 Good afternoon everyone and thank you so much for being here today it's a great honor to welcome Jim McGovern once again to Northampton as I was leaving my house today I asked my daughter if she wanted to come and she said he's back again coming I see him all the time so thank you Congressman for being someone who actually shows up all the time before we hear from the congressman I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the other elected officials in this room we have a state representative Natalie play next to her we have state representative Mindy Dung from Northampton City Councilor Mary Ann the barge Northampton City Councilor Gina Lucia Northampton School Committee member Laura Fallon and former Northampton Mayor Claire Higgins without further ado I'd like to hand the mic over to Congressman Jim McGovern thank you so much thank all my colleagues and government for being here today I want to thank all of you for coming out on actually a bomby Saturday experiencing here today and I mean there's a lot to talk about I just want to say a few things and then I'm going to turn this over to Tiffany Muller was the president and executive director of n-citizens United she came up from Washington along with Jordan Wood who's the political director of this organization and I know a lot of people here care deeply about the influence of big money in our politics and so I want to focus the beginning of this gathering today on that subject look there's an awful lot happening and Washington is crazy I mean I don't know how to describe it and it's exhausting as we all are trying to keep up with the latest Twitter ramp by this president what is the government gonna be shut down or is it gonna open up or you're gonna shut it down again I mean and you know all the scandals that are surrounding him you know it's easy to just get so preoccupied with all of that that we forget this other stuff to do and I tell people all the time that those of us who consider ourselves part of the resistance need to understand that resistance in part is about standing up against policies we deplore it is about standing up and pointing out the excesses of this president and in criticizing things that we strongly disagree with but the other part of resistance is we have to move an agenda forward we can't just sit and just react forward you know I was looking back on you know some old speeches that I gave and I went back to 1997 when I first got elected to Congress my first year in Congress and I actually look back and and some of the speeches have worn well over the years doesn't always happen right and but you know a number of the topic a number of the speeches I gave earlier on my first year were about campaign finance reform we're about the need to take money out of politics they need to clean up our system I said that the big money is a corrupting influence on our politics and on policy and now fast forward to 2019 things have only gotten worse and you know people ask me all the time why is it that when tax bills come out of Congress that all the benefits go to big corporations and to those who are well often well connected in the middle class gets nothing and those struggling to get a middle class get even less or you know every scientist in the world you know who's credible says that we have a climate crisis right and yet why is it that so much of the policy that comes out of Washington seems to favor the fossil fuel industry and not tackling the issue of climate change or on health care costs you know why is it that prescript the cost of prescription drugs continue to skyrocket I mean to astronomical levels and even prescriptions drugs that have been on the market for years experience these huge spikes why does that happen and the answer is it's money it's it's the it's the powerful influence of well finance corporate lobbyists now when we pass the Affordable Care Act in the House version we actually have a provision in the House version of that bill that said that Medicare could actually negotiate like the VA does on behalf of veterans but Medicare can negotiate on bulk on behalf of all senior citizens to get those drug prices down that that provision mysteriously disappeared in the Senate and it did because big power came out with you know a lot of money a lot of ads and you know threaten a lot of senators who you know who were thinking of voting to protect to maintain what the House had done so we need to clear up the system and one of the things one of the things I am very proud of is one of the first things for the first bill that the new democratically controlled House introduced was HR one it deals with issues like voting rights I mean what we're now learning is that some people think the only way they can win elections is by suppressing votes I mean this basically strengthens the voting rights act you may have some Mitch McConnell on TV the other day I thought his brain his head was going to explode he was decrying the fact that HR one calls from other things a holiday you know so that people make it easy for people to vote because people work and sometimes they can't get back and forth he's a how terrible they're trying to rape the system system we just want to make sure that everybody who could vote votes what the right it will it is a public finance aspect of this as well trying to encourage people to raise money from individuals and not so much from big packs and so there's a matching of public finance matching component to this there are stronger ethics rules about you know how we conduct ourselves during campaigns and about closing the revolving door where members of Congress when they rise to a certain position then leave and then mysteriously turn up to be that you know a well-funded super lobbyist and and try to peddle influence with their colleagues on the hill you know it talks about the need to clean up read our redistricting process now I give the Massachusetts legislature did a really good job I think with the with the redistricting here if you look at the map it actually makes sense when I first get elected my district was a snake when it went from Princeton Massachusetts to Dartmouth Massachusetts they call it the Ivy League district right but having said that notwithstanding the really good work of our legislature we have to get us we have to have a system in place where voters pick their politicians and not not the other way around and you know and now being the new head of the chairman of the rules committee I'm looking forward and I hope that you will all you know with your social media and all of your friends and networks all throughout Massachusetts of the country will tell them that they need to make sure that Congress does the right thing you know I'm under no illusion that it's gonna be easy to get all this stuff passed especially with the hostile Senate majority leader and the president we have but we got to start right we have to start laying down markers we have to start showing that we're moving in the right direction which brings me to the final point I'm gonna make before I turn this over to Tiffany so I do a lot of gatherings like this and you know I've done many of them in Northampton and in the Pirate Valley but what I noticed last year from some of you as well during question-and-answer period I heard it from my friends at Coat Pink in Western Massachusetts I heard it from my friends at PDA I heard it from my friends in the Democratic town and city committees people ask you know I get it you're all for campaign finance reform you're all for taking the money out of politics but maybe you need to lead by example maybe you need to do something more than just get on a bill and number raise the issue of why don't why don't you stop taking corporate PAC money and I said I'm think about right and I'm gonna be honest with you I mean the reason I think about it is because I think oh my goodness let me see if I if I don't take corporate PAC money am I putting myself at a disadvantage I mean whereas you know I could have a well-funded opponent come in here and you know but with deep pockets and connections to you know all kinds of you know special interests and am I you know I mean I don't raise that much overall but I mean you know am I am I putting myself at a disadvantage I talked to some colleagues in the house who said bad idea you know you one of the first rules of politics you don't leave any money on the table right you you know you just got it you know and and I think people will be hard-pressed to say that you know any corporate donations I've received over the years and you know influenced my voting record I mean I think if you look at my voting record by and large you know it's it's not been favorite it's not been in favor of these big corporations and you know and all of their all of their interest I mean I say that they'd probably get a low return on their investment when they gave me when they do they donate to me but having said all of that you know I could hear in the voices