Good afternoon everybody, you're all very welcome to this lunchtime webinar, I'm Michael Collins and I'm Director General here at the Institute of International and European Affairs, the IIEA here in Dublin. And today I'm absolutely delighted, we're absolutely delighted to be joined by Congressman Brendan Boyle, whom I formally introduced in just a moment, but his contribution obviously at this lunchtime on this day is very timely. The incoming Biden administration is beginning to take shape as we all know ahead of January's inauguration. And meanwhile on this side of the Atlantic, of course, EU, UK negotiations are continuing even as we speak. The issues surrounding the Northern Ireland protocol and the protection of the peace process, something I know that Congressman Boyle and indeed the President-elect of Biden himself have been very active on, has of course moved on a little bit in recent days, thankfully, and I'm sure we get around to talking about that as well in the course of this afternoon's webinar. But let me just say a few words about Congressman Boyle. Congressman Boyle is a three-term member of the US House of Representatives representing the second Pennsylvania Congressional District in around Philadelphia. He currently serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Committee on the Budget, having previously served two terms on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Prior to election to the US Congress, Congressman Boyle was elected to the Pennsylvania State Assembly in 2008, becoming the first Democrat to ever represent his legislative district. And I was delighted to meet him in that capacity when he came to Washington now some 10 years ago on a visit there. He came in to say hello to the embassy at the embassy, where I was serving as ambassador in the early indication of his interest in Ireland and indeed his ambition also to become, as he eventually did, become in 2015 a member of the US House of Representatives. Congressman Boyle received his BA in government from the University of Notre Dame and his MA in public policy from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. Before I hand the floor, the digital floor to the Congressman, let me just say a few words on the format. The Congressman will speak for about 10 minutes or so and give a brief overview of the Biden administration's priorities when it comes to Ireland transatlantic relations. And then I will speak to him for a little while, address a few questions and of course the floor is open to any questions that you might have. So please join the discussion, ask your questions and we'd be free and we'd be delighted to get to as many as we possibly can in the time available. Just a reminder that the full event this afternoon, both the Congressman's initial remarks and the Q&A are on the record. Please get involved in the discussion as I say, submit your questions using the Zoom dedicated Q&A function and we ask that you please identify yourself when doing so. When asking your question and please include your name, your affiliation if that's applicable. Lastly, we encourage you all to join the conversation on Twitter if you use Twitter, using the handle at IEEA. So with that Congressman Boyle, Brendan, you're very, very welcome indeed. We're delighted to see you here with us at the Institute. The virtual floor is yours. We look forward to your remarks and then we look forward to the wider conversation that we'll have later. Welcome. Yes, well thank you. It's wonderful to see you again, Michael. I could be wrong on this but I believe the last time I saw you is we both bumped into each other leaving Charlotte, North Carolina for what was then President Obama's Democratic acceptance speech for a second term as President. Michael was still ambassador and don't worry in that capacity he went to both the Democratic and Republican conventions but a nice advantage of being ambassador unfortunately one of his successors, Dan Mulhall, kind of got the short end of the stick this year being ambassador during a presidential election in COVID and you didn't have the sort of usual presidential campaigns that you typically have but it's great seeing Michael again had an opportunity to work a little bit with him when I was a state legislator and then of course more closely with two of his successors now, Ann Anderson and Dan Mulhall as Irish ambassadors to the US. I thought what might be helpful since I have about 10 minutes or so and I don't want to exceed that since generally I find that the Q&A ends up being more fruitful anyway. Before I talk about the Biden administration specifically on foreign policy, I could take a step back a second and kind of root this in its context. I think that might be helpful so if you look at we've had now about three quarters of a century of the post World War II era and looking back at most of those 75 years you would have to say that on the really big issues for as much partisanship as there is especially right now in in American and Washington and one might even say hyper partisanship between the two parties there has by and large been a bipartisan consensus on some of the really big issues of foreign policy. For example, the maybe the biggest of all the whole concept that the US would lead the transatlantic relationship that manifests itself in many ways especially through NATO support for the European Union but essentially that has been the bipartisan US foreign policy whether it was Democrats like Harry Truman and JFK Republicans like Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan all the way up through 2016. Donald Trump in the last four years has turned that on its head often making common cause with and showering real affection on dictators like Kim Jong-un even saying at one point and no I'm not making this up even saying a couple times now that he and Kim Jong-un fell in love. Imagine Ronald Reagan or John F Kennedy or Dwight Eisenhower saying such a thing about a brutal dictator who has indeed starved to death thousands if not tens of thousands while at the same time an American president and Trump going out of his way to really bash Chancellor Merkel of Germany as well as leaders of other allied countries. So now it's 2020 or actually it'll be January 2021 President Biden is coming into office having to essentially repair a number of relationships with our traditional allies and answer the question is the US even really still committed to the transatlantic relationship does Europe have to look elsewhere or within itself in terms of its own army its own defense etc. So if I were to come up with a phrase you know the campaign use the slogan build back better and that was mostly focused on domestic policy I think it can apply to foreign policy as well but I would also add to it a return to normality that you will see Joe Biden investing a good deal of time on this subject on which he is quite passionate and that is rebuilding the transatlantic relationship restoring the idea and the ideal that the United States is a beacon for those countries that are struggling democracies it is a leading advocate for human rights not always necessarily perfectly or perfectly consistent but nonetheless a country that is constantly preaching the gospel of liberty democracy human rights etc and I think you can glean a lot in terms of what the bar the Biden foreign policy will look like by the speech he gave in Munich in early 2019 before he was a presidential candidate Biden did not give many speeches as a former vice president knowing that he would possibly run for president that was a trip he made and I would encourage everyone to go back and look at that speech because I think now two years on it is very instructive I also while I'm not a European I think I can predict how most of my European friends will will react to a an American return to normality and I think you can see it in the ovation that then vice president or former vice president Biden received in Munich that afternoon when he gave his speech it was in clear contrast to the dead silence then vice president Pence received uh that morning so everything I think with with Ireland with Brexit with all those other issues I think have to fit in that overall frame of what I think the Biden foreign policy will look like now wonder why don't I pause there Michael and then can address the specific questions and specific issues but I kind of wanted to root us in in the larger context that we're really in because I do believe that will very much guide the Biden foreign policy over the next four years yeah so so thanks indeed Brendan thanks congressman and the questions are already beginning to come in and we've come to them in a minute but just could I just go back to you know what happened in November in terms of the election itself obviously the headline result is the election of of of of president elect Biden but it probably wasn't a great day you know for the democrats overall I mean what happened that this expected blue wave it didn't materialize at say at congressional level in the way that obviously you would have hoped for it was was there what was the what was the the difficulty there that what was the point of resistance yeah Michael I've spent as not just someone as a congressman but as a lifelong for better or worse a lifelong political junkie I've been attempting to think about previous elections like this and I couldn't come up with one I mean this was a very strange election result because typically especially at the end of an election things swing either one way or swing another way in 2018 in the midterm election all the close races broke democratic at the end we ended up winning 40 seats the most since 1974 we won back that's to say house democrats won back control of the house representatives for the first time in a decade won a ton of state legislative seats basically you saw it every row of government democrats were winning big in 2018 2020 was a mixed result so at the presidential level it was a clear democratic victory Joe Biden won by 4.4% that this quirky mechanism unique to this pandemic in which so many people myself included voted by mail and so many states such as my own in Pennsylvania really weren't equipped or used to dealing with this since for many of us it was the first time and they're pretty overwhelmed so it took a while to count those ballots because of certain security measures double envelopes and things like that they take longer to count than your election day voting by machine ballots and then you had this um quirky reality that more democrats because of the pandemic wanted to vote safely by mail whereas more republicans being encouraged by Trump weren't as concerned about the pandemic and voted in person and so that created the unique dynamic in which the results on election night skewed more republican but then once all the ballots were counted you know you saw where things actually were and so I think that that in the end the fact that Biden won by 4.4% has maybe been obscured by the early headlines where the race looked closer than in the end it actually was but that's the presidential race then Michael you're right as you talked about when you get to the other races it was much more mixed democrats did win again a majority in the House of Representatives and that's nothing to you know breeze over lightly it's only the second time in 30 years that democrats have won the House of Representatives two times in a row at the same time it is a greatly reduced majority it looks like we lost a net of about 10 seats and we will have now the most