turned the social worker of a this is somebody on contract with hhs and that didn't raise a flag. we had a hearing in january 2016 and hhs committed they were going to do better, they were going to take care of these kids. this is a federal agency. they give kids to traffickers and has a tragic situation asunfold it is unacceptable. that was during the obama administration by theso way so remember this is not a partisan issue during previous administrations and this, the system has not worked. after that hearing, hhs and the department of homeland security under which we have the border patrolor protection service that connects to clarifying responsibilities to protect these kids and here's one thing we found is nobody was accountable, so kids were pointing fingers at each other and the kids were falling through the cracks. hhs and tur entered into a memof theag agreement but said they recognized they should ensure a they are not abused or agtrafficked and also said the agencies ran into the joint concept of operations spelling out the specific responsibilities within a years time

hhs is required to uphold federal civil rights law. will you guarantee that hhs will not approve waivers that are racially biased? and i ask that question because your budget proposes a 20% cut to the very office that oversees it. madam chair, those are my questions. i would request that you respond in writing, mr. ranking member, do you need more time? i yield the balance of my time to the ranking member. >> thank you. maybe i can get an answer to my question that i asked about religious freedom, whether or not strongly held beliefs give you a pass on the requirement to abide by civil rights laws. could a foster care agency religiously affiliated discriminate based on religion or sexual orientation? >> faith-based organizations that may be grantees of ours or of states that provide foster care have a long history of providing social services for the poor and underprivileged children as well, and families. if we take steps to exclude them from faith-based groups, from our programs, it will harm efforts to support them and support our p

all of this is contracted out by hhs. this is a big new mandate for hhs. washington post matching what chris hays reported earlier that discretion is being shown in these cases where migrant adults are not being charged if they are accompanied by children. >> right. i'm not surprised at that. i think there was some discretion going into the prosecution decision even before yesterday's announcement. i think this deserves a little context. the way th has traditionally worked is families, unaccompanied children are a i apprehended at the border control. they are brought to facilities where they are processed. they are interview and processed for health concerns. that's how it's supposed to work. for the unaccompanied kids. >> what we also heard melania trump ask is how often they can speak with their parents. the director said the parents, the adults are vetted to make sure they are the custodial parent and can have conversations twice a week with their parents. jacob, you have some context for this kind of facility compared to the facilities you were in mcal

it's an honor to be here and to serve hhs. it's a vital mission and the president's budget clearly recognizes that. the budget makes significant strategic investments in hhs's work. among other targeted investments, the budget requests $34.8 billion for the national institutes of health, 5.8 for the food and drug administration, 8.3 billion for head start and 6.2 in child care funding. the president's bunldget suppor four particular priorities that we've laid out, increasing the affordability and accessibility of individual health insurance, tackling the high price of prescription drugs and transforming our health care system into one that pays for value. first, the president's budget brings a new level of commitment to fighting the crisis of opioid addiction and joseoverdose. hhs has already disbursed unprecedented access to addiction treatment. the budget dedicates $1.2 billion to the state targeted response to the opioid crisis grants and invests $150 million specifically to confront the crisis in high risk rural communitie

right now hhs just gets the bill and we pay it. the system may be driving doctors to prescribe more expensive drugs while tempting manufacturers to develop drugs that fit into part b rather than part d. we will look at ways to merge them and leverage existing private sector options. third, we need a more competitive pharmaceutical marketplace. thanks to the reforms that congress passed in the 1980s, america has the strongest generic drug market in the world. but there are many ways that manufacturers unfairly block competition. since the rollout of the president's blueprint, they have publyized the names and issued new guidance to help lessen the effects these actions may he on access. finally, we need to bring out out-of-pocket costs for american patients. it is unacceptable to have gag clauses barring pharmacists from working with patients to lower -- to identify lower cost options. more broadly, we're going to work to ensure patients know how much a drug costs, how much it is going to cost them and whether there are cheaper opti

