All right, all right, sit down. Thank you, everybody, thats very, very nice. I have a massive cold and that makes me feel better today. I feel more well given that nice introduction. Thank you there martin, what should i say, whatever you say make it short, we got a lot to cover here. I think he referenced who we have with us but i want to thank all the folks here at uconn university. They do a fantastic job every single day here. Thank you for opening this up to representatives Caroline Simmons and tom and dan fox, thank you for being here. I want to get right to this. I am sure you have loads of questions about what is happening and what has happened and i want to answer them. We are going to talk today about a lot of things. The foundation of it, well talk about the rule of law. We are going to talk about the simple idea of the root of this country since our founding that no individuals, no matter how powerful or what title stands before their names supposed to be above the set of rules that we all play by. And, thats certainly been the topic of discussions of this country for the last week but frankly we have been talking about in some way shape or form lasting of 110 days. I want to talk a little bit about that today. First, let me say thank you forgiving me the opportunity to do this job. I dont come from a family that has any background in politics. My mom grew up in the Housing Project of new britain and connecticut or one generation moved from poverty. I get to be a United States senator and whether you voted for me or did not in this room, the idea that the people and state placed their faith in me to b oe one of your two voices the senate is an honor and to be honest, it is a thrill. So i am so thankful to you forgiving me this chance. It Getting Better at it everyday because i am learning from you. I am learning from you of the priorities and what you care about and how i should prioritize of places that are before us and this is an exercise for me in trying to learn and lesson. I do a lot of these town halls. I try to engage proactively and innovative ways as well. I am one of the few members of the senate that does my own feeds on facebook and snap chats that i learned how do do all that stuff. I walked across the state of connecticut this last summer going 130 miles. [ applause ] going from one side or another talking to a lot of people where people who would never taken on themselves to show to a town hall or write emails. I try to engage and learn in creative ways as well as traditional ways like this. First, thank you forgiving me the chance to do this job. We are talking about the rule of laws and checks and balances. First, i want to say why we are here. Donald trump is fairly transparent advertise to people that hes going to blow up the way things are done in washington. He advertised and he said famously in his speech that i alone can fix this. People were drawn to that whether we like it or not. He won a lot of votes. There is this tiring of democracy thats happening out there in this country. That sounds like a hard phrase to handle. For a long time, people understood the trades you got in democracy and the idea is you got all this efficiency and took a long time for something to become a law from an idea. But, the trade was in exchange for that in efficiency, you got the outcome that benefited the whole rather than elites. You got policies thats made faster but you tend to give results for the ruling rather than everybody else and protects the able for masses and general population to get results. It is good for them. Wait a second, i am gnot gettin that trade any longer. It is more efficient ever been. Yet, the results that are coming out of washington still seems to be accruing the top 1 or 2 . Not to me. People started asking themselves, whether we still should be invested in this big great experiment and trump with his advertisement with i alone can fix this started to look for attractive. We need to recognize that this is a moment not just to take on this enormous challenges but reminding people why we engage. We are going to talk a lot about immigration and healthcare and healthcare and fbi. I also want us to be reminded that you should not take for granted that this democracy is inevitable that this is something that you are going to live under for the rest of your lifetime. We got to breathe new health into it and reminding people why we are invested in it. Now, i will say that there are parts of this experience that have been whole. There are checks and balances inside this big endeavor that have worked, the president right out of the gate tries the pass an immigration order that was plainly unconstitutional and the idea that you are going to stop people coming into based on your religion and violates the pr premise and the amendment that you are attached to i. The president is in amidst right now trying to push through a healthcare bill thats absolutely humanitarian catastrophe waiting to happen. They thought theyre going to get it done in february. They thought theyre going to be able to pass this thing, they have not been able to do and stopped over and over again because the legislature. Interesting ways is responding because people are rising up and say, listen, if you vote for this, well vote you out. It is taking a lot longer to get the bill through on a threevote majority through the house of representatives. It is stuck in the senate right now because republican senators know there is consequences voting for something this inhumane and this cruel. The checks and balances are built in the legislature and responsible for the people and you know is holding for the time being. But, there are other places where checks and balances are not. I know thats where well spend a lot of time talking about today or clearly spending time of what happened last week. You cannot have a functioning democracy when the president of the United States can dismiss Law Enforcement individuals or leaders that have carrying out investigation against the chief initiatives. I am sorry, the explanation that donald trump carries does n not he got fired because he was on