Transcripts For CSPAN2 Rep. Kendra Horn Town Hall 20240713

Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Color guard retreat. Color guard dismissed and audience may be seated. Thank you very much. Can we give our girl scouts a warm round of applause . [applaus [applause]. These young women are senior girl scouts, which means theyre in high school and they represent a few different troops that are working on learning how to interact with the world, to travel, to to do a lot of Different Things, but to explore the world and then to support younger girls, bringing them along. A couple of them i know are working on their leadership award, thats like the equivalent of the eagle award. So let me just introduce myself, let you know how were going to move through this town hall today, but first, i want to say thank you. Thank you for coming out, for participating in the process, for being a part of this conversation, whether you came because you have a concern and you disagree, or whether you came because you have something to ask and you agree with some of the things weve done. Its an incredibly important part of the process and weve tried to have town halls and opportunities to have this dialog, as much as possible. So, im curious, because i see new faces, i see some faces that i recognize. How many of you have been to one or more of our town halls or Public Events before . Okay. Great. So that means the rest of you havent. So making sure that were all kind of on the same page here, one of the things that is really important to have constructive dialog and be able to tackle some of the issues that may be challenging for many of us is the give and take. Thats one of the reasons that we use the tickets, the reason were using the tickets today we knew there would be a lot of us and a process thats fair, you know, that were going to draw the tickets out who has questions because if everybody had questions we might not have enough time, but i can assure you, well do this again. Those of you who dropped the tickets in outside, thats how well choose the order of questions and then well work to make our way around through as many questions as we can, in the time and then i will be happy to stick around a little bit longer after for specific questions. If theres something that you dont feel comfortable asking or a story you dont feel comfortable sharing in the broader setting and you want to share it with me or one of our team members, we would be happy to stick around for that. So having said that, i want to take just a moment and have all of the team members that work in the Congressional Office go ahead and raise your hand. If you look around, youll see several of them. You can approach any of them and ask questions, theyll be there to help you out as well. So how well do this, im going to start and just give you an update about what weve been working on, whats been happening from my perspective, from the legislation, the Committee Assignments and then well open it up for questions. It is very important to me to have a dialog that is respectful and thoughtful and intentional and i pledge to do that and have that dialog with anyone and in order to keep things going and to get to as many peoples questions as possible, i ask when you ask a question, youre going to have one of our team members that will hold the microphone and then we may take oh, right back there, oh, its jay, hell come with you to the microphone and hell hold it and take it back to make sure we keep it moving and ill respond. If you want further conversation afterwards we can do that just to get to as many peoples thoughts and questions as we possibly can. And for me, thats just what it comes down to is the bottom line, the more we can create that space to agree and or disagree with a constructive dialog, that thats helpful for all of us and i appreciate all of you being here and your participation today. So having said all of that. If you think that partway through the process that you have a question you want to ask and you still have your ticket, tear the half of the ticket off and richard over here who has the box will bring it around so you can drop the ticket in. So, if youve got a question and you want to add the ticket in, you can raise your hand and richard will come to you and well drop that in. So for those of you who dont know me, since there are many people here who havent been to events before. Ill give you a little background of who i am and what were working on and what my priorities are and what things are happening because one of the things that i know for sure is theres a lot going on, and one of the other things i know for sure, theres a lot more happening than what we hear about on the national level, on the National News media and probably what were hearing about in our daytoday lives. And a lot of those things the very things that are impacting us here in oake and in many ways on a daytoday basis. And the need to serve well, im just going to throw that on the floor and better requires you to understand whats important to you and vice versa. So, i serve on the Armed Services committee and on the science, space and technology committee. On Armed Services committee, im on the readiness subcommittee which has responsibility for all of the issues that help make sure that our nations troops are ready. And that means everything from taking care of the depot, which supplies a lot of things to across the spectrum to taking care of the housing, which is one of the things that weve been spending a lot of time on. And the reason for me it is so important to hear from all of you is because thats how i found out. Thats how we, on my team, found out about what was happening with our base housing. So how many of you know something about the things happening with base housing . Okay. Excellent. So in our very first town hall in january a woman came to the town hall. Weve been going through a lot of questions and we were almost at the very end and shared with me her and her familys heartbreaking story of what was happening to them in base housing, how repairs were not being made, how they had Ongoing Health issues and it was just this heartbreaking story and brought documentation and evidence. It was that person showing up and sharing her story with me and with us, that allowed me to go back and immediately take it to the chairman of the readiness subcommittee and say weve got to address this. And we did. On both sides, and in the senate and the house and we were able to in this year Defense Authorization bill were working to get across the finish line. Were going to get there, i know we will, able to put in some important protections for our Service Members and their families. So that they know what theyre rights are. A tenants bill of rights, protections from having to sign unfair agreements that prevented them from bringing it to peoples attention, that would require them to take part in a binding mediation and not have the options to lift it up and some other things, so we put protections in. Now, were not done, but i think that there serves as a good example of why it is important for us to have this dialog and the other the other piece is that on a daytoday basis, we have all of the Staff Members who raised their hands, theyre here in Oklahoma City and across the district and theyre here to serve and to help because that ability for us to understand whats happening is important. And that means help veterans if theyre having challenges dealing with their system through the va about a quarter of the cases that were working are for veterans, individuals that are having challenges and social security, and many other things where we interact with the federal government. Thats how we can serve on a daytoday basis and how your stories and your ability to tell us whats happening with the programs and everything that we assume are working or we know, we may know theyre not, it helps us to figure out how we change it. So Armed Services and science, space and technology. Armed services weve passed a Defense Authorization bill out of the house and out of the senate and im one of three freshmen that was named to the conference committee. Were currently working to get the final bill through conference and weve been going back and forth and i am dedicated and determined as i know many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle are, to making sure that we get this through because its critical to ensure that we authorize the programs that ensure our nations security, which is something thats just absolutely not a partisan matter, its about all of us. And part of the things that we were also able to include in that legislation is a pay raise for our troops in ten years and the some provisions that address the widows taxes and other things that are important, as well as modernizing some of our systems and other things. Now, there are some disagreements. Thats going to happen because i think were humans, unless anybody here well, theres a canine, a service canine in the room. I dont know about you all, but i dont know anybody who ive agreed with on every issue out there. Has anybody here ever agreed with anybody else 100 of the time . So part of the work that we do and the reason i enjoy the committee that we have is i get to work in a bipartisan way and i know that it seems like theres not a lot of that happening at the national level, but i assure you, there is a lot of that happening and as the chairwoman of the space and Aeronautic Committee we work on science, space and technology. Oklahomas number two employment sector is aeronautics, not just aeronautics, but aerospace. Theres a lot happening that were working on. Weve got the center in tinker and a lot of things as were working on nasa reauthorization and different programs that help more people go into stem fields and working on 21st century jobs, thats