[applause] thank you so much those who have joined online, this will be a a riveting conversation and they say that c as someone who is a historians or just a couple of minutes of comments before i turn it over to my colleagues who will be running the show tonight and in 1994 i was president of university of college republicans and more than the dream at the start of the reagan revolution that this army would soon be the majority leader and filled grand economic expertise at least for a narrow window would be ascended in this town

and while we have to be careful as historians not to do well in the past but we are knowing it's not about party registration one party being in charge but the idea that defines us as a people mainly freedom and flourishing and spending a hell of a lot less money. so it is a great privilege to have dick army, senator graham and then a couple years later think of couple and i said before there was a red wave in the louisiana would you adoptpt us as the third senator? he said yes son just keep doing what you are doing. here we are good to see what will come back to heritage

also an equally great privilege it's great to have steve back here to welcome our distinguished fellow and turning the program over to him. [applause] [laughter] >> thank you for that kind introduction having at heritage is fantastic. we will have some fun today welcome to the c-span audience dick army is a legend you actually came to the town to make government smaller, not bigger. [applause] but i just got the note from newtr gingrich with the speaker

of the house and with dick army who engineered the republican revolution in 1994. so i thought i would love to read this comment from dynamic, energetic member when we are the minority and a key part of the contract with america majority had extraordinary force in real reforms and a leader who helped reelect the house to be majority for the first time in 60 years to help develop the only for balanced budgets in our lifetime. pretty amazing his new book provides visit insights into the process that is a nice tribute this is the book if you haven't gotten this book yet it is a great read i think it should be read by every

political science major in america and is a great discussion how things get done and don't get done so we will have some time telling the stories is at least 15 or 20 people and in addition to all of the great contributions one was the incredible thoughts and then my thoughts of dick army as i worked for him on the joint economic committee in 1993 in 1994 and i remember that when i was on the committee and i decided the

summer of 1994 i was going to leave the committee because i had it if you're working for minority member you might as well not have been there the democrats are so arrogant after 40 years of rule like republicans were not even there. i said to him i love working for you butny i just can't do this anymore were not having much of an impact i will never forget he said steve, you cannot leave now. because we are going to take the house november 1994 and dennis was part of that revolution whatever you are smoking i want some of it. [laughter] because it seems so incredibly how improbable that it seemed but obviously it was a tidal

wave election but the republicans stand for something then they went and if it is the lesser of two evils then they lose that was an incredible period and what you did the whole team from 1995 through 2000 only for balanced budgets in the last 50 years we did welfare reforms and capital gains cut and for the younger people in the room dick army was the first inspiration for the flat tax adm one of the first inspirations you are never with me on the term limits idea. [laughter] but it is so fantastic to have you here. i wanted to turn the podium over to senator graham i first met in this building and when

he came up with a crazy idea calling at the redmond though that basically was automatic spending cuts and all of washington had heart palpitations but it's one of the few times we actually cut spending and he has been a crusader for small government as well. [applause] >> . >> thank you. nobody told me i would say anything.

i will say a few things. president reagan once put his arm around me and looked me in the eyes if he says wind for as yours more dangerous than the soviet menace will you assure me that is not the case?de i said yes i will assure you that is not the case. dick and i were destined to become friends. both economist from texas and we bothm. came to washington we wanted less government and more freedom. not a lot of people come to government with the idea of having less of the very institutions they come to be part of and i and those that

had become a leader of the central committee and one of the people actually running so when we got together it washi like i was there and he was tutelling me and what we were doing inside the belly of the beast and they never cease to find that fascinating and i can say without any fear of contradiction that of all the people that i ever served with, dick army was less

interested in getting credit than anybody i have ever done with in washington. as far as i can tell the warrant owning have forward f1 50. [applause] and he got it. 's story is a story that reassures me that america. he was from north dakota i have no idea i went to north dakota campaigning once and i had to plug in the car but he came from can do north dakota

and the first republican majority leader in 40 years and was an indispensable leader in changing america to implement the final stones on the reagan revolution and then he retired went back to being a citizen that is a reassuring story about america. once had a guy in china ask me, where did you come from? we try to look at leadership in america and t we cannot figure out whereat you came from and i tried to explain the greatness of our country so people are always saying where

