 It's okay. We'll get going. Thank you very much for coming and what a great crowd. What are this is going to be really really good I'm going to learn a lot from you in this process. I want to share with you I'm not going to tell you everything that goes on in Washington because we'd be here for the rest of the month and There must be other things we need to do, but we live in the most crazy of times I know many of us I see some of you in this room that have been around for maybe 50 years or so Have you ever seen anything like this? And I don't think our nation has either and we shouldn't have to but here we are Curious moment in in American history for many many reasons Basically because our democracy the way in which our government functions the balance of power between the judicial the Congressional and the president all of those things are at risk right now Because we have a president that says hey, I'm above the law Article 2 says I can do anything. I want to do That's not that's just not it. That's not America. That's what you call a Hautocracy that's what you call a dictator. That's not America So we're at a moment of time when we're going to work our way through this I just have enormous confidence in America. I got enormous confidence in our constitution and in the desire of Americans to pay attention to this Incredible democracy that we've had for these two centuries plus That's us We're good. We're a whole lot better than what we see coming out of the White House right now Last night the screen the screaming the profanity from the president you go. What is this? This is America. I don't think so We're better than that and we're going to do better than that You know at the heart of this nation we have such diversity Obviously in the people the ethnicity the language is the culture and thank goodness the food diversity I mean it's really really a cool country because we're all here the entire world is here And we've always welcomed the entire world into our country And so we are made up of the world and in that diversity is incredible strength and we're building the future We're building it for right now. We've got this problem and this problem will be gone at least a year from now will have an election I guess 13 months from now We'll have an election and if not sooner than after that this problem of this president will be gone And we'll move on to a new era We'll move on to a new era and we'll put it we'll get back together again And we'll have the strength of all of our diversity all of the wisdom that comes from all the world is here And from that wisdom we're going to build really a great future But we got a task right now and we've got a deal with the reality of today and Today's reality Causes all of us to step up step forward and say we are part of the change that has to occur And obviously I have a piece of that puzzle and so do you you have that Necessity of staying engaged of staying involved and helping all of us understand the way in which our Democracy should work and so wherever you are particularly there's a whole group of Students out there from UC Davis are probably back. I hope they're in the room someplace and they were talking about What is happening in Hong Kong? The way in which they are fighting for what we have For what we take for granted and they're fighting for that They're they're in the streets They're putting themselves at risk and good for them And as a lesson for us what we take for granted people around this world are willing to give them Their lives to get what we have So here we are Here we are in this room and we're looking to the future and we're going what can we do? Well in Congress what we're trying to do are Several things simultaneously, and I think we're successful at that There's been about 250 pieces of legislation That have gone over to the Senate Good pieces of legislation dealing with a whole array of challenges that face our nation Legislation dealing with the voting security in our nation Dealing with the Voting Rights Act how we can guarantee that every citizen has an opportunity to vote when they come of age wherever they may be eliminating the kind of barriers that have stood in the way of People trying to exercise the fundamental right that all citizens in this nation have and that is the right to vote Fundamental legislation dealing with health care. I see the Medicare for all signs back there That's a piece of the puzzle, but there's the law that we have in place today the Affordable Care Act In jeopardy In jeopardy because the president and frankly our Republican friends are doing their level best as they have since 2010 when it became law to eliminate the protections that the Affordable Care Act gives to all of us The opportunity To be able to get an insurance policy without discrimination based upon a pre-existing condition Something so fundamental that I fought for back in 1991 when I became the insurance commissioner in California recognizing that the insurance companies were Routinely denying insurance because somebody had a pre-existing condition How many of you remember having to fill out those forms? No, you not you went 65 at the time and so it wasn't Medicare But it was your private insurance you had to fill out a form in every single thing that you could have had as a Human being was on that form. Did you have a toothache? Yes Did you have you know you name the illness? Did you have measles mumps so on and so forth and then the insurance companies would come in and say aha? We'll cover you, but we won't cover you for what might happen to you Insurance discrimination was rampant Affordable Care Act passed gone history Kids being able to stay on their parents policy until the age of 26 on and on and on though all of those all of those protections and 18 to 20 million Americans being able to get insurance It was a good law. It is a good law and we have passed legislation to make sure that it'll stay in place Drug pricing been around an issue for forever Major legislation now in the works and we'll probably take it up and pass it in the next couple of weeks in Congress What is that? I think it's HR three. It's going to be coming along Providing reasonable price drugs for us ending the kind of monopoly the kind of pricing that the insurance companies have been so so Often doing to us, and you know the problems. We've seen them out there So I walked in here. I was looking at where I parked my car How many of you parked under the solar panels? Hmm So why can't we Really move forward Rapidly to have green energy all around this nation. Why can't we do that? Now my car is absolutely delighted to be shaded at the same time having that shade produce energy It's a good thing. We could do that. We ought to be doing that everywhere around this nation but We've got a president and many of our colleagues on the Republican side that think the answer lies in more and more oil and coal wrong wrong wrong Can follow the lead of California? Follow what we're doing here in this state by promoting the green energy passing the laws passing the Subsidies that are necessary to get things started The oil industry has had a subsidy for the production of oil and gas for more than 120 years So what if we were to put in place the same level of subsidies? For the green energy systems and run that for the next hundred and twenty years We could do then this isn't a new idea Back in 1978 We had an energy crisis some of us remember that you're too young some of us remember that and out of that came the first legislation in the nation for a tax credit for solar and wind and House and hot water systems for houses I know that legislation 1978 it was my legislation signed by Jerry Brown and it started the wind industry In California all of those turbines on the Altamont pass were direct result of that 1978 legislation and We continued it Unfortunately, we didn't do it for 120 years That legislation lasted for just five years died And then we had to start it up again and over and over and over again The wind and solar energy systems in this nation have been thwarted They start and they stop because the legislation hasn't been continuous But the oil