# Summary
This legislation seeks to eliminate child marriage in the United States through federal action and state incentives. Over 314,000 minors were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2021, with documented harms including higher high school dropout rates, poverty, health problems, and intimate partner violence. The bill establishes a National Commission to Combat Child Marriage to study the scope of the problem and recommend solutions, funded at $1.5 million annually for 2027-2028. It also creates a grant program offering up to $375,000 annually through 2032 to states willing to establish task forces examining child marriage, and provides financial incentives of up to 10 percent increased federal funding to states that ban marriage for anyone under 18. Additionally, the bill strengthens immigration requirements by requiring both spouses in marriage-based visa petitions to be at least 18 years old (with limited exceptions for compelling humanitarian reasons), and mandates the Department of Justice develop a model state statute prohibiting child marriage.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.