narrow House majority in more than 20 years in the Senate democrats picked up at least one seat but it looks like it was not pending the result of these two special elections in Georgia it looks like it was just short of the projected majority for democrats to win so the final result will be anywhere from 52 48 Republican to 50 50 and then as you go down the line and look at other races state legislative races other statewide offices you again see this mix even here in Pennsylvania we had three other statewide races that that you know no one would really be paying attention to outside here but I point them out because they prove exactly what I'm saying about the closeness and the mixed nature this result democrats won one republicans won two and all three races were within a couple points of one another so what that shows you again is just how politically close things are in the united states and some of these results are really decided by the margins and so with a very close democratic house a very close likely republican senate in order to get anything done legislatively it will have to be very centrist type of legislation not far right or far not far right or far left you can see why given that political reality it will be quite enticing for joe biden to spend even more time on foreign affairs and what he can do as an executive outside of congress especially in dealing with coven i wouldn't be surprised if you see biden spending more time in those two directions just because of how close and tight the margins are in congress yeah and uh bended the um obviously the president trump did secure whatever it is something in the 70 millions uh 70 million people voting for him um like biden obviously was a good seven million ahead of him which is a very substantial margin but nonetheless i mean uh and given everything that's happened since um that there it does suggest a kind of a pretty serious divide in us uh u.s society how is that is that is that is that the reality and if it is a reality to what extent can that um that divide uh if it is a serious divide be bridged um you know it's in a by the administration um i i think it's a real challenge i mean things are as i said previously pretty close um politically between the two parties and you know donald trump and i'm not just saying this because i'm a democrat i i think basically almost anyone can see that he is an enormously divisive figure who fans the flames of division constantly whether it's on twitter or the rallies that he loves to attend um by the way rallies that i think he will continue bizarrely even as an ex-president just because he clearly as a person in an individual craves that sort of attention so much um so this is uh really going to be you know completely unprecedented america's never had an ex-president who does these sort of things typically they retire they become if i could draw a rough analogy ex-presidents in our system almost become de facto monarchs and what i mean is they tend to stay out of politics um when you do see them it tends to be in a role of trying to bring people together um you might remember former president bill clinton former president george herbert walker bush both jointly doing charity things the uh relief for the tsunami uh back in i think it was 2004 maybe 2005 um that's typically the role ex-presidents play jimmy carter building homes for habitat for humanity maybe occasionally they would delve into politics certainly when hillary clinton was running you know bill was there to campaign for her kind of a unique circumstance but generally that's what we expect from ex-presidents donald trump will be will be very different so um those uh divisions i think will continue in american society i am very concerned about the way um american society is self sorting it's self sorting and what i mean is you were seeing and it's interesting you see a little bit of this in other country's politics as well that is the democratic coalition becomes more uh well educated and upscale it becomes more concentrated in urban areas not just cities but also um more upper middle class suburbs around those cities and then in more rural areas away from metro areas you were seeing what was already a republican area becoming the deepest uh shade of red and and that sort of division is just not healthy for society i think we're seeing it in england as well by the way um and certainly the brexit vote reveal that so what we do moving forward to bridge that divide of people wanting to live here and with those who are like-minded i think that's a bigger issue than just politics i think that is is a more generational societal uh issue that we have to tackle okay let me just take go to a few questions i see a question here from ted smith who needs a former colleague of mine he says um living now in the united states he says thank you congressman for your intense support of the irish americans for biden campaign he said how important was it to mobilize the irish american vote for November selection yeah well tap this trade and did a lot certainly worked hard to help ensure that joe biden won pennsylvania by one point instead of losing it by a point like four years ago so i i am proud of the fact i think we made a critical difference uh here in my state um you know it's interesting the uh the irish american vote and then a little more broadly i would say the white catholic american vote which is a good quarter uh you know 25 percent of the american population uh is important because it is very much a swing constituency uh it tends to be on average better educated and um either middle income or a bit above average income and so in in some ways by those measures you would think it should be a more republican constituency but i think given history given you know concern for the poor concern for um certain um you know values issues in terms of society historic support for organized labor that kind of you know pulls some some more folks to the democratic side of the aisle but it is an incredibly important uh swing constituency and i i think some others who you know um maybe just look at all of us who have rather pale faces as quote-unquote white and and put everyone in that same bucket misses these nuances of difference how you can appeal to people kind of separately and in the biden campaign you know we had a special outreach to eastern european ethnic americans who tend to uh be more republican supporting and certainly that was the case in in the reagan era but we thought we had you know real possibility given trump's cozy relationship with russia uh and and his lack of support for ukraine so we made a special outreach there we had a an outreach to people of faith in different faith communities and i think that that was a great way to campaign that frankly has been lacking in democratic campaigns at the presidential level in recent years specifically to irish americans the fact that um joe biden was pretty vocal uh when it came to the brexit issue that i think was helpful the fact that his um heritage is uh sincerely something that's important to him i think that that was something that we could trump it and that we could run on uh and so i think it made a real difference it's not the case obviously there are a lot of irish americans it's not the case that every irish american cares about uh brexit or is even knowledgeable about it but there is still a certain number who do and that's a pretty large number and and so being able to tap into that and say well you know you might agree with republicans on issues x and y and you might agree with democrats on issues a and b but here is why here's the big reason why you should vote democratic why you should vote for joe biden i think we were able to to make a real difference okay a few questions here until you want from uh i see from david heli from aria in around the question of i suppose irish influence um again not on relation to what you've just been talking about david wants to know and when he first of all he says president elect biden's support of the good fight agreement as part of the brexit debate was very welcome as the irish american lobby declined in recent years or is it as prevalent as before and i suppose you know having been in the united states for so many years we were always mindful of whether you know how strong was irish america how strong would be in the future where they're young people like your good self coming through uh uh so i suppose uh uh how can iarland best assure um uh that it's influence the influence that it does have in the united states particularly at congressional level but now of course at the center of power itself in the white house with the president elect biden was surrounded by indeed so many irish americans how can irland i suppose uh assure uh that that that that irish american dimension and and it's it's um it's importance is protected in the future is there anything that we should be doing that we're not doing yeah well first i i want to give credit where credit's due so i don't want to uh swipe a good line without uh some attribution but a journalist um said something the fact of a couple months ago that this past year was um the strongest moment for irish americans in washington since the good friday agreement in the 1990s i mean think about it you saw the speaker of the house nancy polosi may chamber of the ways of means committee another group of about eight or so members of congress traveled to london traveled to dublin traveled to belfast to make clear our strong support for the good friday agreement and our opposition to any us uk trade deal if the uk were to violate the good friday agreement in leaving the the e u in the manner in which they would leave um you then had uh you know uh the at that point democratic presidential candidate who was leading in the polls tweet pretty emphatically the same position that is supported again by his top foreign policy advisor who's now going to be the secretary of state tony blinkin as well as all the support on capitol hill that is pretty remarkable for a country we think about the republic of ireland about five million people and then all told the island of ireland uh just about seven so i i would say that this year really showed the sort of influence uh an outsized influence that uh that irish america has now in terms of the future it's also the case that i am the only member of congress with an irish-born parent after 1965 it has been far more difficult to legally come to the united states from ireland i was fortunate my family was fortunate that when my dad came in 1970 he was sponsored by an older sister his aunt brige who had come in 1960 so the ten-year age difference um between the two of them turned out to be you know pretty helpful given that that uh that she got in before the changes in 1965 so as we look forward um i do have some concerns that we really do need to reopen and restart that pipeline of course it isn't just us immigration law that is the reason why you've had a decline in irish immigration there's also a good reason for the decline in irish immigration to the u.s and that is the strong irish economy when when my father left exactly 50 years ago he was 19 years old coming from county dunagall leaving a country that had at that point and i looked it up not too long ago the unemployment rate was somewhere between 20 and 25 percent um that's not the experience of my cousins uh in ireland a generation later and certainly not the experience of those younger than me were growing up in ireland today that's something to be very happy about there isn't