 I don't have to be so summed up. A lot of it. All right, let me thank everybody for coming. And thank you for overcoming the weather and the roads. Actually, of all the things that I do during the year, this is kind of one of the fun things. And I should tell every parent and family member here should be very proud of these young people. This year, we had over, I think, somewhere around 600 essays submitted. I think for about 54 schools. Was it Katerina 54 schools? 42 schools. No, it was close. And the quality of these essays is really, really extraordinary. And it's not just the writing. By the way, these essays were judged not by my office. We wanted to separate my views from what the kids were writing. I think we have seven teachers independently, absolutely independently of our office. Okay, and two of them are here today. Where are the two teachers? We've got Jason and Brad. Jason and? Okay. Thank you very much. And they judged the essays not by the politics of the views as much as the writing ability and the laying out of ideas and the critical thinking that was the judgment, not one's conclusions, my private views. And what impressed me in reading the way we did it is we selected the top 20, I think, probably most of them here today. And what really impressed me is the wide range of subject matter that the young people have wrote about, not only the quality of the writing, which was really good, but the subjects that they chose to write about. So, without further ado, what I would like to do this morning is to have each and every one of you speak briefly about your essay, why you wrote it, what was in it. And then we'll have discussion. I want everybody to participate. Nobody to be nervous about us, an informal thing. And we'll keep moving. We don't have a lot of time to spend on 20 essays, but I'll jump in and you guys as we'll comment on each other's essay. All right, the winner who has seated here to my left is Madri Parker. Madri, you'd like to be called Maggie, right? Okay. So jump in and tell us very briefly what you wrote about and why you think it's important. Okay. So, I wrote about LGBT, preventing LGBT hate crimes and employment discrimination and things like that. The reason I wrote about these issues was because in my school I'm part of the QSA, which is the Queer Street Alliance. And from being in that for two years, it's really impacted me to see the issues, the broad ranges of issues that LGBT people face on a daily basis. So it really hit home with me. And it's the thing that I think I could write about the most passionately. So that's why I chose that topic. Great. Thank you. This is LGBT discrimination employment opportunities. Is that an issue? All right, who wants to comment on that? Issue, not an issue. Now, don't be shy, guys. The problem is I know you're all smart. Excuse me. All right, who wants to talk about that? Discrimination, a problem in America? Has it historically been a problem? Who wants to comment on that? All right, come on. Who's that? Megzy? Megzy, yes. I'm also part of the QSA at my school. And your school is? Middlebury. And what, I mean, it's not just in the workplace, right? We see discrimination even starting from elementary school and it carries and it even worsens as people grow up. And I've had friends who've experienced like really awful, I mean, bullying based on their sexual identity and gender identities. And I mean, maybe it's definitely an issue and there's so much that we can do that I don't think we are doing. Who wants to give us a history, you know, sometimes in the textbooks, people are all Americans, a free society, everything was wonderful? Give me a brief rundown of discrimination in American history. Who wants to take a shot at them? Has everybody always been treated equally? Who wants to give me a brief rundown? What was the status of women when this country was first formed? Women voted and ran for office and all that stuff. You see a lot of women up here on the walls. Here's the former governor's order. So obviously, I'm all of them, and I'm in high school. Obviously in the early days of the public women had extremely limited political influence and they couldn't vote. At least in some states, it varied state by state. And women didn't really become enfranchised until the early 20th century. I think one of the biggest things in the history of women becoming more involved in politics is when Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected the House of Representatives, won her seat in 1917. And then shortly after that, she pushed something that came before sort of an inspiration for the amendment that would eventually allow women to vote. And she's, I think, one of my heroes and should be remembered. Not well known, but you're right. She is an American hero. All right, but it's not just women. What else? Can I speak? I mentioned last night an interesting story. I read a PhD thesis. I think it's written in the 30s at UVM. And if my memory is correct, this is what it said, believe it or not, in Burlington, the only people who worked in banks were Protestants. And it was a big deal when a Catholic got a job in a bank. Talk about the 1930s, maybe. What about that? What about Italians, Irish Jews? He wants to say a little bit of work. So I'm getting back, we started with LGBT, but this is a long history. Anybody else want to think about that? Native Americans. What about Native Americans? They've always been treated decently and warmly. Well, I know that as I look back, I remember the, I think it was the trails here that the seventh president, Andrew Jackson, forced the certain Native tribes in Georgia to flee to western parts of our country. And of course, that just is such a terrible aspect of our history that, and of course, discrimination is still prominent today. However, as we look back, we see examples of our presidents and our Irish leaders that are in the open discriminating against people that really own this land and harvested and lived here and had history here before us because of course, America right now is the land of the immigrants. So as I look back on that, I hate to see the fact that we had to discriminate and segregate ourselves from Indian tribes when we could have tried to support their prosperity instead of just sort of shining them from our country. I want to move on, but the only point that I want to make here is this country, in this country, all of us have an enormous amount to be proud of. My father came here at the age of 17 without any money and he became, he was able to raise his kids and that's the story of many millions of families. There's a lot that we could be proud of, but you should also try to take an objective look at our history, not everything, sometimes people write books, everything is wonderful, everything is great, not true, it's not true for any country, not true for any country. Yesterday last night, I had a town meeting in Burlington with the German ambassador. They're doing great things now, needless to say their history has been, to say the least, very delighted. So take an objective look and discrimination is one of the aspects of our history that has existed and that we should understand it and do our best to go beyond it and create a nation where we treat all people with the dignity that they deserve as human beings. Okay, so Maggie, thank you very much for your work. Elora Rich, I've got the second place of the board and Laura's from St. John's Ferry Academy. Elora, what did you write about? I wrote about the need to decrease the opportunity gap for first generation and low income students on their path to higher education and that was the topic that I chose because I'm a member of Upward Bound, which is a federally funded trio program. It was started, I believe, after the Great Depression by Lyndon B. Johnson and that program has definitely influenced the course of my path to higher education and I think that I wouldn't be who I am today without it so I think that we need to make higher education free and I think that is something that would definitely influence people like me. Okay, thank you very much, Elora, that is a very, very important issue. As I mentioned last night, I'm with the German Ambassador Public College in Germany is free. This is the case in a number of countries around the world. Why is that important? Is Elora right? Is that a good idea? Or should we hold a view that you can afford to go to college? You can afford to go to college? You can afford to go to college? It's another way of looking at it. I mean, not everybody owns a big car or a big house. Why should everybody be able to go to college? Zoey, where are you from? I'm from CVU. You got that mic, get Zoey that mic over there if you could. Will embarrass her even more. Thanks guys, yeah. Thank you. I was just thinking about the fact that I think everyone should have equal opportunities for education. And if you sell it as an investment in the next workforce, the next generation, I think everyone would be really pleased by that idea. And I just think that the next generation would have better opportunities to improve upon what the previous generation did. Zoey makes a very good