of many people in this room and throughout my district but also all throughout the country the people really are frustrated with what's happening and and and whether the corruption is real or perceived people have lost faith and their elected officials and in Congress in particular to actually represent them you know whether it's on health care issues or on tax issues or even on voting rights I mean you know big corporations have interests in suppressing the vote right but people you know people want to know that the first thing that any of us think about is them and not well how much you know is this packet to give me or how much is that corporation gonna give me or will they come after me will they do this whatever whatever so my final thing I'm gonna say today before I turn this over to Tiffany is that I'm here to just make an announcement that the government campaign will no longer accept any corporation so in addition to the powers of persuasion that exists here in this in this audience and audiences a similar audience as throughout my district and Citizens United has been an incredible sounding board for me as we've got to talk this out and you know and I want it I want to thank both Tiffany and Jordan for their incredible guidance on this issue if you don't know a lot about Citizens United you and and Citizens United you hear about it right now but this is an organization that's doing incredible work and they are working very hard to get members of Congress to do what I just did and so so I at this point would like to turn this over to Tiffany Muller who's the president and executive director of Citizens United and ever say a few words and we'll take questions let's give it up again for Congress. Thank you Jim for your courage to refuse corporate PAC money and the influence of big money in Congress we need your leadership to keep the U.S. out of Venezuela so the new women representatives in the house. I am Tiffany Muller I am president of in Citizens United and I am not even going to attempt to stand over here because you'll never be able to see me. We are a grassroots powered organization made up of more than four million members across the country that are working to help try to undo the damage caused by big money in politics and what you just saw I think I'm getting feedback are you guys getting feedback here we'll come to this side. I do town halls all over this country and I think that it is rare to see such passion and energy for an issue as we do around getting money out of politics and that's because all of you understand that right now Congress is working for just a few big interests rather than working for you right and whether that is as the congressman said a tax bill where 86% of the benefits go to the corporations or the wealthiest Americans or you know the fact that Big Pharma got 42 billion dollars in tax breaks in that same tax bill that's not that's not my chance that's by the fact that they spent 300 million dollars to influence our 300 million and they have 1400 lobbyists on Capitol Hill on any given day 1400 almost. There we go. Is that better? Okay, okay. See, right? Yes. Thank you. 1400 lobbyists on Capitol Hill almost three times the number of members of Congress. Yeah, take a second and think about that for a minute. And in that kind of environment how are your voices supposed to have the same kind of power? How is the agenda supposed to be about what working families in American need instead about what big corporations want? And the way that we're going to change that is by getting more and more members of Congress to do what congressman in the government just had the courage to do. And don't don't be fooled. This is courageous. He is the chairperson of a very powerful committee. The rules committee touches every bill that goes to the House floor, right? And so special interests are very concerned about that. As a matter of fact the last chairman of the rules committee got 2.2 million dollars from corporate special interest during his chairmanship. Yeah, it's big too. So can we give him another round of applause? This is about who's side are we on, right? And who's side are, is the chairman and the Democratic Party and these new members of Congress, how are they going to stand up for you rather than standing up for just special interests? And in Citizens United we were really proud of the work that we did in 2018. We only raised money from grassroots donors. We have about 500,000 donors across the country with an average donation of just 13 dollars. And we were able to raise about 40 million dollars to help flip the House of Representatives. How do the 63 new Democratic members of the House, over half of them, 37 of them are also no-corporate PAC members. That's fundamentally changing the way we do business in DC already. And additionally, almost like three quarters of them signed a letter telling Congress that the very first thing we need to do is actually a really comprehensive reform bill, which you heard the Congressman talking about. This bill is going to help make sure that everyone has the right to vote. That sounds so simple and yet we know, because we've watched Mitch McConnell's head explode over and over the past week, that this is a real threat to people. As a matter of fact, this bill would actually add 55 million Americans to the voting rolls. 55 million. Yeah. Ethics reform. It says basically, if you are elected and you're a public official, you should be hate by the rules. This shouldn't be hard, right? This isn't about lining your pocket and what your next job is going to be or how you can cash out. This is about serving the American people. And third, this is about getting big money out of politics and making sure that every dime that we see spent to influence an election is disclosed. That you know where it comes from. Because right now what we know is that foreign money is getting into our system. We know that corporate money is getting into our elections. We know that too few people are actually basically funding the vast majority of these elections. And let's talk about that. So Congressman, you said that you looked back at speeches and said in 1997 that you were talking about the need for campaign finance reform. So I'm going to skip forward a decade. In 2008, there was $143 million of spending spent in our elections by outside groups. $143 million. That's a lot of money. In January 2010, the Supreme Court decided Citizens United. And in 2018, there was $1.3 billion spent. A 900% increase, right? And what that means is that congressional members are no longer controlling the debate. Outside groups that are funded by just a few key special interests or a few of the wealthiest Americans are controlling the debate. That's not a democracy. It's an oligarchy, right? So what we need is more members of Congress, like Congressman Jim Govren. We're going to stand by him. We're going to keep working with him and with other members of Congress. But we need all of you to raise your voices. Please make sure everyone knows about the courageous stand he just took and how proud you are of him and how much it means. More importantly, call on every other member of Congress to do the same. So, happy to answer questions and thank you again, Congressman. Sure. Yeah, so why don't you pick up a few numbers? There's a few numbers. 24, 1, 15, 3. So go to the call that I have a question. We can take questions. How many people fall in Citizens United? Oh, hey, that's a really good question. On Twitter, we're at Stop Big Money. Pretty easy, at Stop Big Money. Or you can go to www.EndCitizensUnited.org. Please, come join. And we've also introduced the Constitutional Amendment in Congress to End Citizens United, so just because it's a bill to do that as well. So if folks want to line up in the middle row here of the numbers, raise your hand and I can come with the mic. One of those numbers you just pulled out of a hat to ask a question. Yes. I'm going to change the subject a little bit. What can Congress, particularly the House do, to prevent the Trump administration from withdrawing from critical treaties like NATO and the nuclear arms treaties? Well, we passed a resolution in the House saying that we shouldn't withdraw from NATO. Some of us have raised our voices about withdrawing from some of these arms control agreements, which I'm not here to defend Russia's behavior because Russia has cheated, but we need to try to maintain and make these agreements work because arms control is an important issue. I don't want to see nuclear weapons proliferate. I'm for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. We are somewhat limited on some of these executive decisions because being President of the United States, you do get some power. You do get to make some decisions, even bad decisions. We're trying to raise the pressure on him to have him stay twice, but he has surrounded himself with some pretty awful people when it comes to understanding the importance of arms