Mitch Landrieu: “there are fewer issues that bring consensus to the table than the issue of adoption. We in this Congress have worked in…”

“there are fewer issues that bring consensus to the table than the issue of adoption. We in this Congress have worked in a bipartisan manner to help our families be stronger and safer and to help children in foster care. There are 570,000 children in foster care. This amendment allows us to help them with $118 million to live up to the commitments we have made to these children. Madam President, 100,000 of them are orphans. We promised to help 25,000 who age out of foster care get a chance to go to college. These children have no parents. We are their parents. If we do not help them get to school, they are not going. That is what this amendment does. We agree on adoption. We agree on improvements to foster care. Let us vote to increase the funding. It is minuscule and inconsequential to this budget, but it is of enormous importance to this group of people and to these children.”