 Good evening, everyone, and welcome to one of our most important panels during our annual meeting. We're so privileged to have distinguished representatives here from the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives, and two governors. And hopefully after this discussion we will understand more about the U.S., U.S. politics and the role of the United States of America in the world. And America really matters. 25 percent of the global GDP comes from the U.S. and 5 percent of the global population. So this country has done pretty well. And it's still doing well. If you look at the economic outlooks, also that the World Economic Forum produces, we are pretty bullish on the U.S. There is a lot of innovation. There is still a lot of growth. And if there is a recession, we don't predict that. But if there is one, I think it's going to be shallow. But also 45 percent of the global military capacity is still with the U.S. So if the U.S. decides to take side, the U.S. decides to get involved, it really, really matters. So in Europe we have always thought about the U.S. as an exporter of predictability, growth, values, and principles. And I think a lot of the world still is of that view. But we know that there is also not always that there is agreements in Washington, D.C. And that's also in any democracy there is disagreements. But I think the feeling has been lately that there has been a lot of partisanship in the U.S. So we wonder how can things get done on behalf of the Americans, too? One thing is to take responsibility for the world. But it's also very important to get things passed, I guess, both in the House and in the Senate, to also make things happening. And this also means a lot for the state. So let me start with you, Senator Koons, here, on my left side. There was a lot of legislation that was done in the fall. We heard also President Ursula von der Leyen today address the IRA, the Inflationary Reduction Act, a lot of infrastructure investments, a lot of investments also in decarbonization. Do you expect now, with the Republican majority in the House, a Democratic majority in the Senate, that there will be new legislation and new things happening in the next two years? Or is it not only going to be about the next presidential campaign? Well, thank you. Thank you for the question and for the recognition that even in a 50-50 closely divided Senate, even in a period of great partisanship, that in the last two years in the House and Senate with Democrats and Republicans working together, we passed landmark legislation to help fund and modernize our infrastructure, to help deal with unmet needs for our veterans, to help with chips and science investment in manufacturing and in reshoring, and many other bills. A remarkable array of legislation in just two years. Your question is, now that we have divided government in Congress between the House and the Senate, will we get anything done? We have to. The American people expect it. It will be a little more challenging. There will be some big issues, the debt ceiling, for example, where we may struggle. But if you look at the rest of the world, we recognize those of us who serve as governors of states, as members of the House and Senate, we recognize that while we have divisions and differences, at the end of the day, we have a responsibility, as you put it, to continue being an exporter of values and stability. I do think we'll find broad agreement about the importance of strengthening our alliances, competing effectively with China, and supporting Ukraine in its ongoing war against Russian aggression. There's many other things we can discuss, but I thought I'd start on a positive note by highlighting a few things where I think there's some agreement. And I think there's a lot of questions there on Ukraine. Will there be continued support also in the coming year on Ukraine from the U.S.? I believe there will. At the end of last year, we passed both chambers and sent to the President a legislation that provided another $45 billion in support, humanitarian, economic, and military. And Ukrainians are being trained in the United States at Fort Hill, Oklahoma, on the Patriot system that President Biden has now approved transferring to Ukraine. The brutality of the war in Ukraine, the violence of it, its very imperial nature, has not just brought together our allies around the world but mobilized Americans. There is, I think, a reasonable expectation that that spending will be accountable, that there will be transparency about it. But I think there's other things that we are going to have to tackle, gun violence, refugees and immigration and the border. There's a number of members here who have been active in bipartisan solutions to those challenges as well. And I know Senator Manchin and Sinema has also collaborated on the RRA and other initiatives. But first, to you, Senator Manchin, we all watched the speech of President Zelensky that addressed the vote of the chambers. Do you think that changed anything in the Congress? Do you think it changed things in America, that speech? I think it solidified an awful lot of the support that we've already had. It helped an awful lot for him to come and recognize all that the American people have done and support in Ukraine. The commitment that we have is unending. We're going to stay with Ukraine until they are victorious. I think that's not only for Ukraine but for the entire world. It's important, especially the EU. So we're very much committed to that. And the energy it's going to take, basically, the Putin usually weaponized energy. So with Putin weaponizing energy, the United States has to step to the plate. And we have to backfill with LNG and all different things we can to help our allies. That was the whole purpose of the RRA bill that we have in America. That bill was passed, basically, on energy security. I know it's been touted as an environmental bill, but I think we're all responsible to decarbonize. But you don't