control. We're trying to push back. Question is about the Green New Deal. Your opinion is on that. I put it out a copy of it after doing the research. Speak into the lighter. I read it and they wanted input from subject matter experts. I had 40-plus years of utility business before I retired, so I did my own reality check on it. Making a long story short, 100% renewable in 10 years, seems more like a fantasy, in my opinion. If anyone's interested in that, I've written paper about how I came to my conclusions. Glad to share it with anyone. I'll have a copy for you. Just to give an example, the National Renewable Energy Lab did a study in 2010 and said we could be 80% renewable by the year 2050. They had 20 scientists, whatever it was. 80% in 40 years versus 100% in 10 years, guess who I believe. Well, and you know what? First of all, I actually support the Green New Deal. And I support, and I think we ought to be bold. I don't want to be unrealistic. But here's the deal. I have to believe that if this were a political priority and we invested what we invested in the fossil fuel industry and building more pipelines and fighting these crazy wars in countries that are rich with oil and energy, I mean, I've got to believe we can move the needle dramatically. Of course. And I think that's the... I'm the believer we have to set high goals. I mean, we really do. Yeah, we may not reach all these deadlines, but if you set the goal down here, the progress you make will be less dramatic. And look, the Green New Deal is not just about being energy independent. It's also about creating new jobs in the new industry. It's about fair wages. It's about respecting the planet, how we deal with our farmers, how we deal with protection of soil and water. I mean, it's a whole bunch of things. We have a special select committee on the climate crisis that has been created. My hope is that a lot of these ideas are going to be aired there and recommendations will go to the committees of jurisdiction to move forward on this. But I got to tell you, we have a crisis on our hands. I mean, this is... I mean, I'm reading the science as you are and I'm being told if we don't start doing something, they might as well forget about it. And so I'm interested in your analysis. I'm happy to pass it on to... No, I hear you. I'm very concerned that in 2020 our politicians running for credits are 100% in 10 years. CNN does a reality check to get flushed down the toilet. Well, we're going to have a series of hearings and all these... We have a series of hearings and all this stuff is going to be flushed out. But I think we can do... And this is why this issue here with the stuff N Citizens United is doing is so important. I would argue that one of the reasons why we're so far behind is because the fossil fuel industry is run on the show. We have to change that. I mean, you know, when you have oil and gas getting 20 billion in subsidies every single year, like we can start making some progress right away. And just like getting money out of politics is a really long road and hard to do and overturning Citizens United is hard to do. Getting to 100% renewable energy is hard to do. Yeah, one, I like tough challenges. Number two, we can't make tough be the reason why we don't start trying and why we don't start making it better. Because the other side is pouring in money to make it tougher and tougher to get there. But I know that all of us together are stronger than that amount of money. I know it. We've seen it change things. So I know it can again. Yeah. And I also want to just acknowledge the East Hampton Mayor, Nicola Chappelle, is here. Thank you for coming. And Senator Coe Comerford called us. She wanted to be here, but she can't make it. But she's with us and wishes everybody well. So what's the name? 24. 24. 3? You do not? Right there. Great. My name is Cedric Deleon. I'm the director of the UMass Labor Center. Personally, for standing up for federal workers during the shutdown fight. The question for you is, you know the pressure points in the shutdown fight. And I wanted to ask you, what can workers and the labor movement do to avert this imminent shutdown and also other shutdown fights to come? What are some concrete ways in which we can get involved to make sure that this doesn't happen to our members again? Well, that's a good question. First of all, this shutdown, in my opinion, represented an all-time high in recklessness and stupidity. Yeah. I mean, there was no man for it. And here's what's really, here's what baffles me about the shutdown. Was that, believe it or not, Democrats and Republicans agreed on the spending bills. I mean, and in the Senate, some of these spending bills passed unanimously. I mean, you can't get, you know, a unanimous vote then. I went to have for lunch in the Senate. They all agreed on these spending bills to keep the government running. It was brought to the House here. We actually passed a rule to fast-track passage so we could go home for the holidays. And then the President of the United States turned on the radio as the enculter and all of a sudden decided to have a temper tantrum and threw a wrench into all of this stuff and said, you know, I have a new demand before you go home. Otherwise, I'm going to shut the government down. I don't think a lot of people thought he would, but he did. And it was a rotten thing to do. And I, you know, last week, last Tuesday, after the shutdown, it ended. A friend of mine is Chef Jose Andres. He's a great humanitarian. And he actually has headed up this group called Chefs for Feds to help, you know, provide food for federal workers who are still showing up to work when they're getting their paychecks. So I went down to serve food. They still like getting their paychecks as of last Tuesday. And, but attached to his little restaurant where he's giving out food was a whole nother operation providing people with, like, basic things like, you know, canned goods, diapers if they had kids, pet food because they had pets. I mean, just, I mean, you know, toilet paper. I mean, I go right down. And these federal workers would come in with their federal IDs dressed in suits. And they would tell me, you know, I mean, I have a kid in college and I've got a mortgage and a car payment, and I can't go ahead and paycheck. And I'm now worried my credit is all messed up because of this. And so finally, I mean, we were able to get the president to relent. I mean, the deal he agreed to is the deal he had in December, which is, again, maddening. And so, yes, what we can do to stop it again, I think the pressure point is on Republican senators and Republican congressmen and women because they have to make it clear to this president that if he shuts the government down again, they're going to vote for a bill to reopen the government and they will vote to override his veto if he decides to veto it. That's the only way to stop it. We have to get Congress to do the right thing, no matter what the president says. My Republican colleagues tell me that many of them are more afraid of losing in a primary than in a general election. And they point out to me all the time that amongst Republican voters, Trump's numbers are in the 80s. And so they are nervous. But we have to counter that by making sure that they are hearing loudly from all of us and people in their districts that we can never, ever have another shutdown. I mean, these are people who serve our country. I mean, these are honorable men and women who serve all of us, whether it's TSA agents or whether it's the IRS or the USDA. If this shutdown went on another few weeks, the most vulnerable people in our country who rely on SNAP to put food on their table so they don't go hungry, they would have lost their benefits. So that's the only way I think we can counter that. We have to make sure that the political activism is geared at those members of Congress who went along with it and wouldn't reopen the government. Number four. We're in number four. I have a question about the Green New Deal as well. I want to hear your... Well, first of all, thanks for supporting it. That really meant a lot to activists like me. I want to hear more from you since we know it's not going to pass the Senate this session. Give us some specifics how you see it helping to build a stronger movement. So I think the fact that we have a set of ideas out there for people to rally around, I think it's helpful. And it prompts a discussion. And the fact that one of the things that the House Rules package did that we put together, we established a select committee on the climate crisis. So in addition to the committees that would normally deal with this, like Energy and Commerce, we have this special select committee that will focus exclusively on this. My expectation is that they will do hearings, not just in Washington, but around the country. And they will flesh out all these ideas and make recommendations, sweeping recommendations, and some maybe not so sweeping recommendations, that