Rosa DeLauro

This policy is outrageous, and I do hope that we can all work together to change it.

I respect the testimony that I have heard that you have provided in previous hearings and the warnings that you gave to HHS officials about the traumatic impacts of family separation and the effect on children.

There are separations.

First and foremost, children should not be detained.

Facilities this large warehousing this many children cannot do right by the kids.

You don't need another 5,000 beds to do this.

Influx facilities are supposed to be temporary.

We also have to make sure that we don't cut corners in terms of devices so that we put people at risk.

So rest assured, the administration's attempt to slash your budgets will not stand.

Despite the President's heartless and misinformed efforts to gut the NIH, we have responded resoundingly.

It is crystal clear that President Trump doesn't really understand the nature of this committee and how bipartisan it is and has no regard for the National Institutes of Health and the cutting-edge work you do to save lives, advance cures…

I believe the work of the NIH has and will change the course of disease detection and treatment for generations to come.

I think one of the things that we have established is that the administration's policies, in fact, have traumatized thousands of children.

I just think that there are opportunities to have bipartisan conversations because I would tell you we operate in 39 states...

Where is your plan to ensure that children are placed with family members as quickly as possible?

We tried in the 2019 Labor-HHS bill to say that siblings could not be separated, but they are separated.

At the high point, we were at 15,000. You are down to now, what, 11,000?

So much of this revolves around rescinding the MOA, which we will keep repeating, and it should be terminated, rescinded, and gone to protect the children and to protect their families.

I am pleased to know that we can get it and it can be shared with every member.

The Federal Government, and in particular the Department of Health and Human Services, should not in any way use vulnerable children as bait.

As I have said in the past, HHS needs to terminate the MOA.

The non-fingerprinting is what is allowed. That could have been implemented many, many months before.

This was a policy decision by ORR.

I saw it. Saw it. Saw it used with a patient--

This is a stark violation of those children's best interests.