>> that was just some of tonight's program on digital learning. you can watch the entire program at 8 p.m. eastern here on c-span. a when you think about one-day festival, the national book festival, and you have over 100 authors from children's authors, illustrators, graphic novelist, all of these different authors there all day, over and000 people come in celebrate books and reading. you can't have a better time, i think. i'm a little prejudiced because i'm a librarian, but i have to tell you, any reader who wants to get inspired, the book festival is the perfect ways. >> book tv's live all day coverage begins saturday at 10 a.m. with featured authors including david mccullough and , formerriedman secretary of state condoleezza rice, and best selling author is my goal lewis and jd vance.

the national live book festival starting 10 a.m. eastern saturday on c-span2's book tv. maryland senior senator ben cardin held a town hall on health care. he also discussed medicaid and medicare. he was joined by the leader of johns hopkins university. short talk on republicans' failed efforts to repeal the affordable care act and then took questions. [inditinct conversations] [indistinct conversations]

[raps gavel] >> hoping to have a town hall meeting where we can have a discussion about health care. i want to welcome -- [applause] >> thanks. >> for all! >> let's have a discussion for all. good evening.

welcome to everyone who came this evening. my name is tom lewis. i'm the vice president for government and community affairs for johns hopkins. i want to welcome you to johns hopkins montgomery county campus. promised 11 years we have been offering postgraduate level courses here. i want to introduce our speaker. for 20 cardin served years in the maryland house of delegates, the youngest ever elected to lead the maryland house of delegates. markd a very distinguished as the u.s. congressman from maryland. he went to the senate. in the senate, he is the highest-ranking republican -- [laughter] democrat inranking

the foreign relations committee, and he also serves on the committee for environment and public works and also finance. and verylong distinguished record on a number of health care issues. he is a great champion of nih and medical research in general. [applause] i want to devote a few minutes to housekeeping before we get into it. number one, if everyone just as a courtesy could please silence their phones. also, as a courtesy, could you not hold up signs. it blocks people behind you. we want to have a discussion where everyone can see in here, and that is part of our democratic process. i appreciate that. if anyone means restrooms, they are out the door into the rights . we are going to have -- and to

the right. we will have a short presentation by the senator and the opportunity for questions. i would say just one last thing on health care before i introduce the senator does she has a very long and distinguished career on health care. when he was still speaker of the house, i had the great good fortune to be the committee lawyer for the committee in the maryland house of delegates that deals with health care, health care and the environment, and while i was there, senator cardin, then speaker cardin championed a package of six bills that constituted a major reform of health care in maryland, helped to preserve the maryland medicare waiver, which has been a great boon to this date. it has helped maryland, although hospital rights do seem very high. i would say maryland has had a lower rate increase in the

national average every year in that time. he has great expertise in this area and this is again, a very uncertain time in health care and we are very fortunate to have a u.s. senator who has the in-depth experience that senator cardin has. so, very pleased, we are all very pleased at hopkins that senator cardin chose this location. i want to take one more moment just to introduce elected officials. i know senator roger manno, delegate charlie barkley -- i representingnny is also here.skin and with that, i want to introduce senator ben cardin. >> let me thank tom lewis and the hopkins family for allowing use this opportunity for a

town hall type meeting, which i always enjoy. i thank you all for being here. it's an honor to represent you in the united states senate. by, first,tart acknowledging our collective of texasor the people on this flood. proportions -- historic proportions. the damage is incredible and our in ary needs to respond very aggressive way to help the people of texas. tuesday.will return on and i can assure you that i'll be working with my colleagues on aisle tos of the provide a very robust relief to who are --today whose lives have literally been up-ended as a result of this storm. i know i speak for marylanders. we have, i understand, first from montgomery county. they've already gone down to texas to help. thank you. [applause] >> we have many who have joined in national efforts to provide texas.to the people of

and this will be continuing. i'm always proud of how to thesers respond types of tragedies. first explain that, starting in january, i became which meansenator, mccullskyor retired -- and i miss him. we all miss him. she tells me she doesn't miss being in washington, d.c. [laughter] >> when the presidentishes one when the president issues one of his morning tweets, she will call me and what are you going to do? usei want to make sure we all 10 members of our congressional delegation to work on issues that are priorities our state. so during this time that congress is not in session, i've been traveling through maryland to people's concerns, to explain how i see things in washington, and to

get your input. yourk very closely with federal delegation. giving me chris van holland from montgomery doing a great job in the senate. professions committee, on -- appropriations committee, and he has been an effectiv effective way from one. rasknik, joined with john sarbain, environmental chesapeake bay, john delaney who has been very sensible on trying to bring our country together on economic policies. we have a very strong federal team that i work with in montgomery county. you to know that. it's team maryland. i work with the state officials, that we canials, so

utilize the talent of all 10 members to help the people of maryland. aboutt i want to talk health care. i know there's people who want to talk about other issues and we will. happy to talk about whatever is on your mind. but give me a chance first to talk about the health care issues, because i am still deeply concerned. admittedly, eight months ago, i think most of us felt that the of the affordable care act was a foregone conclusion. it did not happen. [applause] becauset didn't happen the power in our country is not the unitedesident of states. it's not with our judicial of government. crowd member: no. >> and i would submit it's not congress of the united states. it's with we the people. you all have the power. spoke out against the efforts to repeal and then repeal and replace the affordable care act.

i was with a group in regards to this morninghanges in montgomery county. and they said, what can you do to make a difference? well, in health care, you put a face on the issue. of millionsout tens of people losing health care. specificus the examples of people who would be disadvantage if the republican bill in the house in thelaw or the bill senate that was offered by the republican leadership became law. heard about families, children born with severe that would have reached their caps within the first couple months of life. we heard stories about people who would not have been able to get the preventive health care that they need. about howtories people's lives would have been very much disrupted and they couldn't get the health care services. it was a matter of life and death. supporter of the

affordable care act. i'm proud to have supported it. be part ofto congress that passed it. [applause] >> the results of the affordable tens of millions of people who did not have health insurance now have health insurance. the results of the affordable have quality now coverage. the coverage which you need. preventive health care. it provides pediatric dental. we know the tragedy of the in prince george's county, in 2007, who lost his life because he couldn't get dental care. it covers addiction. it covers behavioral health. it covers the services that people need. it's quality coverage. abuse ofates the practices of private insurance preexistinguch as conditions. being a woman is no longer a preexisting condition. [cheering] have caps, caps

that meant, if you had cancer and you needed the treatment for cancer, you could see the caps within a matter of your first month of treatment. that no longer is the case. major dramatic improvements to the health care system. now, there are issues that we have to deal with in health care. the bill that passed the house of representatives would have cut tense of millions of -- tens of millions of people out of coverage. it would have denied the protection we had an private insurance. it was moving in the wrong direction. i'm frequently asked, why didn't with someorward proposals with the republicans to improve it? inl, the train was moving the wrong direction. i wasn't going to get on a train. there wasn't anything in their bill that i could support. it, and we against were able to stop it.

