YIKES: Biden Goes Off Rails After Teleprompter Malfunction – 12.11.24
President Joe Biden seems to be keeping a pretty low profile as of late.
But he did give a speech on Tuesday in which he covered everything from supply chains to rural internet.
Teleprompter Issues
“Fairly Strong Economy”
Excuses, Excuses
C-SPAN’s full transcript of Biden’s remarks is below.
Um I’m here to steal her back. You’re the best. Thank you. We really are. Thank you. Well, this is only a 400 page speech. You know, we wanted to talk about our economy and it is, it is a daunting task to talk about the transition we’retrying to initiate here. I want to thank you, Glen. Thank you CC for the introduction and for the leadership. You see, you served the chair of my Council of Economic Advisors and it’s great to be back in the BrookingsInstitution. I started here 400 years ago as a Senator God. It’s hard to believethat I go, oh, I know what I mean anyway. But uh and then as vice president and I was, when I was thinking about running for president, I came here and now as president last month, I spoke to the Economic Club of Washington DCabout the pivotal actions we took to rescue the economy from the devastating harm caused by the uh by the way, in my view, the pandemic was handled and how we delivered immediate economic relief to those most in need. We got back to full employment, got inflation back down, managed a soft landing that most people thought was not very much likely to happen today here at Perky institution. I’d like to talk about the pivotal actions we’ve taken to rebuild the economy for the long haul. You know, and how we’re, how we’re at a critical in my view moment in the direction of the economy it’sgoing to take next month, my administration will end and a new administration will begin. Most economists agree the new administration is going to inherit a fairly strong economy, at least at the moment, an economy going through fundamental transformation has laid out a strongerfoundation and a sustainable broad based, highly productive growth. That ismy profound hope that the new administration will preserve and build on this progress like most great economic developments. This one is neither red nor blue and America’s progress is everyone’s progress after decades of trickle down economics that primarily benefited those at the very top, we’ve written a new book that’s growing the economy, the middle out and the bottom up that benefits thus far everyone. And this is going to be the test that going forward over 16 million new jobs, new jobs, the most in any single presidential term in American history. The lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in the last 50 years. 20 million applications for new business records. I mean, it’s a new business for it is a record, I should say stock market hit record highs. I wish he owned a lot of stock. You know, the worst part of all this I acknowledge at Brookings for 36 years. I was the poorest man in Congress. What a foolish man. Anyway, 401 K’s are up more than a trillion dollars in private sector investment in clean energy and advanced manufacturing. In just two years alone, after decades of sending jobs overseas for the cheapest labor possible companies are coming back to America, investing in and building here and creating jobs here in America in my view where they belong. And of course, this economic growth is not without pain. The entire world faced a spike in inflation due to disruptions from the pandemic and Putin’s war in Ukraine, we acted quickly to get inflation down with the help of Republicans and Democrats. Inflation came down to pre panic levels. Wages have increased but still too many working and middle class families struggle with high prices for housing and groceries and the daily needs of life. At the same time as inflation rates continue to fall, we’re enter a new phase of our economic resurgence with the outcome of this election, we also face an inflection point. We do. Uh do we continue to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up investing in all of America and Americans supporting unions and working families as we have in the past four years? Do we move backward in my view, backslide to an economy that has benefited those at the top while working people in themiddle class struggle for a fair share of growth and economic theory that encouraged industries and livelihoods to be shipped overseas. And I might add, I’m not anti corporation for 36 years. I represented corporate America. I, my state has more corporations than register my state than every other state in the union. So I’m mildly accustomed to corporate America and to see it grow as useful and helpful and necessary. But to make the most of the opportunities ahead, if I want to share key pages from our middle up bottom up economic playbook and lay down what I believe to be a new set of benchmarks to measure against the next four years and see whether this theory is more than just a phenomena. Four years ago, when I came to office, 3000 Americans were dying per day from the pandemic and infected and then had a profound effect on our economy, not only ours, but around the world, millions of Americans lost their jobs were at risk of losing their homes, hundreds of thousands of factories and businesses. I’m sure, yes, hundreds of closed and creating despaired communities. I remember when I was campaigning, I say my dad used to work at that factory. My grandfather worked at that factory. He’s gone. People lost hope, they lost hope, particularly through the Midwest and other areas of the country supply chains was shattered, prices soared and everything