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00:05 - Welcome to PMA perspective, your weekly half hour news

00:08 - program on Pennsylvania business, government and politics.

00:12 - I'm your host, David Taylor,

00:13 - president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association.

00:17 - On this week's program, a wide ranging news maker interview

00:21 - with Pennsylvania United States Senator Dave McCormick.

00:25 - PMA perspective starts now.

00:28 - You're watching PMA perspective,

00:31 - a statewide source for business, government, and policy

00:34 - news.

00:44 - Newsmaker interviews with your host, David and Taylor,

00:48 - and reports from the field with PMA Carl Moreira and Joy Johnson.

00:53 - From our studios in Harrisburg.

00:55 - PMA perspective starts now. U.S.

00:58 - Senator Dave McCormick, thanks so much for taking time to be on PMA perspective.

01:03 - Hey, great to be with you, Dave.

01:04 - Well, Senator, you have been really quick out of the gate.

01:07 - You and your team put together the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit.

01:12 - That was held at Carnegie Mellon University.

01:15 - That was within the the first six months of your term in office.

01:19 - And, you know, clearly, we see that as your commitment

01:23 - to be a real difference maker in your role as Pennsylvania's U.S.

01:26 - senator. Thanks.

01:27 - It was a great, great event.

01:30 - And, you know, the bi product of lots of great teamwork,

01:34 - where, you know, we had lots of lots of folks that helped us.

01:37 - But, you know, I think the starting point for this is the moment we're in

01:41 - and the energy summit was a reflection of the moment we're in.

01:44 - The moment we're in is

01:45 - I think we'll look back on this day and say there's never been a moment

01:49 - of more consequential change in our adult lifetimes, in our lifetimes.

01:53 - This is like the industrial revolution on steroids.

01:56 - And as you recall,

01:57 - the Industrial Revolution was a period where Pennsylvania led the way.

02:01 - This is another major red revolution.

02:03 - And, the purpose of the summit was to demonstrate

02:07 - and lay the groundwork for Pennsylvania,

02:10 - laying and carving out the way.

02:14 - And, you know, this is a revolution,

02:17 - with artificial intelligence and energy.

02:20 - The two of them together.

02:21 - I say that in one sentence because there are different sides of the same coin.

02:24 - You can't really have the AI revolution without enormous power.

02:28 - You can't have revolution in compute without enormous power.

02:31 - And it's a race.

02:33 - That is an existential battle with China.

02:36 - This is really for who's going to be the global superpower.

02:39 - And this is a race we can't we can't lose.

02:43 - And what this summit was trying to demonstrate was that

02:45 - Pennsylvania can be the point of the spear for America

02:49 - in terms of, of that incredibly

02:52 - important race and, that important revolution.

02:55 - And the opportunity that Pennsylvania has is the marriage of that,

02:59 - that know how with with computers and software and robotics and,

03:04 - and the pioneering kind of AI work that's been done at our institutions

03:09 - of higher learning, like Carnegie Mellon and others

03:11 - marrying that with Pennsylvania's enormous energy reserves,

03:16 - to be able to mobilize, that bring it forward and thereby generate

03:20 - the energy that's needed to power these plants so that we can make it real,

03:25 - and so that that investment can occur here in Pennsylvania to our benefit,

03:29 - no doubt.

03:29 - But but I'd say there's really four ingredients

03:32 - that makes Pennsylvania special.

03:33 - You've heard me say this.

03:35 - It's The Martian landed on America

03:38 - and said, which of the 50 states would I put?

03:41 - Is the is the the I Revolution Energy Revolution Center?

03:44 - It would be Pennsylvania for four reasons.

03:46 - One, the one you say is energy.

03:47 - Second largest energy producer

03:49 - in the world, fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world.

03:52 - Second is those great world class universities Carnegie Mellon, Penn State,

03:56 - Lehigh and University Pennsylvania. Drexel.

03:59 - The third is this incredible skilled labor.

04:02 - This is about building things.

