Explained to us what is going on here. Guest they certainly were surprising numbers. Economists said it was the most surprising report of his lifetime. At the wall street journal we surveyed economists. They expected 8 million jobs to be lost. Gaining 2. 5 million is a dramatic swing. I think that tells us the worst fears about the economic shock and the labor market shock induced by the pandemic were not realized. Some lower number of jobs had been lost i think americans are getting back to work, perhaps in larger numbers than we expected. But i also do just want to say it says where we are, which is still the second highest Unemployment Rate recorded since world war ii, and 20 million americans are unemployed. So, a very strong month, but still a very unstable labor market overall. Host do we see job gains in any particular sector . Was there an area responsible for these gains, or was this an overall rise across all sectors . Guest no, it was a little bit disparate. Half of that gain came in basically the Food Services category. That was the hardest hit the last two months, restaurants were closed down largely because state officials ordered them to do so. Restaurants began to hire back. They have not hired back everyone that left, but they are hiring back some. I think partially these numbers show us restaurants are hiring people back, even before states said they could reopen. I have spoken to Restaurant Owners and storeowners who said we need people to come back for takeout service, or to get the restaurant cleaned and ready to go. We also saw a fairly strong hiring in places like construction and manufacturing. These areas have jobsites that were allowed to restart. Host we saw from some of the numbers we received from the bureau of labor statistics that a lot of the gains seem to come in the leisure and hospitality industry. That was the industry that was the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic airplanes, hotels, resorts, vacation places. Do you expect to see continued rise in some of those industries that were hit badly by the coronavirus pandemic as the summer goes on . Guest i think you will see some increase. But when you look under the hood on those numbers, that is a huge category. That is almost 10 of u. S. Workers are in that category. When you look at the specifics, it gets a little more muddled. Like i was saying, restaurant jobs which fall under that category, that was pretty strong. There was not nearly the same sort of bounce back hotels, not nearly the same. I think employment remains somewhat depressed in some of these tourist areas, but your corner restaurant might be reopening. Airlines are a wildcard because some of the aid they received from the government, they are mandated to keep workers on their payrolls through the fall. That is to be determined. If in the fall, everyone is back flying, we are ready for holiday travel, the hope would be jobs are maintained. If by fall at looks like people are recalibrating their plans, travel is down, people are staying home for christmas and other holidays, i think the airlines will react by laying some people off later this year. Host like you said earlier, the unemployment still remains down by 20 million jobs. I am going to read a graphic from the wall street journal story from yesterday. Employment remains down by nearly 20 million jobs in 13 since february. The month before the pandemic prompted states to shut down parts of the economy. The u. S. Shed 9 million jobs between december 2007 and february 2010, a period that covered the recession caused by the financial crisis. My question is, do those numbers surprise people . It is a bump up, but the economy is still down 20 million jobs. What does the average american take away from that report yesterday . Guest think of it this way, for all of the jobs lost in march and april, one in 10 came back in may. So, for those one in 10 people, that is great news. For the other nine, that is a lot of uncertainty. We dont know exactly what will happen. If we continue to see 2 million or 3 million jobs added per month over the next five to 10 months, we will be back to where we were, which was a very Strong Economy at the start of the year. But, some economists have warned that might not be likely. Surprised inre may, the prediction was for fairly strong hiring over the summer and then for there to be a bit of a plateau as we come to reckon with the idea that the u. S. Did slip into recession and likely has, maybe 10 million workers permanently displaced from their jobs. That is the big question. If these all proved to be temporary layoffs and there is a lot of government aid to support people who are laid off, things will look strong. If we find out that 9 million, 10 million, similar the numbers amount lost during the 2007 to 2009 recession, that will affect consumer confidence. Host lets let our viewers take part in this conversation. We are going to open up special talk aboutur unemployment numbers and the Unemployment Rate in the united states. If you are currently unemployed and looking for a job, we want to hear from you at 202 7488000. If you are unemployed and have stopped looking for a job, we want to know what you think, as well. Your numbers going to be 202 7488001. If you still are employed. If you held onto your job through the pandemic, we want to know what is happening with you. Your number is going to be 202 7488002. If you do not fit into any of those categories but you want to talk to us anyway maybe you are retired your number will be 202 7488003. Keep in mind, you can always text us at that same number, 202 7488003. We are always reading on social media. On twitter and on facebook. Eric, we are seeing a lot of