WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.840 Welcome to the Hot Dish. I'm Bethany Brookshire and I'm thrilled to present this 2 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:07.560 special episode giving you the highlights from this week's Rural Progress Summit from 3 00:00:07.560 --> 00:00:11.080 the One Country Project. You'll be able to see all of these panels on our 4 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:14.840 YouTube channel soon, so keep following the One Country Project to find out when 5 00:00:14.840 --> 00:00:18.480 they're available. The Summit began with a panel on Trump's trade 6 00:00:18.480 --> 00:00:22.120 war and the impact it could have on our economy. While the panelists, 7 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:25.920 including former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy and Gary Wertish of 8 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:29.440 the Minnesota Farmers Union, agreed that the trade war will hurt 9 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.820 average Americans. Jason Furman of the Harvard Kennedy School 10 00:00:32.820 --> 00:00:36.660 stressed the compounding impact of the Big Beautiful Bill. If you look 11 00:00:36.660 --> 00:00:40.420 at the deficit as. A share of the economy, that's the way economists do it. 12 00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:43.940 So you can compare it over time. It's more than 6% of 13 00:00:43.940 --> 00:00:47.500 GDP right now that is larger than any time in our history 14 00:00:47.740 --> 00:00:51.020 except World War II, the financial crisis and COVID. 15 00:00:51.660 --> 00:00:55.180 There are good reasons for borrowing all those times. There is not a good reason 16 00:00:55.180 --> 00:00:58.580 to borrow right now. And now that we passed this law. That 17 00:00:58.580 --> 00:01:02.350 deficit is likely to go up. Relative to our economy, not 18 00:01:02.350 --> 00:01:05.910 down. I don't think there's going to be a crisis where we literally can 19 00:01:05.910 --> 00:01:09.630 borrow anything. We're just going to have to pay more for that borrowing. 20 00:01:09.630 --> 00:01:12.630 And when you pay more for that borrowing, then your deficit and debt go up 21 00:01:12.630 --> 00:01:16.350 more quickly. Of course, agriculture was a major topic at the 22 00:01:16.350 --> 00:01:19.870 summit, with Senator Joe Donnelly leading a discussion about the Farm Bill. 23 00:01:20.110 --> 00:01:23.670 Scott Marlow, who's been on the front lines of farm policy development for 24 00:01:23.670 --> 00:01:27.070 30 years, pointed out that many of the challenges rural 25 00:01:27.070 --> 00:01:29.810 communities face are rooted in decades old farm 26 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:34.480 we have to acknowledge. That since World War II and really since the 27 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:37.720 Reagan Administration, the underlying frame of our programs, 28 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:41.880 the underlying frame of our policy has been one of efficiency. It's been 29 00:01:41.880 --> 00:01:45.560 one of driving towards greater and greater efficiency of get big 30 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:49.120 or get out. If you and I are both facing the question of get 31 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:52.960 bigger or get out, we both can't get big, someone. 32 00:01:52.960 --> 00:01:56.680 Has to go out. And so the challenge is that with 33 00:01:56.680 --> 00:02:00.250 that underlying frame to the safety net in a lot of our programs, and it 34 00:02:00.250 --> 00:02:04.090 doesn't matter what the crisis is or the issue is 35 00:02:04.090 --> 00:02:07.690 that we try to address and we try and get at, as long as we 36 00:02:07.690 --> 00:02:11.530 stay with that efficiency frame and don't bring resilience into the conversation, 37 00:02:11.530 --> 00:02:15.370 don't bring the human costs and the costs on rural communities into the conversation, 38 00:02:16.170 --> 00:02:19.770 whatever that crisis is, whatever the issue is, it will 39 00:02:19.770 --> 00:02:23.450 continue to drive towards fewer and fewer people. On the land and 40 00:02:23.450 --> 00:02:26.980 fewer and fewer. People in rural communities. And Jennifer Fahy, 41 00:02:27.060 --> 00:02:30.780 co Executive Director of Farm Aid, noted that for farmers, this 42 00:02:30.780 --> 00:02:34.460 isn't new. I was not involved in Farm Aid during the farm 43 00:02:34.460 --> 00:02:37.380 crisis. But what I'm hearing from farmers 44 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:41.980 is. That what we're experiencing now is very 45 00:02:41.980 --> 00:02:45.380 familiar. And as you say, so much is out of farmers control, 46 00:02:45.460 --> 00:02:49.300 from weather and crop failures and pest and disease 47 00:02:49.300 --> 00:02:52.580 outbreaks to prices and interest rates related to market 48 00:02:52.660 --> 00:02:56.370 volatility and trade disruptions. This year has probably been 49 00:02:56.370 --> 00:03:00.010 unprecedented in terms of the uncertainty that farmers have. Been dealt 50 00:03:00.010 --> 00:03:03.650 and continue to be dealt, in addition to the funding freezes 51 00:03:03.650 --> 00:03:07.290 and program cancellations. And so far 52 00:03:07.290 --> 00:03:11.089 on our hotline, which we have operated since 1985, more than half 53 00:03:11.089 --> 00:03:14.650 of the callers are indicating that they are calling financially 54 00:03:14.650 --> 00:03:18.410 distressed. Education was also on the agenda, with a focus on the 55 00:03:18.410 --> 00:03:22.140 nationwide attacks on public education. Award winning journalist Laura 56 00:03:22.140 --> 00:03:25.580 Pappano described the impact Head Start programs can have as 57 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:29.340 Ronny Lau with the National Education association described the impact 58 00:03:29.340 --> 00:03:32.860 budget cuts are. Having on them, Head Start changes lives. 