Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania (Ms. Dean) for pushing this legislation with me, as well as Congresswoman Bass of California. Congressman Stivers of Ohio has been an incredible champion. I thank Congressman Wagner for her work on this bill. And I want to thank, particularly, Ranking Member McHenry. I am not a member of this committee, and I thank Chairwoman Waters and, of course, Ranking Member McHenry for taking this up and allowing me to advocate for this bill. This is a bill of the heart. Everyone who has worked on this bill knows that we are remedying a wrong that shouldn't exist. Mr. Speaker, several years ago, a group of Ohio foster youth, foster care alumni, and advocates came to me and explained to me the struggles that they endure as a result of the government's failure as foster parents. We fail to provide housing for these young people when they age out of foster care. Currently, when youth age out of the foster care system, they are often placed at the back of the line to receive housing assistance, despite some targeted interventions available. Essentially, many of these youth, when they age out of foster care, age into federally created homelessness. Now, part of this problem is that foster care is under HHS and adult housing is under HUD.…”