The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“STRENGTHENING THE OPPOSITION TO FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION ACT OF 2020” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H4589-H4592 on Sept. 21, 2020.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
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 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.
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 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 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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