Jenna Quinn Law

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, as families have been quarantined at home over the past several months, their lives have been filled with a whole new set of stressors. Loss of income, isolation, anxiety about their own health, and the stress of teaching children at home can test even the healthiest families and relationships.

But it also puts children at higher risk of child abuse and neglect. In April this year, nationwide reports of abuse or neglect dropped by an average of about 40 percent compared to the same time last year. That doesn't mean there are fewer instances of abuse--probably far from it--just fewer reports.

One of the things about children attending school is that their teachers and counselors can monitor them for signs of sexual assault, sexual abuse, and report that to the appropriate authorities. In 2018, two-thirds of the reports of child abuse were submitted by people who came in contact with treatment as part of their jobs--police officers, lawyers, social services, and, of course, teachers, as I said.

Teachers, education professionals, and other support staff at school, like bus drivers, are responsible for more than half of the child abuse reports. But with children home during the pandemic, out of sight from the teachers and others who would otherwise see them on a routine basis, abuse is becoming more difficult to identify and report.

Child sexual assault abuse was a crisis before the pandemic, with more than 42 million adult survivors in America. As the stresses of the pandemic and lack of reporting have taken a violent toll across the country, there is an urgent need for Congress to act.

Over the years, I have listened to courageous victims in Texas who have shared their stories and advocated for reforms to prevent more children from experiencing this tragic abuse. One of those inspirational individuals is Jenna Quinn, a child abuse survivor and fierce advocate for children who are often suffering in silence. She was the driving force behind what is now known as Jenna's Law in Texas, which requires training for teachers, caregivers, and other adults who work with children on how to prevent, recognize, and report child sexual abuse. The signs of child sexual abuse are unique from other forms of child abuse, and correctly identifying these signs is integral to bringing children out of a sexually abusive situation.

After it passed in 2009, a study found that educators reported child sexual abuse at a rate almost four times greater after the training they had received than before they had received that training. It was one of the first child sexual abuse prevention laws in the United States demanding this training, and now more than half of our States have adopted some form of Jenna's Law.

The kicker is that in many States, including Texas, they don't provide funding for the training, for the program. That is what Senator Hassan, the Senator from New Hampshire, and I want to change.

Last year we introduced the Jenna Quinn Law, which would take the successful reforms in Texas and other States and make them a reality for children across the country. This bill would allow current grant funds to be used for specialized training for students, teachers, and other caregivers to learn how to identify, safely report, and hopefully prevent future child sexual abuse. This legislation also encourages the States without similar laws to implement innovative programs to address such abuse.

Again, I want to express my appreciation to Senators Hassan and Braun, who have joined me in this bipartisan effort, and I hope we can get this bill to the President's desk soon. No child should experience abuse or neglect, and the Jenna Quinn Law will bring us closer to identifying and stopping abuse in its tracks.

I came to the floor initially with the thought of offering a unanimous consent request to pass the Jenna Quinn Law, Jenna's Law. It has cleared on our side. There is some discussion going forward between our Democratic colleagues and us about pairing this with another piece of legislation which, like Jenna's Law, is not controversial. And based on the commitment that this will be passed as part of the wrapup this evening, I will not offer that unanimous consent request at this time, but I will depend on that commitment we have gotten that it will be passed in wrapup today. So I want to express again my appreciation to Senator Hassan and Senator Braun for working with us on this.

So often, the best of intentions go awry because there is no funding mechanism to help facilitate and pay for the training, and that is where the money that we appropriated that goes to the Department of Justice--their grant programs for various law enforcement initiatives-- is so valuable. Those are the funds that are already appropriated that we want to tap into for this type of essential training.

I yield to my friend from New Hampshire.

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