To reach baghdad in 2003. The 40yearold moulton would be the youngest president ever elected. Tonight, hell take request es from democrats and independents who say they plan to participate in the democratic primaries and caucuses. So now, please welcome congressman seth moulton. [ applause. [ applause ] thank you. All right. Congressman, we got a lot of people here. This is a great crowd. Yeah, a good crowd. We have Great Questions here for you, tonight were going to start, obviously, after what happened in virginia beach, were going to start with what happened there, i was just there yesterday. 12 people murdered in government building by a city employee. Now gun violence obviously a major issue in america. Lets bring in holly oconnor. She has a question about that shes a Behavioral Health coordinator. Holly. Hi, how are you . Good, thank you. My question is, if elected, would you be willing to declare a National Emergency over the gun violence epidemic in america and ban all assault weapons and high capacity magazines . Thank you very much for that question. And thank you all so much for having me here to atlanta tonight. You know, its almost embarrassing to be standing here as a member of congress, given how little weve done about gun violence in america. I carried guns in iraq every single day, too. I had to use guns for my job. Guns saved my life. But weapons of war have no place on our streets or in our schools. And whether its declaring a National Emergency or pursuing executive action, i will do whatever i can to actually make progress on this gun violence plague in america. [ applause ] and what were talking about here, folks, isnt that crazy. The vast majority of americans, democrats, republicans, independents, agree we should have universal background checks on guns, there shouldnt be loopholes. I had the two most bipartisan gun bills in the last congress. One to to ban gun stocks, the nra baned from their own headquarters. And the second was, be prepared, this is a little controversy. Was to prevent terrorists from buying guns. Okay. This isnt that crazy. And weve even already banned weapons of war, just different ones. You know, in addition to those two guns, i carried two grenades on my chest every single day i was in iraq. I never blew myself up. I was very safe. I would feel comfortable having two grenades on me tonight. But would you feel comfortable . No. Okay so weve decide as a society that were not going to allow people to walk around with grenades. Grenades actually are really good for fishing. The iraqis used to try to buy them off of us. You just throw them in the pond, all the fish turn up dead. You dont need grenades to fish. You dont feed assault weapons to hunt. Two more quick things. We need to also have a conversation about Mental Health in this country. Republicans always [ applause ] republicans like to say that you just solve the Mental Health crisis and you wont have gun violence. Then they never fund Mental Health. Theyre wrong on both counts. Its not just going to solve the crisis on its own. We do need to fundaMental Healthcare. The last thing is we need to have a conversation about domestic terrorism. Because a lot of what is happening with gun violence in america. Its very simple. Its called careism. Its domestic terrorism p. Thank you. Congressman, let me ask you, because you mentioned weapons of war. Be you this shooter had two. 45 handguns, a suppressor. Reportedly he purchased them legally. So is there anything about your gun control proposal that would have prevented this shooting . Well, we should not have high capacity magazines, which i understand he had. Yes. You dont need a suppressor. Thats Something Like you know az assassins need to use. We shouldnt have that here at home. And i dont know all the details of this particular incident. But the fact that he was able to purchase the guns legally makes me say maybe we got some problems with our gun laws . [ applause ] lets bring in steve sarah fen sarafen, a semi retired gun owner. As an exveteran of war, how does your military feel as our sound president criticizes including last weak u. S. Citizens, expresident s and others while on foreign soil . And why would he accept the word of a tyrant or dictator over that of our own Intelligence Community . Thank you, steve, for that question. And thank you for your service to our country as well. I cant speak for all veterans. I can certainly speak for myself. I got a lot of problems with this president. But the some ways the most fundamental issue is you cant trust anything he says. I dont know about you, but the first less zorn i learned when i went to Marine Training was you can drop out of a run, theyll let you try the next day. You can fail a test, theyll probably let you retake the test. If you lie about anything, you are gone that afternoon. Thats how important trust is. When with it comes to leadership and life or death decisions about Young Americans. And i dont care whether are you the biggest trump supporter or hater, you just cant trust a word that this man says. [ applause ] so i could go on and on but maybe that says enough. Congressman, thanks let me ask you about something you said if 2016 during the campaign then. You compared president trumps rise to that of adolph hitlers rise. Do you still stand by that comparison . What i was talking about is the fact that tyrants can get elected and i think we all learned that in 2016. Right . Thats why elections matter. Are there any rhetorical lets say gashed rails for your campaign . Anywhere you will not go . Some people think a hitler reference would be too far. Well, of course, you have to be careful about what you