and the necessary lab work is out of my reach. i understand the struggles of my i,ients because like them, too, have put a band-aid over the hemorrhage. because i cannot afford health care in the united states, i have been forced to the extreme situation of driving across the border into mexico to get affordable care. when in mexico, i drive to the doctor office building, i park and i walked past the many heavily armed guards for their to protect the doctors from being kidnapped in order to get my care. last time i went, i was detained while the bomb squad cleared the building. not i face the reality of having the money to pay for my health care, i fortunately have an alternative to our expensive aca plan, and i was able to purchase health care to mixed

insurers. it cost $75 a year for medical and dental coverage. i can now afford to see a doctor, paper my medicine, and get my required lab work and tests at 1/5 of what i would pain the united states. while they are not up to u.s. standards of care, something is better than nothing and right now, it is keeping me alive. in america, we have access to health insurance but not access to health care. i believe it is a broken system it cannot between. it is broken because of our inability to pay. it is broken because when you marry across an insurance system with health care, you get a system based on the nine and help -- any acess to access to health care. paying an average of 2.5

times as much as other major countries, 29 million people and 31 health insurance million people are like me, underinsured. we talked today about what that and lifespanses and how many years it takes up the lifespan, but really, medicine is dictating how medicine is practiced today. i have hundreds of stories i could tell you, but i will tell you one. i know a man whose brother had open heart surgery. he had open heart surgery on monday, and friday, he was in his wheelchair at the curb and his brother was going to pick him up and drive him home. he put tremendous car and on the way home, his brother died. i believe he was died because he was discharged too soon. i believe that they cut corners

and it puts our lives in danger. finally, half of the nurses training is an assessment. first checks the patient, she assesses them and creates a plan to restoring the patient optimum health. this is a nurse, and as a life long democrat, i would have to say that i see anemic patient who needs an infusion in order to stay viable. the treatment would be to adopt something substantial, medicare for all, and we know it is widely popular. 81 percent of democrats supported and 58% of all americans, so it's that kind of base, that could save the democratic party from going on life-support. i am also delivering a petition of 21,000 americans who are joining nurses and calling you to boldly lead by making medicare for all part of your

platform by including the language of the [indiscernible] thethat they adopted at 2009 convention. we can save the lives of people across this country. thousands of them, and we can recover trillions of dollars in health care savings and show that this is the kind of care and smart leadership that truly makes america great. , nationalof nurses nurses united, and 190,000 nurses across this country, i thank you for your time and we loo forward to seeing medicare for all, included in your platform. thank you. [applause] representative cummings: thank you very much. any questions? thank you. martinez is the arizona

ande president of aarp leaves the network of more than 100 state volunteers and is the spokesperson on a national and addition, heand in leads the organization and volunteering counsel. advisor inademic reading with the community college district. martinez: good afternoon. my name is daniel martinez and i am the president of aarp in arizona and then the caregiver of my life, lillian. two years ago, lillian suffered a mild stroke at 58 and she was also in an accident, leaving her with second and third degree burns. thankfully, she has made a

nearly full recovery. as her primary caregiver, i'm all too familiar with the obstacles that we face in that so many families struggle with every day. prescription drug cost and out-of-pocket medical costs are harming too many people. my wife is one of them. amongst several other drugs she minimizeibed to to another stroke, she was also put on a drug to manage her diabetes. this is not a generic drug, which pushed our monthly fees quite into the medicare donor whole, resulting in skyrocketing costs. act ishe affordable care phasing out the cost, patients using high-cost drugs need relief sooner. every month, 90% of seniors, and iran half of americans, take the prescription drug. on medicaresenior spends over $500 a year out of

their own pocket, and that is on prescription drugs. individuals with chronic health conditions or serious illnesses can spend thousands of dollars each year in and out-of-pocket to afford prescription drugs. is more, out-of-pocket expenses are going faster than people wages. the kaiser family foundation study found that the average to dr. bohlen 2015 has grown seven times faster -- found that the grown seven times faster, and that means had come income agility goes to paying costly medical expenses. 31 million people face excessive out-of-pocket cost compared to their income. something must be done to change this. platformratic party should include improvements of the affordable care act where quality falls short in support of the concrete solutions to