they will recommend that the committees of jurisdiction act on that we move to the floor for a vote. And then we're going to have to figure out, depending on what they are, do we just send them over to the Senate and expect them to act on it on their own, or do we attach it to bigger bills that are going through the Senate? So we have to figure out what the strategy is. But I think the idea that, I think we're going to have a real discussion on this issue. I mean, the majority of the House of Representatives last year basically regularly voted in a way that said we deny the climate change is real. That has changed. We couldn't get a hearing on anything related to the climate crisis. Not even a hearing. That's changed. And so it goes back to what I said at the beginning. The challenge for us and the majority right now is to focus on not only dealing with the stuff coming out of the White House, but in the sense of we've got to start focusing on how you move an agenda forward. And so he can rant and rave all he wants, but we need to start doing hearings on the climate crisis. We need to start doing hearings on Medicare for All. We need to start doing hearings on an infrastructure bill. We need to start doing hearings on, you know, what a sensible immigration policy is. And I mean, so, you know, we're going to be moving forward. You know, and not to steal the mic, but I just did. This is one more place actually where it does come back to money in politics. And I don't think we always see that connection. But prior to Citizens United and prior to 2010, the efforts to take on climate change and to address the problems created by climate change were bipartisan, right? Gun background checks used to be bipartisan. And now you can't get a single Republican on these bills. That's not by chance. And that's not just because there have been elections and some people changed. This is about the money going into these elections and who they're afraid of and who they think will come spend money against them. When the Koch brothers from my home state of Kansas spend $400 million every election cycle so that they don't have any regulations on oil and gas and fossil fuels and, you know, deforestation and other pieces, $400 million. That's the reason why the Green New Deal is not bipartisan right now. But we know that's not where the majority of Americans are, right? The congressman talked about this before. Whether it's lowering prescription drug prices or if it's a comprehensive background checks for guns or if it's addressing the climate change problems that we're facing, these are things all Americans agree on. We just have to put enough pressure on Congress to get it done. Surprisingly, I happen to be reading Jane Meyer's book, Dark Money. And so let me just add to what you said and ask you the question. Could you describe to all the folks sitting around here why it's very important to read that book because the thing that struck me is it not that you're just a large, very wealthy people in corporations, particularly very wealthy people who believe strongly in capitalism. It's not that. I mean, this is the extreme right. If you want to think of extreme right, these families where they're putting all the money are extreme, not moderate, not reasonable, not rational, nothing like that. It's the extreme right in the United States. Yeah. If I could recommend two books to read, it would be Unchaining Democracy and Chains by Nancy McClain and Dark Money by Jane Meyer. Sorry, I cannot talk today, apparently. First of all, I think Democracy and Chains tells you the why of why folks are trying to put all this money into our elections and buy our democracy off and what they're actually trying to do whereas the Dark Money is the how and all of these webs of intricacies and how the money is being funneled. But the basic premise goes like this, right? I think as Democrats, we often believe that we are all kind of operating under the same sort of facts and that we are trying to get to the best possible outcome for all Americans. And that isn't always true, right? And the people who have been funneling so much money into our elections and I say the people, right? Like it really is like 50 people and just a few companies to the gentleman's point. It is the extreme of the extreme and it is because they actually believe that the federal government has no role and needs to be basically disassembled. As a matter of fact, they would love to see social security just go away because it is the ultimate sign of federal government run amuck. And so when you step back and you look at that philosophy and then you look at the fact that there's been 50 years of a dedicated and relentless and coordinated effort to push that extreme, you can understand how we've gotten to the point that we have. And that's not where Americans are at and it's not what Americans believe and we can't allow just the small group to control that, right? But Citizens United was the outcome of that. It said corporations are people and money equals speech and it put a for sale sign on our democracy and I think everyone here knows and the congressman said it earlier, right? Corporations aren't people. Money isn't speech. We all have common sense and understand that but this is a 50 year relentless campaign that we're up against. And again, going back to I believe in tough challenges, I also see the signs of it starting to break up and it is because of leadership like the congressman's. It's because of this new freshman group that we are starting to change it. But please educate yourself, democracy and change and dark money, please read them, spread the word, let people know we actually can really do something and take this back. 28. I feel like I'm on a bakery. Thank you. Thanks, Congressman. I live in Northampton. I've been waiting to hear from you and from some of the other Democrats about American aggression in Venezuela. About an indicted war criminal in Elliott Abrams back in the government. I didn't think that would ever happen. That people would be back in the government again. I mean the man is a mass murderer. And from the most seen we get, you know, crickets. I'm still waiting to hear a response. There should be hearings on this guy. There should be hearings on, you know, the government. Well, yeah. Well, I've actually issued a couple of statements in Venezuela, basically. Look, I don't believe that the United States should be in the business of overthrowing governments. And I don't believe the United States should be in the business of using military might to try to intervene in Latin American affairs. If you look at our history, every time we have used the U.S. military to intervene in Latin America, it has been an unmitigated disaster. So we, people need to learn from history. And I do think we have to concede that Mr. Maduro has turned out to be a thug. That's not our good. No, no. Well, no, but I think we have an obligation to raise our voices against people who abuse the human rights of other people around the world. Whether it's in Russia, whether it's in China, whether it's in the United States, whether it's in USA, whether it's going to be over from that, I mean, I think if the United States, the way I view this country, we stand for anything, we need to stand out loud and force square for human rights. But I think by threatening military action in Venezuela, this administration with Mr. Bolton and almost Abrams and with Mr. Trump, are doing is they are they are they are weakening Campesina movements and they are weakening pro-democracy movements that are indigenous in Venezuela and they are basically giving cover for you know the hard lines but I think I think I think the United States rattling the sabers and threatening you know military I saw mr. Bolton at a press conference holding up a pad a paper so people can see this as 5,000 American troops in Columbia I mean that is just a stupid idea and again that's not the way I don't think that's the way that's not the power of our influence around the world well so you know I know I'm I'm not we're not a doicy we don't know what the administration's policy is right now other than the fact they recognize this opposition leader but we have no idea what they're playing to do and I don't know they know what they're playing to do but I think Congress will I mean at least for speaking for me I don't know what everybody is on this issue but for speaking for myself I mean you know any attempt at sending the United States troops to Columbia to somehow invade Venezuela or to use military action Venezuela I would bring a resolution to the floor to stop it I came in late I didn't get a number okay may I ask one question Numbers are grand bangs I have one question so does everybody else my question sir is I believe he called it be and climate changes all other issues what does the climate change have to say I think climate change is say it later bye this is called participatory my question my question my question my