Chairman Roy, Ranking Member Scanlon, and Members of the Subcommittee, I appreciate your invitation to testify on behalf of First Focus on Children, a bipartisan organization dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal budget and policy decisions.
I am grateful for the opportunity today to testify about the plight of our nation’s children and why you, as members of the House Judiciary Committee, should be concerned about our failed attention to and investment in our nation’s children and grandchildren and how that impacts both their and our nation’s future.
I come before you today – not as a doctor or lawyer – but as someone who has worked in the health care system, the country government in El Paso, Texas, Texas state government on behalf of both Democratic and Republican leadership, staff in the House and Senate in Congress, and nearly 20 years as a child advocate.
First Focus on Children was initially founded by Colin and Alma Powell as part of America’s Promise. In our 20 years of operation, we have always operated under the premise that children’s issues are bipartisan and should always be so. During my time on Capitol Hill, I worked on a number of bipartisan initiatives related to improvements to Medicaid, the creation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and to other children’s issues, such as ensuring that medical research involving children include assent and consent, and that organ donation rules in this country must consider the unique needs of children.