committee and on her level is representative jessica farrar, from district 148. she was first elected in 1994 at the age of 27. she's the longest serving hispanic member in the texas house of representatives. she is the vice chair of the judiciary committee and member of the state affairs committee. she is founder of the women's health caucus and serves as the chair. so i'm going to turn it over now to david to talk a little bit about what is happening with the american worker in the states and some ideas that cap has for how to advance this middle class working class agenda in the states. >> thanks, nick. and i -- do you want to join us? >> i'll be there in one sec. >> so thanks very much for letting me sort of i think frame this discussion. because what i want to focus on is why we are talking about the state of the middle class and