. >> by hhs. >> so let's find out from hhs. i don't think there is anything other than the pictures -- >> your department have been aired all over national television throughout the day, the kids being held in the cages. >> i will look floor that. i am not aware of other -- >> let me ask, secretary, to follow up, because you continue to insist that this is something that congress can change and yet -- >> yes. >> and this is something enacted after the attorney general announced the zero-tolerance policy and this never happened before -- >> that is not true. the last administration -- the obama administration and the bush administration all separated families at the border -- >> [ inaudible question ]. >> they absolutely did. their rate was less than ours but they absolutely did do this. this is not new. >> there are minors, there is no doubt about that. >> they separated families. >> and separated kids from parents is something new and specific to this administration once the attorney general announced a zero toll tans policy s

as hhs or did hhs in the leadup to this policy or once the attorney general announced zero tolerance, did you or anyone at hhs, and if you're aware, did anyone at the justice department ever consult with the american academy of pediatrics? >> so first i want to share your concern. none of us -- none of us want impacts on these children. none of us want the separation. we do everything we can to mitigate any impact on these children with mental health care, medical care, dental, vision, education, activities, athletics, we try to ensure as happy as safe, as goodn environment for these children. mot aware of engagement for any of these particular groups. i believe the administrator for samsa has been working with orr with her expertise, her psychiatric expertise. i believe that's the case. certainly our gran tease are trained in and are experts and have clinician care. every child goes through mental health evaluation and mental health care when it's there. but it's not desirable to have children separated from their parents. if the parentsidn't bring them across, this will never happen

this is new from hhs. they're confirming to me that we received separated kids when there is credible jeopardy or criminality. so yes, we will still receive separated kids. this is not the circumstance under which the trump administration was separating children. but hhs has just confirmed to me separated kids are still coming in, which is why there is some confusion with the number of kids they still have in their custody. they say it's 2,047 as of tonight. >> so jacob, just to clarify, even if the trump policy has been stopped, even if they've stopped doing that, there would still be in the normal course of business as there was in the past, some separated children at the border if the parent is found to have a criminal record that indicates that that parent needs to be separated from the e child or some other reason. >> that's exactly right. that's what they are telling me tonight. another fascinating thing that we heard on this call is that energy 522 kids who have been reunited so far. it was confirme

>> hhs. >> let's find out from hhs. i don't think there's anything other than -- >> your department even aired all over national television throughout the day the kids being held in the cages. we've only seen the boys. >> i will look into that. i'm not aware there's a picture. >> let me ask everyone -- >> can you please follow up? >> yes. >> this is something that happened after the attorney general announced the zero-tolerance policy. >> that's not true. the last administration, the bush administration, the obama administration, all separated families at the border. their rate was less than ours but they absolutely did this. this is not new. >> minor, no doubt, but -- >> they separated families. >> kid at this rate from their parents is something new and specific to this administration. once the attorney general announced the zero-tolerance policy. why doesn't the president pick up the phone and change the policy? he said he hates it. >> i think what the president is trying to do is find a long-term fix, so why don't w

>> i know nothing from hhs.now is what i'm now putting together from going to the foster care agencies and what i'm doing today is we're canvassing all the foster care agencies in our state to find out who they have there. a complication is not only did the hhs send children to our state without our knowledge, they put a gag order on the foster care agencies and they don't want the foster care agencies telling us, which is just bizarre, john. why would you not want the state to help provide services, mental health services, counseling, reunification services at the state's expense? this is not the way it normally works. >> no. what happens is -- what happens is they get federal funding. these agencies aren't being forthcoming here in the state because they're getting federal funding. they don't want to jeopardize the federal funding by revealing information. why do you think that the federal government doesn't want this information out there? >> john, there is no good answer. there is no good answer. i've been i

this is not a controversial idea second, children in dhs and hhs custody are being el taken care of. the department of health and human services offices of refugee provides meals, medical care and educational services to these children. they are provided temporary shelter and hhs works hard to find a parent, relative or foster home to care for these children. parents can still communicate with their children through phone calls and video conferencing. and a parent whose released from custody can be a sponsor and ask hhs to release the child back into their care. further, these minors can still apply for asylum and other protections under u.s. immigration law, if eligible. we take allegations of mistreatment seriously and i want to stress this point. we investigate, we hold those accountable when and if it should occur. we have some of the highest detention standards in the country, claiming these children and their parents are treated in humanely is not true and completely disrespects the hard working men and women at the office of refugee. third, parents who entered illegally are, b