eliminate, you just don't eliminate what the world is using. You lose it and innovate it and you do it better. That's what we're trying to do. And all of us work together on that and I think it's going to be a very, very monumental bill that's going to endure for quite some time. And hopefully that we can be able to be in a stronger, more independent and secured. The United States cannot be the greatest economy in the world and we cannot be the superpower of the world if we don't have energy security. Energy independence and security maintains that. And we have to depend and look around the world for someone to do what we don't want to do for ourselves. And we have all the resources to do everything that we can and do it better. I think it's a shame we didn't. So the RRA gives us that pathway forward. Ukraine, I don't know, I've never seen support more solid. You hear a few people on both sides maybe questioning, should we continue down this large? I think we're in $100 billion or more right now in support. But I can tell you my vote will always be to support Ukraine until they are victorious. Thank you. I was also wondering Senator, what do you think will be the biggest topics for the Senate and for the House and the two coming? We all know, and I think Senator Kuhn, everybody, if we had immigration, the United States, we have to have a strong, robust employment. But you have to have legal immigration. You cannot have an immigration discussion unless you have border security. And unless you're committed to border security, we're not going to get that done. So if that's going to be it, don't waste any time. If we have to do permitting, we can't meet the goals that we need to be energy independent unless we can get the job done. And you can't get the job done. In the United States, if it takes five, seven and 10 years to permit something that takes two and three years, even in Europe. So we've got to change that. We think there's some deals to be made from the standpoint. The main thing about negotiation is you can't get everything you want. You know, you can try to improve it. Now, if you're improving it, do you take that as a win and move on to the next? Or do you say it wasn't good enough? So you let the perfect be the enemy, the good. That's not who we are. Senator Sinema, you're from Arizona. I guess immigration is a big thing in Arizona. It is. And unfortunately, Arizonans have suffered from the last 40 years of the federal government's failure to address this crisis, which is why this is something that I've been spending so much time and energy working on this. Folks in our participating in this panel tonight might know that in the winter, just before the Christmas holidays, Senator Tom Tillis of North Carolina and I put out a immigration framework that both addresses security issues around creating a secure border so we can deter individuals who want to bring dangerous drugs and criminals into the country, which, by the way, are happening. That's happening on a nearly unimpeded basis right now because we do not have the personnel. We're not utilizing the technology to effectively stop this type of crisis of drugs and dangerous individuals entering our country. But we also need to reform the asylum system. Right now, we have an asylum system that actually creates a pull factor for criminal cartels in South America to bring individuals to this country, to our country, who have no legal basis for a permanent path to citizenship. So we want to combine that with also making changes to our system to create a path to citizenship for dreamers, to ending the visa backlog so that we can actually hire the talent we need at all edges and across the entirety of the spectrum. So Senator Tillis and I proposed this framework right before the Christmas holidays as most folks are aware, we ran out of time to push that legislation through because of the budget process. However, we came back in early January and just last week, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a border senator and myself led a delegation of four Republicans, three Democrats and myself and independent to the border in both Texas and Arizona. We began talking about our framework and we are building the bipartisan coalition that we believe will allow us to pass legislation through both the House and the Senate this year. Thank you. One thing I was reflecting on is that a strength for the U.S., if you know, compare the demography between the U.S. and for example China, where you see no labor force is going down for the first time. While in the U.S., the demography is still quite favorable. So by 2050, America still will be as young as today. But it is also changing and we know there's lack of labor. So who do you think about this? You know, the U.S. was the land of opportunities. Most of you have like very diverse backgrounds. Who, when you also need people in the years to come, will you then let people in and on what premises if you're stopping, know your borders? So the key is to create a system where we get to choose as a nation who we will invite into the country and who we will not. Right now, because our immigration security system is completely broken, we're not choosing who gets to come and who doesn't. The cartels are choosing and that is not sustainable for our country. So in order for us to have a system where we are bringing the best and the brightest, whether it be farm workers or J1 visas for doctors, or whether it be geniuses who can help us create the new ideas for the future, we need to be in control of that. And that means reforming the system so that we can actually identify what jobs we need filled and then choose who are the kinds of folks we want to come to our country while also making sure that we're keeping out criminal elements and the dangerous drugs that have created an ever-increasing and concerning fentanyl crisis. I expect our governors could talk more about this fentanyl crisis than anyone else on this panel because