This is an hour and 20 minute minutes. Thank you very much. Thank you, i want to thank elizabeth. Shes a product of West Virginia. Her dad and family went to school with me. To the organizers, really is god bless youall. , i asked how many do you expect . She said 300. We have 600. To micah, to shane, to megan, i thank them and to all of our speakers, makes a difference so i as write yall being here and to thank public officials. My friend mike ky and the judge here and i dont know if there is others but i thank team for being here because sometimes its a tough one. Anyway, let me i want to introduce my staff to you. My staff is here and will be here and we do case work, anything you need help with. Were facilitators and will be sure to get you the help from any state department. Kim, raise your hand. Kim is in the back. Kim is one of the top caseworkers. Maria is on this side and brian . Brian is right here. T. J. Is from my d. C. Office. I want to thank them. Let me say a couple things and well open up to thinking yall want to talk about. Im sure yall have concerns on other things, too. Everything is on the table. Affordable care act is the biggest things we face. Its one of the largest social agendas we have and social policy changes. Put this next to medicare and social security, its right up there. Social security didnt get it right in 1935. It took awhile and medicare didnt get it right and it will take awhile to get it. There is not a person in this room that doesnt believe we can fix it. You dont throw the baby out with the bath water. You dont repeal it. The politics can youall hear me . Can you hear me back there . Are you okay . The politics are so bad. I met with President Trump four weeks ago. I said let me tell you what is happening, our republicans made a political promise repeal, repeal, our senator byrd passed away in 2010. Trust me, i miss him more than you miss him. Right . He was something. 60 times they voted to repeal it. Not one time did i see something, hey, joe, here is something better. Hey, joe, this is something worth fixing. Not one time. Im the person they usually go to if they find someone to swing to work and cross over and say okay, that makes sense. Lets try to make it better. Nobody. So im thinking, okay, now all of a sudden, thats their mantra and think about this. They had success. In 2010 we just about got wiped out, the democrats. We started losing all of our house seats and we Lose Senate Seats by 2014 we lost both the house and senate, so they think thats a roll now. They think they are on a roll and i think the people must want this for us to repeal this because weve been working on that. And im saying wait a minute, and then they now they got to put up or shut up. I said mr. President , they are telling you that were going to basically repeal it immediately, but not change anything for two years. I said sir, down they a you und they are trying to get through the 2018 election . They know how devastating this will be and push out and 2018 after the election. I said what they are not telling you, they will repeal day one every single tax that pays for this thing. Youre going to be 475 billion and 475 billion and they havent explained that to you yet. I said mr. President , thats just not right, please dont go down it. Because then he saw it. Its a miracle i saw it. Now i can put it off to play the political game. At least we called him out on that. The only thing i would ask all of you. There is no reason on earth that we cant sit down, democrats and republicans and look at the repair in the private market. We can fix that. If we all agree the preexisting condition is inhumane, not to allow a person to buy insurance thats affordable, even though they had a horrific health care problem, that republicans tell me, they agree basically we shouldnt have a cap and a cap says im sorry, aunt mary, youve used all the money we could ever afford to spend on you to keep you alive or healthy. We agree thats inhumane. Thats okay, if we agree on that we agree the 26yearolds should stay on. We agree our Senior Citizens should fill our Medicare Part d hole. We agree on that. If we agree on that, why in the hell do you want to throw it out . Why do you want to repeal it and start over . Thats all so i said, here is where the problem is. Here is where the problem is if you make 75,000 or greater, your salary and youre not private sector, private market, youre paying higher pr eer pre higher detectables and will say wait a minute, im paying all this and i got to pay thousands more until i get to use my insurance. Thats the pry sit sivate secton fix. No one has ever worked on that. I havent found a 26yearold yet that paid 4600 for the product we have on the market now as soon as they leave their parents. They will pay the 750 fine but not the 4600 because its too costly for them. So those are things to work. I want to give a shoutout, workers here. They have been getting screwed royally. Let me tell you. And im i want to tell you the whole story because you probably are only hearing part of it. Were fighting right now for our health care benefits, retirements and our pension. Right now were on four month extensions. They have been playing this fourmonth extension. This started in 1946. John l. Lewis was going to pull out because my grandparents and everybody that worked in the mines got nothing. No retirement or health care or nothing. We built this country and fought more than two wars. So important to have energy we had that basically they said okay, the truman and krugman act said there would be a certain amount of money taken out of every ton of coal mined. It wasnt taxpayer dollars. I was going out of the work they performed. That goes on. Everything is fine. We had that in place. In 1980. The bankruptcy laws came into place that allows companies to go bankrupt and walk away from the obligation and pay. That has 7208. The abandoned land comes from every ton of coal you produce in america goes into a reclamation friend. Were not using any of the money basically used for reclamation. Were using the excess money to pay for the miners pension and retirement fund. We have a great bill. Weve been working for three years and mitch make ccconnell d us every time. I said right now ive got a trade agent that they want real bad and he has to have 60 votes and i got him on hold and im going to tell you, hes going to stay on hold until we get this protection bill. So the other thing, were going to get our health care done but we got to come back and fight pension. I want to talk about opiates. As a West Virginiaen, youve been kind to me. Ive been around here for a long time and many different posit n positions and learned a lot and made a lot of mistakes and i never made a mistake trying to hurt my state or hurt anybody in my state. Ive always learned from every mistake ive made. Ive always tried to do something and sometimes when you do something, it doesnt work out you got to fix it. Thats what were doing now and you got to fix this. So were the first time in my lifetime that weve been below 50 of the adults working age working in West Virginia, it just tears me apart. We have the best workers in the world, and everyone says you get a West Virginiaen, you got a great worker. They will give you a Good Days Work for a good days pay. There is too few of them. There is three things to keep you out of the work force, lack of skill sets, addicted or convicted. You got a conviction on you, addiction on you or a lack of skill sets or combination of those three. The one thats killing us is addiction. This addiction basically, not one of us in the room right now if were honest with ourselves that doesnt know somebody in our immediate family, me included, our extended family or close friend that hasnt been addicted by prescription or elicit drugs. Thats an epidemic proportion and if we dont step forward and this generation doesnt fight this, god help us all because tell your children, i go to the schools and tell your children, there is not another country that can take us on. There is not another country that basically can matchup with our military might, nowhere in the world. They know it. There is not enough. There is not another economy that comes close to our economy. Were about a 20 trillion gdp and china around 10, 10. 