really important. Outside of those Committee Assignments, were also really focused in my office and ive been focused on a few different areas. Im going to touch on a couple of them and then open it up to questions. One is health care and protecting our access to quality affordable care, that means one of the big issues that weve been tackling and then ill continue to tackle because theres a lot of work to do is Prescription Drug pricing. We know that Prescription Drug pricing impacts so many of us. I hear from a lot of you, day in and day out, about what that means in your lives. And ive heard from far too many oklahomans that have had to choose between getting the life saving drugs they need and putting food on the table or keeping their lights on or just things you should not be having to choose between. To me these are not all or Nothing Solutions. All or Nothing Solutions usually means its nothing in the end because its not we dont live in lives that are all or nothing. So, i believe in a thoughtful stairstep approach to fixing things, protecting what we have with medicare and social security, which is not a health care thing, but im just going to talk about that in a moment, but also then, fixing some of the things that are broke and the cost of Prescription Drugs is one of those things. Ive introduced a bill that will cap the cost of out of pocket costs for seniors at 2,000 per year, under Medicare Part d. Its currently 5,100 per year, so, that would be a big step in the right direction. Theres a lot more that we need to do, but thats one of the things and were going to keep working on it. Theres a Prescription Drug bill thats working its way through, so were continuing to work on those. And other things. The other piece is in health care is Mental Health. I know weve probably seen a lot of the things that have been happening in our country with addiction and Mental Health. Those two things often go together and its one. Things that is incredibly important for all of us, this impacts communities across the board and so i had introduced a bill, bipartisan bill and had a companion bill in the senate which means we introduced one in the house and senators introduced a very similar bill to help our Law Enforcement communities better learn to understand and get the training they need to recognize and deescalate when they encounter somebody with a mental thats experiencing Mental Health crisis. The reason that we tackled this in this way as a starting point is because police are usually the first ones that are called out when somebody is having a Mental Health crisis and they are not routinely provided the training. So, this means that individuals who have Mental Illness are exponentially more likely to be shot and killed by police. So when i say these solutions are not all or nothing, we have to look at all the different pieces and continue to increase access to Mental Health. We had a whole town hall on that, i wont spend a lot of time on that. The last piece is education because i think thats one of the things that i hear more than just about anything else, weve talked a lot about it in the state. K through 12 education and thats critical. A lot of of that funding comes through the state, but there are pral federal programs comin through our schools that are near bases or other places where they dont get as much in taxes because schools that are on land near bases, they dont get as much, so thats federal funding is helps to balance it out and quite frankly, keeps some of our schools open and serving the students of our families who are serving and others that live in that area and so thats really important. On the Higher Education front, there are a couple of things that weve done. Ive introduced a few pieces of legislation. Ive had a town hall on it, to address the cost of Higher Education in a sustainable and thoughtful way. Its not all or nothing. I dont think that we need to give college away to free for everybody or go in and wholesale erase peoples debts, but what we do need to do in my opinion is create path ways. Create path ways for people to get the jobs and skills training they need to be productive members of our communities to let them build a family, to do what they see fit. We have a fantastic career tech system here in oklahoma. I have worked on some bills and introduced legislation that would support our career system with some of my colleagues, making sure that federal funding for student loans, which theyre much more cost effective, can be used for career tech system as well as legislation that would limit the cost of interest on student loans, to make it more attainable and to have student Loan Interest delayed so it doesnt start accruing until weve got our students that are coming out. Because weve got a lot of people that are coming out with tens of thousands of dollars in interest in addition to their loans before they get out. For me the bottom line, we have to do things that are thoughtful and im troubled by this idea that theres only one pathway to a successful, productive constructive life and career. It doesnt mean this whole idea we have to go to Fouryear College or youre not successful, thats not life. We have amazing jobs and careers that are waiting. Ive talked to businesses across the district that say we need, fill in the blank, a lot of these skill sets, but we dont have enough people to fill them. They can be filled with community college, with career techs, with some Higher Education so theres a lot of different path ways and these are the things that were focused on day in, day out basis and will continue to be. And just wanted to give you a little of that foundation, and then of course, were going to talk about really quickly some of the things that i think many of you here are probably hearing a lot about. And i will tell you that bottom line, when i make decisions for any bill or any piece of legislation, i do so based on the bill that comes in front of us. So even if ive cosponsored legislation and somebody came along and its changed to such a point, it wasnt what it started as, i would vote against that bill because i am i am deeply troubled by the idea that we cant get along as communities, that somehow our political affiliation should take precedence over our relationships in our communities and i ran for this office proud and honored to serve everyone in this district, every single person, regardless of background, regardless of political affiliation. Our office is here to help and sometimes that means were going to disagree and thats okay, too. We want to hear from you. And when were looking at everything that comes in front of us, my top priority is upholding my oath to protect and defend the constitution, to ensure that i am being thoughtful and that we are taking each thing as it comes. And that is a commitment that i will make to each and every one of you as we move forward with all of the questions that are facing us. The reason i spent so much time talking about the things that are happening and other things that weve been working on is because i think a lot of that gets drown out. And i know that we have a lot more in common, we have a lot more that connects us than divides us. Sometimes its really difficult to see that. So i look forward to hearing from you and what youre concerned about and what youre thinking about throughout this. And were going to go ahead and jump into the questions and richards going to bring the box over. Anybody . Will hold that out. If you find it in a outcome back. I will leave it here sitting here. We do have some more water in the back if you did you find it . Okay. 276. 276. So is going to come to you with a microphone, and so three connecticut female athletes filed suit on the grounds that they lost Scholarship Opportunities because biological males in the girls competition. Should biological males be permitted to compete in girls sports teams . So im not familiar with that particular issue or that particular suit, and so without the specific information out answer more broadly your question. I think that we have to ensure that our laws are treating people fairly, and fundamentally making sure that we are respecting every single person. Now, i dont know the particular circumstances about that issue. What i will say is that we have a wide variety of individuals in our communities and making sure the laws protecting equally and that we set foundations is important. I would want to look at specific issues around those things, but respecting individuals regardless of their sexual orientation, their gender is, and gender identity is very important to me. I think we are dealing with, to be honest, some really challenging questions that, that the way that many of us, many people have always seen the world, and the scientific discoveries and the things that we know and the world that we live in bring up new questions every day. For me the bottom line is to make sure that every person is respected and treated with dignity, and that is the thing, bottom line that i would look at in those situations. Okay. 346. First of all i want to applaud you on your work on Mental Health. I was actually at the town hall on september 30 [inaudible] and thank thank you very much. My question today is, my family has been a victim of discrimination by my Health Insurance company for violations of the federal parity law. So my question is, what have you done our what he planned to do but working on enforcement of the law . And i understand there are currently a a couple of bills n place to put some teeth in the law. Do you plan on cosponsoring those bills, and if not, why . What can you do to put some teeth into the law so families like mine wont be discriminated against . Thank thank you very much. Can you tell me your name. I know we said earlier such want to tell your names and if you want to thats great, if