Golden Fleece Award

Rep. Hill Awards Golden Fleece to Health and Human Services for Raiding COVID-19 Funding to Cover Cost of Border Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. French Hill (AR-02) named the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as the latest recipient of his Golden Fleece Award for transferring over $2 billion in dedicated funding for COVID-19 measures to cover the cost of the crisis at our southwest border.

“The United States is currently experiencing a shortage in necessary supplies to test for and combat COVID-19. Rather than putting the health of the American people first, HHS is reallocating funding dedicated for the COVID-19 response to manage the crisis at our southern border – a crisis which the Biden Administration has helped fuel.” said Rep. Hill. “HHS needs to ensure that taxpayer funds put forward by the American people are being used for the purposes specified by Congress – and not being reallocated as they see fit.”

In the letter to Secretary Xavier Becerra, Rep. Hill writes:

Dear Secretary Becerra:

I write to you today to inform you that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the latest recipient of my Golden Fleece award for its transferring of over $2 billion in dedicated funding for COVID-19 measures to cover costs associated with the border crisis.

According to Politico and various other news sources, HHS funneled more than $2 billion dollars in funding to fight the COVID-19 pandemic to costs associated with the border crisis. Politico reports, “The redirected funds include $850 million that Congress originally allocated to rebuild the nation’s Strategic National Stockpile, the emergency medical reserve strained by the Covid-19 response. Another $850 million is being taken from a pot intended to help expand coronavirus testing, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.”  Clearly based on the current COVID-19 surge and testing crisis, this money was improperly diverted.

Further, according to the same Politico report, the redirected funding originally meant for combating the COVID-19 public health crisis went to the border crisis. Rather than asking for additional funding, HHS raided the funding that should have gone to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Americans are waiting in long lines, some local testing site “lines have gotten so long that they started canceling appointments and full days of testing because the drive-through lines cause traffic problems.”  The COVID-19 testing crisis has implications on Americans and our country’s economy. Reallocating over $2 billion in dedicated funding for COVID-19 measures, which included, $850 million for COVID-19 testing, harms the financial health of our nation and has even more dire consequences for the American people.

I believe that the diverted $2.13 billion that was intended to fight the COVID-19 public health crisis and stabilize the health of our nation was inappropriately reallocated. I understand that there are many issues facing our nation that need funding. However, we owe it to the American people to be good stewards of taxpayer funding and use it for its intended purpose. Further, had HHS properly used the $2 billion to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and simply asked Congress for money to address the border crisis, Americans would not be waiting hours for a COVID-19 test and our economy would not be as at risk.

It is critical that HHS uses its funding for its allocated purposes and not divert funds desperately needed for COVID-19 to other issues that have been solved with less funding in recent years. Should you require any additional authority from Congress to address these concerns, I urge you to notify me as soon as possible. I sincerely thank you for your consideration and look forward to working with you to address this important issue.