MIL USHOR-2b Engine

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Judy Chu (CA2-27)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 8-3 to eliminate the long-standing universal recommendation that all newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. 

In response, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28), a senior Member of the Ways and Means Committee and Chair Emerita of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), issued the following statement: 

“Doctors, public health officials, and the scientific community agree that the Hepatitis B vaccine is safe, effective, and essential to protecting infants from a virus that can silently lead to lifelong liver disease, cirrhosis, and cancer. Changing this policy is reckless and dangerous. It will make America sicker.

“This decision will also disproportionally impact the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community who make up only 7% of the U.S. population, yet account for 60% of chronic hepatitis B cases. In fact, approximately 1 in 12 Asian Americans lives with this infection, often unknowingly, which is why universal newborn vaccination has been one of the most important health protections for our community. Abandoning this standard will reverse decades of progress and widen racial health disparities that we have spent generations trying to close.

“The science is clear, the medical consensus is overwhelming, and the stakes for families could not be higher. I strongly urge Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill to reject these irresponsible recommendations and maintain the evidence-based universal standard to protect the health and well-being of all Americans.”

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Judy Chu (CA2-27)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Reps. Judy Chu (CA-28) and Don Bacon (NE-02) led a group of bipartisan colleagues in sending a letter to House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders urging them to protect federal funding for space science and exploration in the forthcoming final Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) funding bill.

“We write to thank your Committees for their continued bipartisan commitment to advancing American leadership in space science and exploration. The uncertainty surrounding the future of our national science programs […] has now given way to renewed congressional support that ensures America continues to reach higher, explore further, and achieve more,” the Members write. “Now, it is on Congress to finish the job.”

Specifically, the Members urge Appropriators to enact compromise language in the final FY26 funding bill that both: 1.) provides the Senate CJS bill’s proposed flat funding levels for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, and the National Science Foundation (NSF); and 2.) includes the language from the House CJS bill that ensures that not less than the appropriated amount is spent on NASA SMD’s five science divisions: Planetary Science, Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, and Biological & Physical Sciences.

The letter details the strong returns on federal investment in space science and exploration—from spurring whole new industries, to uncovering technological and medical breakthroughs, to protecting communications and defense infrastructure, to supporting more than 300,000 high-skill jobs and driving over $75 billion in economic activity each year, to building the pipeline of talent that will ensure America remains the world leader in aerospace, advanced technology, and scientific research.

“Congress has already acted in a bipartisan way to advance appropriations bills that sustain investments in scientific preeminence. The path forward is clear: enact the Senate’s proposed funding levels for NASA SMD, the NASA Office of STEM Engagement, and NSF, and pair it with the House CJS bill’s requirement that no less than enacted levels are directed to each science division. Doing so will protect ongoing research, secure America’s economic and national security interests, and guarantee that the benefits of science continue to flow to every community in the United States,” concluded the lawmakers.

Click here for the full text of the letter.

Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Judy Chu (CA2-27)

WASHINGTON D.C. – Following the deaths of Ismael Ayala-Uribe and Gabriel Garcia-Aviles who were both held in ICE custody at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, Representatives Judy Chu (CA-28) and Dave Min (CA-47) lead 43 number of their colleagues in a letter to DHS Sec. Kristi Noem and Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Todd Lyons, regarding the record-high number of deaths in ICE custody and demanding answers on ICE’s negligence in adhering to basic medical standards. 

“ICE has publicly reported 25 detainee deaths since January 23, 2025, and has issued 15 Detainee Death Reports in accordance with congressional reporting requirements. To put that figure into perspective, ICE has recorded almost 64 percent as many in-custody deaths in just the first nine months of President Trump’s second term as occurred during his entire first term, when 36 detainees died in custody. Further, the number of deaths this year exceeds every year on record since reporting began in 2018, including Fiscal Year 2020, when deaths spiked in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic” wrote the representatives.

They continued, “ICE appears to have repeatedly failed to comply with internal standards, and these failures have contributed to deaths in custody. For example, over the last decade, ICE has delayed or provided substandard medical care, neglected to provide proper medication, and falsified medical records. ICE has also failed to notify next of kin following the death of a detainee “timely, accurately, appropriately, and with sufficient detail” despite being required to by ICE Directive 11003.6 and PBNDS. ICE’s failure to adhere to basic standards of care for individuals in its custody is inexcusable.”