say. I mean, the best example is the twitter account of our commanderinchief. So, you are right. In sports you have to be careful about what you say. You know, i just am trying to speak from my heart. And be real about the challenges that are facing america. And i think it would be better if more people in washington did that. You know, people often ask me, seth, why is congress so stupid . Why cant congress believe in Climate Change or whatever else . And i have only been there a few years. But my experience is most of my colleagues are pretty smart. Whats lacking in washington isnt intelligence. Its courage. Its the courage to speak the truth. Fair question. Lets go to maureen smith, a retired engineer. Maureen. Okay. Will you remove the absurd department of Justice Policy that a sitting president can be indicted and will you at least ensure that any charges against a signature president will be told so that the statutes of limitations do not expire . You know, this election isnt just about policies here and there. Its about our values. And one of our values in the United States of america is that nobody is above the law. Nobody. So the answer to your question is yes. And more than that, this is why i came out a year ago and said, congress should be doing its job and having a debate before the American People about impeaching this president. Because i understand, look, i disagreed with some of my fellow candidates in this race and some of our Party Leadership on this and i understand that the politics might be tricky. Okay. But how about just doing the right thing . You know, how about doing the right thing . Because i swore an oath to protect and defend constitution. How many of you have read the Mueller Report . A few. All right. Just read the executive summary. Dont read the whole thing. Read the executive summary and then come back to me and say that there is not enough everyday in there to be debating impeachment. So congressman, you say the politics are tricky. You disagree with some of your democratic colleagues. But their point would be that it could possibly be ill conceived if Republicanled Senate will not convict. To them you say what . To them i say, thats the senates problem. Our job in the house to do our constitutional rebuke. [ applause ] more with congressman seth moulton after a break. Now connecting 99 of baseball fans. Tmobile. I was told to begin my aspirin regimen, blem. And i just didnt listen. Until i almost lost my life. My doctors again ordered me to take aspirin, and i do. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. Listen to the doctor. Take it seriously. Be right back. With moderate to severe Crohns Disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. Is she alright . I hope so. So i talked to my doctor about humira. I learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of Crohns Disease after trying other medications. 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Say hello to an authentic favorite. Times two. Every day at marcos, get two medium, onetopping pizzas for 6. 99 each. Every store. Every day. The italian way. Hello primo. We are live from atlanta for a cnn president ial town hall event with congressman seth moulton. Congressman, we will start with eliza swiback here on my left, a clinical psychologist working with veterans who suffer from posttraumatic distress. How are you, moult season. Fine, thank you. I was concerned about your enclosure that you have been treated for ptsd related to your service. So what will you do as president to access and quality healthcare for everybody that needs it . Thank you so much for that question. Im so glad were discussing this, in this campaign. I will do three specific things. Let me first mention briefly my own experience because, frankly, i did not have the courage to share this before. I was afraid of the political liability. Even the you know the personal liability. My own family didnt know i was going to a therapist for posttraumatic stress. And i know that a lot of americans go through this as l well. 50 of americans that dont have posttraumatic stress dont seek care who have Mental Health dont seek care. We need to change that our economy will be stronger and our economy will be better if we deal with this issue. Just like we deal with physical ailments. Right . There shouldnt be a stigma if you break your leg. Gow to the hospital, get it fixed. Are you back on your feet. That should be the same with mental issues as well. [ applause ] so i hope by talking about this is an example to others. That others will be encouraged to share their stories, too. But i also have to say, that an inspiration to me was some of the Young Marines that i served with. Younger than me, who had the courage to share their stories even before i shared mine. So what are we going to do . The goal is to just make it routine that you get Mental Healthcare, just like you go and get an annual physical, regardless of whether you are sick. You should get a Mental Health checkup. Just like the doctor says, hey, are you eating well . Are you exercising . There are things you can do to be mentally healthy, too. I have learned about meditation andrea ga and by the way, these are practices that are now being used by our most elite troops. Because they realize it makes them stronger. So the three things that i will do with my Mental Healthcare proposal are, one, set an example with our active Duty Service Men around women and our veterans. By making sure that everybody on active duty gets a Mental Health checkup every year. That if you went to a combat zone, you get a checkup within two weeks of coming home. Its a checkup and then were going to use