industry Our oil industry 120 years of continuous subsidies that you and I get to pay There's a lesson here If you want green energy, you've got to put it in place with the kind of support That you've seen the oil industry have oh, by the way, we ought to eliminate it from the oil industry There's a lot of talk about the green new deal good Keep talking keep acting and let's get it done We can do that most of those ideas in the green new deal have been talked about in California for the last 40 years There's nothing new there other Then the energy to make it happen and That energy is in this room Because this is a community that's done it So we have a lot of work out ahead of us a lot of legislation We need to pass more than 200 bills a lot of those bills deal with the things that we have to do in this nation We need a transportation program. We're not going to get it done this year We need a tax policy that rewards working men and women not corporations that are ripping us off I want to give you an example of the what was wrong with the Trump Republican tax cuts Okay, you don't need an example, let's just move on You already understand, but there's one thing that really really bothers me and that is that for years and years Patty and I have been working on trying to increase the funding for Alzheimer's research It is the most expensive illness in America and it will continue to be every year more and more Expensive because guess what? We're getting older. Yes the research Five years ago for Alzheimer's research was about six hundred million dollars It's approaching two billion dollars now because all across this nation People have come to realize that if we were to research this issue We might be able to find an answer now. It turns out that the drug industry Pfizer specifically was working on this and had been for some time and they were putting money into it and then the tax bill passed and the tax bill gave them an opportunity to make a decision on how they would use their profits and What they decided to do was to use the reduction in their corporate tax rate Increase their profits and in and what they did was to stop their research on Alzheimer's and divert the money to Buying back their stock, which has the immediate effect of raising the stock price and Therefore the benefit to the CEOs and other officers It turns out that the research they were doing That they stopped doing Had over a long period of time shown that the drug they were working on Actually had an effect in the early stages of Alzheimer's They held the patent. It hasn't been used. It's not no longer any research going on, but 600 million dollars was transferred into stock buybacks and out of drug research This is where public policy makes all the difference in this case a tax policy That had a negative effect on dealing with one the most expensive most common illness in our nation So we can do better We can do better and we must do better Now there are a whole lot of other issues that are out there I can go into those but what I want to do is to begin to answer your questions now This isn't your turn to stand up and shout But it is your turn to raise your hand and we'll go into questions and I'm going to bounce around the room and try to get to as many of you as possible and I will try to keep in mind The parting words that Patty gave to me as I left the house this morning You want to know what she said? Come on. You can tell me keep it short She's a wise lady and as you say John you have to be such a slow learner So we'll keep it short. Okay. I'm going to go over here. You had the first question York had your hand up first Concerning educating the population on the indigenous people and the condition they're in in a history in the United States Yes, because this is Columbus Day, which should be indigenous people's day Thank you for raising the indigenous people day issue. Is there education on that? Increasingly in California, there is you can thank the California Legislature Cecilia. Thank you very much for making that part of the What students have to learn here in the state of California part of the curriculum Indeed California across the nation and some places. Yes other places. No, but you've reminded us of this The history of the indigenous people in California in America and particularly in California Not a good part of the American chapter. It is not got a sad bad history on this and We need to pay attention to this because ethnic cleansing is not new It's been part of the American system since the beginning of the European Period in America and it's continuing around the world right now in a place called Syria Okay, next question in the back of the room you sir Yes, I just wanted to say in April the first vote I ever cast as an 18 year old was for you I want to thank you for being my congressman. You're a great congressman and a great representative And my actual question is the people who have impacted me the most of my life are teachers My dad's a teacher my grandparents are teachers I want to be a teacher and right now Every single teacher is hurting due to a lack of stability when it comes to pay How can Congress address it so I can substantially and feel and teach students without having the burden of Finances in my way No, you want to take me down a lot of different question not different paths here Let me try to deal with the last few words. You said how can you deal with your student debt? And how can you deal with that? I think there are several ways that that can be done Was that part of your question that I hear you correctly? Teachers are substantially paid lower than what they deserve across the entirety of the US. It wasn't about that Well, I'm going to go to two things here. Let's do with that first It's a matter of priorities It's a matter of Common priorities here. We've decided as a community that Education is not so important. I know you disagree but as a community that's the decision that's been made and Because of that decision teachers are not paid nearly Enough for the benefit that they give to the society and that means that all of us All of you we have to make a new decision We simply have to say that education is the single most important thing that a community a Society a culture or a nation does it is the single most important and therefore And therefore we have to invest in what is important and that investment is All of the pieces of education. It's the curriculum. We talked about a few moments ago It's everything from the textbooks, which are no longer books But nonetheless we need to make sure that that we need to make sure that the teachers are paid for what they are Worth to our society and that is a whole heck of a lot more than they're currently paid Bottom line you have to value the teachers if you don't value the teachers You will not have a decent education system and the teachers will not be paid what they're worth That's a community decision Now at the federal level we normally say no, that's a local problem. That's a state issue. I disagree I think education is a critical national issue. It's a national security issue We can go into that in depth if you'd like it is a national issue of equality and opportunity if you want to adjust society and an equal Opportunity society you have to have a well-educated society Without that you cannot achieve either national security or social and economic justice So what are we going to do about it? Well, we begin Here There 435 of us in the House of Representatives and another hundred in the Senate and our basic task is to make choices We make choices every day on how we're going to spend your tax money We make choices about this law or that law and therefore We must make a decision that is we must make a choice to value education over new nuclear weapons We will spend a trillion six hundred billion dollars in the next twenty years on Building new nuclear bombs and new delivery systems all of which are extraordinarily dangerous Into the future, so why don't we spend? Half of that and spend a trillion dollars on education. We make choices. I'll tell you what my choice is We'll spend a trillion dollars on education and the rest