59 00:03:32.940 --> 00:03:36.060 One of the students that I have mentored over the years 60 00:03:36.539 --> 00:03:39.820 would not be where he is today if he did not have Head Start 61 00:03:40.220 --> 00:03:43.860 is from Mississippi. His mother had him when he was, when she 62 00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:47.700 was 15, but she got Head Start involved. He became 63 00:03:47.700 --> 00:03:51.530 a voracious reader and ended up going to Yale 64 00:03:51.530 --> 00:03:55.330 where I met him. And recently he gave me 65 00:03:55.330 --> 00:03:58.970 a phone call when he earned his Ph.D. and he is now 66 00:03:58.970 --> 00:04:02.410 an education policy person in D.C. and 67 00:04:02.570 --> 00:04:05.690 I said to him, I said, you know, your son will have a very different 68 00:04:06.010 --> 00:04:09.730 journey than you did because of the start of Head Start. And he does 69 00:04:09.730 --> 00:04:13.570 have a charming, delightful little munchkin of a son. We've already seen 70 00:04:13.570 --> 00:04:17.010 five out of 12 of the regional offices that lead a lot of Head Start 71 00:04:17.010 --> 00:04:20.250 implementation already close. Up based on this Administration's priorities. 72 00:04:20.929 --> 00:04:23.809 So like I said, I think this is a fundamental attack on our nation's future. 73 00:04:23.969 --> 00:04:27.409 And I'm not sure who actually benefits out of this. 74 00:04:27.489 --> 00:04:31.089 John Rogers, professor at UCLA's School of Education and Information 75 00:04:31.249 --> 00:04:35.009 Studies, pointed out the unique place public schools have in our nation. 76 00:04:35.249 --> 00:04:38.969 The brand of public schools is democracy. It's 77 00:04:38.969 --> 00:04:42.129 about serving everybody. It's about 78 00:04:42.369 --> 00:04:46.009 enabling members of the community. To see the strengths and 79 00:04:46.009 --> 00:04:49.729 virtues of. People that are different from them and. That they can learn from other 80 00:04:49.729 --> 00:04:53.230 folks. That are different from them and that. We all can work together and build 81 00:04:53.230 --> 00:04:56.790 a shared future. Private schools can't do that. Iowa State 82 00:04:56.790 --> 00:05:00.470 Representative Adam Zabner also noted a disadvantage public schools 83 00:05:00.470 --> 00:05:04.310 have in the voucher Debate, though Laura Pappano acknowledged that they need 84 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:07.630 to change. Private schools can organize more 85 00:05:07.630 --> 00:05:11.070 explicitly around the families who are. Who are 86 00:05:11.390 --> 00:05:14.670 sending their kids there. Right. Ask families to send 87 00:05:15.310 --> 00:05:18.830 letters and call. Their legislators and support these voucher programs. 88 00:05:19.230 --> 00:05:23.070 You know, public schools obviously can't really do that, and so there's 89 00:05:23.070 --> 00:05:26.870 sort of. A structural disadvantage there that I haven't. Really figured out what to 90 00:05:26.870 --> 00:05:30.710 do with. Public schools may need to operate a little bit 91 00:05:30.710 --> 00:05:34.510 differently than they have in the past. A long time ago, they were 92 00:05:34.910 --> 00:05:38.710 virtually the only game in town. And, you know, when we talk 93 00:05:38.710 --> 00:05:42.270 about competition, I really don't believe that vouchers create 94 00:05:42.590 --> 00:05:46.070 academic excellence or competition in any way 95 00:05:46.070 --> 00:05:49.860 whatsoever. But what they do is 96 00:05:49.860 --> 00:05:53.540 they do make public schools need to think a little 97 00:05:53.540 --> 00:05:57.300 bit differently about how they communicate, how they gather, 98 00:05:57.620 --> 00:06:01.140 how they frame, what it is that they're providing, because private 99 00:06:01.140 --> 00:06:04.340 schools do that. And it's part of their, you know, fundraising. Right? It's part of 100 00:06:04.340 --> 00:06:07.540 their philanthropy. Maybe the philanthropy for public 101 00:06:07.620 --> 00:06:10.820 schools is building community and 102 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:14.620 allegiance and support. The panel on rural health care 103 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:18.140 featured Jeanne Lambrew from the Century Foundation, who warned of an 104 00:06:18.140 --> 00:06:21.640 impending shock to rural Americans. The Affordable Care Act, 105 00:06:21.640 --> 00:06:25.360 which has covered 2.8 million people in rural 106 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:29.120 America. We shouldn't forget that this fall, people 107 00:06:29.280 --> 00:06:33.000 in rural areas who get Affordable Care Act premium tax credit 108 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.840 is going to. Lose a significant amount, significantly more than. 109 00:06:36.840 --> 00:06:40.680 Urban areas, because of the lack of. Inclusion of 110 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:44.080 this extender in the tax cut bill. That's going to be significant. 111 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:48.170 So I just hope that we come out of this period 112 00:06:48.170 --> 00:06:52.010 with a renewed sense of community that oftentimes generates from. 113 00:06:52.010 --> 00:06:55.730 Rural areas, but spreads nationwide. Kevin Stansbury, CEO of 114 00:06:55.730 --> 00:06:59.250 Lincoln Community Hospital in Colorado, pointed out some of the ways rural 115 00:06:59.250 --> 00:07:03.010 hospitals are placed at a disadvantage by the system. In the metro 116 00:07:03.010 --> 00:07:06.090 areas, hospitals are paid. At a rate of approximately 117 00:07:06.090 --> 00:07:09.890 240% of Medicare in the rural hospitals on the 118 00:07:09.890 --> 00:07:11.930 Eastern Plains were paid on an average of 119 00:07:11.930 --> 00:07:15.490 139% of Medicare. It's a market 120 00:07:15.490 --> 00:07:19.130 imbalance. I can call a large insurance 121 00:07:19.130 --> 00:07:22.290 company. And say, hey, we need to do. Something about my rates, 122 00:07:22.930 --> 00:07:25.930 and it takes them a while to get back to me. If I'm a big 123 00:07:25.930 --> 00:07:29.690 system in the. City and I own 15 hospitals, that's. A very 124 00:07:29.690 --> 00:07:33.250 different conversation. Dr. Tom Dean, who practiced medicine for 125 00:07:33.250 --> 00:07:36.610 43 years in his hometown of Wessington Springs, South Dakota, 126 00:07:36.690 --> 00:07:40.290 expressed concerns about the impact our complicated health care system 127 00:07:40.290 --> 00:07:44.000 has on physicians. I am concerned about the 128 00:07:44.080 --> 00:07:47.520 overall dysfunction in our health system in general, 129 00:07:48.080 --> 00:07:51.600 which is simply dysfunctional. 