they're suffering through it every single day. Thank you. Turning to you, Congresswoman Maria Salazar, Florida, a couple of questions. First on Ukraine, do you confirm the same as Senator Manchin and also Kuhn said? Do you think there will be the same support also from the new House as it has been in the past? I think that's, thank you and thanks once again for inviting us to this panel. I do believe that there is heavy discussion within the GOP for what you are saying, specifically among the Republican members of Congress. But I'm one of those. I am Cuban American, first generation, so we know what the Soviets and the Russians can do to you. I'm very good friends with Victoria Sparks, who is the Ukrainian American sole representative Republican of the Ukraine people on the floor. And I do believe that regardless of any discussion or doubts of the $100 billion that we have donated or given to the Ukrainians to defend themselves, we will at the end vote, at least my vote is secured, to continue with the Ukrainians until they win. The United States saved Europe. And you know, I'm very aware that the Ukraine, the situation is very important for this part of the world because we are here in Switzerland. And it puts things into perspective that for the Europeans, this is a very important issue. For the United States, it's an issue that we're going to repeat the same thing. We're going to liberate Europe, quote unquote, in 2023, just like we did in 1945. We understand that that is our duty, although there is some doubts in some members of the GOP on the House if we should continue because we have so many issues that we need to pay attention to at home. And one of them is immigration. So I just wanted to use this opportunity that I would love to work with Senator Sinema and with the other senators on the House because I agree that immigration is one of the major problems that we are facing on our shores. There's no way that the United States can continue being what it is, the most important power in the world, the number one economy in the world if we don't have hands. And I represent the Hispanics, which are the largest minority in the country. We're 23 percent. And the overwhelming majority of the people who are crossing the border as we speak are Hispanics, Latinos like I am. And this nation, and I believe that people like me in Congress should be the ones telling the rest of the political elite that it's time for both parties to pay attention to something that for the last 35 years, either party has been able to do, which is to pass complete overhaul of the immigration system. Because not only we need those hands, like the Congress, like us, a senator was saying, but we need to also give dignity to those people who are in the country. And those are the people that I represent. We're talking about 13, 15 million people who are most of them Hispanics, I would say 85 percent, who speak my language, look like me, and sound like me, that are contributing with the economy of this country and they live in the shadows. So it's time to seal the border, like she said, put order, let's see who comes in and who doesn't, and then turn around and give dignity. That doesn't mean path to citizenship. That means to include them and make them dignified members of our community. Thank you. Just a short question on this, seal the borders, since you also have a Cuban background. If there are Cubans then fleeing from Cuba, shouldn't the U.S. receive them if they're fleeing from also political persecution and all this? And in a system where you should pick and choose, where does this with political difficulties? You know all the Jews that came to the America and seek to also protection in the run-up to the Second World War, you receive them all and I think it's gone pretty well. Yes. I represent the city of Miami, the heart of the Cuban exile community. So that is the question that we face every day. The United States laws say that you have to go through due process and not only the Cubans, but the Venezuelans and the Nicaraguans are confronting the same thing that the Cubans are, socialism and communism. And I do believe that we have to give due process of law to those people who are running those tyrannies and incorporate them and accept them into the country if they do face persecution. Thank you. A short comment from Senator Kunz and then I go to Congress. Just a matter of history. Shamefully we did not welcome all the Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. In fact, there's a famous incident in a case of the SS St. Louis that sailed up and down the east coast of the United States being rejected over and over and ultimately most of those passengers were forced back to Germany. Many of them perished and it was because of that experience that the United States helped lead the development ratification of a global treaty that says we have an obligation to allow those who are seeking asylum. So I just want to say to my friends and colleagues, the senator and the congresswoman, we have a balance we need to strike between having a secure border and being a nation to which people come to seek dignity and redemption, a chance of freedom and getting that balance right where we have a humane system that allows for asylum but that is also legal and regular and orderly. That's a tough balance but with leadership such as they've shown I'm hopeful that we can achieve that. So thank you. I'm going to go to the two congresswomen and then we're going to go to also the Garners where the real stuff is happening. We'll just have to go the round in DC first. I just wanted a short question to you congresswoman Salazar before moving to congresswoman Cheryl. We know that it took a little bit of time before David you chose the new speaker of the house. So a couple of days or whatever. What has that led to in the caucus, the GOP caucus? Has it changed anything? Is something broken? Do you think this can be reconciled? Do you think this will lead to a