of brain cancer after being exposed to burn pits. john, it s good to see you again. this very important anniversary. you fought so hard, you were in the halls of congress day after day, night after night really giving them no way out. they had to pass it. they couldn t resist both you and jon stewart who were such vocal advocates in getting the pact pact through congress last year. 348,000 veterans now have had their claims approved according to the ap. how does that feel? that s a lot of people you ve helped. well, one, thank you for having me again, andrea. yeah, listen, the whole goal was to get legislation pass spd help as many people as we can, help as many heroes as we can. i saw jon yesterday. we filmed for a documentary, and
last year up to february of this year, and it s much of the pattern that we ve been seeing when it comes to wage growth, when you offset that against inflation. so average total pay excluding bonuses was 6.6% for employees across the board, slightly higher in the private sector, 6.9%, but low in the public sector. but in growth in total, regular pay fell by 3%, and that s because of inflation. when you factor in the fact that things are costing so much more over that period, that was eating into any sort of pay growth. over that period, there were 348,000 working days lost because of labour disputes, so people taking industrial action, disputes, so people taking industrialaction, going disputes, so people taking industrial action, going on strike. that is a pattern we see for almost 12 months now, and it is starting to bite the economy. one bit of good news, it is estimated there has been a fall in the number of vacancies, so that would be good news for
they don t belong in our communities. they don t belong in our schools or theaters or shopping malls. and we had a band, it worked. and we have tried every sense to put it back into effect. we passed in the last congress out of the house. in a bipartisan vote, we reinstated the assault weapons ban. it was not taken up by the senate. but this is something we can do to take these weapons, which have such lethality, they can kill at such a rate, that they were again, used on the battlefield, that s what they re designed for. they don t belong in communities where people live. so, we re asking the speaker to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. we passed in the last congress. you know, since columbine, there been 348,000 children in this country who have been exposed to gun violence. it is now the leading cause of death among children in america, gun violence. we have a school shooting almost every day. we have 43,000 americans who
were again, used on the battlefield, that s what they re designed for. they don t belong in communities where people live. so, we re asking the speaker to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. we passed in the last congress. you know, since columbine, there been 348,000 children in this country who have been exposed to gun violence. it is now the leading cause of death among children in america, gun violence. we have a school shooting almost every day. we have 43,000 americans who died by gun violence every year. this is an epidemic. and by the way, it s a peculiar american problem. this does not exist in any other country in the world. okay, most important question, you asked mccarthy to bring it to a vote. did he respond? he has not responded yet. but we know from what we re hearing from the republican conference, their response to this gun violence has been two things. one, a hearing, we just had to abolish the atf, and secondly proposals that be introduced, apparently this we
will conclude soon, the d.o.d. effort to support the interagency is ongoing. additionally the department of defense continues to support humanitarian relief operations in response to national disasters here closer to home. in haiti, the u.s. military assets have flown 560 missions providing rapid logistical and airlift support including delivery of more than 348,000 pounds of aid. on the gulf coast with hurricane ida north com as of this morning in coordination with fema and national guard has activated more than 5,200 personnel in louisiana, mississippi, texas, and alabama in response to the hurricane. they bring a variety of assets including high water vehicles, rotary lift and other transportation capability to support recovery efforts. u.s. army corps of engineers is