not but i would love to hear your name. My name is virginia and i have a 17yearold son who has been over just two months in residential rehab, and insurance denied coverage. It was clear that he needed the treatment. We were in a crisis and had to fight for this on my own. It was terrible, what happens to him its not there and its illegal. I just wonder how you would handle that. Thank you very much. Thank you for sharing your story, and im sorry to hear that you cant do that. Let me start with what i think we need to be on Mental Health. Mental health is not separate from our Overall Health. Our brains, our heads are a part of our bodies. Mental health is a a critical piece of our health, and i will continue to work on thoughtful, intentional ways to ensure that Mental Health coverage is included in our Overall Health care. I mean, i know anybody was Walking Around with their head separate from the body and still functioning. Our brain is in oregon as our other organs. Thats what its problematic that our vision, our dental and so many things from the neck up have been considered separate for a long time. We have opened the door a crack on parity and Mental Health, but we have more work to do. You hit one of the critical pieces of that, and that is enforcement. So in a lot of the issues that were facing with Health Insurance, with access to care, come down to holding the Drug Companies and Insurance Companies responsible and not letting them find loopholes and ways to get around this. I believe it should be the doctors and the Healthcare Providers that are making the decisions about what treatment someone needs. And when you have a Family Member in crisis, youre not going to stop and ask is this going to be covered . Are we going to be able to take care of this . Because youre dealing with a crisis in front of you. So i will absolutely continue to work on that. We are working on a number of different fronts. I do know the specific deals you were talking about but i would be happy to look at them. And if theyre good bills, happy to support them. If they are not id be happy to work with you and other family to figure out how we can begin to address that. Because i think one thing that most of us can agree on is that our Healthcare System is broken. We dont all agree on why its broken for a lot of different reasons, and weve got to fix it, but Mental Health has so many other ripple effects in our communities. We just had a veterans town hall yesterday where we had veterans from a wide variety of ages and experiences share their stories. One of the things that was in common that connected many of them was Mental Health and the impact, and its not just our veterans. Its our kids, our seniors, so many of us. So it is something i would be happy to continue to work on and above to see if theres anything we can do to help support you in following up. Thank you. Hes trying to smash my hand in that box. Okay. 350. 350. Going over here. 350. Yes, right back over there. Jay is coming. My name is helen. My question is, what legislation has been passed by congress in 2019 and signed by President Trump that impacts oklahoma citizens, particularly in district five . That is a i dont know that i can give you a comprehensive answer. Because theres a lot that happens and an i will talk about some of things we passed and some of the things that have made it out of house ended the senate that i would do Something Else. There are a number of bills that come out of the house of representatives, and the senate that are bills that a lot of people agree on. So we have, they go on this calendar. They have a lot of different sponsors that you hit a certain number and then it goes through. There are bills that do important work to help on a daytoday basis. Im trying to see if i can see you. That go through that calendar. Its not by consent but it just means theres lot of agreement. Theres a lot of agreement on many of those bills, but i think there are few things that i like to highlight that is, through the house and a couple of the things i think are very pertinent that were working on. So first and foremost, one of the things that the house and senate, and some work that was done, some criminal Justice Reform bills and those of you and start a time ago and those made their way through. We are still on the big items were working our way through on appropriations, a lot of these things, and that every important and the impact impact is on a daytoday basis. Those things are things which keep working on because i walked into congress in the middle of a historic shutdown that its something we should never be doing. Its not okay for the decisionmakers to push it off and its not okay regardless which party has that it because both parties have done it before. They use it as a Political Tool and i find it awful and we should never, never, never be using shutdowns as a Political Tool because the people that get in the crossfire of the people working hard every day to support our communities and this past when it was our air Traffic Controllers and so many other people, and weve got to keep working all that. We passed all of our Appropriations Bills phase two out of the house of representatives by june 30. The first appropriations bill that passed out of the Senate Passed last week. We are living right now under a continuing resolution which is that the way that we should be doing things. Because what it means is we are not appropriating funds the following year and we need to do that. A couple of big things that happen from one is we did, to a bipartisan budget agreement and spinning agreement, and that was something that took a lot of work and effort. I didnt love everything about it, but i supported it and voted for it because it helped us avoid an 11 acrosstheboard cut to all of our federal programs, including all of our dod which would have been devastating to so many things that we need, and that goes across the board. One of the things and to continue do is continue cholo and negotiate and talk about the things that are important. Theres many other small pieces of legislation that if come through. I think it will impact us including the bills that invention that i believe will be included in the final appropriations agreement that would allow Grant Funding for police and first responders. There are many other things, like we just passed a piece of legislation through in that broader context that would help with the backlog of untested rape kits. We know that something that our attorney general and others have been working on, and i think we just got to keep going. I dont have im happy to give you more but i would say on a daytoday basis we are working and theres a lot thats been passed out to address these important issues, and going to keep working on it, so thank you. Okay. 289. Yes, sir. Hes coming around picking right over here. My name is richard. I just want to say thank you for voting finally to do this impeachment proceedings that are going on. [applause] [cheers and applause] i think its much needed. I dont have anything else really to add except thank you. [applause] thank you for being here. Thank you for your words. Anna do want to address that for a moment. For me, that vote was not something no vote is anything i take lightly, but that vote was absolutely not something that i take lightly. It was also not a vote for impeachment but it was a vote for the process. As i mentioned early on, it is incredibly important that we protect our systems. Our founders saw fit to create three independent coequal branches of government. As the legislative branch it is our job to be independent, to be thoughtful, to make the laws, to appropriate the funds, to provide investigation and oversight. Ill go back to the housing issue. Thats an example of it. And that means all of us. And i am concerned about our nation and our systems. And making sure that we have policies and processes that everybody can agree to, or that are transparent and fair. There were clear guidelines set up there. Had to be clear, i have not and will not make any decision about any vote between now and whenever intelligence to the facts in front of me. Im not on any of the committees of jurisdiction, so i dont have all the facts. The thing that troubles me about jumping out in front or the request for me to say exactly how i know what im going to vote on, is that i dont. We live and a 24hour news cycle. Weve got bits got bits and pieces of information, and as an attorney i know, well, one piece of information they look like something, everything comes out and it could look very different. So for me everything a piece of this is about transparency. Its about being thoughtful and ultimately its about doing our jobs. I understand there are a variety of opinions, and i also firmly believe that accountability is critical, and i would say that regardless of who is in office, and this resolution provided clarity and transparency for the public face of this investigation, and many of you in this room know that i was not jumping up and down. Im still not jumping up and down for going into any impeachment inquiry. I wasnt. But its our job to provide investigation and oversight, to protect whistleblowers, to follow the information, and we didnt have an independent counsel that was appointed so i have to make the decisions based on whats in front of me, and so thats what i did. Thank you. [applause] okay. 288. These coming. I dont want to mess up the system. Im getting j is getting some good steps in today. My name is kelly. One of the things that concerns me is im a math teacher. I love teaching students that numbers [inaudible] that we were experiencing in this country, and i want to know, like probably i know the tax cuts that have been happening thats only exacerbating the problem is i did know if theres anything going on that helps to