04:04 - It's about building energy infrastructure.

04:06 - It's about building data centers.

04:08 - You need people who can make things.

04:09 - And we've got them great welders, steam fitters, pipefitters, electricians.

04:14 - And the final piece is geography.

04:17 - Geography in a couple senses.

04:18 - We have access to Bountiful water.

04:22 - And we are within 500 miles

04:24 - of more than 60% of America's population.

04:28 - Those four factors make Pennsylvania the unique place

04:33 - that this investment of talent and capital should come.

04:36 - But it depends on what we do.

04:37 - We're competing with other states a Georgia, Tennessee, Texas.

04:42 - They all would want to have the summit we had.

04:45 - They all want that investment of capital and people.

04:48 - And so we need to demonstrate,

04:50 - that we are the place where that investment should come.

04:54 - I like to say that capital and talent is like water.

04:58 - It goes to the path of least resistance.

05:00 - We need to put Pennsylvania's best foot forward to attract all that opportunity.

05:05 - Yes, sure. Absolutely.

05:06 - And as you have noted, this is not a federal only, type effort that we need.

05:11 - You had a broad range of stakeholders, at the, at the summit

05:16 - and the, including Governor Shapiro, and that we need to have,

05:20 - we need to make all the right moves in Harrisburg at the same time,

05:24 - so that we can optimize conditions for growth, that

05:27 - we can maximize domestic energy production,

05:30 - because to power the massive $92 billion worth of investment that's been pledged,

05:35 - the Pennsylvania is going to need to essentially double our energy output.

05:40 - Yeah.

05:41 - Most predictions have, at the, at the country level for America,

05:45 - probably a tripling of energy production over the next 15 years to meet,

05:50 - the meet this needs Pennsylvania is actually, ironically,

05:53 - best position among many because it's already a net energy exporter.

05:58 - But we need a lot more production.

06:00 - And you're.

06:00 - And you're right, making it easy to do this, to lead this revolution

06:04 - requires federal, regulation

06:07 - or deregulation, permitting reform.

06:11 - It requires state permitting reform, and it requires, you know,

06:15 - local permitting reform or ease of business.

06:17 - And, you know, that's one of the things these big investments,

06:20 - it's it's it's not the old world where you say, okay, you know, the place,

06:24 - it gives you the $20 million or the $50 million,

06:28 - you know, subsidy or tax exemption is going to be where the capital comes.

06:32 - These are hundreds of billions of dollars.

06:34 - The most important thing to these investors

06:37 - and to these producers is speed.

06:41 - They need to get in.

06:42 - This race is going to be won or lost in the next 3 to 5 years.

06:45 - So that's why it's so important.

06:48 - And, you know, it's also a bit disruptive and we can talk about that day.

06:51 - But, we have to lean into this knowing it's inevitable this change is happening.

06:56 - We need to decide whether we're going to be on the front end of it, leading,

06:59 - or whether we're going to be on the tail, the tail of the dog.

07:02 - Either way, it's going to be disruptive.

07:03 - And so part of this is how we get all the advantages of this revolution

07:07 - and mitigate the disruption to the people across our commonwealth.

07:11 - Yeah, absolutely.

07:11 - Absolutely. Yes.

07:12 - And certainly, you know, as you mentioned, that, winning this competition

07:17 - for artificial intelligence is a crucial, national security goal.

07:23 - We don't know exactly all the ways that I will manifest to

07:27 - to change our world, but we know that it's going to be an extremely powerful tool

07:32 - that's going to optimize a lot of other, a lot of other elements of our society,

07:38 - whether it's, you know, telecommunications or computational power or, you know,

07:43 - efficiency in manufacturing efficiency and other processes.

07:47 - But we've got to win that race first hand, no doubt about it.

07:50 - I mean, let's, let's talk for a minute just about the positive impacts.

07:54 - Health care, the merger of health care and artificial intelligence.