130 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:55.760 Our costs are too high. Vast amounts of our 131 00:07:55.760 --> 00:07:59.040 resources go to administration just 132 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:04.080 justifying the bills that come in. And 133 00:08:04.640 --> 00:08:08.080 that has placed a big burden on physicians. They 134 00:08:08.530 --> 00:08:11.890 the demands for documentation, the 135 00:08:11.890 --> 00:08:15.610 administrative demands. I've told a number of 136 00:08:15.610 --> 00:08:19.090 people that my last several years in practice were the hardest 137 00:08:19.250 --> 00:08:22.890 I had. Not because the patients were any difficult. It was 138 00:08:22.890 --> 00:08:26.050 the administrative requirements, 139 00:08:27.330 --> 00:08:30.370 the burden of documentation. And 140 00:08:31.090 --> 00:08:34.460 that has led so many physicians to 141 00:08:34.700 --> 00:08:38.500 either retire early or just be burned out and fed up with 142 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:42.340 the whole thing. The highlight of Day One was, of course, Heidi's 143 00:08:42.340 --> 00:08:46.060 conversation with Secretary Pete Buttigieg who talked about the importance of 144 00:08:46.060 --> 00:08:49.700 face to face interaction to bring people together. I so often think 145 00:08:49.700 --> 00:08:53.540 about the human. In person 3D in real life 146 00:08:53.540 --> 00:08:57.180 relationships that transcend those partisan and social divides. 147 00:08:57.660 --> 00:09:01.340 And I think this is actually one area where rural America has a lot 148 00:09:01.400 --> 00:09:04.510 of to offer because people who live in 149 00:09:04.670 --> 00:09:07.950 smaller communities often have more 150 00:09:07.950 --> 00:09:10.350 overlapping circles of belonging because 151 00:09:11.710 --> 00:09:15.550 so many families that straddle political divides also have 152 00:09:16.030 --> 00:09:19.870 neighbors or faith communities that can get off of the kind 153 00:09:19.870 --> 00:09:23.230 of pre sorted concentric circles that we all live in 154 00:09:23.550 --> 00:09:27.270 with our online identities. I think we were always better able 155 00:09:27.270 --> 00:09:31.110 to see each other as three dimensional people in those processes and 156 00:09:31.340 --> 00:09:34.940 than when we're behind a keyboard commenting on what's going on nationally. 157 00:09:34.940 --> 00:09:38.580 And the Secretary shared some inspiring words about the future of the Democratic 158 00:09:38.580 --> 00:09:42.060 Party. We can paint a picture of what it looks like when government 159 00:09:42.140 --> 00:09:45.420 actually works for you. It's not about making it bigger or smaller. It's about making 160 00:09:45.420 --> 00:09:48.420 sure that you get. Up in the morning and you're breathing cleaner air because your 161 00:09:48.420 --> 00:09:52.140 government did a. Good job of keeping that under control. And you're on a good 162 00:09:52.140 --> 00:09:55.740 road to get to where you need to go because you had a 163 00:09:55.740 --> 00:09:59.500 successful infrastructure policy and you've got a good school 164 00:09:59.500 --> 00:10:03.300 to drop your kid off because we actually invest in education instead 165 00:10:03.300 --> 00:10:07.100 of cutting the Department of Education out. And you go to a job 166 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:10.820 that you know you can count on because you have policymakers 167 00:10:10.820 --> 00:10:14.020 who care about employment in your area. And I could go on and on, but 168 00:10:14.020 --> 00:10:17.700 it's, it's that different and better everyday life. The 169 00:10:17.700 --> 00:10:21.020 second day of the Summit was just as exciting. The day started with a focus 170 00:10:21.020 --> 00:10:24.820 on paid family and medical leave. Representative Chrissy Houlahan, an 171 00:10:24.820 --> 00:10:28.340 Air Force veteran, engineer, entrepreneur and educator, reminded the 172 00:10:28.340 --> 00:10:31.840 audience that the United States is unusual. The United States 173 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:35.240 is woefully behind in its understanding and 174 00:10:35.560 --> 00:10:39.160 appreciation for the importance of paid leave 175 00:10:39.640 --> 00:10:43.440 of all kinds, not just for families, but also medical leave, as you mentioned, 176 00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:47.240 because there are always. Situations that are happening in families, either. 177 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:50.760 To your parents, as you've mentioned, or to your children or to yourself. 178 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.840 But we are one of only seven. Nations remaining that don't have a paid. 179 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:58.470 Leave policy of one form or another. And Carling 180 00:10:58.470 --> 00:11:02.190 McManus, a small business owner from West Virginia, explained both the 181 00:11:02.190 --> 00:11:06.030 value her company gains by offering paid leave as well as the burden 182 00:11:06.030 --> 00:11:09.390 it places on businesses when there is no government policy to support the 183 00:11:09.390 --> 00:11:13.070 benefits. We made policies that allowed 184 00:11:13.070 --> 00:11:16.870 eight weeks of paid leave, that we 185 00:11:17.030 --> 00:11:20.830 pay 100% of the salary while that employee is either out on 186 00:11:20.830 --> 00:11:24.580 maternity leave or caring for a loved one or themselves, 187 00:11:24.650 --> 00:11:28.250 themselves during a medical crisis. And it 188 00:11:28.250 --> 00:11:31.970 is a really important policy. It has attracted a lot 189 00:11:31.970 --> 00:11:35.290 of talent. We might be in West Virginia, but we're competing for 190 00:11:35.290 --> 00:11:38.330 employees at the global level. We do 191 00:11:38.890 --> 00:11:42.530 do contract work with a number of individuals who are out of state and 192 00:11:42.530 --> 00:11:46.290 sometimes out of country, because remote work is a real reality for 193 00:11:46.290 --> 00:11:49.850 us. And so these policies stretch beyond West 194 00:11:49.850 --> 00:11:53.610 Virginia, and they attract people that I know I can count 195 00:11:53.610 --> 00:11:56.450 on their talent. They can count on me as their 196 00:11:57.010 --> 00:12:00.690 employer to care for them when they are facing a challenge. 197 00:12:01.010 --> 00:12:04.130 But this is not without costs. 