Jenna Quinn Law

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 1147, the Jenna Quinn Law. The Jenna Quinn Law considers only one small part of the much broader Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, or CAPTA.

Through the reauthorization of CAPTA, Congress could take meaningful steps in preventing and addressing child abuse and neglect through providing States with the necessary resources to strengthen community- based child abuse prevention services. Despite CAPTA reauthorization passing in the House on a bipartisan basis in two previous Congresses, the bill did not become law, so we find ourselves here today considering the very narrowly drafted Jenna Quinn Law, which specifies that the HHS Secretary can award projects aimed at preventing child sexual abuse. It must be said that the Jenna Quinn Law regrettably does not authorize any new funding for such projects.

Reauthorizing CAPTA would have been a much better route and is a top priority, but another priority would be to address the communication holes in State child welfare systems. Specifically, the inability to communicate the threat of child endangerment across State lines can have devastating consequences.

In particular, one of my constituents, Heaven Watkins, fell victim to the lack of communication between State welfare agencies. In her case, the system allowed her to remain with an abusive parent who moved her from Minnesota to Virginia. Her past abuse was not communicated with Virginia officials, and the move resulted in her tragic death.

I am frustrated that this bill did not come to us under regular order. As a result, I am not able to offer the amendment that I offered at markup and the language that had been included in previous House- passed CAPTA reauthorization bills. My amendment would have required the creation of a nationwide interstate data exchange system to provide caseworkers with appropriate background and information on a family's interaction with the child welfare system in another State. If we had that State database in place, then it could have prevented further abuse or even death at the hands of abusive caregivers whose actions are not monitored across State lines, as was the case for Heaven Watkins and countless children.

While, ultimately, I will support the Jenna Quinn Law as far as it goes, the issue of child abuse prevention and treatment requires a more comprehensive approach. We can and should do more to reduce child abuse and neglect.

Despite the lack of a more comprehensive approach and no additional funding, this bill is still a step in the right direction. As a result, I will vote ``yes'' on the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Wild), a distinguished member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, while this legislation would be a step to improve prevention, awareness, and reporting of child sexual abuse in schools, it woefully falls short of a comprehensive reauthorization of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, or CAPTA.

CAPTA was last reauthorized over a decade ago in 2010, and a timely reauthorization is an appropriate solution to prevent child abuse and neglect from happening in the first place and provide better evidence- based treatments to address child maltreatment.

In both the 116th and the 117th Congresses, when I was chairman of the committee, the House passed a bipartisan CAPTA reauthorization bill called Stronger CAPTA. Regrettably, a CAPTA reauthorization has not yet become law despite a mutual understanding that Congress must do more to support children and families.

If the bipartisan Stronger CAPTA bill had been signed into law, it would have already provided States with necessary resources to expand locally driven prevention strategies, which strengthen families and invest in child protective services agencies.

Unfortunately, the bill we are considering today does not provide any additional funding to implement its proposed grant program on child sexual abuse prevention and awareness. In contrast, Stronger CAPTA would actually provide States with the resources to strengthen prevention programs.

Research shows that the best way to support families is to provide a targeted prevention to families of at-risk children when they are at risk of maltreatment, and primary prevention services need to be provided so that families can be served before they become vulnerable to factors associated with maltreatment.

Additionally, Stronger CAPTA would have streamlined communications between child protective services agencies across the country so that critical information is not lost across State lines. Such a system would likely have saved the life of Heaven Watkins, the 11-year-old who I mentioned before, who tragically died because local child protective services had no way of knowing that her parents had a history of child abuse in another State.

If the reforms in Stronger CAPTA had been in place, Heaven's death would likely have been prevented. By investing in prevention strategies and improving the collection and sharing of vital information, we can keep children like Heaven from slipping through the cracks.

There is no doubt that Congress has a vital role in helping States protect children from immediate injury and lifelong emotional trauma associated with child abuse and neglect.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working in a bipartisan manner in the next Congress to reauthorize CAPTA. Meanwhile, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 1147) to amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to provide for grants in support of training and education to teachers and other school employees, students, and the community about how to prevent, recognize, respond to, and report child sexual abuse among primary and secondary school students.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on S. 1147.

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill's story begins with its namesake, Jenna Quinn, a teenage sexual assault survivor.