07:58 - We're already seeing huge, gains in the ability

08:02 - to detect and mitigate, fatal diseases, the ability

08:07 - to see through, through genetics,

08:10 - the possibilities of disease controls.

08:14 - So this can be an incredible, a boon for health care.

08:18 - And that and the healthfulness

08:20 - of of all Americans manufacturing, is another good example.

08:24 - We're going to see more and more massive productivity gains

08:28 - because of artificial intelligence.

08:30 - I talked to the CEO of Microsoft not long ago, and I asked him,

08:34 - how is affecting your developers?

08:36 - And he said, well, you know, what's happening is 80% of

08:39 - the software development is happening because of artificial intelligence.

08:42 - And then our developers are focused on the 20%

08:45 - that is most crucial, most significant.

08:48 - Most of the more rudimentary, coding is done before they touch it.

08:52 - And that's made our developers much more productive.

08:55 - Now, it's also going to be disruptive.

08:57 - And people have said to me, should we just avoid this?

08:59 - I think altogether it's not avoidable.

09:02 - This revolution is happening

09:05 - and it's going to be disruptive, like all major moments of change.

09:08 - So here are the risks that I see.

09:11 - One is energy prices.

09:12 - We got to do everything we can to keep down the price of energy

09:16 - for consumers because as a practical matter,

09:19 - for many families that's very, very challenging.

09:22 - And second, it's

09:23 - going to undermine the political support we need to to to lead this transformation.

09:27 - Job loss.

09:29 - You know, ironically, I think what we see in Pennsylvania is this AI

09:33 - revolution is going to likely create a lot of blue collar jobs.

09:37 - You know, our summit, which you so kindly referenced, $92

09:41 - billion of investment, we think, you know, conservatively, that's

09:44 - 75,000 new jobs that are going to come to Pennsylvania over the next five years.

09:49 - So it's a big deal.

09:50 - At the same time, it's

09:52 - I think it's going to be disruptive to white collar workers.

09:54 - You know, if you're a journalist, if you're a lawyer, if you're certain

09:58 - types of the medical profession, I mean, this is going to be possibly disruptive.

10:01 - And that's that's why we need to arm

10:04 - all of the next generation with understanding of AI.

10:07 - So new as new jobs are created and they will be.

10:09 - That's the way

10:09 - it always is in these moments of change that they can take advantage of it.

10:13 - And then the third thing, and you know, I don't I'm not an expert on this,

10:16 - but just the moral, ethical consequences of artificial intelligence,

10:20 - what things should it be involved and whatnot.

10:23 - You know, you're probably too young to remember

10:24 - day, but, you know, some of these sci fi movies of 30 years ago,

10:28 - even the early ones, The Terminator and things like that described

10:31 - a world of robots and autonomous vehicles, drones and things like that.

10:36 - That world

10:37 - is strangely looking very similar to the, to the world we're entering.

10:41 - And so how do you put the right parameters around the machines

10:45 - in terms of who decides what, and making sure that we maintain

10:48 - our humanity and our, ethics and protect our children and so forth.

10:52 - So those are the things we have to wrestle with.

10:54 - I'm not trying to say those are small things.

10:55 - Those are big things.

10:57 - But that's part of change, is to manage the of the downsides while, seizing

11:02 - all the opportunity that comes with, with, with the revolution in front of us.

11:06 - And I thought that was an excellent, point

11:09 - that was really very fully addressed at the summit, which is that

11:14 - this isn't only about the, the computational world

11:19 - and and those things that we it's not like a choice

11:23 - between the old industrial economy and the new information economy.

11:27 - We need both that

11:28 - we're going to need to have the drillers on the well pad, the pipe liners.

11:32 - We're going to need to have our building trades to, to build these massive data

11:36 - centers, to build these power plants that are going to fuel them.

11:40 - I think for too long we've had this, false choice that, you know,

11:44 - are we going to go into the future with information technology

11:47 - or are we going to stay in the past with, you know, metal bending and, and mining?

