I even went around and got a couple supporters and we just love you, just want you to know that. You initially supported another candidate and we are approaching the first 100 days. What is your opinion on trump right now . I have not met President Trump until he spoke to the joint session of congress and some of you may have seen me after he was leaving the chamber, had an exchange with him and introduced myself and told him i was from alabama. He asked if i knew jeff sessions, i have known him for 25 years and he made it clear he loved alabama so that was my first meeting with him. I appreciate the fact that in that environment he took the time to talk to me for a minute. Trying to hustle him out of the room. The first time i had a chance to engage with him on an issue with on the Health Care Bill after i voted no and i got a call saying what do you want . I talked about the things i felt needed to be changed in the bill. I went to the white house with a dozen other members and sat down and displayed this idea of how it would benefit the states to get medicaid funding as per capita or block grant about the waste and fraud and abuse of the system that takes place, 36 billion that goes down a rat hole last year and that doesnt count the managedcare side of medicaid, talked about work requirements, had another meeting about the risksharing plan, he is extremely intelligence. I wasnt surprised by that. He finished first in his class at but he has an incredible ability to take complex issue and simplify it and communicate it and that is one of the reasons his message has resonated with so many people, he has the ability to communicate and there are some people you cant communicate with. I am answering her question. I am answering her question. Show some class. This is alabama, we dont act like other people in other parts of the country. He understands the art of the deal, he wrote the book on it. I went in, laid out our position and made the deal. Thank you for your question. The gentleman in that shirt. Camo. Thank you for being here, very generous with your time. Yesterday on one of the news shows, representative chaffetz indicated he favors the release of Donald Trumps tax returns from all of our president s and designing legislation to do. [applause] to do this. Indicating the legislation is in process and he is working on it. Will you support him in this effort and require all our president s release their tax return so we can know about their potential conflicts of interest . Not only the American People but congress . Change i dont take a position on any legislation until i see it. I dont care what it is. I will read the bill. [applause] the gentleman in the mineworkers shirt in the back. I dont have a question but a comment. My workers want to thank you for myself and 23,000 retirees for your support, future help of the act. A lot of our retirees talk to you, really appreciate your support. We did a video out of our District Office and interviewed some minor families, and lost their jobs. You want to talk about health insurance. Was diagnosed with cancer. You can see the tear in her eyes. Another with a couple that had two. Is in college and they were going to have to drop out of school and come on to make ends meat. Man with tears streaming down his cheeks during the interview thinking he has no future. He is in his 50s. We turned that into a three minute video and with the administrator gina mccarthy, administrator of the epa giving a chance to hear from people just like you to hear the voices and see the faces of people who are impacted in an agency that was clearly overreaching and the devastation it brings to families and whole communities. And i will represent people like that. You see this on the prime. Ladies first. I have been getting a letter from you and a couple other senators about increase in social security. How long will it take to get that done . I have been getting those letters for at least six months. The answer is i dont know. We are working on the budget for 2018. Our focus has been on the Health Care Bill. My chief of staff, william smith, from washington, will follow up on that. Back over here. This lady. Thank you for your leadership and your concern for families. I know families are very important to you. We are seeing a pushback on parental rights, all over the country. What can we expect from your office, your leadership and congress to help ensure parental rights and Constitutional Rights are protected . I will not call names, would recognize this individual, and accomplished attorney, had a child taken from them even though she was nursing that child, and injury that appears to have been afflicted at the day care, the judge determined there was no cause, in their department of human resources. And individuals, parents would alternate week by week and live out of town, a 3hour drive, say it is, the child in the home and parent had to move out. They determined there was 0 cost, in my opinion that is denial of rights under article 4 of the constitution. We have to do a better job. We want to protect children, we have to do a better job. We cant make assumptions that take kids out of their home or drive parents out of kids home. This is something we have to take seriously. This was something, this individual called me and asked for my help and i had to call a couple others, we got them reunited. The lady in the back. Thank you for being here. My aim is megan. Im from your district. I want to Say Something about my daughter olivia who was diagnosed with congenital birth defect and a hernia, pressed on and spent two months over nine surgeries and countless therapies and doctors visits, a thriving, happy, joyful clearly has a preexisting condition was i heard what you are saying about preexisting conditions which i read today the current plan to revive the a h ca prevent insurers from denying coverage based on a person as medical history but allows states to opt out of the reforms prohibiting plans from raising premiums and could also opt out of requiring plans to cover certain benefits which sound like a way for my olivia and many other alabamians with