point. She talks about an investment into the future. Let me make it more personal. If you don't get a higher education in today's economy, in most cases, how are you going to do? Say you graduate high school and you don't go on, or you drop out of high school, you think you're going to do particularly well economically? Who wants to comment on that? Look at new hands. I'd like everybody involved. Anyone here? Yeah. Tell us who you are and grab that mic there. I'm also from Champlain Valley Union High School, or CBU. And it's over the course of the past few decades, and this was not always the case. In many, not all, but in many fields, it's become quite difficult to secure advancement in a given career without higher education, simply because many jobs have become more technical, as less technical jobs are automated, which means it's more important to provide funds not just for colleges, but also for technical training and retraining of workers. That's exactly right. Most of the new jobs being created require a level of technological skill, and certainly it wasn't the case 20 years ago, and you need additional training and higher education for that. What about the more philosophical point of view that Laura I think touches on? I think what you're saying, Laura, is you think that everybody, regardless of the income of their families, should have the opportunity to get a higher education. Do you want to elaborate on that? Yeah, I just think that it shouldn't matter where you come from or what your family makes for an income. If you are smart enough and if you work hard enough, you should be able to go to college and you should be able to do the same things maybe people with more money can do, and I don't think that should be a barrier for anybody. Okay, I agree with Laura very strongly. We are working hard to try to make public colleges and universities tuition free. I think some success around the country beginning to move in that direction. But now I want to play the devil's advocate. Who wants to argue against Laura? Because when you talk about free tuition at public colleges and universities, it's not free, somebody is paying for it. It's going to be the taxpayers who are paying for it. So who wants to argue whether you believe it or you just want to make the argument? Well, argue at the point of view as to why should, so somebody doesn't have a lot of money, why should somebody else have to pay for that person to go to college to do higher taxes? And I hear that argument a whole lot in Washington. So what's the argument on it? Is there any validity in that? Who wants to make that point or will contradict that point? So if I say to you, look, I'm sorry you don't have a lot of money, but why do I want to pay more in taxes? I got to worry about my problems and my family. Why should I pay for you to go to college? What's the argument against that? Laura, do you want to make the argument? So the question is, okay, you make a good point. Everybody can go to college. How do you do that? I mean, like you said, the taxpayers pay for that. I don't know how to argue against your own point of view. I mean, there's definitely like wealth disparity in our country. And so like the richer people obviously are going to want to keep their own money. But see, I'm saying but because I want to... No, you're doing good. I mean, it's obvious why should, like the people that argue that college shouldn't be free and you shouldn't have to pay for other people's education, like their point is valid. Why should you have to spend your own money on somebody else's education? But I just, I think that it's for a bigger, it's a bigger picture. It's for our economy, it's for the state of our nation. I think that's watching the answer. Yeah, I was just going to go off of that. I think a lot of the reasons why people are against the free college is that a lot of people in America are lower income and are already having a hard time paying for things, like besides paying for other people's college. So, and I think a lot of people think very short term about financial stuff. So in the long run, investing in education for young people is definitely economically a better option. But since people don't have the money to pay the taxes, it's really hard to sell it because in the short term it seems like they're just going to not have the money that they have worked hard to earn. Okay, let's move on. Which takes us to Alva. Where's Alva? Okay, and Alva actually begins to touch on this, you're dealing with income and wealth inequality and so forth? Yeah. So I don't mind about income and wealth inequality, not only because I believe, as the senator said many times, it's a great moral issue that in the richest nation in the world so few have so much and so many have so little. But I actually think there's an issue here where we come to, things begin to break down, institutions grow weaker when people feel that their livelihood, their future prosperity, their children's future is under serious threat. So I think we all have an interest in creating, as I said, a more stable and sustainable path for economy because honestly I don't think we can go on the path we're on right now. I think you're going to see more Occupy Wall Street. I think you're going to see more civil unrest, which I'm not advocating, but I think it's something that I think this should be a bipartisan issue trying to make it so that people have more money in the pockets, try and make it so our institutions are strong and our society is strong. Okay. Okay, more discussion. Oliver is concerned about the very significant disparity in income and wealth. It's not talking about a whole lot. If you have three people in this country who own more wealth than about half of America, about $160 million. Three people here, 160 million people over here. Is that a moral issue? Is that an economic issue? How do you frame that issue? Is it an important issue or isn't it an issue with someone saying, yeah, that's right, so on? Maybe I'll be the poet. Let me get some more hands-on. Whenever you're ready, guys, don't be nervous. Like your views. Anybody else want to, who wants to comment on this? I can talk. Okay. I think it just like... Bring that mic closer if you could. It goes back to the last issue. I think the people who have the money should help the people who don't have the money. So if that goes back to raising the minimum wage or paying for colleges and just helping these people get the jobs that they need to provide for their families so that they can grow economically. See, this is a very, very tough issue. Especially when I get involved in a lot, it's an issue that people feel uncomfortable talking about. Actually, it's an issue that people feel more uncomfortable talking about than gay rights, as a matter of fact. It touches things very, very deeply. Right now, you have now been talking about my politics. This wasn't happily yours, but we're coming up to an election in 2018 where one family and a few other billion MFMs, who knows what the co-brothers are? Anyone know who the co-brothers are? They're the second-wealthiest family in America, worth about 90 billion. And I mean a few smaller than a number of people in this room will spend $400 million on this coming election, $400 million to protect their interests. But it's not enough. But we think about that. And it gets back to all of this discussion. They are the second-wealthiest family in the country. They apparently want more. How do you frame that in your own minds? So when you say about people on top should help, that's not their view. They have a very different view. What is their view? What is the opposite view of an America? Yeah, okay. A little bit? I think their point of view is that we're a capitalistic society, so every man should be able to earn as much money as they want. But the problem is when you have such a huge population that isn't able to do that, you have to stop and say, what's stopping them from doing that? And I think it's like the complexity of the jobs, and then you need the education to get those jobs. But the people that already have that money, it's a lot easier for them to do that, and they don't want to be told that they can. A very good ruling. I think you did a good job. I think that's essentially what they believe. They believe is kind of every person for themselves. We have done well. You have the opportunity to do well. If you're a poor or if you're working class, and you can't afford college, and you can't afford health care, sorry. But it's a society in which each person goes forward on their own, and should not expect society to help them. Now that is, by the way, a very, very different vision that exists in most other industrialized countries. One of the things we try to do, the better or worse, is try to explain that countries around the world guarantee health care to all people. Make sure that college is affordable for all people, et cetera, et cetera. So it's a philosophical vision which now is very prevalent in the United States. That view now is the ascendant view. It is the view of the Republican Party and to a ascendant degree, the view of the President. So this