11:53 - It's like, well, no, these things are complementary

11:55 - and that the one can't exist without the other.

11:58 - No doubt about it.

11:59 - No doubt about it.

12:00 - You know, I think what's happening under the Trump administration is

12:04 - we are making sure the playing field is fair

12:08 - and that we're creating the right business environment where businesses

12:12 - want to come back and invest in, advanced

12:16 - manufacturing, invest in next generation steel making and things like that.

12:20 - But ironically, one of the things that makes Pennsylvania so attractive

12:24 - for those things is the energy dominance that we talked about earlier.

12:27 - In addition to artificial intelligence, there's all sorts

12:31 - of a remarkable opportunity

12:34 - that comes with the assets we have here as we see

12:37 - reshoring and pharmaceuticals, as we see the defense re industrialization,

12:42 - as we see advanced manufacturing, all those are very complimentary.

12:45 - All of this is part of an ecosystem that comes together

12:49 - to make Pennsylvania what I, what I hope it can be, which,

12:52 - you know, truly one of the most dynamic economies, the area of opportunity

12:56 - when people refer to Pennsylvania five years from now, ten years from now,

12:59 - I want them to talk about the Pennsylvania miracle, the opportunity

13:03 - that can be, part of Pennsylvania's future by embracing

13:07 - both the intrinsic things that made us so special in the past

13:11 - and the opportunity that's presented by the future.

13:13 - Yeah.

13:14 - I mean, yeah, me too, I want to I want to live in that world, no doubt.

13:18 - So, Senator,

13:18 - it seems like you've been there forever because you've been so very active.

13:22 - But you're still early on in, in your career and, you know, you've had a lot of

13:27 - experiences that have helped to shape you and make you who you are.

13:31 - For Pennsylvanians who haven't really, heard those stories,

13:35 - could you talk a little bit

13:36 - about your time in the military, your time in the business world,

13:39 - and how those different experiences helped to shape you?

13:43 - Yeah, well, thank you.

13:44 - I mean, I should start by saying I really feel privileged

13:47 - to represent Pennsylvania.

13:49 - You know, I went for twice.

13:51 - I lost the first time in 2022

13:54 - by 900 votes in the primary, and then I subsequently won.

13:58 - What I think many people thought was probably the toughest race in the country

14:02 - by 15,000 votes against, you know, a long standing incumbent.

14:05 - I only say that to tell you that I, I, I chose to throw myself into this

14:10 - because I really wanted

14:11 - the opportunity to serve, and I feel blessed to be able to do that.

14:15 - And I think that comes a bit because of my upbringing.

14:17 - So I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, up near Scranton, a town called Bloomsburg.

14:21 - My mom and dad were both educators.

14:23 - My dad was a mayor, both public school teachers.

14:25 - My dad went on to be a college president.

14:27 - And, the chancellor of higher education in Pennsylvania.

14:32 - I went to public school and I played sports, and, I played

14:35 - football and wrestled and wrestling really got me into West Point.

14:39 - And I,

14:41 - went to West Point, only kid from my town.

14:43 - And in generations that had gone to one of the academies

14:47 - and, at West Point, I, you know, kind of opened up my world.

14:50 - I was co-captain of the wrestling team.

14:52 - I went to the 82nd Airborne Division, Ranger School, served in the Gulf.

14:57 - And of all the things I've done in my life that nine years and particularly

15:00 - those five years in the military, the duty honor country

15:03 - that you learn about at West Point, the opportunity to serve

15:07 - with fellow Americans, from all over the country,

15:11 - in, you know, in, in defending America

15:14 - and America's values, that that's really the defining experience.

15:17 - So very, very proud. I had a chance to do that.

15:19 - And then when I left, the Army went to business and went to graduate school

15:24 - and then had a great business career, you know, 25 years, I was, CEO

15:28 - of a publicly traded technology firm in Pittsburgh, which was part of,

15:32 - the Pittsburgh Renaissance in the in the late 90s, early 2000,

15:37 - I went and served in government, worked, directly for President Bush

15:41 - in the white House and then in the Treasury Department

15:43 - during the great financial crisis, and then went to Bridgewater,

15:46 - which was one of the great financial firms in the world.