5 and drops off the scale after that. Nobody. They know they cant. Guess what . They are not going to. They dont have to. They think that were going to fall from within. They dont think well have a sober enough a less addicted or well educated enough work force to remain a super power into the 2050s. I mean, you know, they just figure hey, you cant do it. You arent producing the people that basically can keep us super power of the world. So i asked all the kids, here is the problem we got. Addiction. Ive got a bill called lifeboat. If you dont do anything, help me on this bill. This bill makes every pharmaceutical manufacturer pay one penny per milligram of opiates they produce. One penny. Let me tell you what that one penny does. That one penny goes to Treatment Centers around the country and where its most needed. I guarantee you, West Virginia will have one in every community. That will that one penny youre not going to believe this, that one penny will produce 1. 5 to 2 billion with a b, dollars a year. One penny, so people says i dont have i cant get one of my republican friends to sign off. They said oh, weve took a pledge of no new taxes. I said this is a life saving thing. This doesnt have home. I said opiate addiction and overdose from prescription drugs is killing democrats, republicans, liberals, conservatives. It doesnt care. And its a silent killer because we dont say anything. We try to fix it ourself. You cant. And what were saying, what were saying is that one thing would give us the money to fund it and taking money away. The Affordable Care act right now for the first time people with mental disorders, Mental Health, people that basically are addicted are getting help now and were paying for it. Never did before. That will take that away immediately. Back to square one. Thats why were fighting this so hard. The second thing is, i get a person with an addiction, i go to all the different clinics and everything. I talk to people that have been addicted and lives been ruined. They are thankful they are still alive because they overdosed many times and been safe. They said i want to get cured matt boggs has a recovery house in huntington. Thats ground zero, ground zero, if youve not been there, its awful. They are fighting it. They are doing it. They have an excellent really a group of excellent doctors, their town, their community and the Marshall University has gone together to have a school of excellence basically treating from conception to birth and child all the way through because what happens is we catch him at the tail end after they have been addicted. We get a baby neo natal baby addicted from an addicted mother that go home to an addicted lifestyle. They end up repeating the same thing. So its an all inclusive thing. The other one is they wont stay in treatment because they cant get rid of their conviction. They got a felony on their hand. Most of it is larceny knee. We have a bill called last chance. This one bill, i need help on this one, too. Last chance says this, if its not a crime if its not a Violent Crime or sexual crime that you committed. If its mostly a large knceny lu go through a oneyear recovery, certified recovery plan, one year as a mentor, youre mentoring other people, after that two years, your sponsors can go to the sentencing judge and the sentencing and basically the arresting officers to go to court to ask for forgiveness and expungement so you can get back in the work force. Those are the things that weve done. So with that being said, well talk about anything and everything and this is my fourth one in two days and i guarantee, anything and everything does come up. Im happy about that. Mike, however you i if any as you guys can see, this is a huge line on this wall. So if you have any questions, please go and stand next to the wall and like i said, its 90 seconds you get to tell your story or ask your question. The senator will have a little bit longer, not much longer, to answer those questions as much as he can because what time does it forum end . If you need anything, i mean, were here. Hi senator. You guys hear me . Okay. Im from Brooke County and im standing here today and im standing here today on behalf of my best friend alex that committed suicide. I would appreciate it if you could let me finish the entire question. Thank you. Senator, while im encouraged, i have not heard you speak about the silent killer, every 12 minutes someone in our country commits suicide and every 30 seconds someone attempts to take their own life. This is a Public Health cry sis that is affecting your constituents, our neighbors, especially the poorest among us. Mcdowell county, the poorest county has the highest rate of suicide in West Virginia and West Virginias population has a 50 higher rate of suicide than compared to our countrys average. Thats not a coincidence. Poverty is a death sentence. What i heard you say at thursdays town hall in charleston is that even though your second top donor is your daughters pharmaceutical company, we are to believe that you are not beholding to and do not work in her favor and you even admitted while West Virginians are dying daily from suicide and drug overdose, your daughter is one of grossly over paid in the industry. If you truly dont work in the favor of your donors, why are you pushing so many opiate related bills . I heard you laugh off medical marijuana in charlton saying Everyone Wants to smoke marijuana for peace, love and whatever but for countless veterans, Cancer Patients and People Living with chronic pain, being denied a safe, natural alternative to the pharmaceuticals that have poisoned every inch of our state is not a laughing matter. With the im pendimpending repe thousands of West Virginians lacking the access to medicinal therapies that do help mental illnesses, so how do you project the numbers may change for your constituents who suffer from Mental Health issues and who consider suicide their only option and what have you done since your town hall in charleston to educate yourself about the benefits of medical marijuana . [ applause ] first of all, my daughter, as you know, is ceo of the pharmaceutical and she knows and i know all pharmaceutical, people at that level and other people at that Health Care Level are all over paid. Okay . We talk about this. But i dont have control of that. They dont have control of that. Thats all its so crazy. I dont even understand it. With that being said, with that being said, im proud of milam and what they have done for morgantown and people have jobs. I know a lot of people that do and i hope that they understand that because it could have been wiped out and wasnt. With that said, would you think im supporting opiates . If milan pharmaceutical or any other and thats their product, you better mind another because i would put you out of business. Id put opiates but people need them for pain. I understand that. I do. There is a balance. As far as marijuana, here is what we said about marijuana. There is people that want Recreational Marijuana and the only thing i can tell you is i go to the different Treatment Centers and clinics and Addiction Centers where people have been addicted. They usually nine out of ten of them will tell me, i always ask how did you get started with on your addiction. They all tell me boo thats well, let me just say this, let me say this, that this is exactly so, so, this is exactly and the other three and people dont think thats true. So im trying to learn about it but im telling you what i find out when i travel to the Addiction Centers they said they started with medical not medical but Recreational Marijuana. They said it turns into harder stuff and i know youre saying i know, i know. Im trying to find out, too, and trying to learn. She say what is have i learned . I learned since thursday that medical marijuana, there is a lot of good assets and attributes that it can help. So if thats the case, were looking at that. Im talking to doctors and going back to washington doing research and finding out doctors and how they feel about it. Whats the side effects . What can it do . Can you get off of it or is it the same as Treatment Centers for it, too . I dont know but were going to find out. Were trying everything