address that gap between the really rich and the really poor . Thank you very much for being here and for your question about how we address the wealth gap. I think we have to do it in a number of different ways. First is by policy that recognizes that we can do things that are both good for our families and good for our pocketbooks. We dont have to choose between people and Economic Growth and develop. This is a tax policy, i get to that and second. I talk a lot about and do so passionately about our career tax and our Community Colleges and the ability for people to get a job and still the training thingy. When i say that i dont mean these people are career tech people. Those people are College Material people. Thats not what i mean. I think we need to provide all of these opportunities for good paying jobs that light up with the skills. A couple of things im doing is working with our businesses and industry here and with our career tax to ensure we are providing the training and preparation that people need to go in and get good paying jobs and careers, that they can use to build a life and a career or that they can use to build and then go on and maybe get another degree and built on top of that in an affordable way. At a pretty ship programs on way we can do that, and are a lot of ways we can do that. Now on the tax policy side i think weve got, i think weve got to do things differently. Fundamentally, i just believe we need to ask everybody to do their part and a dont like this idea, i just am not a fan of this idea that we should come if you have a lot of money you should pay all of your money in taxes and it just is, one end or the other. Its about everybody doing their part. Its about making sure that we dont give all of the benefits to just a few people, but that we spread them out. I would personally like to see us incentivize different behaviors. I would like for us to perhaps look at a tax code that incentivizes businesses by having tax cuts or breaks or things like that that come in when they are hiring employees at a certain level. They are paying them and theyre taking care of their community. So making money, thats a good thing. We need businesses to create jobs. We dont want them to go out of business but we can tie incentives to Different Things and not just to profit for the shareholders. A lot of what happens is our Small Businesses dont see and feel that as well. The other thing is really important is we need to continue to increase our wages more broadly, and that means that weve got to look at incentives to increase wages, but in a Sustainable Way. Because if we flip switches and require 9095 , depending on the numbers that you look at, of oklahoma businesses, they are Small Businesses. Having a massive change in requirements and regulations for those Small Businesses could put a lot of people out of business and more people out of work. Thats why i i both support an increase in the minimum wage and also why i voted against the bill that came in front of the house of representatives. Because that difference was going to be so hard on so many oklahoma businesses to get from here to there that what we would see these people losing their jobs. Let me put that into real terms and numbers. We have to take into account when were putting legislation together, we need to be thoughtful. We have to look at the numbers, look at what the reality is on the ground. The reality is that the cost of living here in Oklahoma City is a fraction of what it is in l. A. Or San Francisco or new york city, that you go to l. A. Or new york or San Francisco or some other place that has high cost of living, you will pay 3000 a month for this kind of a postage stamp apartment where, you know, if youre paying that much year in Oklahoma City, chances are youve got a pretty nice house and youre doing pretty well, right . Its not the same. So finding a pathway that allows us to tie those things to the cost of living and gives businesses and industry certainty and predictability is really critical. Its also critical in our tax policy because some of the things that are challenging businesses is a lack of stability and predictability in what we incentivize, and we have to know that this is an industry plan a number of years out. If we can tie things, and i supported a bill and cosponsored a bill that tied the minimum wage to the cost of living, that was tied to numbers in the different areas and will continue to move up. But part of the problem that we have i think is making laws, that we pass something and then it falls off a cliff, right . I would like to see us being smarter about our financial policy instead of, because were talking about minimum wage, passing an increase in minimum wage a decade ago in waiting a decade and doing Something Else, that we give businesses and entrepreneurs and Business Centers addicted billy that it is tied to Economic Indicators so they know what to plan for. Because its not just the people that are making the minimum wage that are impacted. It changes everything. So for me its about structuring policies that give people an opportunity. Thats where Student Loan Debt comes in. Thats where a lot of things come in. Its not just about one big policy that taxes a small group. I dont think thats the reaction we need. I think we need to come in little bit closer to the middle to create a stronger middle class and incentivize it. Thank you. Okay, 368. Over there. Thank you. I thought okay, 368. All right, im not going to put this with other output this one on the side. 306. Three oh six . Okay. We will try again. If your question has been asked and answered, youll free to skip it, too. 403. 403. Bingo. All right, there we go. Gay doesnt even have as far to go. Since weve already wasted over 126 billion in afghanistan over the last 16 years, when you come out against a Foreign Policy that is just early money from the taxpayers and would also work, they also want to top this. Some have said 50 more apache helicopters knowing full well they do not have the maintenance, so im assuming theyre going to go over there and rust. When you cut out against wasting money on foreign wars that just cost taxpayers billions of dollars . Thank you for being here, david, and thank you for your question. The question is not Foreign Policy and war. For me the bottom line is that we need a balanced Foreign Policy, that invests, and this is about safety and security at home, a Strong Department of defense include all of our service branches, readiness that ensures that when we are sending people overseas or wherever were sending them, that they are prepared, that they have the resources they need and that we are not making decisions based on that were making decisions based on the best information we have and the best needs of our country. Our National Security doesnt just rely on what happens here at home. We are impacted by what we do and what we do not do. I believe we need to be intentional and thoughtful, and in no that are still very real threats to our nation based on things that happen abroad. I also am concerned by the fact that we have a lot of work to do in ensuring we are being responsible with a taxpayer dollars that weve been asking for a full pentagon audit and working on that and checking into places where things are being spent or not being spent as they should so we can make sure we make the right decisions. But right now pulling out of places impacts our allies. I was incredibly upset and concerned as we were strong bipartisan majority of myself and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle about abandoning our kurdish allies. Because this is a critical component of the war on terrorism, and the war of information, and people who are sowing seeds of hatred against us every single day. We have to have a strong diplomatic corps because a strong diplomatic corps and Strong Military are both important in helping keep a safe, and we have to do both. Now we as Congress Also need to stay involved in this. Because congress over the last number of years, we still operate under the 2001 authorization, use of military force, and thats something we need to continue to take a look at and to decide whats next, we campell out of that without having Something Else in place and a plan. Because if we do, it puts our Service Members at risk under international law, and we have made commitments to other allies across the world, across the globe, and we need to be smart about it. So for me responsible policy means we have to look at whats working and whats not. Readiness is beyond its beyond just tanks and guns in ships and planes. It is about are we taking care of our people, are we taking care of their housing, the toilet paper . Means we have a pilot in the people we need and we continually reassess both that and into the future where we are making those decisions. So my commitment is to be thoughtful and intentional about every decision that i make, and giving strategic and making sure that we are not making decisions that have repercussions as the best we can in the long run, and we have got a lot of work to do on a Foreign Policy. But thats of the reasons why on incredibly proud to serve on Armed Services is that weve got work to do and we have people on both are willing and able to do it. We just have to keep working on it. For me the bottom line is we have to look at every single piece of it, but just pulling out wholesale puts our troops in danger because if our allies cant trust us that were going to stick with him, that were going to uphold our end of the bargain, then what do we have . We have to uphold our commitment, and if those need to change, and we need to change them and let people know that thats what were going to do. Okay. 380. 