Gray has Lunch with a VIP Constitutent
The White House
Long tables are more Presidential!
It sounds like Mayor-elect Gray’s lunch with President Obama went well (via The Hill):
Speaking alone to reporters outside the White House, Gray described his lunch with the president as “delightful” and said that it was “Even better than I could have hoped for.”
“One of the most important things to me was that the president really wants to work closely with our city,” he said. “We’re going to — in the days and weeks ahead after I’m sworn in — are going to work very closely together.”
I had a feeling D.C. schools would come up, after that infamous interview the President did with Matt Lauer for TODAY, which referenced his daughters attending private school…
Gray said that the president and he spoke about improving public education and early childhood instruction in Washington, as well as funding for infrastructure around the proposed new Department of Homeland Security headquarters in impoverished Southeast Washington. They also discussed solutions to the city’s high unemployment rate.
But it’s nice to see that voting rights were discussed, too:
Obama “was unequivocal in his support” for full voting rights for District residents, Gray said. Voting rights are consistently a top issue for D.C. government officials when it comes to their relationship with the federal government. But they will likely be difficult to pass under the incoming Republican House.
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