different GOP in the house in the two years to come? Listen it was three days. We were very tired, very frustrated but I can say to you at the end that democracy worked. Democracy is messy. It's not always pretty. It's frustrating. Hey during the founding father years Madison was fighting with Lincoln and I mean I'm not with Lincoln without hey you know during that creating the Constitution things that's where years ago yeah like you know like 250 years ago plus slavery around sure but you know that the founding fathers just didn't like each other that much but look what the nation they created and the Constitution they put together so we're still we're still experiencing and I was there so I want to share with you an anecdote you can still see the American exceptionality coming up and flourishing. The Republican party under Kevin McCarthy is a new one because what he proved during those three very torturous days is that every faction within the GOP on the floor of the United States Congress is going to be heard including the freedom the most the most radicals the most conservatives including the moderates and the ones who are in the middle and so everyone on the GOP is going to be heard and we've had many conversations after those three torturous days that proves that we are going to be able to work in a bipartisan fashion and I'm going to make sure that I'm going to be one of those voices. No I think we don't envy Kevin McCarthy to keep that group together. I think that's going to be challenging but turning to you Congresswoman Cheryl you saw what was unfolding for those three days and I started to ask Senator Coons how he sees the possibility to get things done both in the House and in the Senate in the two years to come. Do you think that will that process will have a lot of impact on the environment for getting things done in the House? Well I think what we saw was there are really two ways this could go and one is somewhat dire for the country and one is really hopeful and by that I mean what we've seen over the past several congresses and this is not new is a reluctance for a speaker to work with members from the other political party so what I would have loved to have seen in this event instead of reaching out to the very extreme members of the far right if Kevin McCarthy wanted to strike a deal with the moderate members of the Democratic Party that's not something he did it it's not something quite frankly Speaker Pelosi was want to do reach across the aisle and I think as we've seen the nation pushing us ever more towards moderation and towards bipartisanship with these tight tight groups of people I mean the Senate was was 50-50 in the last cycle we had a very slim majority for Democrats now very slim majority for Republicans the nation's pushing us towards moderation and yet when you don't have speakers reaching across the aisle you have them beholden to the extremes of the party which is I think bad for the country and bad for the moderate center so if McCarthy chooses to continue moving forward with these extremists you know I'm very concerned about the debt ceiling and what that might mean for our ability to raise it however I think there will be opportunities for all of us in the house to work together to make sure that the the must pass legislation gets passed and and I think that could be really good for congress and really good for the country no thank you very much I'm turning then to Garner a camp of Georgia we know you well we've seen you a lot of on on tv all over the world during the last elections you were very clear on some principles you were a reelected a broad majority no of course there has been some reflections why the Republicans didn't do better in the House House election with representatives and a lot of the candidates that were election deniers were not elected any reflections on that because of your own background too because you came under some pressure but you you didn't really give in on that did you well I mean look I wouldn't want to try to speculate on you know every member every Republican candidate for for Congress or the United States Senate outside what we saw in Georgia my own perspective is I think the people of the state that I represent which is a great one they you know look they want us to know they want to know the differences between the candidates but they also want to know what we're for like what are they going to get the next four years and that's something that we just stayed focused on and I think when you look at the at the Republican ticket in the state of Georgia we've had two record years in a row economically our mid-year numbers will probably break last year's numbers if you take out the two big mega projects we had we talked about the things that we did on teacher pay raises on school security our two healthcare waivers even though a lot of the bureaucracy in Washington DC was trying to hold those up we had innovative solutions that are lower in private sector costs and bringing more access to people really pushing back to the one size fits all narrative that my opponent's been driving for literally six years now and I think people bought into that they bought into a politician that and I got this question at the end of the campaign a reporter said what's your closing message to people and I asked the question to the voters you know look at the candidates and ask who's been fighting for you who was fighting to keep your business open when all the pressure from both political parties from people in high places from a lot of other people that were sitting in their basement on a computer was not to stay open was not to reopen our economy who was pushing to get our kids back in the classroom well we did all of those things and you know we proved that we were fighting for people we were fighting for election security we were fighting for people to have a good paying job and to have you know to survive to live to fight another day economically in our state