Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member from Texas (Ms. Granger) for yielding.

This amendment would increase, by 100,000, the funding to combat the prevalence of female genital mutilation, FGM, around the world.

FGM represents a grave moral evil, irreparably compromising the health and well-being of every woman and girl subjected to it.

The practice of FGM occurs in 30 countries, in particular, Egypt, Indonesia, and Ethiopia, and has been performed on more than 200 million women and girls to date. Every year, 3 million more girls are placed at risk, with most of the victims below the age of 15.

The long-term effects of FGM are wide ranging, including post- traumatic stress disorder, depression, flashbacks, self-harm, and severe difficulties during labor.

In February, an Egyptian doctor was arrested for performing FGM on a 12-year-old girl, resulting in her death, at the instruction of the girl's parents. The doctor conducted the practice without any anesthesia and without having the appropriate surgeon qualifications.

To be clear, this is not an isolated case.

Egypt has banned the practice of FGM since 2008 and criminalized it in 2016. The fact that it still happens to an overwhelming number of young girls in that country, despite the strict legal measures, illustrates the massive scope of this problem and the immense work remaining for each of us

The U.S. must be unequivocal in condemning this disgusting, horrific practice and lead the world in calling for it to end, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

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Mr. PERRY. Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member, Ms. Granger from Texas.

I have three amendments included in this en bloc amendment.

The first one prohibits any funds in the State and Foreign Ops Division from being provided to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA.

In 2018, President Trump made the correct decision to defund UNRWA. Unfortunately, this bill seeks to reverse course and provide funding to this organization.

I remind everybody, this organization, rather than pursuing its mission, chooses to foster and promote and anti-Semitism and violence against Israelis. In spite of repeated demands by the U.S., UNRWA continues this kind of abhorrent behavior.

The second amendment prohibits the EPA from using funds in this bill to take retaliatory actions against States that fall short of the EPA- mandated Chesapeake Bay TMDL.

In 2010, the EPA seized the States' authority to determine their own method of compliance and threatened to take over the water quality plans if the States failed to comply.

These coercive measures have been tried and have failed. Water quality has not improved since the federalization of the Bay clean-up efforts. Preventing EPA from taking retaliatory action is imperative to the success of these efforts.

The final one prohibits the EPA from using funds pursuant to Section 115 of the Clean Air Act.

Section 115 of the Clean Air Act allows the EPA to mandate State emissions levels to whatever level the agency deems appropriate: if they find emissions endanger a foreign nation; and the endangered nation has a reciprocal agreement to prevent or control these emissions in their own nation.

I urge adoption of these amendments.

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