from cars to homes to appliances. The previous administration quite frankly had no plan real plan to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. In fact, there’s anold saying, the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer. Everything looks like a nail over the course of decades, Republican leadership. And, and I’m not a, those of, you know, anything about me in my career in the Senate. I as many Republican friends as Democratic friends for real. I’m not, I’m not one of these. You anyway, I’ll get going. But I’ve never been a big fan of trickle down economics. That was, it was a hammer that was hammering working people. My dad used to say my dad was a well read, well read man and didn’t get to, he got accepted to go to Hopkins and, but during the war, he never got to go. But my dad used to talk about, he said that Joey not a whole lot to godown on my kitchen table at the end of the month, slashing taxes for the very wealthy and biggest corporations diminishing public investment andinfrastructure and education and research and development and keep your eye on that. We’re going to find out whether or not what they want to do oneach of those areas continue slashes make sense or not. Offshore jobs and factories took off for cheaper labor overseas, destroying unions while imposing costs on those products made in America. And despite the mythical reputation to pay for itself, took on economics deeply worsened our fiscal outlook in my view to offset the cost. Advocates of trickle down economics ripped the social safety net by trying to privatize Social security Medicare, trying to deny access to affordable health care and prescription drugs. Lifting the fortunes of the very wealthy often meant taking the rights to work as a way to unionize and bargain collectively. And by the way, I’m all for the very wealthy, I’m not choking. You can make as much money as you can good for you. But everybody’s got to pay, they pay their fair share. And my reward inshort term is in pursuit of short term profits and extraordinary high executivepay instead of making long term investments in many cases, as a consequence of our infrastructure fell further behind the flood of cheap imports, hallowed out of factory towns. Remember infrastructure week, we had infrastructure week for four years and nothing got built. Well, everybody said when I wanted to have an infrastructure bill that mattered over a trillion $300 billion we’d never get it done. We got it done. The next president has a game plan I laid out and by the way, he’s going to find since I made a promise, I’d invest as much in red states as blue. He’s having trouble not doing it. Is he going to have a lot of red state senators who opposed all didn’tvote for it deciding it’s very much in their interest. To build the facilities that are on this block. Economic opportunity, innovation became more concentrated in few major cities while the Heartland and communities were left behind. Scientific discoveries and inventions developed in America were commercialized in countries like China, both through the manufacturing investment and jobs. And instead of the economy, even before the pandemic, this economic agenda was clearly failing, working and middle clfamilies frombeing hurt the pandemic and that kind of crisis have build a failure for everyone to see and to feel. And you know, one of the things that’s going on here is they just turned off my, I lost the electricity here. Anyway, one of the things we found is that, you know, we, we, we invented the se the computer chip, the size of the tip of your little finger to power everyday lives from vehicles to advance weapons, cell phones, everything in between the United States invented these computer chips. But over time, we stopped making them in the very beginning. We, we produced 40% in the world. Well, they all went overseas almost first year all. So when the pandemic hit, we found out how vulnerable America was. Supply chains abroad got shut down in the forest because people got sick, the factories making the chips closed. And all of a sudden everybody started learning about supply chains. A phrase was probably used more in the last four years than the last 40 years. I’m serious.Couldn’t get these chips prices soared. For example, it takes over 3000 ships to build an American automobile, 3000. But when the overseas factories making those chips shut down, the production stopped and the cost of new cars soared, you know, it didn’t have to be that way. And I was determined to change that. I remember looking at my staff and saying, I’m going to South Korea and they said, you’re what? Oh, you think I’m kidding. You see the guy next to you is a brilliant economist. He didn’t think I was so good at going overseas. But all can decide. I came to office with a different vision for America. That’s been consistent with my record. Good, bad or different since I’ve been a senator, grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, invest in American American products and when that happens, everybody is the wealthy, still do very well. And all of America, no matter where they lived, whether they went to college or not, I was determined to restore us leadership and industries of the future. You know, four years later, we have proof that the playbook is at least now working, you know, within thefirst two months of office, I signed the American rescue plan, the most significant economic recovery package in our history and also learnedsomething from Donald Trump. He signed checks for people for 7400 bucks because we passed the plan and I didn’t stupid. Walk in the inside. I realizewe’re