Congresswoman Lois Frankel’s (FL-22) amendment to H.R. 3583, the Malala Yousafzai Scholarship Act, was passed by unanimous consent as the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to send the entire bill to the full House for a possible vote. 

Malala is the inspirational Pakistani teenager who was shot in the head by the Taliban while on her way home from school. She was targeted in an attempt to silence her increasingly influential voice supporting girls’ education, which had been banned under Taliban rule.

This legislation authorizes continued funding over the next three years for the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program, which awards scholarships for university study to academically talented, financially needy Pakistani students. The bill also directs USAID to ensure that 50% of the scholarships are awarded to Pakistani women. Frankel’s amendment, which urged recipients of these scholarships to commit to improving their local communities, passed unanimously.

“This program will be more effective if the scholarship recipients ‘pay it forward’ to their communities with service and mentoring,” Frankel said. “This scholarship is named after a young lady who is inspiring to all of us and I hope that these scholarships will bring many more Malala’s into society.”

Last year, Congresswoman Frankel led 50 of her bipartisan colleagues in sending a letter to Malala lauding her commitment to improving access to education for women and girls across the globe. Since the assassination attempt, Malala’s impassioned voice has only grown stronger. In July of last year, she stood before the world at the United Nations and said, “The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions. But nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear, and hopelessness died. Strength, power, and courage was born.”

For a full video of the markup click here.

For the full text the October letter to Malala click here.

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