that mass need for immigration um but that said for those who do want to emigrate whether they're uh more skilled labor or like my dad and like the traditional irish immigrants of yesteryear uh more uh blue collar um they're the people who help build america and there should be a legal mechanism for them to to be able to come to this country uh i think it's in you know the best interests of ireland and the us irish relationship but it's also in the best interests of america um i say probably a little bit biasly on that point that's okay but just so uh future flows of immigration um do you think that realistically is something that we can that can be achieved for those who want to um to avail of that and secondly i suppose and i suppose more motively uh to you know the the the the whole question applied to the on the current undocumented in the united states which which seems to be uh have been without resolution now for for for many many many years and with the bite administration are we maybe putting too much optimism in in in the possibilities that he or indeed the current congress have of of of addressing some of these issues in ways that will make a difference for ardent the um to show you how long michael we've been dealing with this issue um and you certainly will have memories of it from when you were ambassador here uh the first major effort on immigration reform was the kennedy mccain bill and both of those legendary senators are frankly you know no longer with us no longer alive so basically this whole you know effort uh has been about 15 years and the irony is for all the legislative failures and immigration reform polls show this is in part thanks to reaction to donald trump immigration reform has never been more popular in the united states that's the irony last poll had 68 percent of the american people favoring uh immigration reform now the challenge is and it goes back to the fact the base of the republican party is so against it and they make this such an issue of importance that it's very difficult if you're a republican leader to put that bill on the floor uh up for a vote so i think a widespread immigration reform will be again a challenge to achieve even though polls show that a pretty big uh majority of americans support it i will say specific to the irish though there is outside of comprehensive immigration reform there is the e3 visa issue um which we were able to pass last congress in the house unanimously by a voice vote and in the senate one senator a very republican a very conservative republican tom cotton from arkansas uh unfortunately was able to hold it up so i am i'm still optimistic actually about the e3 issue and if we were able to get that and for those who aren't versed basically ireland would be able to take advantage of a visa program that right now is only reserved for australians uh that would i think go a long way to solving that pop problem and reopening that pipeline okay i've just brought it out of a Brendan out to the wider agenda the trade issues and transatlantic issues if i if i may and we've question here from john mcnally uh on the question of the um the prospects of um he wants to know will an EU trade agreement be prioritized by the biden administration of course you're on the ways of means committee and of course our good friend rich anneal is is chairing the committee another great irish american so i mean first of all i suppose will will will the president elect i will president biden will he prioritize um relations with europe um in the ways that you seem to suggest particularly since his um unik speech in 2019 but i suppose um the questions a question then there's more than one question here on the prospects of a us EU trade agreement of course uh is is something that would obviously very be very important for ireland as well yeah as i mentioned in in my introductory remarks there's simply no question that the us-eu relationship more broadly uh will be a big priority for president biden now specifically uh under that the question of trade i think the answer is still yes though i would point out that you know for those who might be you know just focused on uk versus eu and which takes greater priority there's still china um and that will be the the number one uh issue of focus specific to trade that will still be the number one issue it is the issue that a lot of my constituents care about um there's a lot of bipartisan agreement interestingly when it comes to dealing with china the perception i think rooted in at least some reality that um china takes advantage of the trade relationship with the united states swipes intellectual property left and right um there are a number of issues with the us chinese trade relationship that has to be dealt with and just given the size of china 1.3 billion people given how many um us companies are uh have a presence there that will still be the number one trade relationship to have to grapple with once you get beyond china there will be a um a changing of the priorities when it comes to the us trade relationship um and when you look at the european union eight nine times larger than the uk market it includes the um largest gdp country on the continent of europe in germany it's just no question that when you look at this pragmatically um it's pretty obvious which uh you know one should should take precedence and again that's regardless of a sort of ideology if you take any of those lenses off it's it's pretty clear uh which one should be focused on and so i think you will see a greater priority put on attempting to reach a us eu deal though that ends up being more complex than a us uk trade deal just because you obviously have more you know more cooks in the kitchen yeah there's a question here from um clothe quain who's one of my colleagues at the institute one of our researchers and just in essence she wants to know um i suppose how much of um the president elect biden's foreign policy would be consumed on restoring its former international commitments you know the commitments that president trump has decided to abandon uh versus needing new initiatives so you know indeed he would all with with with repairing the damage i mean will he have much scope for doing new things well you know these these things aren't mutually exclusive right so for example take the environment um the old thing which will be a pretty easy thing to do is rejoin the paris climate accord we helped lead the drafting and the coming together in paris that was a major achievement of president obama the fact it was a major achievement of president obama was the big reason why president trump was so keen on us leaving it um rejoining that will be pretty easy and and straightforward um mechanically and legally for the us to do so that you could look at as a quote-unquote old thing but it's also part of a new thing and that is putting a uh a real emphasis on addressing and tackling climate change in a way that we haven't done before i mean this is a much bigger issue in the us now than it was even 10 12 years ago you saw that or i hope you saw president elect biden put former secretary state john carrey in this new created role specifically to deal with the environment and addressing climate change we know that they uh the ticking clock is drawing closer to the day in which we'll cross the point of no return in terms of dealing with this issue so i think it's a personal example of how old and new um go hand in hand in dealing with an issue yeah and you mentioned there uh you are u.s um u k the prospects of the u um are u k u u s trade and the deal of course which is very much in focused um in the context of the issues that surrounded the the protocols the friday agreement peace on the island of ireland and to what extent are you you happy now that that those issues which are the subject of agreement last week uh are substantially anyway are substantively to what extent do you think uh the way has been cleared at least on that front uh for um uh you know the opening up of a dialogue with the uh the u k in terms of a trade relationship between the u s and the u k and would that uh take priority in any way or could you see it it might be simpler than a u s u agreement but which comes first or are they both in parallel or does the u get priority yeah well first let's see how this um ultimately gets resolved between uh the u k and the u in terms of uh in terms of the brexit process uh i'm glad that talks are continuing but i mean my my calendar shows it's december 16th and so uh december 31st only you know a little over two weeks away it's still something i'm concerned about especially given the fact that uk a year ago signed up to the northern island protocol and then suddenly in september said essentially never mind we're going to violate uh international law so i'm glad that they've backed down from that and they are again uh agreeing to um what they signed up to a year ago but that said i will not breathe easily until we get um final resolution on between the uh between the uk and the eu now um in terms of the question you asked about priority for the trade relationship again like i said earlier when you look at the the difference in size the eu is simply far larger and includes the single most important um country on europe on the continent of europe but that even includes the uk's germany is the largest gdp of a european country it's an enormously important strategic relationship uh for the us if one is uh you know just looking at things pragmatically it's pretty obvious that that is the relationship that um should be focused on uh us eu and i think trade is a part of that now the one thing i think that goes into the uk's favor is it is a little more straightforward and easier to do a bilateral even though a us eu deal would technically be bilateral let's face it you have france in there attempting to protect certain industries you have other countries attempting attempting to protect jobs in different industries that just does take more time to become more complex than than say dealing uh with with one country but that having been said uh i still think that us eu trade deal uh takes precedence and you will see that now suddenly uh up the the ranking order okay and just to go back to the internal markets um the controversy at the issues within that that were so controversial and to what extent do you think that um um the the the the johnson bar's johnson's administration would have been concerned about the american concerns about about the internal market bill and its implications for peace in the iron barn in other words the us influence in terms of getting the us or the uk to back down as it seems to have done in terms of the internal the the the controversial provisions within the the the the internal market bill it was just a demonstration of of irish american muscle uh um i writ large well i um it's funny i you know typically when one talks about me muscle is not the first word that comes to uh come to mind but um i will say that i was gratified that a number of mps um in london with human friends as well as a number of journalists uh who who cover the british government have told me that the pushback from the us and the strong vocal pushback surprised them and weighed on this government's thinking ultimately though i wouldn't be the person you know to to say or verify what you know the extent to which that is true i would only say i hope and believe that it had an impact we're really attempting to ensure that there's a just solution here and one that ultimately preserves the peace process