3.11.2023 Town Hall with Congressman Jake Auchincloss

this is about a one hour Town Hall So to that end if you have a question that's what the Communist is looking for I'm going to ask you for completely separate because we do have a nice job here it's really good to see all these faces raise your hand ask your question we don't need anyone to pontificate get an answer from the congressman that's why we're here today so let's make sure

we give them plenty of time to answer all the questions they hear and he wants to we get to go around again because he's in bed so again without further Ado I want to welcome our time this new kickoff request I'm the only one who gets the participated apparently I'm gonna thank you mayor krugin for the warm welcome for hosting us uh I've had such a strong working relationship with

mayor Coogan from day one uh he's really been a superb public servant for Fall River and I'm also so pleased to see here uh your entire State delegation you've got state Senator Mike Rodricks and state representatives Carol Fiola Alan Sylvia and Paul Schmid just an absolute heavy-hitter State delegation at the state house and in collaboration with me they are fighting every day for

Fall River thank you all for being here I appreciate it so I'm Jake alkenclaus and I'm your representative in Congress according to my two-year-old son that means that I ride airplanes and elevators but really it means that I'm your voice and vote in Washington D.C and that's the privilege of a lifetime but to be candidates only the third best decision I ever made standing for office

number two was joining the Marine Corps I commanded infantry platoons in Afghanistan and special operations in Panama number one was asking my wife Michelle to marry me we have two children now Teddy and his younger sister Grace and I'm already reading to them the same American history that I loved growing up now whether it's as a father raising my kids in my hometown or as a marine officer overseas

or as your Congressman in Washington I want one thing for our country I want us to be the nation that we told the world we could be in 1776 a nation of freedom of opportunity of equal justice under law I want my children and yours to grow up in a Land of possibilities where the circumstances of an individual's birth do not determine the condition of their life so now let me tell you about Congress and

it's not as bad as it looks there's 435 members of Congress and as with most lines of work 10 to 20 percent of them are bad apples their Antics Drive social media and cable news I don't work with them because they're not here to work they're here to perform my job is to bring people together to get things done to pass laws and to make progress towards our land of possibilities

so what is possible this term in divided government internationally Congress can drive towards the defeat of Russia and Ukraine and chart a long-term strategy to out-compete China we can negotiate a responsible debt and budget deal to prevent a catastrophic default locally we can start building the infrastructure in the industry that last Congress under Democratic Leadership we invest

now as a member of the select committee on the strategic competition between the Chinese Communist Party in the United States and as a strong supporter of Ukraine I'm going to be engaged on foreign policy regarding both China and Russia as a lawmaker with business experience and degrees in economics and finance I'm tracking closely the numbers that are driving our debt and budget challenges

with particular attention to protecting Social Security and Medicare in any potential compromise and then finally as a member of the transportation and infrastructure committee both last term and this term I'm going to continue to focus on water infrastructure and clean energy development particularly offshore wind last Congress we made generational progress on clean water and clean energy along with a host

of other priorities like mental health and lowering drug prices and now we need to implement these programs thoughtfully and thoroughly that will be my focus now I'd love to hear from you about your issues and priorities I'll turn it over to you

yes sir

I have you can direct the commentary at me again you can direct it at me

good the other thing too is why don't we focus the questions and answers on hearing people's questions when I can respond to it on on issues of substance yes yes ma'am yeah um so legislation positions and government attention offset going anywhere yeah you're referring to HR 82 which is the provision to to repeat the question yeah the question is about uh a bill HR 82 that helps those

particularly widows who need to access Social Security benefits because their spouse pre-dece them and they were working for some portion of their career and it's basically a loophole in the law that is depriving them of accessing Social Security benefits this is an issue uh that I'm very aware of it had I think more than 300 bipartisan co-sponsors last Congress I was one of them I'm committed to a fix