are the reagans and the addict armies? i do not despair because i know theyy are out there they are waiting to be discovered and waiting for the right momentle. let me just say, the contract with america dick army broke the contract. he gave it the name contract of america. and we tried to copy that we won more than 70. i'm not taking anything away. he grabbed it and ran away with it and made it famous he deserves all the credit that he gets, but he was the fall

of the on —- father of the contract of america. [applause] don't want to overstay my welcome from the beginning of the republic we had wasted money because of the inability to close government facilities especially military. to come up with a commission to approve the closing of military bases. and allowed a congressman or send on —- senator to go to the military base the bulldozer was pulling up and then to rush in and drag me

out because a lot of military bases that never should've been built to begin with and was very instrumental and welfare reform. why we don't take that reform program and apply that to every entitlement program, i don't understand. [applause] the average household of the bottom 20 percent of american income earners gets over

$45000 per year in benefits from the federal government. is that anyone to you can't take people to work? and then the most difficult area with an unmarried woman with children where centerboard would say it's impossible to work we set time limits and reformed and within four years it is amazing what incentives. and then to give credit were not enough hase been given and

then just to say to take it was a great privilege working with you one of the highlights of my career getting together with the deck he was actually running the system to dramatically reform so congratulations. [applause] >> those were terrific comments just wanting with the contract of america i remember talking to after the republicans won congress and i was apologetic is that i didn't pay much attention to the contract with america because i never thought you would win and he said if people thought we would win whenever word has signed the

contractbe. [laughter] that was a great period and incidentally remember your first 100 hours? you passed more good legislation it's always an amazing revolution. ac a lot of new people come in. if any of you in this room at some point in your career have worked with them please stand up and then we have another person most famous person from north dakota kevin kramer is a senator in the state of north dakota and also i believe

you're also from can do? one of the most famous people in washington thank you so much for being here in a handful of you that have read the whole book i'm sure she proofread that many times but i might have been the first person in americahe to read the whole thing. i was testing dick and i'm

laughing so hard the people next to me are concerned but my daddy and dick army lived across the alley from one another and in the book he tells the storyum the elder richard that what has passed with teaching the younger richard how tooi climb poles when dick joined as a line man. now i love the fact he has to go to union shops and work for a co-op at the last time he did either of those but more important than that charlie army who is dick's brother but

my dad did teach dick but he did put the part gave him one of his first economic lessons so let's take go downtown and have a drink maybe he didn't. [laughter] but richard said there is a place for the drink downtown we can go to the liquor store and get a sixpack and my dad retired alignment and dick wrote the price book on price theory but the best clearly is the memoirs and then we celebrate that for sure.

not only iss it a great documentation of a historical moment, but it has countless lessons to all of us and how to behave. and the two go hand-in-hand. some people were concerned about me sitting on the plane but i will give you a couple of lessons that i learned. first of all one of the parts right left the hardest the faculty wives that accosted you because he as a professor had written this piece the newspaper picked up that stay-at-home wives were overpaid. something like that but in fact for consumption as well asoi well as productivity.

but here is what it reminded me. shortly after he went to congress university of north dakota known as the fighting sioux indians which the ncaa said was hostile and abusive that then only can you go get me a hockey jersey before they are all gone? they were smart enough to print a bunch of them but at that event whende he received the coveted award and that state republican majority leader and he gives up a wonderful speech how important the university system is because it teaches our children and our children's children that's for the good news ended and pivoted to the problem of the university system of faculty governance

have how bad that is in from all the wealthy donors just one quick announcement in honor of congressman army hosted by the faculty has been canceled due to recent lack of interest. [laughter]ta with his beloved home state but the presence for the free markets supersedes the populism of north dakota you have a hard time to be elected but he did campaign for me in the nineties as young party chairman he would give the

speeches and we had noim celebrities or republican that had been in congress at that time that we are getting assurances he's not talking about the farm bill and certainly not give his opinion about ethanol. until he came to cut the ribbon and bismarck it just so happens the same day the governor at the time was to give the keynote address but he got sick said can you get him to fill in? is that i think i can and as we were in the parking lot of the radisson and i said this is your chance to say what everyone's about ethanol an article on —- north dakota and then to say i can say whatever i want about ethanol it was