preexisting conditions to be left behind. I hope you can make a promise to me, my olivia, those with preexisting conditions that you will not find anything that attaches this caveat to the preexisting condition clause. [applause] i think i have already answered this but prohibition on denying coverage due to preexisting medical conditions. This is a federal program. States dont have an option in it. They do not. This is a three year federal program. It is a i wrote the amendment. It is a 3 year federal program, there is no opt out. [applause] under my bill, this amendment she will be able to have insurance, on the risksharing the program, it is a three year federal program. They cannot opt out of the federal program. I will not. You ask me to vote against the bill . What are you asking me to vote against . Voting against preexisting conditions allowing states the opportunity. This is what is going to be in the bill. Can you guarantee my Olivia Health insurance . I cannot guarantee anything other than what i believe what is on this bill is better than what you got now. Gentleman in the very back, blue shirt. Thank you for being here. A deadline of april 28th will we see Congress Push back on a deadline for the budget or will we see the Government Shutdown again like 2013 . I dont believe there will be a Government Shutdown. I think we will pass the funding bill out of the house to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. And the democrats decide to filibuster it, it should pass and if there is that much of a deadlock we will extend funding on 7day or 10day or 21 day continuing resolutions but i dont see any reason to shut down the government and i dont think there will be a threat. And i am confident we can get the job done. This lady in the blue vest. Thank you. During his Campaign Donald trump stated that women are central to making America Great again. He stated in his inaugural speech the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. Yet on march 27th, trump signed an executive order revoking the 2014 fair pay and safe workplace order, a result of the 2010 investigation of the Government Accountability office showing companies in rampant violation, being awarded millions of dollars in federal contracts. In other words women, your state dollars going to Fund Companies that discriminate against you and dont pay women fairly. There has been a bill introduced to the house on april 14th, hr 2095 known as the safe fair pay act of 2017. Women the country, white women compared to white men made . 80 to the white mans dollar. The wage gap is even worse for women of color, africanamerican women . 63, native, hawaiian and other Pacific Islander women . 60. Native american and native alaskan women . 58. Hispanic or latino, conservative estimates, women employed in the United States lose combined total of 500 billion due to wage gap. We have a president that says it is okay not to pay women fairly. Where do you stand on this issue and how will you vote for hr 2095 . As i said i dont take a position on a bill until i have read it and i havent seen the bill. I said i havent seen the bill, i dont take a position on any legislation i havent seen. This gentleman up here. I didnt hear that. What is your position on the issue . I believe in letting the market set wage rates. That is the best way to go. I dont like government mandates. So it is okay not to pay women fairly . I have two daughters and i went them to get every dime they deserve, believe me. What is the Republican Congress going to do about it . What are we going to do about it . I will read the bill and we will see. Disinterest you bring this up and you try to cast aspersions on us as republicans. I am bipartisan. It came out a couple weeks ago that she pays below what you just talked about. It is the truth. I can and i will. That is fine. You can have facts that they need to be fact. If you will come to the front, this gentleman. I want to thank you for the support you have given me. I am on the advisory board, the representative the opening of the antics. My question is are you file with the bluewater situation . The navy men on the aircraft carriers dealing with agent orange and not getting benefits. I got my staff looking into that. We are still looking into it but i am aware of it. I would like to invite you, director smith, june 29th at the garden civic center. The recognition of veterans, doing fundraiser. And you know director smith quite well and staff and if you do that i appreciate it. I would love to do that and say this about the burning ham va, they treat our veterans, the birmingham va does a good job and the new annex down there and the fabulous facility. And they accommodate everybody well. They are most excited about the parking deck and it gives them great access to the facility. Denise weaver handles veterans issues, she is the lady in the white dress, if you are here and have issues with she loves you guys and gals who have served the country. Number 8 is good. This gentleman over here, cant read the. Vietnam vet, thanks for your service. Appreciate you coming. [applause] i appreciate you coming. I have one question dealing with education. I have a grandson who is 22 years of age in college. He cannot qualify himself for fastpar because he is not 25 years old. His father is deceased and his mother is disabled. He cant get it because of that without her having to sign for it. What can we do about that . On those issues you need to call denise and explain the situation, get in touch with her. And we have one of the best records of everybody, we take this seriously, and the dependent children. This gentleman is very persistent. I worked for an aids organization. People with hiv are living a normal life, i still remember the dark days before we had medicine. A lot of us particularly in the south didnt have care. Didnt have insurance coverage. Interesting to see what will come of the preexisting conditions package you are talking about. It was still a death sentence when we had lifesaving medication. We are at the verge of an aids free generation, the biggest epidemic in the history. A comment and a