a country where FGM is 
     almost universal and where Islam is the law, Bergstrom said 
     she is concerned about Muslims being targeted in the United 
     States over the practice.
       ``This was done (to me) in white America by a 
     fundamentalist Christian doctor who practiced his religion 
     with a scalpel,'' she said. ``I am disturbed by the anti-
     Muslim sentiment throughout the United States. I didn't want 
     this to be another form of discrimination against Muslims.''


                     `Complicated form of violence'

       The father of one girl in the federal case told 
     investigators, ``If they knew what would come of it, this 
     would never have happened,'' documents show.
       None of the parents in this case faces charges--and it's 
     possible they never will.
       ``The reality is, if you want children to report this . . . 
     some people would argue that it would deter young girls and 
     young women from seeking health care,'' Haynes said. 
     ``Children tend to rally around their parents and other 
     adults in their life that they trust and wouldn't think to 
     report any kind of abuse until later.''
       For many survivors, coming to terms with their mothers' 
     decisions to promote the practice is complex.
       Mariya Taher was 7 when she went on vacation to Mumbai, 
     India, with her parents. She remembers walking into an 
     apartment with her mother. The atmosphere felt relaxed, with 
     older aunties there, too. She even laughed. She was the only 
     little girl there.
       ``Then, I remember, I was on the floor and my dress was 
     pushed in,'' Taher recalled. ``I remember feeling something 
     sharp and crying afterwards. One of the older women gave me a 
     soda. That's all I remember of it.''
       Taher, now 34, said it wasn't until she was a teenager that 
     she read about FGM in Africa and realized what had happened 
     to her. Her scarring was minimal. All the same, she said, it 
     was a violation.
       ``I honestly had a great childhood, so it's really hard for 
     me to talk about this,'' she said. ``I feel that people paint 
     me as the picture of a victim, and I hate that. Yes, that was 
     a violent thing that was done to me, but it's also such a 
     complicated form of violence.''
       Taher, whose mother and grandmother also endured cutting, 
     lives in Massachusetts and co-founded Sahiyo, an organization 
     that works to end the practice in the Dawoodi Bohra 
     community. She helps women tell their stories--of being cut, 
     of deciding not to cut, of pretending to have been cut in 
     order to fit in--through social media.
       Years later, she also has realized perhaps the most 
     personal achievement of her work: She convinced her mother to 
     oppose FGM.
       ``We've had continual conversations,'' Taher said. ``I've 
     never blamed her.''
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Congress has the power under the Commerce Clause to 
prohibit FGM, and that is why I was very glad to be the author and 
sponsor of this legislation by introducing this--what the cosponsors 
and I believe--is an important bipartisan bill.
  My former colleague, Congressman Crowley of New York, worked with me 
on this for many, many years. Our goal is to protect all women and 
girls from the practice of FGM and to provide the Justice Department 
with an effective means of prosecuting those who commit this terrible 
act. That is why I support this legislation and authored this 
legislation at the same time.
  Mr. Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary 
and on Homeland Security, and the Congressional Black Caucus, and as 
the bill sponsor, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6100, the 
``Strengthening the Opposition to Female Genital Mutilation Act of 
2020,'' which I introduced with the Congressman Bacon of Nebraska, the 
lead cosponsor.
  I want thank Chairman Nadler for his tremendous leadership during 
this Congress and the past several months of hardship, stress, and 
disruption not only of the regular normalized operations of this 
Committee but of the Congress and more importantly, the lives of the 
American people.
  It has been said of Americans that we do the difficult immediately, 
and the impossible takes a little longer.
  The legislative session today is a testament to the determination of 
this Committee that despite the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed 
the life of over 200,000 Americans, that legislation to improve the 
lives of the people we represent and the communities we serve will not 
be halted.
  The problems facing ordinary Americans due to flaws and inequities in 
the criminal justice system, the immigration system, the health care 
system, the economy, the trademark system and others do not take a 
time-out because of the pandemic and neither does

[[Page H4592]]