issue is enormously important, and it's one that has to be debated and thought about. Bailey Blow is from South Burlington. Bailey? Yes. Grab that mic right in front of you. My topic was about climate change, and I chose this topic because I believe it's one of, if not the most pressing issue we have in our country today, and not only our country, but the rest of the world, because it's affecting all of us. And we see it worsening and worsening every day as we have the ocean becoming more acidic and we have natural disasters becoming more intense as in Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria that we saw these past couple months. And I believe we need to start doing more to help reverse climate change because we have to protect the only place we have to live. Okay, excellent. I agree with Bailey. There are people who disagree. What's the other side of the story? President of the United States, what would you say to Bailey? It's a Chinese hoax. Good, most, from the climate denialist crowd. Besides that one in the scope, why don't you want to live in Florida? It's so nice in Florida. But the argument I've heard is should we be sacrificing economic prosperity to appease some fringe tree-hugger environmentalists so what the temperature goes up two degrees? And if it gets in the way of profits, it's a pretty hard sell to the business community. Okay, that's good. And the other argument is that it's a scientifically natural and it will trot out the scientist who will deny it. And I know a couple of you have written on, Bailey's not the only one. So let's spend a minute on climate change. Why is Bailey right? Is it, in fact, true or is the President right that it's not man-made? Lily? I also wrote my essay about climate change. I wrote mostly about the rising CO2 levels. We've sort of already hit the ceiling that we can hit for CO2 and we've definitely passed it by now and it's not going down anytime soon. I agree with her point because if we keep going up at the rate we're going up, we're going to see a lot of really detrimental changes that we're probably not going to be able to survive through if we don't start doing something about it and hearing people in the current administration say that it's not economically sustainable to start investing and fixing it, it kind of just blows my mind because it's like, if we don't do this, we're not going to be the ones to survive this. The Earth is going to be fine, but we're going to be gone. Okay. Just in passing, it was a budget passed the other day which included in it, maybe the exact amount, maybe $70-80 billion for disaster relief of Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, which many people think the severity of that storm that climate change contributed to. Okay. Bentley, thanks very much for that essay. Mason Castle. It's at St. John'sbury Academy. Mason, what did you write about? I wrote about gerrymandering. Hold that mic and get close to it. The reason I want you to hold the mic is we're taping this. We're videoing it for our office so we'll probably get it out and go up here and hear you. Okay. So I wrote about gerrymandering. This has become a lot more prevalent in recent elections. There's a Supreme Court case right now in Wisconsin, I believe, because the districts are so violently gerrymandered that it's impossible for the opposing party to get victories in those districts and this is important because in a democracy it's important that everyone has a voice and this is, frankly, a more effective method of voter suppression. Okay. Who knows what gerrymandering is and wants to discuss it? Do you want to say a word about it? Sure. My name is Ella. I'm from Champlain Valley as well. I think this is definitely another issue that is causing a lot of problems in our country because being founded upon sharing each other's ideas and viewpoints as a democracy, it's important that everyone's opinions and views are shared equally and it's hard to do so in a voting system where it's possible to almost rig the system that your voice doesn't get heard and I feel as coming of the voting age that really almost scares me that my opinion couldn't be represented in an equal way when I vote. Mason, you're touching on an important issue which certainly includes gerrymandering and the courts are beginning to look at that but it goes beyond gerrymandering. What are the aspects of voter suppression making it harder for people to vote I would say in recent years? Well there's been legislation with voter ideal laws which is pretty direct like we have making it harder for minorities to vote and I think their voice will be heard. What's been interesting is seeing two trends in America, one making it harder for people to vote and one making it easier for people to vote in Vermont with a number of other states which actually make it easier for people to participate in the political process. What's the ulterior goal of keeping people from voting? Worst thoughts about it? Hold that mic again. Gerrymandering and also voter ideal laws are very specifically meant to make sure of soothing demographics which are more inclined to vote for soothing political parties don't get votives, that way the podium power can essentially write laws like lions on the map that will ensure that they remain empowered but that underlines the principle. Is gerrymandering a new idea? No. I want to get in more voices. Yeah, gerrymandering is a new idea. I know that gerrymandering has been around since around the 1800s from a guy named Mr. Terry who got its name and I know that voter suppression continues to take on new forms and it's just a way usually to enforce the system that marginalizes people of color and people of certain identities. Good. That's a very, very important issue. I'm going to mispronounce this name. The Yadahal in the Linovsky High School. Could you help me out with the pronunciation? I wrote about immigration. First I talked about the immigration ban that occurred a few months ago. So first I talked about the immigration ban that occurred a few months ago when Trump banned seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States just because of their religion and my solution to this was instead of banning innocent human beings who are looking for a home was to make the background checks more efficient and then I talked about undocumented immigrants. These undocumented immigrants come here for a better life and they worked off that Americans don't even consider like picking apples in 90 degree and they're paid below or minimum wage and they have limited rights and they have limited rights and they pay taxes and their only fault is their immigration status and for that I think the U.S. would create a path for citizenship for these people so that they receive the same opportunities as illegal immigrants and finally I talked about the dreamers. The dreamers are the children of the undocumented immigrants who came here as children. The dreamers are young adults like us and kids like our younger siblings and while we look forward to our graduation and our first year of college these dreamers had to live in fear of being deported and I think they should also be given the opportunity to live in the United States so that they can live freely like us. Thank you very much. Discussion. This is a very, very big issue in the United States. One of Trump's big issues is issues throughout the world in Germany a very anti-immigrant party received 12% of the vote in their recent elections. This is a very, very big issue of the world. What's going on? What is the solution? What is actually going on in Congress? I'll be gone to play in on Monday. What's going to be going on in the Senate? I don't know. I know that the new proposed budget probably has some provisions for citizenship for dreamers and I was wondering do you know what those new provisions are? And that's been one of the two debates about getting into the rules of the Senate and all kinds of complicated stuff. The budget does not have anything to do with the dreamers. That will become, what has happened is that the leader of the Senate Senator McConnell, Kentucky has promised literally this week that there will be a debate and a vote on immigration and legislation and he says it will be a fair debate so the amendments will be often and the amendment to win will leave 60 votes and right now we think we have about 56 or 57 votes to support a bill protecting the dreamers but we'll see what happens during the week and in the House there was a majority in the House but the speaker is choosing not to allow that bill at this moment to come up and if somebody may have read Nancy Pelosi was on the floor of the House for eight hours, that was exactly the issue she was talking about. Alright, we've got a little bit to talk about immigration what about dreamers? Let me get some new voices here. Any thoughts on that? If you were a member of the Senate what would you be doing in terms of resolution? So I think one of the bigger issues or misconceptions that people have about the dreamers is that they think that they don't pay taxes and that we're paying for them but dreamers are provided with social security numbers and they do pay taxes and they've pretty much been in the US their whole life like this is their country where they came from they don't consider that their home as a majority of their life so I think a lot of people see them as like a threat or a burden when they've been here almost as long as the rest of us, some of them so it just seems a little crazy to think that we're treating them as separate. Well thank you very much. Page Green here. