Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696584965925.pdf (United States)
January 28, 2020 Mr. PHILLIPS.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

The SPEAKER pro tempore.

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.

4331, as amended.

The question was taken.

The SPEAKER pro tempore.

In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.

Mr. PHILLIPS.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.


The SPEAKER pro tempore.

Pursu- ant to clause 8 of rule XX, further pro- ceedings on this motion will be post- poned.

f KEEPING GIRLS IN SCHOOL ACT Mr. PHILLIPS.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R.

2153) to support empower- ment, economic security, and edu- cational 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 Rep- resentatives 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 con- tents for this Act is as follows: Sec.

1.

Short title; table of contents.

Sec.

2.

Appropriate congressional commit- tees 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 Con- gress.

SEC.

2.

APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- TEES DEFINED.


In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congres- sional 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, emo- tional, and social changes shape her future.
(2) Adolescent girls are particularly vul- nerable to HIV/AIDS, child, early and forced marriage, and other forms of violence which are detrimental to their futures, as evi- denced 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 in- fections 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 school- ing, limit opportunities, and impact the physical, psychological and social well-being CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE of such girls.

If there is no reduction in child marriage, the global number of women mar- ried as children is projected to increase by 150,000,000 by 2030.
H601 gender equality and women’s rights, as well as economic and social progress, and achiev- ing gender equality should be a priority goal of United States foreign policy; (D) One-quarter to one-half of girls in de- veloping 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 af- fected 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 sec- ondary school than boys living with disabil- ities 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 be- tween the United States Government and ex- ternal partners to support innovative and community-led solutions in targeted coun- tries, including Malawi and Tanzania, to en- sure adolescent girls receive a quality edu- cation.
(10) The United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls, published in March 2016, has brought together the Depart- ment 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 out- comes.
(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, par- ticularly regarding the transition to and completion of secondary school’’.
(12) PEPFAR, through its DREAMS (Deter- mined, 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 qual- ity education; (2) the United States has been a global leader in efforts to expand and improve edu- cational opportunities for those who have been traditionally disenfranchised, particu- larly women and girls; (3) gains with respect to girls’ secondary education and empowerment have been prov- en to correlate strongly with progress in (4) achieving gender parity in both access to and quality of educational opportunity contributes economic growth and development, thereby lowering the risk for violence and instability; and significantly to (5) education is a lifesaving humanitarian intervention that protects the lives, futures, and well-being of girls.
SEC.

5.

SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR ADOLES- CENT GIRLS.

(a) AUTHORITY.—The Administrator of the United States Agency for International De- velopment may enter into acquisition, as- sistance, or results-based financing agree- including agreements combining ments, more than one such feature, for activities ad- dressing 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 dem- onstrate qualitative gains; (2) use existing United States Government strategies and frameworks relevant to inter- national basic education and gender equal- ity, including evidence-based interventions, to— (A) integrate new technologies and ap- proaches, 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 eval- uation); (B) to the greatest extent possible, apply quasi-experimental and scientific, research- based approaches; (C) promote inclusive, equitable and sus- tainable educational achievement; and (D) support a responsible transition to edu- cation 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, suc- cessfully transition from primary to sec- ondary school, and eventually graduate hav- ing achieved learning outcomes and posi- tioned to make healthy transitions into adulthood.
(b) SPECIFIC BARRIERS.—The barriers de- scribed 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 edu- cation; (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 Coor- dinator for International Basic Education Assistance, in coordination with the United States Agency for International Develop- ment Senior Coordinator for Gender Equal- ity and Women’s Empowerment and the Am- bassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues H602 at the Department of State, shall be respon- sible for the oversight and coordination of all activities of the United States Govern- ment carried out under this section.
results-based (2) DEVELOPMENT OF AGREEMENTS.—In the financing development of agreements described in subsection (a), the Senior Coordinators shall consult with the United States Agency for International De- velopment Innovation, Technology, and Re- search 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 sec- tion 6; and (B) the United States Government Strat- egy on International Basic Education, in- cluding 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 Develop- ment shall seek to accept solicitations for one or more awards, pursuant to the author- ity 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 Ad- ministrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall seek to en- sure that activities carried out under this section— (1) employ rigorous monitoring and evalua- tion methodologies, including ex-post eval- uation, to ensure that such activities demon- strably 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 re- ported by age, gender, marital and mother- hood status, disability, and urbanity, to the extent practicable and appropriate; (3) adhere to the Policy Guidance on Pro- moting Gender Equality of the Department of State and the Gender Equality and Fe- male Empowerment Policy of the United States Agency for International Develop- ment; and (4) use, to the extent possible, indicators and methodologies identified by the Inter- agency 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 Empower- ment and the Senior Coordinator for Inter- national Basic Education Assistance at the United States Agency for International De- velopment, shall— (1) review and update a United States glob- al strategy to empower adolescent girls; (2) provide a meaningful opportunity for public review and consultation on the strat- egy; 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 sub- section (a).
(c) CONSULTATION REQUIRED.—In reviewing and updating the strategy under subsection CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE (a), the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empower- ment, and the Senior Coordinator for Inter- national Basic Education Assistance shall, as appropriate, consult with— January 28, 2020 when a girl in the developing world re- ceives 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 eco- nomic 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 pros- perity in the long run.