that as a model for the rest of america. And well start in high school. And every high schooler in america will just get an annual Mental Health checkup. Whether they need it or not just to say this is a healthy thing to do. The third thing is there are a lot of great Suicide Prevention and mental hot lines out there. We need to make one number everyone will remember. I think it should be 511. No matter you who are, veteran, nonveteran, everyone that needs to talk to someone, dial 511, you will be connected immediately to someone who can help. I know this is a personal issue for you, obviously. And but for the first time this week, you decided to share a traumatic experience that you had on your way to baghdad in 2003 i believe it was now. Now i know this isnt easy to discuss, but you decided to speak about it publicly. What did you hope that would do for veterans . What i hoped it would do is gratefully what i have seen it start to do this week. The people ask a lot whats the most meaningful thing you have done as a member of congress. Its definitely hold veterans town halls. Sort of like this, where veterans and nonveterans get together and veterans get a chance to share their stories and to talk about how their Work Overseas has affected their life at home and bridge that divide between veterans and nonveterans. So this week we held veterans town halls, focus specifically on Mental Health and the stories that ive heard have been incredible. There have been Vietnam Veterans who stood up and said ive never shared this story before from vietnam. But im sharing it today. Because other people are talking, too. Congressman, thank you for sharing and thank you for your service. Thank you for your service. [ applause ] on that question is from nick verneault a student at georgia tech studying chemistry. Hi congressman. You are a scientist. You wouldnt fit in very well in congress. On your website it states that you believe americans deserve affordable healthcare. Why do you stop short of supporting a single payer system . Thats a great question. Im so sure you asked it. My view is what president obama planned. Which is that we should have a public option like medicare for all or hopefully a more modern version of medicare since it was designed in 1963. But that should compete against private options as well because competition is good for the system. It keeps prices down. It improves outcomes. And i think that people should have choices for their healthcare. And i say this as the only candidates in this race who actually gets single payer healthcare. Because i made a commitment to continue going to the va when i was elected to congress. I said, look, as long as my fellow vets are going there and the system is pretty broken, i will see you first hand. And ive seen the good, the bad and the ugly of single payer healthcare. There are some things the va does really well. Like, for example, the va negotiates Prescription Drug prices. Medicare doesnt do that. That means our prescription prices at the va are lower than medicare. But i also got surgery shortly after i was elected. And to make a long story short, they sent me home with the wrong medications. Now, it just it was a painful night because i had a minor abdominal surgery. I thought it was a really big deal until my wife got a csection and i realized, whoa, it was not a big deal. But it hurt. And rather than give me the painkillers they had prescribed, the pharmacy sent me home with a bottle of advil. But the only way i suffered was because it was painful. Imagine if they had sent me home with a more powerful or addictive drug than the one i was prescribed. We heard of this story of veterans dying on lists and committing suicide in waiting rooms because they dont have enough Mental Healthcare professionals. So i dont want that system for you. I want different systems to compete just like they do with other things in america to give you the best healthcare in the world because thats what you deserve. [ applause. [ applause ] congressman, you have just talked about your experience with the va and in relation to med compare for all. Do you believe that the government is capable of implementing medicare for all . In a perfect world, yes. As a political reality, this is the other thing, its just never going to get passed. So, its not realistic right now. That doesnt mean we should aspire to have a single payer system. Frankly, look, if at the end of the day under my system, the same system that president obama wanted, if the public option out competes the private options, thats what we end up with, fine. Lets make it better along the way. Imagine if the next president comes in and says, you know what, folks, we dont need options for delivering packages. We will get rid of ups, we will outlaw them. Its just the u. S. Postal service, does anyone think it will make things better . I love the u. S. Postal system. They delivered my mail in iraq. I think competition is good for the system. If we have choices for delivering packages, i think we should have choices for something much more important, which is delivering healthcare. Next question, congressman, goes to will martin. A sophomore at georgia tech studying public policy. He was an interim faith canvasser on the stacy Abrams Campaign for governor. Will. Hi. Hi, representative, how do you expect the Democratic Party to nominate you, someone who has opposed nancy pelosi from the right at a time when many in the Democratic Party, including myself which you were more directive. Sorry, she were more progressive or i. Her. Listen i didnt oppose her from the right or the left. Sid the top three leaders in congress who have been there