“These are not just numbers on a website, but real people—with families, jobs, and hopes and dreams—each of whom died in ICE custody. […] These repeated policy violations and deaths reflect a broader pattern, demonstrating that ICE is providing insufficient medical care to the people this Administration has detained.”

For more than a decade, Rep. Chu has repeatedly visited and called for the closure of the Adelanto ICE facility in San Bernardino County because of its long, alarming record of abuse, medical neglect, and human rights violations that have led to preventable deaths. 

54 organizations endorsed this letter: Alianza Americas; America’s Voice; American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); Aquí: The Accountability Movement; CASA; Center for Gender & Refugee Studies; Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law; Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP); Central American Resource Center (CARECEN-LA); Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA); Coalition on Human Needs; Comunidad Maya Pixan Ixim; Cosmovisiones Ancestrales; Detention Watch Network; EqualHealth; Florida Immigrant Coalition; Friends Committee on National Legislation; Haitian Bridge Alliance; Hispanic National Bar Association; Hispanics in Philanthropy; Human Rights First; Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef); Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC); Immigration Law & Justice Network; Innovation Law Lab; International Refugee Assistance Project; Justice in Motion; Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA); Latino Community Foundation; Latino Victory Project; LatinoJustice PRLDEF; League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC); Long Beach Immigration Forum; Miami Valley Immigration Coalition; Mi Familia Vota; MoveOn Civic Action; Mutual Aid Immigration Network; National Immigrant Justice Center; National Immigration Law Center; National Partnership for New Americans; Oasis Legal Services; Orange County Rapid Response Network; Refugee Council USA; RENACEUSA; Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights; Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN); Tahirih Justice Center; Texas Civil Rights Project; The Workers Circle; Together & Free; United We Dream Network; UnidosUS; VECINA; Voto Latino; Witness at the Border.

43 additional members of Congress supported this letter: Representatives Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Wesley Bell (MO-01), Donald Beyer (VA-08), Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Greg Casar  (TX-35), Gil Cisneros (CA-31), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Lou Correa (CA-46), Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), Danny Davis (IL-07), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), John Garamendi (CA-08), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Robin Kelly (IL-02), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Summer Lee (PA-12), Mike Levin (CA-49), Robert Menendez (NJ-08), Grace Meng (NY-06), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Jerry Nadler (NY-12), Elanor Norton (DC-00), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Emily Randall (WA-06), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10), Eric Swalwell (CA-14), Mark Takano (CA-39), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Juan Vargas (CA-52), James Walkinshaw (VA-11), and Maxine Waters (CA-43). 

The full letter is available here. 

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Judy Chu (CA2-27)

Legislation would outlaw discriminatory practices against both LGBTQ+ children and adopters

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep Judy Chu (CA-28) along with Reps. Danny K. Davis (IL-07), Angie Craig (MN-02), Gwen Moore (WI-04), and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY), introduced legislation to ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ couples looking to adopt and protect LGBTQ+ children in the foster care system. 

The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act would prohibit discrimination by federally funded child welfare agencies against individuals and couples on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, or marital status. The bill would also improve the safety and well-being of LGBTQ+ children involved with federally funded child welfare services by establishing a National Resource Center for LGBTQ+ youth and by banning harmful practices like conversion therapy. 

“Every child deserves to grow up in a safe, stable, and loving home. This bill protects children in foster care by expanding the number of foster and adoptive families available to them and ensuring that no child or family is discriminated against or turned away because of who they are or how they pray,” said Rep. Chu. “The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act is a critical step toward creating a foster care system that truly protects and supports all children.”

“Government has a unique responsibility to ensure that each and every child in foster care finds a loving, affirming family,” said Rep. Davis.  “I am proud to co-lead the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act that increases the number of foster and adoptive homes available to all children in foster care and that helps neglected and abused children find the caring relationship they need to heal and thrive.”

