Political Quotes

“I want to thank Chairman Royce for his leadership on this important issue, and I also want to thank my friends and colleagues, Mr. Engel and Ms. McCollum, for their leadership and their support as well. Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that we are living in challenging times. The international community is having to confront new evils it seems like every day. It is critical that we confront these evils with determination and resolve and intelligence. This bill, the one before us today, really actually does this. With this bill, Congress has the opportunity to address an injustice that is holding girls back from fully participating in society but, worse, exposing them to the particularly horrific evils of human trafficking. There are 230 million children around the globe under the age of 5 who have never been recognized as being born. Their births were simply never recorded. In eastern and southern Africa, for example, only 38 percent of children are registered by their fifth birthday. So think of that; nearly two-thirds of the children born in those regions in Africa are not registered. There is no recording of their birth. They, in essence, don't exist to the government. These children, a majority of whom are girls, become invisible members of society and miss a critical first step in securing their fundamental human rights.…”