such a dumb idea the russians did not even try it. [laughter] d one time. yes. i did one time try to plead my case for the farm bill. in his office. it's a --. you've got to admit free markets don't work in every situation because agriculture is heavily subsidized by all of our competitors. it's we just are trying to have a you know, a fair marketer at least level the playing field a little bit to which he said without thinking about it contemplating worrying about my feelings. he said i've never met an american decided to become a farmer because somebody put a gun to their head. and i said, okay, we'll talk about something else. let's talk about glenda or edie. anyway i know there's a 39 page index on -- book. i bet i have twice that many pages that i've written. notes stick so that i will always be able to go back to the things that that really matter

because -- took army's axioms and turned them into really into army's parables. again historical as it is it taught us a lot of things. -- your i agree with you. i think it should be it should be required reading for every freshman for sure for every freshman that comes to congress for sure because one thing the newt gingrich said to me the first time i ever met him and i told him that you and my dad grew up together. -- army is the epitome of what one man can do in congress if he has the will ladies and gentlemen when he passed brac he was a junior member of the minority party. that should be encouragement for everybody that aspires to do big things. the lessons of your ten years leader proved that regular order works. regular order works. i've been in congress ten years. i've never seen regular order. but your book proves that regular order works when you respect every member. when you empower every committee. and you honor the chairman i'd like to see that return. i think we'd get back to a lot

of those principles. if in fact we just took care of those. but perhaps the greatest economics lesson that you taught us. there can that you teach us in your book is that god's grace is in high demand and high supply and it's still free. it's still true one of the most important lessons i take from -- book. is that going home on weekends makes you a better member of congress than going on a codell? mean that was that that one's gonna hurt some people. but it's true. you inspired me to be a senator as well, and you know that. you know that and the reason and the way he did it, don't worry. it won't be as blunt as you put. was because i asked him in 1993 senator graham if such a celebrity from texas as he is would ever run for the open seat vacated by lloyd benson to which he said. i'm not a big enough, you know. to be to be a senator, but you

have the potential. and you have always had, you know great aspirations for me. -- army and my father learned a really valuable lesson together climbing polls that if you work long hours you get time and a half. and then professor army became he became congressman army and leader army. and he and his entire team many of whom you've seen tonight and there are many others. proved that if you work long hours at their job. you don't make an extra penny. but just like my dad who earned time and a half benefited his family -- and his team. their hard work have benefited all of our families. and you can live without assurance --. you are a man to quote your own book not about you, but i'm going to quote it back to you

our man of great great stature as well as a man of great. status there are two men in my life. without whom i would never be a united. they're both named richard. they're both from can do. and i love you both. thank you. thank you so much senator. that was so fabulous. by the way. i apologize. i forgot to mention the most important person in this room susan army, susan. thank you for everything you've done. so i asked a few people. would you like to say something about your husband? all right. i can't wait to hear what you have to say. ladies and gentlemen, susan.

i'm not sure if i'm supposed to come up or not. but here i am so let me think about this my husband and i have been married for almost 42 years. and i've got to say it has never been boring. i remember when he first came to me, we'd only been married about two and a half years. and he said, you know honey i've been thinking about i i really think i could do a lot of good and do some good work if ran for congress. and i said what? i'm cooking dinner, you know we have children here. i don't what are you talking? so anyway, i just very quickly. i'd read a few articles on political families and how tough their lives were and i said if you do this honey, i'll have to think seriously about a divorce. and so i laughed and he said really and i said, well, i don't know. let's talk about it.

so we did and he had he really had deep felt feelings. he had a plan and he knew who he was. he was an economist. and he'd been watching c-span and he would talk to me about this and he would say, you know. there's so many good things that we could do. and so i just really didn't want him to do it, but he did and he and i encouraged him to do what he wanted what his dream was. and he ran and against all odds he want. and then he said, you know, i'll never be in leadership those guys. they have to work all the time. i'm just going to be a regular member. just do my work i said, oh good. that's great because we can, you know, get back to a normal life. before i know it he's running for leadership. for eight years and but i look back now that we're out of it. it's so much better. i can look back and he did so much.