question it will be answered later good bye good bye good bye my question congressman is is there any movement in congress at the present time concerning amendments to the constitution regarding things like who's about the law is there anyone above the law can the president be indicted in peace and so forth or removed from office there are great areas and suspicious thoughts in regards to the possibilities which takes up an awful lot of time debating and probably court issues is there any movement in congress bill filed or something in committee that are studying the fact that the amendments to the constitution are realistic so I do know that the president can be impeached I mean that can happen but I mean in terms of whether the president can be dead or not some of those are open legal questions and I think they may be tested based on whatever the Mueller report comes out with and I think there may be some reluctance to affirmatively legislate on those matters when they actually may be decided by the courts but I hear what you're saying I think it is a lot of people are concerned about the fact when they hear commentators say that the president can commit all these crimes and then somehow he's above the law and that seems to go against everything that we stand for but I know Jerry Nathler who's the chairman of the judiciary committee has raised some of these issues and I don't know all what he has planned for hearings but that would be the committee that would look at those things 27 Hi Jim Vicki Elson from nuclear-down.us we are so grateful to you for being one of the four sitting members of congress who has signed the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons pledge to support the treaty in the publishing of nuclear weapons and you also signed the candidates pledge when you were running for re-election for a nuclear weapons free future and I wanted to thank you for that I believe that these issues the issue of corruption and the issue of nuclear weapons are so deeply embedded with one another I think that nuclear weapons are the mother of all examples of corruption they only exist because a few people are making a lot of money off of them so my question to you is what would you like to do next now that you've done these great things towards the absolute abolition of nuclear weapons well we gotta now take these great ideas and pass them and that's kinda where we need to be focused on actually moving the ball forward that way look, when it comes to military spending and big money and Tiffany may have some more to say about this there is a direct link and it's probably a corrupt link but it's sometimes very disillusioning I'll give you an example I introduced the bill shortly after the murder of an American journalist and a Saudi consulate in Turkey and he was murdered and he was dismembered and then the government of Saudi Arabia lied about it and by the way the government of Saudi Arabia has a horrendous human rights record to begin with what they're doing in Yemen is horrific the way they treat anybody who dissents is horrific but to me we should be selling weapons or providing military assistance to a government that behaves that way and I introduced the bill to ban the sale of all US weapons and cease all US military assistance to the Saudi government and it said that the only way that could be changed is if Congress had a vote to affirmatively sell those weapons we got a call from who's who in the defense contracting world and I think for them it's a business it's a way to make money and I have to tell you it is somewhat disillusioning because no matter what you think about selling weapons to other countries we all should agree that selling weapons to countries that have such a horrific human rights record that actually abuse their own people and what they're doing in Yemen is horrific we ought to stop but the defense industry has a lot of flaws not based on reason and not based on what's right but on the power of their influence in Congress I don't know if you have any Yes, can we give them a hand, right? So I was the chief of staff on the Hill before doing what I'm doing and one of the members of Congress I worked for was on the Armed Services Committee and the very fact that what happened immediately after you introduced that bill is that you immediately got all these calls from all the defense contractors is also what happens immediately upon someone getting appointed to that committee all the defense contractors want to come meet and they want to tell you about all of their great projects and they want to do that with a check in hand, right? and it is about the fact that they are trying to control access and information so that they can continue making record profits year after year after year and so suddenly military decisions aren't being based about what's best for our country or what's based on foreign policy but about profit profit for these corporations so I have seen it firsthand I know the pressure that these congressional members are up against but the very fact that every single one of them can just pick up the phone and have immediate access is part of the problem and part of what we're trying to stop Congressman, before we go we have a question from one of your youngest constituents in the room but his grandmother has been asking Congressman, I'm Judy Kimberly this is my five-year-old grandson, Aski He is concerned that he has heard that our president is taking children away from their parents and he wants to know if he's safe in this anything you can do it's really sad that people given what we have in terms of our leadership in Washington young people actually have to worry about these things because that's not the country that any of us believe in I tell people when I think of the greatness of this country I think of the Statue of Liberty when Trump thinks of the greatness of this country he thinks of a cement wall separating our southern border right across our southern border I mean I just, it is horrific what's going on and not that we're even the fore-speeding of people who are in detention I mean we, this administration is guilty of human rights violations if this were happening in the African country we would be demanding an international administration I mean the idea that our government, the United States of America is separating children from their parents it's just, it's not unconscionable it's hard to believe that we're doing that I was in Honduras in August and I met a young father whose six-year-old son had been taken from him at the border when he was trying to come to the United States three months earlier he had been deported his son was taken from him it took him weeks to figure out where his son was he thought the son had to be in Texas he was six years old he found out that the son had been sent to New York City to a facility in New York City and when I met with him in August he had no idea when he would be reunited with his son because there was no indication as when the decision would be made on what to do with that young child I mean I can't imagine what it would be like if someone took my child away from me I'd be out of my mind and yet this is happening over and over and over and over again and now we're turning legitimate asylum seekers away from coming to this country and having their cases heard I mean that's against US law it's against international law people who have a well-founded fear of persecution historically can come here and make their case and yet this administration has thrown all of what I think is compassion about our immigration policy out the window so let me just say to your grandson there that here you're safe because in this community if anybody is threatened we are going to provide a circle of protection around anybody who is threatened in this community I just want to say one more thing a lot of you here Eduardo San Diego and I'm heart-set over what happened you know and I think if something similar to what happened to him happened in Massachusetts he would be here tonight but it happened in Georgia and we tried to intervene multiple times with ICE and with those authorities that were holding him and they were unrelenting and I just think it really is a shame that so much energy devoted toward going after and trying to deport incredible members of our community and not focused on legitimate criminals but focused on people like Eduardo who has not only been a champion of immigrant rights but been a champion for healthcare rights and environmental rights and everything that is good about our country so anyway I regret that very very much but we will anybody in this community just you know my office is a sanctuary office 13 there's a handful of states where I think New York, Vermont, Maryland where you can't crack I mean I think that's something that should be across the nation that you can't do crack, it's just horrible for the environment and I agree and again to tell you how powerful that industry is we haven't been able