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Um, uh, Lillian Casio, is that what I'm saying? Lillian, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Lillian is at the CDU. Um, so I wrote my essay on the opioid epidemic and there's two possible solutions being placing more stringent rules on pharmaceutical companies as well as providing supervised injection sites and I picked this topic because I think increasingly in our local communities we're seeing the effects of the opioid epidemic as well as at the national level and I think it's one of the most urgent things that we need to address just because of the rapid rate that people are dying at. Okay, again, you guys are absolutely right. This is a huge, huge issue. Let me ask a personal question. Have you, you know anybody by the opioid epidemic? Anybody know people? Who wants to speak to that? Katelyn, do you want to say a word on that? You know anybody? You don't have to tell us names or anything, but just hold up my closely please. So, uh, he's not a direct family member but he's related to part of my family and he's been dealing with this for like over 20 years basically and he's at the point where he's living in his mom's attic and he can't walk. Like his legs are purple and he's going to die and it's really taking a toll on our whole family on like what we can do to help him because it's pretty much past the point of he can't get better at this point. Okay, thank you for sharing. Although personal experiences with people who aren't anybody else? Okay, as soon as an epidemic is sweeping the country in Vermont he's at number over 100 people he had died last year as a result of overdoses. Um, why are people why do people use OxyContin or other opioids? Anyone have a question? William, do you want to take a shot of that? Well, I think the problem starts with pharmacies that are prescribing these drugs when they're not needed and then eventually people become hooked on them and then they can't afford them. So they turn to street drugs like heroin which is so potent and dangerous to overdose on and then they follow that path. In America last year life expectancy actually went down and that's very, very unusual because life expectancy usually goes up and one of the reasons was drug overdoses alcohol related deaths in suicide. So we got a real problem here in your right, it's an issue that has got to be addressed. So let me be a little bit paternalistic and just make sure that all of you guys know the point that William made is this is very, very potent stuff and you can't, sometimes you just can't take a few pills you got hooked on these things and you need more and more and so stay away from that stuff and make sure your friends do as well. Paige Greener, is it Mrs. Floyd Valley Union? Paige, would you recommend that? So my topic was about decriminalization and legalization of marijuana and the points that I made for that if it could be regulated by the government it would be safer for anyone who chooses to use it because the reality is people are going to use it no matter if it's legal or not they do and they always will and excuse me if it was legalized it has the potential to save the government a lot of money in the ways that we hold a lot of nonviolent drug offenders in state prisons and that costs the government lots and lots of money when I mean it's, what they are doing is illegal but it's not necessarily detrimental to have them free. Okay Paige, are you aware of what the folks in this building did a few weeks ago? What are they doing? They passed the law They listened to your land Okay, people agree with Paige disagree with Paige more facing you on the phone now? Yeah, I mean I think having a government controlling the supply having government control supply makes it a lot safer, especially having it gone through like, you know, FDA regulation regulation and not having like people on the streets settling in makes it safer for consumption as well Okay All those words? Yeah I know that there's a worry that teenagers and minors will use drugs or use marijuana if it's legalized or increasingly becomes legalized for the nation but I know that in Colorado teen marijuana usage actually went down and decreased after it was legalized so that's just an interesting fact Okay Lily? Also I just wanted to add on to that you're talking about how we would be spending less money having to have all these people in jail and we can use that money to address drugs that are actually causing more harm than marijuana because I don't, I believe there hasn't been a single overdose death from marijuana usage and I think that just it doesn't require people having to go to jail for it because it doesn't it's not as dangerous basically as all these other drugs that need more attention I won't tell you parents but do you know, is marijuana really prevalent in your schools? Okay, this whole issue of the drama war on drugs is again, that's why I like your essays because you keep touching on the major issues that we're dealing with as a country Marijuana is now listed in schedule one of the controlled substance act right alongside of heroin which I think makes very little sense anybody even argue pluses and minuses of marijuana but nobody really thinks it's heroin and I think to Paige's point a lot of lives have been destroyed not because so many people go to jail per se for marijuana but you get a criminal record and if you get a criminal record it becomes harder to get a job and harder to get a job and your life isn't a downward spiral so Paige, thanks very much for raising that point this year Caitlyn a little at Lewski High Caitlyn what did you write about? I wrote about Sexism in America and I wanted to focus on that because it only recently kind of hit me how large of an issue it actually is and that's just from personal experiences and not really I mean I am definitely paying attention more because of all the accusations that are coming out in the media and but that's only making me realize that it's not just the entertainment business it's everywhere and I didn't think it was that big of an issue anymore until I got older and I realized that even I will think women are less because of who they are and it's odd I'm not sure how this happens to people who grow up around that but I just wanted to touch on that so that people can understand what women actually have to face in their everyday lives so that we can be more aware of it really Very very very important mission What makes what is making people realize more and more the extent to which sexism has affected the way our country is um directed and sort of the way laws are passed and the way women are represented in government is the representation of women in the media and um even in literature like I mean with all these allegations of sexual harassment you see people returning to books like The Handmaid's Tale and looking into sort of the way women have been depicted throughout history it makes it look like this entire situation was ultimately inevitable which is terrifying and humbling almost because you have all of these perspectives culminating in terrifying and ultimately detrimental um in events and society Katelyn you even write about women being dissatisfied with their appearance that somebody else has to define what somebody is supposed to look like say a word on that So this started back in the early 20th century when men started drawing women and they drew them how they thought that they would how they thought that they should look like and that was kind of the start of the photoshopping and even before that was a thing and so every picture if it's not said to not be photoshopped and it probably is just from small detailing and making them look better because people are just obsessed with how women look and it's and men too but it's really prominent for females and it's hurting women because they're all they're seeing is one type of body type and they can't fathom that they can be beautiful just by what they look like themselves for a good discussion I have a point on this so so I think societal standards have grown to the point where people think they must form themselves into what the models look like in the magazines or what people see in the media or in the news or in the entertainment business especially for celebrities or actresses or actors so people look at that as like a source of inspiration but I think really people should guard to be more satisfied with the way they are because I mean everyone has their niche it doesn't have to be it doesn't really have to be necessarily an appearance it can be intelligence it can be athleticism people don't have to become other people because you were born the way you were born with