i can. I said this, what i know about just marijuana, Recreational Marijuana, i would not be in favor or support legalizing Recreational Marijuana. Thats just me. I know that, trust me, the same in all three other town halls, its the same. People feel the same about that. So with that and i know they say colorado made a lot of money, and this and that, and prohib prohibition didnt work. I heard every for the last three days, i heard a little bit of everything and well take all of that in consideration. Thats what all this is about is for me to understand your concerns and learn more about it. I can only tell you what i know and it might not be enough to be have this conversation you want but im willing to learn. Im not acceptable to the Recreational Marijuana and legalizing marijuana. Im more receptive to finding out medical marijuana, what role it can play and hope people with their care. [ applause ] in the interest of time, just one comment about asking questions, this is for everybody in line, if as we move through this process you have your question answered, if you could please take your seat. If your question has been answered sat ttis fa answered, take a seat so we can cover a wide variety of topics. Senator, thank you so much for being here. My name is jen ter wagner. Thank you very much for your opposition to repealing the aca and your support for health care for americans and you heard the Services Planned parenthood provides and health. [ applause ] let me let me say first of all, were all a product of our environment. I watched my family and grand mother and life is precious. I was raised and engrained in me as being as prolife as i could possibly be. I go to congress when i was governor,know, i fried to balance this out as best i could because i know how emotional. I have a lot of women in my life, my daughters, my wife, my mothers and all ever them, so i hear from all different sides of you. I first went to congress and when first i think in 2011 a vote came up to deFund Planned Parenthood. And me being prolife, i said, makes sense, they do all the abortions. Then i started learning a little bit more and i said, well, theres the hide amendment. And they said, joe, the hide ameant mend meant basically makes sure that not one penny of federal dollars goes toward paying abortion dollars. So people that are against abortions basically cant say my tax dollars were against my will. So the hide amendment protects that from being done. My friends on the pro life said no, joe, wait a minute. I said im looking everywhere i can. If i can find one pen nay goes from the funds of federal dollars that go into paid abortions, then woip vote against funding planned parenthood. But i couldnt, so i voted for funding planned parenthood. Then then we saw the horrible the horrible accusations and videos that came out and that was all being investigated. Then we have another vote and i voted against planned parenthood until that investigation was cleared up. That investigation, im understanding, has been cleared up. There is i think charges against the people that made the unwarranted documents, and all i can tell you is this. If it comes up, if planned parenthood comes up and it comes up again and there is absolutely no connection whats so ever, everything that basically has been said was false, is proven false and nothing comes up between now and then, i will vote to Fund Planned Parenthood again. Senator, thank you for being here im elizabeth husbandsy while i grew up in fairmont and now live in morgantown and i want to thank you for your support to wanting to keep the aca. My husband and i would not be able to afford any kind of Health Insurance were not for the mar kit place and insurance subskid sid did is provided. He has a small home repair Remodel Company i work for a jung locally based nonprofit and without those things from the aca we would not be able you all are from the market extension. The marketplace, yeah. I know right where you are. So thank you for fighting for that. Everyone thinks that anybodys getsing free healthcare or getting it and theyre not working, theyre not getting free healthcare. They are working theyre getting some assistance and subsidies and lower prices. So its not free. So thank you for that. My question is about another issue thats coming up in the senate that actually has a direct impact on healthcare. In the Hobby Lobby Stores versus sa bailya Supreme Court nominee neil gorsuch signed on to an opinion allowing for profit employers to refuse to comply with the birnl control benefit in the Affordable Care act. Senator, given that you have stated that you would not vote to reduce any coverage afforded to women under the aca, do you also oppose mr. Gorsuchs nomination . Thats a good question. Thats one that comes up all the time. So and just to follow up real quick, you can commit to getting an answer from mr. Gorsuch about the hobby lobby decision . Well, im going to meet with mr. Gorsuch. He whats a hearing coming up next week. I will be sitting down with him before i make my final decision on him. I will ask that question directly. I havent had a chance. Ive met him, i havent talked to him. Ill ask him. Let me talk about where we are. I was never so embarrassed as es specially is as a u. S. Senator but as an american. But as a u. S. Senator sitting there when mayor rick garland came up for consideration and he was nominated. And my colleagues on the republican side some of them wouldnt even let him come in tharp office and sit down and talk to him. I just wasnt raised that way. I keep saying, we just werent raised that way in West Virginia. We talk to everybody. Might not agree, but well talk to you. And i couldnt so i understand for 12 months we went without a nominee. At that time, Mitch Mcconnell says, well, its because basically back in 1990 joe biden said that we shouldnt be at the last someones last year of their term and i think it was last three or four months of the term back then, that you shouldnt have that president whos going out appoint someone for a lifetime appointment. Thats the argument that was being made. And thats what mitch was saying. Well they sat on marek garland for a year. So now we got everybody mad on that side, but we have i have my friend here, the judge, and i can tell you for this for democracy to work youve got have three branches of government that work whether we like it or not. Youve got to have the executive branch, ill speak about that, you have to have the legislative branch, which im part of, and the Judicial Branch. And the Judicial Branch does not work with eight members of the Supreme Court. Youve got to have nine. You just cant be in a tie and throw everything back down. So i truly believe. So heres what we have. Harry reid pulled the Nuclear Option and so you know what the Nuclear Option is in 2015, im the only democrat in the senate today that voted against what harry was doing. I said, harry, robert c. Berg would be rolling over in his grave. If he could come out of his grave he could come after you for doing this. Its wrong. The beauty of the senate, unlike any other political body, any other policy body in the world is so different because we have the rule of the minority. The minority has a 60 vote or the party has to have a 60 vote threshold. That gives the minority input. George washington suddenly asked him why do you have both . Why do you have a bicam ral the house can do anything they want to with a simple majority 218. And Joe Washington says, well, he says, the member of the peoples member will be like a hot cup of tea. Sometimes its so hot you cant drink it and the senates supposed to be like the saucer that catches the overflow of the hot tea and cools it off so that you can drink it. That was washingtons explanation back in 1789 spot heres what were dealing with. The Nuclear Option is basically 51 votes in the senate. Now, im here to tell you i think Mitch Mcconnell will say, well harry reid did it in 2015, im going 0 blow the Nuclear Option for the Supreme Court and i am begging him not to. If you do you destroy the whole process that we have will be destroyed because then theyll do it with lenl slags. Then with have no input, no say whatsoever, the minority. And believe me, what goes around comes