I can't tell you what the prospects are I don't uh the House GOP now is in control of the floor meaning that it's speaker Kevin McCarthy who decides What legislation makes it to the floor and I can't predict that but I am in support of the fix and we'll continue working on it this Congress and next yes sir so drawing on your experience in Panama would we be better served diverting all the federal funds from uh

fighting drugs in South America and just using it to secure the war we have better results I don't think it's an item or question here I think we know that uh one we've got a crisis of Fentanyl and particular importation at the southern border the Chinese are sending the raw materials for the manufacture of synthetic opioids to Mexico the Mexican drug cartels are then manufacturing them and shipping

them across the border and then an almost insatiable American demand is pulling that product across the border it's a catastrophe we're losing two Vietnam's worth of Americans every year to opioid addiction it's hollowing out our our communities and we've got to handle it holistically so we've got to increase Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services for those who are struggling with opioid addiction we

need to do better awareness and education around the issue as we did for example with teen nicotine use back when I was a kid and then we've got to crack down in conjunction with the Mexican Government on the drug cartels in Mexico as well as work to get China to honor its commitment to stop the fentanyl exportation that it it told us in 2019 it was going to do it did for a while

and then it opened it up again in the last year so there's diplomatic as well as as local efforts underway here um of course we need a secure border every Sovereign Nation needs a secure border but that doesn't need to take away efforts from investing in the countries of origin of a lot of our emigres who are struggling with crime and poverty that is causing people to flee for a

better life and we can be both working with those host countries as well as securing our border the next question is over here congressman hi Congressman uh hug and Claus it's great to see you again thank you for coming to Fall River um two years ago around this time the median gross rent in Fall River was 918 according to the United States census two years later the average rent in fall

river is a little over 1700 dollars and as we know two years ago there's been a huge influx of market rate housing that this city does not want to put a stop to to equalize what's going on in our city residents have been fortunate concerned about being priced out it's so much of a problem that Boston city council has passed the Michelle Wu's home rule petition to bring rent control for this for the

uh for Boston and there is a bill right now in the legislature to make it Statewide and it's so much of a problem that the city of New Bedford uh the mayor of New Bedford has put forward a uh for the city council has put forward a non-binding ballot question to bring rent control in New Bedford so my question to you is this this city does not want it's not listening to the people and I'm here

speaking for every single former resident what's the question my question is what are you going to do to direct Paul Coogan to to decrease his love affair for market rate housing and to put in affordable housing because I'm getting calls from Seniors Working Families I hear your question this is a it's a question and answer it's not a it's not a stump speech but it's not it's not a thumb

speech my thing is this it's a real concern I I will respond hold on I will respond so first of all the cost of housing is the single biggest problem in Massachusetts right now full stop it's a crisis in Massachusetts I see it with young families trying to buy their first home or rent their first home I see it with senior citizens who are in panic mode about their ability to afford rent

groceries prescription drugs and it's north and south of the district it is going to require a suite of solutions federal state and local at the federal level we've got to expand the low income housing tax credit which creates strong incentives for developers to build affordable housing it's an effective program it's underfunded we got to increase the funding for it at the state level they need to uh they

have passed the MBTA communities act which will require cities with access to MBTA service to build more missing middle multi-family and mixed-use development Fall River is not one of those cities or towns but increasing the supply of housing closer to Boston will take some of the steam out the kettle and reduce overall housing prices throughout the labor market of greater Boston and then I'm not gonna oh

I'm aware it's Fall River is not a member of the MBTA communities act law and I'm not going to respond to your commentary on the local level with mayor Coogan but because you did call him out by name I do think he deserves a chance to speak to what he's doing at the local level mayor if you want to it's up to you all right I've heard you a multiple times addressing okay

right here okay my name is Mary feidelberg I live in Fall River and I would respectfully ask that everyone in the audience who has lost a family member to covid this year raised their hand everybody like this year last year since the start of the pandemic and I don't just mean your mother and your father I mean your cousins your friends not your friends your cousins your mother your father your aunts your uncles we

have the highest coveted rate in the Commonwealth for the pandemic as an average and Senator achenklaus I would like to ask you as your father is the number two man at the CDC for epidemiology when are you going to address the rampant disease clusters in our community because we're being told our number one cup problem is housing and pricing and I gotta tell you from where I said our number one problem is driving

kids to the hospital in Boston after school and going to visit our ailing parents in nursing homes and holding their hands when they're dying to me all of our industrial contamination and the pending LNG scam where you want to stick a regional LNG facility on the Taunton River that's our problem and the and the scrap metal and which has been totally Declassified as a Class A industrial

contaminant I heard by our government is another problem as is the plan to bring us all the fly ash all the refuse from coal plants in Massachusetts and New England here thank you a lot in there so

beginning of 2021 we as I took office for the first term and as President Biden sworn in for the top of his term uh we were facing the worst Public Health crisis in this country since World War One uh losing tens of thousands Americans daily and through investment in public health through uh really a national effort we have we have been able to get through the worst of the pandemic uh

