Bridenstine to visit Ft. Sill, plans to ask questions despite restrictions

Congressman Jim Bridenstine will visit the Health and Human Services facility housing children in the country illegally on Saturday, and vows to defy HHS rules that would prevent him from asking any questions.

In fact, he's sent a letter to HHS detailing what people he expects to be available to answer those questions during his visit.

He tried to visit the facility July 1, but was turned away at the gate.

Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) will join him on his July 12 visit.

HHS has said they will not be allowed to ask questions, take photographs, or even have contact with staff or the children being housed there.

Both Representatives, according to a statement sent to KRMG by Bridenstine, will "treat these restrictions just as the President treats laws passed by Congress, as “suggestions.”

"We want to be able to talk to the people that run the facility," Bridenstine told KRMG Thursday. "We want to talk to the health care providers at the facility. We want to talk to the people who are in charge of the children's welfare at the facility. We want to talk with anybody at the facility who is in charge of day-to-day operations."

They'll also be asking for documentation of the custodians who are coming to the facility to pick up the children, documentation of the children themselves, and those children's condition when they arrived.

"We're just trying to get answers to questions that this administration's not willing to share with us," he added. "It is our job as members of Congress to get answers to those questions, it is their job to provide those answers."