question, Medicaid Expansion with the backbone of how we get along way. States that didnt are falling behind, people are still sick or and not healthy. Also, medicaid block grants dont grow if theres an economic downturn. Hurricane or oil spill or healthy market collapse block grants dont there the same as the right we have been enjoying is an entitlement for decades. I hope we are able to keep an eye on Medicaid Expansion making sure the states didnt expand or are able my question, thanks for your patience. I appreciate the way you approach this. Thank you very much. Appreciate an earlier question, speaker ryan said he wants to give quality healthcare, Affordable Health care to every american. May i correct that statement . You would oppose a bill that ensures fewer people rather than more or has higher outofpocket expenses, the same or Better Benefits with preexisting condition. Let me address the aids issue. I served 20 years with the united way, Community Initiatives committee. Community planning. I was on the original aids subcommittee. Dont know if you remember that. For united way . Done through united way. It was the birmingham aids outreach effort, some of you know Patricia Todd was a member of that committee, the subcommittee. I am one of the guys to put together the grant, 75,000 to launch that effort to provide medicine and groceries and care for people who were dying of aids. I understand that issue and thankful the research has gotten us to a point where people dying from aids will be a thing of the past. In regard to the healthcare bill. Medicaid expansion. I do not support Medicaid Expansion but in the event of a hurricane or disaster congress will take action as we have done in other cases to meet the needs of the community. As far as providing insurance for people, what we have done with this bill puts us on a path where it will be accessible to everybody, premiums will come down and there is more work we need to do to bring down premiums so we can get back to a Health Care System where people can have the insurance they want and can afford and can afford to use it because right now you have millions of people who chose not to get insurance, 20 Million People, chose to apply for hardship waivers through the irs. Simply paid the fine but millions more have insurance and cant afford to use it and the premiums are driving people out of the market. The individual mandate was inelegant but some solution, nobody likes the current bill either. I wonder that is not true. You will see a lot of people like the new bill. You publish a letter saying you would only want to support a bill that ensures more. In sure more people and lower outofpocket expenses, not hire. So i dont have to answer it again, i support the current bill with the amendment we added, that is what i intend to vote for. Okay . Over here, lady and black back there, rene. Thank you for taking my question, comment, thank you for having this open forum which is indicative of democracy in action. [applause] however, i do wish and i feel the need to remind you and the others in this room that the popular vote was 2. 9 million in favor of Hillary Clinton and our all that Doral College system is antiquated. In the same constitution it contains the elements of the electoral college, also amendments ix and x which state, amendment ix the enumeration in the constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. Amendment x, the powers not dedicated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states are reserved to the states respectively or to the people. These two amendments have indicated to generations of constitutional scholars and to me in my humble opinion as well that revolution always remains an option when the government fails to deliver as the people require. [applause] is i the same constitution you do and i read those two amendments saying the power not especially delegated by the constitution to the federal government or prohibited thereof are reserved to the people in the states which is one reason state constitutions are so much longer than federal constitution but it does nothing about revolution. However if you want to read the declaration of independence, the reasons for revolution, you might make that case from that but not from the constitution. I appreciate your views on federalism. I think it was eloquently read and accurately read but that really applies to federalism. Welcome, thank you for being here. I am a realtor with realty south and president of the association of realtors and obvious champion of homeownership. We attended the National Convention in orlando and learned of three different tax proposals that were considered by congress, the tax reform act, ron whiteham tax reform plan and the House Republican tax loop blueprints. We have gone to the hill and begged to protect the mortgage Interest Deduction, one of the incentives many homeowners have, that have mortgages. We are learning in each of these plans, the bill drafters were able to protect mortgage Interest Deduction. When you do the math of each of these plans, all three of them disincentive eyes homeownership through automatic deduction. It is disincentive eyes and homeownership. My question is do you have updates on these plans and can we count on you to protect not only mortgage Interest Deduction but homeownership for the American Family . [applause] as a homeowner with a mortgage i think yes. The widen plan is not under consideration, group, it is a work in progress, and the deduction for mortgage interest, the thing we are trying to do, to simplify the tax code and get it down to three brackets and Economic Growth. And to the rest of the world to allow companies, the way they make them, and create jobs and do that. In the budget committee. And the government reform committee. And chairing that particular hearing, and the irs periodically reports on the tax gap. And three or four years, 2012 since he reported that the amount of taxes the federal government, what they actually collected, the tax gap is 406 billion. And 406 billion and by the time we go through the process, what we collect would be less and what we spend collecting it and the tax gap was 456 billion, they recover 50 billion of it and if you owe 10,000 to the irs contact us and pretty effective if all we collect is 56 billion, think about it. 400 billion and we do everything in 10year windows, that is 4 trillion, we have a 20 trillion debt, a 1 increase ads 200 billion to the debt service. It is not sustainable. We got to do something to simplify the tax code, to increase the revenue and one way to do that is get the economy going again. 