around. With neil gorsuch i cant give you a definitive yet. My main concern is can i keep the 60vote threshold . And i will vote to support the 60vote threshold i will not go down to the 51 vote with everything i have in me. Neil gorsuch, whoever he replaces youre replacing ja ska leelya who was an extremely conservative justice. So theyre replacing this justice now. The next theres going to be another one, hopefully not, but more than likely, you know, with the age and Everything Else it will catch up and there could be another one within this fouryear term. Thats the concerning so were going to try to keep it intact and the 60 vote and ill ask him the question, i have no problem asking the question. Hi. My name is jill hess, im from fairmont, iowa. Virginia. I have a preexisting condition that significantly impacts my functioning and i, i weekly infusions that before insurance would cost two or 20,000 a month, 20,000 a month, that far exceeds what i make annually. I, i this to function. Now, i could be significantly impaired by changes to the aca, but im one of many. In this stas we have horrible health dissparts, chronic illnesses. We are a product of our environment and so i want to know how are you going to make sure that the unique nature of West Virginias Public Health is honored and understood in washington so that when changes come, they arent going to totally negatively impact our state more devastatingly than it already has been . Thats the reason weir all here today fighting the aca. You repeal that you think our problems are bad now they exacerbate the problems we have right now and thats the problem. How do we get people healthier and a healthier lifestyle sn . When i was your governor i went to washington and said let me take care of people a lil bit better than your doing. The Chips Program is for people that are working but are poor. If youre coming from a family that doesnt have insurance youre not getting routine maintenance or preventative care. Youre basically using it when you have to and the skid basically taken to the hospital and sure the, the chips will pay for it had theyre really sick. So i says, let me use that same amount of money you give my state and let me use it for k 25 and 8. Let me start way kid coming to kind are gart ten, do the bmi, follow them through and keep them from getting sick. We were doing things like that. I said let me work with my welfare were people on medicaid. I said a healthy person or medicaid does not need the same type of care that a very sick person on medicaid needs. I only had so much money, there was only so much of your tax money i could spend. So i said if youre a healthy person and youre on medicaid and youre on welfare, i want to you go to your nutritional classes, i want to you exercise, i want nutrition, i want to you learn how to cook. You have to learn how to basically live a healthier lifestyle. They beat the living crap out of me on that. And i said because i cant help the poor people that are so sick because all my moneys being used up in different areas. So we tried to put common sense to it and were going to have to put common sense to our whole healthcare providership. Thats what we havent done. Were going to talk about that too, single pair, because thats a big thing and we will. Well get to that. Thank you, senator. My names Richard Steiner im from fairmont. A lot of hometown people here. My question to you is what ive read about with the republicans changes to the aca, they want to basically replace it with tax credits and im here on behalf of some of my friends from mcdowel county and that county has the lowest Life Expectancy in the United States, has one of the lowest per median capita income. How are they going to be able to afford Health Insurance if it relies on tax credits when they cant even make it, you know. We know that aca, obamacare isnt working. Everybody can agree with you on that. But its better than nothing. And with the republican plan. Well its working, it really is. Nothing is what we are going to get. Let me just say this. It is working where it was intended to work, basically filled in a gap of 20 Million People that never had a prayer, never had a chance. Theyd have never gotten out. So thats what you cant go back on. You cant go back on that. Its the private, its the private markets, okay. And we can fix the private markets, but no one wants to fix it because if you fix it then basically you told all your people who voted for you were going to repeal it. Well, wait, you fixed it. Well oar im sorry, im going to old you accountable im not going to vote for you because you told me youd repeal it. Well dont you think its better if you fix it . No rational anymore about fixing things. Theres a bunch of tax credits to the richest americans, they dont need it, if we dont us money that those tax credits would be given to them, if we dont use it wisely and make sure were getting people healthier, living a quality life, a better life, more productive life, then weve not done our job either. Its the responsibility of everybody. Let me talk about im going to talk about single pair because i know whos got the question on single pair, i know you do. Bring that single payer, we might as well get right to that if you dont zbliend my names leslie goreman and thank you for having courage because the other representatives didnt. Are you aware of the house bill hr im sorry, 676 6, 77 . Im sorry. Okay, what. It say medicare for all bill. Medicare for all. That was introduced in january in the house. No one knows about it. Well, its a shame. Until it comes over to the zmat we usually dont. Well, thats why im here. Okay. It covers comprehensively everything that we need and how to pay for it. What was the pay for . Its medicare for all. Who pays . Its a 5 increase on or tax increase sorry. Its a 5 tax increase on the richest 5 of the country. I actually brought a copy of it with me. So first of all there are is something we need to talk about because i want to learn more about it too. Single pay, canada, what do we got . Canada, denmark, sweden, uk, theyre all in single. I said i said the same question people ask me how do they pay for it . Who pays . Whats the tax structure . All these things have to we have to revamp our tax structure in america. Weve got 20 trillion in debt and no ones talking about that and theyre going to go to 25 and were going to pass it on to the kids and grandkids which is criminal what were doing. But heres what i did find out. Let me take sweden. This sweden, i couldnt believe this one. Their taxable income from first dollar you make, your first dollar to 47,000, its zero. But, they have a local tax. So the federal the government of sweden takes zero from dollar one to 47,000, but they have a minimum tax in their local areas of 28 to 34, so everybody pays 28 on the first dollar they earn in income in sweden. If you make 47 to 67 , you pay 20 federal tax with a 28 local tax for a 48 tax structure. Thats not doable for us. Then you go down to uk. Uk has a better run were they go zero we dont know what their local taxes are, but zero to 5,400 pays 10 . So everybody pays something in the uk. Everybody pays 10 no matter how poor you may be. 5,400 to 34,000 is 20 , 34 to 161 is 40 , and 161 and above is 45 . Thats the uk. Canada, zero to 45 spers 15. So the first dollar in skand 15 taxes. 