U.S. Border Patrol Medical Screening Standards Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the motion to recommit.

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Ms. UNDERWOOD. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues in this body, medical experts, and our neighbors and constituents all agree the humanitarian and medical situation at our southern border has reached crisis levels.

During my conversations with health officials at the border, including with the Department of Homeland Security, they told me that one of the most urgent solutions they need is an electronic health record that can be used by everyone providing medical care at the border.

DHS recognizes this, too, and has already taken steps toward implementation, but it is not moving fast enough. So this legislation directs that process, setting an aggressive but achievable timeline that reflects the urgency of the humanitarian situation. The children and families in our care can't afford any further delays.

Now, let me be clear: As a nurse, and a member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, providing world-class care to our veterans is a top priority. I have introduced a number of proposals to improve healthcare delivery to our veterans, and I am working on a slate of others.

I welcome the input of my colleagues from across the aisle who want to work with me on modernizing the VA to better serve women veterans, improving mental healthcare access and quality, ending the veteran suicide epidemic, or any other way to serve our country's heroic veterans.

But where I am from, in northern Illinois, we can walk and chew gum at the same time because we also have a moral duty to ensure that children in our government's custody receive the basic medical screenings and services needed to ensure lives are not lost on our watch.

It is simple, and we can do both. That is what we are debating here today.

Children are dying of preventable causes in our care for the first time in a decade. We all agree that the humanitarian situation at our southern border presents a complex set of challenges. Congress has a duty to address those challenges by providing, as appropriate, both resources and oversight.

Oversight is ongoing through the excellent work of our committees, in addition to inspectors general. We have repeatedly met requests for additional humanitarian funding as needed, most recently with the approval of almost $5 billion in supplemental funding this summer.

But this Congress is choosing, rightly, to provide that funding along with additional guardrails and directions for how to spend it in a way that is consistent with American values because the status quo is unacceptable. Children are dying of preventable causes in our care for the first time in a decade. My bill, along with Congressman Ruiz's and Congresswoman Escobar's, provides the guardrails and direction to reverse course.

Let's be clear: This is not some gold-plated package. What these policies do is establish minimum, consistent standards that ensure that we can effectively provide the most basic medical screenings and care. What we are doing is making sure that children and families in our care are asked questions like, ``Do you have a fever? Do you have your inhaler? Could you be pregnant?'' and that their answers are recorded and used to make sure that they are provided basic care.

These changes are urgently needed. Children are dying of preventable causes in our care for the first time in a decade, children like Darlyn, Jakelin, Felipe, Juan, Wilmer, and Carlos.

Medical care for these children has huge, unacceptable gaps. We have a responsibility to implement commonsense, effective policies that we know will fix that because children should never die from a preventable cause in our care.

We have a responsibility to ensure that the Department of Homeland Security is better prepared for future challenges to ensure the failures that contributed to these deaths are never repeated.

Children in our care have been separated from their families. They have been denied toothbrushes and blankets. They have been saddled with trauma that can affect them for their entire lives.

We must make sure that these children and their families have access to basic medical care and screening while in custody. That is why we have to reject this procedural gimmick, which could delay essential tools and resources from getting to officials at the border who need them.

I urge all my colleagues, vote ``no'' on the motion to recommit and vote ``yes'' to pass this bill.
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