and and i hope we've achieved that be good maybe i'm going to jump around a little bit now for me brendan i mean just a variety of questions which uh you know may may see us going back and forth across the atlantic but um in terms of the issues involved i see one here from donal of roller con who's a member of our institute and he said or he says or he asks given the deep divisions within the united states within u.s society would it be a strategic error uh in terms of um enhancing democratic governance for presidents like biden to focus on foreign affairs as opposed to issues e.g. declining living standards outside metropolitan areas and big being too big to fail health infrastructure i suppose the extent to which he can really focus on foreign policy issues when there are so many domestic issues that need a clearly quite urgent attention yeah this is a tension um that any president uh faces and i go back i think of the early 1990s one of the things that hurt uh george herbert walker bush the 41st president he got hit with the perception that he spent too much time on foreign affairs and not enough time paying attention to the needs and concerns of ordinary americans perhaps some of that um was you know was unfair uh but there's no question that perception hurt him so i think it's always a challenge for any u.s president because let's face it for anyone running for office most of our voters care about domestic issues and foreign affairs as important as it is tends to only rank highly when there's something big going wrong um isis was in the news a lot around four or five years ago because of the awful sort of videos that we would see online and the fact that isis was on the march so you then saw that uh issue rise in the opinion polls in terms of things that people cared about but otherwise generally it's health care it's education it's jobs right now obviously covid 19 would be far and away the number one issue so making sure president uh biden strikes that right balance between addressing the issues that people care about and will make a meaningful measurable difference in their lives with the responsibilities on the world stage but i'm pretty confident that the president biden will be able to do that you know uh one one aspect to biden that i think is sometimes overlooked is the fact that he has so many years of experience and what i mean is that's pretty obvious that you know he spent so much time in washington dc he's been a senator or was a senator from 1972 to 2008 and often that's presented as a negative i look at it very differently the fact that you have someone who has been a conventional politician for so long means he gets this he's been around it basically his entire adult life there's a real advantage to that they're a go figure there's a real advantage and just in someone who actually has a lot of experience in this and so i have real confidence that joe biden will be a very good president and i think that he his skill set very uniquely meets this moment yeah and just back on the u.s. domestic agenda again i see a question in here from paul sweeney who's a member of the institute at a former trade union economist indeed and he wants to know will will will biden president president biden reverse president trump's uh tax cuts for the rich um so the what's called the tcja washington dc is horrible with coming with giving an acronym the basically any piece of legislation or agency that has ever created but the tax cut in jobs act which is what republicans called their big um two trillion dollar bill that passed in 2017 that president trump signed it was in my view egregious it was so tilted to the top one percent according to the nonpartisan congressional budget office which is legally required to do these projections 83 percent of that tax cut 83 went to the wealthiest one percent of americans at a time when you have record wealth and income inequality in the united states so uh i certainly am pushing um for president biden to reverse a lot of the damage that was done uh in that tax cut uh now this is where control of the senate really makes a difference if if we're talking about a 52 48 or 51 49 democratic senate as i thought we would be talking about pre-election instead right now we're talking about a 50 48 republican senate maybe we'll get to 50 50 depending on what happens in those two seats in georgia but that will make a big difference just a couple senators one way or the other will make a very big difference in terms of what can be achieved here uh in reversing a number of those very egregious tax giveaways to the the richest americans um you think at some point beyond covid we are going to have to seriously look at revenue raising measures and the way to do that clearly is americans who make more than four hundred thousand dollars a year that was something joe biden talked about a lot in the campaign it's actually popular you know there's a perception that raising taxes is never popular when he was talking about raising taxes on the rich and raising taxes on those that make more than 400 000 a year polls showed it it actually pulled quite well um so i i think that is something we're gonna have to turn to but the arithmetic in the senate does make achieving it more challenging and how optimistic would you be uh brendon in relation to those two georgia seats um would you be optimistic that that that you can get one to talk both of them you know it is amazing georgia um in our lifetime has gone from a solidly red republican state to now very much a 50 50 state it shows you the changing coalitions in both parties so many of those suburban upper in suburban atlanta upper income voters have uh flipped from republican to democrat combined with the fact that georgia is a little bit more diverse today and when i say diverse i i don't just mean it in the white black context that the word is often used i mean that georgia actually is a much higher asian-american and hispanic-american population that we tend to think about when we think of of the south so the combination of increased diversity but especially the migration of white suburban voters from republican to democrat in the trump era has really helped make georgia now essentially a 50 50 state if you looked at what happened in november joe biden narrowly carried georgia by under one percentage point but in other races such as the senate races when you add up all the votes were cast republicans did a couple points better so i would say right now i expected to be very close i think we're the underdog in both of those races but you know i think it's probably in the end going to be 51 49 one way or the other and when the margins are that close anything can happen okay to put it back on to the um the the immigration issue again and um not specifically related to our levels question in here uh from shona murray who's the european correspondent uh from euro news and it um she wants to know what's uh present like biden's policy on children separated from their parents and putting cages would he pledge to reunite those families and help them with the trauma they've suffered i can't believe that um and this is no offense the person who asked the question it's a quite right question to ask i just can't believe the question even has to be asked i i never thought in my lifetime i would see the united states of america pursue some of the policies it did at our border under the trump administration i think it's something that 50 60 70 years from now my grandkids will be reading about in the history books with real horror um i think we have a clear moral and legal responsibility to reunite these kids uh with their parents i i'll i'll just stop there absolutely one of the most disgusting things to happen the last four years and that is really quite the statement thank you for that thank you so just and um we're coming we're running a bit tight on time now so i'm going to take in as many questions and maybe just one here from um peter mcloon who's an rea board member he says with the us under president biden immediately restore funding and support the essential work of the who so this is lightning round so i won't i won't uh you know get substantive and detailed answers as i would like so i'll simply just say yes good and a few more lightning questions some of them my own and some of them reflecting kind of questions that have come through um just um will president elect uh biden appoint a special envoy for northern ireland do you think i think that that's likely in terms of timing um by the way my phone's been ringing off the hook with certain you know a number of people would be interested in that position like let me say so that's the good news um and i think that the us to mention even outside of brexit i think there is still a role a constructive role for the us to play here so i would hope so certainly something i'd be pushing for as then a member of the foreign affairs committee i was pushing the obama administration toward the end to do it was pushing early on the trump administration to do it i'm glad in in my friend i have a bipartisanship bipartisan friendship with mcmelvaney so i'm glad that he was appointed by president trump and and i do believe that the president biden will appoint a successor and a new special envoy okay and as we're talking about as we talked earlier on who just a little bit briefly on coven if we may um and particularly with the vaccines coming on stream um when do you think that the us might reopen uh to um ireish and ewes e u travelers you know that specifically i don't uh actually know i i i would be surprised if if that has been determined to any degree of specificity uh really right now the focus is on the vaccines and obviously we've had very good news um the one vaccine the feiser vaccine was approved here um late last week it looks like the moderna vaccine will be approved on thursday um i think we're making real quick uh actually advancements in this area so i think that that will inform then the decisions to take place on travel in both directions as well as reopenings here in the us so on that i think it's still tbd and do you think president biden would be an early visitor in that context i i i know he very much wants to i mean i remember campaigning with him in iowa and it was night before the iowa caucuses and we were talking about the visit that he made uh as as vice president we were talking about where my family is in in dunny gall and cousins i have in mayo and then his family in mayo so i know it's something that's very important to him i have no doubt it will happen um it'll just be a matter of fitting it in on the the schedule uh obviously it'll be sometime post uh covid 19 that's for four okay um just um you know there's there's a huge amount of optimism of course that that that that and um people are encouraged obviously by by in many ways by the um by the election of president biden and um almost believing that this is the answer to all our prayers uh for their hot immigration and all sorts of other issues but obviously there there i'm sure there are any number issues out there where an incoming democratic administration would also have views on some issues that are sensitive here in ireland like corporate tax issues um for example uh so um uh you know to what extent should we be disabused of any idea that it's going to be all going our way uh under president by president uh by the administration yeah well first i think the the good feeling and optimism is justified uh overall but you're right nothing is ever you know 100% one way or 100% the other