combined almost 100 years should make room for a new generation of leadership. [ applause ] and with the Democratic Party, we should be able to have a democratic debate about who our leaders should before. Its okay if you and i disagree. List not be afraid to have that debate. Because we got that debate, we got the Voting Rights subcommittee, the Climate Change subcommittee and a deal on term limits in exchange for giving speaker plo es the votes she needed to become speaker. She only one by five votes. We gave her seven as a part of that term limits deal that will make sure the next generation of leaders in congress, this historically diverse class of freshmen that i worked so hard to get elected will actually have a voice in the future of our politics. Now, let me say one more thing. Speaker pelosi is doing a great job of standing up we should give her credit for it. All right p. [ applause ] but i do disagree with her on impeachment. Because as i mentioned earlier, we have a constitutional duty to hold the executive accountable. I think we should be doing that. Thank you for working on the stacy Abrams Campaign, because Stacey Abrams should be the governor of [ cheers ] congressman, let me follow up here. Because you say today she is doing a great job. But you said after the election that you would not be quote answering the call of the American People if she and her top two deputies were in charge. You say today she is doing a great job. Were you wrong about that . No, thats what i heard on the campaign trail as i was going across the country helping so many people get elected. Of the 40 seats that we flipped to take back the house, twurn of them were endorse 21 of them were endorsed by my service organization. I went to pa lot of difficult districts that we needed to win to take baaing the house. What i consistently heard is its time for a new generation of leadership in our politics. Now that doesnt take anything away from her. Thats why i have no problem saying she is doing a great job of standing up to trump. I want to make sure that people also look to our party and say thats the party that will take us forward. Thats the party of the future of leadership in our party and our country. All right. Well be right back with more democratic potential town hall with congressman zhou seth moulton. Ou seth moulton. U seth moulton. Seth moulton. Seth mou. With priceline, bundling our lowest prices on flights, hotels and rental cars means you spend less time planning and more time travelling. We like that by the way, these chairs are ours. Everyone is already sitting. By the way, these chairs are ours. Everyone could use a little romance. Even your feet. The new amope pedi perfect with diamond crystals gives you smooth results in just seconds that youll fall in love with instantly. Available at walmart in the foot care aisle. Eh, not enough fiber. Chocolate would be good. Snacking should be sweet and simple. 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Because now xfinity lets you transfer your Service Online in just about a minute with a few simple steps. Really . Really. That was easy. Yup. Plus, with twohour appointment windows, its all on your schedule. Awesome. Now all you have to do is move. That thing. [ sigh ] introducing an easier way to move with xfinity. Its just another way were working to make your life simple, easy, awesome. Go to xfinity. Com moving to get started. Welcome back to cnn world headquarters, our democratic town hall event. Later tonight, well be with tim ryan and eric swalwell. Lets begin with congressman seth moulton. You have a fan right here in the front row. There you go. Next question comes from Maria Fernandez the manager of patient relations for emory johns creek hospital. Maria. Good evening, representative moulton. How are you . Im fantastic. How are you . Im good thanks,. Excellent. What is your plan to leave the dismantling of racism to drive justice from marginalized group, especially for black and First Nations people and criminalize criminal Justice Reform. [ applause ] we have a problem with racism in america today. If this country wasnt racist, Stacey Abrams would be governor. [ cheers [ cheers ] because people of color are being systemically the most right in a democracy which is the right to vote. Thats why we need a new Voting Rights act in america. [ applause ] second, lets talk about criminal Justice Reform for a second. Look, i smoked weed when i was younger. I didnt get caught, but if i had because im a white guy. Just last year i think it was a louisiana man was sentenced to prison for life for selling 20 of marijuana. So criminal Justice Reform means we need to legalize cannabis. We need to legalize marijuana across this country and if you are in prison for that, are you out. Finally, this is a leadership issue. Lets not ignore the fact that when the man in the oval office is a racist and yes i did just say that, i dont think thats inappropriate. [ applause ] its going to affect everyone in this country. And thats why under my administration, my department of justice will fight relentlessly to ensure that there are not two sets of laws, one for black, white, one for rich, one for poor, but that everyone in america is subject to the same law laws. The president talks about law and order. Thats real law and order. Congressman, you say that your administration will fight. Let me ask you about your biography here. You represent massachusettss 6th district. Which is about 75 white, 4 africanamerican. You graduated from a prestigious boarding school where tuition and boarding is currently around 6500. Have you three degrees from harvard. On paper this reads as