minimize excessive out-of-pocket and prescription drug costs. to build on the aca, we should reduce cost-sharing and ordinary doctor visits and create a new tax credit for american burden with the excessive out-of-pocket cost of caregiving for our loved ones. americans will also benefit if they had an expanded enclosure requirement and make sure they are required to pay no more than a network costs for any emergency services. to lower drug costs, we need to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable by promoting competition and leveraging our nation's bargaining power. we must demand a stop to excessive profiteering and proscar gene -- and price gouging on new and existing drugs. we should require transparency and use research.

right now, we have no idea and more costly product is better than a less expensive one already on market. given the billions of dollars we spend on prescription drugs every year, manufacturers should be willing to explain the value of their product and how they are pricing them. should also focus on the large amounts of money spent on marketing and direct to consumer advertising and how that leads to even higher out-of-pocket costs. if you watch any tv, it seems like every other ad is about drugs. continue simply cannot to afford ever going out-of-pocket cost. experience, and speaking with aarp members struggling with rising costs, i have seen many attempts. some patients are able to work with the primary position and

obtain medication samples provided by pharmaceutical companies, but that is only a temporary solution. those getting cap from the veterans of their, their -- from the v.a. -- those getting help from the v.a. -- if they can negotiate discounts on top of beneficiaries, this could be a solution on books on medicare. the democratic party platform has a crucial role to play in guaranteeing costs going down and not up. caregivers like myself, patients like my wife and elders like those i represent in arizona are constantly challenged by those opponents who make it harder to access affordable health care. we cannot let this happen. in closing, i want to review it saying. there is never a wrong time to do the right thing. i ask that you do the right

thing for the 88 million members of aarp. thank you. [applause] cummings:tive questions? thank you very much. is the president of research america and this is and it-profit membership supports public education and advocacy, committed to making health research a higher .ational priority research america has current attention and respect with the record of innovation and advocacy to research. she is an elected member of the national academy of medicine. to. risk woodley: -- woodley: thank you.

it is a high honor and one i know you take seriously. in the interest of your time this evening, i have cut back my remarks as not to be redundant with the many wonderful statements you have heard this afternoon. i am glad that i had the chance to hear them. i do have full comments in submitted and written testimony. research america is a national patients,alliance of academic research institutes all of the country, industries, scientific societies and philanthropy. encompassing about 125 million americans. achievingmitted to faster medical progress and putting research and innovation to work at their full potential. in order to find the solutions to what ails us, and that is what it is about, finding the answers.

one of the founders of research mine,a and a mentor of famously says if you think research is expensive, try disease. she was right then. it is true now. research has already and will once again find help solutions. i am old enough to remember the fear of polio, the initial terror of hiv-aids, and i'm grateful today for the remarkable progress research is making to putting hiv-aids in history books, right along with polio. more.is so much americans are rightly worried about all the diseases and threats that we have been hearing about this afternoon. americans want to know, why research is not moving fast atugh question mark lies that our nation's elected leaders have not made it a top priority to provide the centurys in 21st

research environment that would give it a chance. we believe that a full throated commitment to help security through research is as highly valued by the american public as is the commitment to defense. theamerican people believe speedy medical progress is crucial. we know this from national surveys that we commission regularly. a national survey connect -- connected earlier this month, a majority of americans said they would pay and a dollar a week in taxes if they knew the dollars were going toward medical research. we are not advocating that, but i think it is a powerful statement about something that is important. americans also want to know what the candidates plan to do to make medical progress happen faster. i would say that americans want more elected officials like senator barbara mikulski, who of publict champion

funding and of enacting private sector incentives. she will be missed. we do hope that many new champions will be elected this season. our surveys further tell us that 77% of americans say it is important for the next president and next congress two & a high priority to putting health research innovation to work to ensure continued medical progress. robustis means is funding for the national institutes of health, the world's largest funder of the basic or discovery research and an institution that also funds clinical and prevention and transitional research around the country, as well as in the headquarter campus in bethesda, maryland. it tackles every disease and disability you can think of. in addition, the critical and