45 to 90, 21, 90 to be 142, 26 and it goes progressively. So im willing to look at everything. I truly am. Whatever gives, because i truly believe if you have a healthy person and if you go back and you think the system we had before and, again, ill refer back to when i was governor because i had a lot of stuff come at me. And basically i had all the hospitals coming to me and they said, well, governor youve got to give us this share were taking care of all these people and they cant pay. All these people are come together emergency room and they cant pay. Your tax dollars i had to jug around paying the hospitals to stay open because they were giving all the free care. And then workers comp was four billion dollars in debt and the four billion dollars was hading up because you know what happened . Person was working trying everything they could, didnt have insurance but the business they worked for bylaw had to have workers comp. So if they got hurt, wherever they got hurt, they hobble back in on moond claim a workers comp claim. Its the only thingthy had. If you think thats a decent way to deliver and thats what the republicans want to good back to. I sat on the frontline and watched that and we made some changes. It was unbelievable. So thats what were fighting against. Im open to look at anything and everything. If theres a way that we can all agree that this is our new tax structure this is how were going to pay for it, whatever were going to do, im fine. Im fine. So were looking at it. Okay. This is the fifth paragraph shows how it pays pore it. This is the bill i can hand it to you . I dont know if you want to give it to me . What well do see, let me tell you. Any of these bills here i can write a bill and maybe theyve done what they call a cbo score, they say, okay, it will do what you say its going to do so well look at anything. Sir, my name is ace barsy im a new resident and happy to be here. I wanted to credit you for being here because your two colleagues were invited and this is a decent good conversation and they should be here as well. But i wanted to talk about just a previous person asked the question and i think its a yes or no question, that in 2012 the Supreme Court voted a 54 decision to uphold the aca. These are unelected judges so all the legislative things we do we can still lose our healthcare and there are other decisions coming before the court, a 44 decision on the fred drikz case that would cut the unions ability to fight healthcare. I get adds on my internet, anything that i watch from outWest Virginias organizations because moneys unregulatend and they can come in. Pie question to you is if judge gorsuch doesnt make a commitment to these kind of decisions that protect our healthcare here in West Virginia, yes or no will you commit to voting against him . I cant say yes or no today until i talk to him. Im going to wait im going to wait youre saying if hes voting against that. Heres the thing. And im weighing it on this, and im as honest as i can be. The 60vote rule will destroy more if we deg gras date that and go down to 51. So lets say i vote against neil gorsuch and he gets 59 votes and he gets 59 votes, okay, he doesnt by the laws and rules. Senate right now its 60. Mcconnell, senator mcconnell, Mitch Mcconnell will bring it back up to vote on basically the Nuclear Option going to 51 votes. Hell go to 51. Then they dont need any of us, okay. So im saying, now, if we hold it at 60. When youre saying the aca was upheld by a 54 decision, that are was with justice skilleaa. So if you put gorsuch in scalias spot, does it get worse . Weve got to make sure. Because right to work its horrible what theyre doing the right to work and prevailing wage, our legislature in charleston has done is destroying basically the working person, and i mean that. Thats all of. That is awful. So, im ill ask that question, i sure with will. And youre asking me if he goes down that they wont give us an answer on it to be honest with you but ill be happy to ask. But if he does. If he does and hed say id vote this way id be hard pressed to vote for him, thats for sure. Okay. My name is dave bot im from more gonetown. As a former umwa labor representative, i left the industry in 96 because with the amended Clean Air Act i saw the downfall of the industry that was coming and i took a different careerpath that scared my family but we got through it. The miners protection act isnt bailing out miners, its bailing out cool companies. I want to know why we dont address the baps bankruptcy laws and make pensions the first people paid in every bankruptcy. Dave, youre exactly right and basically that has come up basically with the onslaught of people coming up to have a national right to work and what theyve done for prevailing wage this is coming out to the forefront. Were going to get some traction on this and legislation. Will it go anywhere with the Republican Legislature but basically ifaway dont try shame on all of us. But the bankruptcy courts have done allowing everybody to walk, theyve all been able to walk and 408ding the bag. I agree. I agree. We ready . Next. Youre ready. Hi, senator manchin im barb corn breath from ridge for the, West Virginia pit am glad youre here. Recently you explained on morning joe why you have been so supportive of mr. Trump lately, and you state thaud thanked him for supporting West Virginia coal miners. You rewarded mr. Trump by being one of two zratic senators to approve scott pruitt for the head of the epa. You stood. Boo. You stood by mr. Trump when he signed the amendment allowing it easier for Coal Companies to pollute our waters. Aside from that, what are you thanking mr. Trump for . Trump care hurts coal miners. What is trump doing for coal miners . What exactly do you support when you say you thank him for protecting the coal miners of West Virginia . Okay. I dont think i dont think theres any secret in this room i didnt vote for donald trump, i vote ford hillad for hillary. Now, with that being said, he got elected. Hes our president. Someone asked me when i was running, senator, what are you going to do with donald trump gets elected . I said im going to do the same thing i will if Hillary Clinton gets elected, im going to do my job. Piem going to do everything i can to make him the best president because hes the president of the United States of america. I want my country to succeed and my state to succeed and ive got to try to work with him. With that being said, i was the chief executive of the state. When i was govern noir went to the state senate. I said, guys, im going to bring a team on board that i know and trust put might not know them and you might not like them but if they can bass three things, a background check, if they request do a Financial Disclosure and an ethics probe and theyre clean, give them to me. If we screw up throw us out in four years. Im going to be there for four years let me put my team together. So in defrps to the executive i always let them try to put their team together. Theyre going to be gone with the executive if hes gone. Now, theres a few i couldnt vote for if they didnt have the skill sets. So well go with Jeff Sessions first. I voted for Jeff Sessions. Boo. I know that i heard from a lot of my friends about that one. And let me just say this, and i said were a product of our environment. I was auld taught if i knew a person i would base my decision on what i knew about you rather than what someone said about you. I nooi knew jeff i never saw one ounce of racism in him. They talked about senator byrd the same way, if that happened 50 years ago, i dont know, i wasnt there then. Im telling you exactly what i know. Heres where we stand now. Im the democrat that voted for Jeff Sessions. Now weve got an fbi investigation on michael flynn. Fbi investigation. Jeff sessions the new attorney general, there is no way Jeff Sessions should be heading up that investigation or being over that, so i said, jeff, step aside, step aside, jeff. Now, when i say it as the only democrat that voted for him, they cant say man chips playing politics, hes saying that he didnt vote for the guy anyway. I said no, i voted for him, he cant be had that position. And i told jeff session this. If its proven, if its proven that you misled or lied under oath to the committee, ill ask four to resign. I will do that. Thats all i can say. [ applause ] now, with that on scott pruitt, lets talk about scott pruitt basically passed the three things and i know he comes from extraction state. I understand, he understands, we have to hold his feet to the fire. But i can assure you youre going to get a scott pruitt or someone like a scott pruitt. He came up, hes knowledgeable. Okay, whether we agree or not on certain issues but i want to talk about the stream buffer rule, were not going to. The clean water act is still in place, the clear air act is going to be in place. Basically what the stream buffer rule hps hold on. Im okay you can holler at me too im okay with it. Back up heres the thing. The stream buffer rule, what it did, it took all the authority away from the epa, it took it away from the corps of engineers, and basically gave it into this 400 new regulations. And