we have been able to get through the worst of the pandemic understanding that infectious disease including covid is a persistent concern and that we've got to continue to treat infectious diseases and communicable diseases seriously and continue to support those who are suffering from long covid or acute cases of covid you talked about poison or about contaminants I do want to address

one of those issues which is pfaz we have seen a rise of pfaz which are carcinogenic small molecules in Water Systems throughout Massachusetts this is all right let me let me address the question uh this is an issue that I take incredibly seriously because everyone deserves to have confidence in the potability of their water when they turn on the tap and I've been personally ensured that

tens of millions of dollars have been directed towards pfas remediation and water treatment facilities throughout the Massachusetts fourth and I'm going to continue to make water clean water one of the top priorities of my time in office Congressman right here um Grossman I do want to thank you for you frankly you're the only representative that I have that I ever hear from I don't hear from anybody else

I don't get any emails from anybody else I always know what you're doing so thank you I appreciate that but my question really is about choice and choice for women I know that in Massachusetts we're lucky enough to be here where we are a place that does support a woman's right to choose but there are plenty of women across the country who are living in places that don't and my concern is

about them not about me what are the Democrats or whoever Democrats whoever wherever whoever you belong to what are we going to do about restoring choice to the rest of the women across the country I appreciate the question in the comment uh first of all I want to recognize your state delegation who along with their colleagues at the State House made Massachusetts not just a safe haven for

women who are seeking to use reproductive health care but also really became a source of strength for women throughout the country Massachusetts is is a Haven State where women can cross state lines to access the care that they need and that puts Massachusetts squarely at the Forefront of the defense of Roe as as it should be and uh and they deserve a tremendous amount of credit for that

at the national level two things in the short term we've got to protect the access to abortion medication this is really the near-term fight which is for a lot of early trimester excuse me first trimester abortions can be done with medication that medication can be shipped from a pharmacy oftentimes a pharmacy that's out of state and there are States now that are trying to crack down on the ability for a woman to

order in by mail abortion medication from across state lines now that's FDA approved medication and that's a violation of interstate commerce clause and we've got a we've got to make clear that that is not going to stand in the long run elections have consequences we had the votes in the house last term to pass the row act which which made under Congressional statute not under the Supreme Court

decision abortion the law of the land didn't have the votes in the Senate because of the filibuster uh the the math is is as simple but also as as challenging of we gotta we gotta win the house and the Senate Congressman over here welcome to Fall River um clearly by the number of people that are here uh the people of Fall River I think are deserving of their congressmen having a local office with local

Staffing historically that's what we've had in Fall River uh with our previous congressman and I hope that you will institute that now that Fall River totally is in your District you're mentioning of your commitment to clean energy and you're sitting on the transportation committee I'm particularly concerned and while I celebrate the MBTA soon arriving in Fall River the original commitment was and

the first priority was to have electrified trains clean energy transporting people from the South Coast to Boston in order to expedite the process we're now going to have diesel trains transporting people from the South Coast dirty energy that's going to adversely affect our community because those trains are going to be laid over here in Fall River and I understand they don't shut them down they just run all night

which is going to exacerbate the the poor energy situation and finally um it was Martin Luther King Jr who in the early 60s said that to truly address poverty and relatedly to address affordable housing that people need income and he promoted a guaranteed income as did former candidate for president uh Mr Yang who and many other places throughout the country have implemented pilot projects and there

were communities and countries throughout the world that are promoting guaranteed income in a city such as Fall River a guaranteed income would give people the money they need to pay for these this housing that's being developed uh and um so those three issues I'd like you to hit on thank you so I'm continuing the practice of my predecessor Congressman Kennedy of having a an office in Fall River here at

City Hall where we will do weekly office hours on Fridays Wednesdays that was Friday's last term Wednesdays this term uh people are always welcome to come by and we are there to work with them we also take a huge amount of constituent Services via email or or by phone call and the office setup that I have now is what best enables me to uh respond to constituents throughout all 35 cities and towns as for