let's find out from hhs. i don't think there's anything other than -- >> reporter: released by your department and they have been aired all over national television. kids being held in cages. >> reporter: you continue to insist this is something congress can change. this is something that was enacted after the attorney general announced the zero tolerance policy. this never happened before he announced it. >> that's not true. the obama administration, the bush administration all separated families -- they absolutely did. they are rate was less than ours but they absolutely did do this. this is not new. >> reporter: kids at this rate from their parents is something new and specific to this administration. once the attorney general announced a zero-tolerance policy. why doesn't the president pick up the phone and change the policy? he said he hates it. >> the president is trying to find a long-term fix. why don't we have congress change the laws? congress can fix this tomorrow. i think you are next, right? >> r

cnn had specific questions for hhs after that call that went unanswered.ll do remain unanswered. we have asked pointed questions. questions like, are you still receiving children who are being separated from their parents? what is the full accounting for the number of children who have been separated and reunified with either a parent or a guardian? we know there have been at least six children reunified with a guardian over the last six days, but are there more? something as simple as what are the ages of the children being held? no response today. an hhs official acknowledged the team's question but all we got back was a very generic statement saying that reunification is the ultimate goal and they are working towards that for the children. again, no answer to our questions which are, of course, essential and an important metric for understanding the full scope of what's going on now. we'll of course continue to press them on this. as we said at the top new information tonight did just come in. the department of defense saying they received a request fro

that includes standards of transport and treatment of minors in dhs and hhs custody. and all u.s. border patrol personnel on the southwest border are bilingual, every one of them. they are directed to clearly explain the relevant process to apprehend individuals and provide detainees with written documentation in spanish and english that lays out the process and phone numbers to contact. finally, dhs is not separating families legitimately seeking asylum at ports of entry. if an adult enters at a port of entry and claimed asylum, they will not face prosecution for illegal entry. they have not committed a crime by coming to the port of entry. dhs does have a responsibility to protect minors and in that case, we will only separate the family if we cannot determine there is a familiar relationship , if the child may be at risk with the parent or legal guardian, or if the parent or legal guardian is referred to prosecution. theave a duty to protect american people and that is one i take seriously. here is the bottom line, dhs is not ignoring the law, we are enforcing the law as they e

to the mission of hhs.s the administration that was supposed to be helping young people, we're now working through the agencies that have actually received the children. and to add a further complication, some of the foster care agencies have sent children to private foster care homes run by individual parents, et cetera. so we have to track that all down and then i want the state to be providing the supplemental services that these children need because the trauma they have covered is real, our health commissioner says it, every health professional says it, and let's at least get them the mental health services and counseling and support services they need to reduce the trauma they're suffering. and we will be doing that by contacting individual agencies. but it shouldn't be this hard where i have to call over 100 agencies to find out where the children are. and by the way, when the children are placed in a state facility, the federal government places a gag order on the state facility so the state facilit

after hhs said well, we don't know. we haven't had any orders. i.c.e. says i.c.e. has numerous detention facilities over the country. we work with health and human services and orr. working to reunite families once they come into our custody. what do you think of that? >> i think much like many of the writings we've seen it's very open to interpretation. mr. rocha expresses once families come into our custody. he doesn't describe when actual children or parents separates have come into their custody. these people are wordsmiths at making you think they're taking care of these families when what's happening on the ground and inside of these centers absolute havoc, i can assure you. one hand does not know what the other hand is doing in this government. i can attest to that. i'm sure efraraim can as well. because it's often left to us, the advocates and representative who is scoot around between these offices that stay inside their bubble and maintain their talking points and we have to explain to them what's actually happening on the ground. >> do you have faith tha