i mean he and his team. they did so much he had the best team in dc and they did wonderful work together and i look back. you know, it's been what 20 years since he's been out of congress. and i'm amazed as i've gotten older. i'm amazed at what my husband and his team did. so it was worth it. it was worth it. the kids said it was good. before we hear from from -- army. there's one person in this room who really played a huge huge role in and -- army becoming a member of congress, but also majority leader was with the -- for many many years. really literally from the very start and that's carrie not carrie. where are you? can you come can you come up and say few words about those first campaigns? i mean the stories of that campaign and how -- really, you

know rolled the dice and really put everything on the line was amazing. and so thank you for everything you did to make -- armory the success that he was i will try we're still trying to figure out if susan actually voted for -- in that first. well, i mean we've heard tonight from senator graham and and others about how much of a difference he it's true. it's a phenomenal difference he made. career, but i've tried to figure out what made him different. and so i thought of a few things one is he truly is fearless. and he chose to run for congress when everybody said the pool to try. i thought there's no way you're going to win against the the guy who was incumbent who had been mayor of arlington for 26 years who had millions of dollars and but he did it anyway, and he said i'm gonna i'm going to win my own way, and he knocked on

10,000 doors he made. thousands of phone calls you scratched his way. he got it done, but he was honest with me when he interviewed me. he and susan interviewed me to be his campaign manager he goes. and i didn't know two things. i don't have any money and i don't know anybody who does. and he was correct on that. you took on all the fights once you got up to dc and you know the base closing bill. he was literally a junior member and his second term not on the armed services committee. and i remember one time senator graham. he came back. i think he had. it shared the idea with you and you said that can't be done that's impossible. so i tried it one time and it goes i just that just makes you want to try it that much more and so with brian gunderson and others on the team after you know, three or four good years of getting it done it it got through and it continued for many many rounds and say billions and billions of dollars. but there are lots of other issues he took on school choice

back when even the first bush administration was opposed to it when it was i think our first goal was to get a majority republicans to vote for it and now it's party orthodoxy, but it wasn't for a long time public housing reform with jack kemp walter faunt roy and all the others in those days ag subsidies, which you heard about which people thought you could never touch protecting the homeschoolers, which i think to this day probably shut down congress more than any other project i've ever seen but yeah, we just had remarkable success across a variety of issues and i was trying to think of other. house members or senators who left a legacy who left behind such a a big body of work and i think of maybe ted kennedy on the other side, maybe phil graham, but there aren't many. it's a very very short list. i think you can be proud of what what you left behind. another difference is he truly didn't give a hoot what anybody thought about. and that gave him remarkable freedom. he did what he thought was right

and what his conscious told him to do and he couldn't be bent. i mean lobbyists couldn't bend him his donors and his district couldn't bend him and he lost several of them because they tried and he refused. he told constituents. what he believed and in one. famous encountered a town hall meeting a guy just keep badgering him over something over and over again and -- finally said i've had enough of you meet me outside after this and i'll kick your --. you may not have said but but that was kind of who he was but he's not justified or he's a thinker and that's another thing. i think that sets him apart is he really does spend time actually. i think thought time today is a pretty rare commodity my kids i try to get them to like. you've got empty time. think don't just go to your phone and look at something but -- would be in the shower. he'd be out fishing or he'd go for run or whatever and he would he would just think and so on a lot of times on monday mornings,

he would call me in his office goes. i've been thinking. and i knew something was up at that point and he would have some. idea, like even back in the university came up with his invisible foot of government. corollary to adam smith's invisible hand of the market and you know, it's look it up. it's really well done, but he would come up with an idea in congress that we would either we would analyze for days. turn it into some project and and many of them would would change america and just he would take the time to think and today. we're just reacting to stuff that we see on the news or people are pushing, but he would actually take time. and think about it whether it's on a power pole in north dakota thinking about whether you should go back to college. or thinking about the flat tax or thinking about some of their economic concept. he also analyzed people. and he could unlock people because he would study them and understand them. and to this day, you know new gingrich is a great guy love the guy spent thousands of hours in

meetings with him and the rest of the leadership i think -- probably analyzed new better than anybody else who's written or talked about nude. i'll i'll let you read the book to see his analysis of new but i think it's spot on he read widely. and he remembered what he read from all the the classic economists adam smith. he written. you know, george gilder was a great friend of his thomas soul milton friedman. some of the classics joseph schumpeter. i mean he read them and studied them and remembered them and learned how to apply them and different situations and he could articulate the concepts. whether it's a leadership meeting or at a town hall meeting or on a tv interview. he could he could explain it better than anybody else. i think i i know and many leadership meetings. there would be a big battle about something. and -- would then just launch into this? soliloquy bringing in several famous, you know economists of the past and just shut the whole thing down there go i can't argue with that.