380. My question is about fairness in social media. Do you think there is a market for lets say less biased than facebook . My other question is about marketing, and is there a market for facebook ads [inaudible] thank you. Theres a lot of options that we have in the technology space, and one of the Biggest Challenges that we face right now is that the pace of technology and our ability to do things technologically have far outpaced where our laws are and how that impacts all of us. I think weve got to do work to ensure that we are not allowing these companies to just do whatever they want. And i say that not think i dont think we need to overregulated anything, because thats troublesome for me. The lanes have to be clear so we can keep bad actors accountable and give people the opportunity to keep developing and coming up with new ideas. My concern right now for come with social media is that there is very clear evidence from a number of sources, a senate report, other studies, many reports that we have bad actors that are literally waging an information war against our nation through social media, and we have owners of, you know, some of those Companies Like facebook that say they dont care. This is actually an attack on who we are because with false information getting out there, masquerading as truth, it is being fed by foreign nations, we should all be concerned about that. This is a National Security threat to all of us, regardless of our political ideology, regards of our background, regardless of all that. We need to take action to ensure that these bad actors, especially state actors and other bad actors, and it is a lot of different people, cant do that. On the ads and the personal information and things like that, i think we have to take a look at it. I dont believe that the answer is just being able to erase everything because i think in certain cases, like for public safety, that there is probably information we need to track, like Court Records and things like that. Theres other things we need to do here and its a little concerning, well, more than a little bit concerning in many cases, that we dont have the ability to say how much of our information is out there. We have to be smart about the way that we do that here i think there are places we need to look at it, but the first up is addressing are very clear National Security concerns given that we know that russia, that china, at a rent come the other bad actors have attempted to interfere and influence us and are continuing to do so through these platforms. Its not good for any of us. 382. I heard somebody. Im a constituent and Congressional District five and my question is about the Committee Appointment that you have on the space and aeronautical committee. Are you going to get a license to sell space land . [laughing] i dont think those exist yet. Yet. Actually i know they dont exist. You know, it does bring up some important questions sought answer it in little bit of a different way. One of the great things about that Committee Assignment is oklahoma has a robust and really amazing history in our nations Space Program. The reason thats important, well, i will back up a second or did you know oklahoma is in the country that has had an astronaut and every single phase of a Human Spaceflight Program . Every single phase. [applause] including the very earliest program with your work to select women astronauts but then they did about in the fly but thats a whole other story. As will well as engineers and scientists and so many things. Why is that a good, and important question . I know you were laughing a little bit about it. Because space and our investment there is a really important example of how there are places where it is a good idea, and is a smart idea for us to invest in cuttingedge Technology Research and discovery that for the government to invest in that, because we dont know what is going to lead to. The world that were living and right now is a fundamentally different world than it was before our nations Space Program started. From the phones and we carry around to the way we conduct business to the way we are able to distribute healthcare, to our ability to predict massive weather events, tornadoes, hurricanes, all of that sort of thing, to so many other things that we take for granted, gps, anyone, right . A lot of these things came as a result of that Cutting Edge Research that was being done for the sake of discovery and research, but then turned into businesses and industries and so many other things, and thats why its important for us to do that. Now having said that, were working on returning ourselves the human spaceflight from the u. S. , a gap that weve had for far too long. And that gap exists because sometimes it is too easy to change things between when people change over, when administrations change over, e space is one of those things fundamentally its not a partisan issue. Its an issue about all of us, and when we are talking infrastructure, we are still working on infrastructure, we need to make these investments, and is also a place where theres a lot of International Cooperation and relationships that allow things to continue to keep moving. So International Space station, so Many International partners and agreements. And we are faced now with technology that we can do a lot more but theres still a lot more to do and its hard, space is hard. If you dont know launching rockets and people and other things like that, comes with a lot of risk. We were really good at some pis and were not quite as good as others but also means weve got some Unanswered Questions in terms of how we deal with these things, how uavs as we get more of those are coming out, how would do that in a way that is smart and part of that requires international dialogue, talking about what happens when you utilize space assets and part of that requires us, i say this on the as a side on the terrestrial side, on the land base, err, not space site, we have to forget how that works. The technology has moved faster than our regulations and we dont want to stunt growth. What to keep innovation going on want to keep people safe because like the early days of flight, we couldnt have regulations for air traffic when you had like 20 people flying around in airplanes, but as a got to be more and more and got the public on we had to do some things about it and thats where that responsible oversight comes into play, so stay tuned. 292. Hes going to come to you. Right appear, jay. Hes going to come to you with the microphone. My question is where School Choice [inaudible] the question was about School Choice that would allow money to be redirected to private schools. One of the most important things that we cant and should do as the government is invest in quality Public Education that is available to every single child across our country, every single one. [applause] i would never want to restrict an individual family that has the opportunity to send their child to a private school, great. Thats fine. But if we take money that is meant for the collective, when we pull things together to support everyone, if we starto take that out of the whole system, it is the other children that dont have that opportunity whose parents may not be able to do that, that indepth with schools that are not as strong. We have to continue to invest in this. This goes back to what i deeply believe, that we dont have to choose between policies that are good for people and policies that are good for our pocketbooks. If we have a well educated population, if we had schools that are strong that can lead to a stronger workforce, thats good for all of us, and an important investment in my estimation in our future. We can invest in schools or we can invest in prisons on the other in. We have discovered and we know here in oklahoma that that takes an incredible toll. It takes a toll financially because a cost a lot of money. It takes a toll on the families because we end up with a lot of children who are not at home with their parents. It takes a toll on our economy because people who might otherwise be able to work are incarcerated. We could go on and on, and then leads to a lot more expensive. I would rather spend money in our Education System on the front end and make Smart Investments so we can hopefully lower the need in some of those other programs on the back end, and ultimately we had more productive, contributing membs of our community. [applause] 275. All right. 356. Over there. This doesnt require a response. I dont know where congress falls on [inaudible] healthcare will be kicked down the road. Ive seen this the last four years now, healthcare keeps getting kicked down the road. [inaudible] in the meantime, i dont care about my rate. My rate is going up. My deductible is doubling. Its going from 6500, the 1300, or 6500 up to 13,000. Thats outofpocket. Thats because we have one insurance company. It doesnt require a response, but this hurts us. This hurts everybody in this room. I dont know what to do about it and and i dont expect you to do anything about it in this article climate, but we are all hurting here. [applause] thank you for sharing. You are absolutely correct. It hurts all of us and its hard. And im going to keep working at it, and its not right. Its just not right. 