198 00:12:05.570 --> 00:12:09.010 When we started hiring in 2019, we 199 00:12:09.010 --> 00:12:12.810 implemented the policy, and since then, we've 200 00:12:12.810 --> 00:12:16.610 had six utilizations of it. And it has cost my company 201 00:12:16.690 --> 00:12:19.570 on average about $21,000 a year. 202 00:12:20.930 --> 00:12:24.610 So it is expensive. It is really expensive. It's values 203 00:12:24.610 --> 00:12:28.050 aligned. We're 100% in support of it, but we're all by ourselves 204 00:12:28.210 --> 00:12:32.010 paying for this. People ask me, how do you afford it? You're such 205 00:12:32.010 --> 00:12:35.850 a small business. I say, well, we make less money. Our 206 00:12:35.850 --> 00:12:39.530 own Joel Heitkamp spoke with Phil Snape from Impact Social about the 207 00:12:39.530 --> 00:12:43.250 sentiments rural Americans are expressing online. People are saying, well, 208 00:12:43.250 --> 00:12:46.820 you know, I was going to buy that new tractor, but I'm. I'm. No way 209 00:12:46.820 --> 00:12:48.700 I'm going to do that now. I'm going to fix up the old one. I 210 00:12:48.700 --> 00:12:51.340 was going to get the combine sorted out again. I'm not going to do that. 211 00:12:51.340 --> 00:12:54.700 Am I going to sow that particular crop or that particular crop? I'm not sure 212 00:12:54.700 --> 00:12:57.740 because I'm not sure where the tariffs are going to hit. So as a consequence, 213 00:12:57.740 --> 00:13:01.380 you see a lot of people in rural communities sitting on their hands, and they're 214 00:13:01.380 --> 00:13:04.740 waiting, and they can't afford to wait because that's not the nature of what they 215 00:13:04.740 --> 00:13:08.540 do. But they're afraid to make a move. And this is the legacy 216 00:13:09.020 --> 00:13:12.140 of what has been a very haphazard economic policy 217 00:13:12.860 --> 00:13:15.820 all the way through. We see people talking about things like, 218 00:13:16.460 --> 00:13:20.060 say, if something is fixed in the power line, they say the people are 219 00:13:20.060 --> 00:13:23.820 driving on the road and thinking, there were 10 guys fixing that power line last 220 00:13:23.820 --> 00:13:26.860 week and now there's only one, and it's a white guy. 221 00:13:27.420 --> 00:13:30.980 What's happening? So they see people sort of disappearing 222 00:13:30.980 --> 00:13:34.780 from the workplace, from their environment, et cetera. And that's 223 00:13:34.780 --> 00:13:38.500 having an effect because some people think it's a good thing because they're saying, 224 00:13:38.500 --> 00:13:40.900 well, this is great, because it means there's going to be even more jobs for 225 00:13:40.900 --> 00:13:44.480 everybody and unemployment is going to go up. Whereas other people are saying, well, how 226 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:47.760 are things going to get fixed? And they're also saying, what's going to be impact 227 00:13:47.760 --> 00:13:51.480 on inflation? Because if all the people 228 00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:55.160 who normally do lawns and the jobs which you're talking about 229 00:13:55.160 --> 00:13:58.920 suddenly disappear and then other people come in, then the cost of that's going to 230 00:13:58.920 --> 00:14:02.680 go up. And also, how many people. If you start literally throwing 231 00:14:02.680 --> 00:14:05.600 hundreds of thousands of millions of people out of the country, who's going to do 232 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:09.000 those jobs? So there is a fear factor as well as who's going to do 233 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:12.830 the jobs and. And is it going to increase prices? Senator Donnelly spoke with 234 00:14:12.830 --> 00:14:16.310 Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, 235 00:14:16.470 --> 00:14:20.030 about the GOP's Big Beautiful Bill and its impact on our 236 00:14:20.030 --> 00:14:23.870 nation's future. It really concerns me when I see parties marching in 237 00:14:23.870 --> 00:14:27.030 lockstep. It's kind of scary to me because. People represent 238 00:14:27.430 --> 00:14:30.630 different parts of the country, different level along the political 239 00:14:32.150 --> 00:14:35.630 ideology, different spectrums, different levels of conservatism or 240 00:14:35.630 --> 00:14:39.390 progressive or, like, you could think one thing about foreign policy, another 241 00:14:39.390 --> 00:14:43.110 thing about economic policy. But when you see everybody falling in. 242 00:14:43.110 --> 00:14:46.590 Line and voting the way the President. Tells them, that means they're not putting the 243 00:14:46.590 --> 00:14:50.430 interests of their constituents first. And I would say on things like. The debt, it 244 00:14:50.430 --> 00:14:54.230 means you're putting political. Interests ahead of national interests. And I know 245 00:14:54.230 --> 00:14:57.910 this issue is hard, and I know the solutions are really difficult politically, 246 00:14:57.990 --> 00:15:01.590 but if you care about leaving an economy that's stronger for the next 247 00:15:01.590 --> 00:15:05.430 generation, you cannot borrow your way to prosperity. 248 00:15:05.510 --> 00:15:09.070 We will borrow our way to a serious fiscal reckoning that will be 249 00:15:09.070 --> 00:15:12.550 harmful across the board economically for American 250 00:15:12.710 --> 00:15:16.350 families in terms of national security and absolutely for our future 251 00:15:16.350 --> 00:15:20.190 generations. Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky couldn't join the summit 252 00:15:20.190 --> 00:15:23.870 in person, but he sent a prerecorded video. Here's some of what he had to 253 00:15:23.870 --> 00:15:27.230 say. The actions of the Trump administration are providing a huge 254 00:15:27.230 --> 00:15:31.060 opportunity for Democrats to. To go out and regain the trust of the 255 00:15:31.060 --> 00:15:34.900 American people, to be the party of common sense, common ground, 256 00:15:35.060 --> 00:15:38.780 and getting things done. To do that, we have to 257 00:15:38.780 --> 00:15:42.260 talk to people and not at them. And we have to 258 00:15:42.260 --> 00:15:46.100 explain our why. For me, my why is 259 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:49.540 my faith. It's why as governor, I restored voting rights to almost 260 00:15:49.540 --> 00:15:53.380 200,000 Kentuckians because second chances are our 261 00:15:53.380 --> 00:15:57.210 responsibility and our calling. I removed the statue of Jefferson 262 00:15:57.210 --> 00:16:00.850 Davis from our state Capitol because a glaring symbol of bigotry and 263 00:16:00.850 --> 00:16:04.650 division does not belong in any capitol in our country. And it's 264 00:16:04.650 --> 00:16:08.370 why I made