and later when when he became a believer in christ years into his career. he he learned to live out his faith in everything. he did and that gave him tremendous. peace. particularly toward the end when he was just unfairly maligned by a lot of people that should have been his friend, but he had to go through a lot and and get quite a few slings and arrows and he did it with a with a peaceful heart and not many of us could have. walk through it the way he did i think. but he also developed. true friendships with people that you wouldn't expect those who've been around a while. never ron dell evans. he and -- were great buddies didn't agree on hardly anything, but they were great friends. jim wright they became great friends, joe moakley rosa de laura, which is really surprised me. they became friends when they were doing the homeland security committee chuck schumer we attacked farm subsidies work with chuck schumer in the day jack brooks who was a crustiest guy in the world.

but -- is the only guy who could joke with him and get away with it. even barney frank. they were actually friends people don't believe that they were his good nature allowed him to say things that most people couldn't get away with one of my favorite stories in the book is he was showing up at one of the office buildings and as he was going through vaccine waters happened to show up. and she was with some of her colleagues. you know maxine waters might appreciate this and it goes oh, maxine. i'm so glad to see you. she goes, why did he goes? well now we can call off the witch hunt. it's as she just laughed. and and her colleagues said maxine, you can't take that because oh come on. that was pretty funny. so she had a good sense of humor about it, too. he often said he was he was good at being pithy. the people didn't always like it when he -- on him. i've recently gone back to the

hill after a 20-year absence and as i look at the hill today is a very very different place, but today's political entrepreneur as opposed to policy entrepreneurs today what typically passes as a campaign is to make an incendiary comment or perhaps tweet something that's outrageous go on their favorite tv network yell at somebody on the floor make a spectacle and then go send out millions of emails and text and try to raise money on it and then go back to the same thing the next day. that's pretty much what a large part of our movement has turned into which is which is unfortunate? we desperately need people who approach their job like -- did. i mean, it's hard to find an entrepreneurial congressman now partly it's because they've shut the rules down and members don't have an opportunity. to be effective on their committee or offer amendments on the floor like he did for so long. but i hope if republicans win they take the majority that they

will reopen this and let members show that they can be a legislator and not just a perform. going forward we need that substance. we need the you know the political changes that can be made. for anyone who wants to understand the way congress worked during army and grams era. read his book. i really think it's it's a classic. book that people can learn from and and i agree members maybe heritage or someone could send a copy to all new freshmen when they come in. i think it would be well worth their their time to read it. they need to learn what it did. they need to replicate it because we need more leaders who can you know change america the way he did. i think he did come to a dc. we reached to ride around and pick up truck back in that 1984 campaign. he said i want to go to washington to save america. well, he did. you did. but we need people to do it every generation. so when you get a whole new crop, i think that can do. you did -- so it i'm terribly proud to have known you. proud to have worked with you and to get to know susan over

the years and all the other members of our team that are here tonight. it was a wonderful group and incredible era. so thank you for let me be part of it. i'm going to tell one other quick -- army story and then i will by the way the book is leader by richard kay army and it is a wonderful read just one fun story that carrie reminded me of and i see that andy laperier here is here in the front row and worked, you know diligently and can helping put together the flat tax idea that their army flat tax and you may remember this story annie, but we had called in a bunch of really prominent economists to to you know to to have a conversation with -- about that plan and and so we brought in our laffer. and i think it was steve forbes. and i think like jack kemp was

there or someone answered the three of them are huddled on this couch in army's office, and we're kind of sitting across from him and a -- army's first statement as he said gentlemen. said there is not been as much brain power on that couch since i slept there alone. all right. here from -- army the great one of the greatest majority leaders in the history of the house of representatives -- army. thank you. thank you all. i just really want to make two points. the first is about the house of representatives. i came to know and understand that. this is the most unique institution in the cause of

liberty and representative democracy in the history of the world. and i was so privileged. to be part of it. i learned to loveth the institution. i learned to love the people who loved the institution one of the people. whose president recurs in my book and one of the few people with whom i served whose approval i coveted. was senator bird from west virginia people think that's a strange choice? but i love senator byrd for the way. he loved the institution. and i wanted him to remember me. as a person that did honor to the inst. i like to believe i succeeded. when i came there. the institution was run by regular order. the democrats were evil. we knew that but they ran a good