talking about the impact of politics, but the economic basic principles of what we’re, you know, we help that pass that act, we help vaccinate the nation and as a return to full employment, this was just the beginning. We understood we needed long term investments for the future investing in America agenda, which includes my bipartisan Infrastructure, Law Chips andScience Act, the Inflation Reduction Act. together, they marked the most significant investment in America since the New Deal. And that’s a fact, Imean, whether it’s good or bad, that’s a fact. The Inflation Reduction Act alone is the most significant investment in climate and energy ever ever anywhere in the entire world. We were told we couldn’t get it down. We got $368 billion. We make these investments when we make them, we buy America, buy. American has been the law of the land since the thirties. It won’t go back, ittakes too much time. But you go back to the laws, Lincoln Lincoln my Lord, you go back to the laws that Roosevelt passed about allowing unions to resist being stepped on and organized. Well, there’s a provision, a buy Americanprovision. I just said it a long time. I thought I was pretty informed, I didn’t know it existed. And by the way, the former president didn’t know what they knew, they didn’t say anything about it. He says that the money that the president authorizes that Congress has spent should be used by the president to hire American workers and buy American products. There is anexemption. You couldn’t find the American product. American workers go overseas, but you had to show it. Well, guess what past administration, including my president failed to buy America but not on my watch. We’remodernizing our roads, our bridges, our ports, our airports, our clean water system, affordable high speed internet systems and so much more. And by the way, if you think about the high speed internet systems, they’re as consequential to farmers as electricity was during the, during the administration of Roosevelt. I’m serious. You can’t function without it. And we’ve incentivized building all these large federal projects within with American products and American Union, mostly Union Labor, new pathways in these jobs, including a record number of registered apprenticeships that we’ve made sure occurred. As I noted earlier when I came to office, semiconductor manufacturing had moved overseas. I was determined tobring it back. So it wouldn’t be at the end of the supply chain, at the beginning of the supply chain. And that’s what we’ve done with my Chips and Science Act, which has attracted $350 billion in private sector investment in America, including from Korea and from Taiwan. These I remember when we went to, to uh Dres, I shouldn’t because a long speech but Dres just a moment, went to South Korea and I met with Yon and I met with Samsung. I said, why are you making this billion dollar investment in what we call the field of dreams outside of Columbus, Ohio. He said, because you have the most capable workers in the world and it’s the safest place in the world for me to make my investment. These investors are building what they call new fab. You all know this A fab is new factories, but they’re these giant giant things, big football fields. And guess what, when they’re built and employ thousands of people and guess what? The average salary $102,000 and you don’t need a collegedegree to do the job. These massive chips factories, these fabs the size of several football fields, as I said, and the field is named from all across America, from New York to Ohio, to Arizona. I mean, you know, and when I ask these companies, why they’re investing again? Not a joke. I give my word and you all know you’re business women, man. You all know it. I think we have the most qualified workers in the world. Everybody thinks that, you know, I havetrouble with my union friends. They’re not very good salesman for themselves. Everybody thinks the Irish person has to say I want to be an electrician. Five years later, five years later, as an apprentice, you can become an electrician. Look chips investments are creating over 125,000 jobs. So far, many of those jobs are paying over 100 grand a year and we don’t need a college degree. As I said, it’s not just fabs these investments are creating opportunities for entire communities, small businesses, creating even more jobs when they move. When you build, for example, you build one of these fabs, whether it’s in Syracuse or wherever they’re all over the place. Guess what? You know what happens? They end up building drugstores, coffee shops, automobile dealerships, they build entire communities because thousands of people move in who can afford, can afford to live a decent life. In fact, and we knew in the beginning this wasn’t going to come to fruition in my campaign, my administration, it takes time to get this done. We watch 2468, 10 years from now will soon be the only economy in the world to have all five of the major chip companies operating in the United States of America. It’s not only creating thousands, it will create thousands of jobs and good paying jobs and building chip factory. We’re always creating those jobs for workers, installing more solar panels, batteries, selling more electric vehicles than ever before. You know, that’s a construction boom and manufacturing all across America. It’s just going to continue to pick up with the billions of dollars being invested when facing unfair practice abroad. We’ve taken a tough but targeted action that we have of the American worker, American businesses and factory towns. You know, we know the pandemic and Russian war