But today, too many still face bar- riers like harassment, early marriage, disabilities, and lack of access to hy- giene.

These barriers conspire against girls succeeding, particularly adoles- cent 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 bal- ance of my time.

Mr. MCCAUL.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may con- sume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong sup- port 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 edu- cation.
This legislation codifies the existing U.S. strategy to empower adolescent girls, which coordinates efforts be- tween the Department of State, USAID, the Millennium Challenge Cor- poration, the Peace Corps, and PEPFAR to ensure that our develop- ment assistance programs are address- ing barriers to girls’ attendance in schools.

It also supports efforts to en- sure girls receive a quality secondary education and have the support nec- essary 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 devel- oping world by 2025 through efforts to empower and enable women to be en- trepreneurs and productive members of the workforce.
(1) the heads of relevant Federal depart- ments and agencies their designees, as well as experts on adolescent girls, gender equal- ity, and empowerment issues throughout the Federal Government; (2) the appropriate congressional commit- tees; (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 pos- sible; 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 au- thorities under this Act has concluded, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, in coordina- tion with the Secretary of State, shall sub- mit to the appropriate congressional com- mittees a report describing— (1) the activities initiated under the au- thorities 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 avail- able website of the United States Agency for International Development.

The SPEAKER pro tempore.

Pursu- ant to the rule, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. PHILLIPS) and the gen- tleman 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 Mem- bers have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and in- clude extraneous material on H.R.

2153.

The SPEAKER pro tempore.

Is there objection to the request of the gen- tleman from Minnesota?

There was no objection.

Mr. PHILLIPS.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may con- sume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in sup- port 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 de- pend 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 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE 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 economi- cally vibrant world.

January 28, 2020 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 en- sure United States’ support for women and girls around the world is strong.

Madam Speaker, I urge my col- leagues to support the Keeping Girls in School Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. PHILLIPS.
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 as- sault?

Or that a 12-year-old girl in Mozam- bique is forced to marry and denied schooling?

Or that hundreds of girls are kid- napped from school by Boko Haram terrorists who believe women should be cooks or sex slaves?

Or care about the 14-year-old in Paki- stan, Malala Yousafzai, shot in the head by the Taliban because she want- ed 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 mil- lion reasons to care.

According to the Malala Fund, the international non- profit 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 work- ing women with the potential to add up to trillions of dollars in global growth.
When girls are educated, commu- nities are more stable and can recover faster from conflict.

Extremism grows alongside inequality.

When a country gives all its children secondary edu- cation 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 con- tract HIV, and they are more likely to have healthy, educated children.
Each additional year of school a girl com- pletes cuts both infant mortality and child marriage rates.

The Keeping Girls in School Act rec- ognizes 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 fund- ing 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 organi- zations, the private sector, and govern- ments around the world to prepare girls to become the leaders of tomor- row.
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 hus- band 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 impor- tant legislation, and also my colleague, Representative MCCAUL of Texas, for H603 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.

good We all know too well that many girls around the world are not so lucky.

As friend, Representative my FRANKEL, just talked about, Malala of Pakistan was shot at the age of 15 re- turning from school.
I am very proud that the Children’s Museum of Indian- apolis 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.

b 1515 We know that the evidence has al- ready 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, an- nually.
It can cut childhood deaths by 50 percent, annually.

It can reduce vio- lent conflict in countries, and it can re- duce child marriage by 66 percent, an- nually.

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 in- credible 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), H604 my friend and colleague on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Ms. HOULAHAN.
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 auton- omy, and to self-determination are all connected.

To combat these barriers, we must enact comprehensive legisla- tion that relies on years of data, stud- ies, and advocacy efforts to establish a truly equal world across gender lines.
According to UN Women, every addi- tional year of primary school increases girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 per- cent.

It also encourages them to marry later, to have fewer children, and leaves them less vulnerable to vio- lence.

