House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington) delivered opening remarks at Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing titled โInsights from the HHS Inspector General on Oversight of Unaccompanied Minors, Grant Management, and CMS.โ
Watch highlights and/or read excerpts below:
BIDENโS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AT THE BORDER
โThis is the first time in more than 20 years that the HHS Inspector General has appeared before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
โIt is long overdue, and Iโm grateful you are here.
โFirst, your office has some done important work exposing how the administration has failed to assure the safety and well-being of unaccompanied children crossing the border.
โThis is a crisis, made worse by President Bidenโs open-border agenda.
โFrom 2019 to 2021, the number of unaccompanied minors referred to HHS from the Department of Homeland Security increased by more than 75%.
โLast year, nearly 130,000 migrant children entered the shelter system. An all-time high.
โItโs more than just the numbers.
โA New York Times investigation revealed that unaccompanied migrant children are alone and being exploited.
โThese are young teenagers, without their parents, working long shifts on farms, in factories, hotels, on construction sites.
โAccording to the Times investigation, HHS caseworkers are under pressure by the Biden White House to quickly process these children.
โAs a result, sponsors arenโt being vetted properly and HHS isnโt keeping track of these children.
โQuote, โoverall, the agency lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children.โ
โThat is tens of thousands of kids who are at risk of further exploitation.
โAnd we now know that people were raising the alarm of children at risk to HHS, including directly to Secretary Becerra.
โHHS and the Biden White House must be held accountable for how it could have possibly missed or ignored this crisis.โ
BEING PROPER STEWARDS OF TAXPAYER FUNDS
โIn addition, we will also focus today on how HHS is spending and managing trillions of taxpayer dollars.
โThis includes how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is failing to ensure proper oversight of its grants, especially in foreign countries, like in China.
โWe find the HHS OIG audit report about NIHโs ineffective monitoring of the Wuhan lab and EcoHealth Alliance very troubling, especially given the risky nature of this research and its potential to start a pandemic.
โIt is unacceptable that today, because NIH failed to effectively monitor the Wuhan Lab and EcoHealth Alliance, key data related to American taxpayer-funded grants is still under control of the Chinese Communist Party.
โThe American people deserve answers to this and also transparency if this failure to oversee grant funding is pervasive across HHS.โ
COMBATTING WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE AT CMS
โFinally, we are also asking you to help us provide needed oversight of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
โCMS has an annual budget of more than $1 trillion and oversees or administers health coverage for millions of Americans.
โAccording to a CNBC report, there is more than $100 billion in fraud each year in Medicare and Medicaid.
โOne criminal who raked in millions from Medicare fraud for more than a decade told CNBC, โI was low-profile, nobody knew me. I had everything. I had houses, I had cars, I had watches.โ
โIn addition, your written testimony discusses that in Fiscal Year 2021 alone, improper payments made up for over 21 percent of all Medicaid spending.
โThat is 1 in every 5 dollars spent improperly.
โThese numbers are staggering.
โSurely, we can all agree that we need to ensure the integrity of federal health care programs that so many peopleโincluding seniors, people with disabilities, mothers, and those in most needโrely on.
โWith the end of the public health emergency, it is critical that CMS work to reduce the amount of improper payments by Medicaid and Medicare.
โI hope to hear how the Inspector Generalโs Office will help CMS restore the financial integrity of these programs as we return to normal post-pandemic life.
โI worry not enough is being done by CMS and that this administration is reluctant to take common sense actions that would reduce instances of waste, fraud, and abuse.
โWe want to hear more about the recommendations you have for CMS to help address waste, fraud, and abuse in these vital programs.โ
BIDENโS BORDER AND COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS
โAs I said in our hearing with the Inspectors General with other federal agencies, responsible stewardship of federal funds should not be a partisan issue.
โAs duly-elected members of the Peopleโs House, it is our Article I responsibility to conduct oversight so the government is responsive to those we serve.
โThat is our goal today, especially for how the administration has made its border and cost-of-living crisis worse.
โAgain, Inspector General Grimm, we look forward to your testimony regarding the most serious challenges facing HHS.โ
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