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   The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. POMEROY) is recognized for 5 minutes.

   Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform my colleagues that I, along with the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. GREEN), will this afternoon be briefly addressing the importance of an issue we care passionately about: children's education, children's basic education, girls' education, and our U.S. international assistance dollars in helping developing countries make schools and educational opportunities available.

   Last Congress I had the privilege of serving on the House Committee on International Relations. From that position, I began to focus on identifying which foreign aid dollars could actually make a lasting difference and bring systemic changes in the areas that we are trying to help.

   Too often we are just late to the crime scene. Whether it is famine, war,

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   As I researched the question, I became convinced of the value of one development investment in particular: international basic education. I was intrigued to learn that educating children, particularly making a special effort to get girls into schools, because so often they are not allowed to participate, yields a higher rate of return than virtually any other effort we can make in the international developing world.

   The data seemed almost too good to be true. With increased education, women live healthier lives. They marry later, live longer, have fewer children, and their children have vastly superior survival rates. The data compiled by the World Bank and other international organizations report that for every year of education a little girl receives beyond grade four, there is a 10 percent reduction in family size, a 15 percent drop in child malnutrition, a 10 percent reduction in infant mortality, and up to a 20 percent increase in wages and microenterprise development.

   The statistics support what economists and development experts already know: educating children, again especially girls, creates a powerful impact, improving the lives of little children, subsequently improving the lives of their families, and improving the lives resulting later in the villages and the entire communities.

   After hearing all this, I had a strong desire to actually see some of these schools, see our U.S. assistance dollars in action; and so along with my colleague, the gentleman from Green Bay, Wisconsin (Mr. GREEN), we made a bipartisan effort sponsored by some of the NGOs that are implementing these assistance dollars to look firsthand to see how this was working.

   Our trip left me with a rock-solid conviction that the data on girls education is correct. In both Ghana and Mali, our taxpayer dollars have made a significant difference in the lives of children and families. And even more effectively than the dollars that are used, we were struck by the deep commitment in terms of USAID officials, the professionals in the NGO community implementing these programs, the families and the personnel from the countries making these little schools run themselves. This is driving systemic change in these areas.

   We visited many classrooms, spoke to parents and community leaders and learned firsthand of the changes being made. This picture reflects a meeting with parents we had in a very small rural village. This individual, the village hunter, the one responsible for bagging the game to feed the village, told us that with the children even getting basic primary education, the cotton traders buying their products can no longer cheat them by the scales. They use the children to make certain they get a fair deal. Time and time again we heard of this kind of change.

   We heard from parents that now children can help them find when they are buying medicine that has already got expiration dates; they will help them watch for expiration dates on foods and help them write letters; that schools are a safe place for them to be. They no longer have to worry about the children when they go to market.

   We heard from the village chief and president of a parents' association tell us that educating a little girl is like lighting a dark room. He said that their school is giving priority to girls' participation in enrollment, making a difference for the first time in bringing girls into primary education and the opportunities that flow from that. The parents told us that once the girls learn to read and write they teach others in the family and they become better mothers. Even in a young teenager's years, they are doing it.

   I just want to, in closing, show you one of the little girls participating in one of the schools that we observed. This little girl wants to be a doctor and help others in her community. Her chances without our assistance dollars would be a million to one. But with our assistance dollars, this dream is possible.

   We need to continue our commitment in this area, and I am very pleased to work with the gentleman from Wisconsin and others in a bipartisan effort to continue to support this work.

END