Call to order. Attention. Call to order advance. Call to order post the colors. Color scattered please join me in the pledge of alligence. Color guard retreat. Color guard dismissed. You may be seated. Thank you very much. Can we give our girl scouts a warm round of applause. applause so these young women are senior girl scouts which means they are in high school, and they represent a few different troops that are working on learning how to interact with the world. To travel, they do a lot of Different Things but to explore the world and to support younger girls, bringing them along. A couple of them i know are working on their girl skoud Leadership Award thats like its the equivalent of the eagle award. So let me just introduce myself. Ill let you know how well move through this town hall but first i want to say thank you. Thank you for coming out. For participating in the process. For being 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 a an incredibly important part of the process and we try to have town halls and opportunities to have this dialogue as much as possible. So im curious because i see some 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 dialogue and be able to tackle some of the issues that may be challenging to many of us is the give and take. Thats one of the reasons that we use the tickets. Thats the word. The reason were using the tickets is we knew there would be a lot of us and we want to make sure we have a process thats fair. Were going to draw the tickets out to see who has questions because if everybody had questions, we may not have enough time but i can assure you well do this again so 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 there is something 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 hands. If you look around the room you will see several of them. You can approach any of them and ask questions. They will be there to help you out as well chlt. Its very important to me to have a dialogue thats respectful, thoughtful and intentional, and i pledge to do that and have that dialogue with anyone, and in order to keep things going and to get to as many peoples questions as possible, i just ask when you ask a question, youre going to have one of our team members that will hold the microphone and right back there, hell come to you with the mic and we want to make sure we keep it moving to ask the question an ill respond. If you want to have further conversation afterwards we can do that just so we can get to as many people as we possibly can. And for me, thats just what it comes down to. The bottom line, the more we can create that space to agree and or disagree with constructive dialogue, thats helpful for all of us, and i appreciate all of you being here and your participation today. Having said all of that, if you think partway through the process, you have a question, tear your 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 a ticket in, raise your hand and richard will come to you and you can drop that in. 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 bit of background about 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 there is a lot going on. And the other thing i know for sure, there is a lot more happening than what we hear about on the National Level and the national media, than what were hearing about in our daytoday life. And a lot of those things that are impacting us here in oklahoma and many things on daytoday basis. The need to serve im just going to throw the lid on the floor i 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 the 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 tinker as a depot, which supplies a lot of things 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 its 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 she 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 an immediately take it to the chairman of the readiness subcommittee an say weve got to address this. And we did. On both sides and in the senate and the house, and we were able to end this years guess authorization bill which were still 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 their rights are. A tenants bill of rights, protests 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 option to lift it up and some other things, so we put protections in. Now, were not done but i think this serves as a be example of why it is important for us to have this dialogue, and the other piece is that, on daytoday basis we have all of the Staff Members who raised their hands, they are here in Oklahoma City and across the district and they are here to serve and to help, because that ability for us to understand whats happening is important. And that means we help veterans if they are having challenges dealing with their system through the v. A. About a quarter of the cases that were working on are for veterans, individuals having challenges with social security, and many other things where we interact with the federal government. Thats how we can serve also on 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 they arent, it helps us to figure out how to change it. So Armed Services, and science, space and technology. Armed services we 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 and were currently working to get the final bill through conference and weve been going back and forth. I am dedicated and determined as i know many of my colleagues on both side of the aisle are to make sure we get this through because its critical to ensure 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 were also able to include in that legislation was the largest pay raise for our troops in 10 years, and some provisions that address the widows tax and some other things that are really 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 well, there is a canine, a service canine in the room. I dont know about any of yall but i dont know anyone that i have ever agreed with on every issue out there. Has anybody here ever agreed with everybody else one hundred percent of the time . So part of the work we have to do and the reason i enjoy the committee assignments, i get to work in a bipartisan way and i know it seems like there is 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, aeronautics subcommittee thats a lot of the work that we do. We work on science, space and technology, oklahomas number two employment sector is aerospace, so not just aeronautics but aerospace, so there is a lot happening that were working on. A lot of Different Things and as were working on 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 healthcare 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 there is 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 in athat means in your lives and ive heard from far people from oklahoma about having to choose between life saving drugs that they need or keeping the lights on. To me these are not all or Nothing Solutions. All or Nothing Solutions usually means that its really nothing in the end because its not we dont live in lives that are all or nothing. So i believe in a thoughtful, stair step approach to fixing some of the things, protecting what we have with medicare, and social security, which is not a healthcare thing but im just going to talk about that. In a moment. But also, then, fixing some of the things that are broken. And the cost of Prescription