we can deal with for the military That's my choice if I had my brothers Now I'm going to come over here. Yes, ma'am. You're your turn just a moment. You're going to get a microphone There you go The house has clearly been doing its job since 2018 with all the bills that have been passed Especially starting with HR one that haven't even been taken up by the Republican leadership in the Senate and to get to your point About the fundamental right of one person one vote That's I'd like to find out what you're doing about how we're talking about representation, especially in the Senate We all know the electoral college needs looking at what about apportionment of the Senate that? Formula in the Constitution of two people per state is not actually what was intended and are you working on the? rule of 100 for reapportionment of the Senate and that the power struggle there because Until one person Represents one vote all these wonderful things you're talking about and all the community support doesn't mean a lot. So can you? Start talking about that Well Well, that is a big issue What are we going to do about the Senate? I think that there are Stages here You want to change the way in which the senators are selected not by state but rather by Population that's That's going to take a modest change in the Constitution So, okay, we can think about that However We need to think about the here and now The here and now is the 2020 election and the here and now is the process of the election of senators of which California is not up this year but Nevada Name the states. So how are you spending your time in the next election? How are you spending your energy in the next election? McConnell has a very credible opponent Hmm and you know if the people of that modest little state in the Appalachians were to receive phone calls from California and say Why not? Have a senator that actually was willing to deal with Environmental issues Energy issues on and on and on so what I'm saying is you can have a role in The next election and that's the here and now with regard to changing the Constitution There is one thing that is in place not with the senators, but with the Electoral College Are we aware of the opportunity that presents itself on the Electoral College? No, well, you're about to find out The Constitution says there's an Electoral College, right? Yes, correct And it says each state can determine how to apportion its votes Now what if states that control 51% of the Electoral College votes all agreed that their Electoral College votes would be given to the candidate that won the popular vote We don't have to change the Constitution in fact you work with the Constitution and what you do is you get states that control 51% of the Electoral College votes to agree that their votes their Electoral votes will go to the majority to the person that won the popular vote We are at about I've been working on this for about seven eight years now six years six years We are somewhere near 40% Take a deep breath The next state up North Carolina Maybe maybe maybe Anyway, we'll be looking at this and there's a movement across the nation to do this and so pay attention to that one. Yes, sir Right there Don't hurt yourself You congressman for supporting Research for Alzheimer's you already spoken about it, but I'm here to ask you if you will co-sponsor two bills that are pending One is the younger onset for Alzheimer's Act, which will allow people under 60 to receive services under the older Americans Act and The other one is the in improving the hope for Alzheimer's Act to get More attention to those who are eligible for Medicare services through That act can you co-sponsor those? I'm looking around at my staff. We have I have Co-sponsored every Alzheimer bill that I'm aware of Now where's my team to tell me that I am unaware or aware of these two bills the reality is If I'm not on them, I will be Yeah, we'll be I've been on every one of these over the last seven eight years Right here in front of me Here comes the microphone you can sit down What have what have the What have Democrats done or the left in general done in the last 20 30 years to produce a situation where 40% of the nation still supports a monster like Trump Well An interesting question. What have we done wrong as a nation? The question had to do with what did we go wrong that that Trump is still supported by 40% of the population I'm going to take this back to the education issue that was raised a few moments ago Curriculum Now back when You could not graduate from the 8th grade until you passed the California civics class Hmm, I don't know if civics is still taught because I talked to a lot of Students coming out of high school that having a clue about the American government let alone the state government So I think you start there as one thing that we need to do we need to understand civics We need to understand the role of the voter. We need to understand 400 I don't know whatever 35 of us are selected the electoral college, but most important and Trump doesn't understand that there are three branches of government of equal power, but he is about to get a lesson So you think if you stand up with all those badges and wave your hand you're going to get the next question You're right. You got the next question Because I'm a lot taller than him. I Gotta go I got him He can stay there you're gonna have oh there you go Congressman it's a pleasure to have you here in Yolo County Meeting with all the people the constituents. I hope My question to you is do you remember 1994 in the North American Free Trade Agreement? 1984 94 94 94 yep, okay That was the beginning of what we call the enslavement and forced migration of many of our people indigenous people original natives people and Today in the Congress We the AFL CIO Through the head president the AFL CIO Stand in opposing a trade agreement The lacks the real essence of the environment lacks the real essence of the whole question of human rights and Lacks the essence of labor rights Many of our parents came from Mexico And we're here. So what we're asking you What is your position on the trade agreement that is basically? Going to harm more people in Latin America and especially Mexico He thank you good question very very good question and a And thank you for the history of NAFTA and the effect that it's had Not only in America, but particularly in Latin America and Mexico specifically I oppose the current MCAA the Mexican American Canadian Mexican the rewrite of NAFTA Because it does not have the proper labor and environmental protections in it And there are a couple of other things called the drug industry's little game to extend for ever their Patents on drugs now why that is in a trade agreement really has to do with the power of the pharmaceutical industry Not with trade but in case I oppose the version that is before us today. We'll see what happens Way in the back of the room. You've got your hand up. You keep it up You get the answer question. Thank you congressman for coming to Yolo County to visit us today I would like to remind you that ice and CBP are rogue agencies that are terrorizing communities in the United States They're using our tax dollars To jail families and fund concentration camps. How are you going to bring an end to these tactics? And either reign in or eliminate these relatively new agencies and will you please commit to? Stopping the funding of these agencies given their behaviors. Oh, thank you Somehow I knew this might be asked Several things here the There is Seven eight major pieces of legislation dealing with the way in which ice and the Border Patrol operate and the way in which the various Facilities camps are managed and the care given all of those pieces of legislation are critical all of those are sitting over on McConnell's desk in the Senate and they all need to pass they are significant and important reforms of the system That we presently have they have to pass I support all of them and will continue to do so There's a larger question here and that has to do with the way we treat people around the world part of the Question that was asked just a few moment ago about