Idaho Health and Welfare director’s nomination to federal post advanced to U.S. Senate
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Laura Guido, Idaho Capital Sun
BOISE (Idaho Capital Sun) – The nomination of Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Alex Adams to a federal position moved forward Thursday.
The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Idaho U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, voted 14-13 along party lines to advance Adams’ nomination to be assistant Health and Human Services secretary for family support.
His nomination will go to the full Senate for final approval. If confirmed, he would oversee the nation’s Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS. He answered committee questions during a hearing July 22, saying he would focus on early childhood learning, improving foster care and child care access if nominated.
Idaho U.S. Sen. Crapo praises Adams. But ranking Democrat is skeptical
Ahead of the vote, Crapo gave his support for Adams.
“Dr. Adams spoke strongly about his belief that federal policy should strengthen rather than supplant parents’ capacity to make the best decisions for their children,” Crapo said. “As the director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Dr. Adams knows what policy decisions empower states to provide critical assistance to some of America’s most vulnerable populations. I’m confident in his ability to lead the array of programs under the Administration for Children and Families at HHS.”
The committee’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, spoke more skeptically of Adams’ work at the helm of Idaho’s health agency.
“Initially, I thought that Dr. Adams was someone who could really make a big difference,” Wyden said. “But what I found, both as we looked into his record and some questioning at the committee, he talks an encouraging game with respect to safety and helping families but his record shows something very different.
The Oregon senator cited Adams’ decision last year to end a program that allowed Idaho parents to serve as paid caregivers for their children with disabilities. Adams said at the time that fraud and abuse drove up costs to run the program, the Sun reported, while parents and disability advocates expressed deep concerns that the decision would leave children without care amid Idaho’s shortage of direct care workers.
Wyden also referenced an Idaho law passed this year that loosens regulations of child care facilities, including lowering required child-to-staff ratios.
The senator said Adams “bobbed and weaved” as committee members asked various questions or pressed him on whether he agreed with the changes made by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Adams nomination backed by Idaho governor, dozens of groups
Adams’ nomination received letters of support from Idaho Gov. Brad Little and more than 24 organizations, state agencies, and Native American tribes in Idaho. Some of the groups who wrote in support include the Idaho State Department of Education, the Idaho Commission on Aging, Virginia Gov. Janet Vestal Kelly, Louisiana Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein, and the American Public Human Services Association.
Adams has continued to serve as chief of Idaho Health and Welfare during the nomination process, but on Thursday the governor’s office announced Little appointed Juliet Charron to lead the agency starting in September, the Sun reported. Charron is deputy director of Medicaid within the agency.