i look at the duplicity and i can tell you sometimes you weight it down, we cant have you know, theres got to be a balance between the economy and the environment. Theres got to be a balance somewhere. And thats all im looking for. Boo. Okay. I really ive got. Feedback before so i understand. But anyway, were going to hold his uh . Were not going to drink dirty water. Theyre not going to pollute, they cant pollute, theyll be in violation and shut down. I think, first of all, we all want clean water and air and were going to make sure we get. But some of us are going to do it differently. Well not by shutting everybody down on everything, you just cant do it. Thats wrong, im not for that. Im not for the cuts in epa. I want the epa to do its job. Hi. West virginians. We need to get to the next question. You better were get together next question now. Thank you. We need to tell the you guys, i promise that this would be a very respectable. Thats okay. Were okay. I just didnt want to good back on my promises either. Im from buck can nan West Virginia so first of all i wanted to thank you for, you know, protecting our healthcare for showing up here today and i also would like to thank you for voting against betsy devos. [ applause ] having said that, the affordable if the Affordable Care act is repealed as proposed, we will inevitably have more sick kids. Couple this with the fact that West VirginiaPublic Education is already struggling with enrollment and finances, Charter Schools would take many quality teachers out of Public Schools. It would divert money from Public Schools to chart her schools. This will be devastating for kids who are already marginalized and who have the cards stacked against them. Hr 610 makes my heart hurt for our kids in West Virginia. Education is their hope of breaking the cycle of poverty. Our kids will be unhealthy and uneducated. What will you do to fight for healthcare for our kids and to fight for Public Education . Thats thats really at the crux of everything. When betsy devos came and im sure shes a very fine woman, i dont know her that well, ive met her. Sat down in my office and i explained to her, i said, betsy, you know, education in West Virginia is more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. It could be the place where they get their only one nutritional meal. Theres so much more to Public Education. And here was the thing, she passed the three test as far as her financial fbi background check and ethics probe. But when it comes down to turning it over the Education System thats made. Greatest country in the world and a persons never been involved in that process or their kids havent been involved, i just didnt think she had the knowledge at that level knowing a Public Education. Thats all. And im not it wasnt and i told her its not personal, i just thought there might be somebody that had better skills or had more experience in the public arena. So i can tell you on that, were fighting head start when i was govern nor again we put more morn towards Early Childhood education and also we have Energy Express ill share one real quick story with you. I always go to the when i go to your schools and your kids schools i go to the cafeteria first. I learn more about your school when i go to the cafeteria than i do anyplace else, that tells me everything. So i went be in may wrarz down in southern West Virginia, i went down to a cafeteria in may. The cook was crying and she was getting ready to get off for a couple two or three months. I said why are you crying . She said im telling you these little kids are going to go hungry and i just wish we could be here all year long to feed them. So youve heard me talk about yearlong education, its for many reasons, and thats one of them. But the bottom line is weve got to be looking at things differently. These kids if it wasnt for our summer programs, Energy Express and head start, theyve got nothing. Theyve got nothing and were going to fight for that. Thank you. Yes. [ applause ] senator, this is a followup regarding that same issue but with another specific area of it. Within the im lisa hall and im from buk can nan also. Within the hr 610, the School Vouchers bill, the every Student Succeeds act is at risk and that act allows children with disabilities to receive access to the general education environment and accommodations on their assessments statewide. And so how can you ensure us that the every Student Succeeds act will still be available and viable for our children who have disabilities in our Education System . That was another reason, also. A lot of people dont even realize that, you know, the laws that we have guarantee that every child gens gets an opportunity for quality education no matter what their zabltsds or handy caps may be. And we foot that bill. Thats a moral response thabl weve taken on. So people dont understand that are whatsoever and thats why the voucher systems and the charter, im sure charter works in some areas. In a large metropolitan area, thats fine. We dont have it. Our tax structure is different. How we support our school systems. You take any dollar away and redirect that dollar, you didnt add anymore dollars to it, you redirect today and youre going to have a lot of kids that get left out. Ive said, i cant support that. I cannot support it because i know how fragile our Education System is. Thats all you can be and speak out on that. Hi, senator manchin. Tru thank you for being here. Karen watson from drive fork, formerly from charleston for 32 years. I know where dry fork is. You know where dry fork is. My question does concern the epa proposed budget cuts of 31 . Im very, very troubled its going to deaf ves state many of the critical programs, chesapeake bay, great lakes, all the algae blooms that weve all seen, we all care about that, not to mention West Virginia issues. Another area being cut is monitoring and enforcement. I worked for 32 years for the department of Environmental Protection under your administration as well as about four other governors. We never cut it either, did we . No, we didnt cut it. And i but what i want to emphasize is because in my role as an attorney for the agency, i often had to deal with epa in both enforcement issues and in getting the state Water Pollution control program. I helped to write the lawyers and the rul the laws and the o make our minimum standards conform to the minimum federal standards. I can tell you from personal work for 32 years that had it not been for epa and i know youve had differences on what i would consider in the scheme of things minor, you know, in the scheme of things. Talk about that but what youre talking about is very important. What im saying is without epa, West Virginias implementation of the Environmental Program would have been flejling at best. Would have have been a race to the bottom with other states if we dont have a strong federal agency this states environment will not prosper. But basically the way the system had been always, you had the state the state had promisesy, correct. Because the rules i helped right. Because the rules you helped comply with. At the end it got to the point that i talked to, you know, our director at that time, but they cant even have West Virginia didnt have any say whatsoever. We were they said thats what they were telling me. No, thats not accurate. Well, okay. But bottom line, its critical that epa remains strong for the whole country. I dont have a bit of problem i just want them to do their job adoubt army corps of engineers do its job. I would say that the rhetoric that is going around about obamas war on coal, okay, that that fosters i know one thing he took the 404 water permit away from the army corps and took it to the white house, i know that for a fact. And we kent couldnt get a permit done or anything. I mope youll im going to keep the epa but i want to make sure they do their job. Thank you. Ready . Lets go. Yes. Senator manchin, thank you for being here this evening. Im warren hills boss from fairmont, West Virginia. So my question, actually, records your healthcare and that of the 534 other members of congress. You all are covered [ applause ] you all are covered you might know where im going. Im fine because i just found out what my healthcare