they go to hhs. hhs won't let us in to speak with the girls or the toddlers. spoke today with a high level official at hhs and asked them can we go in and see them or at least get some photographs? he offered me photographs from 2016 before the zero tolerance was put into place. i politely declined. we don't want those photos. we want to see the girls and toddlers. >> any information about the disconnect between their status of not knows where their are and how they are and what you're hearing on the ground? >> reporter: why isn't hhs talking to dhs? they're supposed to be working together every single day. it's the agency that comes to this facility to pick up the children. yesterday in that press conference secretary nielson said she had toured detention facilities before. after some prodding today by our colleagues, she'd never been here, ever. this is the epicenter. this is the place where more than anywhere else children are being separated from their parents. how is she talking about what happens in there without have been be in there, without seeing the

then there are steps within hhs and i.c.e. detention to reunite those families once that process is complete. >> and you're talking about between ports of entry. so if somebody comes in with a family and asks for asylum at a port of entry, they won't be separated from their children? >> that's correct. that's the way the law works. >> okay. in a typical day, how many people are coming into the united states without authorization or how many people end up being arrested? are you the front line? are you the ones who arrest them? >> it's about 1500 a day, yeah. the border patrol is responsible for the area in between the ports of entry. but cbp also does the ports as well. so in between the ports, the border patrol will do that. we've worked with the justice department to refer all cases of illegal entry of people who are crossing the border illegally. >> and we've got reports of about 11,200 kids in 100 shelters. they're 95% full. at what point do these children leave your care and get handed over to hhs? >> as soon as possible.

we have a lot of hhs agency representatives here under the perfume of hhs yesterday the ranking member wrote a letter to secretary hhs office of refugee resettlement and those that are taken from their parents at the border and then point under the auspices of this agency you have concerns of what is happening to these children and their prospects want to bring this up because you will be getting a request from the minority to have a hearing about this. we hope you would consider this because we are quite concerned of the human aspects of this situation. >> now concluding remarks. >> i would point out this committee and this subcommittee in particular has a significant history of oversight i do feel obligated to point out this is not the agency that makes the decision whether a family unit is cap together but we are obligated to take care when a child arrives unaccompanied or separated from their family at the dhs facility with that is the responsibility of the subcommittee and we take that responsibility very seriously infected is our work in july 2014 that allow them to require an ac

need to be handed over to hhs. in 2008 that was signed by president bush. the law says they are to be handed over to hhs within 48 hours. the ninth circuit determined a reasonable at of time they can be in detention is up to 20 days. >> the bush administration didn't implement that. the obama administration didn't implement that. this is a new policy we're seeing from the trump administration. kirstjen nielsen said we will no longer have exsemptxemptions. >> you can take parents and children and release into american society with expectations that they will show up in court. >> other presidents had that choice. they decided not to rip these kids away from their patients. >> it wasn't until after 2008. it was -- >> it was the bush administration and the obama administration, neither did that. >> even "the new york times," not a friend of conservatives, in 2014 said the obama administration says the law is partly responsible for tieing its hands in dealing with the occur aren't rn current influx of children. >> child

the way it works is hhs looks at military bases, looks at what capacity for housing is out there. they earmark the military bases. the military does not get involved with the children of any housing, providing any services. they simply are, according to the pentagon, the landlord for all of this. hhs and these contractors that they've been using will come on to the military bases and run these facilities. but what it does mean is the pentagon now, u.s. troops, very much in the middle of the optics. the political optics of this whole situation. if it comes to pass that there are 20,000 children on u.s. military bases, that is something that is going to put the pentagon right in the middle of all of this. we do expect that defense secretary james mattis will agree because just yesterday he told reporters here that he would meet any request from hhs on this immigration issue. and we also know that now about 20 or defense department attorneys have been earmarked to go over to the justice department and handle immigration cases. so, regardless of the niceties of the law, the optics are

most of the children are transferred to hhs.know what pictures you're referencing. >> we see images of boys. >> joining me is democratic senator who was the first snaert focus attention on the crisis by trying to visit a detention center last week and returning on father's day. where are the girls and why is homeland say it will take two more days to find pictures of these girls? >> they are in the care of the office of refugee relocation or resettlement. we haven't been able to get a list yet. i understand it's important to keep the list confidential so there's not threats to the girls where they are but we have to have congressional oversight. the fact that the secretary isn't familiar with the other side of this that is so relevant to her policy is deputies ldeep troubling. >> what about whether she should resign? >> she should. she gave so many different false storie stories. that's exactly the argument that sessions, our attorney general, our chief of staff made in pushing this policy forward. she dismissed the idea it had