your own identity, your own personality and your own strengths and weaknesses I recently read a poem actually it's a short story in my English class it's known as fairness it sort of delves into the fact that not only do we have this societal problem in America but there are little girls in Nigeria as well that are looking at our cosmopolitan magazines and are trying to bleach their skin to become what people are in America and this let me jump in and this is again an issue the problem with this discussion is well if you're raising issues it doesn't go on for hours on each one let me just divert a little bit Katelyn writes about people being made conscious of how they look and women being told to look at a different way what about the ads that tell you they're not cool if you don't have it 200 dollars because does that relate to that at all? Is that part of it? I mean is somebody cool because they have an expensive pair of blue jeans or yeah I think it ties back to consumerism in America and how companies can profit off of perpetuating certain standards and I think that this affects LGBTQ people and people of color and people with disabilities as well and I think that certain standards are what sells in America and like you mentioned 200 dollar sneakers are potentially profit and it's permanent, prevalent and rampant in advertising specifically. Is somebody cool in your high school if they have it forgive me I don't have the latest blue jeans cool than theirs or pair of sneakers is somebody cool if they have latest expensive pair of blue jeans or pair of sneakers what does that make picture have you ever thought about that? I've ever thought about something else that she addressed I just want to break up the point that it goes both ways too it goes for men also for example if you have like let's just say a male teacher parents are automatically a little bit whether they admit it or not a little bit uncomfortable say if it's like a preschool teacher because you expect that role to be filled by a woman so I just want to bring up that it goes both ways very good and one of the things which I think is positive is that we are breaking that used to be nursing for example is almost exclusively a female that's changing and it is important to my mind that we break through those barriers that men understand and working as a nurse or in preschool is very important work as well okay again this is a subject we can go on for a long time but we don't have the time thank you I'm King McRae at CBU yes so I decided that I was also going to write about climate change because I think a lot of people underestimate the scale of its impact because it's not just a local issue it's not just an environmental issue or a national issue this affects everyone and every country and every continent in ways that many people don't even realize for example food food becomes more expensive it's difficult to produce even shipping becomes more expensive because climate change contributes to piracy there are so many ways that it has an enormous impact on all of us that's a very very good point and it's not written people will say well here's a hurricane climate change may have contributed people see that but they see drought well they see rising sea levels but what they don't see for example is in the terrible terrible horrors that take place in Syria that climate change contributes because people let the rural area go into the cities and that causes all kinds of problems and migrations of people and so forth so that is a very very significant issue and to look at the broad implications of climate change and where it's going to take this planet in the next 20 or 30 years is something that we've got to study very significantly Jake McNeil Nick McNeil Yes so I wrote about education more specifically the impact of teacher strikes on the education of future generations I feel like this very prevalent especially in Vermont would like to reach in teacher strikes in Burlington and South Burlington I feel like in order to like solve these issues we need to open the door to productivity because teachers air their grievances and I feel like school boards need to focus their resources more on solving these issues Okay Is teaching a profession against the respect that it deserves do you guys think with teachers every day is it all that you might know Yeah I don't think teachers get enough credit because without teachers I don't know where we are as a society I mean for every Alexander the Great there's an Aristotle showing him the way and I think our future leaders are going to be the people who really take don't take the education for granted and really value it so I think it's imperative that we allow those employees because they're not just your educators they're also employees of your school district bargaining rights to be able to have strikes to do what they need to do to be able to teach you most effectively and to maintain a decent standard of living for them and I come from a family of educators so I think that's very very important I feel like they're very I feel like this issue is not very over represented I feel like it's brought more into the shadows and I feel like this needs to be brought more into the light I don't may ask you guys how many of you are planning to become teachers anybody have a teacher see a few hands good the truth is teachers play obviously as Oliver mentioned we don't have much of a society we don't have teachers as they are educating our future generations and I would hope that we bring the best into teaching professions where teaching is acknowledged but the important work it is almost as important as being a good football player right okay Lily Miner is the C.D.U.F. like I mentioned before I also wrote mine about climate change mostly focusing on the impact of rising CO2 levels and I also focused on the fact that we pulled out of the Paris climate agreement last year I sort of I feel like pulling out of that was probably one of the biggest mistakes that have been made so far in this administration just because that agreement put a lot of focus into trying to cut back on the amount of CO2 that were pushing into the atmosphere and when America is the country that produces the most and we're the ones that are pulling out of the agreement it's sort of a big deal because we're not we're clearly our administration we're not going to stop doing that and the reasoning is because of economic setbacks which like I said before should not be put at a higher priority when our planet is slowly rejecting us good what should we be doing above and beyond the Paris climate treaty what should we be doing what are our states and communities in fact doing in terms of climate change what do we think that's possible anything that's possible investing in renewable energy sources that is really significant I know that Trump in the State of the Union he talked a lot about bringing back clean coal and I understand that that was a big factor of why his constituents voted for him but as nobody talked about it's not a good idea for the future it just isn't okay what is if you drive around Vermont and your parents reload this you will what do you see now that was not the case 10 15, 20 years ago what do you see in Congress 7 what do you see around the state well I mean now we're noticing like abundant places where solar panels are prominent I actually have a neighbor that started a company in the rural area in Vermont where they sell these solar panels to people in the area this is such an important source of renewable energy that to some harnesses our natural resources to create a more environmentally conscious government and of course you have wind turbines you have hydraulic systems and other things that really support the idea of changing our energy system how this building is heated downtown Montpelier anyone look here it's heated a couple of years ago we worked on this issue this area is right along this street here there is a large wood burning facility and downtown Montpelier is not being heated in one of the significant projects downtown projects in the country so all over the United States Trump notwithstanding you're finding communities looking at sustainable forms of energy in terms of solar wind, wood, hydro hydro, geothermal and other types of sustainable energy but it's not just a question of reducing sustainable energy what else do we have to do what thoughts on that yeah I know that for example we have to combat the fossil fuel industry perhaps and I know that Vermont for example doesn't have any fracking sites I believe I know that fracked gas is piped through the state but I know that we're doing at the statewide level our best to combat fossil fuel infrastructure but beside the production of energy what else can we be doing to conserve energy is that an important issue what are we doing in the state I'm not sure about here but I know attempts in the past to save energy obviously public awareness initiatives like turn off the light all those ads you see but then there are also other things we can do there's a curve in tax that has been proposed and there are things like cap and trade and vehicle emission