um i i always make the the point um and i'm sure michael probably had to cite this when he was ambassador you know um i point out for my constituents 90% of whom are not of irish descent i point out that actually um ireland invests a lot in the us including in our district that there are as many americans working at irish companies here in the us as there are irish working in american companies in ireland right now it's about 125 to 150 on on both sides now the um the challenge that we have in our economy of companies fleeing to lower tax jurisdictions is a real one um president trump often brought up ireland in this context and really used it as kind of a whipping post i think unfairly at first i mean the reality is ireland's overall economic strength is not just because of that 12 and a half percent corporate tax rate it also has incredibly well educated literate population that is english speaking with a legal system pretty similar to ours and is a geographic and cultural bridge between the united states and europe so i i think actually those who would just point to the corporate tax rate uh are um really selling uh ireland short overall though what i would like to see is the world community come together in a multilateral way to deal with this issue of tax avoidance so not so much the rate i'm talking about here but the idea that there are companies that are gaming the system and figuring out ways to pay no tax whatsoever we have that problem with tax inversions uh corporate uh inversions in the us though they've slowed down in the last year that is still a problem that is hanging out there but i i think that ultimately this is something for the world community to solve because it doesn't just affect the united states okay just um they were coming in the last few minutes uh now brendan but uh we get maybe a few more questions in one here from francis jacobs who's uh former head of the european parliament office uh in ireland and he says he's talking about uh your own party the democratic party he says seems quite divided between moderates and progressives um he says will this harm the bite of administration or will the narrow margins in congress mitigate these divisions uh the latter um they're in the same way president trump uh was actually a very good unifying and motivating force for the democratic party the one blessing in disguise of having a narrow majority in the house means that whether you're an incredibly moderate member or credibly left wing or somewhere in between ultimately we need you on the team i would also say by the way um the media does i think uh exaggerate the degree to which there are divisions within the democratic party at least i would say from the perspective of congressional democrat i mean i i'm on a conference call last night with a pretty wide spectrum of democrats some of whom you would identify as leading moderates others you know their names and clearly on the progressive side and we're working right now on a measure to attempt to change our house rules that would make things easier and improve the process and and call actually get along quite well so i would say be careful about what you read often um it is exaggerated the degree to which there are differences or disagreements on our side okay just to maybe one final question um you had the the clarity that came from the electoral college um determination on monday so is the path now clear for a smooth inauguration of president uh biden on the 20th of of january are are there more surprises possible are any surprises possible yeah it is over and i know that saying something definitively in the year 2020 uh you have to be immediately looking for wood to knock on and keeping your fingers crossed but i can say very confidently it is over the electoral college has met joe biden at 306 ironically the same figure donald trump got four years ago that combined with the fact that the friday night beforehand the supreme court in a uh in a 90 decision actually made clear that there was no merit to um any of the the trump campaign legal efforts uh and what's interesting is three of those supreme court members were appointed by president trump a majority on the supreme court are conservatives and have been appointed by republican presidents so the fact that judiciary has showed no willingness to entertain these crazy lawsuits combined with the fact the electoral college has now met it is definitive it is 100 it is over joe biden will be sworn in as president on at noon at noon eastern time on january 20th okay um on that base i think we're going to uh conclude it's it's coming up to two o'clock irish time it's a little bit earlier in the morning for you and we'll just say thank you brendan congressman for uh for joining us today for giving us the benefit of your your insights and and and just the territory that you've got to add to a number of issues um it's great that ireland has such wonderful friends in the united states as you said on both sides of of the island the privilege of having the pulvanian deed on one of our webinars a little bit turn the back but uh you know it is just um for ireland obviously it clearly remains a matter of huge importance that we have uh people who relate to ireland to our ireish who are ireish anti-students in positions like yours so just want to salute your success of course congratulate you on your own reelection it's not inconsiderable um and a very big margin indeed and to just say uh we're welcome back to the institute anytime hopefully when the corridors reopen in terms of travel between ireland the united states and vice versa that you'll find your way to doublin find your way to ireland or find your way back to ireland indeed and come to our institute and that we may have a session in person uh where we can continue this conversation and we look forward to that but in the meantime just a warm um and uh genuine and um salutations and i wish you and your team their happy christmas and and and look forward to our further engagement future engagement indeed well thank you very much i enjoyed it i'm glad a very substantive session that we're able to get a lot of questions in and i very much look forward to being able to be with you in person uh in doublin hopefully uh sometime for all of us soon thank you thank you okay happy christmas good day thank you indeed


Hi everyone, Joe for JasperJasperysCaseRakes.com with 2022 Leaf Ultimate Draft Football 6 box half case, random letter break number 2. We're going by the first letter of their first name, first name, first letter. So there are the letters right there. Pretty easy. Big thanks to this group for making it happen. And there are the letters right there. Let's roll it and randomize names and letters 2 and a 4, 6 times. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in final time. Adam down to Aaron after 6, 2 and a 4, 6 times for the letters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in final time. We've got T down to K. All right. Adam with little T and A. TJ with J, Steve, V, W, R. Adam with C, Sean with D, Nestor with S, Aaron with EH, Steve with PQ, Adam with NI, Ray with G, Aaron with B, Ray with XZ, Chris with M, and Aaron with K. Let's sort this alphabetically by letter. Remember, this is first letter of their first name. So if I pull an Adam Cupperman out of this Leaf Ultimate, that'll go to A. That'll go to Adam. We're going to pause the video. When we come back, we're going to see if there's any trades and then the break. Stick around. All right. No deals were done, so that list is now officially printed out. First letter of their first name is what we're going by. Good luck. Five autos a box. Not too bad. Current draft class. It's sort of an easy way to start collecting the 2022 NFL draft class. Top of it all of these? No. Oh, I think I remember this being difficult to possible. Oh, no. That was easy. Next up with 17 out of 75, Spencer Sanders is going to go to Nestor and the letter S. We've got John Mechie, the third, two out of 99. That is for TJ and the letter J. Travis Dye. That's for Adam and the letter T. That's a last spot mojo. 70% of the time hits 100% of the time. We've got Walker Howard, 74 out of 75, Steve Birch with the VWR combo, and Brice Hall, nine out of 75. That'll be for Aaron Miller and the letter B. Usually the bottom card here is more recognizable names. All right. First box in the books. Second box, Alec Pierce, 75 out of 99, letter A, Adam. We got Zana the Knight, 20 out of 50, letter Z, Ray with the XZ combo. And how about another Z? Z, flowers, eight out of 25, another Z for Ray. I like that name. You might have to get a Zana in Jersey then, Adam. CJ Williams for Adam. And a redemption. It's a quarterback. It's Malik Willis. Card and level, including parallels awarded at the time for fulfillment. There's a chance that this could be a really low numbered one. Chris Parent with the letter M. That's true, Zonovan does have to make the team first before we start getting jerseys. Av Austin Stogner, 12 out of 50. Adam with Austin. All right. Sorry, Jalen Tolbert, Cowboys receiver. That's for J, TJ with the letter J. Make sure, Cowboys. Another redemption. It is George Pickens. Letter G, Ray with the letter G, and a plate coming up, a train whistle. It's going to be a plate of Pierre Strong Jr. Letter P, going to the PQ combo, Steve Birch, and all aboard the Big Head Express. And we've got a Bryce Young, 20 out of 35, B for Aaron, next box. All right. We have Jerome Ford, 10 out of 15, TJ with the letter J. We've got Michael Mayer, not Michael Meyer, Michael Mayer, 22 out of 35. That's a terrifying hit going to Chris Parent in the letter M. We've got Nacobay Dean, 32 out of 35, Adam with the letter N, Dylan Gabriel, 6 out of 75, Sean Healy with the letter D. And hey, how has this guy been looking? There's Garrett Wilson, 16 out of 25. That goes to Ray and the letter G. I mean, that's a pretty interesting looking wide receiving core in New York. Nice. Adam went to Jets practice the other night. There was a nice deep complete from Wilson to Wilson, but out of bounds. I mean, they got Breeze Hall, Michael Carter, Tevin Coleman on that team. That's a decent running back room. Elijah Moore, who had moments last season. Corey Davis is solid. And Garrett Wilson. And you mix in some Braxton Berio, some Denzel Mims in there. You've got CJ Uzoma as a tight end. That's an interesting looking team. The Becton injury on that offensive line kind of hurts, but I don't know. And I know nothing about the Jets defense, but it could be a fun offense to watch. There is Xavier Hutchinson, 52 out of 75, Ray with the letter X. Got Cameron Ward, Adam with the letter C. We got Anias Smith for Adam and A. And 19 out of 75, that's Jaden Rashada, TJ with the letter J. 37 out of 99, Matt Correll. Correll, Correll. Matt, it's going to go to Chris with the letter M. All right, final box coming up. Good luck, everybody. All right, there's Calvin Austin of the third. Adam, letter C. Jalen Weidermeyer, TJ with the letter J. All right, let's hope all these guys turn into Pro Bowlers, right? There's Traylin Burks, 29 out of 75. Adam with the letter T, last fall Mojo. We got Guquince McKinstry, 74 out of 75. Ray with the letter G. And there is another quarterback. For Aaron Miller, there's the Kenny Pickett you were looking for. There you go, Kenny Pickett. Didn't have to go very far for his pro job. All right, and there you go, gang. A nice little quick break of ultimate draft football in the books. I'm Joe for JaspiesCaseBreaks.com. I'll see you next time for the next break. Bye-bye.