“As an LGBTQ+ adoptive parent and a mother who had to fight in court to adopt my son, I have witnessed firsthand the widespread discrimination in our country’s adoption and foster care systems,” said Rep. Craig. “No state should allow discrimination against LGBTQ+ foster children or adoptive parents who can provide a safe and loving home. I’m proud to help carry on the late John Lewis’ legacy through this critical legislation we crafted together to ensure that LGBTQ+ adoptive parents and children are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

“The safety and wellbeing of our children in care should always be our key priority,” said Rep. Moore. “This legislation reaffirms this principle and ensures that discrimination doesn’t prevent a child finding a loving and permanent home while providing important protections for LGBTQ youth in care. I am honored to lead this effort with my colleagues to lift up the needs of our most vulnerable children.” 

“Every child deserves a safe, loving household, and it is absolutely unacceptable that so many children are denied this access because of antiquated laws and deliberate discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals,” said Sen. Gillibrand. “This legislation will ensure that taxpayer-funded adoption services and foster care providers cannot engage in discrimination against children or potential parents, solidifying protections for some of our most vulnerable children. I’m proud to introduce this legislation, and I will fight to get it passed.”

Same-sex couples are 10 times as likely to become foster parents and seven times as likely to pursue adoption than different-sex couples, according to a 2024 report from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. However, fourteen states currently allow child welfare agencies to turn away qualified foster and adoptive parents on the basis of their sexual identity or gender orientation, even though hundreds of thousands of children in the American foster care system need a loving home. Oklahoma, for instance, passed a bill in 2018 allowing religious-based adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples, single people, and non-Christians. Several other states have passed or are considering similar legislation. Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ children, who are overrepresented in the system and make up at least 30 percent of children in foster care, suffer greater rates of mistreatment and experience worse outcomes than their peers. The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act would outlaw discriminatory practices against both LGBTQ+ children and adopters.

“Children enter the child welfare system through no fault of their own, and our communities have a shared responsibility to ensure they are cared for with dignity and fairness,” said Darra Gordon, CEO of Family Equality. “This bill is a vital, practical step toward ending discriminatory barriers that prevent thousands of children from finding the safe, loving, and permanent homes they deserve. We thank Rep. Davis and Sen. Gillibrand for their leadership and urge Congress to act swiftly.”

“Discrimination against LGBTQIA+ children, youth and parents has no place in child welfare services,” said Linda Spears, President and CEO of the Child Welfare League of America. “Such discrimination too often adds to the stress and trauma in the lives of children, especially for those children and youth in foster care who may not have the stable and loving family they deserve. To ensure that all children and youth in care have the quality care they deserve, we must have the broadest possible pool of foster and adoptive families. We can accomplish this by identifying and assessing applicants on the basis of their ability to successfully parent a child and work with diverse family dynamics, not on the basis of their gender identity or sexual orientation. CWLA is proud to endorse the Every Child Deserves a Family Act and applauds Senator Gillibrand and Representative Danny Davis for the introduction and support of this important legislation.”

“Every child deserves a safe, loving, and affirming home. But too often, LGBTQ+ youth face unique challenges in the foster care system,” said David Stacy, Human Rights Campaign Vice President of Government Affairs. “When youth enter foster care, the State has a responsibility to place them with families that will support them—not exclude them because of who they are or who their caregivers are. That’s why we support the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which ensures that agencies receiving federal funds cannot discriminate based on religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity”

“LGBTQ+ and Two Spirit children, parents, kin, and families have the right to free from discrimination and harm while involved with the child welfare system and to be treated with dignity and respect,” said Currey Cook, co-chair of the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign. “The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act is an important step forward to ensure those rights are clear and explicit so children and families can expect and receive fair treatment by a system that too often harms rather than helps.”

“Having grown up and aged out of the foster care system, I know firsthand why this legislation is vital to reducing the number of children who linger in care without a place to call home,” said Schylar Baber, co-chair of the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign. “Too many children still lack foster families and end up in group homes or residential centers simply because there is nowhere else to place them. I was part of what is now called the generation that waits—removed at age six, denied adoption at age twelve because the prospective parent was an unmarried male, and told I was “unadoptable.” Instead of permanency, I endured years of instability and trauma caused by outdated policies and discrimination. Love eventually prevailed when I was adopted at age 25 by the same person who had been denied years earlier, but that was six years of a home I should never have been denied. We must remove barriers that exclude viable families, because every child deserves permanency, stability, and love.”