standards that we can do to try and get energy use down but a big part is just making the public aware because in Washington the environmental lobby will never out lobby the coal and the energy fossil fuel lobby we just have to educate a lot of people about this issue and how we can solve it one of the things that we are doing is we are putting a lot of money into weatherization a lot of homes in Vermont are old homes and the wind comes whistling in and the heat goes out the window panes of the roof or the doors so making sure that we're well insulated home or building is one way that we can conserve a significant amount of energy what about transportation it's an important issue what's going on in transportation what are we beginning to see more and more yep Kate? so I just did an environmental impact assessment for one of my science classes and I was researching airplane emissions and one of the things that we're really moving towards are biofuels which is using used vegetable oil to power our airplanes and we're going to start using that on ground vehicles as well it's really expensive right now it's going to take a long time for it to be accessible but that's a good what else do we have I know that we're working to increase the population of electric cars in the state and I know that it's increased by over 2000 within the past 5 years or so and I know that General Motors and Volkswagen and Ford all have plans for implementing electric cars and then that's going to be a radical transformation of energy you're going to see buses run on batteries and you're going to see more and more hybrid cars and more and more electric cars and airplanes I think are also going to become more fuel efficient okay, Macy Newbury from Middlebury Union Macy, what are you talking about? I wrote about health care access specifically for people with mental health challenges and developmental disabilities and I wrote about it because I have an older brother who is about to turn 21 and when he turns 21 he will no longer be part of a public program the counseling service of Addison County that has helped him for so long it's kept him occupied for the day so my parents have been able to work and not have to worry about caring for him constantly and they've provided him with a lot of care and we're very very grateful for them but once he turns 21 he'll no longer be part of that program and we're looking for more programs and we've discovered that there really aren't that many that are affordable or close to us Macy writes about it's a family issue for her but this is clearly a national issue not unrelated to opioid addiction we have a major major crisis in mental health in this country and it's an issue that we are not effectively addressing so who wants to talk more about mental health or healthcare in general what's on that Maggie you've been silent too long what's on mental health or healthcare in general well in my town Woodstock there's actually a place called Zach's Place which does cater to some mental disabilities and things like that and I definitely my mom's been involved with that for a while she used to be very involved in that working there and I've met a lot of people that that place has really helped and I definitely think it's a really important it's really important to increase those kind of programs because I've seen how much it helps people so there were a couple of issues related to what Macy is writing about number one should we look if somebody breaks their arm or has a longer standing need for care such as cancer they get the care they need provided by and covered by insurance I mean typically if they have that that's a health issue should we look at mental health the same way as we look at that Macy I mean typically if they have insurance which is a whole other issue mental health care is often considered a luxury and therefore not covered by insurance and it's it can mean that a lot of people who struggle with mental health don't get the help they need and it ends in I mean it ends in them not being able to get jobs and therefore it still can't pay for their health care and it's kind of a vicious cycle Macy raises a very very important issue is that by and large despite some of our efforts mental health is not considered to be a health issue in the way that cancer for example would be but then Macy touches on the second issue in passing and that is health care in general Macy's brothers the chance to lose the health care that he currently gets we have 30 million people in this country who have no health insurance and even more are underinsured with high deductibles and co-payments what do you guys think we should do with health care in general thoughts this is actually what this is what I wrote my essay about I think that health care should be accessible I really strongly feel that the health of people is something it's almost a right you should be able to have the care that you need and I didn't think as much about Macy's issue until she was speaking but I have a little cousin who's on the spectrum and they don't know whether he'll be able to live independently when he's older and I would really hope that past a certain age we're not forgetting about people who have special needs or need special attention and care and we would consider for their entire life that they are something that we should take care of good you said you weren't quite sure whether health care should be a right Macy said should or should not what other countries do on this issue I can talk I also wrote my essay on health care because I do believe that it should be right because America is the only major country without guaranteed health care I just think that that's a little crazy just because people can die because they can't afford to live that takes us right to your those of you Jackson so elaborate is health care a right how do we compare with other major countries as I said America is the only country that doesn't guarantee health care so I kind of talked about how we should work to make the affordable care act as affordable as it can be because these other countries are spending a lot less per capita like almost half of America is and they're still guaranteeing health care so I just think it's a little absurd the situation that we have anybody here study so Jackson study health care situation if we took a ride 75 miles north of here we went up the interstate and you went to Canada what's their system like would Macy's brother be in the same kind of trouble you think why what have they done for the last 30 years or something what's their proposition their proposition is that health care is in fact a right and that everybody has health care it's a right and you go to the doctor in Canada it's not a perfect system it has its problems but basically it's a very popular program in Canada and to get back to Jackson's point which we don't discuss at all we are spending Canada's fairly expensive we probably spend quite twice as much per capita significantly more than they do in Canada so what I want you to think about is why do we spend in terms of France for example we do spend twice as much per person and they cover more than people why is that why do we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs very important issue it has a lot to do with drug companies insurance companies nature of our health care system and Jackson thanks for touching on very very important issue hope I wrote my essay about voter suppression specifically money in politics and how the bipartisan campaign reform act has slowly deteriorated over the past few years and court ruling such as Citizens United which produced super PACs and minimized public campaign financing are just a threat to our democracy and I believe that there is a multi-partisan issue which is why I wanted to write about it because it encompasses all of these issues because I think that our politicians should accurately represent the views of our nation and not just the select few who have the money and therefore the power so hope if candidate X is able to establish a super PAC and receive millions and millions of dollars from a handful of very wealthy people do you think that that is appropriate I believe that there should be donation limits that are set because I think that we minimize other opinions of those and influence those who don't have as much funding wise thoughts on Citizens United and our campaign finances is that significant or is it kind of boring I think this issue is definitely like a large part of our country because by allowing specific candidates to gain so much funding through these super PACs kind of suppresses the minority and allows for people of specific demographics to not have their opinion shared and I think that's detrimental to the values of our country and if your family is going to put $100 million into the coming election okay okay that is a very very important issue because it touches on every other issue because if individuals get elected who are heavily influenced by very very wealthy people then the agenda that they're going to push obviously is going to be reflected in the needs of very wealthy people which is what the tax bill