1. 55 , the 70 year average for Economic Growth is 3. 21 . We have less then half the 70 year average, revenues go up, jobs go up, incomes go up, middleclass will thrive again. That is the objective of tax reform. We want is this is to invest in a stable environment and expand, to create new businesses and want other companies to come and give business here and hire American Workers and on the healthcare side, you may or may not like this, one of the best things we can do, good benefits, Labor Participation rate, the lowest it has been in 40 years. That is the point of tax reform. Thank you for your question. This lady in the back sweater. I live in hoover. I am concerned about Climate Change but more immediately i am very concerned about situations like that happened in West Virginia where neighborhoods will never be able to have decent water due to a Chemical Spill from a company and also in alabama we had an oil spill, what concerns me is not that we have pipes and things like that, we are cutting so much money from the people who need to inspect those things, we have to have Chemical Companies and things that beginning two years ago 10 was taken away the budgets of every agency just across the board, almost spitefully i think but it seems like more and more, the epa is spoken of so derisively and even regulations armenia had an earthquake, everything fell to the ground. We need to regulations especially on industries i dont want to lose my water, dont want to lose my house for my property. That is something we can do something about but we keep taking money from people who need to watch what is being done. We dont support no regulations. We support sensible reasonable regulations and that is what we are working toward. Let me answer the ladys question. Show respect. I can make it really brief. I am concerned about the immediacy, west texas blue up because no one was inspecting to see how much fertilizer was in their plant and in alabama, pipes broke. Im not against all pipes, Chemical Companies in West Virginia, there is a whole town that can never have freshwater again because of a Chemical Spill. I am concerned how much we have cut from regulations overseeing what we are doing which im not against the business but we are not watching to keep i want my wanted to stay clean. All right. As i was trying to answer the question, we are not getting rid of all the regulations that we are trying to get to sensible regulations and we want the epa to do their job. I dont know if you are aware of this but the epa has caused two major cells, when in georgia which they tried to cover up and the mine in colorado that literally flooded hundreds of thousands of acres on indian reservations. We had a hearing before our committee and tribal leaders from the tribes that are impacted and the epa tried to cover that up so it is not just business. He will have accidents but want inspections, and to have regulations that do what 30 or 40 years, our economy grew up 162 . And 22 , emissions down 56 and every category of emissions we have improved. We have done it through sensible regulations, in the private sector. That is the way to do it. And replacing water systems. We need to replace that. We had a hearing where the epa covered it up. And exchange of emails from the state of michigan to district 5. We have got to have people that we trust running these agencies. I want to thank you for being here. Another vietnam veteran, thank you for your service. [applause] i want to thank the other members for being here. How many veterans . Can we all stand . [applause] i want to thank you for who you are and your staff and talk to a lot of numbers tonight, but there is a number of our veterans, it is estimated 22 veterans commit suicide every day. I hope we have your prayers and your support, the Mental Health issues that face veterans of all ages and i am a vietnam veteran and i can speak for most of the veterans here, that we are proud to have an opportunity to serve our country as you are serving your country. [applause] thank you, sir. You have a fabulous advocate for Mental Health treatment for veterans and congressman tim murphy of pennsylvania. I have gotten to know tim. Tim supports the amendment, a clinical psychologist. Much more moderate than i am but he and i are on the same page on this and this is another part of healthcare that needs to be addressed and that is healthcare, that shouldnt be in the hospital. Cancer patients go through depression and windup not doing, taking their medicine, or the rehabilitation regime that they need to do is make sure we coordinate that care and he is right. One of the most shocking reports i have seen in my entire career in Public Policy is the report that came out last summer the reported 22 veterans a day are committing suicide. That is a National Tragedy and we have to do something about it. Thank you for your service and bringing that to our attention. I need to be fair. He is saying the hospital in birmingham is working closely with that. Some of the va hospitals are and one of my concerns is how many veterans hospitals are keeping people on waiting lists. We have literally have suicide hotlines that have answering machines. They did not respond. It is a shame on the nation that we have allowed this to happen. This gentleman right here in the gray shirt. Thank you, representative palmer. I want to talk about something that was in the news today and see if i am wrong on this. What they are talking about is Congress Wants to try again to put a health bill through and the Freedom Caucus has come up with something being pushed, which to me sounds like a technicality but would