In our effort to achieve gender par- ity, it is crucial that we work with international partners and global orga- nizations that are making great progress on this issue.
Initiatives like the U.N. Joint Program to End Child Marriage are looking at this issue ho- listically, with the understanding that social protection, health, education, and social and behavioral change must all be addressed in order to spark sus- tainable changes for women and girls around the world.

That is why I co- sponsored the Keeping Girls in School Act, which would empower girls by in- creasing their educational opportuni- ties and economic security.
Girls and women deserve to be edu- cated, 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 em- powerment 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, yes- terday in this Chamber we honored the life of a dear friend of mine, a col- league 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 Com- mittee.

Mr. FITZPATRICK.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend and my col- league, Mr. MCCAUL, for yielding and for his kind words and for his friend- ship.
Madam Speaker, first, I want to thank the entire committee, including yourself, Madam Speaker, Representa- tive FRANKEL, and Representative BROOKS, for all of your and their work on this very, very important issue.

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE As a co-chair of the bipartisan Inter- national 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 in- troduce.
January 28, 2020 So this isn’t just an economic issue, although that is a very important one, or a humanitarian issue.

This is a na- tional 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 teen- age 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: Com- mander 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: ‘‘Ex- tremists 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 im- portant 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, Rep- resentative FRANKEL, for her leadership on this issue.

I also want to thank Ivanka Trump for her leadership.

Girls’ education and women’s em- powerment 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 leader- ship in bringing this bill to the floor.

It is a national security issue.

I real- ly 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 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 high- est risk of dropping out.
This is a commitment of the U.S. to support programs, policies, and re- sources to help vulnerable girls stay in school.

This bill will provide results- based aid grants, lower the cost of sec- ondary 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 opportuni- ties.

Madam Speaker, the top line sum- mary of H.R.

2153 states this bill is ‘‘to support empowerment, economic secu- rity, and educational opportunities for adolescent girls around the world.’’ However, this bill will do much more than that.

This bill provides oppor- tunity.

This bill provides hope.


This bill will give some of our most vulner- able 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.
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 over- seas in some very dangerous places.

Mr. WALTZ.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this impor- tant legislation.

Every child deserves access to a qual- ity education—every child—and, unfor- tunately, 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 unaccept- able.

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 first- hand that, where women thrive in busi- ness, where women thrive in civil soci- ety, in politics, and in government, ex- tremism doesn’t.

That is it.

Where women thrive in all of those places, the extremists do not.
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.

January 28, 2020 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 edu- cation, 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 stand- ing for the rights of young women.

I have four daughters myself, and they live in freedom, and they know edu- cation is important.
But women around the world deserve this right.

Regard- less 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 big- gest 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 leader- ship 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 con- sume 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 col- league, who had brought his daughter here to the floor moments ago in a heartwarming gesture.

I, too, am a fa- ther 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 reflec- tion of our values, the values that should be at the very center of Amer- ican 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 bal- ance of my time.

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. FRANKEL).

The question is on the mo- tion 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 A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
f PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION 3621, STUDENT BOR- OF H.R.

ROWER CREDIT IMPROVEMENT ACT, AND PROVIDING FOR CON- SIDERATION OF THE SENATE AMENDMENT TO H.R.

550, MER- CHANT MARINERS OF WORLD WAR II CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL ACT OF 2019 The SPEAKER pro tempore.

Pursu- ant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfin- ished business is the vote on ordering the previous question on the resolution (H. Res.

811) providing for consider- ation of the bill (H.R.
3621) to amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to re- move adverse information for certain defaulted or delinquent private edu- cation loan borrowers who demonstrate a history of loan repayment, and for other purposes, and providing for con- sideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R.
550) to award a Congres- sional Gold Medal, collectively, to the United States Merchant Mariners of World War II, in recognition of their dedicated and vital service during World War II, on which the yeas and nays were ordered.

The Clerk read the title of the resolu- tion.

The SPEAKER pro tempore.


Pursu- ant to clause 9 of rule XX, this 15- minute vote on ordering the previous question will be followed by 5-minute votes on: Adoption of House Resolution 811, if ordered; and The motion to suspend the rules and pass H.R.

4331.

