This sickens me. It sickens me that these children have been put in this position and in harm's way, and that we in the U.S. Government have responsibility for these children.

I am concerned even beyond what happens with these kids when they are out of your custody, and we cannot seem to agree on whether you have any responsibility for them.

There have been 125 reports to law enforcement of child sexual assault in detention centers that are run by HHS or at least contracted to run by HHS, does not that concern you, Commander?

A couple of things, and I do want to get into this idea that the children are safe when they are in your custody because that is certainly not what we are hearing.

You know what would be good is for you to backtrack on your original statement that kids in your custody are safe, that there is no mismanagement within custody, within those facilities of what is happening with these kids.

If this were a IV-E investigation of a State foster care system, they would fail, and you basically would withdraw Federal money because there would be inadequate protections for kids.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to be recognized for 3 minutes for comments relating to the appropriations bill prior to the NDAA bill debate. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Appropriations Legislation

Madam President, I want to thank my colleagues for advancing these appropriations bills, specifically the ag appropriations bill. I also want to thank Senator Merkley, my ranking member on the committee. Throughout the process, we have had…

I am not afraid of big ideas and Congress cannot be reflexively dismissive of a proposal simply because it changes the status quo.

Losing control over the implementation of your policies is not something you worry about.

This has to get fixed. We cannot be waiting. You cannot do it this way.

Let us stay on IT here, because obviously one of the concerns that we have--and you recognized in your reorganization plan--talked about the challenges that OPM has experienced with data breaches, background investigations, backlogs, and…

Let us not assume that, oh, the sky did not fall on some public employee's head right after it happened.

This is an area that I think needs reform.

I think this is fascinating. I think this will be one of these introductory meetings.

Thanks, you guys.

Federal Government, honestly, must do better. It must be more efficient. It must be more effective and do a better job of connecting with its citizens.

So, I will turn this over to Senator Lankford--I understand what you guys are saying but I am trying to understand what you are saying in the context of what we are reading, in terms of reorganization.