Drugs is one of those things. Ive introduced a bill that will cap the cost of outofpocket costs for seniors at 2,000 per year, medicare under Medicare Part d. Its currently 5,100 per year. So that would be a big step in the right direction. There is a lot more that we need to do but thats one of the things, and were going to keep working on it. There is a Prescription Drug bill thats working its way through so were continuing to work on those, and other things. The other piece is, in healthcare, 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 of the things thats incredibly important for all of us. This impacts communities across the board. So i have introduced a bipartisan bill and had a companion bill in the senate which means we introduce one in the house and the senators introduce 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 a 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 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 of the different pieces and continued increased access to Mental Health. We had a whole town hall on that. I wont spend a whole lot of time on that. The last piece ill talk about is education. 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 about funding comes through the state but there are also federal programs that are really important including funding for some of our schools that are near bases, or other places where they dont get as much in taxes, because schools that are on land year bases, they dont get as much so that federal funding helps to balance it out and it quite frankly keeps some of our schools open saechbing the students of our families who are serving and others that live in that area, 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. We also had a town hall on this, to address the cost of Higher Education in a thoughtful, methodical an Sustainable Way. Its not all or nothing. I dont think we need to give college away for free to everybody in or wholesale erase peoples debts but what we do need to do in my opinion is create pathways. Create pathways for people to get the job 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 tech system with some of my colleagues, making sure that federal funding for student loans, which they are much more costeffective, can be used for career tech systems as well as legislation that would limit the cost of interests on student loans, to make it more attainable, and to have student Loan Interest delayed so that it doesnt start accruing until weve got our students that are coming out. Because weve got a lot of people coming without tens of thousands of dollars in interest in addition to their loans before they get out. For me the bottom line is, we have to do things that are thoughtful an im troubled by this idea that there is only one pathway to a successful, productive cop struck active life and career. It doesnt mean, this whole idea that we all have to go to a 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 there is a lot of different pathways and these are the things that were really focused on, on a day in and day out basis and will continue to be an i just want to give you a little bit 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 i have cosponsored a piece of legislation and somebody comes along and it get changed to such a point that it wasnt what it started as, i would vote against that bill, because i am im 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 and am 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 im being thoughtful and were taking each thing as it comes. And thats a commitment that ill make to each an 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 other things that are happening and the other things that weve been working on, is because i think a lot of that gets drowned 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 you are concerned about, and what youre thinking about throughout this and were going to go ahead and just jump into the questions and, richard will bring the box over and im going to just, just draw start withdrawing a tint out and well start from there. Well pull that out. If you find it, ill just leave it sitting here. We do have some more water in the back if you oh, did you find it, oh, okay. 276. 276. Yes, maam. So hes going to come to you with the microphone, and, so three connecticut female athletes filed suit on the ground grounds that they lost Scholarship Opportunities because biological males were in the girls competition. Should biological males be permitted to compete on girls sports teams . Im not familiar with that particular issue or that particular suit. And so without the specific information ill answer more broadly your question. I think we have to ensure that our laws are treating people fairly. Making sure that were expecting every Single Person. Now, i dont know the particular circumstances about that issue. What i will say is we have a wide variety of individuals in our community and that we set foundations, is important, and i would want to look at specific issues around those things, but respecting individuals regardless of their sexual orientation, their gender, is, gender identity is very important to me and i think were dealing with, to be honest, some really challenging questions 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. 346. Hes coming. Hi, first i want to applaud you on your work on Mental Health. I was at that town hall on september 30, and that was great, thank you very much. My question today is, my family has been the victim of discrimination by my Health Insurance company for violations of the federal parity law. So my question is, what have you done or what do you plan to do about working on enforcement of the law . I understand there are currently a couple of bills in place, to put some teeth in the law. Do you plan on cosponsoring those bills and if not, why . And what can you do to put some teeth into the law so families like mine wont be discriminated against. Thank you very much. Can you tell me your name, and im sorry, i know we said hi earlier, but if you want to tell your names, if you want to, thats sure, my name is virginia i had a 17yearold son thats been over two months in residential rehab and Insurance Company denied coverage and it was clear that he needed the treatment. We were in a crisis and i had to fight this on my own. What happens is families end up having to pull from other resources. Its not fair and its illegal. I just wondered how you would handle that. Thank you very much and thank you for sharing your story an im sorry to hear that youve gone through that. Let me start with where i think we need to be on Mental Health. Mental health is not separate from our overall health. Our brains, our heads, are part of our bodies. Its a critical piece of our Mental Health and ill continue to work on thoughtful, intentional ways to ensure that Mental Health coverage is included. In our overall healthcare. I mean, i dont know anybody thats Walking Around with their head separate from their body and still functioning. Our brain is an organ as are our other organs. Thats why its problematic that our visual, dental, so many things from the neck up, have been considered separate for a long time. And 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 the 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. Were working on a number of different fronts. I dont know the specific bills youre talking about but i would be happy to look at them, and if they are good bills, happy to support them. If they arent id be happy to work with you and other families to figure out how we can begin to address that. I think one thing that most of us can agree on is that our Healthcare System is broken. Its we dont all agree on why its broken, for a lot of different reasons, and that 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. And 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 ill be happy to continue to work on and would love to see if there is anything that we can do to help support you. In following up. Thank you. Hes trying to smash my hand with that box. laughs okay. 350. 