in Ukraine and inflation created enormous pain and hardship all across America is true for every major economy in the world. But we took aggressive action that brought prices down. For example, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine causing gas prices to spike globally, I ordered the biggest release of ever inour strategic petroleum reserve. That’s all that you all know most people listening wouldn’t, but that’s all that oil we faked and we challenge the oil and gas companies to take the record profits and invest more in production. Invest more in production. Today, American energy production is at record levels including in oil and gas production. Gas prices are down to three bucks, three bucks below the price before Russia is a nation. In addition, we’vesuccessfully pushed back all oil, all the oil released at a much lower price and we’ve refilled the facilities making the taxpayers in the process, $3.5 billion brought it out. I got it back a lot cheaper to fill it back up. Now, inflation is coming down faster than almost anywhere in the world in advanced economies as inflation eased. And the strong labor market persisted, inflation adjusted wages and incomes began to rise. Average tax average after tax income is up almost $4000 and prices on average for average Americans, 80% of working age. Americans have jobs near a decade a multi decade high. We’re creating a record job. 60% of all Americans who chose to pursue a four year degree, who chose not to pursue a four year degree with historic backing of union public support for the unions is the highest. It’s been in more than half a century and the labor movement is expanding and changing and new companies are and industries. Here’s why it’s important for all workers. I asked the Treasury Department when I was pushing for union expansion and I had to do a study. They found that when union wages go up, everybody’s wages go up across the board, it matters. The middle out bottom of myplaybook is also, is also asking that the very wealthy began, the most profitable corporations began to pay their fair share. I won’t use the usual site that you use. We got 1000 billionaires in America. Their average federal tax is 8.2 percent. Anybody want to trade with. Well, look, my predecessor’s $2 trillion tax cut overwhelmingly benefits the very wealthy and the biggest corporations delivering tax cuts to the top 1% worth more than 50 times the tax cuts that went to middle class families. My approach is needing better results for everyone. I kept my commitment that no one and then make mevery popular democrats. No one earning less than $4000 a year would save $400,000 a year would pay an additional single penny in additional taxes. No one, not only I fought hard to expand the child tax credit for working families, but cut child poverty, nearly cut child poverty nearly in half. And by the way, it increases economic growth, more women can go back to work, more women can grow the economy, expanded tax credits to make health insurance more affordable for me, Americans role in the Affordable Care Act. By the way, the other team tried to get rid of 51 votes. Ok. After a decade of severe underfunding, I fought hard to make the IRS have a budget with enough personnel and technology. And so far it’s easy to go after my taxes. Not a problem. You know, and I I make a good living. You pay me a lot of money asa, as a president, but for the very wealthy, it’s awful hard. You need more personnel and guess what? We finally after the fight got more personal. Never did. I think I’d be fighting to get more tax collectors. We got more folks in the,in the department result. The IRS has already collected over $1 billion in unpaid taxes on the super wealthy that had not been paid in the past. Look, folks. Economic playbook also includes increasing fair competition. I’m a capitalist. The capital is about competition. It’s not capitalism, it’s exploitation but not on my watch. My inflation reduction act took on Big Pharma reducethe price of insulin procedures with diabetes to pay only 35 bucks a month until the close to the average of 400 a month. You know, I, I was trying to sell this to the American public. I’d go around the country to a Tommy to say anybody has a prescription from a major drug company in America. Come with me, get an Air Force one. I will take you to Toronto, to Berlin, to Rome to anywhere in the world. I’ll get you that same exact prescription from the same exact company for somewhere between 40 60% less. Well, the inflationreduction act also finally gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices and procedures across the board. It’s already passed. Starting next month. Out of pocket prescription drug costs for seniors total prescription drug costs. We capped at $2000 a year no matter how much they spend, no matter how expensive they are drugs and you all know it because some of you like me and others have lost families to cancer and cancer treatment. Those drugs, cancer drugs cost 1012 $14,001,000 a year. These other reforms,not only save seniors money, not only saves the patient money, but guesswhat? It saves every one of you taxpayers money because the federal government is not paying out 100 and $60 billion over the next 10 years. Theyhad to pay it now because they’re not paying that. They’re paying 35 not 400 bucks for the prescription exorbitant prices of pharmaceutical companies have been champ they charging we’re also lowering costs by eliminating junk fees. Junk fees are those hidden costs that can add up hundreds of dollars for the Irish American family, you know, and cost like excessive banking