something. He got fired because he was getting closer and closer to a damaging story about the trump campaigns. Interaction with the russian government. We dont know what the end of that story is. We do know that director comey was going to the highest level of the Justice Department asking for more resources pursuing that investigation until the end. It is whathard for me to think it is a coincidence that a week later he was fired. Well have closed door hearings to ask questions and closer to the truth during that, i hope. This is the direct threat to the rule of law. I hope that as my republican friends go home this weekend and talk to their constituents. Theyll choose to rise to the occasion. As i said social media this week and they are rare normals where you have to choose between your party or republicans. My advice to my republican friends is that you will never regret choosing the republicans. So this you know what i think here. I ultimately believe the investigation of justice of the time being and we need an independent prosecutor thats going to follow. And so lets give the weekend for republicans to think through this and make a decision and joining us. If they choose not to then democrats and likeminded republicans in the house and senate will have to consider all the tools of disposal and try and pushing this country forward and recognizing the gravity of this moment. Let me talk about the other threat of rules of law and one thats not in the news as much as it should be then i want to move straight onto your question. Thats where it comes to the conduct of foreign affairs. We spend a lot of time thinking about americas role in the world. Congress over the course of the last 10 or 15 years, i was often in the i simply did not believe that there was authorization, legal authorization for this administration to take military action against isis. I did not think it was wrong for the administration to take military action. I thought they needed authorization to do that. Today it is much harder to declare war against enemies than it was 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. It is not two army marching against each other over the peace treaties of the end of hostilities and something much harder to find with victory thats much harder to get your head wrapped around as principles. I worry that if congress does not authorize the war against isis. Well never ever authorize war ever again as a congress. You will lose your voice in making those decisions. What is happening today syria should be worried. A slow creep of u. S. Troops inside that country from a number that was close to zero, a year ago to a now looks like thousands, emissions thats very, very hard to define about helping local groups retake raqqa but increasingly looks like a mission that in capsule late raqqa and between all of faction that exist around town. If thats the case, syria is looking a lot more like iraq and no debate in congress whether it is a worthwhile endeavor for the country to participate in. I worry about checks and balances falling apart when it comes to foreign policy. This country is getting into another major intervention in the middle east without a full debate in congress and we can talk about this situation in north korea as well in which it represents real challenges for this question of rule of law, too. It is creating this molasses around the trump agenda. I am trying to raise my voice, i will be happy to talk to you about some important wins that we got for connecticut and south western connecticut . The last bill in the format that i was the author of last year. I am also trying to raise my voice on a National Level and trying to be apart of what i think is a defining moment for this country and i will end on this. I am perpetually a Glass Half Full guy. You cannot be in this job and see the light down the tunnel. Here is how i do this. I am stealing a little bit of this from a colleague of mine who talks about these words of declaration of independence which are in a way, north star of the country, all men are created equal, totally flawed from the beginning because of the time, all men were not equal and the phrase just said men. It was a radical idea and this idea of a colony. You know you can kind of read our entire countrys history as trying to get a little bit closer to that reality. That reality of fuel equality of existence and equality of experience and yet, you can also read this nations history as one of two steps forward and then one step back that when you make enormous amount of progress in a short period of time, there is this natural tendency for americans to dig a temporary trend. We should not forget how much process we made over the last ten years. The ability to think about healthcare as a human right rather than a privilege, 100 years to talk about universal healthcare and of the enactment of the law and our ability to bring in waves of immigrants and the traditions of those that we brought from europe and asia. There has been this decision among big parts of the American Public that just put a pause onto dig a trench for the time being. I would argue that the definition of this country frankly in the end is not about the two steps forward or steps back. After that pause, we decide to get moving once again on the road to that north star. Thats one of these moments. Thats what it is. It is a moment in which we decide whether we are still on that journey or not. I just fundamentally believe that well make a decision that we are in this Resistance Movement of whatever you want to call it thats built across the country is a collective effort thats built on the ladder and get back on the journey. Count me as part of that Resistance Movement. Thank you very much. [ applause ] lets ask some questions. So we have two microphones so folks can line up at the microphones and well take as many as we can. Sorry for the sp the roads ar just awfully jammed today so i am going to take as many as i can in the next hour. Lets get through it, lets rotate there to there and upstairs. There we go. Well sort of do that. Go ahead. And quick questions and i will give quick answers. A