South Coast rail this is Phase One of South Coast rail as you know going through Taunton and Fall River and New Bedford I think I'm I'm not the project manager of South Coast rail it's a state-run project uh I think it's unlikely to be electrified anytime soon from what I can understand right now Congressman we do have a comment from the mayor on the south coast on Steve we went through

this those those trains do not run all night they're all on plug-ins they're not allowed the EPA stopped at five or six years ago they're just like a um you know a big tractor trailer truck you plug them in to keep it warm they're not running at night that's all I wanted to close got it not at night thanks mayor MBTA as many of you I'm sure have seen has a lot of priorities right now I'm

just keeping the trains running on time and keeping its its operational maintenance up to date um but I do think that South Coast rail is going to be a net positive for South Coast Massachusetts for for Fall River for Taunton for New Bedford it's going to uh shorten the commute between South Coast and Boston and uh I think both support more Economic Development here as well as overall reduce housing

costs throughout the Commonwealth um I'm in the long run supportive of electrifying commuter rail and and Regional Rail and and the MBTA as well I have co-sponsored resolutions that affected the federal level but I don't want to stand here and say that I think it's going to happen quickly because that's not my understanding and then give you a candid answer your last question was about

with office Universal income Universal income yes um yeah I'm pretty familiar with this issue right now the federal government and the state government have a wide range of transfer programs that support people Social Security obviously in Medicare are the two most prominent ones at the federal level but there's snap and there's a whole range of State Services I think if we were looking at a situation where

we could simplify and expand our social safety net by turning a lot of these programs into a universal basis income I think there's a lot to be said for that and it would be worthy of exploration and I think certainly candidate Yang got a lot of people excited about the idea so ideologically I'm receptive to it I'm also a pragmatist and I'm focused on the near term for what we can do to support

people right now in the near term in the next six months as we're seeing this federal budget and debt negotiations circle around Social Security and Medicare my near-term focus is protecting Social Security and Medicare for many cuts that would harm people right now who are relying on these checks for their well-being thanks Congressman we're going to have the comments I know triples are amazing

but we're gonna do singles from now on and we're gonna do one two three four and then I'm gonna revamp from there um Congressman um I'm a political scientist my specialization in international relations political economy um I've you know one of my Foci has been Europe and including the post-communist regimes you know this is 10 beginning 10 years prior to the fall of the wall I I

know dozens if not hundreds and I keep in correspondence with dozens of ukrainians and Russians some of the Russians have left some have stayed and actually support the regime both academics as well as policy makers um I'm not exaggerating to say the destiny of the world is going to be decided and what transpires in Ukraine the post-second world war agreement is that we don't change borders by force

even the Soviet Union followed that and the reality is the most fundamental um element that need we need for our national security and to protect our democracy is a saw prosperous Democratic free Allied Europe Kevin I agree with that will be undermined what's the question if Putin were to win I agree with you so I just wanted to say we live in a time of incredible uh cynicism as well as

gullibility about on the part of many people so I would just like I know you are very strong and clear for all the right reasons and I commend you on that and I would just um encourage you to develop your capacity impact the importance of this issue this issue I hear you and I agree with you uh I've been a strong and early supporter of Ukraine and I've worked to make it a

bipartisan consensus in Congress that we're striving for the Strategic defeat of Russia and Ukraine after it's brutal and unprovoked Invasion it's not just the ukrainians lives and livelihoods although of course that's Paramount it's also the rules-based international order that we helped architect after World War II this is about making clear to Vladimir Putin but also to the ayatollahs in Iran and to Xi Jinping in

China that might does not make right and they're we in the United States are always going to stand with freedom and democracy Congressman class my name is Raymond Hunt I'm and Sona so my question is as a member of the infrastructure committee I hear lots of uh talk of you know wooden power and green energy and whatever as far as far as the infrastructure bill I don't hear anything about hardening our

infrastructure there are numerous attacks Colonial gas and people shooting up substations that sort of thing that are evident and certainly our enemies have the capability of taking out our grid most recently with the Chinese balloon if that had an EMP device it would have taken out big chunk of Southwest Canada and Northwest U.S we are not capable of resisting that so I don't see that expanding or changing

our use from fossil fuels to electoral energy without hurting our grid is making that better it's a great question I I'll answer it in two parts one is the hardening of the grid I agree with you we are vulnerable to attacks on Municipal Water Power electric supplies internet we've seen this actually with the CCP in Taiwan obviously we've seen what Russia has done in Ukraine but even short of

kinetic Warfare cyber attacks as you say can be levied against really core services that people rely on and that could cause Panic if they failed we have though we have made a lot of progress in the last three years to harden that the the critical infrastructure Security Agency which is under the Department of Homeland Security has been significantly plused up under the Biden Administration