Bitcoin? Do you know where Bitcoin is? Bitcoin for Beirut. Yeah. Where is it? Yeah. Here, right here. It's a casino. Ah, OK. We found it. We found it. Let's go, let's go. Hey, it's Joe from Coin Salaga. And I found the conference. It's time to learn about magic internet money. Do you know what Bitcoin is? So surfing Bitcoin is above us. And Beirut's and the pre-coiners, let's call them, the people that don't have Bitcoin yet are just here behind us. Do you know what this thing is on my t-shirt, just here? No, I have no idea. No idea? It's a B. Do you know what the B stands for? Oh, I didn't know. Do you know what this B is on my t-shirt? Ah, that's us, Greg. Do you have Bitcoins? No. No? None of you? No, no, no, no. But you've heard about it, right? What do you know about Bitcoin? I've said nothing. It's just virtual money. Yeah, just virtual money. Virtual money. Can I talk to you in English for a moment? Yeah, do you know or do you recognize this B? No, I do not. No, not at all? Have you heard of Bitcoin before? Bitcoin. Bitcoin? It's like a digital money. Heard of it before? Maybe if I say it with a French accent, Bitcoin. Can I send you a bit of Bitcoin today? No. Sure, OK. I'm going to try to send some Bitcoin to Luce right now. If you scroll, it's this one here. The first Bitcoin she's ever received. Wow, OK. So you can tap here. It says create a new wallet. You've now created your own bank, your own Bitcoin wallet. So here you can receive or send money. So here we're going to click Lightning because there's Bitcoin and there's Lightning. Lightning is like a faster version of Bitcoin, basically. Voilà, donc là je vais scanner ça. Je vais t'envoyer des Bitcoins. I'm going to type in here 25,000 sats, which is 5 euros. So I'm going to tap on pay. Voilà, received. So now you have 5 euros, 2 cents, or 25,000 sats. Thank you very much. Tu te sens comment? Yeah, feels good to receive Bitcoin on the beach. Merci beaucoup, Luce. Thank you so much. And enjoy your Bitcoin. Merci. Fortunately, the Lightning network works a lot faster than this carousel. Mais est-ce que vous connaissez ce B ici, c'est mon T-Shirt? Non, pas du tout. Le Bitcoin, c'est une monnaie digitale qui existe sur Internet. Ah, et c'est ça? Ah, le B ici. Et je sais comment. Ah, ça ressemble, non? Là, c'est l'arrière, petit-de-fille. Tu reconnais ce symbole? Je crois que c'est euros. Euros, ah, it's not euros, c'est pas euros, c'est Bitcoin. Tu es une monnaie digitale. Tu l'as vu avant ou pas? So Nelly here, the horse is a big Bitcoiner. Nelly, he heard the Bitcoin price is sub 20K. Why the long face? Ah, sorry Nelly, I'll stop horsing around. This is kind of how I feel about Bitcoin adoption in Beirut right now. I'm the only one in this great big pool that knows anything about Bitcoin and I want more people to join me. Vous voulez vous apprendre à Bitcoin? Non? OK. Gorgeous setting in Beirut. Remember that Bitcoin never sleeps.


This is stock number 9150A. We are at Summit Automotive in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. We are checking out this super clean 2011 BMW X5M. This vehicle has the 4.4 liter dual overhead cam twin-turbo V8 motor, which pumps out 555 horsepower. From this HD video, you'll be able to tell that this vehicle is extremely clean for the age and miles on it all the way around. Has the painted alloy rims. Has Continental Extreme contact tires with about I'd say 70 to 80 percent of the tread left, maybe even a little bit more. Black sapphire is the color. It has HID headlights, LED running lights. The hood is in excellent shape. Didn't see any dents or dings on that. Front bumper is in excellent shape. It has sonar. It has the Surround camera 360 view on it as well. Pass under side rim is an excellent condition. No scuffs or scrapes on that. And as we go down this side of the vehicle, you can see just how clean the body is. How reflective and glass like that paint is. We take these HD videos So if you are far away or even if you're close by and you just cannot make the trip down You can still see the vehicle hear the vehicle and have confidence in what you're looking at before you even get here. No dents or dings down that side Back rim is an excellent condition. The back tires have just as much tread as the front tires and Those brakes look pretty new as well. You can see it has Megan racing Quad tipped exhaust dual exhaust Rear bumpers in really nice shape. It has a power lift gate as well Just press the button and it'll open up for you Back storage area is very clean, and then this is a drop-down tailgate Like that. You also have a large storage area underneath there and Some secure tie-downs that you can move around Those seats do fall down For extra storage and then you close this by pressing that button But the rear gates an excellent condition And as you go down this side of the vehicle you can tell it's just as clean as a passenger side No dense no dings Very very clean very glass like Mirror like on this finish here inside the M package gives you the Black leather seats. There are no rips. There are no tears in these seats. There's no Major signs of wear has memory driver seat both these seats are heated. We got factory all-weather formats throughout Carpettings nice and clean underneath Power windows power locks power mirrors You can see that this vehicle does have 53,000 257 miles you get the M instrument cluster. You also get the Two-tone blue and red stitching on the steering wheel With the little M logo This one does have the factory navigation system CD player They're your heated seat buttons all your controls for your climate You also have all the controls for the navigation CD radio telephone right there Got the M shifter as well Show you how this backup camera system works So right now it's in the surround view. You can change that to the backup camera by pressing this button right here Or you can change it back to that to get at the park. You just press this button and now you're in park Passenger seat is very clean as well. No rips. No tears. This vehicle has never been smoked in factory all-weather format over there homelink you have an SOS system on this car as well and Of course the panoramic sunroof Very very clean car inside and out Very quick definitely One of the quickest SUVs I've ever been in Back seats are very clean as well. No rips or tears back here Does have the latch child safety system for car seats all weather floor mats throughout back here carpetings very clean These seats do fold down for extra storage And we'll take a quick look under the hood Power mirrors got the little M symbol and the side light there I'd like to say that there's a lot to look at but there's a lot of plastic covering the motor You can hear that it runs very smooth engine bay is very clean This vehicle has been fully safety and inspected by our service shop has a fresh oil And filter change all the fluids have been checked and topped off and This one is 100% ready to go Ready for a new home and to see more pictures go to our website www.summitauto.com full pictures and descriptions of every single vehicle on our lot Videos of every single used vehicle that we have all at summit auto.com Thank you so much for checking out my video if you like it want to make this m5 or mx5 years Give us a call<PHONE_NUMBER> ask for one of our sales associates to make this vehicle years today. Once again that number is<PHONE_NUMBER> thanks for checking out my video if you like it want to check out more go to youtube.com Slash summit auto remember to like subscribe and share in fact in a second You see a subscribe button on your left a link to more used inventory on your right If you haven't been to our website on the bottom a link to this vehicle on our website click those check us out And we look forward to help you with this super clean 2011 BMW m-series x5. Thanks again


Gerson therapy is not designed to work with a lump or a bump. It is not designed to work with a specific symptom. It is not intended to relieve only symptoms. The whole idea and the whole philosophy is to first of all understand the underlying problem and secondly, deal with that problem so that all of the body systems can be restored. The body can be restored to function and with that to healing. Because as Dr. Gerson put it, in everybody there is a healing mechanism. In chronic degenerative disease this healing mechanism is weakened, is damaged, sometimes is poisoned, simply no longer works properly. And it should be and it is the duty of the doctor to reactivate, restore this healing mechanism. And that's what the whole Gerson therapy is about.