elite. What today 2019 informs your policymaking for a party, for a country that is so racially and economically diverse . Look, i totally get that. I even rode in college, the resume looks terrible. I am still paying my college loans. But the bottom line is that i had a lot of great opportunities in my life. I did. But every american should have those same opportunities. And i saw this most of all when i was serving in the marines. When i served with people from all over this country, people with different religious beliefs, different political beliefs, people who were rich, people who were poor. But we all came together to get united behind a Common Mission, to serve our country. And i had to earn every one of those marines trust, whether they came from a background like mine or a totally different background and if there is one thing that keeps me grounded as a politician, because i think thats really important. I think you have to work consciously when you are in a place Like Washington to keep grounded. Its keeping in touch with those marines him some of the best americans ive ever met and some of the best friends ive ever had. So on the question of race and diversity, its been 15 years since the Democratic Party has nominated two white men on a National Ticket. Whats the relevance of racial and general diversity on a National Ticket . Its relevant because we need to represent america. You know, i mean ill tell you sort of a funny story about this, i was in this meeting that turned a little heated with a fellow republican and he was really frankly out of line with me. But this was when i was a freshman, it was a good lesson if politics because he wrote me a note saying, you know what, thank you, seth, for being here. Im glad we could have that debate. I thought, wow, that changed my opinion of him. I made a point of going and finding him, shaking hands, i went up to this old white republican. I said thank you so much for sending many ethat note. He looked at me like and i said, no, no, the note about because we had that debate and then like a good politician, he just said, youre welcome. And then about 30 seconds later, i found the other old white republican who looked just like him who actually sent me the note. I thanked him for the note. You cant even tell them apart. Okay. So we absolutely need more diversity in our politics. Thats a part of the reason why as i traveled around the country helping a lot of fellow veterans get elected. Many of them were women and theyre already making a difference. That voice in our party and our politics in washington already matters. So we have a lot of work to do. And i recognize that as a youngish white man, im going to have to earn the support of everybody in america. Whether they look like me, whether they come from my background or whether they come from a totally different background. Thats the work that i got to do in this election. Im looking forward it to. Lets bring in joe doherty. Joe is a Health Scientist at the centers for Disease Control and prevention researching traumatic brain injury. Joe. Thank you. Good evening. Im very concerned about the recently past restriction on Abortion Access across the country. [ cheers ] with the issue seemingly headed to the Supreme Court, what could you do as president to protect a womans right to choose . Well, first of all let me say you should be concerned. We should all be concerned. This was settled law almost 50 years ago. Now its under assault. Lets be clear, its under assault one man, his name is Brett Kavanaugh. Thats why the state legislatures, right here in georgia. What a disgusting lawsuit. Theyre passing these laws hoping theyll get appealed to the Supreme Court and then Brett Kavanaugh will let them pass. I was standing out at a planned parenthood rally in front of the Supreme Court two weeks ago. One of the points i made, i said, if you lie in a confirmation hearing, you should be impeached. And that applies to Brett Kavanaugh. Second, because womens rights across this country are under assault, it will be a litmus test for me when i pick a Supreme Court nominee. Whoever it is, she or he must support a womans right to choo choose. Lets bring in edward ross. He owns a vital Records Store here in atlanta. All right. Edward. Zblf so my question is, you say that its unacceptable that 1 of the people own 50 of the wealth and the best way to address that is through taxation. Under eisen how ter tax margin was 90 the country seemed to thrive. Do you support increasing the top marginal tax rate. If so, to what level . I do support increasing the top marginal tax rate. I dont know we need to go as high as 90. But heres what we fundamentally need to do. We need to make the tax system fair. How many of you here tonight paid more than 1 in taxes last year . Raise your hand. Okay. I dont see anybody whos not raising their hand. You all paid more in taxes than amazon and netflix combined. And as far as we can tell, you paid more than donald trump has paid for the last 30 years. Now, i dont care what the economic rationale nor that that is, its just not fair so there is a lot we need to do to fix our economy. The first is that if you work for a living, you should pay the same tax rate as someone who sits and trades money for a living. Or has so much money they dont know what to do with it. The second thing we need to do is reform the educational system so everybody can compete for the jobs. [ applause ] yes, Education Needs more money, no question. But it also needs reform because the k through 12 system we have today was actually built in response to the Industrial Revolution when we were all coming off the farms. Now we are going