indigent it well Not just indigenous people but people in the Latin American countries When the president of the United States says that the way to solve the problem of people wanting to come to America to seek Asylum is to cut off assistance to the countries from which they are coming That is about his backward and as foolish as it could possibly be But that's what he's able to do as president. We need to push back on that. We need to provide to continue to provide assistance for those countries that are in such Serious jeopardy part of it that jeopardy comes from climate change and Guess who the biggest part of climate change is us. So we have work to do moms against or for Moms-to-diet action, okay So, thank you for being here today and for representing us in Washington I appreciate the summary that you gave today for all of your the objectives that you've obtained in Washington and your priorities I'm more than a little surprised that you didn't mention the gun violence epidemic in our country and the violence prevention bills That are waiting for a vote in the Senate after the house passed them in a bipartisan manner in February A hundred Americans die each day from gun violence That's almost 23,000 Americans who have died since HRA and HR 112 are sitting on Mitch McConnell's desk What can we as Americans do to get these to a vote? We call we write we text it feels defeating to know what What an epidemic this is yet the vote won't be held There's so much we don't have control over gun violence prevention measures are proven effective and must be a priority The California legislature is leading the way, which I appreciate greatly Thank you Please talk about this every time you have the opportunity today is an opportunity Thank you. Thank you So you're curious why I didn't raise it if I'd raised that you wouldn't have a chance to ask the question Well really Your statement covers almost all the ground However, it doesn't cover the history of gun legislation in California in 1988 1988 I was a senator representing Yeah, Davis among other places Including Stockton, California Stockton, California was the first example of a school shooting with an automatic weapon and That was my district I Visited the families and the kids those that were stuff those that were alive and introduced legislation immediately to ban assault weapons in California now we worked long and hard on that and eventually we persuaded the President pro tem of the Senate and the majority leader in the in the assembly to take control of the bill and it became law and Since that time, California has had an assault weapons ban and over the years California has been the leading state for gun safety legislation if Only the rest of the nation would follow California on this matter All of us would be safer. It is a sad phenomena in this nation That is shown by a recent poll taken of Parents and students across the nation that the single most Important issue on the minds of parents and students is not teacher and teacher pay It's not the winning of the basketball game or the football game or the air conditioning in the school It is fear of being shot. We got a problem in America Thank you and mom's demanding action and the rest of you standing up strongly for those in California that have passed national leadership issues on gun safety Good for California. We need to replicate that in California in excuse me in America and I support those pieces of legislation So thank you very much. Okay. I'm going to go over there There's a whole bunch of students that are wearing masks. I wonder why Now remember we talked outside and I said My ears are Of a different generation those talk a little slowly Have any of you noticed that? The younger generation They are so good. They're so fast and they're so quick that my mind can't quite catch up So go for it. Hi. Um, we're a group called Davis for Hong Kong Yes, we're a group of a very diverse group of students city of Davis residents Who are concerned with what's going on in Hong Kong right now with the protests and the erosion of autonomy and democracy and human rights So as such we have collected 373 letters from your constituents urging you to support the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act the Protect Hong Kong Act and the Hong Kong Policy Re-evaluation Act From what I understand all of these bills are going through the house right now And we would what we're asking is will you support these three bills and will you support Hong Kong? Thank you Thank you the answer is yes to all the pieces of legislation and To you and to all of you back there that have decided that this is important enough for you to come here today I thank you and this is part of what we need to do here and across the nation And that is not only to support Hong Kong but to support people everywhere in the world that are fighting for democratic values So say strong stay with it. Yes, I do support that legislation. Thank you so very much for being here Wait a minute. I'm going to hold the front row if I keep going to the front row. I went to the back row I'll go to the middle. I'm going to go to the lady. Sorry, sir Bruceman Garamendi. I've almost always been happy to have you represent us and me and one exception was in 2015 when you voted to make it harder for Syrian refugees to come into our country and This week, especially I can't help but think And and worry that some of those people might be dying in a war You know created by the Trump administration. So I wanted to ask you to Please use your caring heart to especially open up our country To refugees from wars and conflicts that were responsible for Thank you Thank you for your passion and your compassion And I sense that across this room a large part of my work I don't know why this Peace Corps volunteer Wound up on the armed services committee Where I've been for the last decade So I get to see a lot of things I was in Kurdistan in March and Isis had just been militarily defeated But it was absolutely clear at that time that the ideology was not and that there was The potential for a very serious tragedy and that tragedy was multifaceted we had relied upon the Kurds both in Syria and in Iraq as the Army the militia military that actually defeated Isis We had Thousand or so American advisors and we had airpower and we had artillery and other things But it was really the Kurds from both countries That took on the brunt of the war and they succeeded What Trump Did is unconscionable And it is leading to many many people In harm's way and probably many thousands being murdered He literally threw the Syrian Kurds under the tread of the Turkish tanks Absolutely no reason to do so The United States was in the process together with Turkey and others to develop a zone on the northern Border of Syria. It was a no-conflict zone and The Syrian Kurds were part of that and we're agreeing to it Turkey was In the process the negotiations were going well and Trump for reasons that hopefully he'll be forced to explain Decided after in a phone call with Erdogan The dictator in Turkey To give the green light To a Turkish invasion into that area for the sole purpose of Ethnic cleansing driving the Syrian Kurds out of what had been their homeland for Generations if not millennium The result is a horrible tragedy For which as general Allen the four-star general From the Marine Corps said recently the blood is on the president's hands He did it. It didn't have to be done. It could have and should have been prevent it It didn't have to happen and now we've got one very serious mess in that area. I Was there? I Know what I knew then in March that unless the United States stepped forward with other countries in that area and Put together a reconstruction plan that included the Syrian Kurds and The Iraqi Kurds and the Iraqi government We would wind up with a resurgence of ISIS and Others and we'd be back in the same situation. We were five years ago We're gonna see the black flag of ISIS in that area very very soon it is a Tragedy at the president caused all by himself for reasons that make nobody can understand why he did it You know, I will have our suppositions. We