Good afternoon everyone So I'm sure that when you are coming out to DC you're hoping you wouldn't have the kind of blizzard or cold weather We sometimes have here, so I'm sure you were looking forward to warm weather probably just not inside So There's any way to turn the air conditioning on for a little bit. We'd appreciate it And I'm sure you enjoyed the video, but now you know what it feels like when they're always robbing Peter to pay Paul As I get started I wanted to say that's joy did what we're here to do is to help you on your visits to Capitol Hill To try to answer some questions give you some information help to arm you and hopefully you're all going up there Maybe Tuesday morning. Maybe you've got some other appointments and hopefully you've got time even to see a little bit while you're up there I know they've got some great sites obviously and you can always get some very good tours of the Capitol particularly a planet in advance I remember when I worked on Capitol Hill the first tour I got we had a great guide Took us around through the Capitol. I remember when we were going around He stopped at one point and said you see that tall benevolent gentleman over there. He said that's the congressional chaplain And I said well, what is the congressional chaplain do does he pray for the house or pray for the Senate? He said no he gets up every morning Looks out at the house looks out at the Senate and prays for the country So and I also want to remind you that as you see the PowerPoint here Please don't try to write down all the words. You'd never keep up with me. These will be online So I put a lot in there. So when you go online you can go through it But I'll try to go through it a little bit quicker than what it looks like Assuming there we go Okay, it's been a dramatic several years as you're well aware In 2014 the waiting list Scandal erupted came up into the newspapers early in the year particularly out in Arizona and Phoenix and what a lot of people We're starting to report on and people in Congress started to talk about with something Many of us have known for a very long time that in fact there were many veterans on lists waiting Okay, it wasn't a surprise for a lot of this but it jumped into the consciousness But it led to a cascading series of events. There was changes in the VA leadership And by the end of the year towards the end of the year Congress took an emergency action to create the choice act the veterans access to care and accountability act and The idea was to very quickly provide new and emergency funding to make sure that anyone who's waiting for care could get the care in The community to make sure we took care of any of those needs in 2015 was the year where they really implemented the act Okay, they had a very short window and many of you know that created some number of problems during the implementation from the mailing of the choice Cards to the confusion over how they work including for the folks who worked inside the VA It's also last year is when a lot of people started to begin a debate that's been continuing about What is the next evolution of the VA health care system or as we'll talk about in a little bit some of those who Think it's time to get rid of it completely Which could be a disaster for those who really rely on the system So this year is really going to be the year we're going to find out is Congress going to bring us a new choice plan Or is there going to be serious reform legislation to take care of the VA and bring it forward to another System that takes care of everyone But to go forward we need to understand where we've been and that's too often the problem is people don't look at what really caused The crisis or what problem we're trying to solve so let's talk for a couple minutes about that Some of you may go back a little while and may recall that actually waiting was a lot worse 12 years ago 13 years ago 14 years ago at that point There was actually at one point over 300,000 veteran veterans waiting six months or longer for their first appointment They put together a presidential task force the task force confirmed From their measure in January 2003 over 200,000 veterans waiting six months or longer What they concluded was what we had been saying for years was that's because there's a mismatch a Mismatch between the funds given to the VA and the demand for resources if you don't line those up You're not going to have the ability to take care of those seeking medical care So for years the DAV as a part of the independent budget group that we work with has been pointing this out But once again, even though after the crisis they infuse some more money It started to decline and that's what really contributed to the 2014 crisis It's very simple if you don't have enough doctors nurses or other providers or you don't have enough treatment space You have to put people on lists to wait It's not the only problem, but you can't solve it without it as Joy mentioned there was an independent assessment put together The independent assessment came to a very interesting conclusion. They said there's a misalignment of demand with resources So we went from a mismatch to a misalignment 12 years later the same problem Still dogging the VA system and they talked about you need more resources You need more doctors examination rooms and so forth and it wasn't just for the for the personnel It was also for the infrastructure They pointed out what we have been saying and what VA's own internal numbers have been saying which is there's a large gap To take care of the hospitals and the clinics and all of the affiliated structures Compared to what VA's been getting billions of dollars a year and until they take care of that again You're gonna have this problem and many of you even see it's not even the building sometimes It's the parking facilities, you know, some of you have trouble getting parking spot I remember hearing this story about a congressman on the way to a town hall meeting That he was holding at a VA medical center and he was running late driving around looking for a parking spot for five minutes Couldn't find one he finally stopped Put his hands together looked up at the sky and said Lord, please help me find a parking space if you do I will go to church every Sunday and I will give up drinking He looked around a car backed out of a space He pulled in stopped the car put his hands together looked up at the sky and said Lord I just found a parking space on my own never mind But you do know this these are problems if you don't have the the spaces inside and outside You can't provide the care But what we also know and what's been confirmed time and time again is that the problem the biggest problem is The access not the quality and again the independent assessment We talked about which was done by Rand Corp done by other major think tanks and very independent groups looked at it They looked at the best measures They could find and said VA's qualities as good as or in many cases better than the private sector when you look at this system And that's not perfect because no system is but they measured it They've got this brand just said again They confirmed that at a briefing last week that we were at VA provides the care quality that's necessary And so really what they saying and what we're saying is we need to build on that strength while addressing the other areas So that's the that's the core of the problem. Where are we today? As we know there is a choice program that's out there. It was put into law 2014 it was a temporary program they were given ten billion dollars for the choice program and said the program would expire when either the money Runs out or three years passes now the money is expected to run out near the end of this year So that's why Congress is going to look at this and have to make some decisions And again, many of you who know who may have had experience know that they set these parameters You had to be 40 miles from a facility and then they started changing the definition Was it 40 miles as the crow flies or as you actually drive on a road? And they talked about it has to be for those who are waiting 30 days or more for an appointment And they set up a system of third-party administrators But let me ask a question. How many of you probably most of you got a choice card in the mail show of hands, okay? How many of you have used the program? Okay How many of you had any difficulties using the program? And and one of the biggest problems have any of you had trouble that you've been billed by the doctors you saw Okay, this is a problem that even a member of Congress Tammy Duckworth who many of you may know DAV member She gave birth to her child and then she got bills from the doctors that VA wouldn't wouldn't pay and eventually Collection agencies started sending her notices now imagine if a member of Congress gets this what is someone out in the country to do? So we know there's difficulties with the choice program and the coordination and care What do they do when you're sent to a community facility to the records come back? Do they keep them together? These are the kind of issues that for a temporary emergency program. It may have been necessary, but we can do better than that We can and we will Now there's also a commission on care that was referenced That's looking at this their job is to say what's a 20-year vision of what VA should become VA health care There are 15 members appointed as was pointed out our Dave Gorman is on the commission So we've got a strong advocate there and Philip Longman the author of the book best care anywhere is another member So we've got a couple But there are a lot of other people on the commission that don't have that knowledge or experience In fact, there's only a couple two or three combat disabled veterans on the commission There's not a single doctor nurse or clinician who worked in the VA system in the last two decades There are five senior executives of private health care systems. So we've got concerns about the direction is going So we've been putting together. What would a plan be and we said, let's start with some principles Let's just reaffirm that it's our nation's sacred obligation to make whole the men and women injured in service to the country Let's make it clear that it's a federal responsibility to ensure that veterans have access to the full array of benefits and And when it comes to health care, it's not just any health care We need to make sure that we get the health care that you have earned and deserve that it's high quality accessible Comprehensive and veteran center. I'm gonna talk about those just for a second We consider these the critical attributes of a VA health care system to be high quality I think it's pretty pretty a basic idea. We understand we want to have the leading edge on everything that they do There's no reason VA shouldn't have the best technology the best treatments or whatever health care system. We're designing We know that it needs to be Accessible okay, it needs to be where veterans live it needs to be within timeframes that take care of your medical needs and convenient whenever it's possible Those two most people understand but there are a lot of people that don't pay attention to a comprehensive system Is it holistic does it take care of the whole veteran? Does it provide the full continuum of services? Does it understand that it's not just physical health but mental health because it's really not a clear separation They're connected and does it provide the other sort of supports that veterans can get from a system that also has benefits And it needs to be one that's not just any health care system, but that's veteran centric and there's many important aspects VA for example has doctors who practice veteran medicine. They see veterans all day long They understand what to look for what questions to ask Another health care system may be good But if they have only a very small or no veteran patients, do they ask questions about exposures? If you came in and you were a recent veteran coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan And you had some sort of respiratory condition where they ask whether you had been near burn pits Do they ask these kinds of questions? It's important that it's veterans medicine that we're talking to and again the connection between the health care and the other systems is very important So DAV and we've been working with a lot of our other colleagues and other VSOs to try to build consensus have looked at a plan that we've got four pillars And I'll go through them again quickly on the next several slides, but it's to restructure realign rebuild and reform We people like to do things in groups. So we've got this as our four Rs So what do we mean? Well, we know we need to restructure the way that the community care programs work with the VA system In the past it's been the case that there's been some facilities use the fee basis Some facilities started using things like P triple C these may be familiar to some of you But there was never a good linkage and there was never a good set of rules So they created a lot of confusion What we need to do is create networks that make sense so that the community care Designed to supplement where VA can't be or where VA doesn't have enough Facilities need to be put together in a network But VA needs to be remain accountable for the care for the coordination of the care and to be accountable for it Not just putting people out giving them a voucher and putting them on their own To make the system work we need to realign and make sure that the resources are where they need to be when they need to be and That's been a problem for years But we need to do that we need to make sure that access is consistent across the country and urgent care is a key Aspect that dr. Shulkin talked about that we need to make sure that people can see Physician or provider the same day if they think it's necessary So we need to create a real system not emergency care and not the primary care the urgent care in between We've talked about it, but we then we also need to rebuild the VA system where it's fallen down We need to make sure we've got the doctors and the