[ applause ] thank you. Mayor, welcome back. Thank you. You were here in february before you actually became an official candidate. And i see youre playing bigger rooms now. Seems that way, yeah. Do you ever stop and say to yourself, how the hell did this happen . Every now and then. Go from here to there. At that time, you were essentially an asterisk. Well [ laughter ] maybe a little more than an asterisk. You were an asterisk plus. You were largely considered one of the flock of many small town mayor, young guy, and now youre a contender. And what have you learned about the country, what have you learned about yourself through the journey from there to here. The biggest thing i learned is you arrive presenting something thats different if youre not like the others and you can get your ideas across that anything can happen. We didnt know. I believed but didnt actually have any way of knowing, as of january or february that if we did this, that we could build a following, that we coul
The committee on education and labor will come to order. Hello, everyone. I note that a quorum is present. The committee is meeting in a legislative hearing to hear testimony on hr2694 the pregnant workers fairness act. I note for the committee that miss mcbath and mr. Cohen of tennessee are permitted to participate in the hearing. Members who sit on the subcommittee and are present shall have First Priority to ask questions followed by members who sit on the full committee and present and only after all Committee Members who are present have gone, shall members who are not on the committee of education and labor ask questions. Pursuant to the committee reel 7c, the Opening Statements are limited to the chair and the Ranking Member to allows us to hear from the witnesses sooner and provides all members can adequate time to ask questions. I recognize myself now for the purpose of making an opening statement. As a mom and a policymaker, i know how important it is to protect the Economic