ms. schaefer has a question. >> have one comment. you do not have to answer. it just and i probably should not say this, i will get slammed. -- begs the question that if elgar -- if al gore had won the election we would not be behind the eight ball. that is my comment. thank you. >> thank you very much. sonnier -- sonia ramirez. she served as the deputy director of the governor of affairs for the bc tv. and she served for over six years as the government relations representative for the afl-cio where she worked as the chief immigration lobbyist. she has been a resource to working families and -- in the latino community, serving as a andtical organizer government affairs representative. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. it is an honor to join you today to discuss our nation's energy future and explain the use of unions.erica's trade cost building trade units are representing 3 million crafts guild nationals in the u.s. and canada. our members -- on behalf of our members i welcome the opportunity to describe how our lu-based business model and our wor

ms. schaefer. >> thank you. i am embarrassed that i, as a gay, jewish woman in north carolina, and we have all of our elected officials -- for the most part republicans -- so we are all in the same boat. there has always been voter suppression in the south, and i understand that but my question is, how do we stop voter suppression so that people can vote and vote in the proper representatives, if they cannot vote? it is a catch 22. >> exactly, that is number one, why, we need to put everything on the table to at least get the voting rights advancement act, to restore preclearance, it means these laws can be passed and they can be unconstitutional independent the way on the people -- unconstitutional, and it puts the weight on the people to raise the money. all of these things they have done would not have been allowed if we had had preclearance, that is number one. we have to make that a centerpiece, and cannot do that unless you are willing to talk about it in the debate, if you are not even willing to have a n

ms. schaefer. >> thank you for your testimony. i wanted to follow up on what was said by some of the committee members earlier. i know earlier this week at progress ohio, our chairman called in. this was an issue that came up, on the injured -- issue of environmental racial injustice. heard about flint, low income communities, and the injustice we had heard about so many people, particularly african-americans, getting cancer, or ms -- my mother had ms. they kind of deal with it, and they don't come together, to find out what caused these things. i know both candidates are firm on the issue of environmental betice, but should there some mention, and if so, what is that, to deal with racial and economic environmental justice? what would you recommend? i think there's a disconnect particularly in the urban low income areas about what is environmental justice. they just kind of deal with all the ailments. in my travels, what i have seen is there is an enormous amount of environmental as to the people on the front lines dealing with or

ms. schaefer. >> thank you ambassador sherman. this is a huge, huge health yet, it is not looked at as a health problem. the stigma around mental illness and addiction is just as bad or worse than it was around aids and it has to stop. if i walked into an emergency help, itsaid i need would be a big different story. this was a great analogy. i think the city needs to look at this. too many of my friends have died. i grew up in agriculture -- a drug culture of the 60's. if you did not get clean, he died. died. it is an issue. thank you for bringing this to light. life in remote, areas. the places that offer some of the highest addiction rates, i was grateful for all the suggestions. i don't know the answer to this question. i know a lot of people were casually foriates things and ended up having their lives wrecked. should we be thinking about that end of this funnel as well as we are working on this? >> thank you all for sharing your various stories as well. it is time for us to get out from behind the veil and talk about how we h