they've gotten more funding they've got better programming to work with our cities and towns on Regional Solutions and local solutions for uh things as kind of basic as like are you patching your software systems for your Municipal Water Plant for example but also deeper ways to to harden it's also just true that sometimes the best defense is a good offense and we have to continue to make it clear as we

do although quietly than any attacks on American critical infrastructure are going to be responded to with reciprocal attacks on the host on the originating countries own infrastructure through through cyber attacks and we do have those capabilities and they do have a deterrent effect we have not seen any kind of sustained Russian or Chinese attacks on critical infrastructure to date I think partly for that reason

um then to your point about energy right now Massachusetts is maybe the most energy dependent state in the Union we really are swing energy source is liquefied natural gas that we import through Everett uh from Trinidad and Tobago and that means that we're very very vulnerable to the price of energy in Europe because those ships can decide do we want to go ship to Europe or ship to the Massachusetts to the Eastern

Seaboard and so our price goes up for example when Russia invades Ukraine our energy bills go up as I'm sure many of you experienced average of 500 in this in this part of Massachusetts and 200 in other parts offshore wind and other locally sourced clean energy uh generation like the Quebec hydropower would be clean they'd be reliable they'd be cheaper and they would not be subject to International volatility so I do

think that offshore wind along with other sources is part of our hardening of our infrastructure Congressman right over here oh excuse me please have a seat you already had a moment to speak oh no no no no no no no

okay we're going to move to our next question right over here these people are should I wait hello how are you I have questions you're going to have to leave yes we do thank you

excuse me the next question okay here we go

as I was trying to say before um with the cost of living of food and this month was the last SNAP benefits is there a chance of the you and the other Congress can work together and try to keep uh the food stamps to to go up more with the extra because the cost of living when it comes to eggs milk bread has been skyrocketed for the past year and a half so I

I know and and uh we increased the SNAP benefits last Congress in response to the covet emergency unfortunately as as you indicate that's that's ended and it's got to be re-upped by Congress and I'll be candid with you uh it's very unlikely to happen with the House GOP and control uh that's just not a program that they're gonna what yeah I'm certainly uh supportive of it and I support the efforts that Jim

McGovern my colleague from Western Massachusetts Central Massachusetts is making to make school lunches and school breakfasts free and Universal on a Perpetual basis but I don't think that in the near terms that benefits are going to increase unless and until uh it's a it's a democratic majority in the house that's not a partisan statement that's just I I see the GOP priorities and it's not expanding snap

uh Senator rodericks would like to address the crowd thank you Congressman thank you and just to address this issue I'm Senator Michael Rodricks and uh I happen to serve as uh chair of the senate committee on Ways and Means and um we in the Senate this week as the house did last week um passed a supplemental budget that provides a 40 cushion for the remainder of this fiscal year on SNAP benefits because as a

congressman said uh covid related supplemental federal dollars are over there's a covert emergency has been lifted so two things one was snap bet the supplemental SNAP benefits of which we're backfilling on the state side and the second is universal free lunch in our schools we appropriated 115 million State dollars this week to ensure that the rest of this school year our students get the meals in school as they

were before where you know we cannot afford to to backfill every every Federal cut but we are trying the best we can on snap and school lunches we've done it myself and my colleagues from the house stepped up and did it just this past week thanks senator uh ma'am I think you had your um hello Congressman hey my name is Paul Azevedo one of your constituents while public housing exists now and the

conditions are deplorable what do you propose to better the conditions for these people living in public housing namely unsavory individuals someone even tried to kick in my door and of course the real uh occurrence of pest infestation expand funding for the Housing and Urban Development Department at the federal level which supports some of the public housing and we tried to get that passed

last Congress it was uh not ultimately successful but we clearly owe the occupants of public housing in Massachusetts and Nationwide decent hygienic dignified accommodations and I do understand that a lot of the accommodations are falling short of that standard now I don't know if this if any of the state reps or state senator wants to respond on the housing front too but it's up to you

we've gathered a caucus together two of them in a state house just to talk about this and those of you who are here know whether it's the Braga Bridge the Waterfront or the Veterans Memorial Bridge nothing happens overnight we're Gathering we're on trying to understand how we can help both our individual communities working with the mayor and how we can work on programs throughout the state