we fought for our people by giving them a billion dollars of their tax money back to help them fight through 40 year high inflation because in my opinion of a lot of bad policies in Washington DC and the voters of my state the great state of Georgia certainly responded to that thank you governor and who does it look seeing it from the capital your capital and looking at DC there's a lot of partisanship and of course there will be disagreements in the democracy but do you think it has gone so far that it can be a negative factor for america now moving forward well listen I think from my perspective a lot of frustration with Washington DC I understand you know senator coombs position on the IRA but you know that hurt Georgia based electric vehicle companies in our state it was not treating them fairly I believe the legislation picked winners and losers thankfully I think the administration is working on on fixing that I don't think we were treated fairly in a state because we had been open we had a low unemployment rate so the level of funding coming out of Washington DC and the current administration we were treated differently from New York and California you know their citizens per capita were getting more money than ours and so that's frustrating to some someone like me as the governor that just wants to be have our citizens treated treated fairly you know there's frustrations quite honestly look if there's gridlock in Washington DC one thing you can count on is the stability and a great economy and great business environment in the state of Georgia and we're going to keep rocking and rolling but it is frustrating to have to deal with the fentanyl crisis because we simply cannot secure our border in this country and I'm hopeful that something gets done but you know my advice take it for what it's worth while we're waiting on that just secure the border I mean literally every governor in the country is dealing with the fentanyl crisis we're dealing with street gang crisis we're dealing with human trafficking crisis and those are the issues that we're trying to tackle at the state level but I believe much could be solved and I think there will be broad bipartisan support for simply in the meantime you while you're working on these things to secure the dang border thank you garner moving to Illinois garner frisker also reelected second term increase your majority also and overall and we know that you also for this reelection you were out there saying that Illinois should be 100% based on net zero or renewables by 2050 was that something that was well received during your campaign extremely well received and in fact we passed a climate inequitable jobs act for the state of Illinois which is significantly increasing our focus on clean energy for we're actually going to be fossil free by 2050 in the state of Illinois so we are making significant progress and I think in that vein I want to disagree with democrats and republicans across this panel on something there was a lot of talk about the desire for bipartisanship I think that certainly if you ask the public do you think that congress or that state should work in a bipartisan fashion the answer is yes but what they really mean in my view is they want to get things done and let me say about the current president of the united states he has gotten things done now he has worked with some reluctant members of his own party he's worked with some reluctant members of the opposite party but we have gotten things done for the united states at the federal level under this president but the truth is not enough not enough and so at the state what are you missing well I think at the state level I think the governor would agree with me that look the people of our states want us to increase jobs grow the economy you know make sure that in my state people want to ban assault weapons we just did that protect a woman's right to choose we just did that those are not happening at the federal level and should but we're doing it at the state level and and it's true also about building our economy we have a we just passed a trillion dollar GDP for the state of Illinois where the fifth state in the country to do that but we're doing that with some help from the federal government but frankly we've had to chart a course and set an industrial policy essentially for our state how are we attracting business I think the same is true for Georgia we compete with Georgia on some you know important industries the film industry you're doing very well we're coming up behind you in the film industry and and want it and we'll be exceeding you soon but but but but the point is that I think people want to get things done and especially for working families for you know creating jobs yes so businesses benefit but also just lifting up middle class families and working class families and people who rely on government and that's something that again I think at the federal level for the last two years a lot has gotten done getting past the pandemic is is a major you know talk about you know saving the economy and saving lives we did that the federal level we did that the state level but it's about getting things done for people saving lives and building the economy for those of us that observe the US from outside there were a lot of speculations around the elections to the senate and to the house but also on the different states it didn't really go totally the way that was expected is has there been like a change in the site guys in the US you know things goes a little bit up and down because it was very partisan and then you saw some candidates that were less partisan maybe did better than expected and we know that this has gone gone in waves in the US also in the past do you think things are changing in that respect also in the run-up now to it still feels very partisan to me I must say even though once again you know we find ways to work together to get things done but but and you saw that again over the last