Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the distinguished and outstanding chair of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, we face a humanitarian crisis at our southern border, and we face a crisis of care. Six children have died in U.S. custody in the last 9 months. In the 10 previous years, not one child died. These lost, scared, and vulnerable young people are so distraught in what the Miami Herald called ``prison-like facilities'' that they are self-harming. It breaks our heart, and it must steel our conviction for action tonight. And we have been acting. In the 2020 Labor-HHS appropriations bill, we strengthened protections for the unaccompanied children program. These include funding legal services, blocking the administration's memorandum of agreement that had HHS erroneously prioritizing immigration enforcement over care for kids and scaring sponsors from coming forward, and requiring the administration to abide by the protections that are guaranteed under the standards of care under the Flores Agreement. That is what we have done. This is what we are doing now. This emergency supplemental provides funding for the housing of children. It implements protections for them. It enacts mechanisms to ensure their safe and expeditious placement with sponsors.…”