to get documentation as to what are the chemicals that are being used in fracking and one of the things I hope that happens in the Energy and Commerce Committee is that there's actually a hearing on that because I agree with you on that 26 I just want to note that suffering that happened with federal employees happens every day for poor people in this country and so everybody rallies around the story of the federal employees but we've totally marginalized and dehumanized most of the poor people in this country and for them it's not a temporary condition because we don't have an economy that makes them able to not be poor I don't know there's so many different ways into this but when you add your list of hearings when you went through your list of hearings I'd like to have a hearing on a progressive tax code that flips the equation and allows people to get out of poverty and taxes the people who have the money and I'm hoping it may not be you it might be our friend Richie Neal but somebody needs to have that hearing and work on the question of fair and progressive taxation 19 Thank you Congressman for being here In the last in the midterm I went to three different states to New Hampshire, New Jersey and New York to Canada for three different Democrats who probably agree on many things and some they probably have differences on In the last presidential election I think we saw quite a bit of a division from voters on the Democratic side some progress some more left and this and that Do you have any advice for the upcoming campaign in 2020 when many Democrats are running and how we can get some people to realize that you may not get the perfect candidate but we know who we're running against to try to get out of the White House What advice do you give to the all the Democrats in all shapes and sizes that are out there to get out and vote? My advice is this we're going to have a very robust primary you're going to have a lot of great candidates to choose from including Elizabeth Warren who's running here in Massachusetts My advice to people is whoever you believe in get out there and work for them in the primary and then if you can't win it's great we're all going to rally behind her or him and if you can't and it loses you're going to have to get over quickly and rally behind whatever the nominee is you don't have to agree on everything to grant something and there's a lot more something we're going to agree on with the Democratic nominee as opposed to this guy in the White House and we got to get over this if the person is not perfect in every way we can't be with her or him or the perfect candidate once in my life that's when I first ran for office I served two years I had a voting record I wasn't so perfect anymore but I voted for me for the election because I was a hell of a lot better than the other guy and the bottom line is that we have to understand that even with people we may not agree with 100% of the issues those issues we disagree on we're going to have a better chance of fighting with them and changing their mind than with Donald Trump the final thing is and for me and I know it's for you too because I I deal with this administration every single day and I'm not only horrified by their policies but I'm horrified by their demeanour he has dragged the presidency down so low and he has promoted the kind of division in this country that quite frankly is very very very dangerous I mean we've had an uptick in hate crimes we've seen racial polarization in this country we've seen attacks on women the xenophobia you know that he is engendered on immigration I mean to me nobody should have any question after the democratic convention there should be no question you know and if we care about our future we care about our kids and our grandkids we cannot let this man stay in the White House I don't know what the Mueller report is for the show but I think we're kind of fooling ourselves into believing that even the Mueller report shows the direct collaboration between Trump and Putin we're going to have enough republicans in the Senate who are probably going to balk in any kind of impeachment we need to focus on the election in two years and make it crystal clear that no matter who our nominee is she or he will be the next great United States in our town number five five Congressman in your opinion how do you think ICE and Uninsecurity can be prevented from carrying out arbitrary and unilateral policies in relation to deportation which have no basis in law and here I'm quoting congressperson Yvette Clarke who is prevented from New York who is prevented from attending deportation hearing with one of her constituents last Monday well I think we should abolish ICE you know I voted against the creation of the Department of Homeland Security because it was clear to me back then that creating this humongous new agency you know just bureaucracy kind of got a muck and I think ICE which we were told at the time was going to be focused on you know drug dealers and human traffickers and murderers and you know that's the focus ICE is now focused on people like Eduardo they're focused on people dropping their kids off at school or getting people in the supermarket or going to a hospital that is not what ICE was advertised as we initiated it the problem we have right now is that the administration sets the tone for all the agencies and all the departments in the federal government and there's a lot of flexibility that they have utilized to try to make our immigration policies as horrific as possible and I think their rationale is that we make it so horrible we make this place so unwelcoming that nobody would want to come here which is really an awful way to represent the United States in the eyes of the world but that's where they're coming from I think we're going to have to hope that the courts are going to work on some of these issues where ICE is overstepped where Homeland Security is overstepped and I mean I don't know how in the short term we're going to be able to fix this with the President and the administration we have I wish I had a better answer for that but I think we're going to have to rely on the courts mostly and I think we get any through the House I'm not sure the Senate would take it up so I think we're going to have to rely on the courts 12 I came here today to say thank you to you both for your good works it's great to have you here and it's great to hear what you have to say and to hear that you are taking the bold step that you are taking is an extra bonus I do however have one concern about that and that is that among all the good ideas that we've heard today one that I have particular interest in is encouraging new first time candidates to step forward and I am concerned about a level plan view in an era where voters are being suppressed in an era where the Koch brothers can launder their money through multiple packs of local elections I'm not so concerned about Eugene because you have 20 years of experience and a whole lot of people knew you but for new emerging candidates who I really feel we need right now they are going to be harmed so I'm wondering if you can suggest any whole harmless provisions in order that funding may be available to people who take courageous stances such as the one you took today well in HRM 1 there is a public financing a matching component to it so there is a public financing provision I think Tiffany could talk a little bit more about that and in terms of the dark money a lot of the stuff to the Koch brothers funds you don't know the Koch brothers are finding it it may be people for responsible government you have no idea who is finding it there is a provision in this HRM 1 that would require them to be transparent who is behind all of this let me just say one thing let me turn this over to Tiffany which I think I don't want to brush over look at the last election in November we had people first time candidates who ran for office who went up against big money who took the no corporate tax pledge and won a lot of the money and democratic primers and in general elections Massachusetts Ayanna Presley won against a wonderful great colleague Mike Cavallano and she ran with a no corporate tax pledge but she there is a new thing called social media where you can communicate with people who spent $10 million on Boston TV to be able to do it or New York TV and people were winning so Joe Crowley I mean Alexander Ocasio-Cortez scored an upset victory and she was outspent and I think we kind of got into the habit to believe that people power is just a good idea and that you can't possibly go up against big corporate special interests but we've seen examples where people have done it and they've won and it's just getting people to believe enough to organize enough and getting $110 donations instead of one pack check I mean it makes a difference and I just I see hope in this last election I see I see things changing I kind of feel like people are waking up to the fact that you