This Is Not Unusual I talked to someone here today you know the the housing crunch in Boston then pushed residents out of Boston into other communities and I'll use Brockton as an example because we talked about that this morning from Brockton people have moved further south where they can find more affordable housing which we've always been labeled as one of the most affordable places to live in the

Commonwealth as some places out west Pittsfield and others but that's changing and we know that and you know everything's on the table for discussion we can't make a blanket statement someone called me the other day and said everyone should pay no more than 500 a month for rent well you know talk to the landlord that owns a property that's getting 750 or a thousand or whatever it might be so

we've got to figure this out and I just wanted to comment on one thing I heard today was all the market rate housing it is not actually if anything it's freeing up some more affordable housing so market rate is not does not correlate to the issue of why other units are less affordable what's that's allowing us to do is to provide housing for working individuals young professionals and empty nesters who are

looking for some alternative style of housing as you all know the housing in Fall River primarily the majority of it has been built in the night before the 1950s and so it needs help and it needs renovation so we're working on this I can't tell you there's an absolute solution but we're very aware it's one of the top priorities and we'll continue listening to you and understanding some

of the solutions that we can put into place thank you did you want to say something thanks bro thank you and thank you Congressman for uh for being in Fall River today so important to everyone but the housing issue uh it is uh a priority uh for us our district office in the South End we see seven to ten people a week who are either being evicted or um have to move because the price of rent

has increased and it's a serious problem but as rep Viola mentioned just now we're members of the housing caucus there are two of them uh it's it's such a priority the governor has made it a priority she's talked with us about this issue she's talked with the mayor we're working as close as we possibly can daily with the fall of a Housing Authority with the non-profit organizations and others to try to get people

into affordable homes something that they can afford we but we do understand it's a problem and um as these wheels turn uh they're turning slowly but there will be relief um as time goes on that's that's all I can say about it but it is it is the primary issue and when I say it's a primary issue in Fall River it's primary issue in almost every Gateway City uh you look at Brockton and Springfield

and Pittsfield and New Bedford all of those cities are having serious problems with housing and that's because the price of rents have gone skyrocketed and you know how do how do we do that you know if someone purchases a three family home you know eight years ago or three family home in Fall River was uh you could purchase one for 150 000 today did four hundred thousand dollars or higher

thank you representative I appreciate it uh okay uh we have one two three and then we'll see how much more time we have um my name is trishana brown yes I live in Fall River uh this is more of a federal question um every now and then I hear some murmuring about maybe we should have a a federal program not a draft for the military but a draft for something like

the WPA or the Vista kind of program because too many Americans don't are not used to living or being with other Americans who are different from them and we're at each other's throats and I think it could have so many benefits I'm not going to make a speech but I want to is there any um talk about that at the federal level uh there has been I I would not say it's

at the Forefront right now of congressional debate but there absolutely has been and there has been some bipartisan support for it as a as a veteran myself I certainly see the value that you're describing of being with people of different walks of life of being outside of your comfort zone in different parts of the country and it can imbue a sense of of Pride and of of Civility I think that can last a

lifetime so I see much Merit in what you're describing I would probably be supportive of something that started more at the state level and let States experiment where this is let them be the Laboratories of democracy and see what different forms of national service look like I'll give you one example which was out of a out of Colorado my friend uh Joe nagoos proposed a climate Corps

which was a sort of a national service idea I think largely not the state level though that would put people to work on environmental resilience and on other clean energy and stewardship projects then right here thank you Congressman thank you for being here I'd like to start by saying God Bless America uh I'm retired so I'm living on fixed income people are living on fixed income they should have fixed expenses so I

asking you what are the possibilities that number one no more state income tax the retirees no more property tax to the authorities a limit the income that people make if they retired and they make certain amount of income to say if you make more than that then you tax them back President Biden did he said you make four hundred thousand no taxes so my question is which some states already

thinking about it and it's on the table to eliminate completely property income tax and state income tax especially on people for social security who live on Cola well I I can't speak to the thank you I can't speak to the state level policy at the federal level the president has been clear from the days he was campaigning and I've agreed with him from the days he was campaigning that in

this country we want to reward work not wealth and that means a tax code that encourages people to work and that also asks those who have great wealth to pay a bit more and to make sure that we can provide for high quality housing and infrastructure and research and the public goods that that support all of us and that make this economy and Society more prosperous and Rich so I do believe

