WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) delivered the following opening statement, as prepared, for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Hearing on “Oversight of Homeland Security and Investigations”:

"Mr. Chairman, today, the immigration subcommittee is conducting an oversight hearing on the Department of Health and Human Services.  I am all for the Committee exercising its robust oversight authority, and I certainly hope the Committee plans to subject the incoming administration to the same degree of oversight it has utilized for the outgoing one.

And what an administration it is shaping up to be!  A Fox News host who advocated for pardoning war criminals and thinks women should not serve in combat as the Secretary of Defense.  A pro-Putin propagandist for Director of National Intelligence.  A former Congressman whose only experience with prosecution is his own alleged criminal entanglements to serve as Attorney General. 

And most applicable to today’s hearing, an-anti vaccine, conspiracy-peddling extremist with a penchant for eating bears for Secretary of Health and Human Services.

These may be some of the most unqualified candidates for cabinet posts in living memory.  It turns out, when you burn through the serious people in your first administration, there are slim pickings for the second one. 

We in Congress have an important job as a co-equal branch of the government.  We have a mandate to conduct oversight over the executive branch, and the Senate is constitutionally required to evaluate and, if appropriate, to confirm or reject Presidential appointees.  We were elected by our constituents to perform these responsibilities, no matter which party sits in the White House.

The responsibilities we have are serious, but this Majority is deeply unserious.  And this hearing is sure to exemplify this fundamental lack of seriousness.  I am sure that we will hear a great deal today about the children the Biden administration allegedly lost, though that is a thoroughly misleading claim based on half-truths and without necessary context.

To be clear, there are systemic problems at the Office of Refugee Resettlement that have endured across administrations of both parties, and any child who is harmed as a result is one child too many.  But while the Biden Administration has taken important steps to address these concerns, the policies the Majority has pushed throughout this Congress, coupled with those that President-elect Trump plans to put in place, would gravely harm immigrant children and make the situation far worse.

For example, the Majority’s marquee immigration legislation would gut protections for unaccompanied children, increasing the exploitation of children, and send them back to the traffickers and abusers Republicans claim to abhor.

Republican-led states like Florida, Iowa, and Arkansas all made it easier for children to work longer hours in more dangerous jobs, paving the way for exploitative work conditions for all children.  And President-elect Trump has promised to bring back some of his cruelest and most harmful policies, including family detention and Remain in Mexico, and he has not even ruled out bringing back family separation.  Does anyone truly believe that these are “pro-child” policies?

The Republican Majority has also failed to provide the Departments of Health and Human Services and Labor with the resources and authority they need to properly protect these children and to go after exploitative employers. Is there any reason to believe that they will do so under the next administration?

And do we really believe that the person nominated to be the next HHS Secretary—a man whose theories and views contributed to the preventable measles deaths of dozens of children in Samoa—would adequately protect children in this country?  Do we believe a government beholden to Elon Musk and his promise to cut trillions of dollars from the federal budget is going to adequately fund programs designed to ensure children are properly cared for? 

When we inevitably get reports of children being torn apart from their parents, or shipped off to countries they cannot remember or have never lived in, of inhumane conditions in the tent-city detention centers the incoming administration plans to set up, or of deaths in custody, are we going to see the Majority exercise its oversight authority and hold the Trump administration to account?  I won’t be holding my breath.

Secretary Becerra, it is good to see you.  I appreciate your being here today, and all of the good work that HHS has done under your leadership.  I look forward to your testimony, but if you came here in hopes of a thoughtful, meaningful debate on policy, I am afraid you will be sorely disappointed.

I yield back."