is. Oh. Well, my question is, though, the congressional healthcare plans really are something of a Gold Standard in the United States. No. No. No. No. Compared to i thought so too. The point is, is many of many of your constituents here believe that part of the problem is that many of the Republican Legislatures do not really have any skin in the game. Would you, shut American Healthcare act reach the senate as it currently is, support an amendment, if offered, to remove that program altogether so that the 535 members of congress could be in the same boat as the 24 million americans that would lose their healthcare . Would you support that, sir . Lets make it lets make it very clear. This is a misnomer. This is what they call i dont know what anyway. I pay mines right at 1,000 a month. Im on the exchange. So maras try care, shes veteran try care. Brian, youll be on an exchange. T. J. You on the exchange. Were on the exhang. Everybody thinks we get free healthcare for life. That is a bunch of ma lark i can, thats crazy. I dont know where this stuff gets started. Everybody thinks we get a paycheck for life. My paycheck stops whenever i stop being the senator and basically my retirement is not my full paycheck, my retirements 2 of my pay that i served. I dont know where all this happened. Maybe it was back in the 30s and 40s they did that but not anymore spot im paying the 1,000 a month, comes out of my check, okay. Im on the exchange, the d. C. Exchange because thats where our checks are written from. There on is anybody on the West Virginia exchange down here as far as in our office or everybodys d. C. Exchange . Senate employees are on d. C. Exchange. If this thing changes it changes all of us too. Were not protected. If we go down, you go down, we all go down, thats thely what it should be. Im from hazel ton West Virginia. I just really want to hit on your voting record and ask why did you twice vote against the rei am poretation of fda approved drugs from kantd. I do not, i voted for it. Yes, you did. Just recently i voted with old bernie. 2107 and 769. I dont think so. I have it on the record. Well check it out because we just did it, we had a vota romorama. You voted previously against it. Not unless its buried in the bill. If its fda approved i approve it if the if they were just opening up the market without fda approval, id vote against it. Give me the copy of those bills. Were going to check and it get back with him. If i messed up, im sorry. But i didnt thats one thing bernie and i agree on. My names mike im nervous you can tell from my accent im not around here originally but i live in morgantown for 40 years and i am a citizen. God bless you. You have dual citizen . No. Just the one. Just the one. You picked the right one zbland grew up under the British Health service. My grandmother who didnt pay any taxes, she didnt have two pennies together she spent weeks be in hospital for nothing, my father was treated effectively my mothers still alive can walk to the nearest clinic pays nothing and gets kurt yesous prompt service and so its working well there. Its a socialized system, of course, but i dont my problem with obamacare and with anything thats being done here is its only part, even sipping will payer is only part of the issue. The other is the vast medical industry in this country, including the drug companies, of course, but everybody is being paid hugely and we cant afford this. Do you anything about it . Well, heres the thing about it. Theyre telling only thing i understand, say prescription drugs, all these big pharmaceutical companies, he were the only company in the world that prices drugs the way we price them. We allow the private sector to negotiate discounts. Thats crazy. The federal government should do that. Cms should do that. It shouldnt be the private sector. Weve got three companies that all they do, theyre the middleman, three companies. One company, express scripts as i understand, is bigger than cocacola and at t put together and they dont make anything, they just basically take the drug from here and yet a discountry from the manufacturer and put it over here. And the doctors, you know, i said were the greatest shopper in the world. When i was governor retried to put what we call compare care. I wanted to put it up you can look in the tonsillectomy area mormal procedures where you could smop and get the best price. We dont do anything of that. We do nothing to try to get the lowest price of delivery for quality of goods. But when we shop we know how to shop for Everything Else, but we dont know how to shop for healthcare because they wont let us. Im trying to change it any way i can, any way i can. Senator, this will be our last question before i wrap up activity. Good afternoon, senator manchin. Thank you for being here with us today. I wrote a plain vanilla rather polite question on this white card but anyone here who knows me knows i cant ask it this way. I am so passionate about this subject that im going throat card away and speak from my heart and id like to talk to you about the way i feel about drugs from a very personal perspective. My name is Pamela Kaylor live in more contown but i work in clarksburg and serve all of Harrison County the i left a long 30year careertor have a new career and thats as a Child Protective Services worker for the state of West Virginia. In addition to that, and you may already know this, i am a 13year foster parent, an adoptive parent for the state of West Virginia. And the rin tell you both of those thingds is because i have parented ten children many my home, and of them i have adopted eight. Of those ten children, nine of them came to my home from their families and those families were all devastated by drugs. The other one child that i parented in my home was devastated by the impact of mental illness. As a cps worker most people sort of know by conventional wisdom that we have ridiculous caseloads. My caseload which i love and am passionate for by the way, is more than 90 families that are devastated by drugs. Yes, i am very concerned about the adults, the users, that need treatment and that are dying here in unbelievable numbers in West Virginia every day. But you know who im speaking for every day . I look like an adult but im really a kid. Im speaking for the children who are absolutely devastated by what is happening with Substance Abuse and addiction. And i absolutely implore you to do everything in your power and to push hard against a very difficult political tide, i know, to protect medicaid benefits that particularly include treatment for Substance Abuse and Mental Health and to please protect any other funding or policy for those same very, very important issues. I hope you will do that. Please tell me how. Let me ask, i want to make sure i understand. Come here. Come here. You you have nine children, you put foster care and you adopted eight of them . I have parented ten children and of those ten ive adopted eight. [ applause ] well, i just thats putting your money where your but i am not um up here to proneat for myself im a living example of the way that this issue impacts families and kids. Thank you. Its the toughest thing that weve got going. I know that theyre wrapping up and the time, okay. Let me just say this to you. Im a product of my environment so i come from farmington, West Virginia, grew up between the tracks and the creek. I think i was praf lajd child. They said why . I said i had unconditional love. Im proud of all my family because i think basically i saw what they taught us. So i grew up there was always rules, always rules. You had to work, remember the old saying no work no eat . You had to work, and everybody you had to help everybody. My grand moernl would stop and say a prayer she saw someone was disabled, handicapped, diseased or whatever. I just watched that. So my politics is im fiscally responsible and socially compassionate. Im never going to make a decision that i ever think would hurt any person, not one human being. I might not make decisions the way you would want me to make them. I true. I try to listen to everybody. Im never going to do anything that will hurt you. Im not. If i make a mistake and i mess up, tell me about it ill go back and fix it. I say if you cant change