[applause] >> the same thing with the senate bill, including the skinny bill they put out. it wouldn't have been $20-some only $15 million. but it would actually have been worse, because the cap they put the medicaid system was more severe. i'm just going to applaud we the to how you spoke out, because we the people -- you you. they tried to divide they said, look, we'll make an exception for children that have very difficult conditions. and the advocates for the children recognize that that was tobargain that they wanted get on, because if you cut the medicaid system, you're not going to have the facilities in to treat our system and they knew that if you cut the medicaid system, the states would not be able to maintain the coverage. firm. stayed you didn't bend. and we won the vote. and i want to thank the republicans who joined us in that effort. [applause] >> they showed a lot of courage in their votes.

now, several months ago, i becauseed legislation i'm going to acknowledge the affordable care act is not perfect. can be improved. i would also acknowledge that we in theassed a major bill congress -- seeing how it works and seeing where you can make it better. i have said that from the beginning. a proud supporter of the affordable care act. of good.ne a lot we can make it better. we can improve it. deals withslation two major problems in our -- in the affordable care act. lack of competition. particularly in the individual market. want to define the problem so we understand it's a problem. relativelycts a small percentage of the overall market. the individual marketplace, and one where we have

significant problems, where we had the rate increases that were just announced, is about 6% of our market here in maryland. about 6%. and the premium increases are way too high. the reason forin it, and there's ways that ways n make it better and my legislation does that. and about two-thirds of the people in this group get subsidies. so you're really talking about one to two percent that are in trouble as a result of these changes. that's too many. you've got to help them. [applause] >> we gotta make it better. so what does my bill do? first, more competition. so i put back in the one part of act that wele care lost that i thought was a tragic mistake. that's putting a public option in the plan. [applause] >> so that you know there will always be, always be a plan available.

and it's always -- it's not going to go any place. going to discriminate. it's going to always be there for you, to protect you. the other parts that we do is that if you look at why we had thee increases in individual marketplace, it's major factors.e the first is that sicker people whereasing the plan, young healthy people are not. is not going to force a mandate. that means younger, healthier people are not going to join. going to have adverse risk selection, which is a pool that is going to be more expensive. president trump could fix that by just enforcing the law. we're asking too much for the president to enforce the law. [applause] >> the second thing is the law provides what we call cost sharing expenses, recovery for companies.ce that's so they can reduce their copays and deductibles.

that was supposed to be a fell on payment, but it government to keep the premiums more reasonable in the individual marketplace. a court decision that raises question as to whether it's mandatory or not. obama, thatesident was no problem. he's going to make the payments because that's part of the plan. is raisingrump questions as to whether he's going to continue those payments or not. payments werering made for this month but we don't know if they're going to be made for the month of september or october. and the insurance premiums reflect higher premiums because uncertainty. we can fix that. my legislation mandates those we know very clearly so those payments will be received. the third thing that could be is not too much on maryland but it's important thehe country, is to use reinsurance programs in markets that are relatively small. reinsurance will spread the risk in small groups so that you premiums.reasonable it was originally used -- it has

not been used. administration is not using it. the legislation i filed would use of reinsurance, which would also bring down rates. now, that's one part of the problem. second part of the health care problem. and the second part of the health care problem is the cost of health care. it's too expensive. thee got to bring down gross rate of health care costs in america. legislation looks at several issues that could reduce the growth rate of health care costs. is prescription drug costs. you can't justify americans what canadians pay for the exact same pills that are manufactured right here in america. it's time for that to change. requires thetion same discounting in the medicaid in thethat we get

medicaid system and for collective bargaining so we can the full market sure to bring down the cost of prescription medicines. be -- it saves hundreds of billions over the 10-year window. saving. major cost the other is just as dramatic. and we're doing a lot of this in and i applaud our maryland legislators who have really taken the lead on this. is --at [applause] >> they deserve a round of applause. [applause] >> they stayed in the medicaid program. care.rovided coordinated they had a small market plan, a payer waiver. have charity hospitals. maryland has taken the lead in health care and we thank them their leadership. so what we want to do, though, in order to bring down costs is intee more coordinated inte grayive -- integrative care

units. so if you end up in an emergency room in the middle of the night and they give you drugs and keep you alive. and they then tell you to go home and seek treatment the next never seeks person treatment. you've got to have the treatment available on site. do this ingrams that maryland. we have the coordinated program in maryland between schepper and mosaic that does this. but we have to have more coordinated programs. for thertly responsible bill that passed the congress, the act that provides this inte integrative care model. dokidney care, we can now telemedicine so people can get their renal treatment at a rather thanpot having to travel a long distance. we can use telemedicine. psycho-- telepsychic medicine. can use different ways of bringing down the cost of health care. improving the delivery system

is very important to bring down the health care costs. that's what we should be talking about. so i come here tonight on health care. tell you we, the people, have made a difference. we are not out of the woods. i don't believe for one minute mcconnell won't try to bring this bill back up if he vote. he has the 50th so we may see this again. haveencouraged -- we chairman alexander and ranking member murray, and we have the and ranking member of the senate finance committee that i serve on, that are on bipartisan hearings and working together. that's what we need to do. to presidentstened trump and i see what he's trying to do. and it concerns me that there be additional tactics used. i want to say one more thing about health care. that was outrageous. and that is the manner in which was considered.

and you should be concerned about this. yes! member: hell, [applause] >> you should be concerned about this. voted one bill we about two hours before we voted it. crowd member: ha! >> and it was released in the night.of the and we were expected to have a debate on that. there was not one effort for a committee hearing, not one opportunity in committee to ther amendments to change bill. unlike the affordable care act that went through numerous of hearings,ths months of markups, many, many by democrats or republicans, that became part of the bill. process is important! we're a democracy. process is important. [applause] toso, as we return washington on tuesday, as congress comes back into session, there's a lot of issues going to be coming up.