Juneteenth an executive branch holiday for the first time in 265 00:16:08.370 --> 00:16:12.050 Kentucky's history. I vetoed four anti choice bills 266 00:16:12.050 --> 00:16:14.930 and I vetoed every single piece of anti 267 00:16:14.930 --> 00:16:18.410 LGBTQ legislation that came to my desk, including 268 00:16:18.810 --> 00:16:22.610 the nastiest anti LGBTQ bill in the country. And 269 00:16:22.610 --> 00:16:26.410 I vetoed it in my reelection year. I did it because I believe 270 00:16:26.410 --> 00:16:29.690 all children are children of God. I knew I'd get pushback, 271 00:16:29.930 --> 00:16:33.690 but some things are worth losing over. But I also got a lot of 272 00:16:33.690 --> 00:16:37.490 Kentuckians telling me while they might not agree with me, they knew 273 00:16:37.490 --> 00:16:41.050 I was doing what I thought was right because I communicated 274 00:16:41.050 --> 00:16:44.850 my why and it gave people the grace and the space to 275 00:16:44.850 --> 00:16:48.010 maybe disagree but understand where I was coming from. 276 00:16:48.780 --> 00:16:52.460 Democrats can regain the faith of the American people with a relentless 277 00:16:52.540 --> 00:16:56.260 focus on the core concerns of our hard working families. And 278 00:16:56.260 --> 00:16:59.980 that focus must be backed up by actual results and proven 279 00:16:59.980 --> 00:17:03.260 effective governing. We have to be the party that 280 00:17:03.260 --> 00:17:07.100 delivers. People need to see us get our boots dirty to get out in 281 00:17:07.100 --> 00:17:10.860 their communities again and again because showing up tells people 282 00:17:10.860 --> 00:17:14.380 you care. In the next election we must win the gut check 283 00:17:14.730 --> 00:17:18.290 about which party will make life a little better and make paying the 284 00:17:18.290 --> 00:17:21.930 bills a little easier. Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah 285 00:17:21.930 --> 00:17:25.410 Godlewski led an informative conversation about the future of tribal 286 00:17:25.410 --> 00:17:29.010 communities. Jerilyn Church, CEO of Great Plains Tribal 287 00:17:29.010 --> 00:17:32.250 Health, explained how they improved outcomes by regaining 288 00:17:32.250 --> 00:17:35.690 sovereignty. We run Oyate Health center that was. 289 00:17:35.690 --> 00:17:39.330 Previously run by Indian Health Service and we 290 00:17:39.330 --> 00:17:43.130 assume management of what was formerly. Sioux San to become Oyate 291 00:17:43.130 --> 00:17:46.530 Health Center. And, and what we saw is 292 00:17:46.850 --> 00:17:49.650 in. That process we have 293 00:17:50.290 --> 00:17:53.570 improved access to health care. We have 294 00:17:54.210 --> 00:17:57.970 generated more revenue than Indian. Health 295 00:17:57.970 --> 00:18:01.410 Service had previously. And Skya Ducheneaux, executive 296 00:18:01.490 --> 00:18:05.170 director of Akiptan, a Native American community development financial 297 00:18:05.250 --> 00:18:09.010 institution focused on agriculture, explained the return on investment 298 00:18:09.170 --> 00:18:12.480 of investing in land resilience. A lot of these cuts to some of these 299 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:16.320 programs like let's again quit looking at them as expenses 300 00:18:16.320 --> 00:18:19.840 versus investments. If we can put more investments 301 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:23.240 to make our land more resilient during all this 302 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:26.560 extremely these extreme weather patterns that we're having that 303 00:18:26.560 --> 00:18:30.200 reduces the disaster assistance that happens 304 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:33.760 afterwards. If we are able to make upfront investments, our 305 00:18:33.760 --> 00:18:36.880 ROI is going to be reduced disaster 306 00:18:37.280 --> 00:18:40.860 costs. Day two ended with great conversations about the threat to 307 00:18:40.860 --> 00:18:44.420 public lands and how that threat was removed from the Big Beautiful 308 00:18:44.420 --> 00:18:47.940 Bill. Tracy Stone-Manning, president of the Wilderness Society, 309 00:18:48.020 --> 00:18:51.460 had this to say. We have the support of the American people. 310 00:18:51.860 --> 00:18:55.340 People from all corners of this country, all 311 00:18:55.340 --> 00:18:59.100 stripes, all political stripes, all genders, all ages, said, whoa, whoa, whoa, 312 00:18:59.100 --> 00:19:02.020 hold on. No, no, no. I love my public lands 313 00:19:02.900 --> 00:19:06.620 in ways. That I don't think that either Senator. Lee 314 00:19:06.620 --> 00:19:08.630 or the Administration expected. 315 00:19:10.710 --> 00:19:14.510 And here's the thing. They're not going to stop saying that. They're going to continue 316 00:19:14.510 --> 00:19:18.070 to fight for it if they have to. And that's what gives me confidence, right. 317 00:19:18.070 --> 00:19:21.910 That we're in such a divided country right now. 318 00:19:22.470 --> 00:19:26.230 And the unity around public lands for me is 319 00:19:26.310 --> 00:19:30.150 a path back to reminding. 320 00:19:30.150 --> 00:19:33.510 Ourselves how to work together, how to govern for this country 321 00:19:34.310 --> 00:19:38.070 and how to. Pass on this incredible heritage that we. Have in, 322 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:41.840 in something called public lands. And Senator Martin Heinrich of New 323 00:19:41.840 --> 00:19:45.680 Mexico added this. We heard a couple of things consistently. 324 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:49.320 One that, don't worry, we're not selling your national parks. And the 325 00:19:49.320 --> 00:19:52.720 other was, these are a bunch of vacant lands. And, 326 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:56.800 you know, to a Westerner, those vacant lands are 327 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:00.640 the places you can actually run your bird dog off leash 328 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:04.400 and carry a gun. And, you know, it's kind of like telling 329 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:08.030 somebody from Iowa or North Dakota or Georgia, 330 00:20:08.030 --> 00:20:11.590 don't worry, we're just going to sell a few lands around 331 00:20:11.590 --> 00:20:15.430 your favorite deer stand because they're being underutilized. 332 00:20:15.670 --> 00:20:19.110 And so they just missed the argument completely. 