15:49 - And I became the CEO there,

15:51 - and I was there for 12 years, CEO for about six of those years.

15:55 - And so in my late 50s, you know, feeling like I had really been blessed

16:00 - and really had lived the American dream, some people approached me about,

16:04 - Pat Toomey Senate seat because he was stepping down.

16:08 - And I thought, you know, what a great moment, an opportunity to serve.

16:11 - So that was what got me into it.

16:13 - And, I feel like, boy, if you want to, you know, be part of the future.

16:19 - What a what a fortunate moment.

16:21 - You know,

16:22 - we're in a period of dramatic change, dramatic opportunity, enormous risk.

16:27 - You know, this is where if you're, you know, if you're someone

16:29 - who wants to serve and contribute, this is an opportune time to do that

16:34 - and to be, a person who is not afraid of tackling difficult things.

16:39 - Not afraid to to tackle the the really big things that, that matter most.

16:44 - And I think that that that gives you a lot of synergy with the president.

16:48 - He is rewriting the rules.

16:51 - I mean, as you were saying,

16:52 - to have an American president who is finally going to insist

16:55 - on true reciprocity with our relationships with other countries where,

17:00 - you know, we've let a lot of things slide for for too long

17:03 - and that the president's here to rebalance the scales.

17:06 - And, and I wanted to get your thoughts.

17:08 - I mean, there have been things

17:09 - that have gone on in our country that have been, in my opinion, intolerable.

17:13 - And yet somehow we tolerate them.

17:15 - And, you know, to see the FBI raid

17:19 - in Kensington, in Philadelphia to take out, one of the major drug gangs

17:25 - that has been, you know, poisoning the city and its residents,

17:29 - it's one of those things that should have happened a long time ago.

17:32 - A long time ago.

17:33 - But, boy, it sure is good to see that happening now.

17:37 - Yeah. No, I agree with you.

17:38 - I think it's been a moment of remarkable change.

17:41 - You know, I campaigned on this, idea

17:44 - of shaking up Washington, of taking on the big things.

17:47 - And there were, you know, sort of three big things,

17:49 - maybe four big things that the president promised.

17:51 - And I promised a one was to shut down the border.

17:54 - 20 million illegal immigrants.

17:55 - But but what hits home in Pennsylvania is the fentanyl crisis,

17:59 - that fentanyl coming across where we lost

18:01 - 4000 Pennsylvanians last year, 100,000 Americans.

18:05 - This is, you know, two times the losses of Vietnam

18:09 - over eight years we had last year in America because of fentanyl.

18:12 - So closing the borders.

18:13 - And there's been remarkable progress on that law and order in our cities.

18:18 - And, and holding people accountable.

18:20 - We've got, you know, these crazy guys like Larry Krasner in Philadelphia

18:24 - who aren't prosecuting criminals.

18:25 - And so bringing law and order,

18:27 - simple, basic things, standing behind our men and women in uniform

18:31 - that those in blue who protect us, making sure they're adequately armed adequately

18:35 - but have the budgetary support.

18:37 - I mean, these are basic things, but wasn't happening.

18:39 - So that's the second big one.

18:41 - Third big one you need to Pennsylvania unlocking energy.

18:45 - I mean, good God, we have, you know, the fourth largest

18:47 - natural gas reserves in the world.

18:49 - So the energy summit was the best way I could figure out

18:52 - to accelerate the focus on industry and opportunity.

18:57 - And then you know, internationally, I think the president's really doing this.

19:00 - And he said this, but people didn't believe him.

19:02 - It's it's peace through strength, rebuilding our military.

19:06 - You know, walking softly, carrying a big stick was always my motto.

19:10 - I don't think President Trump walks

19:12 - forward softly, but he does carry a big stick.