states do Different Things when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic. Some states are open fully, some states are sticking their toes in the water slowly. Letting some businesses open, keeping other businesses closed. How is that going to affect the National Numbers when all of the states are doing Different Things when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic . Guest yeah, its going to play out differently. To the degree that some restrictions remain in place for several more months, that is going to hold back a number of people that can be rehired. I talked to a Restaurant Owner in chicago and she said, maybe half the people she let go in march she could bring back by the fourth of july. She said one of her restaurants really cant even reopen. It is a small pub and she has to have have capacity or serve people outside. It is not worth reopening. You will see those types of things play out. You will see that and similar fields like manufacturing, where it might not be possible to have the same number of workers in the same amount of production, even if they are allowed to reopen by the states. Host are there certain areas where the Unemployment Rates have hit harder than others . I am thinking of those cities that depend on tourism and entertainment, like new york, orlando, florida, las vegas, nevada, or are the unemployment woes hitting cities equally . Guest oh, no, it is not equal at all. Las vegas has the highest Unemployment Rate in the country, and it is obvious why. It is a tourism dependent economy. It literally depends on people gathering in close quarters, inside, spending time together. That is an area that has been really hardhit. Then you see places that are highly dependent on tourism had the highest Unemployment Rates i am talking 30 . For example, atlantic city, new jersey was very high. Maui in hawaii was very high. Other spots we saw high unemployment were, if you live in factory towns, the area i grew up in, detroit, michigan had high unemployment. We saw cleveland. Towns in themaller midwest. Kokomo, indiana. Those are largely tied to manufacturing in that area that was shut down. Those areas, we could see a quicker rebound because many of the automakers and others have announced that they are getting back up to full capacity in recent weeks. So unemployment should fall there. Host one last question before i let the viewers take over the conversation. The jobs that were lost because of the coronavirus pandemic, will they come back as fulltime jobs, parttime jobs . A lot of people are now working from home, and a lot of people who were furloughed instead of lost their jobs. Are those included in the numbers we see . The people who lost her job temporarily but expect to come back . Guest the math is challenging. The Unemployment Rate does include those on temporary layoff. But the Labor Department issues that an unusually high number counting themselves as employed but not at work. That might increase the Unemployment Rate by three percentage points. Some of those people who say they are employed but not at work are not being paid. If you are not being paid, you are not, in fact, employed. I think a lot of people will be rehired, but we are increasingly that i talked to an accountant and she was originally like go from a hotel chain. It started as a temporary layoff, and then they called and said this was a permanent separation. Unfortunately, i think that story might play out in some of these hardhit industries. Host we have a statement from the bureau of labor statistics that says exactly what you are saying. The number of unemployed persons on temporary layoff decreased by 2. 7 million in may to 15. 3 million following a sharp increase of 16. 2 million in april. Among those not on temporary layoffs, the number of permanent job losses continue to rise, increasing by 295,000 in may to 2. 3 million. There is always a question about how exactly these numbers are being counted. Guest yeah. The key thing to remember here is there are two different surveys that inform the jobs report. The numbers you are referring to and the numbers that make up the Unemployment Rate, that is a survey of households. Bureau the census calling, they usually do visits, but they cannot do that now with the virus. They are asking, did you have a job last week, did you work . Those type of things. Then there is a separate survey that informs us how many jobs were added or lost. That is from businesses. There is a higher degree of confidence with that number, the 2. 5 million number, dan than the unemployment number on any given month. On any given month, that can move because people answer questions differently with surveys. Host i am going to start with a question from one of our social media followers. This is something we have at have had discussions about as well. This comes from bill in fill fill in nebraska. Please explain why when the bureau of labor statistics released the Unemployment Rate, it placed a footnote that said the Unemployment Rate should have been 16. 3 instead of 13. 