your mind, you cant change anything. And i just ive just had the greatest opportunity representing this state because every time i get on Television Im so careful i want them to understand how good we are, because i know the connotation. And i said in West Virginia we dont do it that way. We dont treat people that bad. We help people. Well do things. I said well reach out and take care of our neighbors its just the way we were raised. But its gotten so toxic that everybody if you dont agree with me you must be my enemy. Im sorry youre not my enemy. If youre republican youre not my enemy. President trump youre not my enemy, but i want you to know that West Virginians voted for you. I didnt, they did, but basically they nied help. Dont repeal the Affordable Care act, repair it. Just fix it. Thats all were saying. And then we can fix the rest. So only thing i can tell you is ill give you everything i got, you know, and my daughter, im proud of my daughter, she start reasonable doubt out 21 years of age working for a Little Company in the basement in the bottom of a trailer, worked there has been there 25 years and worked her way clear to the top only in america, i guess. I dont know. Sure, i cant you know, these salaries are all out of whack everywhere. Coaches, my goodness when i grew up coach could barely make it. Now the coaches, my goodness, administrators can barely make it, the students can barely make it. Skou pick any seg mecht society, its all out of whack. And i have a number for the white house if you want to write this down. The white house switchboard is 2022561414. I really do, i believe that President Trump can say stop this, lets not repeal it guys, lets fix it. We know where it needs to be fixed. But you throw it out and politics are so bad we cant fix it. I dont want to go down that road. I hope he would help us. So 2022561414 had the im sure you know our numbers, get congressional numbers, get our colleagues lubz numbers, get everybody. I will say this, youve got all 48 senators that are democrats that absolutely will hold the line and not vote to repeal the Affordable Care act, all 48. So we need a little bit of help. With that being said. The senator, in the interest of time, unfortunately we did not get to all the questions today. However, we do have something small planned just to give everybody in the room a voice. All of you have on your chairs green and red cards and we talked in the beginning about how that would be agree and disagree, support and nonsupport. Some of you have agree and disagree signs on the little stikds so either one will work totally fine. But id ask all of to you take this out now and were going to have a very brief lightning round so to speak. First ones going to be very eds and i think it will be very interesting for the senator to see the reactions. Well just okay. So the first is well make this really brief. The first is, please raise your green card or your agree sign if youd like to thank the senator for attending the town hall today. All right. Green or red cards now for agree or disagree, green card if you support repairing the aca, red if you support repeal and replace. Okay. Were going to flip the script a little bit. So green if you would support a replacement of the aca but only if it were to be for sort of a standards inspired single payer healthcare system. All right. As we all know, tom price has become the new secretary of health and Human Services in the in trumps cabinet and senator manchin i believe you vote the against tom price, is that correct. Yes. So please rooiz raise your green card to agree with his vote of no on tom price and red of course to disagree. There is and we did have this topic come up today. Will say tie between the environment and healthcare especially here in West Virginia with a lot of bills were seeing go through our state legislature and how they affect the tox inds. Water. Scott pruitt, senator vote ford scott pruitt. Please raise your green card to agree and red card to disagree. We also discussed we discussed the links between education and healthcare as well. Betsy devos, secretary of education, senator manchin voted against betsy divorce, green for agree, red for disagree. And finally, our it pains me to say this phrase dearly but President Trump has been very strongly supporting this American Healthcare act along with many other builds that i believe the majority of the people in this room would disagree with. Green card if you have significant concerns of senator manchin toward the im sorry, red if have you significant sernz, green if you think thats the right approach. I apologize, i actually made that very confusing here. Senator, 2019 thank you for coming today. That are was a little it was a little more thanh than 50 50 but i wanted to do that activity to gift people in the room a voice and to be honest after spend a couple days with you in philadelphia last summer we didnt have a chance to chat. But i hope your path for reelection in 2018 does not go through donald trump, it goes through the people in this room. And i would hope that you spend less time asking us to primary you and more time doing youve done today. Thank you. Thank all of you all, and the bottom line i can honestly tell you this, the bottom line theres so many things thats distorted the whole election process. Citizens united is the first one destroyed our system with all the outside money. Next of all, everyone fwlaefz every politician will do anything for a vote. And i and im im saying this as sincerely and honestly as i can tell you. Im going to do what i think is the best for the state and im going to try to get in the best position to do kwha to help every one of you all. It might be not the position you all would agree on, but if i can put myself in a place that you can be heard and i can make sure they know what were doing in West Virginia, what weve done for this great country and what assistance we need, im going to do that. Now, you know, the worst i figured it out. My consolation is this. If i dont get reelected, i get to come home and spend more time with you and im okay with that. Im fine with that. Thank you, god bless you. [ applause ] i want to thank everybody for i want to thank everybody for coming and make sure that you have filled out your contact sheets and if theres any cards, please give them to the people at the doors also. Thank you again for coming. Neil gorsuch begins the second dave his confirmation hearing tomorrow at 9 30 a. M. Eastern. Judge gorsuch will answer Committee Members questions and whats expected to be the longest of the four scheduled days. Watch tomorrow starting at 9 30 a. M. Eastern here on cspan 3. Sunday night on q a. I was off taking pictures in yosemite with some photographic buddies of mine for four days, and in all that time i never watched the Television News program, we never read a newspaper, and i thought this is the way to live. And the only way to live this way is to stop wrietding the columns so that i dont have to be up to date on all the news. Author and Hoover Institution senior fellow thomas soul who recently retired from the syndicated column had he for 25 years talks about his life, career, and his love of photography. I took my first picture in 1950. And then when the results came back to the drugstore i was just hooked. And then when i was in the marine corps, the marines sent me to the navys Photography School at Pensacola Naval air station and there i got professional training in the subject. And then when i got out and was going to went away to harvard, i worked for the University News office as a photographer in order to help pay the bills. And so it was it was the perfect job because it was something i could do whenever i had the time. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. Next conservative commentators discuss immigration policy for about 50 minutes. This is from a summit hosted by the National ReviewInstitute Last week. You can watch more of the twoday event at cspan. Org. Gn morning, everyone. How is everyone doing . Good. Good. Okay. Well, first of all, i would like to say happy st. Patricks day. We are very happy to have so many of you here bright and early in the morning. Last night was quite exciting. I heard that the night owl was fabulous,