congressman steve cagen is here. congressman. your own mayor, jim smidt. [applause] . and milwaukee mayor tom baret is here as well. i want to thank all the tribal leaders of wisconsin who are with us here today. [applause] and they couldn't be was but i want to acknowledge the great leadership that you're getting in the united states from your senators. let's give them a big round of applause. [applause] this is a town hall meeting. but if you don't mind, i want to make a few comments at the outset, sort of to frame the discussion. and then we'll get to the fun part and you guys can bombard me with questions. as i said, i want to thank southwest high school for hosting us. i especially want to thank -- [applause] i especially want to thank laura for sharing her story. it takes courage to do that and it takes even more courage to battle a disease like cancer with such great determination. and i know her family is here and they're working and fighting with her every inch of the way. moving but sadly it's not unique. every day in this country more and more americans are