3 . Can you tell us what that is about . Guest that is what i was just trying to explain. There is this category where you say, you are asked, sayingve a job, you are yes. And then, when you are asked, did you report to that job for pay for at least one hour last week . When you answer no, you are in this odd spot where you are responding as you are employed but not at work. There are always some people in that category. They might be on sick leave or on vacation. The number of people in this category is astonishingly high. So the bureau of labor statistics is flagging that. Some of those people likely have an at least temporary laid off and not actually on the payroll of an employer. I do think the key thing to note is that was also true for the previous report. Right . While there might be somewhere between 3 and 5 higher, i think it has moved down at the same scale that we saw in the report. Host ok. Lets let our viewers take over the conversation. We will start with jackie from cleveland, ohio. Jackie, you say you are out there looking for a job. What is the job market like for you . Caller kind of stagnant right now, but i am still looking. I am glad that while i was on hold you started touching on the part about the footnote in the bureau of labor statistics report yesterday. I just want to know, how are they able to get away with actually telling us it is a 13. 3 Unemployment Rate, when all of the smart people work at the bureau of labor statistics should have done the math before putting this report out to the public in the first place . Because it is creating false hope. That is one thing i have seen with this administration, they dont tell the truth. There are so many ways to cover up the truth by the way you ask the question or not. Because this was put out from someone from the Trump Administration, i dont believe that we should believe anything they print. Guest thank you for bringing that up, jackie. There have been some commentators that brought that up. The former chief economist for the Obama Administration and former commissioner of the bureau of labor statistics for that president obama appointed, both came out and said they believe this report is solid and the numbers are factual and reported in the same way as to how they wouldve been reported by previous administrations. That gives me a very high degree of confidence in these numbers. What jackie is touching on is, these are unprecedented times. This jobs report is not made to measure what the economy looks like in a pandemic. We are usually, you know, discussing, oh my goodness, we gained 100,000 jobs, or we lost 100,000 jobs. That is a rounding error now. When the numbers are so massive, and we are swinging from losing 20 million jobs, to gaining 2 million jobs, there will be more statistical variation in there. I feel like the Labor Department is being honest by saying there is reason we need to be careful about how much we read into these measures. You are welcome to download the report online. It is quite thick. Another number i might refer to is the employment population ratio, which is how many adults have a job. That number is slightly above 50 . Almost half of americans do not work. Some are retired, some dont want to job, some are caring for family members. But the number is certainly down from prepandemic levels. Many americans do not have a job, and maybe they are not officially unemployed because they cannot look for or report to work right now, but that does not mean they are not facing the anxiety of joblessness. Host lets talk to vincent from texas. Vincent, good morning. Caller how are you doing . Good morning, everybody. My question is, dealing with the Unemployment Rate, i was looking at a post that was on my newsfeed saying the Unemployment Rate has dropped down. Being a truck driver, i actually work in midland in the oilfield, hauling water or whatnot, i dont really see a decrease in unemployment, i see an increase, being out here. I have noticed, because i had to file for unemployment because i am not even getting a minimum of 40 hours. Now i have to go and get my pay, even though im not getting hours i am getting here. A betterive me explanation . How is it that something i would go through to see the Unemployment Rate going up or down, or is that based off of the media in terms of how i would base my statistics on unemployment going up or down . Guest great question. The Unemployment Rate is not going to necessarily capture someone in your situation. Worked one hour during the week, you are employed. But there are some broader measures in the report that look at people who might be underemployed. People who want a fulltime job but can only find parttime work. Time you might fall into that category. That number is much higher. When coupled with the Unemployment Rate, we are talking about one in four workers saying that either do not have a job but want one, or they have a job but it is not giving them the hours they need. Host a lot of people are trying to figure out where they fit in that unemployment report. I have one person who just texted this question. I was furloughed from my fulltime hotel job in midmarch and collected Unemployment Insurance. Onelast two weeks, i worked five hour shift and him still and am still collecting Unemployment Insurance part how was i counted in this report . Guest that is a great question. A couple things one, the report that came out yesterday reflects the Employment Situation in the middle of may. It corresponds to either the pay period or the week of the 12th. So, you have to remember that this is reflecting a couple of weeks ago. Again, if that person worked a few hours, they would be counted as employed, good also be in the category of parttime time for economic reasons. Which means i am only taking a parttime job because i cannot find a fulltime job. Again, Something Like a quarter of American Workers have been affected by this pandemic. Not all have lost their jobs permanently, but certainly a large number have seen their hours cut, overtime cut, bonuses cut, things of this nature, even if they have not been separated from their jobs. Viewer onlynce this , he that five hour shift was probably counted as unemployed. Guest that is right. As more people get back to work, even if it is limited, we could see the unemployment figures drop a little further. But that doesnt mean we are going to see everyone return to their full amount of host hours. Donalday, President Trump spoke in the rose garden and discussed the latest jobless numbers and drop in the Unemployment Rate and progress in battling the pandemic. Eric, i want you to see what President Trump said and react to it. Here is President Trump. [video clip] pres. Trump this is a very big day for our country. This is affirmation of the work we have been doing for 3. 