all you know, whatever but he did and the result is Going to be Deadly There's there is we're we are now seeing the makings of a major war in that region and we're going to see the Syrian Kurds pushed out of that area and a Repopulation of Syrian other Syrians that's ethnic cleansing and It's going to be bad. It is it is bad now and it's going to get worse in the days ahead In all probability, you're going to see major fighting between Turkey and the Syrian Regime In the large geopolitical world in which we live The United States has ceded its responsibility and the result is tragic it's going to unfold and It didn't have to happen What we needed to do what I saw in March when I visited that area was the desperate need for a reconstruction program I Came back to Washington in my role on the armed services committee I tried to put into the National Defense Authorization Act which is now in conference committee. I am a conferee a Provision that our military would work with AIDS group aid groups To assist in the reconstruction it didn't happen for reasons that are Wrong but didn't happen and to this day the United States Does not have a reconstruction program as part of that journey in March We also went to Kuwait and talked to the leadership in Kuwait in a mirror and He had already developed Commitments From the Gulf States for well over ten billion dollars of reconstruction money that was readily available But couldn't be used until there was some sense of security built into that region now the United States didn't act and We didn't pull together other allies to achieve that goal and Here we are it is bad it is terrible and it is likely to get really really bad in the near term so Let's go to the front of the room Thank you for being here congressman and thank you so much for taking my question I'm concerned about the safety of generic drugs in the United States Despite the fact that they're we're paying the most money for our drugs are these pharmaceutical companies in the United States are Outsourcing the creation of the active ingredients in their drugs to China and Indy I see from your smile that you know it Many of you have probably seen the article in Bloomberg Business week last month that talked about some of the really amazing things that are going on But I think one of the important things as a consumer is that we have labeling on our Generic drugs so that we know that that active ingredient in that drug came from a certain Factory in a certain country and that will give us some ability to decide What is safe for us and what may not be safe? I would like to see the FDA have Testing facilities in these foreign countries and I would like the US pharmaceuticals to take Responsibility for the efficacy and safety of their drugs by ensuring that they test them here as I understand that There's only one company an online company that tests their drugs in the United States and the final thing is I Think there's a serious national security Concern that we are making 97 to 100% of our antibiotics in China with whom we have a trade war Did you catch that in the back of the room? Well heads up pay attention There was an article in the newspapers and a couple of months ago maybe and My staff looked at that actually my military fellow a major in the Air Force. He looked at that and he goes oh We have a problem We've got a serious national security problem as you said 97 Nearly a hundred percent of all the antibiotics that we need to deal with all the illnesses that we could get are manufactured in China Now that's a national security problem in a big big way Now he says oh You want to take out the American military? Take out the antibiotics Hadn't thought about that and So what days today Monday tomorrow? Tomorrow I'm introducing legislation to Have the US military use the power that we have had since World War two to Manufacture things that the military needs Now I don't know if this is going to become law or not But it's sure going to raise a ruckus Because I'm going to be able to tell anybody that cares to listen that we have a fundamental national security issue because We could lose access to all antibiotics for all of our military and our population So we'll see what comes of this it it would set up a manufacturing system in the United States to manufacture drugs necessary for our survival So thank you for raising that question Do you have any idea the harm you're doing to your shoulder with that waving? So stand up ask you a question and You don't need to flex that arm again There you go First I got to say we had classes together at Berkeley and you didn't age. I did Second I'd like to remind all our friends that all of these wonderful things we want to do Aren't going to happen if we don't win the Senate and the presidency so I'd like to ask if you have Comments on how the Democrats can combat the lying and the cheating and the backstabbing because we tend to bring a rulebook to a knife fight Thanks How can we deal with the reality of the political season that we're about to face or that we're in not not going to face We're in the midst of it now first of all We need to understand the threat that our nation has from the president the way he has Acted as president and the policies that he's taken we need to Understand the extraordinary risk that that places our nation and you know, I just talked about Syria now we can go on and on and I probably can give you another hundred different stories That's the first thing. The second thing is recognize that we do have an opportunity to change the course of events and that is hope Without hope you're not going to get very far. It's hope. It's optimism. It's it said yes. We can see Sepwaiti Yes, we can and so if we're optimistic and We apply ourselves to that there are Specific things that can be done Now this is not a democratic Town hall. This is a public town hall So I'm not going to go into all the details about how you can get involved However, you might just imagine some of the ways. They're the American ways Not necessarily the Democratic Party ways or the Republican ways, but they are what we can do as Americans And that is to engage Identify those Senators which you just raised the issue of the Senate that are Republican that you want to change or Democratic that you want to change notice the bipartisan and Engage numerous ways to do that Each party has a way of doing it and so I said I talked about this earlier and that is really the power of the people and you possess that power and so don't just sit at home and and Grown and moan and curse the television Engage and I know many of you in this room that have done so and you've made a difference in The only reason That we have an impeachment inquiry is that the Democrats took back the house. That's the only reason and so engage and The power lies with each and every one of us and How much time effort are we willing to put into it? and of course, they're the financial resources that are part of it and we've seen the financial resources in the Well for Trump as well as for the Democratic Candidates running for president Tens of millions of dollars have been raised in small donations And so, you know, we're talking small donations anyway, I think you're familiar with all of that and yes You can you can make a difference Yes, go ahead Logan can talk to you. Yeah, come on You're getting here. He comes Aaron's getting his exercise Hello, yes, go for it. Hi. Um, hi. Well, thanks for being here first of all And thanks to everybody else too for turning out to a town hall to bring awareness to issues that are very important Right now. So my name is Edie spettis and I've been a constituent at Yolo County my entire life I graduated from UC Davis in 2016 and I had a question about your change in cosponsoring for Medicare for all so you were a previous cosponsor of HR six seven six The expanded and improved Medicare for all active 2017 and on July 27th 2017 You wrote an op-ed in the Sacramento B about Medicare for all being the only solution to our healthcare system And you stated this is a direct quote that there is no question that Medicare for Medicare is a more efficient system then the private