The full text of the John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act is available here.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Judy Chu (CA2-27)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Reps. Judy Chu (CA-28) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) introduced the bipartisan Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act, legislation that would help ensure every K–12 student has access to mental health support at school.

School-based mental health professionals, including school counselors, psychologists, and social workers, play an essential role in supporting students’ well-being, academic achievement, and safety. Yet schools across the country are facing severe shortages of these professionals. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) recommends a ratio of no more than 1 school psychologist for every 500 students, but the current national average is nearly 1 for every 1,400 students. In many low-income communities, the gap is even wider, leaving students without critical services.

The Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act would strengthen the pipeline of school-based mental health professionals by creating new opportunities for schools to recruit, train, and retain qualified staff. Specifically, the bill would: 

• Establish a grant program to support partnerships between colleges or universities and low-income school districts to facilitate the training and placement of more mental health professionals in the underserved communities that need them most.
• Create a targeted student loan forgiveness program for mental health professionals who commit to working at least five years in a low-income school district.
• Require the Department of Education to study and identify regions across the country with shortages of school mental health professionals to help guide future investments.

“Every child deserves the chance to learn and feel supported, but that can become a challenge when schools lack the mental health professionals that students rely on,” said Rep. Chu. “As the only psychologist in Congress and a former educator, I know firsthand how essential these services are. This bill would close critical gaps by helping low-income school districts recruit and retain counselors, psychologists, and social workers. By strengthening the mental health workforce in our schools, we can improve student success, enhance school safety, and ensure the well-being of all our students.” 

“In every conversation I have across PA-1—from a guidance office in Bristol to a parent meeting in Quakertown—I hear the same urgent plea: our kids need more mental-health support in their schools,” said Rep. Fitzpatrick. “As Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force, I’ve made expanding early, school-based care a top priority because the need is real and the consequences are serious. The Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act builds the workforce, supports our educators, and ensures every child in our community, and nationwide, has reliable access to the mental-health support they need and deserve.”

“The National Association of School Psychologists is proud to endorse the Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act, which will increase students’ access to highly qualified school psychologists and other school-based mental health professionals to ensure they have the support they need to thrive,” said Shawna Rader Kelly, President of the National Association of School Psychologists. “This legislation will help address pervasive workforce shortages that have limited students’ and families’ access to school-based mental and behavioral health supports at a time when these services are greatly needed. We appreciate Congresswoman Chu and Congressman Fitzpatrick for their continued leadership to address issues affecting children and youth, and support school psychologists throughout the United States.”

“The American Psychological Association applauds Representatives Chu and Fitzpatrick for introducing the Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act that aims to address the longstanding shortages of mental health professionals, including school-psychologists, that continue nationwide,” said American Psychological Association CEO Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD. “As the mental health needs of many of our nation’s youth persist, school-based mental health services are critical, including through a focus on prevention and early intervention. By ensuring a strong school-based mental health workforce is ready to address the well-being of all students, this bipartisan legislation will be key to these efforts.”

The Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act is originally cosponsored by 26 House Members, including: Reps. Don Bacon, Shontel Brown, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Angie Craig, Madeleine Dean, Rosa DeLauro, Mark DeSaulnier, Dwight Evans, Jesús (Chuy) García, Josh Gottheimer, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Stephen Lynch, April McClain Delaney, Jennifer McClellan, Robert Menendez, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jimmy Panetta, Chellie Pingree, Delia Ramirez, Eric Sorensen, Darren Soto, Marilyn Strickland, Shri Thanedar, Bennie Thompson, Jill Tokuda, and George Whitesides.

Click here to read the full bill text. 

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL)

LINCOLNSHIRE, IL – Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10), Chair of the New Democrat Coalition and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, released the following statement in response to a vote by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to end the decades-long recommendation that all newborns be immunized at birth against hepatitis B:

“To be clear, today’s stunning, uninformed, and misguided ACIP decision was driven by politics and conspiracy theories, not medical science. It puts our children at risk, and it will have dire consequences for years to come. For more than three decades, the hepatitis B vaccine given at birth has protected countless newborns from a dangerous, lifelong disease. That safeguard is now being dismantled.