5 years. This is not just for the last few months, this is for 3. 5 years. It is a great thing. We were very strong, we had the greatest economy in the history our country of our country, we had the greatest economy in the history of our world, and that strength let us get through this horrible pandemic largely through, i think we are doing well. We had a meeting on vaccines, we are doing incredibly well with that. I think youre going to have some positive surprises. Cures, we are doing really well. I think those two words blend in with each other. Tremendous progress is being made on vaccines. In fact, we have ready to go, and terms of transportation and logistics, we have over 2 million ready to go if it checks out for safety. And it is also, the nice part is, we have four companies you could even say seven or eight companies that are doing some similar, and some very different on the vaccine front. And some similar, some somewhat different on the therapeutic front. Progress is being made. I have to say, even without that, and i dont think you will have to use that in the future, that statement, i think they are going to have it, we will be back and we are opening our country. I hope the lockdown governors i dont know why they continue to lockdown, because if you look at georgia, florida, south look at so many other places that opened up i dont want to name all of them the ones that are most energetic about opening are doing tremendous business. This is what these numbers are all about. You have to remember one other thing, it is important to remember many of our states are closed or almost closed. York,f the big ones, new new jersey, they are starting to reopen now, i hope. Host how quickly can we expect those jobs in the states that are reopening now to come back . Do you see those people getting hired back immediately . Will there be a slow rise . Some people will say those jobs do not come back to the Third Quarter of the year. What are we looking at . Thet it is hard to be in economic prediction business, you saw how that went yesterday. My anticipation is we will see a fairly quick rise continue over the next one or two months. And then that is going to be where the question mark comes. Half of the 20 million jobs that were lost could come back in august. That is the big question will we continue on this path and make a v shape recovery and by the end of the year things are looking similar to the beginning of the year, or well things start to flatten out as we realize, yes, sally got her job back at the restaurant, but backsnt going to be going to the airplane factory because there is less demand for air travel, and less demand for jets. We dont know how the economy will play out. But i think, when the president is talking about States Reopening and having affect, he is right about that. As States Reopen and are allowed to stay open, you will see jobs bounce back. So far we have seen one out of every 10 jobs lost come back. Host there is another numbers question from a social media follower i want you to address. Maggie from michigan asks, even though 42 Million People are out of a job, 20 million are getting paid through the ppp program and cannot be counted as unemployed. Bls used only 22 million and their number of unemployed and 2. 5 million added jobs were those going back to work. How are those people being counted . They are not working, but they are still getting a salary. Guest if you are receiving your salary through a Paycheck Protection Program or other means, you are employed. If you dont have to go to work, that is a decision the employer makes. Those people are employed. What maggie is trying to get at is, that creates some uncertainty. You are being paid now, but depending on how congress acts, it is uncertain how long those funds will continue. And i have heard from businesses that say, there could be a point where i have to lay off some of the workers i brought back because these funds run out. The policy goal is that these funds are a bridge. And by the time you reach that point where the funds are running out, there is a line of customers out the door to eat at your restaurant. That is the idea there. Host lets go back to our phone lines and talk to paulette from district heights, maryland. Good morning. Caller good morning. I want to say that i employed. Am i work for a federal Government Contractor at a Law Enforcement agency. What is interesting is that we were waiting on the contract to be awarded why we were off on the pandemic, telework. But then all of a sudden, the contract was awarded, but many of us now have been pushed over to a subcontractor, which i thought was interesting. And they claim that no one will lose their job, but who knows what will happen in the longrun . Guest i he you. The important thing is that during times of economic crisis and change, that often when we see employers do Different Things, they reassess. So, they may do things like say, should we have an ancillary part of our business, support staff, cafeteria staff, should they be on our payroll . Or should we move them to a contractor . If you move them, that creates uncertainty for those workers. I think you will see businesses look more at automation in a new and different way, realizing that maybe you cannot have