i mean, there's a lot of issues. passed the fy-18 budget yet. i know that's a surprise to my state legislature who passed their budget months the county council that passed their budget. we are on a fiscal year that 1.ins october we have less than four weeks by the time we come back, as to the fiscal year. we're also running into the risk becauseaying our bills of this arbitrary debt ceiling that we have that could cause higher interest rate costs for the federal government and we won't be paying some of our bills. is coming to head as well as president trump asking to pass tax reform. and the republican leadership they may use the that theyy process use for health care for tax reform. if they do, they're going to run type of opposition

in the united states senate. [applause] >> so we have a full agenda. we have a lot we're going to talk about. i really enjoy town hall meetings. and i promise -- i know people want to talk about different issues. if we could, lie i'd like to fi, if we could, start with questions you might have on health care. but i assure you there will be time to ask other questions. i guarantee that. on health care. mic.him a yes, sir. >> is it time for us to move to care system similar to canada where -- [inaudible] >> where health care is a right being a citizen? [applause] >> okay. i'll repeat the question. around here.cs the question is, is it time that systemo a health care

like canada, where everyone is guaranteed health coverage and care is a right, not a privilege? [cheering] >> so let me explain the three options that have been talked about that move in this direction and let you know the status of all three. the proposal that you hear known as medicare for all -- crowd member: woo! >> -- is to guarantee that there's a health care plan everybody.or that doesn't change the current way we finance health care. all does not. medicare for all allows for a public option for everyone. to single payer. give me a chance. we also have a proposal that's the introduced to deal with 55 to 65-year-olds, because they arethe growth that

discriminated against under the current funding laws. much as three times as the younger people pay for the same coverage. and we're looking at a medicare 55- to 65-year-olds. these are two proposals that are very much out there. the single payer proposal is a proposal in which the government will pay for the cost of everyone's health coverage and we will have everyone covered through private insurance -- private providers. private providers. insurance companies. so it's all paid through the government. crowd member: yeah! [applause] >> i am committed to universal coverage. i am committed to everybody in this country having health care as a matter of right. much sympathetic on the single payer as a way of getting there, because it saves money. is much more efficient on its administration. there is a concern that i need out.e worked

and that is, with federal areets as tight as they right now, i need to know that fundswill be sufficient appropriated so we don't jeopardize the quality of health care in this country. think that can be done. so to answer your question, i'm advocatecontinue to and vote and legislate to make trulyhat we have universal coverage and that health care is a right in this country. absolutely. [applause] >> yes? rockville.lcome to >> thank you. >> what i'd like to know is, what is passable? majority, whether they're republicans or democrats, we all have great ideas. all been frustrated with health care and benefited from it. but what do you believe it's going to take in the senate and in the congress to get a majority to move forward on any of these specific proposals that put forth? >> thank you for that question, because i think that is a very important question. divide that. i'm going to answer your

question. but i don't think we should ever as to whatsion should be the health care system in this country. i want to make it clear. we might not be able to pass a universal coverage bill in this congress, recognizing the president of the united states houses control the two of congress. but i'm going to continue to advocate for that, speak out for because i think it's what america needs. the people of this country need on health care. they need to know they have affordable health care. point just underscore the that some here have made. the average cost for someone to health expenses today -- i don't know the exact number but $5,000 perround capita in this country. think about that for a moment. your age. depends on your age. follow me for one moment. thet's higher, that makes point even stronger. $25,000bout $20,000 to

for a family of four. okay? if a family of four does not that provideser health care for them and they have to pay for their own -- maybe they're a small business an individual that works for a small company -- and they've got to pay for their own insurance. many people can afford $25,000 a year for health coverage? it's not affordable. we need a more aggressive way to universal coverage really means universal access to care. that's why i tell you i'm going continue to advocate for it. inare unlikely to get that this congress. i wanted to make that clear about my position. what can we get in this congress? [laughter] towe're gonna -- i hope prevent bad things from happening. i hope, part of the bill i pass, including the pharmaceutical costs, trump saidsident he's for that. so we'll work with him on that. with the cost-sharing

payments. i think we can get that done. we may be able to get reinsurance done. also increases subsidies for lower-income families. i don't think we can get that done. mentioned that. because, as i said, right now we 400% ofsubsidies up to poverty. if you have no one helping you not health costs, it's affordable for you. so we need to be more aggressive. i think we can get some of that done. am not overly optimistic that we can get to a truly universal, affordable health care system under the current makeup of washington. crowd member: tax the rich! >> so how do you pay for it is another story. look, i can get to tax reform, and i will before we end. my spiel on tax reform. i have a question about your israel boycott act. i want to put aside the

constitutional issues. i know there's some debate about it. ask this question, and you can't stop me from asking this question! [yelling] >> free speech! >> please, please, everybody! >> i'm asking this question now! >> please respect him. [yelling] >> let's be respectful. let's hear your question. go ahead. >> let me -- okay. i want to put aside the constitutional controversy about your israel boycott act and ask you simply your intent about the not about different people's constitutional interpretations. i'm going to give you an example. fromse there's a person rockville named joe -- [yelling] >> suppose there is joe, who rockville, who has a construction company and he sees unhcr has put out a blacklist of companies that profit from the settlements. sees that cate caterpillar

tractor is on that list. oh, i need ays, tractor, but because of this list, i'm not going to buy a and he puts out a statement on his website saying of buying john deere instead caterpillar because i saw this on the website. their blacklist. goyou believe that he should to jail for up to 20 years? do you believe joe should go to to 20 years? >> i think you misread the bill. he would not be in violation of legislation i followed. so give me a chance to answer. passed theo congress anti-arab boycott legislation, that, as a statement far as foreign policy is concerned, we're not going to foreign governments control our foreign policy. so we'll protect companies that -- we will protect coerceds from being into supporting a boycott in order to do business in that country. is not coercion.

>> let me finish the answer, please. let me answer your question. that was tested in the courts. be constitutional. the legislation i filed builds on that legislation. does not change the sanctions. the not change any of standards except it says that if you are being forced to require with an international sameization boycott -- the as a foreign country. it's a simplification but it's basically the bill. therefore, if you as a businessperson in this country against what out israel is doing, if you want to of yourisrael as a sign protest, if you want to encourage other people to thattt other businesses boycott israel, you have the absolute right to do it and one thing in my legislation that would change that. crowd member: not true! [applause] >> i just urge those who have

any doubt to read the bill. it!d member: i've read >> next question. thank you. >> i have an issue. >> there's people in the line right now. >> okay. all, let mest of thank you on behalf of many people here for your leadership on health care issues. [applause] >> in the senate. we greatly appreciate it. [applause] may have heard that the trump administration is just announced -- has just announced they will be reducing the amount of funds that are going fore put towards enrollment the affordable care act this fall. clearly, that's going to have a numbers impact on the and, in turn, create a spiraling of how the aca is going down. delegation,ional for the most part, not completely, but for the most part has been great on this issue. but you yourself have indicated that there's only so much you can do. you, as a u.s. senator,

and us as representatives of this great state, do to push the administration to fill those gaps that the federal government, led by the trump is refusing to do, to ensure that everyone who is eligible for the affordable act to get coverage, to get medicare,nder et cetera, knows about it and gets the health care they need? >> great question. i have so many friends here. you're absolutely correct in trump has taken steps that jeopardize the viability of the affordable care act. he's done that by the cost sharing. he's also done that by not those who assist people in enrolling and getting information out about enrolling. that by notne enforcing the mandate and not giving education to younger particularly to sign up and that it's in their interest to do it. theof this has made

affordable care act in jeopardy. insurance companies are less to participate, because they don't know about the cost sharing. and individuals are less likely they don't know the facts. they don't get the information. out of sight, out of mind. and they are not enforcing the mandate. the state of maryland can do things. the state of maryland has been active and tried to fill some of the void. the tragedy is, money has been appropriated for the federal government to get facilitators at the state level to get people enrolled. the federal government has stopped releasing those funds. that over and over again, the trump administration has not only ignored the law, they have ignored congress. we will continue to be forceful. i think in this case, we might enough support from

republicans to get some language in the appropriations bill to assist taxpayers in the exchanges. but the states could help fill some of the void. evening, senator. care now.health i am wondering if your proposed legislation is a molar to or 76 -- bills else x 676 in the house, submitted by john conyers. senator cardin: my guess is that is medicare for life. >> yes. senator cardin: as i said, i am going to be supporting legislation -- i have no believe that the republican leadership is going to take my bill and use as a vehicle for health care reform in congress.