founding member, thank you for all that you do and so many areas, i am going to address the independent commission issue. In the face of the comey firing and Washington Post yesterday ran a piece entitled Senate Democrats can stop trump scandal from becoming the new normal, using tactics such as asking mcconnell during a time to yield questions. In light of the threat of this weeks events to the foundational pendings of our democracy, will you agree to use these measures until such time as your republican counter part agree to an independent commission and special prosecutor to investigate trump russia ties. Thank you. Thanks for the question. [ applause ] i have not read that article so i cannot apply on it. I think you heard me saying in my opening comments that i think we absolutely are going to have to use every tool in our disposal trying to translate our colleagues of the house if republicans choosing to join us. I dont think well under estimate of what this moment is for the Republican Party and thinking about what we are asking them to do. We are asking them to step outside of their party to directly challenge this president to call for the appointment of independent council. I understand theyll not be able to make that decision on a dime. It will take them a couple of days to figure out the gravity of this moment. We dont have the luxury. It is the trail thats grown cold and the message thats being sent to the fbi and chilling message of the truth. Well get solidified. I want to give my republican colleagues some time to understand what they need to do here. That time cannot be limit less and well have to use after power that we have. You tease some of the tools we have, you know they have limits of efficacy. Excuse me. You are asking about asking questions of majority leader and the problem is we dont control the house of the senate so we have procedure tools that are our disposal that ultimately are not just deposited in the end but we should take a look at using anything that we have. Hi senator, good afternoon, diane here from stanford, the conservatives have done a phenomenal job of the last few decades. Now theyre attacking the democrats of the party of no, no ideas and the party attached to obama and the clintons ma shch. Do they have a strategy or fresh messengers or some people in the pipeline thats going to be attractive to the general public instead of the whole party antimessaging thats going on. Thank you for all your fantastic work in stanford and around the area. I am not here to deliver a certain amount of the state of the democratic party. I will take your question and try to answer it. You know listen, i think we have to understand that your people have watched this economy technically recover and they dont believe it is recover for them. Ultimately, we have to be a party of Economic Growth but not just for the top 1 . We got to be a party of Economic Growth for everybody and not just for millionaires and billionaires. We got to be a party of inclusion and a party of the country that includes everybody. We have to be a party of Economic Growth for everybody. In fact, the matter is, you know Bernie Sanders got hillary during the campaign talking about free college because, you know, it is unrealistic. So what if it is unrealistic . It is a great idea that everyone should be able to eye foafford to college. [ applause ] as a party, i think we got to be consistent of our messaging and making sure that it is based in peoples economic fears and we cannot be afraid of putting big revolutionary ideas on the table that may not be a realist tomorrow but tell the country of the vision of where we wanted to go, deep into the future so you know i think right now, we are in a crisis moment which this Republican Congress is trying to jam down our throats of legislative measures that i is a lot of our efforts is around opposing that agenda. We have to be much better at stra translating who we are and not being afraid of big ideas and telling people of where we want to go. Hi, how are you . My name is jeffery all coaliti. And our main function, reason we created the group, is to attain the passage of a bill thats already in the house, in committee, which is hr676. Medicare for all. I just want to repeat that for everybody. Hr676. Its worth reading. This bill will provide health care, real Quality Health care to every child, woman, and man in the United States. And it will not only do that, but it will also provide a savings of over 600 billion per year. Not over ten years, 600 billion per year with a promise of increased savings in the future. It will also Save Companies thousands of dollars per employee per year. And make our companies more competitive overseas and help our balance of payments. So we have several requests for you. We would like to ask if you would commit to introducing this bill in the senate as an alternative to the horrendous bill that was passed in the house. If youll becommits champion in the senate. If youll meet with us and work with us so we can figure out y ways we can support you and you can support us and support a National March to pass medicare for all. Thank you. Let me yeah, i would be happy to talk with you more about the bill. Im not familiar with the house bill. Heres my approach to this issue about where we go once we hopefully defeat this just terrible draconian, cruel republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care act. I am a believer in the public option. What is the public option . Its the ability for anybody in this country to choose whether they want to be on a private plan or on a medicare plan. And originally conceived, the public option was going to be sort of its own medicarelike plan, but you can short circuit that and give people direct access to medicare, right . And allow them to buy into medicare or allow them to get a discounted price if theyre on a lower income. Ultimately, i think thats probably the fastest way to the kind of system that you want, which is a system in which everyone in this country is on a medicare product. Give them the choice. Give individuals the choice as to whether they want to be on