350. Im going over here. 350. Okay. Yes, maam. Right back over there. Jay is coming. My name is kell lone im from my question is, what legislation had been passed by congress in 2019 and signed by President Trump that impacts oklahoma ma citizens particularly in district 5 . I dont know that i can give you a comprehensive answer. Because thats there is a lot that happens, and ill just ill talk about some of the things that weve passed, and some of the things that have made it out of the house and into the senate but then ill address 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. If they have got a lot of different sponsors, you hit a certain number and 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 consent calendar. Its not by consent but it just means there is a lot of agreement. And there is a lot of agreement on many of those bills. But i think that there are a few things that i would like to highlight that have come through. The house and then a couple of other things that i think are very pertinent that were working on. So first and foremost, one of the things that that the house and senate, and some work that was done, some criminal Justice Reform bills and those have been started a long time ago and those made their way through. Were still on the big items, were still working one way through on appropriations, on a lot of these things, and, there are very important an impact us on a daytoday basis, and those things are things we have to keep working on because i walked into congress in the middle of a historic shutdown that is something we should never be doing. It is not okay for the Decision Makers to push it off and it not okay regardless of which party has done it because both parties have done it before. They used 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 caught in the crossfire are the people that are working hard every day to support our communities. And this past one was with our air Traffic Controllers and so many other people and weve got to keep working on that. We passed all of our Appropriations Bills out of the house of representatives by june 30. The first appropriations bill that passed out of the Senate Passed last week. Were living right now under a continuing resolution which is not the way that we should be doing things because what it means is that we are not appropriating the funds for the following year and we need to do that. A couple of big things that have happened. One is that we did come to a bipartisan budget agreement and spending 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 across the board 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. And one of the things that we have to continue to do is continue to show up and negotiate an talk about the things that are important. There are many other smaller pieces of legislation that have come through, that i think will impact us including the bill that i mentioned that i believe will be included in the final appropriations agreement that will 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. Thats something that weve been working on and i think weve just got the keep going. I would be happy to give you more but what i will say is on daytoday basis were working and there is a lot thats been passed out to address these important issues and im going to keep working on it. So thank you. Okay. 289. Yes, sir. Hes coming around. Hes right over here. Hi. My name is richard i live here in Oklahoma City. And i just want to say thank you for voting finally to do the impeachment proceedings that are going on. I think applause its much needed. I dont have anything really else to add except thank you. applause thank you for being here. Thank you for your words. I do want to address that for a moment. For me, that vote was not somethingno 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 a 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, that are transparent. And fair. There were clear guidelines set up, and to be clear, i have not and will not make any decisions about any votes between now and whenever until i see the facts in front of me. Im not on any of the committees of jurisdiction, so i dont have all the facts and 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 in a 24hour news cycle. Weve got bit and pieces of information and as an attorney i know, well, one piece of information may look like something, everything comes out and it could look like something very different. So for me, every single piece of this is about transparency, its about being thoughtful, and ultimately, its about doing our jobs. And i understand that 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 phase 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 our whistleblowers to poll the information, and we didnt have an independent council that was appointed, so i have to make the decisions based on whats in front of me so thats what i did. Thank you. applause okay. 288. Hecoming. I dont want to mess up his system. Im getting jay is getting some good steps in today. My name is kelly and im out of Oklahoma City as well. One of the big things that concerns me is im a math teacher. I teach students about numbers, quantities, and one of the things that concerns me with math lately has been the that were experiencing in this country, and i want to know, what you might be thinking about to address this. I know with the tax cuts that happened that thats only exacerbating the problem so i didnt know if there was 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, its 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 an development. Thats why i talk and this isnt tax policy, ill get to that in a second. I talk a lot about and feel so passionately about our career techs and our Community Colleges and the ability of people to get the job skills and training that they need. I dont mean to say, these people are career tech people. Those people are College Material people. Thats not what i mean. We need to provide all of these opportunities for good paying jobs that line up with the skills. A couple of things im doing is working with our businesses and industry here and with our career techs to ensure were 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 build it on top of that in an affordable way. Apprenticeship programs are another way that we can do that and there are a lot of ways we can do that. On the tax policy side of things, i think weve got i think weve got to do things differently. Fundamentally, i just believe that we need ask everybody to do their part and i dont like this idea, i just am not a fan of this idea, we should, if