insurance market and I just wanted to know why you haven't cosponsored HR 1384 because it's the only bill that would drastically reduce administrative bureaucracy in the healthcare system and Nearly every industrial country on the earth guarantees healthcare for all at half the Per capita cost with better health outcomes. So why do you Ideologically oppose moving to a single-payer healthcare system like Canada and other wealthy nations have successfully done Those of you thank you Very very important issue perhaps one of the most important healthcare issues we have two things About Medicare for all Now do we know what Medicare is? Well, we have a general idea about what it is But the legislation that you talked about is not the Medicare that we know today It's quite different and therefore. I was not willing to support the legislation Now if it were Medicare for all as we have it today Which works? Very very well. I would support it now We get down into the weeds of health care very very quickly here in 1991 When I ran for insurance commissioner, I ran on the platform of a single-payer universal system 1991 and we wrote the legislation that Clinton ran on and Hillary took over now in the process of the legislative process back in 93 and 94 it didn't turn out well for a variety of reasons You have to be very Careful how you move forward in reforming the health care system Okay, you want to recognize that they're the most personal of all Legislative actions is health care. It's personal It's not out there and dealing with how we're going to take over the Senate. It's me It's personal and so the Medicare for all legislation that you're talking about is a whole Change in the way in which medical services and medical payments would be made My sense of Medicare for all is to take the present system that we have and to build upon it right now about More than 50% of Americans are covered in single-payer insurance programs. Oh I didn't know that it's true Medicare Medicaid veterans health insurance for federal employees and Children's health insurance and so forth more than 50% So we need to do this in a thoughtful way That moves us step by step towards a universal single-payer system Now the problem with that particular bill is it outlaws all private insurance period Don't get don't get too excited Don't get too excited. I Have no love for the private insurance system. I understand that I've been insurance commissioner in this state for eight years And I will argue I know as much about the private insurance system as most anybody and the good and the bad of it The way the present system works is you have a basic good high-quality Universal health insurance program called Medicare and Then for people that want more they can purchase it and that's called the Medicare Plus program now We need to move carefully here Towards our goal and in the process not destroy the Opportunities that are available to us. It wasn't by accident that I started this discussion with what? the affordable care act I did that because It is a process that we need to engage in working on the affordable care act which Reduced the amount number of uninsured. I don't know to 16% something like that across the nation and now we need to find a way to merge our insurance systems to create an efficient an Efficient way of collecting the money to pay for it two options one Private insurance or insurance provided by businesses which costs 1617 percent to simply get the money The other is What we do with Medicare Medicaid and all the rest that's a tax system cost about 3% so in terms of efficiency of Pain getting the money to pay for it There's something to consider here in addition to that there is the Question of how do we begin to merge the existing government programs into a rational system That's universal provides, you know, we're not going to get to a platinum policy But to a good quality policy that's available to all of us. How do we get there? There's a path Frankly, the Congress isn't on that path at the moment, but we could be and that path is one in which we begin to Merge the programs and expand the programs I've recommended for the last 20 years that we take Medicare as we know it today and Every child born after January 1st 2020 is given a Medicare card Okay, and so on year after year after year and You go to 65 and you bring it down to 60 and you begin to Bring these together and along the way you take the multiplicity of programs We have and begin to merge them into a single program You've got to keep in mind two things here There are two parts to the health care system one is collecting the money and Medicare for all is a way in collecting the money It's also an insurance policy. That is the coverage that's going to be available the second part is Really different and that is the delivery of the medical services Two things obviously merged together But two very separate things and as you move towards a Universal system you want to be very very careful that you give people choices in where and how they get their medical care Okay, so keep those things in mind. We can do it. It's going to take time But I don't believe that that legislation is the way to go. Okay. Yes, sir, right there I'm an active member of a sister district 3 and Wanted to thank you first before my question. I wanted to thank you for your leadership in 218 And which resulted in flipping so many districts from red to blue So my question is back to northern Syria. Is there nothing that can be done by Congress? I Think you heard his question back to Syria. Is there nothing that can be done? I Have been Spending the last three days trying to figure out an answer to that question. I Think the answer lies in an effort well first of all with Out the president it's very very difficult to do anything here in this choir in this issue Because the president controls the levers of government from diplomacy to the military He's made a decision to move the military out hence our military Capability is gone Now my concern is it may be gone for the entire region except for Saudi Arabia, which he seems to want to protect Which raises another question? Yeah, I don't know why we want to protect MSB, but He does So what can we do if the president isn't willing to step forward and take action like Phone Ergadon say you misunderstood me You misunderstood me. I didn't give you a green light so stop Now until the president is willing to do that the message to Ergadon is you got a green light So that's the president I don't have any hope that he's going to step forward he's talking about sanctions Which seemed to me to be Okay, but not going to change things The other thing is the diplomacy side of it and there may be some opportunities on the diplomacy side I believe that Europe and The United States even Russia is looking at this and they're going uh-oh we got a problem and Maybe maybe if we got together we can find a way of not having what is likely to be a major bloody battle Of which a lot of folks are going to die So that's the diplomacy thing now The president seems to be incapable of even envisioning such a effort Now unfortunately what's happened over the last three years is that the United States has Retreated from its position of engaging in the diplomatic solution to Syria Russia jumped in and assumed the big Dog position the United States exited on all the negotiations We've not been involved in negotiations on the future of Syria for at least two years Actually a little longer than that But there is an opportunity in the diplomacy side now Right now, but we're probably a couple of days away from two armies Going at each other and in between them are the Syrian Kurds so The president the opportunity for diplomacy the military option is basically on the sidelines So that's where we are It is a very dangerous and deadly situation So we've gone around this a couple of times. Okay, I Don't know if that young lady on your lap has the question if she does I'd love to hear it You're gonna ask it for her I picked up when I picked up from school today I said do you want to go to grandma's house and play with some toys or do you want to come with me? And she said she