“The responsibility for this lies squarely with pusillanimous Senate Republicans who allowed Donald Trump to install a conspiracy theorist, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to run the Department of Health and Human Services. Under his leadership, a once-respected committee that relied on science to guide immunization recommendations has now been stacked with dunderheaded anti-vaccine activists driven by ideology instead of science-backed evidence.

“Conspiracy-riddled ideology should be nowhere near vaccine guidance. Congress has a responsibility to act. We must advance legislation that restores scientific integrity to vaccine policymaking and prevents ideological interference in decisions that impact children’s health.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL)

LINCOLNSHIRE — Following the release of a Public Defender audit that found widespread torture and abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus, condemns conditions cited in the report and calls for the removal of Itamar Ben Gvir as Israel’s National Security Minister:

“Israel’s Public Defender’s audit of the country’s prison system documents widespread hunger, untreated medical conditions, extreme overcrowding, and repeated violence against detainees in Israeli detention facilities. These findings are based on direct inspections conducted over two years across dozens of sites and describe conditions that fall well below Israel’s legal standards.

The conditions reported are unacceptable for any government and under any circumstances, but especially for a vital U.S. ally that has historically held itself to higher moral standards. 

“The October 7^th invasion by Hamas, and the multi-front war that followed, placed extraordinary demands on the system, but the root of the problems rest clearly with the leadership, specifically Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir. Prison conditions deteriorated sharply under emergency authorities and sustained political direction that removed normal restraints on the system. Oversight mechanisms failed to halt that deterioration. That came as Ben Gvir publicly endorsed harsher treatment of detainees and treated the degradation of prison conditions as an achievement. 

“Ben Gvir’s conduct as National Security Minister has long been detrimental to Israel’s national interests and its international standing. He should never have been given authority over the prison system in the first place, and, given the findings in this audit, he should be removed from office immediately.

“The US-Israel relationship is based on shared values and shared interests. This audit is an official warning from within Israel’s own legal system. Failure to act on it threatens to undermine our nations’ bilateral relationship and Israel’s long-term security.”

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL)

WASHINGTON – Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10) and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (PA-11), members of the House Ways and Means Committee, introduced the bipartisan Providing Distance Education for Foreign Institutions Act, a bill to ensure American students studying at universities abroad can continue to access federal student loans.  

“We need to help American students already weighed down by record-setting student debt and lift the barriers that stand in the way of accessing an international degree,” said Rep Schneider. “Students who pursue an international education gain skills that equip them to thrive in a global economy, and they deserve the same support they receive at home. Universities routinely offer a portion of their classes online in the US and abroad, but only students who study internationally are barred from receiving financial aid for such programs. This bill closes that gap.”
American students studying at institutions of higher education that participate in the Title IV loan program can finance full degrees abroad. However, the 400 international schools that participate in the loan program are currently prohibited from participating in Title IV if any part of their program is offered online. During the COVID-19 pandemic this prohibition was waived but has since gone back into effect, leaving American students at risk of losing their ability to finance their degrees as most colleges and universities have widened their courses to routinely offer programs online.

“Students studying abroad shouldn’t risk losing federal aid just because some of their coursework is remote. I thank Rep. Schneider for joining me on this bipartisan fix, and urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation,” said Rep. Smucker.

Due to this prohibition, schools are forced to make extreme and costly accommodations – offering in person programs only for American students using financial aid. Without amendment, these schools could completely opt out of participating in the Title IV loan program and American students will be left without a way to finance their degrees abroad.

“The International Education Council (IEC) applauds the introduction of The Providing Distance Education for Foreign institutions Act and commends Representatives Scheider and Smucker on the introduction of the bill.  The total online prohibition has shut the door on American students who need to finance their degree while physically attending campuses abroad.  American youth should be able to choose their location and program of study, given the high-quality-for-value and unique offerings at highly reputable international schools.  This measure will continue to allow those Americans to use their federal loan funds to help obtain that experience as the delivery of education evolves,” said IEC Executive Director Robert Moran.  “We are grateful to Representatives Smucker and Schneider for supporting American students and recognizing the need for this legislation.  American financial aid provides students with the ability to choose their institution. Participation by colleges and universities outside the United States in the Title IV Direct Loan program vastly expands opportunities for students who want to obtain their postsecondary education overseas. These opportunities provide students with a wealth of global awareness and diplomatic skillsets they bring home to the United States.”

