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(VIDEO) Republican questions HHS IG on why unaccompanied minors illegally crossing into US aren't being properly tracked

Dated: April 21, 2023 by Sharyl Attkisson 1 Comment

      

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Washington) delivered opening remarks at Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing titled โ€œInsights from the HHS Inspector General on Oversight of Unaccompanied Minors, Grant Management, and CMS.โ€

Watch highlights and/or read excerpts below:

BIDENโ€™S HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AT THE BORDER

โ€œThis is the first time in more than 20 years that the HHS Inspector General has appeared before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

โ€œIt is long overdue, and Iโ€™m grateful you are here.

โ€œFirst, 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.

โ€œThis is a crisis, made worse by President Bidenโ€™s open-border agenda.

โ€œFrom 2019 to 2021, the number of unaccompanied minors referred to HHS from the Department of Homeland Security increased by more than 75%.

โ€œLast year, nearly 130,000 migrant children entered the shelter system. An all-time high.

โ€œItโ€™s more than just the numbers.

โ€œA New York Times investigation revealed that unaccompanied migrant children are alone and being exploited.

โ€œThese are young teenagers, without their parents, working long shifts on farms, in factories, hotels, on construction sites.

โ€œAccording to the Times investigation, HHS caseworkers are under pressure by the Biden White House to quickly process these children.

โ€œAs a result, sponsors arenโ€™t being vetted properly and HHS isnโ€™t keeping track of these children.

โ€œQuote, โ€˜overall, the agency lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children.โ€™

โ€œThat is tens of thousands of kids who are at risk of further exploitation.

โ€œAnd we now know that people were raising the alarm of children at risk to HHS, including directly to Secretary Becerra.

โ€œHHS 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

โ€œIn addition, we will also focus today on how HHS is spending and managing trillions of taxpayer dollars.

โ€œThis includes how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is failing to ensure proper oversight of its grants, especially in foreign countries, like in China.

โ€œWe find the HHS OIG audit report about NIHโ€™s 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.

โ€œIt 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.

โ€œThe 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

โ€œFinally, we are also asking you to help us provide needed oversight of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

โ€œCMS has an annual budget of more than $1 trillion and oversees or administers health coverage for millions of Americans.

โ€œAccording to a CNBC report, there is more than $100 billion in fraud each year in Medicare and Medicaid.

โ€œOne criminal who raked in millions from Medicare fraud for more than a decade told CNBC, โ€˜I was low-profile, nobody knew me. I had everything. I had houses, I had cars, I had watches.โ€™

โ€œIn addition, your written testimony discusses that in Fiscal Year 2021 alone, improper payments made up for over 21 percent of all Medicaid spending.

โ€œThat is 1 in every 5 dollars spent improperly.

โ€œThese numbers are staggering.

โ€œSurely, we can all agree that we need to ensure the integrity of federal health care programs that so many peopleโ€”including seniors, people with disabilities, mothers, and those in most needโ€”rely on.

โ€œWith the end of the public health emergency, it is critical that CMS work to reduce the amount of improper payments by Medicaid and Medicare.

โ€œI hope to hear how the Inspector Generalโ€™s Office will help CMS restore the financial integrity of these programs as we return to normal post-pandemic life.

โ€œI 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.

โ€œWe want to hear more about the recommendations you have for CMS to help address waste, fraud, and abuse in these vital programs.โ€

BIDENโ€™S BORDER AND COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS

โ€œAs I said in our hearing with the Inspectors General with other federal agencies, responsible stewardship of federal funds should not be a partisan issue.

โ€œAs duly-elected members of the Peopleโ€™s House, it is our Article I responsibility to conduct oversight so the government is responsive to those we serve.

โ€œThat is our goal today, especially for how the administration has made its border and cost-of-living crisis worse.

โ€œAgain, Inspector General Grimm, we look forward to your testimony regarding the most serious challenges facing HHS.โ€

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