330. My name is susan, and i just wanted to repeat what richard had said. Because i was so proud of your vote for the impeachment inquiry and [applause] and for an impeachment. I wanted to know, kind of curious why you thought you wanted to see more facts for the impeachment. Because it seems to me they have laid out all those reasons a million times. [laughing] [applause] first of all let me reiterate. I think that we have a lot of tools at our disposal as congress. And that im just really troubled the idea that we are making staff decisions based on partial information which is filtered through a 24 hour news cycle that puts things on repeat without us given the chance to get to the bottom of it. I say that be leaving that we need a free and independent and fair press is important, but what we have right now is alerts that pop up on our phones. They give us little snippets of information that keep us, and keep us collectively, from really digging in to do some of the other important work about the cost of health care of the things like that. You are probably not hearing about all of the other things im doing, and we can do multiple things at once, but as i said if we dont make sure that our systems work, that we have, and we have legislative branch that does the work, sits down and negotiate, two continues continue to stay at the table about issues that literally make a difference in people being able to pay their bills or not. Because if we get to a shutdown and the ask people to go to work anyway we put them on furlough, that impacts people. If were not continuing to do the work for advancing opportunities for trade and responsible business practice and all of these other things. Theres a day that is so clear in my mind about this. Let me back up a step. I went to law school. Because ive always been a bit of a political nerd and a junkie at heart and a love that debate and back and forth in policies. Our systems that our founders set up were crafted by humans, so theyre not perfect but they are brilliant. They are brilliant because they know that each and every one of us is going to come to good conclusion sometimes and we become too bad conclusions sometimes. That we are operating in our own lanes and especially now that we are not all operating under much of the same information, right . We dont all have to agree on everything, but those citizens are in place to protect the people who have the least power, and information. And if i dont value that and if i dont take the time to Read Everything and learn everything, we could miss something thats really critical. This isnt saying im not going to look at everything and make whatever, i just dont believe in making decisions that are based on partial news reports. Because a few weeks ago when i was back here and were going to have a Mental Health town hall that night, in the span of two hours that i was meeting with some Young Students and then volunteering at the food bank, all of this stuff just came out like this. And everybody is after me, what about this . What about this next what about this . If i tried to keep up with that and just adjust, adjust, adjust, then i dont think im doing my job of being a responsible steward for everybody in this room. Because i know there are people in this room that fundamentally disagree with me for that vote and our people who fundamentally agree with me for that vote. It is my job to represent all of us and to wait until i get the facts. Just like it is i believe absolutely my job and i did it to read all of the Defense Authorization bill when we went into markup and i had it marked up, especially when my committee is a jurisdiction to talk to the staffers to the background material, to do as much as i possibly can. Because its easy to shake things with incomplete information, and then i can make a better decision based on all of the information in front of me. That means our systems work. Whenever decisions are to be made, bills, up in front of us all the time, sometimes i agree with people who people would expect me to agree with. Sometimes i agree with my party, sometimes i dont do that against them. The bottom line, its not about a party. Its not about a person. Its about all of us. What is the future we want to leave our kids . What is the future that we want to ensure . Because when think we know for sure is the issue is almost always going to be on the other foot sometime. Whoever is in power now at some point theyre not going to be in power, and vice versa. I want the systems to work for all of us and want to make sure i am making information with fax, not opinions that are cultivated by these machines of information that are just, you know, whipping it out. Weve got good journalists, but theres just so much noise. We have to cut through the noise and get down to the heart of this solution. Thats what i am just so passionate about continuing to fight for those things, like healthcare costs. Why im working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address Prescription Drug pricing, and what i just deeply believe that one or two steps forward is better than no movement at all if we cant get everything that we want it because that is life, and if we can do things that are right for the right reasons, then we should do them. Part of what is right for the right reasons is us doing our jobs and questioning people in leadership, regardless of who they are. That is what i will continue to do on both sides of the aisle. [applause] 270. Yes, sir. Excellent. I have been totally with ptsd, and right after i started working at the v. A. , the first they told was [inaudible] the v. A. Supports services. Theres studies with it shown people do well but the only have one track. There was an agency called assisted international, and there are no assisted dogs international in the state of oklahoma. As a matter fact the ones that run the state [inaudible] the closest one i found was i could go out of state to was in arizona. Now, the requirement for that is i had to go there and spend anywhere from four to 12 weeks and and i dont get to keep the dog. I take the when the giving. Unfortunately, i had [inaudible] a breeder in czechoslovakia. We went through the training to honor americas warriors that does all the training. However, we keep dogs in her house now. [inaudible] im trying to find out if the v. A. Has all of these systems, these are great, why cant we [inaudible] thats a very good question. I dont know the answer to that question, but you know what . Were going to get to work on it. We will follow up because we need to ensure that we are providing the resources that we need to, especially when we know it is a benefit, and the Significant Impact of trauma and Mental Health on our veterans. So i will be following up with the v. A. And with the committee and finding out why we dont have any here, why theres only one group, and what we can do to change that as soon as possible. Thank you. [applause] 293. Here we go. I have a question. My name is michelle and a teach in Oklahoma City Public Schools and i just want to tell you how much i appreciate having a woman represent me in congress. Not just any woman, but a very smart woman, and i mean, i appreciate your knowledge and skills. Thank you. Thank you for all your hard work. [applause] thank you. Richard is getting his steps in today, too. 297. 396 . All right. 316 . Yes, maam. Excellent. Right over here, jay. Might want to come around this way. I really appreciate you very much. I am amazed of the work you are doing, because [inaudible] and thats all i see. And im glad work is being done. Im very concerned that the leader we have on the phone, without your consent [inaudible] making decisions. I appreciate what you were not even given a chance wonderful experience you have. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible] thank you for being here and thank you for your question, i think i covered a lot of that earlier and ill address a couple of pieces and then want to continue on. I dont know what information is going to come out and so i want to see whats there. And that goes back to just a fundamental belief in systems and they have to work. This is not exactly equivalent its like a grand jury. There are phases of when we impanel a grand jury but we have to look at the evidence behind closed doors in case theres something that is not that shouldnt be out in the public before decisions are made before it goes to the public and then it goes to other decisions and decisionmaking bodies. Again, i am incredibly concerned about the impact on the current and stability of the middle east, of pulling out of Northern Syria and we can talk about why were there and the problems and how we have. [inaudible] to the challenges that we face across the world and especially in really unsettled areas and theres a lot of terrorist organizations andinstability and a lot of people that would do us harm. But the bottom line is that theres a lot of bipartisan agreement. We voted over 400 members of the house of representatives two weeks ago. Two weeks, last week, very recently. I lose track of days like that day. And house and senate to say that we should sanction, the house i think its due to the senate, to sanction turkey for their actions in attacking our allies that have been instrumental in helping protect us from isys and the other terrorist groups. Thats why its important. Thats why weve got to be smart and strategic. We dont need to send everybody over there but thats why thats important for me and why its also important for me to be very methodical and thoughtful is the very thing that you mentioned and that we all get this. Theres just so much, we hear it over and over again and its hard to imagine that theres another space but i like manyof my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. And despite what the National News media will tell you , the majority of us were elected are a lot closer here to the center. A little bitleft, a little bit right but were a lot closer, were not hanging out on the edges. The three or four people you hear about all the time are not the bulk of us. Its just like all the work that were still trying to do but it does make it difficult and im not even saying that we shouldnt have news stations and we shouldnt cover, we should cover everything i want otherthings to be covered to. The difference in the number of people standing outside a hearing waiting to come in when were talking about a Human Spaceflight Program is tiny compared to when some celebrity or anybody