underlying basic discovery science that can read and directions we cannot predict in advance. amazes most people to hear that the nih works to achieve the public's understandably high expectations for less than $100 per american, per year. 15% to 16%only bond of all the good ideas it sees from extraordinarily well-qualified investigators. it could do so much more. people brightly are asking, what are we waiting for? we also need to equip the centers for disease control and prevention to fully protect an advanced population health, and ensure that the agencies for health care research and quality can identify evidence-based solutions to the costly and deadly shortcomings in our complex health care system. medical errors are in fact the

fourth leading cause of death in this country. that is a crisis we just simply have to overcome. speeding medical progress is also about doing what it takes to make sure the life sciences industry of our economy continues to produce new medical advances, so we propose to you a platform that would say achieving faster medical progress is an american imperative. we will do what it takes to overcome diseases that rob the people we love of hope, independence and time. we can do this. if we make research and innovation higher national priority, we will grow funding for the national institutes of health, feeling research and ensuring today's diverse group of young scientists that they have a bright future in understanding and feeding

discourages that aid -- that they'll us. agencies play a crucial role in advancing health and health care. policy assure a environment that propels, rather than holds back private sector medical innovation and public and private partnership. thank you. representative cummings: thank you very much. any questions? thank you very much. to the members of the committee, we have three witnesses left. then we will be finished. member of the action indian community and has served , vice councils chairwoman chairman and secretary.

served at the action center in 1978 and was appointed director in 1994. thank you. thank you for being here so late with us. i guess i am on east coast time. you definitely are, probably east coast weather, too. [laughter] mr. chairman, members of the committee, good evening. currently the vice chairman of the indian community, which has a little over 1053 members and 80% of them who live on the reservation and we're just 35 miles south. historically, we have always been a farming community. a 16,000 acre run farm today, we are also working hard to address the 21st century challenges of a rapidly growing community that surrounds us.

as a federally recognized indian tribe, we have a government to government relationship with our andtee, the united states, it is recognized under federal law and the u.s. constitution. all this relationship has been better during the obama administration than on most any other time in history, the united states still falls far treatyf upholding its and trust responsibilities to indian country. under president obama's indian health care improvement act, it became permanent, however, the federal government still spends more per federal [indiscernible] on health care than it does on native people and our life expectancy is still 4.2 years less than the average american. native people will suffer from some of the highest rates of addiction and one out of three native women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. the leading health, the leading workgroup recently

found that the need-based estimate for indian health billion in $27.6 2015. budgete president request for 2015 was $5.3 billion, less than 20% of the demonstrated need for health care funding in indian country. of indianthe bureau affairs, which is responsible for public safety of indian country, is so backlogged in the budget for correctional facilities that it would have taken over one century for my community to receive the funding to construct a much-needed jail at current construction funding levels. these shortfalls fall on tribes themselves and they have self-funded projects in the surrounding community to fill the gap left by the federal

government. we have built a central planned, 70,ewater treatment the infrastructure projects, and most recently, our multipurpose justice complex. we understand that budgets are about priority, and it is long past that the administration puts a higher priority on investments in indian country communities across america. we are thankful for the progress of the past eight years and the used to build upon to ensure that native american programs are protected and expanded rather than rollback, yet again, as we have seen too many times in our history. i would like to thank the platform committee for listening to my comments and for doing the work you have been appointed to do. thank you. [applause] representative cummings thank : you.