two years but it is very hard I mean especially when you have people who deny reality who are holding office you know I mean literally people who are you know believe in space lasers and you know sort of have strange we know about it yeah yeah and have very strange views about you know about what we ought to be doing as a country there's still our people in the GOP caucus who are very pro-russia and I I I wonder about that in this day and age in this moment I you know it's not being critical of all republicans but I just don't know where that stuff comes from other than QAnon and I don't know let me just say real quick the american people basically I think are tired and very very upset with how the operations have been going whether it could be in extreme states or extreme congress that we have the problem that we have is the open press system and basically all the platforms so if you're able to have five platforms social platforms that you can basically personify the extremes somebody who is extremely right or extremely left and it seems like that is the majority speaking they're not the majority but they're basically driving everybody to make a decision what side are you on you on this side or this side and in america there's only one side the american side it's not the republican side or democrat we should be coming together to solve the problems from a different angle but the problems are the same but the bottom line is we don't we try to basically put blame on that's your problem that's not mine so it's your fault that's not who we are our democracy will correct itself the public and constituents will command that and demand it that we correct it and come back to that sensible center so a short comment from a center of cinema and then I go to center because since last time we met you you become an independent that's correct happened that same day or the day after didn't it so as folks know I have declared formally declared my independence from what I consider to be a deeply broken two-party system those who know me know that I was always an independent voice and always have been for the things that I believe in and for my state and for my country but I do think it's important to note that the that what you've heard about partisanship I believe is accurate you know in the in the last two years we we think you know January 6 which is a horrible day from two years ago created I think concern and fear for every patriotic American across the country but in the resulting two years the Democratic Party shared a narrative that said we would not have any more free and fair elections in this country if the United States Congress didn't eliminate the filibuster and pass a massive voting rights package as you as we all know the filibuster was not eliminated Joe and I were not interested in sacrificing that important guardrail for the institution that massive voting rights bill was not passed through congress and then we had a free and fair election all across the country and as has been noted the outcome of that election was different than many people expected most election deniers lost across the country and individuals of both political parties some extreme some moderate one so we had a free and fair election so one could posit that the push by one political party to eliminate an important guardrail and institute in an institution in our country may have been premature or overreaching in order to get the short-term victories they wanted then we fast forward to where we are today and we saw the House of Representatives struggle for multiple days in the in a row as Kevin McCarthy dear friend of mine had to had to continue conceding point after point after point to the radical right of the GOP to a point where he's now an unenviable position that will make it very difficult for us to meet our obligation when the debt limit fight comes up later this year those are just two examples of the poll that you see political parties giving in order to get everything they want rather than to recognize that the heart of a democracy is not just collaboration and working together it is compromise it is getting a lot done but not everything you want done and so I think that there's actually a really big opportunity right now for our country to have a reckoning of sorts and to see that perhaps these polls that are happening in the parties as Mikey mentioned neither speaker has ever shown interest in recent years of collaborating with the moderates and other parties because they go on my way or the highway did Pelosi did it McCarthy is doing it this is this is not healthy for democracy so I think that this is an opportunity for us as as a country to look back and say is this partisanship serving us I would posit to you that it's not and so while some would say that there were reluctant folks working in Congress in the last two years I would actually say that that was the basis for the productivity for some incredible achievements that made a difference for the American people in the last two years and we still don't agree on getting rid of the filibuster that's correct thank you I was thinking about uh congresswoman uh Cheryl you I had only one question to you and I we know and at least I know you also have a quite a distinguished background from the from the army I think you even have been a helicopter pilot for the US Navy and we did speak about Ukraine we saw Afghanistan pull out we have seen now that women and girls are not even admitted to universities or schools anymore when you look at the US Army with your background and also the challenges the US is seeing from different parts of of the world do you think that US will continue to keep an army of the size you have today because as I started to say 45 percent of the global military capacity is from the US or should Europe for example be ready to take a bigger share of this for ourselves I'm a member of the House Armed Services Committee and I don't think you're going to have anyone on