so that meant that dhs was not talking to hhs on this. there was also reports a few weeks ago -- about a month ago about hhs not being able to keep track of all the children that it already had, that it was looking after, those unaccompanied minors before this family's separation policy got into gear. so it seems pretty clear that if you are talking about communication between multiple agencies, there are some serious hiccups there. that's why i want to bring in julia ainsley on this. these are the agencies you cover. you've talked to people within them. is anybody right now having a conversation, at least laying out plans, about how to streamline this communication, how to ensure that these families get reunited with their kids as quickly as possible? i know you talked to a former i.c.e. official yesterday, head of i.c.e., who said that there are going to be some scenarios where some of these separations are permanent. >> that's true, katy. the former head of i.c.e. says sometimes what happens is the parents are deported back to their ho

so hhs is making decisions about where to send the children based on those factors. proximity to a special sponsor and space and demographic type concerns. >> we don't know exactly how this process is going to play out, as we have been discussing, but based on the experts that you've been talking to, any sense of how long a reunification process could take? >> well, the real answer is, it could take a long time. and here's why. when the department of homeland security began implementing this policy, basically what they did was once the parent was sent over to department of justice custody to face criminal charges, the child was essentially redesignated an unaccompanied minor, so they were redesignated as if they had come to the country by themselves. once that categorization was made, they were turned over to hhs and they are subject to all the same policies as if a child had come here by themselves, which means that hhs can't even legally release them except to someone who qualifies as a sponsor. now, the parent when they come back from those criminal charges, which

is that hhs didn't do the background checks on those sponsors. they didn't also respond to a bunch of red flags that should have alerted them to problems with these kids and with the sponsors. for example, hhs mised that a group of sponsors were collecting multiple kids. that should have been a red flag right there. not just one child, but multiple children. they missed a major red flag when a social worker working with hhs showed up to help one of these kids or tried to, and the sponsor turned the social worker away. this was somebody on contract with hhs, that didn't raise a red flag. we held a hearing in january of 2016, hhs committed at that hearing they were going to do better. they were going to take care of these kids. this is a federal agency. and, you know, a federal agency give kids to traffickers and have this tragic situation unfold, it is just unacceptable. that was during the obama administration, by the way. so remember, this is not a partisan issue. during previous administrations and during this administration, this system has no

let's find out from hhs. your department, this has been aired all over national television. >> i will look into that. you continue to insist that this is something that congress can change any of this is something that was enacted after the attorney general announced a zero-tolerance policy. this never happened before that. true.t's not the last administration, the obama administration, the bush administration all separated families. they did less than ours but they absolutely did this. they did not separate kids at this rate from their parents. this is something new. why doesn't the president pick up the phone and change the policy? he says he hates it. >> i think what the president is trying to do is find a long-term fix. congress could fix this tomorrow. president trump has had a lot to say over the last few days about immigration. he's offered no compassion to the family separated at the border. do you know why this is? why won't he relax the policy until congress reaches that long-term fix? tohe has been

i asked the hhs spokesperson if he was aware that that was a major issue. he said he is. he said that's what today was about it would be get us into that tent city and to try to get some of this information out. in fact, the emergency manager said that was his biggest concern, was that he felt like he was doing all of this in secrecy. >> cal perry down there in tornillo, texas, getting a first look at that tent city. cal, thank you for that. >>> next, the politics of immigration meet the politics of civility. ♪ if you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months, ... with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. tell your doctor if these occur. otezla is associated with an incre