>> first of all, thank you for being here today and thank you for allowing us on your traditional territory and, i just, want to highlight, he brought the indian health care improvement act up and the need for the ihs services. we have been coming to the federal government since before i was born, long before, many years and we have asked for increased amount of dollars to protect and help our families become well. i looked into the tribes in the state of washington, the amount of money we received for patient was $1111 per person per year. $1111, that was a horrific

reality and that has been a concern for us for a very long time. i wanted to ask you, what does that look like? what does health care improvement look like? it is severely low, lower than prisons, but what can we do to improve that, because coming to congress for so many years has helped a little bit, and we have taken small steps that many of our reservations don't have adequate health care facilities, dental, the issues are worth -- are worse than third world countries. it is a great concern and i would love to see the platform committee take a big, bold step to correct the injustices. can you add to that and let us know how we can do that? >> is i had a say in it, you are mentioning how the united states sends money to third world

countries, well they have third , world countries like you said here in the united states alone. we gave up so much. for instance, when we were established in may 1912, we had 48,000 acres. we were allocated 48,000 acres. in that same year, a september, we were reduced down to 21,800 acres. at that timeacres during president taft's administration. historical records said that was a minor adjustment. sometimes, we feel like we're just taking the handouts. we have gone to congress. we see increases, but when you look at the data, it is not much of an increase. there is the same you rob peter , to pay paul, you are never able to address the situation. we have the new preferred

purchase care program which is contract health and managed care and they keep changing the terms. i think it costs us money every time you change the terms. then we get less money, just like your tribe. my tribe is small. we receive services under the hill river indian community and for the purchase care dollars, it is never enough to cover the people. we make every effort to get our people under the medicaid program. any kind of insurance program to help offset the costs. sometimes it does not happen. my tribe is lucky enough, fortunate enough, to be able to supplement the funding at hill river or managed care preferred health care contract care services for our people. i think we are just a few tribes that can do it.

there are so many that cannot. if you read the recent news about the issues that are happening in the plains area, hospital closings, where the native people go there? some will have to travel hundreds of miles to get to a health care facility and probably will be turned away because they don't have the health insurance. indian health is not have enough money to cover. i don't know what the solution is. we can only hope for the best. as a grandmother of 24 grandchildren, i hope it is a lot better when they become full adult. it cannot keep going. there are baby steps towards that and are better than nothing. all we can do is just continuing to fight. again, you have heard the cliches, we were here first, we

were here first and we gave up a lot of sacrifices to allow our neighbors, the newcomers to come in. we are not asking to be paid for the sacrifices, we are asking for equal treatment for what we had to give up with our lands. all tribes persevere and continue and i am proud of that. we are still here. and we're going to be here. thank you. [applause] representative cummings: thank you. thank you very much. we really appreciate your testimony. >> thank you so much. i hope you all will be able to cope with the heat. the cooling downnperiod until sunday comes along.

[laughter] we arentative cummings: joined by skype by a senior [indiscernible] her work includes identifying and supporting the state and federal legislation increases access to autism treatment and analyzing changes brought about by state autism mandates in the affordable care act. thank you for joining us. >> i work with --

>> transition and services. these services are rarely obtained without a battle. the costs are too high. the democratic party has a proud tradition of passing landmark legislation that positively impact people with sabilities including the americans with disabilities act and each of these laws have increased axess to ensuring those with disabilities -- but the full promise of these laws has yet to be realized. they must create culture of enforcement to better lives for the american public. in this regard there's more work to be done and we urge you to strengthen and embolden

enforcement of these laws and inequalities. se in our efforts to remove barriers for people with disabilities to level the playing field of all by enhancing communications and eliminating barriers that seemed insurmountable -- to give americans with disabilities unpress dentaled abilities to fully integrate into their abilities. we strongly support making technology and access for ople with disabilities affordable.

nd promote work incentives without compromising the possibility to get to work each day. those with disabilities deserve the same protections for those and hose of others whether people with diseasibilities have the resources not depending on where they live. the right to persons with disabilities. the united states has served as a role model for many of these issues and we press the senate ratify -- people with disabilities look to the

democratic leadership to make it possible to earn a living wage and go to college. ask that it reflect prosperity that lift up all americans including americans with disabilities. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. questions? thank you very much. our last witness. pam simon. who is a member of the every town survivor network. the every town survivor network brings together americans to have been personally affected by gun violence to build a community of support and inspire them to become leaders in the gun violence movement.