else comes up that may not even have expertise about the subject. The part of that is up to us to ask for some Different Things to. And thats why im probably a little bit of a different voice because i like to push back and say isthat a good idea . Does that policy work . Does it follow the evidence and i think by letting processes work their way out and assisting on the most complete amount of information before i make decisions, but im contributing to hopefully bringing us back to some of that and i think thats very important. Because to me, people ask me a lot why i decided to do this. Its about public service. We do it in a lot of different ways. We have people that serve in uniform,people that serve in a lot of different ways. Teachers, airTraffic Controllers, we could go on. We have people that serve in a lot of different ways and this is the way that i am attempting to serve. And service means a lot of things. And we have a lot of different people from many different backgrounds, experiences, ideologies and the bottom line is were not all going to come down on the same side of all the issues, we just never are what the best i can do and the promise is to be thoughtful and intentional and have an open door and do my best to come to a decision so thats why im very mindful of decisions because bottom line is i think leadership should be. I think thats the example that we want to set for our kids and ourgrandkids. Leaders who are thoughtful and respectful and were going to take our time to do that. And thats the example that i have set for me by a lot of people that raised me, that loved me. And i think thats important moving forward, thats the golden rule. Treat others, be thoughtful and if we can have examples of Public Servants like that, id be honored to be a part of that and thats what i want to do every day. [applause] i guess this one jumped right out of the pack. 359. 359, all right. We will keep going. Hopefully we will get through some of these. 389. Yes, right over here. Thank you. [inaudible] you were talking earlier. [inaudible] but if you dont have any money you cant even utilize healthcare. [applause] thank you stephanie. Youre absolutely right and thats one of my, thats one of my biggest concerns that when we fix it, we fix , having insurance doesnt always equal access to care because in access i consider that being able to afford the care you need. Which is my concern with some of these broad sweeping proposals that have been out there, things like medicare for all that i disagree with because we have to many seniors. We did a study about insulin pricing in this district in oklahoma. 22,000 seniors in oklahoma this district have diabetes area and then we got so many people that are living with type i diabetes and ive been heartbroken by stories of families that have come to me and said we are literally either rationing the insulin or we are having to make these choices and thats not okay. And what we need to do is to address both sides of that. In a thoughtful way. We got to address drug pricing including holding Insurance Companies and Drug Companies accountable because weve left the doors to wideopen for them to charge what they want to and not also includes the benefit managers by the way you are negotiating on these big discounts and holding onto them in many cases. It also includes expanding centers like our federally qualified Community Health centers, Community Behavioral Health Centers and other options and more providers and youreright , wages are part of that. We have to continue to move that forward. So we got to do all of the above and thats hard like a lot of things doing it all at once and even doing one thing is challenging but weve got to keep trying. Thats why i think outofpocket cost is something we have to address protecting coverage expanding healthcare in the state, expanding medicare will get a lot of working families onto be able to go and see the doctor when they need to and that im sufficient to address all the problems and the tough choices to faceso many families that they shouldnt be faced with. And i dont have an easy answer. Because its a really tough problem but when i do have is a determination to keep fixing it. To put policies in place that encourage and increase wages and shrink the gap and give more people theopportunity to invest in the things we need to invest in. And to work with my colleagues on both sides of the isle to handle some of these issues. That are really hard. And are going to require us to talk about. And im just thinking back to question earlier, one of the things that has gone through that has been all the way through that has made a difference, one of the first things that i worked on in the Mental Health and access to Mental Health space is there is a program of Community Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers, about 10 states and oklahoma has three providers that are providing access to Mental Health services under people that wouldnt otherwise have any services. And the funding was about to run out because they were on the early end of the Demonstration Program and one of the first things i did was work with my colleagues in oklahoma and the delegation and other delegations to ensure that we got that through the house and through the senate so those programs could continue and we didnt have people losing access to services. And the last piece of that puzzle is the more stories that we hear and examples and evidence that we can gather, the better were going to be able to tackle those problems. And thats i think bottom line what we have to do. What impacts the most people, greatest number of people in the smartest way, lets do that and lets tackle thenext thing. 354. 404 . Okay. We will get through some more of these. 383. [inaudible] is there anything that can be done to help recognize the symptoms theyre having. [inaudible] the burn kits. Thank you for that question laura. The answer is yes and we are. In this years, the question was about what we can do to help veterans that were exposed to chemicals or other environmental hazards that are resulting in an Ongoing Health problem. In this years Defense Authorization bill in the house we included provisions that would require the dod to attach to that Service Numbers record that they were in that place so they would not have to go back and doall the proof so once something is discovered , if they know that somebody served in the area where agent orange was used that would be attached to that servicemembers record. And the same thing with the burn kits so as we discover the environmental hazards, the other things that are discovered later on , known immediately, those would be attached and discovered later on and it would identify and go back and well not automatically, people would have to do it but once those were discovered they would identify the people serving in the area that were exposed and it would be included in their record. 272. My name is john montgomery, thank you for holding this meeting. My question has to do with the us mca. Us mca is not what it appears to be. That will be stealth or regional government, the experts say that its only a 20 percent to 80 percent regulations. And you said and i said, im in the United States air force that you protect the constitution and that is, if you could do anything to halt and stop, truncate, whatever the word is to kill that posture i would really appreciate it. Thank you jerome for being here and thank you for your question and yourthoughts. I am not familiar with some of the things that you mentioned around that. Illtell you my understanding of the us mca and my thoughts around trade generally. And how that helps us. Trade policy i think needs to be thoughtful, intentional and balanced. Right now theyre still negotiating the trade, still negotiating this because theres still outstanding questions aroundit. Its my understanding looking at the regulations and looking at the information that would be attached to it it would be able to put that into play but part of the problem was enforceability to ensure that we as the United States, this is something youre talking about are able to enforce the provisions of the trade agreement and thats one of the things thats happening. I am concerned that without an agreement that helps facilitate trade with the us and mexico we certainly dont want to give away our power and that is not something that i would be okay with. But without an agreement that helps facilitate, it makes it harder for some of our businesses to do business and if theres an abrupt change from what we have now to this , then that could stunt the growth of some of our businesses here as well as our ability to do business across the borders. I think free and fair trade is important so as i am looking at the us mca, thats what im going to look at. They still havent gotten the final agreement but its important for us to get to something that is workable because thats important for our country to be able to engage in free and fair trade in the outstanding issues i think they are still working on, i want something thats good and strong but im not sure i know exactly what youre talking about on that so if youve got specific concerns, id be happy to hear them and we can follow up afterwards but i think its important for our businesses that have relied on the previous trade agreement or us to update those and make sure we have the abilityto trade with our closestneighbors. Thank you very much. 321. Okay. 277. Were making it through a lot of this. 319. Yes sir. Hes coming your way. Thank you for coming today and taking our questions. Im very concerned about our present state of warfare, ive been in the air force 20 years. [inaudible] you cant have a country if you dont have severe secure borders. And we cant get the money to do it, we could use the support, appropriations in securing our borders. Thank you for being here and thank you for your question, im going to answer that in three parts, hopefully, not more than three parts. One is our nations security is critical and that looks like a lot ofDifferent Things. In terms of making sure that we are protecting our country for dod, its making sure that we have an immigration system that works and we have an immigration system has been broken for a long time and a lot of different ways. And it looks like a making sure that were making the best investment of our nations and our taxpayers dollars. And we have in this day and age one of the great things that we have is technology and the ability to use technology to target ports of entry, to make sure that were building systemsthat work. That dont look like just one solution so i will always support smart strategic capabilities to ensure that we are investing in our Nation Security and i think that could look like a lot of things. There are places where we need different facilities. We need Different Things and we have to begin to invest in fixing our immigration system that makes it really hard for people to get through including making sure we have decisions, that we have sufficient opportunities for asylumseekers to come here and go through a process that we are treating people with dignity and respect that looks like a lot of things and there have been a significant amount of funding appropriated i think 7. 