333 00:20:19.670 --> 00:20:23.350 It took something as unifying as public lands to really 334 00:20:23.350 --> 00:20:27.070 pull a bipartisan coalition out of the Rocky 335 00:20:27.070 --> 00:20:30.390 Mountains that ended. Up stopping this thing. And it was because 336 00:20:30.710 --> 00:20:34.540 the breadth of people who cared from every state 337 00:20:34.540 --> 00:20:38.300 in the union was so strong. I mean, we had, we had the 338 00:20:38.300 --> 00:20:42.060 RV industry and the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable and all the 339 00:20:42.060 --> 00:20:45.820 hunting and fishing groups and, you know, Johnny Morris at Bass Pro 340 00:20:45.820 --> 00:20:49.300 penning letters. We had all these influencers 341 00:20:49.700 --> 00:20:53.540 that, that, you know, were successful at generating 342 00:20:53.620 --> 00:20:56.900 a mountain of calls into 343 00:20:57.220 --> 00:21:01.070 the Senate offices. It was that unifying. The third day 344 00:21:01.070 --> 00:21:04.910 of the Rural Progress Summit was just as interesting as the first two. It began 345 00:21:04.910 --> 00:21:08.590 with a conversation about rural broadband, which focused in part on the 346 00:21:08.590 --> 00:21:12.230 role connectivity played in the recent Texas floods. Heidi asked 347 00:21:12.230 --> 00:21:15.870 Dave Wright, policy director at Spectrum for the Future, about the impact 348 00:21:15.870 --> 00:21:19.590 of a limited number of carriers in rural areas and the importance of local 349 00:21:19.590 --> 00:21:23.270 control. When you have historic level disasters. 350 00:21:23.270 --> 00:21:26.620 And I'd certainly say the Kern County stuff in Texas, 351 00:21:26.860 --> 00:21:30.540 you know, rises to that level. I'm thinking Katrina and, and 352 00:21:30.540 --> 00:21:33.820 other things. You know, oftentimes the, 353 00:21:34.940 --> 00:21:38.740 the outages and the disruption to service can, can, you 354 00:21:38.740 --> 00:21:42.180 know, this isn't a matter of hours. We're talking days, weeks. Yeah. 355 00:21:42.180 --> 00:21:46.020 Sometimes months. Right. So you know, 356 00:21:46.020 --> 00:21:49.180 what we've seen in many of those cases is. Yes. I mean, the. 357 00:21:49.900 --> 00:21:53.700 To. To their credit, you know, AT&T, T Mo[bile] and Verizon, they, they get in 358 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:57.240 there and you know, if their battery backups run out of their generators 359 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:00.840 back generators run out. They get in there with, you know, 360 00:22:00.840 --> 00:22:04.560 replacement systems as soon as they can. But what, but 361 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:08.240 having democratized access to spectrum and wireless 362 00:22:08.320 --> 00:22:12.079 technology allows the people on the ground just to respond. 363 00:22:12.080 --> 00:22:15.880 Right. Themselves. I mean, and you see, you know, people setting up WI 364 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:19.640 fi hotspots, you know, they, they happen to have a broadband connection that's working 365 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:23.410 or somebody brings in a satellite back call for, for broadband. You put a 366 00:22:23.410 --> 00:22:27.210 WI fi hotspot around that and, and the community suddenly has 367 00:22:27.210 --> 00:22:30.650 connectivity again. They're able to text their relatives to let them know they're alive. 368 00:22:30.890 --> 00:22:34.650 Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio made some very important points during 369 00:22:34.650 --> 00:22:38.250 the panel on Understanding Working Class Voters. The workers 370 00:22:38.250 --> 00:22:41.810 think that together, politicians, corporations rig the system to 371 00:22:41.810 --> 00:22:45.210 benefit the rich and powerful. It's hard to argue that they don't. 372 00:22:45.450 --> 00:22:49.060 For all the talk from, from supposed economic 373 00:22:49.300 --> 00:22:53.100 experts about the complex factors that determine wages and 374 00:22:53.100 --> 00:22:56.900 prices, workers have pretty damn good intuition about it. They know 375 00:22:56.900 --> 00:23:00.300 corporate greed when they see it. They know it's a big reason why they can't 376 00:23:00.300 --> 00:23:04.100 get ahead and their incomes don't keep up with costs. People 377 00:23:04.260 --> 00:23:08.020 talk about corporations using any excuse to raise prices. Workers 378 00:23:08.180 --> 00:23:12.020 don't bring up government programs as solutions, but they talk 379 00:23:12.020 --> 00:23:15.740 about the need for someone, anyone, to rein in corporate greed. 380 00:23:15.900 --> 00:23:19.660 People are hungry for a vision of change will actually reign in 381 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:23.340 corporate greed. Lower their costs, create an economy where their hard work 382 00:23:23.500 --> 00:23:27.100 pays off. And that's, that's where all of you come in on this, that 383 00:23:27.260 --> 00:23:30.860 you can represent, you can represent rural workers. 384 00:23:30.940 --> 00:23:34.660 When I say workers, I mean across the board. It's not just factory workers 385 00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:38.500 or carpenters or McDonald's. It's McDonald's workers. It's everybody. But 386 00:23:38.500 --> 00:23:42.260 what unites rural workers with working people all over the country 387 00:23:42.740 --> 00:23:46.420 is that, that believing the system's rigged. We got to do something 388 00:23:46.420 --> 00:23:49.980 about it. And we have to start by listening to them. And 389 00:23:49.980 --> 00:23:53.140 that's the most important thing. Go where they are. Listen to them. 390 00:23:53.300 --> 00:23:57.100 Heidi had a fascinating conversation with Mark Elias, a Nationally 391 00:23:57.100 --> 00:24:00.460 recognized expert in voting rights and redistricting law, about the 392 00:24:00.460 --> 00:24:04.020 ongoing impact of Project 2025 on the rights of Americans. 