ms. simon was representative of gabriel gifford's community outreach director and attended the congress ongoing event in tucson, arizona on january, 2011. she was shot in the head and chest and hand and survived. and thank you very much for being here. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. it's a real honor to be a part of this and to be allow to the testify on this issue. so as you said, my name is pamela simon, and i'm testifying on the importance of including gun violence prevention in the democratic platform. this is particularly poignant given the events, the horrific events that happened in orlando last week. but we should all remember it is the one-year anniversary since the tragic event at mother emanuel in charleston.

it just doesn't seem to stop, does it? and that's why i'm here today. this is a critical issue to hear in the platform. persons are 25 times more likely to be killed by a gun than in any other developed country. this is a national tragedy. 91 people a day are killed by a gun. approximately 55 of those take their own lives with a gun. a large percentage are veterans. children every single day are killed by guns left unsecured. this is not only a safety issue. his is a social justice issue. as a chairman said on january 8th.

no in a growing club that one wants to be in. as you mentioned i was on the staff of congresswoman gifford's and we were setting up to do what you are supposed to do and that's to take representative democratic process to the people. we were in front of a grocery store where the congresswoman who was just starting her third term was going to meet with her constituents. she loved doing this. and i was amazingly early that morning. and my colleague, a young man, zimmerman, who had a brilingt ture who was our constituent worker planning his wedding. that afternoon they were going to go look for the sites where the wedding w0u8d take place. he and i set up, set the chairs up and the flags in case anyone

wanted to have their picture which many always did because congresswoman gifford is with a very outgoing, friendly person and the congress woman showed up about 10:00 a.m. that morning and i texted her and said wear a warmer jacket because it was pretty chilly for tucson that morning and she said too late. i'm on my way and met first with a veteran who wanted to tell about his experience in afghanistan. the second person was a man w40 he and his wife wanted to -- they were republicans but wanted to comp meantime her on her centrist votes. and while they were talking to her a young man who i later discovered had been in my -- in the junior high i taught in. i taught for 22 years, suddenly appeared and started shooting. and for those that feel like you are more safe if you have a

gun in your pocket, he was able to take down 19 people, six dead, 13 wouldn'ted in less than 15 seconds. that is not time to draw a weapon to protect yourself. he had another 30-round clip in his pocket. this tragedy would have been greater had it not been for heroic efforts on the part of two men who took him down and a very feisty woman who grabbed the magazine out of his hand as he tried to re-load. this scene is being played out over and over and other in our country. since retiring from the congressional office in 2012, i've worked with a provide of promote combroups to common sense legislation passed to prevent those who shouldn't have a firearm from getting

them. there's almost 1,000 survivor advocates who turn their grief and pain into action, and i have to say it's one of the greatest privileges of my life to have met some of these people. parents of children from newtown. but also mothers from chicago and detroit where the killer has never been found, and they never made the newspaper or the headlines. it just is a common thing that happens in their neighborhood. their hearts break as much as those that are on tv for months after was a. every town for gun safety now has the largest gun violence prevention group with grassroots chapters in all 50 states. our broad bipartisan coalition includes every town survivor network and moms and mayors against illegal guns and more and this is important.

more than 3 million supporters. e develop and advocate for common sense public safety measures that respect the second amendment and save lives. we promote evidence to promote evidence-based policies that are advocacy teams that will pass laws that will reduce gun violence. t past two years we have had legislative wins in every region of the u.s. passing laws to reduce gun violence in states as varied as oregon, south carolina, vermont and wisconsin. i tell you this, because i want to point out that gun violence prevention movement is growing. it is getting stronger by the way day and it's becoming a voice that's being heard by voters and by elected officials alike and by candidates. polling shows 74% of ra members

are in favor of comprehensive background checks. so i would like to encourage the dnc to make gun violence preeks a strong and important part of the democratic party platform. it is possible to protect the second amendment and keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. we can do this by doing some of the following. one, criminal background commission on every gun sale in america including those sold at gun shows and those sold on the internet. we know that background checks work. 1998 it's block the sale of licensed gun dealers if a 240es prohibited from holding firearms. and we know the background checks, 46 fewer -- 46% fewer