5 billion and all of that has not been spent yet. So for me, again, its not an all or nothing solution and we got to be smart because we have to do the work as a nation that is built out of many one. Weve done things well in the past and weve done things poorly in the past. And what will guide me is what the technology, but the information, what the facts are. Whats the best way for us to get there. I happen to think that theres a lot of different ways but also how we can humanely uphold our foundations. And recognize that youve got to do the work to hold the bad guys accountable. And to create policies that encourage growth and development in our country in a smart Sustainable Way area that answers your question. Let me see. I did. I did. So yes, yes maam and then ill come to the next one. Hi kathy. I was wondering how you feel about the socialist agenda in light of the things theyre doing . Thank you for beinghere and thank you for that question. Ill say that im concerned about that idea, that there is a socialist agenda. I believe in responsible capitalism. I believe in making sure that were taking care of people. I believe inmaking sure our system works. And i believe in looking at every single thing in front of us. I think ive addressed several of those issues already. We can disagree on policy but i am absolutely not a socialist. I dont think that is the way we need to go and i think its dangerous when, i think it goes for both parties when everybody in oneparty gets painted with a broad swath. And i will continue to fight to make sure that we are in, were going to protect our core system like make sure that were taking care of medicaid, doing what we need to for social security. Theres a reason i am a member of the caucasus and the groups that im a member of. Im concerned about the growth in our National Debt and weve got to be responsible for that and theres a lot that we have to do and so i understand that sometimes its easy for us to just think in black or white terms but im also concerned that keeps us from talking to eachother. The work that we have to do and the policies we got to put in place are a lot more complicated than we can fit onto the back of the napkin or hashtag or a 10 word slogan and it requires thought and that doesnt fit me. And im going to show up and work for everybody and i dont have to agree, i dont agree with everybody in my party, i think ive laid out severalplaces where i disagree and probably disagree with some of the people here who agree with me on other issues. So for me, thats why i want to come out and talk to you all. Because you may never agree with me on a lot of things i want you to know that i am going to be here to listen and im going to look at the bills and the legislation in front of me and youd do my best to show up and help you so thank you. [applause] okay, 377. [inaudible]. [inaudible] i know many diabetics and they have to go hungry which is very bad, they have had to make choices on whether to get a full dose or a half dose and their extremely importantto continue. And i wonder what you can do to support this, thank you. Thank you very much. I think we got time for just a couple more questions and i will stick around. Thank you very much. I want to say while im drawing this out and you so much for being here, for participating,putting your questions in and im sorry we werent able to get to all of them. We have really tried to think of a way that we could get to as many people as possible and make it fair so this is what were trying. We love your feedback onthat. Its always going to be important to me that we try to do that. 355. Okay. 313. Okay. 290. [inaudible] i guess im wondering you voted to move forward but im wondering why impeachment is important to our processes more similar then to president nixon. [inaudible] thank you for that question. I want to make clear something area this process is actually similar to what happened under nixon and other clinton. It does allow for the minority to call witnesses. The rules that were operating under, the rules that were operating under our when this began work rules established under republicanmajority house of representatives. I want to be clear about that. The additional rules or the public space have been appearing include more protections or rights for the president to engage in this process. In previous. Now, the reason that part of the hearings is the difference between the other two, looking back to the most recent of clinton is that there was special prosecutors and the work that had been, that was being done in the sessions that have happened so far is basically taking the place of that. And the facts that this office was basically to say under the same rules and clearly and added more opportunities is one of the reasons that i supported it and i think its very important to note that throughout this entire investigation and throughout the process, one quarter of the house of representatives, that both parties had the ability to be in those rooms the entire time. And the people who were chosen to be on those committees were chosen by their respective leaders. And so i decided to do that because i felt like it was, it made it clear. A fair, transparent process. And thats why i made that decision and i understand we can disagreeabout some of the other pieces of it , but i think thats what is important to note that this, the fundamental are the same. And in terms of the rules and these rules were by and large, the rules that were operating under established under a republican congress. [inaudible] its the same. We can talk about that more after but im happy to talk to you more about that after. I appreciate the question and i wanted to walk you through my reasoning behindit. I think we have, and i will stick around and i want to make sure that we are respecting your time. I want to closeby saying this. Iq for, so im going to go ahead and wrap this up because if we start here, then we can end up going down the road and thats why but im happy to talk to you afterwards. And wed be happy to answer your question afterwards. Thats why ill stick around and be happy to do it. Were going best to make sure its balanced and everybody gets the opportunity so hopefully we will be talking to you after the next time we will try to do this again. Let me say this, thank you for being a part of it. Whether you agreed or disagreed on why i have you here, im happy to talk to you and answer questions really moving forward if you got other concerns, please dont hesitate to bring them up to me or my staff and i thank you all so much for being thoughtful and respectful and for bringing so many important issues to the four and i look forward to seeing many of you again and i hope you have a wonderfulafternoon. Thank you everybody area. Coming up live on cspan2 at 12 30 eastern discussion about finance and amazon rain forest in brazil and the effects of climate change. As one of the countries president declining to fight the fire. Client flow youre on cspan2 and the u. S. Senate will got a Great Eastern area today lawmakers will work on the nomination of robert locke to be a us court of appeals judge for the 11th circuit covers alabama, florida and georgia. Watch live coveragehere on cspan2 at 3 pm eastern. Today Supreme Court Justice Elena kagan talk to George Mason University student of the american judicial system. Live coverage begins at 4 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Live on cspan. Org or listen live on our free radio q and a. This week the House Intelligence Committee and chair adam schiff continue public impeachment inquiry hearings. Beginning Tuesday Morning at nine eastern on cspan3. Watch live testimony from jenniferwilliams , aide to Vice President mike pence and director for European Affairs at the National Security Council Tenant colonel Alexander Vinton and 2 30, ambassador kurt boulder, former us envoy to the ukraine the National Security Council White house aide tim morrison on wednesday at 9 am eastern testimony continues with the Us Ambassador to the European Union gordon son went. And that you 30, Deputy Assistant secretary of defense or russian ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs laura cooper and david hale under secretary of state for political affairs. And on thursday at 9 am eastern the committee will hear testimony from the owner hill, former National Security Council Senior director for eurond