will continue to speak for universal coverage. i support improvements in the health care law, whether it is getting people enrolled, or taking on pharmaceutical cost. medicare for all and i do have medicare for all in my proposal. >> i am not clear on whether your bill is similar. senator cardin: is it a single-payer committee method or opening up the medicare plan? if that's what it does, then it's similar. it's a single-payer? that's different from what i thought. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator. i stay in touch with you on a regular basis. >> thank you.

you have always done the right thing as far as i am concerned. my question is about selling the affordable care act. that so many people don't understand what it's about or understand the economies of scale. you are talking about the entire population of this country as opposed to 40% of it or 30% of it. that, and for pharmaceuticals as well. i get prescriptions that say ok, you pay $10, but what is the price of this? $188. those kind of things. if a pharmaceutical company can sell it to me for $10, then if economy of scale, that never happens. those are one of the issues i have.

how to go about selling the therdable care act to population, especially those out seem toest coast to have no concept of what economies of scale mean. first question. fed.cond is i am a retired as a retired fed who negotiated with boeing, lockheed, the whole 10 yards, economical terms of collective bargaining agreements, all of that, i want to know what can be done to stop fromrump administration trying to roll back what we have earned as employees. sen. cardin: first, on the affordable care act, during the

height of the debate on the affordable care act, there were surveys that were done, and if you asked americans how they felt about obama care, it was pretty evenly divided. if you ask them what they felt about the affordable care act, they love it. know, this debate, as you it has been described as the repeal of obama care. when you describe what it's in the limits of insurance companies, pre-existing coverage , people love it. you are working with working families, veterans, older people. they love it. a great deal more understanding of the medicaid

system. your point is well taken. we need to do a much better job on educating the public on the affordable care act. anything obama did, trump is going to be opposed to. that, to me, is very regrettable. our federal work force -- i am very proud to represent our federal workforce. are moreons they do complicated than ever before. the work done here in montgomery county at some of our federal facilities is incredible. and the work is unbelievable. fda, i visit them frequently. people the most talented in the world working as federal workers, and they are completely attacked over and over again during the budget process.

there have been freezes, government shutdowns when they haven't been paid, adjustments to retirement. it's outrageous. i am proud to have been selected by the democratic caucus of senators to keep the caucus informed. i work closely with chris van hollen, mark warner, and tom -- tim kaine to make it clear we to holdht every effort the federal work responsible for the debt that was accumulated tax cuts and irresponsible policies, but not our federal workforce. we will make sure you have time.

>> i appreciate the work you have done, and you know, the aca has 10 an important step -- has been an important step towards getting killed care to millions of people, but it's not sustainable. universal coverage is guaranteed health care. what i would like from you is for you to declare health care as a human right and that everyone should have coverage from birth to death, or pre-birth to death, and that we should join the 56 or more developed countries that do single-payer health care to their citizens for a fraction of the cost.

their citizens live longer and have better health outcomes. let me be clear. i believe health care is a human right and that universal coverage is absolutely essential. we should have seamless health care, affordable to all people. with you. just having coverage is not enough. one of the real achievements of the affordable care act is if you go to prince george's county, they are now providing much more comprehensive care than they ever have. people who didn't have access to mental health, dental care, ophthalmology, a lot of these services, now are getting these services. the affordable care act moved us in a giant step toward having this available in addition to being affordable. i agree with every one of your

points and may very well support your last point. i just want to make sure that in doing this, we don't compromise our commitment to quality health care. i am a proud democrat. i believe government is there to help people. i want to see government continued to work in an aggressive way to provide those services. but i also know the government does things in tough times that can be counterproductive. make sure with health care there are certain protections. be mandatory spending or permissible spending? guaranteed by law or not amendatory level guaranteed i law? how will -- a mandatory level guaranteed by law? must bee questions that answered. have abelieve we

responsibility, that health care is a right, not a privilege, that every person should have full access, that we maintain facilities that guarantee access like other countries, yes, all of that i support. >> or, get in line. >> ok. click senator cardin, earlier you said it was not your intention to criminalize boycotts. i looked into the israel anti-boycott act, and you invoked upon any individual who attempts to violate the act action 206 of the emergency act.s section 206 of the economic emergency powers act paragraph c says any individual can begin to then criminal penalty of up to $1 million or sent to prison for

20 years. this indicates that you are in fact criminalizing boycotts. i would like to ask you, in order to remove any danger of that occurring, will you remove all references to the international emergency economic powers act? sen. cardin: i think you described that absolutely accurately. i filed is based on current law. the penalties you are referring to our current law penalties. there has never been the use of criminal sanctions in this law, as i explained when the bill was first debated. i don't seek to have criminal penalties in regards to these activities. i don't think it's necessary, and i'm willing to clarify the legislation in that regard. it's not something i put into the law.

it has been in the law for 40 years. i don't want to -- i just want to clarify that. i am prepared to look at modifications that make it clear that we are not seeking criminal sanctions. there are a couple of ways you can draft of this. i don't know if we will go back to the original law because i am not sure of the consequences of that, but in regards to what i have filed in regards to international organizations, we are not use to criminal sanctions. -- and i really appreciate the way the question was asked because i did not put criminal sanctions on the activities that were expanded. that was existing law. been the use of

criminal sanctions. i agree with you that i don't believe we need criminal sanctions in that regard. >> how about torture? you will do that? questions and answers. >> will you remove this from the bill? >> i said i will clarify the bill. [crowd shouting] sen. cardin: i think i answered it. next question. [crowd shouting] sen. cardin: please don't use that language. thank you. >> senator cardin, i applaud

your efforts to advance health care, and i am not going to byance -- rebut them point point. i feel like the proposals articulated in your bill are bound to fail, and i will not address them. what i would like to address is the issue of leadership. you are our senator. we have elected you. and we, the people here, i believe, would probably unanimously like to have a single-payer health care system for reasons articulated. please, if you are for medicare for all or a single-payer system, please raise your hand oh that you would send a message to the senator. thank you. issue i would like to address is this. while you may not be able to get universal single-payer health care through this congress and this administration, we are

looking for leadership. we are looking for leadership for the future. americans in poll after poll have shown that they would like -- byvernment wide last vast majorities, particularly in the democratic party, to have a medicare for all system. why are you not on board with that? don't know how to articulate the stronger than i have said. i want to make sure we have universal coverage. you can get to universal coverage through a single-payer system. i can support a universal coverage single-payer system, but i want to know how it is financed and have assurances that sufficient resources will be committed by the federal government so that the quality of health care is not diminished. resultseen incredible from health care. some have been expensive.