as many workers in tight quarters. So is this a chance where we could rely on a robot or computer to work with one individual and therefore help us keep our social distancing or be more profitable in the longer run . I think when things are really strong and the economy is going, businesses want to keep the status quo. When things are uncertain, that is the time for change. Host lets talk to betty, who is calling from waukegan, illinois. Good morning. Caller good morning, jesse. The virus showed that the economy was not great for everybody. Until you give a living wage where people are able to put money aside and have some money to put aside, it looks like a lot of people were living paychecktopaycheck. It even looks like some of these businesses were living paychecktopaycheck because everybody was asking for the government to give them some money. I think the economy was not as great as they were saying it was when people are living paychecktopaycheck. Thank you for listening to me. Guest i think a lot of people have that feeling. We noticed that even before this spike, record low unemployment for many groups, and along economic expansion, but Many Americans did not have 500 to repair or a car or fix a leak in the roof. They really did live paychecktopaycheck. One way we kind of saw that play out is the Unemployment Benefits were enhanced. Congress and trump approved this , by 600 a week. What is interesting, recent studies have shown up to five in six people receiving Unemployment Benefits are earning more on the benefit than they did at their jobs. That means, combined with the state, you are talking about maybe 900 a week. It shows just how Many Americans are earning somewhere less than that 15 to 20 an hour range. To sean from fort lauderdale, florida. Sean is out there looking for a job right now. Good morning. Caller how are you doing . Mr. Eric, i am not trying to be negative, but the government has lied to us continually, bro. The unemployment is higher than 40 million. I mean, these people always hide the truth. It is nothing new, you know . Hopefully that is not the case. Hopefully it gets more positive. Thank you. Guest kind of referencing earlier, the unemployment is a fairly narrow definition. To be counted as unemployed, you need to be actively seeking work and you need to be ready to report to a job. There is certainly, in good times and bad, a larger group of people who say they would like a job, but they are not actively looking for work. I think particularly in this pandemic situation, there is probably an elevated number of people who cant report to a job. For example, if their children are not going to school, maybe they dont have childcare or maybe they are ill. I do think the Unemployment Rate certainly does miss some of the people who lost jobs and all of the people who are not employed. Being not employed and unemployed are actually not the same thing. About half of American Adults at this point dont have a job. Host eric, i want to read to you this poll that came out on june 4 and get you to react. The latest financial times, released on june 4, reveals how the coronavirus pandemic continues to have significant impacts across wide swaths of american society. More than one in five americans, 21 , say they have been laid off or furloughed since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. And one third of them do not expect to be rehired or retained. More than three in four americans, 76 , say it is important for their personal financial situation that they receive a second stimulus payment. Most respondents say they would use the payment to cover basic Living Expenses like housing, food, and utilities. Eric, do you see any appetite in congress and the white house for an additional stimulus payment to americans . Guest i think the conversation has changed. Obviously, the first stimulus payment and generous Unemployment Benefits. And the ppp program. There was quite a bit of money, trillions of dollars, pushed out earlier this spring. Now we are hearing a greater degree of caution, certainly from republicans in congress and to some degree from the white house about wanting to continue at that level. Because people are concerned about the debt. We have a whole show on that, but we are certainly taking on a tremendous amount of debt to counter this crisis and how we calibrate this will be interesting. Do we give more stimulus now and make sure the economy comes back sooner, or do we need to be worried about the longterm and debt thatg to pile on our children and grandchildren will have to address someday . Host charlie from new york. Charlie is unemployed but charlie is not looking for a job right now. Charlie, what is going on . Caller actually, i am officially retired but i thought i could throw in some sense. I worked for years in the employment and Training Administration for a county within new york state. Even in the times when they were normal, not like now, all of the folks who worked for the Labor Department as well as for the county knew the Unemployment Rate was not real. It did not include, as people have said already called in, people who have stopped looking for work, people who have not , in fact, even applied. One area because i ran also Work Programs welfare clients who are on public assistance are not included in the number. With all due respect, it is hard to believe that wall street depends on these reports because they are totally inaccurate. I do not care, with all due respect to the gentleman who has a lot of knowledge from the wall street journal, it is baloney. That is all i have to say, but one main thing too is i would love to know if the wall street journal there are people making money left and right as