Legislation in Jenna's name was enacted in the State of Texas in 2009 and has already saved countless children from abuse. In fact, a study found that after Jenna's Law was passed in Texas in 2009, educators reported abuse at a rate of almost four times more after receiving education and instruction about abuse. Now, Congress has a chance to apply some of the law's key protections across the country.

Child abuse and neglect are heartbreaking, immoral, and inexcusable. No child should ever have to endure pain and suffering. In a perfect world, we would not need laws addressing child abuse, but this world is far from perfect.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys in the United States are estimated to experience child abuse.

The National Children's Alliance states: ``An estimated 558,899 children (unique incidents) were victims of abuse and neglect in the U.S. in 2022, the most recent year for which there is national data.''

The Jenna Quinn Law, S. 1147, champions prevention through education. This bill aims to prevent child sexual abuse by allowing schools to utilize existing grants to educate teachers, staff, parents, and students to recognize and respond to abuse.

In addition to protecting children, the bill respects taxpayer money. The bill does not mandate or authorize any new spending. Importantly, it includes a provision that requires the Comptroller General of the United States to provide oversight by submitting a report to the respective committees no later than 5 years after enactment to ensure that the funds are used effectively and transparently.

To sum it up, this bipartisan legislation directly addresses the pervasive issue of child sexual abuse in our country. S. 1147 recognizes that parents, educators, and other school personnel are on the front lines in recognizing and reporting child abuse and equips them with the knowledge of the signs of abuse and the tools to report abuse accurately and correctly.

Protecting the Nation's children is not a partisan issue but a moral imperative.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives Moran and Wild for their tireless advocacy on the issue and for working on this bill. I encourage my colleagues to support S. 1147, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Moran).

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, children are the Nation's future, but, sadly, the life and bright future of hundreds of thousands of children are threatened each year by abuse and neglect.

Mr. Speaker, S. 1147 allows for grants for child sexual abuse prevention programs in schools, equipping educators to recognize and report signs of abuse early.

Jenna Quinn's story reminds us of the urgency to act, and this bill ensures that we continue to safeguard vulnerable children from preventable cases of sexual assault. I believe this legislation, in the face of evil, will help prevent child sexual abuse and help identify children who are experiencing these horrible acts to be put on a path towards healing.

By passing S. 1147, Congress is taking meaningful steps to prevent additional child abuse and neglect by providing States with the tools necessary to strengthen child abuse prevention services.

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

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.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairwoman, the ranking member, and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Moran) for bringing the Jenna Quinn act forward. It is so important.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Jenna Quinn act, a crucial piece of legislation that directly addresses the pervasive issue of child sexual abuse in our country.

Unfortunately, child sexual abuse is a silent epidemic. The CDC estimates that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys will experience sexual abuse before the age of 18.

In my home State of Pennsylvania, child abuse laws reflect the sobering reality of this crisis. Between 2019 and 2023, a period of 4 years, there were more than 32,000 individuals charged in child abuse cases, and of those charged, a striking 56 percent were between the ages of 19 and 35, and 23 percent of these defendants were charged with endangering the welfare of children, according to the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania.

These numbers highlight the widespread and deeply rooted problem in our communities. They also reinforce the need for proactive measures to prevent child abuse before it occurs, which is exactly what the Jenna Quinn act seeks to accomplish.

This bill empowers educators and school personnel, who are often on the front lines when it comes to identifying and stopping child sexual abuse, with the tools they need to recognize, report, and prevent the abuse from happening. By providing schools with trauma-informed training and helping staff to recognize, report, and ultimately prevent child sexual abuse, the Jenna Quinn act will create a safer environment for children across the country.

This training is not about turning teachers into investigators. It is about making sure that every teacher knows what to do if a child shows evidence of abuse or discloses abuse or if the teacher notices warning signs. It is about giving those children the chance to be heard and to be helped.

The bill emphasizes flexibility, allowing States to develop the right programs for their schools while ensuring that Federal support is there to back them up.

Let me be clear that this bill is a bipartisan solution to a problem that knows no political boundaries. Protecting our children is not a partisan issue, but it is a moral imperative. Our educators deserve the training and resources that they need to effectively intervene in situations of abuse, and our children deserve to feel safe in their classrooms.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on the Jenna Quinn act.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be discharged from further consideration of S. 1147, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Cornyn substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; that the bill, as amended, be considered read a third time and

passed; and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.