discussion and help move transportation and infrastructure policy forward. thank you very much, and i look forward to our discussion. thank you. [ applause ] go ahead and sit in the middle. and rich, if you join us on the end there. we ll have some q&a here. we ll chat a little bit and then time to open it up to some questions from you all in the audience. thank you both for being here. as i said at the top, a host of issues where the chamber and the afl-cio, organized labor do not see eye to eye. i saw mr. trumka and on this issue there is so much overlap and the question is raised immediately, if organized labor and the largest business group in washington are on the same page, why can t this get done. maybe i ll go to you, rich, first. what s standing in the way? you ve looked at this issue and battled over this for years. what s in the way? it s pure politics right now. in the past this was always a bipartisan issue. there was never bickering. everybody knew that you