READ Act Reathorization Act of 2022

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7240) to reauthorize the READ Act, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 7240, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7240, the reauthorization of the Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development, or the READ Act. I would first like to thank my colleagues, Representative Bass and Representative Smith, for their leadership in this legislation. I also want to acknowledge former Appropriations Chairwoman Lowey for championing basic education programs for so many years in the House. The READ Act is just one piece of her great legacy.

The bill we are considering today reauthorizes the READ Act for another 5 years, continuing our country's leadership in expanding access to basic education for kids around the world. As Chairwoman Lowey would say, education is one of the greatest force multipliers in foreign aid. Every dollar we spend on a child's education is an investment in their future and in a more peaceful and prosperous world.

Since the READ Act was signed into law in 2017, we have made significant progress in responding to the needs of our partner countries to improve literacy, strengthen education systems, expand access to safe learning, and promote education as a foundation for sustained economic growth.

Despite this progress, the READ Act and our basic education programs remain critical in the face of profound learning loss everywhere due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning poverty has increased by a third in low- and middle-income countries, with an estimated 70 percent of 10- year-olds unable to understand a simple written text, up from 57 percent before the pandemic.

According to the World Bank, this generation of students now risks losing $21 trillion in potential lifetime earnings, or the equivalent of 17 percent of the world's GDP. Millions of kids around the world remain out of school.

Children need a quality education, whether in Bethesda, Nairobi, or Kabul. But investing U.S. taxpayer dollars in this cause is not just charity; it is in our collective interest. Reauthorizing the READ Act is thus a step toward maintaining U.S. leadership in achieving this goal, and I urge my colleagues to support its passage through the House.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for the purpose of closing.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 7240, the reauthorization of the Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development Act, or the READ Act, comes at a critical time.

Despite the progress we have made toward expanding access to education around the world, COVID-19 has set us back, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The bill demonstrates our continuing commitment to ensuring every child has access to safe, equitable, and quality education, and our confidence that every dollar invested in this cause returns dividends by way of global economic growth and stability.

Once again, I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass) for introducing this bill, along with the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for their leadership in advancing this critical reauthorization. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the READ Act reauthorization, and I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass), my good friend and colleague, for championing this effort. I am proud to be the Republican lead on this bill. There are 50-plus cosponsors on it. It is a bipartisan bill that seeks to encourage and strengthen our efforts at education overseas.

Mr. Speaker, investment in basic education is an investment in the prosperity and the security of the next generation and the communities they live in, and that applies both at home and abroad.

Without the opportunity to attend school and learn how to read and write, children around the world are falling behind and are more vulnerable to extremism, violence, and exploitation.

In the Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights Subcommittee, Ms. Bass and I--when I was chairman of the committee and now she as chair--have held a number of hearings about this challenge of helping these children so they can have good lives, care for their families, and be as well read and as well positioned in their communities as humanly possible.

That is why the United States is a leader in this sector. The United States provides $950 million to partner countries to support basic education around the world, making strategic investments in improving educational access, quality, and teacher training.

While important gains have been made, COVID-19 had a devastating impact on learners, both in the United States and around the world. We all

know that from our work within our own constituencies. According to the most recent report to Congress from the ILO on U.S. basic education programs, in 2021, 24 million additional students were at risk of dropping out of school; 22 million more girls and young women were at risk of forced marriages, early marriages especially, as a result of this; and 9 million additional children were at risk of child labor, all because of the impacts of COVID.

We need to do a hurry-up offense, I think, to try to get back to normalcy and back to a better regimen of training and teaching.

Despite these immense challenges, the U.S. Government's efforts to support basic education programs did reach 33.4 million learners in 73 countries around the world, and I am very proud of the United States' efforts to invest in future generations. It is a credit to our taxpayers that they are supportive of this--and they are--as well as this Congress on both sides of the aisle.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7240, the READ Act Reauthorization Act of 2022. This bipartisan bill, I authored with Africa Subcommittee Ranking Member Chris Smith, is a straightforward reauthorization of the Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development (READ) Act of 2017, which was signed into law in the 115th Congress.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.