393 00:24:04.180 --> 00:24:07.790 We only have time in this episode for a short clip, but keep following the 394 00:24:07.790 --> 00:24:11.550 One Country Project to find out when the entire summit is available on our YouTube 395 00:24:11.550 --> 00:24:15.310 channel. We don't have three equal branches of government. The founders never 396 00:24:15.310 --> 00:24:18.910 anticipated there'd be three equal branches of government. They anticipated Congress would be the 397 00:24:18.910 --> 00:24:22.710 dominant branch of government. And so like even the premise that like, 398 00:24:22.710 --> 00:24:26.230 there are checks and balances, really the way the Constitution is set up 399 00:24:26.310 --> 00:24:30.070 is that Congress is a check on the executive through the impeachment power, 400 00:24:30.310 --> 00:24:34.000 through the conviction power, through the budget, the ability to 401 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:38.000 budget, the ability to create departments and 402 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:40.640 appropriate funds. Right. That Congress 403 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:44.400 is the dominant branch over the executive. 404 00:24:45.280 --> 00:24:48.960 And frankly, they anticipated that Congress would be the dominant branch 405 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:52.800 over the judiciary. It's Congress that establishes the lower courts, 406 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:56.800 it's the Senate that confirms judges. It is Congress can 407 00:24:56.800 --> 00:25:00.490 impeach and convict and remove judges. Judges, right. And neither of the other 408 00:25:00.490 --> 00:25:03.850 branches have that authority with respect to members of the House and Senate. Right. So 409 00:25:04.490 --> 00:25:07.610 the theory of the Constitution was that it would be a 410 00:25:07.610 --> 00:25:11.330 legislatively dominant government and the 411 00:25:11.330 --> 00:25:14.650 role of the President would basically be to see that, to take care of the 412 00:25:14.650 --> 00:25:18.450 laws are faithfully executed. And, you know, I won't say 413 00:25:18.450 --> 00:25:22.210 that for, you know, the last 200 plus years, it has worked 414 00:25:22.210 --> 00:25:25.850 smoothly. You know, certainly Richard Nixon didn't abide 415 00:25:25.850 --> 00:25:29.080 entirely by that regime, but by and large that 416 00:25:29.160 --> 00:25:33.000 regime happened. I mean, Senator, when you were in the Senate, there 417 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:36.760 was an understanding, Democratic president, Republican President, there was an 418 00:25:36.760 --> 00:25:40.600 understanding that if Congress didn't appropriate funds, the money couldn't 419 00:25:40.600 --> 00:25:44.320 be spent. If Congress did appropriate money, the funds had to be 420 00:25:44.320 --> 00:25:47.880 spent. And that if Congress set up an agency, that agency 421 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:51.720 existed. And what Project 2025, 422 00:25:52.120 --> 00:25:55.470 at its most radical, dangerous level is, 423 00:25:55.870 --> 00:25:59.590 it is not the overtaking of the executive branch, which, like I said, is 424 00:25:59.590 --> 00:26:03.230 bad and bad for government and will lead to, you know, 425 00:26:03.230 --> 00:26:06.830 senselessness and suffering. But it is the, 426 00:26:06.830 --> 00:26:10.670 the effort to essentially say the President does not need to 427 00:26:10.670 --> 00:26:14.350 follow appropriations. He can impound 428 00:26:14.350 --> 00:26:18.030 funds, he can abolish departments, he can 429 00:26:18.270 --> 00:26:21.980 ignore how they say agencies are to be staffed, what their 430 00:26:21.980 --> 00:26:25.820 missions are like. It is essentially a trampling over 431 00:26:26.380 --> 00:26:30.100 the legislative branch, which I think is the most dangerous part of 432 00:26:30.100 --> 00:26:33.940 Project 2025 and which you are seeing take place across the 433 00:26:33.940 --> 00:26:37.580 board. In the panel on inspiring younger Americans to run for office, 434 00:26:37.900 --> 00:26:41.700 North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton talked about her 435 00:26:41.700 --> 00:26:45.460 motivations for running at the age of 25. When I ran for state party 436 00:26:45.460 --> 00:26:48.700 chair, people told me that you were, I was going to stick my neck out 437 00:26:48.700 --> 00:26:52.080 there and my head could get lobbed off in politics. Like, if you run, you 438 00:26:52.080 --> 00:26:54.760 may never. Be able to do it again. And I just, I find that to 439 00:26:54.760 --> 00:26:57.480 be complete bullshit now. Right. Like, I think that 440 00:26:58.200 --> 00:27:00.920 anyone should be comfortable running for office. Like, 441 00:27:01.960 --> 00:27:05.440 it's okay if you lose. You know, it's okay if you stand up for your 442 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:09.040 values and the, like, what you think the direction of this party 443 00:27:09.040 --> 00:27:12.200 or, you know, your district should be right now. And I would just 444 00:27:12.360 --> 00:27:16.040 encourage everybody. The one thing I got told before I ran that always 445 00:27:16.040 --> 00:27:19.680 stuck with me is Kelvin Stallings looking at me and being like, if you 446 00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:22.760 remember your why, you will never have any regrets. And 447 00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:27.240 my why was always that I wanted a party that was going to stand 448 00:27:27.240 --> 00:27:30.920 up and fight back for rural North Carolina and not just cede 449 00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:34.440 ground to a party that had fully endorsed white 450 00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:38.280 supremacy and wanted to see the demise of our communities with their 451 00:27:38.280 --> 00:27:42.080 policies. And what we just saw this last week come from 452 00:27:42.080 --> 00:27:45.680 Washington, D.C. d.C. With Republicans stripping 17 million 453 00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:49.080 people from health care access across our or across our country. 