this Congress, and for that I commend Speaker Pelosi, the House 
Democratic leadership, and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
  Mr. Speaker, female genital mutilation (FGM) is an abhorrent practice 
and a recognizable international human rights violation.
  H.R. 6100, the STOP FGM Act is necessary remedial legislative 
modifying current law to aid women in several important respects.
  Specifically, the legislation would:
  1. Amend 18 U.S.C. Sec. 116 by setting forth three groups of persons 
who can be prosecuted under the statute: (1) anyone who performs, 
attempts to perform, or conspires to perform, female genital mutilation 
on a minor; (2) a parent, guardian, or caretaker of a minor who 
facilitates or consents to the female genital mutilation of the minor; 
and (3) anyone who transports a minor for the purpose of performance of 
female genital mutilation on the minor;
  2. Increase the statutory maximum for a violation of the statute, 
from 5 years to 10 years;
  3. Prohibit a defendant charged with this offense from using as a 
defense the argument that they were compelled to commit the offense 
because of religion, custom, tradition, ritual, or standard practice; 
and
  4. Amend the existing statute to more explicitly define what types of 
procedures constitute female genital mutilation.
  Most significantly, the STOP FGM Act enables us to better address FGM 
more comprehensively in the United States by requiring the Attorney 
General, in consultation with other federal agencies, to submit an 
annual report to Congress, to include the number of women and girls in 
the United States at risk of FGM; the protections available and actions 
taken; and the education and assistance provided to communities about 
FGM.
  Mr. Speaker, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) there 
are no positive health benefits from practice of FGM and the procedure 
can have severe long-term impacts on the physical, psychological, 
sexual, and reproductive health of girls and women.
  Earlier this year, on Sunday, March 8, we celebrated International 
Women's Day, which is designed to help nations worldwide eliminate 
discrimination against women.
  International Women's Day focuses on helping women gain full and 
equal participation in global development.
  The practice of FGM violates girls' and women's rights to sexual and 
reproductive health, security and physical integrity, their right to be 
free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and their 
right to life when the procedure results in death.
  In order for little girls to live their best lives as strong, 
empowered women, we must protect them now as girls, to give them a 
fighting chance.
  The bipartisan STOP FGM Act takes a big and positive step in that 
direction.
  Mr. Speaker, in 2017, Dr. Nagarwala, a Michigan doctor performed this 
brutal act on several minors.
  The U.S. Department of Justice then prosecuted her and others for 
violating the law.
  It was the first federal case of its kind brought under the existing 
statute.
  Nagarwala challenged the law, and the district court agreed and found 
that the statute was unconstitutional and that FGM is a `purely local 
crime.'
  However, according to the World Health Organization, it is estimated 
that more than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone 
female genital mutilation.
  Further, there are an estimated 3 million girls at risk of undergoing 
female genital mutilation every year.
  Because of the manner in which female genital mutilation is being 
practiced in the United States, it affects interstate and foreign 
commerce, the regulation of which the Constitution entrusts to the 
Congress in Article I, section 8, clause 3.
  Therefore, Congress has the authority under the Commerce Clause, as 
well as Necessary and Proper Clause contained in Article I, section 8, 
clause 17, to regulate, restrict, and even prohibit the practice of 
FGM.
  H.R. 6100 is a comprehensive response to addressing FGM more 
effectively, and it includes input from a wide array of stakeholders, 
including DOJ, anti-FGM advocates, clinicians, and CDC experts.
  I strongly support this bipartisan legislation and ask my colleagues 
to do the same.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ARMSTRONG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1600, the Stop FGM Act of 
2020.
  This bill outlaws a practice that is recognized internationally as a 
human rights violation, and even torture. It is an extreme form of 
discrimination against women and girls. Unfortunately, half a million 
girls and women worldwide are subject to this torture or at risk for 
it.
  I am sure most people assumed that FGM was already illegal. It was.
  In 1996, Congress prohibited the practice of FGM. But in 2018, a 
Federal judge in Michigan dismissed charges against a doctor and others 
from a local Indian Dawoodi Bohra community involved in the mutilation 
of nine young girls. The judge ruled that the Federal Government does 
not have the power to regulate FGM.
  Since that time, the Justice Department has been able to stop these 
acts of violence against America's young girls.
  This bill will amend title 18 to make FGM that is performed for 
nonmedical reasons a crime and overturn the judge's decision by 
explicitly describing the constitutional basis for banning FGM under 
the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.
  Mr. Speaker, I think all my colleagues can come together and support 
this important bipartisan bill, and I urge my colleagues to join me in 
supporting H.R. 6100.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I emphasize that the practice of FGM violates girls' and 
women's rights to sexual and reproductive health, security, and 
physical integrity, their right to be free from torture and cruel or 
inhumane or degrading treatment, and their right to life when the 
procedure results in death.
  Let me be very clear: This is international, but it is happening in 
the United States, and I think it is important for this Nation to stand 
up to this dastardly act.
  According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that more 
than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female 
genital mutilation. Further, there are an estimated 3 million girls at 
risk of undergoing female genital mutilation every year.
  And because of the manner in which female genital mutilation is being 
practiced in the United States, it affects interstate and foreign 
commerce, the regulation which the Constitution entrusts in the 
Constitution in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful to the Committee on the Judiciary's 
staff for working together with me and my office, making this 
legislation a real fix. Therefore, Congress has the authority under the 
Commerce Clause, as well as the necessary and proper clause contained 
in Article I, Section 8, to fix this, and that is what we have done.
  Again, let me thank the chairman and ranking member of the full 
committee and of the subcommittees, and all of the Members, for 
supporting this legislation.
  The STOP FGM Act is a critical measure to protect the health and 
safety of girls in our communities and to ensure that those who would 
engage in this horrific practice do not go unpunished.
  This is bipartisan legislation, and I urge my colleagues to join me 
in supporting this legislation and voting to stop these dastardly acts.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1530

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6100, 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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