through an even quicker economic revolution called the automated revolution or the technical revolution. We all know the Education System today isnt preparing kids enough for the future. You know my sevenmonthold daughter, shes not saying too much yet. Sought she hasnt told me what she wants to do yet in life. But whether she wants to go to college, whether she wants to build the college, or whether she wants to defend college. I know one thing, im going to be proud of her whatever she chooses, america should be proud of her, too. So their a lot we need to do for education reform. Third we need to invest in 20th century infrastructure, preparing roads and bridges and making sure everybody has high Speed Internet and 5g communications. [ applause ] in the trump economy, the people at the top do really well. And thats why the top line numbers right now are fine. In the moulton economy, everybody gets equal opportunity. Because weve never been a company of equal results. I understand some are going to succeed more than others. But enshrined in our constitution is we are a country of equal opportunity and thats not the case in america today. Well be right back, cnns democratic president ial town hall with congressman seth moulton. Hello to the best part of the day. And to the best night ever. These are the primo moments. And they call for italian quality pizza. Dough made from scratch daily. Sauce. From the original giammarco recipe. Say hello to an authentic favorite. Times two. Every day at marcos, get two medium, onetopping pizzas for 6. 99 each. Every store. Every day. The italian way. Hello primo. With verizon up, we won luke bryan tickets. Theres an area just for verizon up members. It made me feel like a celebrity. vo the network more people rely on, gives you more. Like big savings on our best phones when you switch. Thats verizon. You know those butterflies arent actually in the room . Hey, that baker ladys on tv again. Shes not a baker. She wears that apron to sell insurance. Nobody knows why. Shes the progressive insurance lady. They cover pets if your owner gets into a car accident. Covers us with what . You got me. [ scoffs ] shes an insurance lady. And i suppose this baker sells insurance, too . Progressive protects your pets like you do. You can see the secret life of pets 2 only in theaters. The secret life of pets 2 [music playing] jerry has a membership to this gym, but hes not using it. And he has subscriptions to a Music Service he doesnt listen to and five streaming Video Services he doesnt watch. This is jerry learning that hes still paying for this stuff hes not using. Hes seeing his recurring payments in control tower in the wells fargo mobile app. This is jerry canceling a few things. Booyah. This is jerry appreciating the people who made this possible. Oh look, there they are. team member this is wells fargo. Welcome back to the president ial democratic town hall with congressman seth moulton. The next question comes from john adams. Hes a project manager for a software company. John. Congressman. So my question is, there is a narrative that government regulations and environmental protections are harmful to businesses, especially Small Businesses and, therefore, are bad for the economy. How would you implement policies to address the Climate Crisis while simultaneously ensuring companies can move to cleaner technologies, maintain growth and get workers into new jobs . John, its a great question. Because there is no reason why we continue do both. Solve Climate Change and grow the economy. Thats what we should be doing. I was one of the first to sign onto the green new deem. We need to make sure we win the green tech revolution, were selling solar panels to china, not the other way around. We sell the technologies to developing world that will make clean power possible no matter where you live. Thats what we need to do. We need to grow the economy and we need to do it while also solving Climate Change. Its also why i have announced the most ambitious National ServiceProgram Since the great depression. And a cornerstone of my National Service program, that calls on every one of the 33 million Young Americans between 17 and 24 to consider serving their country is called a federal green core, which will put Young Americans to work making our country more climate resilient and also training them for the Green Economy jobs of the future. Thanks. [ applause ] congressman, let me ask about your moon shot as you call it, fusion energy. Im not a physicist. Let me say that first. I have a degree in physics. Yeah, you do. Which everybody in life sees my resume, not my transcript makes me sounds really smart. Ill leave to you interpret that. Is harnessing on earth to simpli simplify . It would be a multibillion dollar gamble on an Energy Source that really interesting proven. Is that the best effort for a search for clean energy . It shouldnt be the only effort. It absolutely should be something we do. When you go and spend time with the physicist at places like m. I. T. , tail tell you, were a lot closer than we think. Heres the bottom line. We cannot let china sell this technology to us. We have to win the green tech revolution. Thats why we need to invest. The next question goes to courtney reader. She recently graduated from the Louisiana State university. Congratulations. Whats your question for the congressman . So i graduated well, first of all, congratulations. You have college loans. Yep, this guy too. This is a problem that affects millions of americans. And our debt is astronomical. I think in a free college is a great aspiration. But i also think that sometimes make a mistake by only talking about