women are shot by their intimate partners. we know that 48% fewer law enforcement officers are killed by a gun in those states, and we know that in those states they have a significantly lower gun suicide rate than in states without background checks at gun shows. two, keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers by closing the boyfriend loophole. prohibit stalkers from buying guns and make sure there are strong procedures in place to require prohibited users to turn in their guns. three, we must close the terror gap by giving the f.b.i. discretion to block kang sales to perspectived terrorists. we know they have the opportunity to do this on monday and democratics should not allow a watered-down version that will still allow

hose 20 slip through the cracks. and we need to require anyone who carries a concealed loaded weapon in public to have a permit. a clean criminal record and a strong and comprehensive gun safety training. and six, we need to strip away this special immunity that we have given gun manufactures. these policys are not going to stop every shooting but can go a long way into making us safer and a long way into making this a country we want, a much safer country. i strongly encourage the democratic national committee toe adopt a robust plank on gun violence prevention on their platform. thank you appear this opportunity. [applause]

>> any questions? yes. doctor? >> thank you. thank you for your testimony, and your r survival commitment in ensuring others will not en -- endure the fate you and your colleagues did. i just want to make a statement to the to you and the staff 257bd two campaigns that put this together. this has been an extraordinary three days that we have had. today i thought each day i said the testimony can't get better and it just keeps getting better. we keep hearing stories and challenges that are so great. and even where we have differences. and there are differences, i'm convinced that we can square the circle and find language that will be both aspirational and practical that will find a way to state who we are and what we want for america what

our goals where and the challenges we face in getting there. and so i really want to thank everyone for participating in this and i've been somewhat silent today and but i've been taking anytime and the witnesses have been extraordinary and i have learned a great deal from them. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> i'll just be brief. i actually want to build on dr. zogby's remarks about all the testimony we've heard and i want to thank you for your activism and advocate and voice to us. it is really touching that we end today with -- it's important that we end today with your statement. your experience, and i hope we will carry this through. i know that these are crinkle times. but i hope that we can really the issues you

have raised to us. and i know that we do have leaders in the senate willing to spend hours after hour after hour after hour to bring attention to these issues. and i hope that all of us in this room can use our voices with the senate over the weekend, because there is an important vote on monday. but i, too, hope that we can come together on a whole host of issues that are so important to the american people and really draw the importance of our work here. >> representative reese. >> i too want the join with you and i don't want your testimony to be taken lightly. the fact that you are a gun violence survivor, i think the picture of elected officials trying to have a town hall meeting and not being safe. and i really thought after that

, that colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the republicans would have said, man, our own colleague got shot. we should do something. but i do think we owe it to you , to the families in orlando and charleston to have strong language. i think america's waiting on strong language to reduce the gun violence that allows, as you said, the right to bear arms and the right for folks to be safe and make sure they are not in the wrong hands. so i want to say thank you for your bravery to be able to come here today and know that your testimony is not taken lightly and the lives we lost are not in vein with our democratic party and platform. >> congress -- >> if i may something about the comment about christian congresswomen. . i speak at many, many places

and i always want to tell people that there is hope. the movement is growing. and it's growing stronger and stronger. the voices are growing stronger and stronner. four years ago there was no way for survivors to connect. support each other on a facebook page regularly. and we meet locally as well as nationally and those voices are growing stronger. and many others are getting involved. so i think there's a great deal of hope this this issue. >> thank you. i, too, want to thank you for being here today, being very brave and bold, and to all the survivors, you know, you could have not taken the next step in terms of trying to help ensure

that this never happens again in terms of gun violence. and so working on gun violence prevention strategies and organizing around gun violence is so important and it's so important that you do this and that we listen. i think the party, our democratic party is listening. i think this committee, this drafting committee has heard you. i think that what has been said earlier, i want to associate myself with dr. zogby's remark -- because i think your testimony culminating -- all the testimony has been clear but culminating with your testimony has been profound and the fact that our democratic party is a big -- party and we may disagree on certain shuts or how to get to a certain place but for the life of me i don't see how we don't come out

