[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 19063]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    INTERNATIONAL PROTECTING GIRLS BY PREVENTING CHILD MARRIAGE ACT

  (Ms. McCOLLUM asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Speaker, today, 25,000 girls--some as young as 10 
years old--will be robbed of their future when they are forced to marry 
much older men. This isn't marriage when a 10-year-old girl is given to 
a 40-year-old man; it's sexual abuse.
  The practice of child marriage is wrong, and it must end. The United 
States must take a strong stand against child marriage.
  Democrats and Republicans must come together and pass the 
International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act as soon 
as possible. Every Senator agreed to this bill when it passed last 
week. It passed unanimously.
  There is a lot of talk in Congress about the need to protect children 
from abuse. It's time for action. It's time for a vote.

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