was passed a couple months ago was all about and other issues of concern to people who do not make large contributions those concerns are not going to be addressed so it is an issue which impacts every other issue and that's why it is to be one of those support issues we have to deal with Zoe I kind of start going back but I wrote about health care and we definitely in our country have a capitalist free market and this really strong like pull yourself up by your own bootstrap spirit like anybody has equal opportunity to make money and be successful there's that sentiment and then we also have a huge number of people who could work as hard as they possibly could and not get enough money or be able to support their families to the extent at which we would obviously like and we kind of think that these two things can't exist together we can't have our society where we can have a free market and whatever and we can't have health care and I don't think that's true and I think that we should be making health care more of a priority because it's really important this touches on a very fundamental issue about the nature of our society when you hear a lot of people they know why these people arguing in Washington all the time government shutdown there are fundamental fundamental differences of opinion about the nature of American society from a very philosophical perspective so Zoe raises some very important issues about the nature of American society basically it comes down to whether we believe that every person is on their own that what society should do is give you the opportunity to come but you're on your own in terms of your housing, your health care your education, the air that you breathe that the government should not be playing a role and other people have a very different point of view who think that human beings are entitled to certain rights basic rights so we have a constitution which guarantees you the freedom of religion the freedom of expression the freedom of assembly but it does not talk about freedom so you have the freedom of a speech but you're not at the right to health care what about that Zoe? and I think that I mean obviously the framers probably couldn't have taken into account that there would exist a cycle of poverty and difficulties in accumulating wealth for certain communities of people and discrimination and wages there are so many barriers to a lot of communities of people especially marginalized identities I would think in gaining enough money to support their livelihoods what about rights? I'm going to get back to that rights you have in the constitution freedom of expression if you wanted to take a sign and watch in front of this building you have the constitutional right to do that you have the right to go to any church synagogue that must you want to go to in the constitution what about economic rights is that something that we should be thinking about more? Lily? I do think it is we obviously don't have those but I think the best thing we can do is use the rights that we have such as freedom of speech, freedom of expression and assembly we can use those things to get those economic rights and I think that's the best thing we can do right now so I think I'm of the opinion that this divide is one that's not easily solved but I think what a lot of people do is really present a false choice Adam Smith the guy who wrote the wealth of nations in the capitalist world also talked about how large corporations raise prices to exorbitant levels and how everybody had natural rights FDR in the 30s said that the GI Bill of Rights that was a little later than that but he said that we all had the freedom from want and I don't think the capitalist system crashed to the ground and everybody suddenly became indigent third world communists so I think let's say as a country some things we want to be more or less free market some things we trust the market to provide and some things are like some things the state needs to help provide some things the communities can help provide and some things are not to be left to the free market okay that's a very good point and in fact FDR more than any president has raised that issue of economic rights Ethan Schmidt is it Robin Ethan Ethan raises another very very important issue so I wrote my essay about gun control and basically I tried to provide the perspective that we can minimize mass shooting epidemic in a rational way instead of going all crazy trying to take away the second amendment which is obviously constitutionally impossible because laws are formed based on the amendments and based on the constitution not like laws are based to take away those rights so effectively the idea that I proposed was that we should regulate the use of semi-automatic weapons and bomb stocks which are both used in a multitude of mass shootings across the United States we've seen examples where like in the definitely a mass shooting in history of our country in modern history at least that it was in Las Vegas last October and the gunman was able to buy by the way there are word loopholes that he used to buy such weapons in like in rapid purchases but I won't get into that now but effectively you can apply a bomb stock to a semi-automatic rifle like an AR-15 to create sort of an automatic hybrid of a weapon that is capable of shooting rounds of bullets at one time and of course this is such an important issue because so many innocent lives are being lost and so many goals and ideas and futures of children are just being wiped off our our earth because of people that are able to use these dangers and quite frankly they're just meant for either recreational use or assault weapons that are used to just kill so many innocent people so I just sort of said that instead of taking away people's right to hunt or have a right to self-defense we can sort of take away the weapons that are used most in the mass shootings okay thank you Ethan this is a very contentious issue in American politics people agree with or you can apply it for a long time use of this one well I think that although there is an issue with the number of guns in our country I think that it ties back to being a mental health problem and I think that that also ties into the opioid epidemic and I just think that if mental health was treated the same then issues like this terrible tragic things wouldn't happen because people would be able to get the care they need that's a very quick point okay on guns people agree with Ethan what's the other side of the story who wants to give us the NRA position on this one I think people are just more than anything they just feel as their rights are being taken away from them and I feel like it has less to do with the guns themselves I mean obviously NRA is about their guns but I think for a lot of people that aren't necessarily like lifetime hunters and people that use it all the time they still have these super strong opinions on it because they feel as their rights are being taken away and it's more of a defensive position and for a large population I think that's more what it's about good further discussion I think a lot of the arguments for gun control come from I mean obviously these mass shootings but a lot of pro gun advocates argue that that the root of these shootings aren't Americans they're Americans which is I mean just not true when you look at the statistics and so I think that it ends up being sort of this hypocrisy that people are anti terror but pro gun because the gun is the root of it the point is that the president hasn't made a terrible big deal about the fact that killed 58 people in Las Vegas was white right? Yes um even that probably there is a small minority of people who hold a view that I have the right to own any type of weapon I want there is a minority of people I think there's maybe 20% but most people including probably majority of the members of the NRA understand that it's pretty hard to defend use of these bumps which just allow you to shoot an incredible amount of bullets in a very short period of time that's clearly designed to kill people so I think the vast majority of the American people agree with on those type of things and in fact on assault weapons and other predictions we have a very small well-funded minority who walk in and saturate and tell the truth who have been able to defend the state of action on these issues so Ethan thanks very much for raising that issue Elizabeth does she hear Elizabeth Ella Whitman from CVU I wrote my essay on the topic of respect as I feel that that's the main root of so many of these issues that have been brought up here at the table today specifically I think that respect or our country lacks so much respect and that contributes to things like the discrimination of others as the discussion of gay rights has been brought up and also gender equality as we've seen so many women come forward from sexual abuse and I think that goes back to the lack of respect we have for one another and the lack of respect that we have for human life in our country also going off that I feel that we also must not only respect one another in each other's opinions especially in politics but respect the