wanted to come here. She it was her choice Wonderful, thank you So my question today is about climate change and climate change is the number one threat to her future We're the IPC said last year that we have 12 years to take action on climate change And then somewhere around there feedback mechanisms are gonna start kicking in On a planetary level that humans just can't stop at that point at the clock is ticking We have 11 years left We just saw a youth climate strike here in Davis with about a thousand students show up And I've never seen B Street closed down like that It was it was something else the youth are speaking to us So my question for you is on climate change. What have you done last year? What are the concrete actions that you've taken to stop climate change? Not just adapt but stop it from from happening and what tangible results have we seen from those concrete actions? Thank you. I See the Green New Deal folks in the back of the room, and I suspect that's the same Question you might ask of me. So what have you done Dara Mindy? Okay, I spoke about 1978 and I've been at it ever since Every year in one way or another trying to find one more step forward to address the climate crisis Now one of the great benefits of being an elected official if you have a curious mind is People will want to share their knowledge with you and it goes back to me to 1978 When a certain Scientist at Lawrence Livermore lab said are you aware that? The oceans are getting warmer and I have no idea the oceans are getting warmer still pretty cold at Santa Cruz He said no they really are and he talked about what was happening So over the years step by step piece by piece. Where are we today? What concrete actions today? There's some pieces of legislation. I've got them back here. I won't go through all of them Those are votes that I've taken but I am Chairman of the readiness subcommittee 300 billion dollars of your money that I have to pay attention to And that means is the military ready? and it turns out The very first meeting I held as chairman of the committee was a hearing on is the military ready for climate change The answer is they've been thinking about it Going back 20 some years the military said the wars of the future are likely to be about climate migration And so they're thinking about it In the time in which I raised that Camp Lejeune The Marine Corps base on the east coast Sustained Somewhere between four and five billion dollars of damage From a hurricane Tindall Air Force Base on the west coast of Florida About four billion dollars of damage from a hurricane and literally wiped off the map I'm not kidding. Just gone Off it Air Force Base strategic air command a little flood. They didn't bother to build the levee That's probably a billion and a half dollars So in this law this year in the National Defense Authorization Act There is the following The military must deliver Specific plans on how it will build resiliency into all of its facilities To prepare for climate change and in doing so reduce their energy consumption now Will they do it? Yes, they will because I'm going to be around to see that they do do it and when they rebuild They're going to rebuild resiliently and energy conservation in addition to that We've looked at all of the consumption of energy the single biggest energy consumer in the nation is the military What are you doing on your base to reduce your energy consumption? What are you doing with micro grids? What are you doing with solar grids and so on and so forth? So around the world Not just in the United States. I was in Poland new facilities being built in Poland to push back against Trump Excuse me Trump and Putin one and one of the same Probably shouldn't all anyway So specific in the responsibilities that I have in addition to that there's a whole host of legislation Including supporting the new Green Deal and legislation that's coming out of that So we'll fight those issues. I just raised a question that I want to go to and this goes to the nature of our democracy In my view, this is fundamental The Constitution is set up in such a way that the power of the purse is Congress's power Madison said it very carefully. He said the power of the purse is the ultimate control of the president Now what's happened in the last year? Using emergency powers that were intended to deal with nuclear war The president declared an emergency went into the military budget things that are my responsibility and has taken Five and a half five point six billion dollars out of the military to build his wall Yes And I'm going you can't do that mr. President for two reasons one We don't need a wall and two it is Directly contrary to the very nature of our democracy and so we have a raging fight going on right now with the president over this in the new National Defense Authorization Act as it comes together there is a fight between the House of Representatives me and the Senate Over language that would prohibit the president from ever rating the military budget to build his wall period and to rein in specific sections on Emergency powers that the president has which incidentally we ought to do on a whole range of about 32 different pieces of Law that give the president emergency powers that literally touch every single part of the federal government We need to do that. We're going to do it a little bit in the military side of it Okay, your turn wait a minute. You're going to get a microphone Aaron is getting his exercise American prison system and what can be done to reform it? Well, first of all you have to deal with reform of the laws that cause people to go to prison. Okay, so start there There's a whole series of laws that would fall into that category and I won't march down that path unless you want me to but that's the first thing and Many of those laws are now being reformed I think the summer been in the in the Congress and I believe we're moving one or more those have already moved over to the Senate and that deals with the Why people are sent to prison to begin with? Secondly within the prison system. There is no place for privately run prisons in America Secondly, there's and this is a hometown issue and that is why is our jail being used to house immigrants or Asylum seekers, so there's those kind of questions that go into it There's a whole series of issues having to do with the way people are treated in prison California has been good over the years and dealing with that the legislature Almost every year or every other year. There's another piece of legislation coming along about how we treat people that are in prison So those are the basics of it good How long have you been standing back there? Too long We'll ask your question Really appreciate the opportunity to speak for you. I drove for 17 hours to be here. So I'm I'm still a little bit shaky I haven't had sleep in a little bit. So I apologize if I speak too fast Yeah, just slow it down a little bit my my engineers So I grew I came here to Ask you a simple question and make a simple statement that I believe that mothers should have any and all rights to their children I believe that they should have any and all advocacy to do what's in the best interests of their children And I think fathers should too but currently we don't we don't and I'm a soldier I deployed to Poland and I lost custody my son Because we don't have representation in family law We just don't We don't as soldiers and many of us as fathers do not and our children are being robbed of their fundamental rights To their father. We're told that we're deadbeat dads. We don't pay child support even though we do But we don't have representation And I'm asking that We have that I watched in Santa Rosa PD as I was going to a custody evaluation as a father drove down from Oregon to Go reclaim his child who is abducted by its mother Against The the court orders he presented the court order he presented the address he presented the car registration and a photo ID and Santa Rosa PD said we're not going to help I Had another father come to our armory in Santa Rosa, California in tears saying I want to go get my child I went through the court system. I went to