Political Quotes

“I rise today to commend both the chairman and the ranking member. I am in an all-day markup on the Homeland appropriations bill, but I left that markup because I think this is very important to our homeland security. The notion that as a Nation we would finally address some of the shortcomings in our foster care system, I think is so appropriate. I want to thank Chairman McDermott for his leadership on this. This bill, particularly when we focus on kinship care, when we look at the whole question of aging out and the challenges, we held a forum the other day right here in the Capitol and heard from experts, but more importantly, heard from a former foster child herself about how she was told to leave immediately upon her 18th birthday and all of her belongings put in four trash bags. Now she's getting ready to graduate from one of our finest universities, and she's on the right track, but to think how abruptly she was treated by this foster family. We need to look at, through all of these challenges, how we can better reform these systems. Hundreds of thousands of young people and their life chances are impacted. I join the ranking member and the chairman as a cosponsor of this bill. But this is just the beginning.”