in a progressive tax code which I think is the core of the question that you're asking and at the federal level we've made progress in the last two years in enacting that actually under under uh the inflation reduction act and uh I can't speak to State policy and won't won't try to Congressman right here so we're going to have three more questions here here and then this gentleman

good afternoon my name is Mindy sharland I'm a resident of Westport Mass um and I have a federal question for you as well um I'd like to address the thousands and thousands of undocumented Asylum candidates that are living in Massachusetts um there's a real need for fair treatment of these people they're in my eyes there's two categories at the moment they're I'm very concerned about

the children that came here when they were very young they had no say and um in some situations their families did not fill out the paperwork that they should have when they were young and now they're adults married to Americans and have children born in the states and these people are being threatened to be deported there's another category of undocumented people who came here as young adults illegally perhaps

have applied for Asylum and are not getting it these are people who also have children that are born in this country and the risk of them being deported to countries that they haven't been in in 20 30 40 years with children that are American seems completely unfair to me I want to know on a federal level will you work with Department of Homeland Security will you work with the federal government

to stop this craziness of people that are hard-working Americans paying their taxes and have children born in this country people are being threatened to go back to Haiti where they will be killed immediately yes and I have and I will continue to I've been a strong supporter of documentation and dignity for dreamers which I think is the population you're really describing here with children who

do no fault of their own came to America it's the only country they've ever known and they're contributing to the local community they're contributing to the economy working at higher rates than native born Americans I would add and and they deserve to have the stability in their lives that we all take for granted having having a U.S citizenship and so I've co-sponsored and worked to

advance legislation that would do that but I feel like I've said this a couple of times today but it is the the truth and I always want to be candid with my constituents uh this is unlikely to pass on its own in Congress this is going to require being part of a more integrated comprehensive immigration bill we have seen really since the George W Bush Administration that we actually largely

see what Contours of an agreement would be it would be more funding for border security and expanding the the number of article 3 judges to do due process at the border for for undocumented people it would be investment in the countries of origin the the Central American countries that are causing many immigrants to flee poverty and crime and it would be documentation and dignity

for those who are already here and who are contributing these three things together are always we people have always understood that they have to be done together in a bipartisan way and it's going to be a hard vote the the flanks of both parties are going to revolt against any compromise because that's the nature of our politics too often and it's going to be an 80 not 100 solution I'm ready to take that hard

vote I've been very clear about that understanding that it will be a hard vote I have not seen the same willingness from my from my center-right Republican colleagues to take that hard vote uh for fear of their own their own hard right revolting and and we really need the GOP to step up and make immigration an issue to govern on and not an issue to campaign on right here congressman

uh thank you representative for being here today uh my question has to do with the upcoming debt limit increase um I know that the current House Majority has said that they oppose increasing the debt limit um do you think do you think that we'll be able to come to some sort of agreement before we hit that limit and if we don't what do you see as the potential uh effects to the local community we have to

it'll be a catastrophe if the United States defaults on its debt I really want to underscore this this is not some abstract you know Washington problem this affects people's retirement accounts this reflects our Global standing and our ability to do anything on the world stage for almost 100 years now a U.S treasury has been the safest security you can get and that'll change if we default on our

debt and the ramifications of that are Beyond any one individual's ability to predict but they will Ripple far and wide and it will not be good we cannot hold hostage the full faith and credit of the United States to Washington politics okay the Republicans have points of views on debt and spending and deficits Democrats have points of views that's fair game that's politics let's fight it out and we have

a process for doing that it's called the appropriation cycle and we do it every year whether or not to pay our bills in time is not the opportunity to do that that is money that we've already spent that is just whether the United States is a good a good um credit risk or not and uh so they can't the GOP should not be holding hostage our credit rating Unfortunately they are I do think that

we will get a deal I'm certainly committed to one uh but this deal cannot cut Medicare and Social Security in order to give the GOP a win uh for holding hostage the debt limit they are not going to try to claim that they're balancing the budget on the backs of people who need to rely on these programs for their health care and for their retirement accounts and that's that's been the president's position

that's my position uh and I I do think we can sustain it right here congressman thank you very much Congressman I'd like to previous woman had said about your incredible Outreach to constituents both emails mailings Etc my question is what more I think everybody in this room can probably agree with me that they're very disheartened very disappointed very traumatized by the pandemic of gun