the House Armed Services Committee suggest that Europe should not be taking on a larger share of of the defense community but Europe is I think what we're seeing now for the first time really for some countries such as Germany really getting heavily infested in the war for democracy and supporting Ukraine we've actually seen though that's not just limited to Europe what's going on around the world I was just hearing from a gentleman from Japan about the recent diplomatic relationships and the military relationships going on and building up Japan's defense base but also in concert with South Korea longtime enemies really so we're seeing people coming together around the world in an understanding of how important it is with this global realignment that democracies come together to make sure that our our defense is strong really in order to provide deterrence against another Ukraine and I I just want to thank the Ukrainian people for their hard fight I see Sasha and the audience who's done such a wonderful job a member of the Ukrainian parliament we have had what I call shuttle diplomacy from members of the Ukrainian parliament talking to us all the time about what it's going to take for them to win this war and the support from the United States in conjunction with our NATO allies has truly been astonishing and I think really is a great scene setter for the future as we go forward together in supporting national security and deterrence well thank you so much and I think it's significant what you underlined when the third and fourth largest economy of the world Japan and Germany is deciding to go from 1% of GDP to 2% of GDP to defense that's a lot of defense so I think the message is also received before I go to EU center Kunso we have to wrap up this thing and I think people at least I enjoyed it a lot I learned also a lot but what I learned from politics myself you should end when people still wanted to go on and I think I look at the audience I think we're still there I just want one question to you Garner Fritzker because you also have such a distinguished business background what we are looking at the US is you know inflation is starting to know go down for the first time we see there is still growth the feeling and what we hear here in Davos is that the Fed was very late in increasing interest and no they're very late in internalizing that inflation is on this way down is that something that you share well their aim is to bring it back down to 2% as you know but I have to say my expectation is that that will take a very long time and that we can't rely on you know raising interest rates until that happens that if you want to see a massive recession that's what it would result in but who can change that the inflationary target then well what I'm suggesting to you is that there will be a reduction continuing reduction of inflation but it's not going to head to 2% in the near future but I do think we're going to have to live with a slightly elevated amount of inflation just it's the nature of things look at the rest of the world I mean it's not that we're the only nation in fact we're probably at the lower end of most of the developed world anyway in terms of inflation at this point but I'm optimistic I am I think that that the US economy if we I don't know whether we'll get to a recession I'm certainly hoping not although we have to plan properly for that but but my expectation is that it will not be a deep recession if there is one and that business is though it may be moderating we're not going to see a major dip and we're not seeing massive job losses in fact there's still huge demand for labor and that is unfortunately one of the things driving inflation I saw Senator Coons that you seem to agree Governor Pritzker on this and but but inflationary target of 2% that is set as a target for the Fed is something that's politically decided I guess the senate or or or the house could change that to 3% or 2.5 you know China is not exporting deflation anymore so I do agree that I'm optimistic that if we have a recession it will be relatively light the independence of our Fed is a key part of our economic system and they have over many years managed our economy and our banking system and our money supply relatively well I do think that one of the things that continues to make the American economy strong and robust is innovation our commitment to being a free and open society and economy one that welcomes people of talent and people in need of asylum from around the world but frankly also our global network of alliances those countries that closely share our values that have been our partners for decades I think one of the strongest things that President Biden has done in response to the aggression of Russia and Ukraine is to work closely with our allies around the world not just in Europe but also in the Indo-Pacific and I think in the coming two years we'll see even more progress as you mentioned Berga both Japan and Germany are significantly strengthening their share of the defense burden I also think Chancellor Schultz had called for a climate club and we will begin to see some positive movement in that direction if the United States can learn some lessons from Switzerland from Germany about workforce training and skills development and we can find a way to move past some of the disagreements over the moment that are resulting from our current climate ambition I think our partnership our alliances will be stronger than ever and I think we have a very bright future together thank you so much I I I'm after listening to this panel we see there is so much competence in the U.S. government it's been a pleasure to listen to you you see it's late and that was this this slot at six o'clock is a tough slot but you made it you see people are still here they getting late to their dinners but I think we're all so interested in where America is heading and thank you so much to the panel they deserve a big applause thank you so much