E&W Blog

Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) led the hearing with a reminder for Secretary Becerra. Per the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, “Witnesses will give frank and complete answers to all questions.”

Her reminder hearkens back to previous hearings in which Acting Secretary of Labor Su and Secretary of Education Cardona were certainly neither ‘frank’ nor ‘complete’ with their responses to congressional oversight inquiries. Acting Secretary Su conveniently forgot how she voted on perhaps the most consequential worker initiative in California history, Prop 22. Secretary Cardona conveniently sidestepped questions regarding whether his Department was responding to Committee document requests.

History shows Biden officials are well-versed in the art of question dodging, and, predictably, Secretary Becerra demonstrated more of the same.

One looming concern from Committee Republicans made the Secretary dissemble more than any other—sex change surgeries for minors. Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) put it this way: “Why do you believe that a 9, 10, 11-year-old should be able to change their sex?”

Secretary Becerra responded to this and every other inquiry about sex change operations for minors with the rehearsed phrase, “We will protect the rights of any individual to receive the health care they are entitled to.”

The intentional ambiguity of his answer reeks of disdain and confirms that the Secretary is out of touch. Are children “entitled to” top and bottom surgeries? The Secretary’s answer, or rather non-answer, indicates “yes.” When Rep. Banks challenged the Secretary’s contradictory belief that 18-year-olds should not be able to own a gun, but teens much younger should be able to undergo irreversible sex change surgery, Secretary Becerra again evaded.

In other words, not frank and not complete.

Another common theme echoed by Committee members throughout the day was the tragedy of HHS losing track of countless unaccompanied migrant children. A bombshell New York Times article revealed that 85,000 unaccompanied minors were transferred to sponsors by HHS and then were unable to be reached upon follow-up calls. Whistleblowers claim that these sponsors were not properly vetted, and that by rushing the vetting process, HHS severely compromised the safety of these children.

Responding to a line of questioning from Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), Secretary Becerra claimed that once the child is transferred, HHS loses custody and therefore jurisdiction. Though, to the contrary, HHS attempts to contact the child and sponsor three times following the transfer to track them. So, the Secretary is accountable if they answer the phone, but not if they don’t? “You’ll use the laws that are convenient for you,” held Rep. McClain.

A tragedy of this scale should not and cannot be a political hot-potato fight over agency jurisdiction. Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) got to the crux of the matter, saying, “You talk about that your Department goes ‘beyond the law’ to provide these heroic services, and in the same breath you’ll say you ‘don’t have jurisdiction,’ so, you know, which is it?”

We never found out which it was. Again, not frank and not complete.

Continuing the attempt to get forthright answers, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) asked a pointed question about the COVID-19 response, an issue Committee Republicans will never let the Biden administration shake. “Did you support student vaccine mandates?” asked Rep. Kiley.

“We have supported all policies that help states make sure people’s lives are saved,” replied Secretary Becerra.

Then, Rep. Kiley repeated the question, and the Secretary repeated his same talking point. Whether the administration supported life-saving policies was never the question.

Once again, not frank and not complete.

Moving from looking back to looking ahead, Rep. Erin Houchin (R-IN) cited concerns about nationwide nursing-home staff shortages and the potential for Secretary Becerra to make them worse. HHS is proposing a rule regarding minimum staffing ratios that threatens the ability of long-term care facilities to serve Indianans in her community.