you have a lot of money, you should pay all of your money in taxes, and it just 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, you know, they are taking care of their community. So making money. Thats a good thing. We need business. Business is 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 because a lot of what happens is our Small Businesses dont see an feel that as well. The other thing that i think 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 95 , 90 to 95 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 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 is 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. Weve got to look at the numbers. Weve got to look at what the reality is on the ground and 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 a high cost of living, youre going to pay 3,000 per month for this tiny little postage stamp apartment, where, you know, if youre paying that much here 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 the lack of stability and predictability in what we ensent vies and we have to know that businesses and industry plans a number of years out. So if we can tie things, and i supported a bill and cosponsored a bill, that tied the minimum wage to the cost of living. It was tied to numbers in different areas and it would continue to move up, but part of the problem that we have, i think, is making laws, we pass something and then it falls off a cliff, right . I would like to see us being smarter about our financial policy and instead of, because were talking about minimum wage, passing an increase in minimum wage a decade ago and waiting a decade and doing Something Else, that we give businesses and entrepreneurs and Business Centers predictability that its 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, to 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 tax as small group. I dont think thats the reaction we need. I think we need to come a little bit closer to the middle, to create a stronger middle class and incentivize it. Thank you. All right. Okay. Here. Will you open that for me. Okay. 368. Over there. Okay. Thank you. Okay. 368. All right. Im not going to put this one up. Ill put this one on this side. Okay. 306. Oh. 306. Oh, okay. All right. Well try again. If your question has been, you know, asked and answered, feel free to skip it, too. 403. 403. Bingo. All right. There we go. Jay doesnt even have as far to go. David since weve already wasted over 126 billion in afghanistan over the last 16 years, will you come out against a Foreign Policy thats just stealing money from the taxpayers and also work they also on top of this, want to send 50 more apache helicopters, knowing full well they do not have the maintenance, so im assuming they are going to go over there and rust. So will you cut out against wasting money on foreign wars that just cost taxpayers billions of dollars . Well, thank you for being here, david, and thank you for your question. The question is about 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, including all of our service branches, readiness that ensures that when were sending people overseas or wherever were sending them, that they are prepared, that they have the resources they need, and that were not making decisions based on that were making decisions based on the best information we have and the best needs of our country. And our National Security doesnt just rely on what happens here at home. Were impacted by what we do and what we do not do. So i believe that we need to be intentional and thoughtful, and i know that there are still very real threats to our nation based on things that happen abroad. And i also am concerned by the fact that we have a lot of work to do in ensuring that were being responsible with the taxpayer dollars, that weve been asking for a full pentagon audit, and working on that and checking into places where things are being spent, are not being spent as they should be 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 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, a strong diplomatic corps and Strong Military are both important in helping keep us safe and we have to do we have to do both. Now, we, as congress, also need to stay involved in this. Because congress over the last number of years, were still operating under the 2001 authorization, the use of military force, and thats something that we need to continue to take a look at, and to decide whats next. But we cant pull out of that without having Something Else in place and a plan, because if we do, it puts our it puts our Service Members at risk under international law. And we have made commitments to other allies across this across the world, across the globe, and we need to be smart about it. So for me, responsible policy means weve got to look at whats working and whats not. Readiness is beyond its beyond just tanks and guns and ships and planes. It is about are we taking care of our people, are we taking care of their housing. Toilet paper. Making sure that we have the pilots an people that we need and then we continuously reassess both now and into the future where were making those decisions. So my commitment is to be thoughtful and intentional about every decision that i make. And to being strategic and making sure that were not that were not making dises that have repercussions, as the best we can in the long run an weve got a lot of work to do on our Foreign Policy but thats one of the reasons why im incredibly proud to serve on Armed Services is that weve got work to do and people on both side that are willing an able to do it. We just have 20 keep working onto keep working on it. The bottom line is we have to look at every single piece but just pulling out wholesale puts our troops in danger because if our allies cant trust us, that were going to stick with them, that were going to uphold our end of the bargain then what do we have . We have to uphold our commitments and if though need to change, then we need to change them and let people know that thats what were going to do. Okay. 380. 380. My question is about is there a market for thank you. There are a lot of option that is 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, im not saying i dont think we need to overregulate anything because thats troublesome for me. The lanes have to be clear so we can keep bad actors accountable and give people an opportunity to keep developing and coming up with new ideas. My concern right now for social with social media is that there is very clear evidence from a number of sources, a senate report, many reports that we have bad actors that are literally waging an information war against our nation through social media and we have owners you know, system of those Companies Like facebook, that say they dont care. So this is, this is actually an attack on who we are because when false information is getting out there masquerading as truth, this is a National Security threat to all of us regardless of youre political ideology, regardless of our background. Regardless of all of that. We need to take action to ensure that these bad actors, especially state actors and other bad actors, and its a lot of different people, cant do that. Now, on the ad and 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
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.