azar, is hhs aware of rebate walls and if yes, what types of actions would hhs consider to limit the use of rebate walls? >> so, we are and i am very much aware of these rebate walls that can prevent competition and new entrants into the system. that is yet again a reason why i think we need to get at this question of rebates in the pbm world. these are drug companies. i don't like that practice. i think it's using their market power in ways that is not appropriate. and so i want to sure we're looking at that. i think congress certainlyou look at that question as part of this whole initiative. that's where senator isaacson's question about indication based pricing can be helpful because sometimes that's a company that has a drug with many indications and they use it as leverage over drugs that have a single indication. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator young. senator casey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and ranking m and thank you, mr. secretary. i wanted to -- i know you've been through nam of these issues in the course of the hearing, but i want to raise one that i'm not sure we ta

those are images from hhs. go ahead. you were saying something, cal? >> reporter: yeah. 26 of the children in that camp were separated from their families. 3 have already been reunited. look, the thing that didn't make sense about the visit, and i do want to say that access to this facility has made a great deal of difference. the emergency manager said it was the secrecy about this policy that has caused so much trouble. he's urging, frankly, the government to allow more press access to the facility. the one thing that didn't make sense to me, joy, is, we talked about -- how to track down the kids. >> right. >> reporter: and the spokesperson for hhs says they know where all the kids are with them. >> yeah. it took a long time to actually get on the tour. a lot of coming from the press how do you match the right child with the xbrarnt they're saying each child is given an a. number. this number followed the child throughout the system but we were told even if the parent and child are physically separated they numbered that correspondent to one another

they're all in hhs custody and they're trying to be able to reconnect them now,but hhs often puts themfoster care across several states they can't handle the load on the southern border. >> to be clear, while you saidw now where every child is that the government knows where every child is. the gvernment of the 2300 that were separated from their rents, that the government has said the number might be higher, we don't know, but of the 2300 they've confirmed do we know where those parents are? that's an unknown, correct? we don't know where the parents are. >> well, i's a known of the adult they came with so the child and adult they came with, we doow if that is the parent. oftentimes the parent that is somewhere in the country oftentimes illegally, as well. they came with another relative and so to be able t connect the dots to see if we connect them with their parent that's here in the country and connect them going through procedures and whatever that may be and yes, we are able to connect them as well. >> the child, you identify the parent and the chil then what happens? is the pare

there are 2,047 under hhs custody right now. week ago it was 253. >> so 253 people in custody -- >> 2,053. >> okay. i don't work for the administration. i'll be clear, i don't think parents should be separated from their children. but i don't think parents should come to the country illegally. so we have to look to the problem. a federal judge said children cannot be separated from their parents for more than 20 days. it is a policy this administration is going to follow and adhere to because that's what the federal law says. what we need to do is make sure people understand if they come to the country illegally -- >> i'm were asking about basic competence here. you said you do not think parents should be separated from their children. i'm not talking about the policy. i'm talking about the competence here. >> again, i don't work for the government. if you want to interview a government employee, you're welcome to do that. >> are you impress bid that number? >> look, we can have a conversation about what is right and what is wro

so the kids are being sent to hhs custody. there are a number of federal facilities are hhs was taking care of these kids. my colleague and i reported this waoeeek they are holding more t 11,000 children. and many of them are held for upwards of 45 days before they are turned over to foster care, a relative or a family member who might be here in the united states. >> i han charge of 11,000 child, this is a nightmare waiting to happen. >> we have it in our heads these might be kids 10, 12, 14. these are infants and young kids. this was a much bigger under taking for hhs than even they expected. now we are seeing they may have to put some at military bases, other facilities in texas. the question is can they continue to provide the necessary medical care, food, safe lodging that will be necessary for these thousands of kids. >> they have got to change this policy. ashley, what is your story of the week over there at the "washington post"? >> so we just reported that joe higgins, deputy chief of staff at the white house and the

as you know, most of the children after 72 hours are transferred to hhs. i don't know what pictures you're referencing. i would have to refer you to hhs. >> so the update is that now dhs says we can expect to see those government-provided images of girls and perhaps toddlers in detention, they say, within two days. they've been martialing resources to the border to get that information to us. of course, it will be government provided footage and images. we are not allowed by the government to bring our own cameras into these facilities to capture these images firsthand. >> the other option would, of course, be transparency with the press. geoff bennett at the white house, thank you very much. >> reporter: sure. >>> attorney general jeff sessions' own church is accusing him of child abuse for spearh d spearheading this policy. bringing church law charges, accusing sessions of child abuse, immorality, racial discrimination and, quote, disemnation of doctrines contrary to the standards of the methodist church. as members of the united methodist church we teep

