Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Representative Ralph Norman (R-SC) on a bicameral letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, condemning HHS’s recent reversal of protections for faith-based adoption and foster care agencies.
“We find it disturbing that one day before it released its 2021 AFCARS report, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—with your express approval— announced the rescission of waivers that were previously granted to faith-based adoption and foster care agencies in Michigan, Texas, and South Carolina,” the members wrote. “As you know, rescinding the waivers puts providers in these states in the untenable position of choosing between serving children under the Title IV-E foster care program or operating in accordance with the tenets of their faith – the same faith that drives them to serve children in the first place. HHS should be welcoming child welfare providers, not excluding them. Children are too important to be pawns in political games.”
Last month, HHS announced it was rescinding waivers previously issued to faith-based adoption and foster care agencies in certain states which allowed them to qualify for HHS grants while operating in accordance with their deeply-held religious beliefs. Additionally, the HHS announced it was moving to strip the Office for Civil Rights of its authority to enforce the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act and the religion clauses of the First Amendment.
The letter articulates that:
- Faith-based child welfare providers perform vital services for hundreds of thousands of children nationwide;
- Through its actions, the Biden administration is placing ideology over the interests of the law, children, and faith-based partners who only want to continue serving their communities; and
- HHS must explain how it reached the decision to rescind previously-granted waivers and strip the Office for Civil Rights of its existing authority.
Senators Cramer and Scott and Representative Norman are joined on the letter by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), James Lankford (R-OK), Richard Burr (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Mike Braun (R-IN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Boozman (R-AR), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Kennedy (R-LA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Thune (R-SD), James E. Risch (R-ID), Jerry Moran (R-KS), John Hoeven (R-ND), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mitt Romney (R-UT), and Todd Young (R-IN).
Click here to read the letter.