i want to make sure we continue inting ads health care america so that a woman who has health care survives, so up person born with disabilities will -- a person born with disabilities will get the health care they need throughout their life. i want to make sure the plan i endorse includes that. i believe in universal coverage. health care is a right, not a privilege. every american should have full coverage from pre-birth to death. i support those proposals. i hope you all understand that .here is a concern america does have the highest technical quality in the world. i invite you to visit our medical centers to see how many we have receiving health care treatment, being

trained in our facilities. this is good. i am not saying this as a negative. i want to make sure that our system provides cutting-edge, academic health like at johns hopkins, where they continue to do incredible work. i want to make sure the protections are there. i am not against what you are suggesting. in terms of leadership, i assure be, i assure you that i will in the forefront of the health care -- i have been in the forefront and will continue to be, from my days in the maryland legislature to the national oftitute of health, all those were initiatives that i started, and i will continue to be a leader in health care reform. [applause] >> my name is eric. i am with physicians for national health.

i would like to see health security. i think most of us don't know what that is. orare just one firing away ones dealing of our pension benefits away from not having health care. live in a country that guarantees health care -- not health coverage. health coverage is a business term. it's not what we are after. we are after access to health care. a systemike to see where people didn't have to worry about losing their health insurance. i think most people in this room probably do not like their health insurance. most people probably have a story here about fighting with a health insurance company to get the care we need.

doctors are spending 20% of our time on it. that's what i would like to see. a commitment not just to universal coverage and care, but access to care for everybody so that you don't have to worry about getting your co-pay out when you go to the emergency room, you don't have to worry about -- we have 28 million people uninsured in this country. we have more than that who are underinsured and 40% of people report that they put off going to the doctor because it's that or do i have enough to pay the rent, do i have enough -- a lot of people are on very tight budget's. want to do more. i want to make sure everyone has access to affordable care and is able to have the resources, whether it is a co-pay, a , andtible, restrictions that's true whether you have the

improvement of the affordable or a single-payer system, whatever you have, there could be obstacles put in that deny people full access to care. caps, all ofds, those things could be in a single-payer system. i want to make sure they are not. i agree with you. i agree with you completely. you have created is a system that is evermore wasteful. doctors have to figure out what insurance companies are willing to pay for before they write a prescription. i agree with you. that's true. but we have the same concerns in the medicare system. i think the problems you have identified -- we want to make sure that -- look. .e're all in agreement

>> what we've done is create a system where we provide care for certain groups of people but take it away from other people. some of the evidence of that is [no audio] [inaudible] our health care results show that we have significant challenges. i agree with that. that's one reason we have to design it in a way that works. we have had government programs we have majord gaps in those plans. we want to make sure that with have, its system we carries out the first three points that you just said, that health care is a right. that there is not only coverage, but access to all necessary health care that people can afford. that's what we want to make sure is accomplished. are there better ways of doing

it? yes. a reasonableer way? yes. but we want to make sure there are protections so that the concerns you have raised are not a problem. senator, senator -- asked tor, i was address the -- [crowd shouting] you can get in line the way i had to. sen. cardin: i can no longer defend the conduct of the audience. this man was next. let him ask his question. let him ask it. >> thank you, senator. this is a weird situation in part for me because i am half

the way with you in fighting republicans and i think it's great we kill what they are doing, and i'm with the people in this crowd who are very energetic about single-payer now. i want to liquidate insurance companies and give everybody medicare. i believe in that passionately and i believe in what you are trying to do. speak't get a chance to is the problem. we don't get chance to talk about what is happening outside these borders. int about the health care gaza that our taxes are paying for that denies people hear the health care they need? will you please do it town hall indiscuss over $3 billion unconditional aid to the state of israel that a lot of people in this country are opposing? [applause] let me answer this

in a couple different ways. i do a lot of town hall meetings. i like townhall forums. we do talk about foreign policy. we do talk about israel, syria, north korea, russia. i am the ranking democrat on the senate foreign relations committee, this though i can engage in policy issues and i am more than happy -- so i can engage in policy issues and i am more than happy to talk about foreign policy. not as many people show up to those area just letting you know that. --t i am more than happy to than happy to. this is a tragic situation, the israeli-palestinian peace. two states that are side-by-side . a palestinian state and a jewish state. i am very disappointed that the have not bolstered

that point. i think it has been tragic for the israelis and the gulf states. and the united states has tried. john kerry said -- [shouting] john kerry put in more personal time between the palestinians , and i haveelis talked, i have been to the west bank, talked to opinion leaders, been to the gaza border. i frequently meet with leaders who come to the united states. i meet with leaders from the middle east to travel here from the surrounding countries. the leave me, i understand the frustration that is out there. the only way you are going to get peace is with the party

sitting down and negotiating, and that's going to require leadership between the palestinians and israel. [crowd chanting] [shouting] sen. cardin: next question. ,> senator, at the present time we have the affordable care act. whether we will have it on wednesday, i can't tell you. and i would't now, like to make a suggestion of how there may be other methods of doing this, but this is a method of allowing people to afford affordable care act premiums without going too large deductibles or anything else like that. there are counties in the united states that have no insurance

company which will supply insurance to them. but what we could have instead an insurance carrier -- any insurance carrier from any state could act as your , the person'sier insurance carrier. i am a grandfather. for 529 programs. i can go to the state of maryland and give money to my grandchildren to get an education. i could go to the state of virginia and go to their and get the same or similar policy. or equities. the same thing holds true with

insurance companies. you can have metropolitan life, who does not ensure -- in in oklahomaunty and say well, we are going to allow any of the 30 some odd insurance companies to be able to issue premiums in every county in the united states. by doing that, you have competition. you have lower prices. you have the best policy we could get. sen. cardin: first, as has been pointed out, at least for this round of the affordable care act, every jurisdiction in the country has at least one participating provider. i couldn't agree with you more that we need more competition. i have said that from the beginning. i agree with you on that. i think thei couldn't agree wite competition is to have a public option so you know you have a

guaranteed plan that doesn't vary by politics. i think that's the best way. now, what you of course, if it is a big they have protection and they had the multijurisdictional abilities. thathallenge here is insurance is regulated at the states, not the federal government. we do not have a regulatory framework to guarantee that an insurance company is doing business in a safe way. that is the state insurance commissioner at that does that. we do not have that mechanism at the national level. if you start to let national insurance companies rights in protection,out the you will run into a safety issue and a consumer problem. i think this is a fundamental

issue. you need to talk to the states. states are working out arrangements so that you can buy policies across states. i think that is a better way to do it then let the federal government mandate insurance companies and policies. [applause] >> good evening, and thank you for the opportunity. since lived in maryland 1982. and i became a citizen in 1972. i wanted to thank you very much for supporting the arab american heritage month. andalways send us citations gentlemen from your staff attend our functions. night for theholy muslim community, and that is why many muslims are not here tonight. including my family. they are fasting.