free college. Half of america doesnt even go to college. And we have to make sure that everybody in america has access to a new education, a better education for the new economy. We absolutely have to work to bring down tuition costs. Because thats whats driving college loans. We need to make sure that if you want to go to vocational school, if you want to learn a new job. You want to go to a job Training School to learn a skill for the new economy, were going to support you too. And were going to respect your work when you get out. Would you support a Debt Forgiveness program for graduates who are currently struggling with College Loan Debt along the line of senator Elizabeth Warren is proposing. I think we absolutely should consider that, but i want to make sure we address the needs of everybody who doesnt get to go to college first. Thats a yes for people who are currently struggling with no, i doesnt give it an outright yes, we should consider it, we have to address the people who dont even go to college yet first. Thats what i mean when we say we needed indication reform in this country. Okay. Next question goes to misha maynard. She recently made a run for atlanta city counsel. Awesome. I did, thank you. Thank you for your service, senator. Name two publicly known issues that you did not agree with with the Democratic Party on and state how you would have worked with republicans to solve the issue more timely . That is a tough question. Sorry we got to you. No, its a great question. Its a great question. One has to do with climate in my home district where folks wanted to extend a gas pipeline, of course, all the democrats were against this, because we can solve the problem with clean energy. I looked at the numbers and although thats a great goal and we need to get there, theres no one that believes it more than me, it wasnt going to happen right away. We were importing gas to massachusetts from russia, where there are no climate protections whatsoever. I got a lot of heat for that from my own party. I was trying to make a decision based on the facts. Another was these are the tough issues in congress when we had an issue on gmo labelling for example. And a lot of people gave me heat to agreeing to a compromise deal, because they wanted better gmo labelling. I said, its better to have some gmo labelling than nothing at all. Thats what i did. Thanks. Thank you. Theres also on the issue of marijuana legalization, theres the marijuana justice act that was proposed in the senate, five senators who are running for the nomination have approved it, youve signed on as co sponsor, youve not signed on to the house version, this decriminalizes it, gets some review for people who are currently in prison on marijuana related charges. Why have you not signed on as a co sponsor. I think we can go further than that. I have three bipartisan bills in the house that im co author of that will start legalizing cannabis by starting with the va. And i think that we have to be smart about how we pursue this. Okay. I want to take a second to talk about a pretty big question, which is, why am i here, why am i doing this . I think this is the most important election of our lifetimes. Its about a lot of issues, like education, health care and Climate Change. But much more than that, its about who we are as a country. Its about our values. Its about what kind of future were going to build. Whether we can get united behind a Common Mission not to make America Great again. Looking backwards to some mythical version of the past that never really existed. But whether we can make america better than its ever been before. Donald trump doesnt want that. He wants to keep us divided. To win, we need to bring together a Diverse Coalition of americans, everybody in our party with independence. Even a few disaffected republicans. And i think i have the best experience in this race to do that. Because i had to bring together a Diverse Coalition in the most difficult environment imaginable in iraq. In a place where i didnt agree with the war, but we all had to get united behind a Common Mission. Thats what the next president of the United States needs to challenge us to do. To all believe in something a little bit bigger than ourselves. To believe in america so much that were willing to step up and serve our country to make it better. This election isnt about 2020, its about what were going to do in 2021. Weve got to make a better world for everybody in america. Weve got to restore our moral leadership in the globe. And weve got to make sure that our kids like my 7monthold daughter emme have a newt tour thats even brighter than ours. Thank you, congressman. Seth molten. Up next, poppy harlow moderates the president ial town hall with congressman tim ryan. This season, tmobile is partnering with Little League, to make sure every kid can feel like an allstar. With tmobile, parents across the country can share the action, the highlights and the lowlights. And the stars of tomorrow get a chance to shine today. From Little League to the big leagues, tmobile has you covered. Now connecting 99 of baseball fans. Tmobile. I was told to begin my aspirin regimen, blem. And i just didnt listen. Until i almost lost my life. My doctors again ordered me to take aspirin, and i do. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. Listen to the doctor. Take it seriously. Applebees new loaded fajitas. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. [ cheers and applause ] good evening from the cnn center in atlanta, welcome to a cnn democratic president ial town hall. Im thrilled youre all with us, im poppy harlow. You just heard from congressman moulton. Right