That is NOT an Armed Services Committee meeting!!!!!
It was a group of individual Senators meeting to discuss adoptions!
What exactly does an adoption ban have to do with the ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE!!!!!
The photo is from this meeting.
U.S. Lawmakers Press Russia to Ease Adoption Ban
A group of lawmakers trying to break down a legal roadblock to U.S. adoptions of Russian children is meeting stiff resistance from authorities in Moscow, who seem to have just one response: The law is the law.
In a meeting at the Capitol last week organized by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., 10 senators pressed Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to make a plea for the Russian government to reverse the ban it enacted late last year and to quickly resolve hundreds of cases in which adoption matches have been made but are now in legal limbo.
"I wouldn't say the meeting was overly encouraging," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who may know more than anyone in Congress about Russian adoptions.
Several years ago, Blunt and his wife adopted their son, Charlie, from Russia, dealing with the court-approval process and visiting there several times before finalizing the adoption. The process took two years.
Charlie, now 8, "knows he's from Russia, and he knows he's adopted, and he's interested in Russia because of that," said Blunt, who considers Russian adoptions a crucial part of improving U.S.-Russia relations. "This is an item of foreign policy and relationship that we should build on in a relationship that has so often been a strained relationship," he said.
Although Kislyak told senators last week that he would convey their concerns to leaders in his capital, he was also firm that not much can be done.
"We live in the environment of the law — that the law decides on how things can be done and cannot be done in Russia on these issues," Kislyak told reporters after the closed-door meeting.