ur to theike yom kipp jewish community and christmas eve for the christian community. you do a townhall meeting, please keep that in mind. our community is also concerned about health care issues. i am palestinian-american. inas born and raised palestine. i was pushed out with my family for my hometown, my village. it was the middle of the night. nowhere,orced to live with hunger, for two weeks with no food or water. house is today, it is an illegal settlement. family -- the land was stolen from them inch by inch, every

day. you honor me as an arab-american, but you'd this honor me as a palestinian-american. i already paid the price. my family has been harassed. i am sure that your staff knows that. we have been paying for that. yourwe have to pay for bill, the bill that you are introducing. i have been sick. my blood pressure is going up as we speak. everything is rising. you need to convince me that i do not have a million dollars to give you, but do you want me to go to jail for being palestinian? for being a good american citizen? for contributing thousands of hourly -- of hours to our school system? please convince me that you are not going to penalize me just myself my ancestors and are palestinian and palestinian-american.

your loyalty should be to the american -- to the united states of america, not to a foreign country. we live in the greatest country of the world. in a country that embraces diversity. and we are stronger because you have come to america, from all parts of the world to build a stronger country. you came here because this country offers incredible opportunities. our grandparents came from the persians of eastern europe. they came here. they came here for their children and grandchildren. now, their grandson sirs and the united states senate. this is a great country and we welcome people coming here. that is why i have been outspoken about president policies.migration that attacks the strength of our nation.

it is not in our military, though we have a great military. economy evenour the we have a strong economy. it is in our values. values of respecting and embracing diversity, human rights, good governance, democracy, fighting corruption. all of those things. we have a global interest in these issues. that is why i support and work hard to protect. you that i will billssupport or introduce that will have you pay a penalty because of your beliefs. absolutely not. the bill does not do that. i don't know how else i can say that. some of the people who have questioned tonight have been accurate in the way they have described the legislation. bill deals with is being coerced to comply with a

foreign imposed boycott. it has nothing to do with your individual rights, your beliefs, or to take actions based on your beliefs or your commercial activities. your speech and your commerce are totally protected. the aclu -- i appreciate everyone having views. stick to theld question asked, i think it would be better. i have a great deal of respect for the aclu. i strongly support a lot of their positions. i would ask you to go back and talk to the aclu because the initial -- was not accurate and i think they would acknowledge that to you.

what question --? i thought i answered the question. senator, because of the insurance program, enacted 20 years ago, we have achieved nearly 95% coverage for children in america. that is extraordinary. that -- the question , i am assuming you were going to support it, but how can we make sure that this legislation, for all of our children, and reaches 100%, gets past by this congress? >> and i have the same question.

sen. cardin: the children's health insurance program, the was passed by strong bipartisan support in the congress. it has been reauthorized by strong bipartisan support. i don't believe -- i don't think there is a risk that it will not receive strong bipartisan support on the next reauthorization. i believe it is a very popular program and is one that is very likely to be reauthorized in time, during the normal process. i know the chairman of the commission, senator alexander, supports the reauthorization. i know senator hatch, the chairman of the finance the democratic caucus has made it one of their top priorities. it has been a very successful program and i am optimistic that we will have the support to reauthorize that program. >> [applause] correct inyou are

saying that competition is a key to having lower prices in the insurance market. i would also encourage you to have the competition that we need to bring down health care costs themselves. more doctors, more hospitals, more manufacturers of pharmaceuticals. that will also bring down costs. whether i paying for my health care myself, the insurance, or through the government -- currently, if i call my physician and tell him i am sick, he tells me to come in next week or the week after. i would encourage you that we need more supply to meet the demand of health care also. sen. cardin: i think that is true in some cases with health care providers but not all. there is a critical need in many communities for health care professionals. it is not just doctors and hospitals, it is also the outright health field including assistantsrapists,

. i know in montgomery county there is a strong effort to train health care professionals in these fields. it is a growing field that has done well. i agree with you. particularly as it relates to our nurse shortages. we have had licensing issues in some jurisdictions on what health care professionals can do. we need to take a look at that. it is not only a matter of having competition and access, but also to make sure it is cost effective and i think we can do a better job on workforce issues. yes. neverator, i have attended a townhall hall meeting before and i came tonight, because two weeks ago i was in canada. my husband had an emergency. he damaged his eye. the weight in the emergence -- the wait in the emergency room averaged about six or seven hours to be seen, just for the

first part of that. tonight, i came here to say --where are we in the u.s.? i think you have explained a lot. one of the things that is most important is this access issue. county, in montgomery we can drive to sibley or suburban and we have shady grove hospital right here. in the rural areas, it is much more difficult. and one of the things that we need to do, and make sure that we have, is getting something to continue the affordable care act. , who onion is basically the republican side should we be talking to? the reason we have gotten this far, to some degree, is because of the pressure that has been on republicans. and we have three of them who voted even against the skinny bill last time. the question is --who should we

really be focusing on? sen. cardin: that is a question that is asked of me frequently. how do you get engaged? the first thing i would urge you to do whether it be health care or immigration or whatever the issue might be, is do not get distracted. incredibleent has an ability to distract. don't get distracted. they will come up with something , maybe it will be the crowd size that is here tonight, i don't know what it will be. [laughter] he probably had a much bigger crowd than i did. i don't know what it will be, but stay focused on the policy you are trying to impact. give president trump credit, he has energized people in this country. so, you have people on your side that want to help heal.

find like-minded people, and joined together. that has happened here in montgomery county and throughout the country. in communities where we never thought we would see this type of grassroots activism. that is very important. i encourage you to do your own, individual work, but work with the energy that is here, and do it in a way that you are not distracted because of the changing subjects that the president has been able to do through controlling social media. and then, on the health care issue, to me, it has been the faces. it has been the real stories. we respond to people. office had people in our that have given us heart wrenching accounts of how they survive in our health care system today. and what it would be like if this bill, that was being considered, became law. i was telling you, for some

people it is really a matter of life and death. so, being able to personalize this -- that is one of the reasons that i think the chip program passed. we personalized it to the children who are innocent in all of this. a should not be at a disadvantage because of their parents. they should be able to get care. if you make it a more personal story, you can get results. and then, look, we did a great job explaining the medicaid expansion and what it meant. at the beginning of the debate, people thought it was a welfare program. it is not. these are working families that got the expansion. our state legislators were extremely helpful in explaining exactly what the medicaid program is about and cannot do. which legislators do you contact? all. in today's world, it is not that