know what I could actually take back my government I could actually put who I want in office and it's not a fantasy it's possible absolutely so in the last election 130 house challengers ran on the no corporate tax pledge that's huge right it was it has completely changed the narrative and the game how many of you in here have ever donated through act blue huh and how many of you have donated more than once through act blue and how many of you have then went on to also maybe make a phone call for a candidate uh huh or talk to a friend or family member about that candidate or knock on a door for that candidate yeah you all right here you're exactly what's changing our democracy you're what's actually making this possible because here's what we found the folks who actually took the no corporate tax pledge were rewarded they were rewarded by small dollar donors they actually ended up out raising their opponents but it was based on like five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars at a time instead of the thousand dollar tax right um and I don't know if you all have paid as much attention it's a little bit uh it just seems like it's happening every single day right now there are now ten people who have announced for president all ten are no corporate PAC yeah almost all of them have also said they're not going to take any obvious money and they're not going to benefit from a single candidate super PAC it's because you all have changed this conversation um in HR one as the congressman was talking about we actually are trying to formalize what's happening happening organically right is that we understand that actually if folks are raising money from small dollar donors they have more time to attend hearings and do their job and meet with constituents and do town halls rather than just dialing for dollars and meeting with big corporate PACs so there's a provision in HR one that actually says if any money that you raise under two hundred dollars if you opt into the system would be matched six to one but you say that you're not going to take anything over a thousand dollars and you won't take any PAC money right it's a pretty good trade off actually and what it does is it actually puts the power back in the hands of small dollar donors and it forces current elected officials to go seek out more small dollar donors that's good for our democracy because you all couldn't see from up here but 80% of the room said you all had given through Act Blue and about 80% of the room said that you also had made phone calls for candidates and knocked on doors and talked to friends and family that's what's changing our democracy it's not just about the money it's about then the participation in our democracy the other things in HR one that are going to change the face of our democracy and are going to actually make it easier for people to run for office are things like the automatic voter registration expanding early and online registration and early and absentee ballot voting right re-enfranchisement for voters that alone adds another I think 5 million people to the roles these are things that actually are going to just change the way that people can run for office right now two more and then we've got a number 11 11 going once 21 I was going to actually push you guys a little harder on that one because I do actually feel like I look at a lot of people here who are probably hitting the pay button on a lot of candidates and I do think there's a point of saturation on that but we'll leave that alone and kind of go to another issue because I think we've done what we can but I do think it's a concern that we're asking the super voters to fund our system instead of you know properly funding our federal government and our political system in a way that I think is more sustainable but to switch gears I'm actually curious to talk a little bit about pipelines and I'm not necessarily arguing that we need to you know say no to all natural gas pipelines I'm worried about the pipelines that already exist that are not actually sort of well maintained because while we do want a fossil fuel for the future the existing systems that we have people are dependent on for their heat and the fact that we're not upgrading our existing infrastructures to allow people existing under our current system to survive well and we're bringing trucks of natural gas into our communities to provide winter heating is a great concern so I think we've polarized our issues on climate change such that we can't talk about solving the immediate problems that we have so I'm wondering if there are efforts under way to address what we know our fuel shortages in this area in a way or to come up with other solutions that can actually enable us to actually serve the existing demands in western Massachusetts so a couple things, one is that some of the pipeline infrastructure that exists right now is I mean we know that gas leaks are fairly inefficient quite rightly the energy companies are making enough money they should fix their own pipelines and they should not do it which is really and it shouldn't be passed on to the consumer, they ought to be able to do that you know we had this big pipeline debate about the pipeline coming out here in this part of the state, you know I was opposed to it and I said to the governor after they decided to end, after the pipeline people decided to call it quits I said that was an opportunity for us to actually have a real discussion on an energy policy from Massachusetts where we could actually basically be a leader for the rest of the country we have some of the smartest people in the world on energy policy right here in Massachusetts at all of our great universities and colleges I mean why aren't we asking them when people say to me well we can't just rely on solar well maybe that's the case there's a lot more areas where we can grow solar where we need where solar can do the trick what do we need to do to get to the capacity what about wind what about tidal energy what about there's a whole bunch of stuff I did my big frustration is that we need to have this discussion about what our energy future looks like and we can't be you know and it may be a little bit complicated to get to where we want to go but we're not even having that discussion and it's quite frankly up to policy makers to be able to lead that discussion States like Hawaii are basically saying they want a fossil free future they want to be totally energy independent I was in Puerto Rico looking at some of the devastation from the hurricane in July it's really interesting because a lot of big fossil fuel companies are going to Puerto Rico saying this is your future and with some people saying we want to do what Hawaii is doing we want to figure out a way that we can become more energy dependent and actually not contribute to the climate crisis which has resulted in these hurricanes that are like monster hurricanes but this year because nothing happened after I suggested it to our state leaders you know we ought to have an energy conference maybe a UMass Amherst and bring in everybody saying let's figure out how we meet our energy needs here in Massachusetts and you know it's not a direct answer but it's we don't have an energy policy it's not a national energy policy it's about time we did if we're going to actually get to this point where we're relying on 100% renewables you need a plan it only takes a village it takes a plan and we have the village we just don't have the plan the final question, number 6 you are the new chairman of the evils community congratulations on that my understanding is that that's a very powerful thing and being the chairman is even better I was wondering if you had priorities for your committee how you might use that committee more creatively for the good of all of us and especially us in the western lands that's a good question so the rules committee is like the traffic up in congress every bill goes to house floor goes to the rules committee there's no jurisdictional disputes between committees we decide whether bills can be amended or not and which amendments are made in order sometimes we can rewrite the text of the bills there's a lot of stuff you can do but the bottom line is every bill, no matter what it is comes with the rules committee so you have an opportunity to weigh in and when you ask how we can use it more creatively and we think we're thinking alike so the first item of business was that we had to have a host rules package just the first thing we wrote and so Nancy Pelosi said to me you know why don't you try something different rather than putting a rules package together where a few people sit in the back room and just put it together why don't you reach out to everybody and get some input which we did and people had some really good ideas that were well intentioned but we're not so good but we try to incorporate as many things as we can and here's some of the things that we did. I mean one of the great things about