The Department of Health and Human Services siphoned $850 million out of funds allocated for testing in President Biden’s massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, Politico reported Saturday.
Secretary Xavier Becerra pulled $850 million more out of a fund which was supposed to replenish the Strategic National Stockpile of items like medical gloves, masks, antibiotics and ventilators, and yanked $436 million out of other health programs, according to HHS spokesman Mark Weber.
It must be noted that such transfers are legal, as long as Congress is notified.
In all, $2.13 billion have been poured into emergency shelters near the US-Mexico border, where kids have been crammed into jail-like “pods” that do not allow for any social distancing.
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The report came just days following Becerra’s appearance before a congressional committee to plead for another $905 million to be pumped into the pandemic-depleted stockpile.
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The news of the cash diversion had Republicans — who have blamed the spiraling border crisis on Biden’s executive orders rolling back President Trump’s strict immigration policies — seething.
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“The President single-handedly created this crisis and is now misplacing billions in taxpayers’ money,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) told The Post.
“The answer to every problem is not to throw money at it,” said Malliotakis, who excoriated Biden after visiting the border in April. “In this case, it’s simply rescinding his executive order, reinstating President Trump’s border protocols, and going after the cartels and smugglers.”
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In recent weeks, a Texas nonprofit won two HHS no-bid contracts totaling nearly $620 million to provide “emergency intake” services for migrant children shortly after hiring a former Biden aide.
The company, Family Endeavors, won the contract months after it hired Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who advised the administration on Department of Homeland Security policy, Axios reported on Wednesday. Lorenzen-Strait also ran a consulting firm that advised companies on federal purchasing contracts, the report said, and has expertise on various agencies, including the Administration for Children and Families — a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.
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HHS is responsible for detaining and processing the children.
Family Endeavors got another $87 million DHS contract last month, the Washington Examiner reported, noting the link to Lorenzen-Strait.
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Then the Administration for Children and Families contracted with Family Endeavors to provide “emergency intake” services at a temporary federal facility in Pecos, Texas, Axios reported.
The report said federal procurement records show the Administration for Children and Families has disbursed $255 million to the nonprofit as part of the contract, which has a maximum potential of $530 million.
Family Endeavors said the work is “a continuation of services we have delivered to the migrant population since 2012.”
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