overdraft fees. So I didn’t realize I had the power to do this, but we brought them down from an average of $35 a month for an overdraft to $5 a month. Of course, itmakes a lot of money but it was fair 35 bucks deal with the overdraft. And in addition to that, we made fees for credit cards, apartment application fees. I know most of us don’t even look at that but just to just to apply hidden hotel fees or family seating arrangements on flights. If I got that one down, I don’t know about all of you, but maybe it’s the Irish. I hate being played for a sucker.No, I’m serious. People get angry when they find us out. Fair competition is especially important for small businesses that have been crushed by decades of concentrated corporate power. That’s important because small businesses represent 50% of the entire GDP of the American economy because of our policies and confidence of entrepreneurs in the economy.We’ve seen 20 million since I became president. 20 million new business applications during this administration. The most of any presidential term in history. A record black businesses ownership, black black businesses ownership is doubling Hispanic business ownership is up by 40%. Since the pandemic share. Women in business is also on the rise. It all has benefit, not just those groups, but all of the economy. Every single application for a new business license, it’s like a, like an act of hope. My confidence, there’s so much more from our playbook. The bottom line is that four short years, we’ve come a long way from a he’s been my call. I apologize from the crisis we inherited.We’d only, we’d only beat the pandemic. We broke from the economic orthodoxy that failed this nation in my view for a long time. A theory that led to fewer jobs, less economic growth and bigger deficits. I had a fundamentally different theory. My theory was the strongest economy is built from the bottom up and the middle out, from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down. And the best way to build in America was to invest in America, invest in American products and invest in the American people. Not by handing out tax breaks to those at the top. I’m not looking. Look II I won’tget it. We can talk about tax but it was, it was long past time for America to make a generational investment and our infrastructure and our manufacturing base and the technological edge in our clean energy future. I know it’s been hard for many Americans to see and I understand it. I just trying to figure out to put three squares on the table, but I believe it was the right thing to do. Not only to lift America out of economic crisis caused by a pandemic, but set America on a stronger course for the future. And we did that. We don’t only don’t take my word for it. Here’s how Time Magazine and other commentators describe the economy. I’m leaving my successor andthere’s a number of these quotes, President Elect Tis receiving the strongesteconomy in modern history, which is the envy of the world. I’m gonna saysomething outrageous. I know a fair amount about foreign policy. Not every major world leader for long been around 500 years. I know these guys, I don’t know anybody wouldn’t change their, their economy for ours. Can you think of one, any major nation says? I want to trade? I don’t want to trade. I keep mine. I like what I’m doing. Let me close with this all accounts. The incoming administration is determined to return the country travel around and trickle down economics and another tax cut for the very wealthy that will not be paid for or if paid for. It’s going to have a real cost once again causingmassive deficits or significant cuts in basic programs of healthcare,education, veterans benefits. On top of that, he seems determined to both steep universal tariffs on all imported goods brought to this country on the mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs rather than the American consumer. Who do you think pays for this? I believe this approach is a major mistake. I believe we’ve proven that approach is a mistake over the past four years. But we all know in time, we’re all in time what will happen. I’ve never agreed with Ronald Records approach the economy,although I got along with them very well, but I did agree with something he said, President Reagan said, and I quote, facts are stubborn things, facts are stubborn, things they are. Here are the facts. A set mark of benchmarks. If youwill, that we should measure the successive failure of our next four years during my presidency, we created 60 million new jobs in America. Will the next president create jobs or like Herbert, who would be the only president to lose jobs in his administration during my presidency? We see the lowest average unemployment rate of the administration in 50 years. Will the unemployment be higher or lower in the next four years? We’ve long we have also, we have had a strong economic growth of 3% on average yearly basis. Well, the next president was stronger, weaker economic growth, inflation, yes, inflation for battling through worldwide effects of the pandemic. Putin’s war inUkraine and supply chain disruptions. I’m meeting the next president with aninflation rate. That’s near 2%. Where, where will inflation be at the end of the next president’s term? Look, these are simple, well established economic benchmarks used to measure the strength of any economy, the success offair of many presidents four years in office, they’re not political or rhetorical opinions. They’re just facts, simple facts as President Reagan called them stubborn facts. And one more fact as I prepare to leave office, you know,there is no country