right now hhs just pays the bill. that's it. the system may actually be driving doctors to prescription more expensive drugs while tempting drug companies to develop drugs that fit into part b rather than part d. we're going to look at ways to merge part b drugs into part d, to create competition where savings can be obtained, leverage options within part b but ensure that the patient remains at the center. third, we need a more competitive pharmaceutical marketplace. thanks to the reforms the congress passed in the 1980s, america has the strongest generic drug market of any country in the world. but there are still too many ways in which drug companies are unfairly blocking competition. since the role out of the blueprint, fda has already publicized the companies that may be using safety programs to block competition. this work follows many fda accomplishments, including record setting drug approvals in 2017 and measures to build on congress's work to build a genuine competitive markets. we need to bring down out of pocket cost

finally hhs is supporting cutting edge research. dr. francis collins has recently announced the helping to end addiction long-term intervention at the nih. in a result of new funding recently provided by congress nih will double its investment in research on pain and addiction. in closing, the current opioid epidemic is enormously tragic, dauntingly complex, vastly widespread and scientifically and medically challenging. this epidemic respects no age, no gender, no race, no socioeconomic status. victims are our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, leaders and colleagues. solving this problem will require a whole of government approach. i look forward to working with you clap tifl. thank you very much. >> we thank you, doctor, for your most comprehensive statement. >> thank you. chairman hatch, ranking member wyden, senator roberts and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to discuss the sent officers for medicare and medicaid services work to address the opioid epidemic. i'm honored to be back at

dan levinson from hhs and someone from state. we heard from academics and we heard from senate and house staffers, as well. we also heard from a panel of dfe/ig and then from peter and linda and we brought in charlie clark from government executive. we had a wide variety of people we have heard from, we have recommendations to the ig's and we have different subject matter involving congress and the ig, independence, evolution the ig community and ig capacity. our report will come out on july 9 , you are all invited to attend or listen in and if you have any questions you can get my email after this. i am very glad to be able to be here and answer your questions and be part of the leaven centers efforts -- efforts to enhance this community. thank you so much for for your invitation and i look forward to your questions. [ applause ] now we will hear from barry davis, when i think of the relationship it is so important because they have the same oversight there inside the legislative branch working for congress. i will be curious to

. >> what i'm concerned about is hhs's ability to do this.were supposed to have a conference call yesterday with members of congress their staff to talk about this process and the phone number didn't work. so if they can't do that with us, i am concerned with the ability of connecting kids. >> the phone number didn't work. we continue to ask for updates so today health and human services had a conference call and did not go well. >> are you first receiving because of parental detention? we know there is an implementation phase. >> as mentioned earlier, we won't be -- we can get you that information as soon as possible, and we appreciate your patience. >> actually, it's really important. excuse me, are you still receiving children who are there because of the parental separation policy? >> i believe we have answered -- you gave us three questions and we responded to your question and i ask that you send that to media at hhs -- >> i'm sorry i didn't hear an answer. >> final question. >> so joining me now is sunlen serfaty. the call was mentione

it's up to dhs, hhs, no. it was the same thing whether or not the kids detained were going to be grandfathered out of it. i was asked hhs what's going to happen. first they said it's up to hhs, actually, no, we made a mistake about that, it is as confusing and as big of a cluster as it's always been. >> last night, yesterday you and i were tracking this. first they said we're not going to lift a finger. we're not going to try to reunite the kids. there was a little bit of walk back of that. now she's saying we do it on the back end. they have not announced any expedited process for reunification. >> it's the same as always. several calls i made, they said the goal of hhs is to reunite unaccompanied minors with their families but that's always been the goal. that doesn't mean anything other than they'll go through the process on go end up in a foster home. >> they put out a statement that was deceptive. they said, of course, it's our goal to reunite them with a sponsor or relative. that is not the same as get