HHS RULE IN GOP CROSSHAIRS — House Republicans grilled HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra on Wednesday over a rule the administration finalized earlier this year to vet potential sponsors of unaccompanied migrant children under age 18, Chelsea reports. During a hearing about HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, which places unaccompanied minors with sponsors, members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, including subcommittee Chair Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), argued that the rule loosened requirements on background checks. Sponsors are adults, which can include family members, deemed suitable to care for a child. “This was a giant step back from rigorous vetting,” McClintock said, saying it fails to disqualify sponsors with criminal backgrounds, while Van Drew argued the rule was “designed to create barriers to placing the [unaccompanied minors] in secure facilities.” “Yes, you do do background checks, but they’re not good enough, and that was done in the rule,” Van Drew said during the hearing. Context: The ORR received referrals for more than 118,000 unaccompanied minors requiring sponsor placement in 2023. But HHS, under Becerra, has garnered criticism from the Hill after a New York Times report found that the Biden administration lost immediate contact with at least a third of migrant children. In April, the administration finalized a rule enforcing a 1997 settlement agreement to set standards for placement of children. The first Trump administration, which had instituted a controversial policy of separating families and holding children in detention facilities, had tried to terminate the settlement but was blocked by the courts. With a Republican-led Congress and White House, the HHS rule will likely face further scrutiny and potential changes next year. Becerra defended the rule Wednesday, denying that it fails to adequately vet sponsors. “[Sponsors] go through the full level of extensive checking on background … so we want to make sure there’s no ambiguity as to what their responsibility is: to make sure that they are putting … the safety of that child first before they place that child with a sponsor,” he said. BILL NYE WEIGHS IN — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead HHS has “lost his way,” Bill Nye, an engineer best known for his 1990s TV show “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” told reporters Wednesday, Lauren reports. In response to questions about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Nye touted fluoride’s role in preventing cavities, noting that he believes his dental health is better because the mineral is added to the drinking water supply. Kennedy has said he wants fluoride, which occurs naturally but can be added by state or local governments, out of drinking water. Nye, an advocate for the National Ataxia Foundation, said he was in the Capitol “trying to get the FDA just a bit of a nudge” to consider data around a potential treatment for spinocerebellar ataxia, a group of inherited brain disorders that affects physical coordination and loss of fine motor skills. The genetic condition runs in Nye’s family. Nye seemingly nodded to Kennedy’s unfounded claims about vaccine safety. “His other claims are extraordinary, and I really hope somebody will reconsider his position,” he said.
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