violence so I wonder what on the national level can be done to try and start to curb and to kind of stem back that whole everyday issue that we hear about experience question was about gun violence and what we can do to address it and I just first want to uh convey how deeply I agree with you I was a marine officer I slept date trained patrolled with an assault weapon for

four and a half years I've seen these weapons of war at work and the idea that deranged individuals are taking these into classrooms is to me as a father of young kids it is too much to contemplate and yet we are forced to every single day in this country acknowledge that it's happening and it's preventable this is not some kind of tornado that just happens from natural causes we are off

the charts quite literally compared to other developed Nations and our gun violence per capita and it's because we got a ton of guns and very lacks gun rules and I know a lot of people disagree with me on that but at a certain point the facts and figures just don't lie when you put in place Common Sense gun safety regulations that a majority of not just Americans but a majority of gun owners actually endorse

you save lives and we know that right here in Massachusetts safe storage laws which require people to store their weapons safely red flag laws which means that if you've got a History of Violence or if you're threatening somebody a judge can take your weapon away background checks so that if you've got a criminal background you can't just purchase a gun from Walmart Walmart restrictions on high capacity magazines

abandoned assault weapons all of these things Massachusetts has done all of these things have saved tens of thousands of lives in Massachusetts and we've got to take that same model and apply it at the federal level I've co-sponsored and voted for all the bills that would do that and unfortunately this isn't a partisan statement it's just a vote counting statement the GOP will not give an inch they will not vote

for one piece of Common Sense gun safety legislation because they're afraid of the NRA and uh at a certain point it it got to be taken to The Ballot Box and voters are going to have to hold them to account for it because I can't I can't twist GOP members arms as I've tried on the house floor I've begged them and they won't do it and so I think

voters are going to have to hold them to account voters like you around the country are going to have to say that their kids safety trumps the NRA's talking points Congressman two final questions hi Congressman thank you for being the voice of the people and thank you for being for your efforts of uh helping to have clean water uh my question is as uh between the inflation reduction Act and

the Opera funding as a citizen and property owner in the city of Fall River how can I get assistance to ensure that I have a clean Safe Water Supply coming to my home well if you're if you got questions about your own individual water quality at your home I would suggest working with City Hall on on a on that and for a water test I'll just say broadly though everybody deserves clean water and it's

been a core commitment of mine from day one that we're going to invest in water infrastructure for potability and for safety because Massachusetts built our water infrastructure a long time ago and that was great we were ahead of the curve but now it's old and we've got to fix it we've got to fix it uh in terms of inflow and infiltration patching up our pipes so that bad things don't get

in and and the water doesn't get out and make it more expensive and also in terms of pfas remediation and other water treatment uh other water treatment facilities I've directed a fair bit of federal funding to those last term we passed at the federal level bipartisan funding for water safety and the state now has more funding for that than it has in a long while and I'm I do think we're going to

start to see a lot of progress on water treatment because of that Conrad I'm the um I uh a couple of years ago the Democrats were talking a lot about something called The Green New Deal and it was getting people really excited a lot of us voted for Bernie Sanders for president and we were going to have actually deal with climate change and which is desperately in need of being

dealt with and also produce a lot of good jobs for people it was really going to be a good idea and I know it's never going to pass our current Congress but possibly if we kept talking about these good ideas start voting for people who had the good ideas instead of the bad ideas is anything still alive of the green new deal is well no I mean not only not only is it

alive but we passed a big portion of it uh so I'm a co-sponsor of the green New Deal I I am in support of the the Mandate behind it and then last year in August of 2022 we passed the biggest boldest climate action and clean energy investment in history it was a series of clean energy tax credits as well as direct grants for environmental resilience that really take the green New Deal which is more

abstract and turn it into actual federal policy it is going to put us on track to hit our Paris Accord commitments it's going to allow the United States on the world stage to walk into our negotiations with China and India who account for 60 percent of all future fossil fuel emissions with our shoulders back and our chin up that we're doing our part and they need to do their part

it's also going to create a lot of good jobs in a sector where Massachusetts can Thrive and lead the way uh offshore wind is just one example of a whole portfolio of new industries that can and are developing uh on the heels of of this investment so I would not I would not feel like it's been forgotten if anything it's actually been enacted in large measure ladies and gentlemen on that note I

believe we're at our last question I've enjoyed the give and take and I hope you found it useful thank you for your time and have a wonderful rest of your weekend

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