difficult to send social contacts to the mall. but you do know which ones have been the most responsive. certainly, we thank senator collins, senator murkowski, and senator mccain, who voted with us on this issue. we also know that there is at least -- and i can give you the names of half a dozen other senators, who are very much concerned about what the republican leadership is doing on health care. up for reelection, and some are not. that we haveones just been the most time with. i meet with republicans, all of the time to get them interested in our bills and to take the constructive course. i must tell you, i think that there are many members on the republican side, who disagreed with their leadership on this. that they were not effective in stopping their leadership. certainly, they disagreed with

the president and they have voiced that on many occasions. rather than mentioning the other names, i would be glad to give you a list of names of people i think would be impacted by your contacting them. good evening, my name is caroline brower. i have met you a number of times in my day job where i work on wildlife refuges. thank you for your leadership on that. tonight, i am here to talk to you about what i do in my spare time. i work with an organization called "little lobbyists." my son was born about a year and a half ago, 17 months ago he had a birth defect. there was no connection between his mouth and his stomach. it required surgery immediately on day one of his life. he had a lot of complications after that. by the time he was 10 months old, he had been in the hospital for five months of that time.

to answer the previous question, i took him into the emergency room at children's one night. he had been vomiting blood in the car. there was no wait that night at children's. we walked in and she said -- we have to take this kid right now. there are instances when you can get into the emergency room quickly. my question is that little lobbyists have been up on the hill for a lot of months. many of these kids are from your stay. you have met with many of them. including melanie and timmy. i have not brought my son to the hill yet. but these parents have been bringing their kids up and we have been going to help offices. we have been on social media. we have gone to every senate office. we have been getting stories from families all around the country with kids like ours. have intense medical needs and expensive medical needs. my son does not have any equipment.

he has caused over $2 million in his life which is twice what a lot of the medical cap's are. .- caps are thanks to the affordable care act, we have not gone bankrupt as a family. it has been easy for us to get into see democrats. some of the women i work with, they have gotten phone calls from people like elizabeth warren, cory booker, and nancy pelosi on their cell phones. quite as a prize. but we cannot get into the republican officers anymore. my question is --do you have any advice on how to do that? job, i am a lobbyist on behalf of wildlife refugees. -- refuges. what is your advice? sen. cardin: these little people

are incredible lobbyists. i want you to know that. i will never forget our conversations in my office. it really is a very powerful message about what this country stands for in health care. your story is not unique. in a short time, you would have reached the caps in private insurance. you would either have had to change your lifestyle or go into bankruptcy, but you could not have carried on a normal life without adequate health insurance. examplesse types of that change votes in washington. so, they do not want to be impacted by that -- at offices that will not let you in. how do you overcome that? i will tell you something. i have a lot of people come to my office that do not have appointments. and they see me and they grab

me. and i always talk with them. i have never met a member that has refused to say hello to someone in the hallway. worklittle investigative and find out their routes from their office to the floor. and get them. waysenators, there is one to get out the door. during the vote, it is fair game. grab them. and there is something else you can do. don't be timid about this. it is very difficult for a senator to say he will not meet with you or she will not meet with you. so, use connections in your state that we are having a hard time meeting with our senator but we had these darling all they want to do is have a chance to meet their senator. can't you convince senator so-and-so to meet with my daughter?

that is not a heavy lift to get somebody to put a guilt on a senator. i think there are ways of doing it. but i agree with you, it is a challenge. but do not give up. you are powerful. a really are powerful. thank you for that. i said this earlier -- they impress all members of the senate and the house. so much so, that the republicans were looking for a way to carve withxemptions for children complicated issues. and they were going to make an exception in the medicaid system. and the advocacy communities all right through that. you cannot destroy the program and say that because we are an exception that we will survive. the answer is that we would not survive. it would be the first chapter of losing the coverage. i do applaud this group in their effective lobbying. a have made a difference and they do good work. >> hello and thank you for letting me speak.

i would love to talk to you about north korea and north korea ireland. and citizenship for latinos, like my father. at this is not the time or place. but i do believe in free speech. i'm going to ask you a question and make a statement. one statement is i still think andcrats -- i still hear see on facebook from my friends in west virginia that donald trump did the affordable care act. i do not want obamacare. i still think the message is a little muddled. i still think you really need to press these people who still think that donald trump is going to come up with something better and just with a click of a finger. we are not sweden. we are the u.s. we are bigger. we have more landmass. it is not that simple. you cannot sign a piece of paper and make it happen. somehow, the democrats are not getting that out. the second thing is that i have alled for mom and pops for

of my life. except for once when i worked for sherwin-williams. the insurance was so much cheaper and so much better. it was amazing. i fell and hurt my shoulder. i had -- it was about two years ago. i had, i thought, great insurance. insurance.h worth of it almost destroyed me. if it were not for someone that cared for me, helping me out, and negotiating with every doctor, i would probably be broke. anyway, those are sort of statements, observations and thank you very much for letting me talk. sen. cardin: what i would like that -- i will let you make your comments and give a final response. if you could keep your questions to 30 seconds or so, that would be helpful. >> thank you senator cardin. both for your hard work on our

behalf in the state of maryland. one quick comment. as a gentlemand said, the affordable care act versus obamacare -- it seems to be a big issue. we seem to have the same problem with medicare. i don't want the government to take care of me, but don't touch my medicare. my husband is a physician. we hear this. i want to go back to what the woman before me said. those we reach and teach in other states? we are a fortunate state. have a you and you vibrant community that works with you. this republican congress and senate to me, are dangerous. basically, how do we educate the people of the other states? it seems like we came awfully close to losing the affordable care act.

although, suddenly people started realizing that they were going to cancel it and it would touch me. it came that close. how do we educate people and work together to make the stronger? will continuee the questions and i will do a final answer. >> two points and a question. and i alsoearlier -- wanted to echo another point. aboutity -- you mentioned quality health care. the whole reason i got involved in health care and promoting single-payer -- i remember in 2000, the world health of theation, put out all basic health outcomes for the different nations of the world. i was floored to find out that the united states was ranked 26,

below, even cuba, for infant mortality rates. i am sure that has improved under the affordable care act. in thisthe same sense, last year, npr published a report about the high amount of motherhood deaths still happening in this country. again, we are at the bottom of a lot of industrialized nations. there is a disparity. some things we do well. but the basic needs of most people are not being met. the second point, and to stress the point about affordability, is accessibility. i am one of those people on the individual markets. i did that purposely so i would not be tied to a job. i did not want to be forced to make a choice between a job and health care. at the same time, i am at a point right now where my current monthly premium is basically almost my mortgage.