The vote was taken by electronic de- vice, and there were—yeas 227, nays 184, not voting 18, as follows: [Roll No.
25] YEAS—227 Clay Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Cooper Correa Costa Courtney Cox (CA) Craig Crist Crow Cuellar Cunningham Davids (KS) Davis (CA) Davis, Danny K. Dean DeFazio DeGette DeLauro DelBene Delgado Demings DeSaulnier Deutch Dingell Doggett Doyle, Michael F. Engel Escobar Eshoo Espaillat Evans Finkenauer Fletcher Foster Frankel Fudge Gallego Garamendi Garcı´a (IL) Garcia (TX) Golden Gomez Gonzalez (TX) Gottheimer Green, Al (TX) Grijalva Haaland Harder (CA) Hastings Hayes Higgins (NY) Himes Horn, Kendra S. Horsford Houlahan Hoyer Huffman Jackson Lee Jayapal Jeffries Johnson (GA) Johnson (TX) Adams Aguilar Allred Axne Barraga´ n Bass Beatty Bera Beyer Bishop (GA) Blumenauer Blunt Rochester Bonamici Boyle, Brendan F. Brindisi Brown (MD) Brownley (CA) Bustos Butterfield Carbajal Ca´ rdenas Carson (IN) Cartwright Case Casten (IL) Castor (FL) Castro (TX) Chu, Judy Cicilline Cisneros Clark (MA) Clarke (NY) Kaptur Keating Kelly (IL) Kennedy Khanna Kildee Kilmer Kim Kind Krishnamoorthi Kuster (NH) Lamb Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lawrence Lawson (FL) Lee (CA) Lee (NV) Levin (CA) Levin (MI) Lewis Lieu, Ted Lipinski Loebsack Lofgren Lowenthal Lowey Luja´ n Luria Lynch Malinowski Maloney, Carolyn B. Maloney, Sean Matsui McAdams McBath McCollum McEachin McGovern McNerney Meeks Meng Moore Abraham Aderholt Allen Amash Amodei Arrington Babin Bacon Baird Balderson Banks Barr Bergman Biggs Bilirakis Bishop (NC) Bishop (UT) Bost Brady Brooks (AL) Brooks (IN) Buchanan Buck Bucshon Budd Burchett Burgess Calvert Carter (GA) Carter (TX) Chabot Cheney Cline Cloud Cole Comer Conaway Cook Crawford Crenshaw Curtis Davidson (OH) Davis, Rodney DesJarlais Diaz-Balart Duncan Dunn Emmer Ferguson Fitzpatrick Fleischmann Flores Morelle Moulton Mucarsel-Powell Murphy (FL) Nadler Napolitano Neal Neguse Norcross O’Halleran Ocasio-Cortez Omar Pallone Panetta Pappas Pascrell Payne Perlmutter Peters Peterson Phillips Pingree Pocan Porter Pressley Price (NC) Quigley Raskin Rice (NY) Richmond Rose (NY) Rouda Roybal-Allard Ruiz Ruppersberger Rush Ryan
 Sa´ nchez Sarbanes Scanlon Schakowsky Schiff Schneider Schrader Schrier NAYS—184 Fortenberry Foxx (NC) Fulcher Gaetz Gallagher Gianforte Gibbs Gohmert Gonzalez (OH) Gooden Gosar Graves (GA) Graves (LA) Graves (MO) Green (TN) Griffith Grothman Guest Guthrie Hagedorn Harris Hartzler Hern, Kevin Herrera Beutler Hice (GA) Hill (AR) Holding Hollingsworth Hudson Huizenga Hurd (TX) Johnson (LA) Johnson (OH) Johnson (SD) Jordan Joyce (OH) Joyce (PA) Katko Keller Kelly (PA) King (IA) King (NY) Kustoff (TN) LaHood LaMalfa Lamborn Latta Lesko Long Loudermilk Lucas Luetkemeyer H605 Scott (VA) Scott, David Serrano Sewell (AL) Shalala Sherman Sherrill Sires Slotkin Smith (WA) Soto Spanberger Speier Stanton Stevens Suozzi Swalwell (CA) Takano Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Titus Tlaib Tonko Torres (CA) Torres Small (NM) Trahan Trone Underwood Vargas Veasey Vela Vela´ zquez Visclosky Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Coleman Welch Wexton Wild Wilson (FL) Yarmuth Marchant Marshall Massie Mast McCarthy McCaul McClintock McHenry McKinley Meadows Meuser Miller Mitchell Moolenaar Mooney (WV) Murphy (NC) Newhouse Norman Nunes Olson Palazzo Palmer Pence Perry Posey Ratcliffe Reed Reschenthaler Rice (SC) Riggleman Roby Rodgers (WA) Roe, David P. Rogers (KY) Rose, John W. Rouzer Roy Rutherford Scalise Schweikert Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Shimkus Simpson Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smucker Spano Stauber Stefanik Steube S