[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6717-6718]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I come to the floor today not to talk about 
a political issue, in the real sense of the word--not Democrat versus 
Republican--but a very difficult sensitive issue. It is hard to talk 
about, but we as a nation can't keep ignoring this important topic.
  It has been more than 20 years since I learned about something called 
female genital mutilation, known as FGM. Since then, I have spoken 
often against this awful procedure and the devastating effect it has on 
women and girls around the world.
  A number of people warned me 20 years ago that this isn't a subject I 
should talk about. It was taboo. They thought it would be untoward for 
me to do so. But I told them I had to because no one else was talking 
about it. So I am going to continue doing everything I can to bring 
attention to this issue and fight to end this horrible, awful, brutal 
practice perpetrated against women and girls.
  It was a 1994 cable news program that introduced me to this practice. 
One of my friends in Las Vegas said: You can't imagine this. This was a 
young woman who sent this to me. I didn't expect getting this from her 
or anyone else. But we were friends, and so I watched this. She said: 
You have to. And I did: A 10-year-old little girl in a party dress held 
down by two men, her legs spread apart, and she was brutally mutilated 
as her genitals were cut away. These images have continually haunted me 
over the years. I will never ever forget the picture that I saw.
  There are different forms of female genital mutilation around the 
world. The most severe and atrocious is the one in which the girl's 
genitals are cut away. But then the little girls are literally sewn 
shut, leaving only a small opening for urine and menstrual blood.
  Though FGM is performed for different reasons around the world. One 
thing is very clear: Whatever rationality you try to give to this 
practice, it is a form of control and oppression of women and girls.
  In addition to the psychological impact, this form of gender-based 
violence has serious medical risks, including death, of course. It is 
recognized by the United Nations as a human rights violation, as it 
should be.
  But FGM is still happening. As we speak, 200 million women and girls 
worldwide have undergone FGM--200 million women and girls who are alive 
today who have undergone that procedure that I watched on cable news, 
or something like it. More than two decades after I first saw that 
program, women and girls are still being hacked, mutilated. It is not 
done in a hospital, an operating room. It is done in very unsanitary 
conditions most of the time.
  This practice remains prevalent in at least 30 countries. In some 
places, the rates of FGM are higher than 90 percent--90 percent. In 
many of these countries, girls are cut before the age of 5. In most 
places they are cut between the ages of 5 and 14. In many of these 
countries, girls--well, enough. Imagine that--girls who haven't even 
started school yet, of kindergarten age or younger, being subjected to 
this horror.
  Because of these millions of girls, I have spent more than 20 years 
trying to do something about it. I have worked hard to pass legislation 
outlawing the practice in the United States and banning so-called 
vacation cutting, which goes on when young girls are shipped overseas. 
Because it is illegal here, due to the laws we passed, they take them 
overseas to be cut.
  There was some bipartisan support, obviously, for this. It is not a 
partisan issue. We were able to have a few victories--certainly not 
enough, but some. Still, this brutal practice continues around the 
world, and it is clear there must be much more done--much more done.
  That is why, at my request, the General Accountability Office began a 
study on the American Government's efforts to stop this practice. The 
GAO has now completed its report about our government's international 
efforts. It wasn't much of a report. It was kind of short. The report 
is shameful in terms of what we have not done.
  The title of the report says it all: ``Female Genital Mutilation/
Cutting: U.S. Assistance to Combat This Harmful Practice Abroad is 
Limited.'' And ``limited'' is an understatement.
  I am publicly releasing this report today, which outlines the U.S. 
Government's limited--limited--efforts. I am terribly disappointed. I 
am embarrassed that the State Department and the U.S. Agency for 
International Development are not fully engaged in dedicating resources 
to put an end to this.
  According to the GAO report, USAID and the State Department each had 
just one active stand-alone project focused on stopping female genital 
mutilation. One of these projects is gone--already ended. Less than $2 
million has been spent on these projects combined.
  The GAO also found that the United States has never contributed--
never contributed--a penny to the world's largest international effort 
against this horrible, awful practice. It is called the Joint Programme 
on FGM/C. It is embarrassing. We have not put one penny into this.
  During the course of the GAO investigation, State and USAID both 
began to take action. They were embarrassed, I assume. If they weren't, 
they should have been. But they haven't done much. USAID, for example, 
decided to update the guidance it released 16 years ago, and Secretary 
Kerry recently announced that the United States will be contributing to 
the Joint Programme for the first time. Bravo.
  I commend this commitment, but I understand these funds are not a 
dedicated funding source. They are just a one-time, very limited 
pledge. Maybe we will have to get another GAO report before we get 
something into that program. It shouldn't take a GAO investigation for 
State and USAID to act. The United States should prioritize ending this 
practice, but it hasn't.
  This is shameful. It is a tragedy that our great government is not 
doing

[[Page 6718]]

more. It is inexcusable that the United States, a nation with wealth 
and power, is standing by while such sickening violence against women 
and girls is occurring. As we speak, 200 million have undergone this in 
the world--200 million.
  The State Department and USAID should end it or do everything they 
can to make female genital mutilation a priority and dedicate 
substantial resources to this issue. It is a cause. It should be, if it 
isn't. The United States can and must do far more to eliminate this 
practice worldwide. We still have problems here in the United States.
  This shameful GAO report, I hope, is a wake-up call. Something had to 
wake us up because we have done almost nothing as a country. The report 
should be a turning point in the fight against FGM, a moment when the 
most powerful nation in the world commences the stopping of this brutal 
form of abuse.
  The United States should be a leader in this fight and not a 
bystander. We must put this brutal practice to an end. America must 
lead the world in stopping these assaults of little girls and big girls 
and women. I hope the Senate will join me in these efforts.
  Mr. President, I don't see anyone on the floor. I ask the Chair to 
announce the business of the day.

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