Jenna Quinn Law

Floor Speech

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Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise before you today to speak in support of S. 1147, the Jenna Quinn Law.

As the proud sponsor of the House companion legislation, I know how critical and vital this legislation is for so many.

I thank, at the outset, Senator Cornyn for his hard work on the Senate side on this bill and for his years of leadership protecting children.

S. 1147 will authorize the Department of Health and Human Services to allow existing Federal funds to be used by eligible entities for evidence-based, informed training on sexual abuse prevention, education, and reporting. These courses would focus on teachers, school employees, students, caregivers, and other adults who work with children.

Furthermore, the bill would ensure that grant recipients coordinate with local educational agencies to train students, professionals, and volunteers who work with children on abuse prevention, recognition, and reporting. These are important matters.

This bill, however, does not add to overall spending. We do have a spending problem here in the United States. Rather, it makes existing funding available for these important programs.

Over the past year, I have had the privilege of meeting and getting to know the namesake of this bill, Texan Jenna Quinn.

Mr. Speaker, you just heard her story. Jenna is a symbol of hope and bravery. She has an inspiring story of overcoming sexual abuse herself, and her unwavering commitment to helping so many like her who have been or presently are victims of abuse is just remarkable.

As it stands, our Nation's children face a tragic and silent epidemic, child sexual abuse.

As I speak before you now, Mr. Speaker, every 9 minutes, new evidence for a claim of sexual abuse is substantiated. Of all victims under the age of 18, 2 out of 3 are between the ages of 12 and 17. Tragically, child sexual abuse is one of the most underreported crimes in our country.

Mr. Speaker, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys are subject to this heartbreaking reality. Even more alarming, 90 percent of these children who are victims of sexual abuse know and trust their abuser. The same was true for Jenna Quinn.

While child sexual abuse is a criminal epidemic, one part of the solution to this tragedy lies in preventative education. Education, combined with a comprehensive set of preventative policies, is a powerful tool to combat this crisis.

School personnel report 52 percent of all identified child abuse cases classified as causing harm to children, more than any other profession or organization, including child protective services and law enforcement. For that, we are profoundly grateful to our educational partners.

Each life is precious, and each life deserves protection at all stages. I am confident that the Jenna Quinn bill will strengthen our efforts to prevent the evils of child sexual abuse and help identify children who have experienced this or are currently experiencing it and get it stopped. Most importantly, it will help them in finding pathways to healing.

Today, I am grateful that both Republicans and Democrats have come together to pass or will pass this bipartisan, bicameral, and commonsense legislation.

I thank Representative Susan Wild on the Democratic side for her hard work on this effort, and I thank Chairwoman Foxx and her staff for their dedication and hard work on bringing this legislation to the floor.

I know that there are children whose lives will forever be impacted for the better because of the Jenna Quinn bill.

Mr. Speaker, today, I urge my colleagues to support this bill and get it to the President's desk so it can be signed into law.

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