During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) asked Alex Adams, President Trump's nominee to be Assistant Secretary for Family Support in the Department of Health and Human Services about Head Start.
00:03Thanks very much, Mr. Chair, and thanks to both you and Ranking Member Wyden for this hearing.
00:08Good morning to our nominees. Congratulations on your nomination, and congratulations and thanks to your families as well.
00:15To both of you, I want to start with a very simple question.
00:19If directed by the President to take an action that would break the law, would you follow the law or follow the President's directive?
00:25Senator, I'm going to follow the law. It's always going to be my North Star.
00:31Thank you. And Dr. Adams?
00:32Senator, I know that wouldn't happen, but I would follow the law.
00:35Thank you. I would suggest that you review current events and past events to determine if you don't think that will happen again, but I do expect you to follow the law. Thank you very much.
00:46Dr. Adams, many states struggle to recruit and retain foster families to care for the nearly 200,000 children who enter foster care each year.
00:57Senator Grassley and I have a bipartisan bill called the Recruiting Families Using Data Act, which would help states develop and implement a family partnership plan to tackle this challenge.
01:08Dr. Adams, if confirmed, will you commit to reviewing this legislation and working with us to improve recruitment and support for foster families?
01:15Senator, as I said in my opening statement, recruiting and retaining foster families is one of the absolutely critical things that we need to do as a country.
01:23When I started in my role in Idaho, I had too few foster families, and as a result, we had kids sleeping in Airbnbs, short-term rentals, and other nontraditional settings.
01:31Through retention and recruitment efforts, last November, we got every kid out of a short-term rental, and I said we're never, ever going to do that again.
01:39So any effort to recruit or retain foster families, I think, is worth taking a look at, and I'd be happy to work with you if confirmed in reviewing that.
01:47Well, thank you.
01:47It's a really critical thing, and of course, what we want to do is recruit and retain really strong foster families for these kids and provide long-term relationships and care and reunification when we can.
01:59Dr. Adams, if confirmed, you'd also be responsible for overseeing programs critical to early childhood care and learning, including the Head Start program.
02:08Head Start programs have weathered a storm of chaos since the Trump administration took office.
02:14This includes delayed reimbursement payments, additional and unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, and communication failures caused by staff layoffs.
02:23As a result, many Head Start centers have been forced to question whether they can keep their doors open, and the families that they serve fear that they will lose their child care.
02:32I'll also just note, when I sit and talk with Head Start leaders and teachers in my state, they all tell me, of course, the difference that the Head Start program makes for the children, and that's, of course, the most important focus.
02:45But the additional difference it makes in the lives of the families as they engage with the Head Start staff and begin to build a better life for themselves with the support that Head Start provides their children, but also the connections that the Head Start staff really makes.
03:00So, will you reverse the administration's actions that have harmed children in Head Start?
03:06Senator, thank you for the question.
03:08First, let me just say Head Start is a program that's personally important to my family.
03:11My wife, who's joining me today, her grandmother, ran a Head Start program in Blackfoot, Idaho, in the late 60s, early 70s.
03:18So, I would echo what Secretary Kennedy has told the committee, which is, his goal is to make Head Start better and brighter by the end of this administration.
03:26I'm eager, if confirmed, to roll up my sleeves and work with you and others to ensure that that happens.
03:30Well, I am pleased to hear that.
03:32I am concerned because, of course, the actions of the administration that Secretary Kennedy appears to have supported
03:38has really wreaked havoc in the Head Start community.
03:42And I'm hearing from a lot of folks there, I mean, you know, showing up to work and not having your badge
03:46be able to open the door because the administration has just shut the office
03:50is not a way to treat workers we value, who are often underpaid, and who are doing the critical work of helping our kids.
03:57So, I hope you will look at reversing those actions.
04:00And you have a lot of people on both sides of the aisle who would like to partner with you on really strengthening Head Start.
04:06Mr. McKernan, if confirmed, you would be responsible for overseeing the Office of Capital Markets,
04:14which is directly involved in developing and implementing policies aimed at improving the housing market.
04:20What actions will you take to improve the supply of affordable and accessible housing across the country?
04:26Thank you, Senator.
04:27I appreciate the question.
04:29I've been working on mortgage finance issues.
04:32It seems like the better part is six, seven, eight years now.
04:35It's certainly an issue near and dear to my heart.
04:37I think when we think about the affordability challenges on home ownership, you're exactly right.
04:42It's all about increasing supply.
04:44Part of the solution there, it's an issue with many aspects, too, including zoning and others.
04:49Part of it is also, as you point out, funding for that.
04:53And so we need to, in my view, have both banks, housing finance entities, other sources of capital supporting the build-out of supplies.
05:04So that would be something I would certainly be looking at if confirmed, again,
05:07is to ensure we have a diverse set of funding sources for supply of housing.
05:13It is probably the issue that I hear most about from my constituents from all walks of life and businesses of all sizes,
05:20to the point where we can't even sometimes recruit employees, even executives, to New Hampshire because of the lack of housing stock.
05:27So there's a lot, again, of us on both sides of the aisle who are eager to work on that.
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