You can find the bill text here.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Michael McCaul (10th District of Texas)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) — chairman emeritus of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs — delivered the following remarks at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations hearing titled, “The Abduction of Ukrainian Children by the Russian Federation.”

Click to watch

Remarks as delivered:

I do want to thank you [Chairman Graham] and the Ranking Member Schatz for holding this important hearing and having us from the House who care about this issue deeply, and we’ve been following this for quite some time. You’re putting a spotlight on this, and I can’t say thank you enough.

And I agree with you [that] in these peace talks that are going on right now, Russia needs to understand these children must come home. They must be repatriated with their families.

We need an iron-clad security agreement, unlike the ’94 Budapest Agreement that didn’t have that. And as I passed the wartime supplemental in the House, passed by the Senate, Russia needs to pay for its own crimes in the REPO Act.

I met with Ukraine ambassador yesterday, who showed me video that Save Ukraine put together featuring these children and describing the Russian atrocities.

The Russian Federation has abducted at least 20,000 children — that we know of — and every expert I’ve talked to believes the real number is high, much higher than that.

They are also indoctrinating and militarizing Ukrainian children in the occupied territories — possibly up to a million.

According to the video, Russia has allocated 7 BILLION dollars in its 26–28 budget for a national project titled “youth and children,” — essentially, militarized youth organizations.

The ambassador told me, again, that one million children live in the occupied territories — vulnerable to brainwashing and abuse. And more than 43,000 have already enrolled in Russia’s paramilitary youth program.

… [I]n these territories, the textbooks spew false information and conspiracy theories about NATO and the free world.

All this is part of Russia’s effort to turn future generations against Ukraine, the United States, and Europe because, in their words, they are preparing for a large-scale war against NATO.

It will not end at Donbas and the land bridge to Crimea. We have to be clear eyed in these negotiations.

Some of these children’s parents have been threatened into giving up their kids.

[The kids] are shipped to Russia, stripped of their identities, tortured, forced to memorize propaganda, and told their country and their own families are “the enemy.”

Finally, many of them are sent to the frontlines of the Russian war itself. Imagine a child age 16 being sent to the frontlines to fight against their own homeland.

Mr. Chairman, in documentary “Children in the Fire” — I’d recommend everybody watch this — they show a child taken in a prison where adults use electrodes to shock them under their fingernails and genitals. And I hate to even say that in public, but it is so horrific.

No child should ever endure that kind of barbarism. To me, it’s good versus evil, and this is evil in its purest form.

And like the Chairman, I have met with a lot of these survivors. I’ve met with many of them who were sent to Russian camps, and they describe the forced indoctrination and the torture.

As a father of five, as you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, I can’t imagine any of my children being kidnapped and indoctrinated against the United States of America. Imagine how Americans would feel if that happened to them.

I’m thankful, Chairman Graham, for your leadership, calling attention to this important issue. And I agree that any peace plan must include the repatriation of these children. And it must include the iron-clad security agreement.

We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past.

Unfortunately, the reporting I’m seeing out of Moscow shows Ukraine making concessions while Putin has made none. That is no surprise. I think he will drag this out.

He will continue his behavior — including the kidnapping and abuse of the children — until pressure is placed on him and he is forced to be stopped.

We must hold those responsible accountable and ensure this ends — not only for Ukraine’s sake, but for our own sake and for the world.

Russia’s attempt to re-engineer an entire generation is a battle plan. In their words, they are preparing children for war against NATO.

This is a national security imperative — and beyond that, it’s a moral imperative. This is a time — all of us on both sides of the aisle — for moral clarity, because history will judge us by what we do here and now. And it will judge us [by] how we respond today.

So again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this important hearing. I look forward to working with you and this committee.

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Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Michael McCaul (10th District of Texas)

Bill was named and passed in memory of Mikaela Naylon, who courageously advocated for its passage during her fight with cancer