Mitch Landrieu: “I first compliment Senator DeWine for the outstanding job he has done. He is in a meeting and is not in the Senate at…”

“I first compliment Senator DeWine for the outstanding job he has done. He is in a meeting and is not in the Senate at this moment, but we have worked closely together in our capacity now as chair and ranking member, as when I chaired the committee and he served as the ranking member. We have worked together through many different issues. I cannot say enough about his commitment to helping steer a bill that in many instances is contentious--not necessarily because of anything related to the District of Columbia specifically, but of other ideas and ideologies that sometimes find their way into this bill. He and I are both very sensitive to that and support the new leadership team of the District and have tried our best to steer this bill through for the District as well as for the Nation. I wanted to begin by complimenting him and also say, second, there are some terrific new initiatives in this bill, very much needed. One, led by Senator DeWine, is the continued effort to reform the foster care system, first acknowledging the Mayor himself has taken quite a leadership role and has appointed very able leaders in the District to take a system that is broken, that was in many ways completely dysfunctional, and to begin to bring framework, parameters, results to it which will literally save children's lives, heal families, and find homes for children who have no homes.”