nurses Make sure that we've got the facilities where we need them and make sure that the VA research program Continues to be as strong as it is That's the the future of medicine for veterans and becomes the future of medicine for all people in this country So we've got to make sure that's there, but we also know that money alone won't solve the problem And so we do need reforms. We need to make sure that budgets actually tie to outcomes We need to make sure that there's transparency and we need real accountability as The deputy secretary said firing people in cases is necessary, but that doesn't solve the problem We need to make sure that we get the training we get the problem solved for the veterans That's real accountability And we need to make sure we can hire the people we need Make sure that we can get them in and keep them in VA the good people so that they're not pulled away So our plan is very similar actually to the one in many ways that the VA has proposed And we're not surprised because we were giving them a lot of feedback throughout this process So the VA plan which legally had to be called the new veterans choice plan would Consolidate the existing community care programs into a single set of rules a single set of Guidance to the field to the offices to make sure it becomes a smoother more consistent experience They talk about again creating a network so that you start with a core of the VA, but you bring in I mean why not make sure there's real seamless connection with DOD facilities where you need to share capacity? The academic affiliates that VA works with and then get the best of the folks in the private community Facilities to bring them in into a network with VA So it's the same experience for a veteran when he comes in and needs an appointment It may end up being in the network provider in the community But we've still got the same coordination of records of scheduling and billing to make sure that the bills Don't come to you when this provided and as part of this plan We need to make sure that VA keeps its core competencies VA should do what VA does best But what a lot of people in this town and the media don't understand is that it's not just the specialty areas Which they are world-leading and most people acknowledge it the poly trauma TBI PTSD amputations prosthetics vision a lot of areas VA is clearly an undisputed the leader But it's also the way they do primary care particularly where they're now integrating mental health care Because we know what an issue this is and you can't separate it So VA's model of primary care with mental health care is in fact a leading method of providing treatment and providing preventative treatment That's what makes sure that you don't end up with worse conditions because they're looking at you now unfortunately As has been referenced by Joyce the debate that goes on has not been very helpful And in fact it's been based on a lot of Misinformation in the media and Congress and believe it or not sometimes they don't dig very deep Okay, sometimes they take very simplistic views and they simply say oh VA must have terrible quality Because I saw there was a story in the paper that said somebody had a problem or the private sector They'll say can take care of everyone and it's going to be so much less expensive and we can eliminate all that red tape and bureaucracy Well, that's just not a balanced and fair perspective The private sector is not necessarily better health care. It's just sometimes Sometimes you can't see the problems there because the VA has to report publicly The private sector they make as many errors and more than they do in the VA In fact, there's one study that says that every year between a hundred thousand and four hundred thousand people die in private hospitals because of some type of medical error Now we'll try to figure out how that compares to VA, but that's a huge number The idea that some people put forward that they could take care of all the veterans again in the private sector again How many of you have ever had to wait to get an appointment with a non VA doctor in the private sector? I mean There's not the kind of excess capacity. That's just sitting there after all It wouldn't be efficient if they had doctors waiting around all day for a new appointment The private sector is based on trying to keep everything as tight as they can and The same kind of difficulties that VA has in recruiting nurses and doctors occurs in the private sector They've also got tremendous shortages for nurses nationwide and for all sorts of doctors and specialties in various areas around the country And if we think that things would be a lot simpler If you just had insurance instead of a VA system Think of all the new rules about your private insurance if you use it of what doctor you can see how many times when where? Lifetime limits deductibles donut holes and all the other things you deal with the for the prescription drugs that changes every month When they or every year they change their formulary and you have to switch a drug It doesn't solve the problem. It just shifts the problem and in fact People are talking about moving the care to the private sector are talking about cost sharing They're talking about copayments and deductibles Their plans would end up increasing costs and again, frankly the private sector will chase you really hard for those like they did congresswoman Duckworth And again, this is not the cast dispersion But the fact is the private health care system is based on trying to maximize revenues and profits And that's why the an average appointment in a private Hospital you may see the doctor for 10 or 12 minutes as they run from one to the next and you may get more time at a VA facility So it goes to the to the core of that there's a lot of people think that this is a great quote I love this one which is for every complex problem. There is an answer that is clear simple and wrong I mean that that is just too often the case And that's why as we've talked about DAV we've been watching this we've decided enough is enough And so we're putting together a campaign we call setting the record straight on VA health care Because we want to make sure that as this debate goes forward that people are held accountable for the real facts and the real situation So if we could go ahead and move to the video At this point we're going to show you another cartoon without Peter Paul When it comes to veterans health care reform, it's hard to separate the noise from the truth So DAV is setting the record straight Some politicians political and veterans groups have suggested VA should only focus on operating specialized centers of excellence To treat things like amputations blindness spinal cord injuries burns PTSD and traumatic brain injury VA should focus on areas of expertise and build centers of excellence around these disciplines We can develop centers of excellence and replace the VA So why is this such a bad idea and how could it possibly hurt veterans? To start the VA's current system of 150 plus medical centers and 1000 plus outpatient clinics would shrink significantly Forcing veterans into the private sector for all their remaining care as VA facilities would be located further apart and in mostly urban areas Hundreds of thousands of veterans would be forced to travel farther and wait longer for the care They need in addition splitting veterans health care between VA specialists and private routine care providers Creates a disconnect thereby diminishing the quality of veterans overall care and making it much harder to coordinate their treatment So what's a better solution? Rather than downsizing the VA to address access issues We should provide new access options by creating VA urgent care centers extending operating hours tonight's and weekends and Continuing to expand the use of telemedicine and web-based health care to make the system more convenient efficient and responsive to the needs of veterans Don't get lost in the noise Learn more and get involved in the effort to reform veterans health care at DAV dot org slash setting the record straight That's what we intend to do is to get the record straight. Oh, you can clap. It's okay And by the way, just so you know this video in the other video was done by done by our own communication staff Ashley Burns and Todd Hunter to the lead people. So we do this in-house. That's the kind of quality work We get out of our communication folks So I don't want to go back through this but again a simple idea centers of excellence VA has lots of them They have them for poly trauma. They have them for vision. They have them for spinal cord They have them for mental health for geriatrics clearly centers of excellence are good But they exist connected in or within a VA hospital connected to a network of VA clinics They don't operate in isolation on their own And these are the things that we need to make sure that Congress thinks about before they would try to go to a policy like this So over the coming weeks We're gonna have a number of these to provoke conversation to start a debate and to make sure that people again who throw out Simplistic ideas and that may even have other agendas are held accountable I'm not gonna go through all of these now, but why are vouchers a bad idea? I think some of you understand That already but again, it starts to put a situation where you end up Saying that veterans are on their own if you live in a rural area of the country It's not just that VA is remote. Sometimes there's no medical facilities or specialties that are near you So it's not a solution. It also starts to again lead to problems with the coordination of care And again, we're gonna offer solutions. We think if you want to increase access, it's not vouchers It's by changing the way you access by building the network and putting the decision in the hands of veterans and doctors When you leave a VA facility, you should have your next appointment based on what you and the doctor decide Not on what some scheduler decides. That's the way it is when you go anywhere else If you need to be seen in one hour or one day or one week, that's the standard not 30 days as they try to do now We talk about Treating only service-related conditions or some people only combat wounds Again, they think that's a way to core down what VA should be doing But it does two things it splits your care between VA and the private sector and again You lose that benefit of having a team of doctors who are talking and keeping track of you It also again says that we should treat part of a person not the whole person and that's not the model of medicine That's not anywhere today Again, folks are talking about turning VA into an insurance program as I mentioned before Think of all the thousands and thousands of pages of regulation insurance companies and insurance programs require That is not going to be this simple choice They create a false myth that oh if you get a card or an insurance program, you can go anywhere anytime you want for anything That's just not the way it's going to be everything would have limits and of course privatizing VA healthcare even privatizing the way the governance of it or creating some new Semi-independence structures being talked about like the post office or like Amtrak well Yeah, a couple of things again if that makes them less accountable That makes you have less of what how much voice do we have with Amtrak when they shut down train lines? Almost in every rural state in the country When the post office is shutting down facilities now, maybe those are different circumstances But you can bet if this is a corporate run entity and you don't live near a major urban or other Population center, you're not going to see a lot of VA So what's ahead for the year that's coming we've got a lot of work and again, we've talked about it VA has their plan and they're continuing to develop it. Dr. Shulkin talked about what they need to do Commission on care report is due June 30th. We're going to be watching that very closely Congress is working to develop the legislation that follows the choice program Presidential candidates have jumped into this debate offering their own plans again Very simple and simplistic and there are political groups pushing for privatization some with very political agendas So we're going to need to get through this. We know that the year ahead. There'll be partisan battles in Congress There'll be the typical gridlock and finger pointing that happens So that's going to slow down what happens And we know that since it's an election year that it's going to be a very shortened calendar and Again in an election year It gets a little rough out there So it can sometimes be hard to make good policy but we are going to need you up on the hill and again Washington's a great town to walk around especially Capitol Hill because Sometimes you just cross in the street and you run into your congressman or senator and you get the chance to talk to him In fact again, I'm reminded of a story of a barber Who would see people coming in a priest would come into the barber shop same day and a couple days later a policeman I mean he told the story about the priest coming in the priest goes in gets his hair cut When the priest is done he says how much and the barber said no, that's okay. I don't need anything for you I do this for the good of their art community and the work you do the next day The barber found on his front door a dozen prayer booklets and a letter thanking him Couple days later the policeman came in Got his haircut when he was done He said how much do I owe you and the barber said no that's nothing the work you do to keep us safe in our community I don't want anything and the next day the barber came back and he found a dozen donuts and a nice note from the police officer A few days later a senator came in He got his haircut and said how much do I owe you and he said no the work you're doing for our country I don't want any payment the next day the barber came in there were 12 more senators lined up So with the Academy Awards the week away, of course, it's always good to ask what's the difference between Congress and Hollywood Hollywood only had three stuages