the market is going up. Well, the market is going up in a lot of companies. What is the percentage of people who have no dollar in the market . Those who have a job who are basically frontline workers who do not have any additional benefits and get paid very little . That is something to take into consideration because host go ahead and answer their, eric. Guest i hear you on the markets and the markets not being the economy. I am actually a pretty Firm Believer that while markets can tell something about the economy, they cannot tell the whole story. There are some that disagree and think that markets are the best economic indicator. I do not have the percentage in front of me, but you are right. There is a large percentage of americans who work paychecktopaycheck, they do not have a 401 k , they do not have a stock portfolio, and are not benefiting from what we have seen, which is actually a very vshaped recovery in financial markets. There are different groups of folks out there. With the bls report, i do not dispute that there are flaws and challenges with the data. I think they are pretty plain if you look at all the details of what those are. The reason why the Unemployment Rate is watched as carefully as it is is because it has been measured the exact same way over a very long period of time, back to the 1940s. So, while what it captures is maybe not what people want it to capture, i give them credit for not changing it so i can compare where we are now to where we are in the 1940s. Host another question from carrie from rapid city, south dakota. Good morning. Caller yeah. Its i was listening to the guy that was living paychecktopaycheck. And, you know, and my husband and i felt that way during the obama years. We dont now because we are just saving money like crazy. We got 3000 extra in our paycheck now. And i mean and then i was listening to the guy from new york just there and he was telling me that the numbers people dont include the numbers of welfare and people that quit working, so that mustve been during the obama years that the Unemployment Rate was even higher during those years, too. It must be the same. The thing is is we feel extremely secure now. And my daughter, for the first time in, in probably 10 years that she was working fulltime before this. We worked in rapid city, she was working in the convention center. She was on food stamps and bought a car, i mean, she was doing good. Host i do not think there is a question that the unemployment numbers are higher now than they have been in the past, is there . Guest no. The longerterm view, when the last recession ended in 2009, the Unemployment Rate was somewhere a little above 10 . It fell over the course of the next decade. The Unemployment Rate was higher during the entirety of the Obama Administration then it was in the Trump Administration until two months ago. I will leave it for the voters to decide whose economic policies caused that. Certainly the recession, we should mention, started before president obama was in office. Some have said his policies address that, some have said is policies did not go far enough to bring the Unemployment Rate down quickly enough. President trump certainly was touting a 50 year low Unemployment Rate in january and february. Now we are close to the highest levels recorded since world war ii. The numbers will change a few more times before we get to november. Host we would like to thank eric, the labor, economics, and and policy and policy reporter for the wall street journal for coming this morning and helping us decipher these unemployment numbers. Eric, thank you. Guest always happy to join you. Everyday we are taking your calls live on the air on the news that the day and we will discuss policy issues that impact you. Coming up, former member of the Obama Administration task force on 20thcentury policing discusses Police Reform efforts in the wake of George Floyds death. Then Economic AdvisorCasey Mulligan talks about the financial cost of shutting down the u. S. Economy over coronavirus fears. Watch washington journal live on a 7 00 eastern sunday morning and be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, comments, text messages, and tweets. Join the discussion. Sunday night on q a, aggie wallace kennedy, daughter of alabama governor and president ial candidate George Wallace talks about her fathers controversial career and what inspired her to write her book. Connecting 96 we took our nine, tosun, who was the Martin Luther king Museum Historical site in atlanta. His church and to his grave. We went over to the museum. It was being newly constructed at that time. And we were going through the exhibits and we came to the exhibit. The alabama exhibit. It shows the pettus bridge, the bombed out baptist church. Fire hoses and dogs. In George Wallace standing the schoolhouse door. And burns looked up at me and sad, why dido papa do those things to other people . And it broke my heart. Said, papa never told me why he did those things to other people. But i know he was wrong, so maybe it will have to be up to you and me to make things right. Watch sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans q a. The Congressional Black Caucus held a virtual town hall on race in america following days of protests over the death of george floyd. Joining the conversation for community and Racial Justice activists, as well as representatives from Law Enforcement and the media. Good afternoon, everyone. I am congressman jeffries. Here in the great state of new york. Im proud to represent the eighth congressional district, otherwise known as the peoples republic of brooklyn. Coming to you with other members of the congressional caucus, led by our fearless