this new class that got elected to congress in November is that the congress now begins to look more like the country in terms of its diversity on the democratic side, not the republican side but still the people who work on the hill don't reflect the diversity of our country. So we put in the rules package trying to be a little creative the first ever office of diversity in the capital to basically go out and try to bring in people who represent everybody in this country we put in a provision that said that on Capitol Hill you cannot fire anybody who discriminated against anybody if they're members of the LBGTQ community. We have two muslim women who just got elected and there was a ban on headwear on the floor. Now one would hope they know we would ever enforce it but nonetheless I talked to Ilan Omar from Minnesota and she said can we do something about it? So we put in the rules package that we banished the ban on religious headwear in the congress we put in the regulations for the chief council in the house to be able to weigh in on the case in Texas in which the Affordable Care Act is being brought into question because the administration is not going to defend the Affordable Care Act so we put in that we will do it and it's not even a big deal about food insecurity and hunger in this community and we passed a farm bill which was not spectacular but it was okay we cut SNAP and that really ticked off the Trump administration and so after we signed the bill they said they're going after people on SNAP and trying to throw people off and I'm like that goes against what congress passed in the farm bill and so to send them a message I put into the rules package that we're going to sue you Mr. Trump if you go after people who are on SNAP we authorized that we put in things to make congress work better like when I was the last couple of years in the rules committee I mean bills would come to the rules committee that never went through any committees of jurisdiction so you had tax bills the tax bill that Tiffany was talking about where 86% of the benefits went to the top 1% income earners in this country not a hearing, not a markup it just mysteriously appeared and it was set to the floor under a closed rule so we put in the rules that they're going to make congress work so committees have to do hearings and committees have to do markups so we don't want to see you bill in the rules committee unless you did your work we're giving people 72 hours to read the bill I mean because you know it was like that so there's all kinds of we put it in this rules package that freaks out people out but no this is a new congress now as we move forward one of the things that really worries me is that congress is ceding its rightful powers to the executive branch all the time on trade bills, on war powers resolutions like that so we formed a new select committee a new committee we called the committee on process and procedures but it's designed so we can do hearings on the war powers resolution and do hearings on how we trade bills and stuff like that so we do them a little better and we did another thing too because one of the things the republicans did when I would introduce privilege resolutions on war powers whether it was regarding Syria or Yemen or whatever what they would do was they would have to come to the floor for a vote what they would do is they would table them so that nobody could have you vote on the tabling so you don't have to vote yes or no so we said the rules were changing if someone brings a war powers resolution to the floor and has an issue about our involvement in a war around the world you got to vote yes or no no more dodging that trade bills I think we had an expedited procedure the title of this subcommittee too I mean you know trade bills are negotiated congresses we have no say in anything we have to vote up or down on it and then when the administration submits it moves at a rapid pace to the house floor for a up or down vote we need to reclaim our authority if we really want trade agreements that represent our constituencies that are giveaways to big corporate interests that actually care about the environment we need to insist that we have some role in what they look like so we're going to try to use the committee creatively that way the other thing I'm going to say this and some of my progressive friends cringe when I say this but I also believe the rules committee has to be a more accommodating place and that means we can't be afraid of fair fights and so if you come to the committee and you have an idea that I disagree with if it's germane to the bill I mean if it's a legitimate topic even if I disagree with it I want my inclination to make it in order and I'll beat you on the floor but this business of rigging everything that goes to the floor it has to stop it just really does and so I mean I am and I got to tell you I've been used to for two years well more than two years but for the last two years in particular I've sat in the rules committee we had the most closed congress in the history of the United States in the last two years and almost every amendment that I had was blocked all right so it was nice to be able to come in and we had a bill on disaster relief funds to be able to make a government amendment in order that actually passed on the House floor which said that if the president declares a national emergency he cannot dip into money designated for disasters to be able to pay for it and so in primarily Jayapal my colleague who also used to get her amendments always turned down offered an amendment that passed on the floor that said that the president can't use that disaster money to build more detention centers along the floor I used to say the rules committee was a place where democracy went to die and I said some republicans that we should rename it to break the rules committee we want to change that I mean it's not going to be perfect and we unfortunately got off to a start where we had to deal with bills that we couldn't be open on which was reopening the government because that's beyond us and we can now move forward but I'm a big believer that among the things that we need to focus on and this is why what Tiffany has talked about and the N-Citizens United people are doing so important we have to be honest with ourselves that given Mitch McConnell as the center majority leader and the republicans controlling the senate and you got Trump in the White House the chances of those passing and the comprehensive catch on legislation that's going to change the world is going to be difficult and we have to make some incremental steps to be able to push the ball forward but one of the things we can do is try to restore some integrity to the institution of Congress and that's how we run the place is a big part of that and that's how we elect people to Congress and I'm just going to say one final thing here look you know going back to when I first got elected talking about my first speeches on campaign finance reform and seeing how things have gotten worse over the years we can stop this, we can change this I mean that's the amazing thing and N-Citizens United has been integral in a whole bunch of campaigns that have been victorious against all the odds I mean we can do this right and we're seeing it working in districts all across the country presidential candidates running you know for Presidents saying we're not taking any corporate PAC money I mean that's remarkable I mean it shows that things are changing we have to be wind at the back of that change because if we're not this whole effort could be frustrated and stopped and you know and again one of the most disappointing things to me being in this business is when I go to events you know people tell me it doesn't matter or my voice doesn't no one cares what I say I can't make a difference I can't write out a $10,000 I can't I mean because it means people are losing faith in their government and so you know I want us to I want to stop that and I think this is a small step in that direction if we get HR 1 that's a bigger step but anyway I'm grateful to all of you I'm just going to let Tiffany have the last word but I just want to thank all of you for coming out here today and just one other thing I wouldn't be here talking about this issue here and I wouldn't have gone to Tiffany and Jordan to talk about this issue if I hadn't heard from you over the last several months I'm just telling you but don't push me too hard now I mean we're here because of the discussions that we have had over the last several months and I just want you to know that as well so here's Tiffany to close up the event I want to do is thank you all for your time and for having me today Northampton is actually a really special place to me I adopted my daughter here two and a half years ago and so I always love getting a chance to come back so thank you and mostly can we all just leave the congressman with a big round of thanks his leadership is so important