454 00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:53.200 Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski added this. You 455 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:56.600 know, one of the things that my dad said to me because I was really 456 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:00.800 upset when I lost, and. I wasn't upset because of myself. I was upset 457 00:28:00.800 --> 00:28:04.280 because I felt like I had let down so many people that 458 00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:08.240 I was really fighting for the reason why I ran a lot 459 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:11.560 of women and girls. And this was at the height of when Roe v. Wade 460 00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:16.000 was overturned and we had an 1849 Abortion Ban here in 461 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:19.840 Wisconsin. And to me, my dad looked at. Me and he goes, 462 00:28:19.840 --> 00:28:23.360 Sarah, remember, failure is never fatal and success is never 463 00:28:23.360 --> 00:28:26.520 final. And for you, your 464 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:30.640 public service journey is just that. And it 465 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:34.440 is going to continue to be a journey. And so I say 466 00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:38.260 that to everybody here because while it might not work 467 00:28:38.260 --> 00:28:42.020 out, you know, when they. When the door shuts, a window opens. And I think 468 00:28:42.020 --> 00:28:45.580 that's exactly also what you have to think about in running for office. 469 00:28:46.620 --> 00:28:50.180 You might not get it the first time, but you shouldn't be afraid to. Step 470 00:28:50.180 --> 00:28:53.820 up and try again. In the final session about immigration in rural 471 00:28:53.820 --> 00:28:57.260 America, State Senator Cesar Blanco of Texas talked about the 472 00:28:57.260 --> 00:29:01.020 impacts of the GOP's mass deportation policies on the industries 473 00:29:01.020 --> 00:29:04.740 in his border district. I'm right on the Texas-Mexico 474 00:29:04.740 --> 00:29:08.370 border, and I represent nine counties that 475 00:29:08.370 --> 00:29:12.210 stretch out from the whole western bend of Texas. It's about 25,000 476 00:29:12.210 --> 00:29:16.010 square miles. The big industries 477 00:29:16.010 --> 00:29:19.810 are trade, oil and gas. I represent parts of the Permian Basin, which 478 00:29:19.810 --> 00:29:22.930 is some of the largest oil and gas producing counties 479 00:29:23.490 --> 00:29:27.330 in the world. And agriculture and all of 480 00:29:27.330 --> 00:29:31.090 it is along the Texas-Mexico border. So we deal with a lot of 481 00:29:31.090 --> 00:29:34.690 the immigration policies and the approaches that this administration 482 00:29:35.650 --> 00:29:39.250 has implemented which really impact our rural communities first and foremost. 483 00:29:39.250 --> 00:29:42.930 There's a lot of uncertainty and there is a lot of 484 00:29:43.090 --> 00:29:46.850 inconsistency with how this administration is approaching 485 00:29:46.930 --> 00:29:50.650 immigration. And the challenges that we're facing is 486 00:29:50.650 --> 00:29:53.890 that it's really creating consequences 487 00:29:54.130 --> 00:29:57.010 in rural communities like mine. 488 00:29:57.890 --> 00:30:01.520 We are already facing things like workforce 489 00:30:01.520 --> 00:30:04.520 shortages. We're dealing with shortages in 490 00:30:04.600 --> 00:30:08.040 agriculture, we're dealing with shortages in the oil patch 491 00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:12.360 where a lot of our employees are, and then in health care. 492 00:30:13.320 --> 00:30:15.720 So these policies have really 493 00:30:16.920 --> 00:30:20.200 impacted those industries and 494 00:30:20.840 --> 00:30:24.600 especially those aimed at broadening deportation priorities that 495 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:27.520 the administration has prioritized. 496 00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:32.440 The fact that they're restricting legal pathways is also 497 00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:36.240 deepening the challenges. So, you know, as you all know, when 498 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:39.960 rural employers can't find the workers that 499 00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:43.520 they need, production slows down, prices 500 00:30:43.520 --> 00:30:47.080 go up, and families, especially 501 00:30:47.080 --> 00:30:50.800 family farms, struggle. I'll give you an example. One of the industries 502 00:30:50.800 --> 00:30:54.400 in my district is the, the sheep and 503 00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:57.920 mohair industry. And a lot of the workers that come 504 00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:01.320 from that have the skill of sheep sharing. 505 00:31:01.640 --> 00:31:05.440 Many come from Mexico. There's a lot of folks in the United States that 506 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:08.680 don't know how to do this. And a lot of our workers come in and 507 00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:12.440 they're seasonal. Some stay longer. But that is a, 508 00:31:12.760 --> 00:31:16.440 is a skill set that is difficult to teach. It's a skill 509 00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:20.210 set that is difficult to, to teach over the long 510 00:31:20.210 --> 00:31:23.810 term. And we don't have that ability to recover those 511 00:31:23.810 --> 00:31:27.490 workers if they're deported. And that's a wrap for the 2025 Rural 512 00:31:27.490 --> 00:31:31.010 Progress Summit. We're going to leave you with some inspiring words from 513 00:31:31.010 --> 00:31:34.770 Senator Cory Booker. But first, I want to remind you to follow the One 514 00:31:34.770 --> 00:31:38.530 Country Project on Bluesky, Substack and YouTube and keep listening to 515 00:31:38.530 --> 00:31:41.730 the Hot Dish. While you're at it, be sure to tell your friends about us. 516 00:31:41.970 --> 00:31:45.330 We'll be back with a regularly scheduled episode on Wednesday, July 517 00:31:45.330 --> 00:31:48.960 23rd. Thanks for listening. And now, here's Senator Cory 518 00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:52.760 Booker. It's a real honor to participate in the Rural Progress 519 00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:56.400 Summit. Thank you to Heidi, my sister and. My brother Joe and the 520 00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:00.040 entire team. At the One Country Project for bringing us 521 00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:04.280 together. You've built something essential here, a place 522 00:32:04.600 --> 00:32:07.880 where people can speak truthfully, listen carefully, and 523 00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:11.320 collaborate on real solutions for rural 524 00:32:11.810 --> 00:32:15.450 America. And in this current moment, with so much 525 00:32:15.450 --> 00:32:18.610 at stake, your work has never been more urgent.