ship. and as a young entrepreneurly minded. member of congress i could innovate legislation because i knew what the rules were. thanks largely to david hobbs. who taught me the ropes? but if you know the institutional structure and the procedures and the protocols and if you dare to believe they will be counted on. you can exceed in your individual initiative. you can't in a world that doesn't have that structure. now i look at the congress today and i feel bad i remember the people that i served. i remember the demonic democrats who were in charge of everything. but each and every one of those grumpy old men had served this

nation in the service of its defense. they knew the sacrifice of that service. they understood the causal liberty liberty that they had paid for. and they treated liberty with a very very gentle and loving touch. and they deserve to be respected. and they were but now i've watched the house fall into a different direction. i've seen. republican speakers who fallen by the wayside and i can see i believe it is for one simple reason only. they left the structure behind. they got ahead of the body. they failed to respect each and every member. and their right to participate and then they would come to the floor. with a product that had not been seen or worked on by members at

large. and try to bully it into passage. and it was a heartbreaking thing to watch. i believe. that if the states of this country preserve their integrity as granted in the constitution to administer their elections. and if the elections are administered fairly and honestly the republicans will regain majority of the house. i believe they do an extraordinary. good job. i've administering honest elections. the republicans will join will gain a majority in the senate. and i have a wish and a prayer. for these new majority run the organization in compliance with its rurals in its protocols and it's wonderful traditions. allow each member to be honored

and appreciated and active. and doing what it is they do so well on every committee. you have people who have devoted a lifetime's career who have expertise and historical knowledge. that should be respected. and if you do that, mr. new speaker. you will retain your speakership because you will have an honest. happy and productive institution and it will be to your credit. that will mean you will have to stand up. to an administration that wants to go to the drying room together just a few of us. and we'll work it out and bring it back and you guys can pass it. you'll have to say no, we don't do things like that in our body. we do things in an all-inclusive and respectful fashion. together we are an institution. and by the way of all the things i admired about newt gingrich. the one thing i admired the

most. he understood. congress was a separate and equal. body of this government and it's prerogatives and its obligations. needed to be protected. and they needed to be administered. and thank you newt for that great lesson. that's what we do. we come here to serve the nation. to do so together. in an inclusive fashion that is respectful of all our members. all our members even knows nitwits on the other side of the aisle. should be respected. i remember joe cap was being just because he couldn't throw a perfect spiral. and irrespass was i am a starting quarterback quarterback in the nfl. i apologize. i was elected by my citizen friends back home. and i apologize.

to no one and on their behalf. i demand to be respected. now, let me just take a personal. i wrote this book. people think it's about me. it's not about me. especially those years in congress. it's about us. we did it together. i was never able to talk about my staff. i couldn't see them. we were a team. we were together we stuck up for each other. we stuck by each other and i wrote it one day i composed it to type, right? i found myself typing these words. we loved each other for what we love together. a safe and a prosperous and a happy america. we did that. and we did it so well with such a sense. of loyalty and loving affection through a system that i called

respectful division of labor. that we became known as army guys. and i loved that. i thought it was fitting. your credit called called them carry not guys. you could have called them gillespie's if you like good whiskey. but we were army guys. and michelle davis was the first to enlighten us guys. that the term army guys is a gender-neutral term. we are all army god and we discovered did we not before we all broke up? there were people that were not of our staff not in our shop. there were other members of congress. there were even a handful of particularly enlightened senators. who've called himself army guys. so if you're an army guy, it's because you love one another.

for what you love together a safe and prosperous and happy. america that's why we work. this is the prize for which we talk. so, may i ask you if you are. and army guy. will you stand and give yourself a hand? thank you. well -- army. it is fantastic to have you back in washington. i think this is your first one of your first trips back since you left town, and so it's a it's amazing that you were able to come here. it's a great book. it's called leader. truly. i mean, this is a great great book. it's a great read about how washington works and what it doesn't work senator phil graham. thank you so much for coming from texas. it was really fantastic having

you and we will have drinks afterwards and all of the army guys and gals are going to be having dinner afterwards. so -- army. thank you for all you did for our country. you are a great great patriot.

my name is chelsea lake. i'm a member of the events team at politics and pros bookstore and i'd like to welcome you to pnp live. before we get started a few housekeeping notes.