00:09 - We're joined by U.S.

00:10 - Senator Bob Casey.

00:11 - What does the significance of this weekend's

00:13 - convening of states event mean to you?

00:16 - Well, it means that we are in the midst of celebrating 250 years as a nation.

00:20 - And between now and 2026, we have so many opportunities to celebrate.

00:26 - But I want to commend the work of America.

00:28 - 250 what they're doing to bring this celebration

00:31 - to every single one of our 67 counties, not just here in Philadelphia,

00:36 - where so much of our nation's history began,

00:39 - but the history of every county, every community.

00:42 - There are going to be bells, replicas of the Liberty

00:45 - Bell in every county painted by local artists.

00:49 - Then you have the Keystone Classrooms Initiative,

00:52 - which is going to bring this story, the American story, to the classrooms

00:56 - across the Commonwealth.

00:58 - So we're grateful to be part of this celebration.

01:01 - What makes you proud to be a Pennsylvanian?

01:03 - Well, there's so much to be proud of, certainly that history.

01:06 - But also, I think the potential for the future.

01:09 - Pennsylvania is so well positioned

01:11 - to continue to be a leader across our nation.

01:15 - And I think it's really the people that that have driven

01:20 - the success of Pennsylvania and will continue to drive that future.

01:25 - It's really a story of people, not a state or a or a piece of geography.

01:30 - Now, there's a lot of regional enthusiasm,

01:34 - particularly you hear people talk about their sports teams, their pizza.

01:37 - What do you think it takes

01:38 - to get people to have that same enthusiasm for the Commonwealth?

01:41 - Well, I think sometimes in a state like ours, because we are so large

01:45 - and diverse and we have so many different communities, 67 counties,

01:49 - we often think of ourselves in regional or local terms.

01:54 - We don't always think of ourselves as one Commonwealth.

01:56 - So I think at a moment like this, we can do both and celebrate

02:01 - those individual or local accomplishments and and history and culture,

02:06 - but also to think of ourselves as one commonwealth.

02:09 - Senator Bob Casey, thank you for joining us. Thank you.