on earth better positioned to lead the world in the years tocome in America. Think about what stunned me. And again, I’m going to say something outrageous. I have as much experience in foreign policy. Anypresident in the history of the United States has had chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Anyway, I spend a lot of time. I know all of them. Well, the decisions we make over the next four years have been transformed into the nation. But I tell you what, what stunned me and it’s not, I’m not being ahyper American here. I can’t name a single country in the world that doesn’t think put it this way. If we’re not leading the world, who does not a joke. I’m not being wise guy. If we do not lead the world, what nation leads the world who pulls Europe together? Who tries to pull the Middle East together harder thanthe Indian Ocean? What do we do in Africa? We, the United States lead the world and you all are extreme, extremely experienced women and men. You know, many of these, you know, many of these countries find me one that says we’re not or wish we weren’t. Look my hope and belief is that thedecisions and investments are now so deeply rooted, the nation that can be politically costly and economically unsound for the next president to strut tocut, you know, some of my friends, the Republican Party when I do States ofthe Union who holler and like, you know, those things they’re against all the things we did. Keep your eye on them. Tell me what they want the programs, we voted for them cut in their states. Show me the most conservative Republicans willing to take away the factories are going to be built in their states. I’ll be interested gonna be interesting. Fuck. I pray to God because I think everybody has an opportunity to reconsider the growth. I pray to God. The president elect throws away project 2025. I think it being that kind of disaster for us in the region. In fact, consider one additional fact, the historic investments we made went to more Red States and blue states, not a politically smart thing to do. And I knew what I was doing. I know people willbe angry but the reason the Red States and they need it more because of the decisions they made decisions they made and geography will next president stop a new electric battery factory in Liberty, North Carolina. I create thousands of jobs. We shut down a new solar factory being building uh in, in,in Carterville, Georgia. Are they going to do that? You know, will we deny seniors living in red States? $35 a month? Insulin? I believe the only way for a president to lead America was to lead all America and I believe the economy I’m leaving at the moment and others could do better than I did. I’m not saying I was perfect, but ends up at this moment, the best economy, strongest economy in the world and for all Americans doing better. So we got a lot to do and I’m leaving the presidency, but I’m not going away bad news show because I think we can, we got to bring this country back together when I announced my candidacy for president. I said I was running for three reasons. One was to restore the soul of America just decency in the way we treat one another politically urgent one another. I know, you know that when I went back when Pat was around, no, we had vicious weights. We go and seethat much together. San time. I’m taking more of your time than a shoe. But one of the things that I realized when I was Vice president, Barack wanted me because of my background in foreign policy and my ability to work in the Congress very role and So five years, six years in, I decided to go up to the Senate dining room, President Senate to sit at the table where Democrats and Republicans sit together and began to listen again. Just talk to people. Well,guess what? No place to go. You’ve been to the senator’s dining room where they take you into the room where you can eat with other senators and other people. But right, the door is on the left of that elevator. Our private town used to be a long buffet table. You walk in a long table sitting, I guess 1618 people on the right parallel with the table and you walk through an archway, there was a table going the other way. What was the democratic table? What was the Republican table? And when there weren’t enough to sit in any one table, then they all sit together. It’s hard to really dislike an individual that you strongly disagree with. When you find out his wife is dying of breast cancer or you just lost a child or he’s having serious physical problems himself. We knew each other. I really mean it. Barack Houston arrived rock crazy when we, we met every morning at nine o’clock and the last priest I talked to one another when the day ended and always give me, I know, I know, I know all politics is personal but it is, it is. I watch Teddy Kennedy and Jimmy some rip each other apart. On the floor and they go down and have lunch together. So why don’t you restore the soul of the country? The second thing to do I was trying to do when I said, when I ran was to begin to restore the middle class to focus on people most in need. And thirdly was to, to bring the, bring thepolitics together again. Again, we don’t have to agree with one another, butwe shan’t have to stick with the system that’s allowed us to strongly disagree and yet keep within the confines of the abolition of the constitution. I’ve taken much, too much of your time. I apologize, but you’re among the most informed people in Washington. And, uh I would really appreciate down the road here a little bit, any constructive criticism you have and I’m sure you have some. All right. Thank you so very much for having me.
