Kay Granger: “My motion amends the bill by adding the additional $2.88 billion the administration has said is needed to care for the…”

“My motion amends the bill by adding the additional $2.88 billion the administration has said is needed to care for the unaccompanied children who continue to flood our southern border. I am offering this motion because the bill we are considering today does not address this need. The funding in this motion is just one piece of what is needed to respond to this crisis. The children who come across our border without a parent become the responsibility of our Federal Government. As of the end of April, nearly 13,000 unaccompanied children were in the care of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. We are told that if these trends continue, the Department will soon run out of funds to care for these children and face Antideficiency Act violations. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hurd) offered this same amendment in a full committee markup of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies' appropriations bill just 2 days ago. At that time, the chair told us that the amendment would not be supported because we could not wait for a regular appropriations bill to be enacted. We were told this funding was needed now. By including the funds in this emergency supplemental bill, we will do just that. We are giving our colleagues on the other side of the aisle another opportunity today to provide the funding necessary to continue to care for these children.…”