[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15996]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            WORLD TOILET DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, today is World Toilet Day. The concept 
of a World Toilet Day can make children giggle, some adults blush, and 
others want to change the subject, but the title is designed to address 
this serious subject directly.
  No one can afford to be squeamish, to make jokes, or change the 
subject about the fundamental issue of adequate sanitation because 2 
and a half billion people live without it, causing about 700,000 
premature deaths each year, and it is getting worse.
  We have made some progress, but the number living without access has 
increased by 700 million people. There are now more people on Earth 
with a cell phone than a toilet.
  The consequences of insufficient access to sanitation facilities and 
poor hygiene are severe. Countries where open defecation is more 
prevalent have found its way to the United States media recently, 
reporting on the horrific murder and rape of two young girls that could 
have been prevented in India if they didn't need to sneak out into the 
night to relieve themselves in an open field, leaving them vulnerable 
to attack.
  A heartbreaking study linked the root cause of India's malnutrition 
crisis to a lack of adequate sanitation. It found that many of the 162 
million children under the age of 5 who are malnourished in India are 
suffering less from a lack of food and more from poor sanitation. Those 
children who do survive are left with mental and physical burdens for 
their entire lives.
  The lack of adequate sanitation is a human economic drain. The total 
global economic loss associated with inadequate water supply and 
sanitation is estimated to be over a quarter trillion dollars every 
year.
  This crisis that leaves women vulnerable, needlessly ends lives 
early, and undermines economic growth does have solutions. Today, at 
noon, I will join my colleagues on implementation of the Water for the 
Poor Act we passed earlier to ensure that WASH programming helps 
leverage the impact of development assistance. It also ensures that our 
water, sanitation, and hygiene programs are targeted to help the 
world's poorest, that they are more effective with long-term 
sustainable impacts.
  This bipartisan legislation, with my friend Ted Poe, has well over 
100 cosponsors and is scheduled for a markup in the House Foreign 
Affairs Committee tomorrow.
  This significant progress would not have even been possible without 
the leadership of Chairman Royce, and I thank him for it, along with 
the many advocates who have demonstrated why the United States must 
play a greater role to increase sustainable access to clean water and 
sanitation.
  If passed out of committee, which I certainly hope it will, I would 
urge the House leadership to bring this bill to the floor for a vote 
immediately when we come back in session in December. That is because 
we cannot wait, and it is one of those rare bills we can all unite to 
get water, often dirty water, for their families. That is enough work 
hours to build 28 Empire State Buildings every day. This is time not 
spent working on income-generating jobs, caring for family members, or 
securing an education.
  Ted Poe, a Republican, and I, a Democrat who represents Portlandia, 
don't often agree on a lot, but we are an example of how we can all 
come together because politics should stop at water.

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