allow insurers to charge more, to get a preexisting condition. That is why a lot of people are very sensitive. There are thousands of preexisting conditions and maybe this is what is needed to kill the aca. A lot of us are deathly afraid of being sold down the river. The amount you are talking about, and the strategic group, the moderates. I have been reading to you from it. You may have thought it was my amendment but it is not, it is tom macarthurs amendment that the Freedom Caucus has agreed to and under this amendment. And doing my work, what they are talking about is the macarthur amendment. It was under the Community Rating provision except for limited waivers will be maintained, that is the commitment. Limited waivers and i can promise you, congressman macarthur is not going to support anything, any kind of hardship on people getting their insurance. This lady in the black. Thank you for having the meeting. In a big enough place where we can sit comfortably. And thank you to the veterans, you guys, you women, and it is a shame on this nation, taking better care of them which back to the women here with a black vest on. And i am not sure why in my experience weight men did not seem to appreciate the disparity exists. I retired after 30 years of service for practice law. And a group list which and if it is because the amendment, i dont know what the problem is, letting the market decide that problem is not the answer in my opinion. [cheers and applause] as a case in point, was told by a man in 1976, you might call him a market determined or that he would never hire a woman lawyer because women were not strong enough, women were not tough enough to be trial lawyers and he wouldnt have anything to do with hiring one of us. The market was telling him that and the market was telling me that. The same argument people used to not let blacks it at lunch counters, let the market tell us who gets to sit there and on and on. You can see the passion on my face because not only debited she has lived it, all of us are living it. While i appreciate and agree with you, you should never sign or vote on any bill you havent seen, you have been in the think take for 24 years, why cant you commit to write a bill that would guarantee Women Equal Pay for equal work . And if you cant do it. [cheers and applause] if you cant do it helped me understand why. I dont disagree with most of what you said. I am the father of two daughters and i want them to get paid every time they should get i dont want to disparity between them and any guy, i can promise you that. I guess i was inarticulate about it. What i dont want to have is a government mandate on it. What i want to have is fairness. You cant mandate pay. That is not the way to go. I will look into it and that is the fairest thing i can tell you. The people that know me will tell you i do i listened to you believe it or not. I process everything. I want to know more about this and to know what is going on because i dont think anybody should be shortchanged i dont care who they are, race, gender, anything else. I do think to conflate that with the race issue was probably not the best conflation of the issue but i understand your passion and i certainly would understand the offense you took from the gentleman that said that to you. That is the international for we are going to take one more question. There is a gentleman in the back, the yellow shirt. On the radio today, budget advertise too good. I hope eight years we will repeal obamacare and when you got in charge dont have a plan. Trying to now you are working on another plan. My question is this is a big thing that affects a lot of people and yall are going to hit 24 Million People out here to know insurance codes. Promise me that you will help people and also dont give medicaid to the state of alabama. Dont do that. They will not fund it and they will take the money and put it to where else. [applause] no one will end funding for medicaid. We are not having a singlepayer system. No one is talking about medicaid. That is not an issue. As far as 24 Million People losing their insurance. I started with this and i will end with this. The amendment we added on the sharing plan will increase the number of insurance from 1. 2 to 2. 1 Million People. We are not going to leave people without insurance. The bill includes tax credits for people to buy insurance. People can buy their insurance. No one should lose their insurance. As far as i said their plan, when the current bill came out i opposed the bill. We made changes to the bill that are substantially better than we started with. There is a word for that. Before you spoke on it. [cheers and applause] show us the bill the bill is available. The bill has been out there. [shouting] show us the bill show us the bill show us the bill we do have some people who have very few good manners, they lose their temper. I try to address everybody here from a perspective as much as it is up to me, whenever possible, to be a at peace with all people. I cant do anything about how people act which i can only do something about how i react to it. I am not a liar. I am committed to doing what is best for the country for people and glorifies god and if that is a problem for you, sir. You need to listen to what i am saying. You claim to be a christian, you need to act like it. Let me answer. The bill will be available before we vote on it. I have explained what is in the bill, i have read the bill, and you can call me a liar, you can call me spineless, i thank you for coming. [applause] this morning a senate panel look that us policy in the asiapacific region focusing on current tensions with north korea. The Senate Armed ServicesCommittee Hears from several National SecurityCouncil Officials live today at 9 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan3. You can follow live coverage at cspan. Org and listen on the cspan radio apps. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979 cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards delivered the state of the state address in baton rouge outlining countering the state budget deficit, improve infrastructure