the police. I went to the district attorney And I went to everybody I can legally and nobody can help me get my child. It's His mother has taken him into the mountains and we had to tell him we can't help you. We can't help you I'm asking that we have an equal representation. I'm asking that you meet with me And we propose some legislation to make sure that the children are placed first not attorneys Not mothers not fathers, but the children be placed first in family law Thank you Your your issue is not the first time I've heard that issue we get Men and women coming into our office usually on international issues where children are torn between Parents in different countries the United States and some other country and we try to deal with those on an individual basis They're very very difficult Situations you talking basically here about family law most of that is handled at the state level and family court at the state level I'm sure Cecilia would love to answer the question and I'd love to have her have the problem But we share this we share this concern here Representation is another matter and Ability to get a To be able to hire a lawyer is in fact a federal issue the federal government has Provided funding for lawyers for people that could not afford lawyers There are several programs I bet there's one or two of you in this room that are part of that or have dealt with that before and so we need to Fund these now I will tell you that the Trump administration in its budgeting and Proposals have basically attempted deep to defund these lawyers That are out there and there are several different groups. I guess three three that I'm a familiar with okay We're running down to the end of our time here and we're going to start oh They're going to be a whole lot of unhappy people This is where it gets tough to figure out I Know each one of you think you have a different question that has been asked on a subject that has not yet been put forward So if you have a subject that I have not dealt with you can keep your hand up Look at more hands go up That's not the right question Right here I'm here as a member Thanks, Aaron. I'm here as a member of democracy winners and non-partisan Organization with members throughout Yolo County and northern Solano County. Thank you for being here I have a two-parter wrapping up that does relate to To upholding democracy the rule of law and the Constitution But getting specifically at some of the emoluments concerns in previous conversations We were able to touch base on emoluments concerns based on the Trump hotel at the old post office building I appreciate you questioning about that during a recent transportation and infrastructure hearing But I'd be really interested in hearing what's happening for that I think it's very important that the that Congress follow-up all the different opportunities to Investigate the possible wrongdoing. It's very important to upholding our democracy and keeping us from authoritarianism Thank you. Thank you You just reminded me that we've gone through an hour and a half and the word impeachment has not been said So here we go and We'll end with this I Said earlier that our democracy is being tested It's being tested in many many ways. You raised the question of emoluments. Thank you for paying attention we did who are hearing on the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC in the Transportation infrastructure subcommittee on the General Service Administration, which is the agency that holds our Ownership in the hotel. We own the hotel Trump leases it There is absolutely no doubt from that testimony at that hearing that Donald Trump is violating the Article 1 emoluments clause in which he is receiving money directly From a foreign government multiple foreign governments. No doubt about it Secondly again my work on the armed services committee Found out that the US Air Force Personnel is staying at a certain resort in That brings us to article 2 emolument clause. How many of you read article 2 of the emolument clause? Well, you ought to it says this the president of the United States shall receive a salary and no other money from the US government or any governments therein Which means the county of Yolo or state of California or any of the states and so forth it turns out that when the US Air Force stayed at the Trump Hotel It was your tax money from the US government that was used to pay that bill and Trump is The recipient of that money Therefore the second Emoluments clause the second amendment of excuse me the second article in monuments clause was transgressed Are these impeachable in my view? For what we know of the Article 1 yes absolutely because it's around the world. It's not just the hotel in Washington it is facilities that he owns around the world that are routinely Routinely Visited by foreign governments And that he knows it is a blatant violation that he has taken no action to stop now the first one Now who knows we continue our investigations. I've required the Air Force to fully investigate the initial Investigation is complete. It's now being reviewed. I should have it in my hands this week. We'll see where it goes We don't know and I suspect that there is more than just the Holt more than just the facility in Scotland so those are the emoluments are those impeachable offenses in As they have occurred the answer is in my view. Yes because it is a blatant Knowing violation of the Constitution. It could not be more clear. Now if it was done in ignorance I think I know what you thought Let me restate that If he unknowingly engaged in it Yeah Ignorance is applicable. I got it in any case that's another matter but I The issue of a president that refused to divest himself of property that was clearly going to be the subject of Conflict of interest is right at the heart of the matter. That's one the rest of it has to do with the infamous telephone call We're way into that. You know it I had Set up a trip to go to Eastern Europe to look at the facilities that I'm responsible for that five and a half Billion dollars that disappeared for the border wall 1.6 billion of that was facilities that we're responsible for in Eastern Europe and To go to Ukraine to see if what they needed to push back on the Russians It turns out that was in July when or June when I set that up in the intervening time There's a phone call and an impeachment inquiry and all of that So I came back from Ukraine on Saturday a few days ago Now there's no doubt that the president has engaged in an impeachable action with regard to that phone call clearly Trying to extort strong arm whatever word you want to use to describe a phone call where he Disregarded his oath of office to the American public and instead seeking his own reelection by extorting the Ukrainian government to do his bidding on Investigations that are foolish So that's the impeachment inquiry my sense of the impeachment inquiry is We ought to deal with the phone call Simultaneously we ought to take up the emoluments and we ought to pursue the Mueller investigation so For there are probably another dozen things we could talk about but those three are right there in front of us and We now have a formal impeachment investigation underway and the Constitution is clear that that's our responsibility and We must We must make sure that the Power of our investigation is not Stymied by the president's stonewalling. We're gonna have to overcome that and so You've probably heard me say that we ought to use our little prison in the Capital well, we really don't have a prison in the capital But we have a room where we can invite those people who refuse to testify to spend some time Okay, there are many many other things we can discuss But the hour of 430 having arrived and I want to thank all of you for your participation For your interest and for your steadfastness to the American democracy. Thank you very very much We have you mean to a quick announcement about the fun says Congressman I don't know if you have another event tonight, but I think you nick yourself shaving up blood on your collar on the left side It gives me hope to know that there are people in it take really like you