place that we live in which also ties back to people who brought up environmental issues and as Lily was talking about the CO2 emissions we must respect the earth we live on and the place that we are given to live So you see the key issue is respect for people, respect for the environment? Yes Thank you. What's the elaborate on that? What's is that a fundamental principle? Respect I think that kind of goes back to what I was getting at in my part about healthcare just like how the fact that we put money over these people's lives is kind of crazy to me so I think we need to start voicing more on the community the country as a whole rather than individual gain, individual success Thought on respect The last essay we take a young man who is in the Burlington school district who is not here can't be here because he's incarcerated and he writes about how we have to do a better job in making sure that when people are incarcerated they get out and they get the support they need so they don't come back in again We have a very high rate of folks who leave jail and come back again which doesn't make a whole lot of sense who wants to talk about that We're doing a good job in criminal justice We're doing a good job in making sure that when people are jailed when they leave jail they have the opportunities to start a new life I think it ties back to mental health honestly because a lot of places in the United States their resolution to criminals is to kill them instead of helping them so that they can develop redemption and turn over a new life in their lives and make their experiences in incarceration or their lesson that they learned from making those mistakes into something that they can help other people with and more support within prisons and when they're before they even get in there then I think people would have more of a respect for the laws and keeping people safe This is a again like every single essay that we wrote this is again another major major issue We have more people in jail than any other country on earth 1.2 million people local, state and federal kind of countries we spend about 80 billion dollars a year locking people up So the question that we have to ask is why is it that so many people are in jail? What does it have to do with the issues of drugs we wrote about? Are we doing a good enough job to make sure that when people leave jail they don't come back again Human life is an a lot of money involved in this Any more thoughts on that? I know that the private prison industry in America really contributes to a lot of this and as it's developed over the years it has a disproportionately negative impact upon communities of color as well as people who are poorer I know that plea bargaining is an issue that I can't really get into right now but I know that Vermont has one of the highest black incarceration rates in the nation and I know that in all of America black men are one in three black men who go into go to jail in their lifetime and I feel a lot of this has to do with the fact that prisons are for profit I think the thing is people are saying I don't want to have to spend my money helping people who got themselves into this situation that they don't want to spend their money on helping people get with job programs, housing programs, whatever it is to help people that are leaving jail it's like I don't want to have to spend my money on something that you did but the thing is if we don't spend that money they just keep going back into jail and we keep spending more money so regardless your money is going there your tax money but I think it would be more efficient if we use our tax money to create programs to help people Lillian raises a verb we can go on for many many hours on all of your subjects but Lillian raises a very interesting question is our goal when somebody does something wrong somebody robs a house somebody commits an assault should our goal simply be to punish somebody you did something wrong and we're going to put you away for a long time to punish you or should our goal be to say ok you did something wrong and I want to help transform your life so that in the future you don't do something or should we be motivated by punishment or should we be motivated by other goals very big issue in this country Lillian that sort of segues perfectly into the point I was going to make which is this is sort of an opioid crisis problem that we're having I believe that these issues the people are being sent to jail for these things it shouldn't be treated as harshly as a crime as it should be a sort of mental or physical illness because we don't throw people in jail for breaking a bone or having depression and anxiety and these problems that people have the crimes that people will commit because of these drug related issues it affects them mentally and it affects them physically and they're doing it because they're addicted to something they're not doing it because they're morally justifying it and I think that would help just shape the people away should we be facing a criminal justice system on an eye for an eye if you do something wrong with the punishment that is how it's made to go do you want to? no I think there are people over there obviously there are a lot of legal and prison administration issues that go into it but I think those essentially stem from this attitude which is I think the wrong attitude that we have the point of the law and order segment of the government is to punish people who do bad things that's not what it should be for the point is to make sure they should not do it again and that's not just punishment it's not just a tool it should also be about trying to change people to make sure that they don't relapse into more criminal activity okay we're winding down we've gone through all of the essays and again I am very impressed what do you think parents not only have you touched on many of the major issues that I deal with every single day in Washington but the American people are wrestling with people all over the world are wrestling with you done in a very intelligent way alright before we wind down is there anything on your minds that we have not gone through what sort of questions? yeah I have a question what do you think of the budget agreement that was passed last night I mean I know you were against the increase in the DLD budget and you'd like to see something done with DREAMers but overall is it going to help people is it good? yes I worked way politics, politics is very strange I worked very much on that agreement a lot of what is in it a few of us have worked very hard on it does things like double the amount of money for childcare in this country which is a real crisis in the month that around the country puts more money into the issue you guys did not get into which this bill begins to deal with is student debt in America 40 plus million people in this country leave college in debt sometimes deeply in debt in this program but four billion dollars into helping student debt money into the veterans administration to put money into community health centers so I worked very very hard on so there is a lot in this bill that is good there are two major issues and I knew when everybody knew this was going to end up with 70 plus votes so I knew that it was going to pass the reason I voted against it were two basic reasons one a reason not a lot of people in this bill increases military spending $165 billion over to the there is a huge increase in military spending and that worries me very much especially with Mr. Trump as his president given all of the crises that we face domestically in this country whether it's healthcare or education I thought that was far far too much for an apartment that cannot do an audit where everybody acknowledges there is a massive waste of money so I think we need to show them the fence about $165 billion increase in the two-year period was much too much I thought it was important that somebody speak out about that issue and the other issue that we did discuss here a little bit is the issue of DACA and the 800,000 or more young people who we have Congress does not act in the next few weeks we'll lose their legal status and be subject to deportation and this bill our hope had been that we would include that provision in what is called a must pass bill where Congress needs a budget have to be it was not so those are the two reasons I voted against it but there were a lot of good links to dairy farmers did well in this bill and but those were the reasons that I voted against it okay let me just thank all of you for your not only good essays but you're coming here today and your participation and I think now Karina will get the photographs first we'll get a group of photos so maybe those of you on the side can move to the center and we can stand up and then we'll present you with your framed essays over here if you can the other thing we did we put them in the congressional record the congressional record is in a sense the history of the United States Congress coming from I guess George Washington on so your essays will now be part of the history of the United States of America okay now let's go over there and we will