of here with a platform that's unifying and speaks to the aspirations of all americans. and today has convinced me that we can do that even more so. so thank you very much. give gabby our love. we miss her. she is doing a phenomenal job, and tell everybody in our movement to prevent gun violence that democrats hear you loud and clear, and we are going to win this. and thank you. [applause] >> i just also want to thank you for joining us today, and i agree with my colleague who noted, it is particularly appropriate that we e7bd it -- you are our last witness in these of our public hearings, and given the tragedies that seem to continue, it's so important. >> mr. chairman, i just want to

say this has been an amazing set of witnesses this weekend and last weekend and i was struck by what one witness said which i think is a good admonition for us to find the common ground, life is not lived as a sy lowe of issues. they interact and intersect with each other and all the issues which we have heard about in these hearings intersect with each other and it's now up to us to find how that intersection can make us better as a democratic party. so thank you. >> thank you. so we come to the end of the day. and i want to thank all of you for sitting here so patiently and listening to carefully. and i want to thank you ms. simon. you can come back. i want to tell you something. you know, i am a part of the

army that you talked about. i lost my nephew who was like a son to me, five years ago. gun violence. never did find out who did it. and when you lose somebody like that, you -- it's hard to get over it. and it's hard to mourn, really. because on one side you're trying to figure out what happened. on the other side, you're mourning for what could have been. but there's no passion like the passion that comes out of pain. and i do appreciate and all of us appreciate you. i think barbra lee said it best, but i say out of pain comes your passion to do your purpose. and we really do appreciate you. we do have to do some work and we have a lot of work to do. and one of the things that, you know, when dr. zogby was

talking i couldn't help but -- i have been thinking this all day. i am so glad i'm a democrat. i really am. when i look at the array of speakers that have come before us, and by the way, i give the staff great credit. believe me, there are a lot of people who wanted to come and help screen people and all that. and then i look at the issues that we are dealing with and then i ask the question, would the republican drafting committee be anything similar to this? and i would venture to say, no. but one of the things that i need to ing people, we -- we spend a lot of times concentrating on who we are fighting against. but the people that came here today and the ones who have come in the other sessions in d.c. and the ones who will come here tomorrow, will remind us

who we are fighting for. not so much who we are fighting against but who we are fighting for. and i told all of our committee members when we met, you know, we are here for a reason. this is a moment, and we have an opportunity to make it a movement. and we have the opportunity to change the trajectory of history. and that -- and change the trajectory of so many people's lives. and so i want to thank all of you for your patience and i want to thank you for being here, and we are going to end tonight -- now, tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen. we will be dealing with campaign finance. and voting rts. -- by over l not be by 1:00 so people can get to their planes. we will re-convene tomorrow morning for the members of the

committee at 8:00 for breakfast then go into session at 9:00. committee members are also invited to an evening reception beginning now. [laughter] >> we were supposed to start an our ago at the compass restaurant at the hite region cri they told me it was right across the street and if you need directions, staff will direct you over there. all right? by the arizona democratic party? ok. ok. again, i want to thank the staff. staff is has been simply phenomenal. all the staff. [applause] we also, we will thank the hotel staff tonight and again all the security. everybody. but thank you very much for all that you have done. thank you. all right. i'll see you later. [applause]

>> next, live, your calls and

comments on "washington journal." then a house hearing tonch commissioner s. and then day two of the democratic national convention committee. after the surrender in a matics the united states face do so more than a decade of challenges during reconstruction and policies instituted at that time had a lasting impact on american history. 1:00 p.m. ing at such as free people refugee camps. reconstruction in the north with andrew slap associate professor of history at east

tennessee state university and the post civil war career of hear s. grant also conversations on the return of the confederate veteran and the - of the lost cause. for the complete american history tv schedule go to -span.org. this morning sam fleming looks at the state of the u.s. committee and news from the latest federal reserve board ead meeting.

to combat homegrown terrorism and extremism. as always we will take your calls and you can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. "washington journal" is next. host: good morning to you, today is saturday, june 18th. philadelphia this week became tax on to pass a sodas. and philadelphia's mayor says they use the money to pay for hildhood causes. and childhood education. we are asking you this morning how do you feel about a soda tax? if you support the