"Face the Nation," May 14, 2023

Interview

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Good morning, Margaret. Happy Mother's Day.

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So, we know that the United States leads the industrialized world in maternal deaths. And since 2018, maternal deaths have increased 89 percent. We've seen deaths among moms in all racial and ethnic groups. And a lot of that has been due to the Covid pandemic. Eighty percent of these deaths are preventable. We know why moms are dying and we know what policy solutions to take to save moms' lives. And so I've introduced a piece of legislation called the Momnibus, which is that evidence-based solution to end this crisis.

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You're right. So, in 2021 we were so pleased that the first bill from the Momnibus, the Protecting Moms Who Served Act, to support our veteran moms, was signed into law by President Biden. That piece of legislation passed the House with unanimous bipartisan support. So, you're absolutely right, the American people are united behind this as a priority, a shared value. And we've had broad, bipartisan support from the Congress to solve this problem.

We have several bills within the package that are bipartisan at this time. We have another bill to protect veteran moms called the Maternal Health for Veteran's Act. We have one to address maternal mental health conditions and substance use disorders and another to make sure that the technology tools that are available on the market are available to all moms across the country.

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Absolutely. So, the Black Maternal Health Caucus is one of the largest bipartisan caucuses on Capitol Hill. As I've outlined, there are several pieces within the Momnibus that do have bipartisan support. And we're coming on the heels of passing 80 percent of the Momnibus through the House in the last Congress. And so we have a pathway to getting this piece of legislation signed into law this year, and we are working hard with our colleagues across the aisle in the House and the Senate to do so.

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Well, we certainly know that black moms are three to four times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications. We know that Hispanic moms saw the largest increase year over year in the most recent CDC data. And we know that Native American moms have significant disparities as well.

But I want to be clear that this is a problem that touches every mom and all of our families in this country. It doesn't matter if it's an urban or rural community, it doesn't matter if you live on the East Coast or West Coast or in the south. This is something that touches all of our lives. And so we need to make sure that we're passing these solutions that solve the problems that we're facing in our health care system.

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So, that's part of it. We're seeing a lot of consolidation in our rural health care systems, a lot of hospital closures. Moms aren't able to get into a facility of their choice to deliver their babies. And we also know that there is some real inequities when we talk about Medicaid and Medicaid expansion. We're losing half of our moms in that postpartum period, a third in that extended postpartum period, where in a lot of these states Medicaid coverage does cut off after 60 days postpartum. That's why I'm such a big supporter and the black maternal health caucus is a big supporter of a mandatory year-long postpartum Medicaid expansion that my colleague, Robin Kelly, has been leading in the Congress.

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A full year postpartum.

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That's right.

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In the United States we shouldn't have children dying in our custody. And we have to continue to make sure that there is robust support along the border for those institutions - those agencies that are caring for migrant children, to making sure that they are getting the needed medical care. And I'm certainly focused on doing a thorough investigation of these deaths.

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I don't know. We don't know. I've not gotten those details yet. But since that time of the Trump administration, we have had success in shepherding resources to bolster the medical contracts and the services that are offered to migrant families along the border while they're in U.S. custody. And since that time we had not had any deaths of children in custody. Again, in the United States, we should not have children dying while in U.S. custody. That's unacceptable. And we certainly will be pursuing an investigation.

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In the United States we shouldn't have children dying in our custody. And we have to continue to make sure that there is robust support along the border for those institutions - those agencies that are caring for migrant children, to making sure that they are getting the needed medical care. And I'm certainly focused on doing a thorough investigation of these deaths.

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I don't know. We don't know. I've not gotten those details yet. But since that time of the Trump administration, we have had success in shepherding resources to bolster the medical contracts and the services that are offered to migrant families along the border while they're in U.S. custody. And since that time we had not had any deaths of children in custody. Again, in the United States, we should not have children dying while in U.S. custody. That's unacceptable. And we certainly will be pursuing an investigation.

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