BOISE, ID – Idaho Health and Welfare director Alex Adams, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, vowed to protect Head Start and improve child welfare in a committee hearing on his nomination amid pointed questions from senators.

The committee will later vote on whether to advance Adams’ nomination to be assistant secretary of family support to the full Senate.

Adams, who prior to his appointment as director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in May 2024 served as the governor’s budget director, also fielded questions about recruiting and retaining foster families, cuts to Medicaid, protecting child trafficking victims, and whether he would commit to sharing information with the committee if confirmed.

Senate Democrats question Adams on Head Start cuts, pressure from Trump administration 

Head Start, the early learning program for low-income families, is facing $1 billion in withheld, congressionally approved funding this year. The Region 10 office, which services Idaho, Alaska, Washington and Oregon, closed in April at the direction of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., KREM 2 reported.

Adams did not comment on if he supported or opposed the cuts, despite repeated questions by Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.

“I would echo what Secretary Kennedy has told the committee, which is his goal is to make Head Start brighter by the end of this administration,” Adams told the committee Tuesday morning.

Georgia Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who said he was a “proud Head Start alum” said he has asked Kennedy for answers about the closures of regional offices for the program in April and has yet to hear back. Warnock asked how Adams would ensure closures wouldn’t further disrupt access for the families who use the program.

“I’m hearing from providers, yes it has disrupted services,” Warnock said.

Adams responded that he would try to open lines of communication with the nonprofit entities that administer the Head Start grants.

Warnock also asked if Adams would review the termination decisions and report whether they are disrupting services.

“My job is to follow the law, so if errors have been made, I would look to correct those,” Adams said. “But my job is to follow the law and ensure that all legal obligations related to Head Start are being fulfilled.”

Warnock pushed Adams to answer yes or no on the review and report of the terminations, which Adams did not do, but said he was “happy to look at it.”

Warnock concluded his time by saying, “In your answers, I feel the pressure that you feel from the administration, I hope you will take account of what the people you’re pledging to serve are actually feeling.”

Adams in answering multiple questions reiterated his commitment to the program and on multiple occasions highlighted that his wife’s grandmother ran a Head Start program in Blackfoot, Idaho, in the late 1960s.

Adams, Crapo defend Medicaid reductions in federal budget reconciliation 

Nevada Democratic U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, said the cuts to Medicaid under the massive budget reconciliation bill passed this month may threaten behavioral health service for foster youth, many of whom rely on Medicaid for health care services.

She asked what Adams intended to do to work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, to avoid a negative impact on foster children’s services.

Adams said the “intention” behind the budget bill “is not to have any impact on the core constituency” of Medicaid.

Adams said he wanted to lean into prevention services provided by the Administration for Children and Families, which he would oversee if nominated. He said he would also work closely with Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for CMS.

Senate Finance Ranking Member U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said he was troubled that Adams told his staff that the Medicaid cuts “affect only fraud.”

“Now, every single kid in foster care is eligible for Medicaid, so when you cut Medicaid, you’re directly cutting health care for kids who’ve experienced, in many instances, extraordinary trauma,” Wyden said, “and I just don’t understand how you basically can say that cuts in access to therapy, developmental screenings, basic medical care they need to health and thrive, really isn’t something that’s going to be important to you if you’re confirmed.”

Crapo, who supported the budget reconciliation bill, argued that the cuts to Medicaid would not reduce benefits for most recipients, unless they do not comply with its new work requirements, are in the country illegally or are registered to receive benefits from multiple states.

Crapo highlights Adam’s work on foster care in Idaho

In introducing Adams, Crapo highlighted the work on child welfare Adams did as head of the state health agency.

Little appointed Adams to head the state’s largest agency in May 2024, and he started in the role that June. Immediately, Adams said his major priority would be improving the state’s child welfare system by increasing recruitment of foster families, enhancing prevention services to keep children in their homes when it was safe to do so, and improving services for foster families to enhance retention.

Crapo highlighted that Adams worked with the Idaho Legislature to “enact laws to extend foster care to age 23, allow kin-specific licensing standards, and enhance time to permanency.”

During the 2025 legislative session, lawmakers approved Adams’ $23.2 million increase to the youth safety division of the agency, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.

Adams on Tuesday touted that his agency increased the ratio of foster families to youth from 74 families for every 100 foster children when he started, to 95 families for every 100 children.

Crapo also mentioned Adams’ experience as Gov. Brad Little’s budget director from 2019 to 2024.

“He has demonstrated a keen eye toward fiscal responsibility, reducing regulatory burden and maximizing the impact of taxpayer dollars,” Crapo said. “This experience will be invaluable as he oversees the varied programs under (the Administration for Children and Families)’s purview.”

Adams said that improving child welfare would continue to be a main priority if he is nominated.

Democrats ask pointed questions about Trump administration’s actions

A number of committee Democrats asked pointed questions about actions under the Trump administration, such as the president’s proposal to eliminate the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program known as LIHEAP. Adams mostly deflected from offering his own opinion, but said he would “follow the law.”

Vermont Democratic U.S. Sen. Peter Welch repeatedly tried to get Adams to say what his perspective was on the elimination of the program that provides funds that assist low-income families with energy costs.

Adams responded with the administration’s justification for doing it, which included a priority to reduce energy costs for everyone, and that “if Congress funds it, we’ll get the money out the door.”

Welch told him he admired Adam’s work in administering LIHEAP in Idaho, but was “disappointed” in Adams’ “lack of candor” about his view of its elimination.

Wyden asked Adams what he would do to combat documented cases of mistreatment or harm of children in residential treatment facilities.

Adams said Idaho’s rate of congregate care has reduced by 35% since he started and that he implemented a new requirement that one visit be unannounced.

Wyden also asked what Adams would do to address specific harms to LGTBQ+ children in these facilities, documented in a report his office compiled.

“Simple,” Adams responded, “all kids deserve respect and dignity.”

Wyden pushed Adams to say what he would do, “you are very articulate … but it’s really hard to understand what you stand for and what you would do.”

Adams said he wasn’t familiar with the cases Wyden mentioned, but “my operating principal in Idaho has been, when there’s a fork in the road, I’m going to do what’s in the best interest of the child.”

A committee vote on Adams’ nomination will “‘likely” occur before Congress goes to recess in August, a spokesperson for Crapo’s office told the Sun. After that, it will go to the full Senate for consideration.

This story first appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.