maybe about $100 less. they just announced that in maryland we will have a 50% increase in 2018. regular theree a appointment.y of claimant. i am living paycheck to paycheck. the affordable care act has helped but part of the issue is we have segregated these risk pools. i am regularly a healthy individual but we need the risk pool to be enlarged so that we can all share the cost. i want to help those that are suffering. but the way that we do this with the free market system will not work. the final thing that you mentioned earlier was about financing. i would ask you as a constituent of yours, for you and your of us

to look at hr 676. to see if that was something you could support on the senate side. >> [applause] >> good evening. i am rep. lynch: -- reverend hagler. i am a congregationalist. talkoreign entity that you about, because i want to talk about palestine. the foreign entity you talk about is a foreign entity that exists in civil society of alice sighed is related to the churches. just about every mainline denomination has passed some form of boycott, development, and sanction resolution because they have seen the oppression going on on the ground. i know that you are a person of goodwill and care and justice.

and that is what we are talking about. the bill that you have put is aid andd comfort -- is comfort to an apartheid state. we took a dozen preachers to palestine to see for themselves. what we saw was an apartheid state that looked like jim crow and 191950's, 1960's 30's and 1940's and the united states. we need you to stop giving n apartheid state. you are standing in the same position that ronald reagan stood and when he was trying to face south africa. up anotherd to bring aspect of health or health care

healtht is the infrastructure. the congress, including the house, have cut critical resources. currently houston, the state health offices that matter are , given thened that way the budget process seems to work, which is really a lack of process, additional resources in these areas are not going to be forthcoming. they seem to be cut every year. we are going to be paying for this in terms of health and health care. all these numbers that people statistics,, health these come from agencies and a cost money.

the budget continues to become in these areas. without it we are really in trouble. i thank you for giving it some consideration. >> hi, senator cardin. i have not heard anything about lobbyists or for-profit insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. i know we are in the situation with the health care system, if i understand the history, fdr wanted to establish universal health care when he was creating the new deal and at the time unions one health care as a bargaining chip. we have the system that we have now. you hear about insurance companies that say they are losing money and their ceos are bonuses and

they are still for-profit, perhaps the profit margin is less. you hear about money being given to politicians to lobby, that we keep the system status quo. aremiddle men pharmaceuticals between the insurance companies and cbs and -- and cvs and hospitals. you don't hear about lobbyists and that has a lot to do with the higher premiums, higher productive --higher deductible. i would like to hear more about how the system operates and the wheels turn. disability mom.

the problem we are having now might have broader implications. find atrying to particular type of doctor. some doctors do not take our insurance. would like to find out more so this will not happen to more people. that, in the manufacturing world, they always use best practices. i don't understand why we would not look at the canadian system and the british system -- why we would look at the canadian

system and the british system other countries, like france, have better health care. profit-making and health care is a conflict of interest. graduated from medical school. a residency.ng for my dad worked for 80 hours a week. how will we have universal health care when doctors are so tired? that?n you fix i believe you are asking the last question.

i thank you. talkingur future we are about. health care has become more complicated, it is not just practicing medicine. it becomes frustrating because good people go into medicine because they want to help people. they do not want to fill out forms and justify things that waste their time. they do not want to be nonproductive in their hours. thank you for underscoring the dedication and talented people who go into health care. thise it to them to fix system. there were a lot of questions asked about health insurance. on the private doctors and

reimbursements and not taking it, it is a problem. suggested thes british model. which is government provided health care, government employees that provide health care to the population. we have that in the military. there there is no challenge on privateyou are pay, you are required to accept the government budget. to ensure theis reimbursement rate so doctors can participate in the system.

we do not want to go back to visit a were people stay in their job -- back to thos days jobe people stay in their instead ofalth care following their dreams. accountability, you want to make sure you get back the money we are investing. whether it is single-payer, a national system, there is accountability. we want to make sure there is accountability in the system. yes, you are right, when people say they do not want government

interfering in their lives but then there is medicare. there is a lot of consistent the -- there is a lot of inconsistency out there. there are abuses and private insurance companies -- in p rivate insurance companies. i agree with that. beat government competition, how good are you? why not have a public option thelable in every oapart of country. i like the idea of getting a

public option and protecting the because they will ovinge most challenged m forward. i will not spend a lot more time on israel. let's dorgue policy and that. engagement in.s. that part of the world and around the globe. important that the israeli-palestinian conflict is resolved. there is only one way to resolve it, to state living side by side in peace. bytwo states living side

side in peace. you may be happy with the representation here. there are a lot of like minded people around the country. pick your passion, as it is health care, fine. there are people around the country that will join you in these efforts. help them put as much interest in their senators to make a difference or their congress to difference. power.e the predicted ine

january that we would have this town hall meeting tonight and the republicans would not be able to replace obama care. you are making a difference. do not get distracted. pick the areas of your interest and work to make a difference. and you can make a difference. this has been a great evening. i thank you all for being here. participating in our political system. yous an honor to represent in the united states senate.

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announcer: tonight on c-span, a look at the impact of digital technology on education in the u.s.. here is a preview. i look to the day where we can have an app that tells you

how you need to learn and to learn. they have cameras in the classroom and kids helped to design their own program. if we help them find their passion in life, technology can allow one to do that. you have to train your teachers to be able to use it because otherwise it is just another tool bits it's there. thatve students coming out are ready for this but we have to make sure parents are involved in the process as well. announcer: tonight we will also hear from google's chief education evangelist and the president of arizona state university. digital technology and education, here on c-span at 8 p.m. eastern. >> when you think about a

one-day festival, you have over authors, children's authors, illustrators, graphic novelists, over 100,000 people coming and celebrating reading. you cannot have a better time. i am a little bit prejudiced because i am a librarian but any reader or anybody who wants to get inspired, a book festival is the perfect place. tv'sncer: live tv -- book live coverage begins saturday at 10:00 a.m.. authors include it is a column, thomas friedman and condoleezza rice.

announcer: labor day weekend on american history tv on c-span3. saturday, on lectures in history, overpopulation. big one,ide was a pollution was a big one, nonrenewable resources, things like oil and gasoline but the super big one that really overshadowed birthday -- that first earth day was the prospect of global famine caused by overpopulation of the earth. announcer: also, the connection between herbert hoover and harry truman. >> they were transformed by the

conflagration of world war i and they lived in the shadow of franklin d. roosevelt. the 1967: on monday, detroit riots. >> all of the energy and anger and activism that went into that moment had long been predicted. people had been begging for remedies to the housing discrimination. frustration cannot be understood as just chaotic and incoherent, it was a rebellion. announcer: three day american history weekend on c-span3. announcer: congressman randy weber represents the 14th district in texas which includes beaumont, please city and brentwood. it iseted this saying,

hard to put these sights into words. congressman brian batted sent this message. senator john hoeven of north dakota says his state is bringing sweet corn for hurricane harvey relief. the associated press reporting a senior administration official

votes in thet next will likely happen week. at 3:00te will gavel in eastern. senators will continue a judicial nomination for the district of columbia. you can watch the senate live on c-span2. announcer: next, a conversation on brexit and the u.s.-u.k. relationship with david davis, british secretary of state for exiting the european union. this is a little less than an hour. >>