19:15 - And I think exercising American power

19:19 - in a thoughtful, smart way that advances America's interest and doesn't get us

19:24 - dragged into endless wars was the promise that he made, the promise I made.

19:28 - And, you know, I was proud to vote for a huge addition or military spending.

19:32 - I've been proud to stand by our veterans.

19:34 - And, those four things I think are a big part of the agenda

19:38 - that, the change in the last nine months has been remarkable.

19:41 - And, Senator, you know, leadership, in the conference

19:46 - has you positioned in some pretty key, committee assignments.

19:50 - Could you talk about your, you know, the roles that you're playing on those

19:54 - committees and the work that you intend to do through them?

19:57 - Yeah, the the one committee I said I absolutely want to be on,

20:00 - no matter what is the Energy Committee, Energy and Natural Resources committee.

20:03 - And, I was fortunate enough to get that assignment.

20:05 - I'm the sub chair or the chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy,

20:09 - and that's where at least part of the work will happen

20:12 - on permitting reform and the policies that'll unlock

20:15 - you know, the great energy producer that's Pennsylvania.

20:18 - And by the way, you know, I'm I'm in favor of all forms of energy.

20:21 - I'm a huge proponent of nuclear power.

20:23 - I'm a huge proponent of natural gas, coal.

20:25 - I just did a big tour, a mile down, four miles under,

20:29 - of, of a coal plant in Washington, a coal mine in Washington County.

20:33 - I'm, I'm, I'm favorable to, solar and wind.

20:37 - As long as they don't,

20:39 - you know, they don't

20:39 - are the beneficiaries of some sort of subsidy that the taxpayers paying for.

20:43 - So, we need to embrace all forms of energy.

20:46 - And that's, that's something that, that I'll be able to do

20:50 - on that energy committee.

20:51 - The second committee is banking.

20:52 - The Banking Committee is, among other places where we can do

20:55 - the tough work on China sanctions, on Russia,

20:59 - making sure that we have export controls that don't hand over

21:02 - our most sensitive technologies to China, making sure that we have a healthy

21:06 - community banking system.

21:08 - So farmers in Pennsylvania, our biggest industry, can get the financing

21:11 - they need for new equipment, a new tractor, to buy a new farm.

21:15 - So, the Banking committee is the second, and I know something

21:17 - about that, given the, you know, the time I had spent in, at Bridgewater.

21:21 - And then the third is foreign relations,

21:24 - and I am the, chairman of the subcommittee in the Middle East.

21:28 - I served in Iraq as a, as a as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division.

21:33 - I've done business throughout the world

21:34 - and throughout the Middle East, and I've been a, a very strong, voice

21:39 - on our need for supporting Israel and their need to fight back anti-Semitism

21:43 - and all that action sort of happens in that committee, including my wife

21:48 - and I visiting Israel soon after October 7th

21:51 - and seeing firsthand the barbarism of what happened on that day.

21:55 - So I feel like I'm in a place where I can literally walk

21:58 - with these committees, wake up every day and say to Pennsylvanians, I'm

22:02 - doing the work that I promised I would do, and be is, is most important

22:07 - for making sure Pennsylvania, continues to be on the rise.

22:12 - Will you made mention there of your secret weapon?

22:16 - Mrs. McCormick, could you talk a little bit?

22:18 - Could you brag on Dina and and her, record of service to our country?

22:22 - It's easy to brag on her.

22:23 - She is a, really special part.

22:25 - I don't believe I would have won

22:27 - the election without her, partnership and support.

22:30 - And she's just a force of nature.

22:33 - She's an immigrant from Egypt.

22:35 - Her father was a military man, and, she moved to Dallas,

22:38 - and when she was five and and became a citizen

22:42 - through the legal immigration process, as did her father.

22:46 - She, you know, she was, didn't they didn't have any money when they came.

22:50 - And her father didn't speak English.

22:52 - She didn't speak English.

22:53 - He went on to, after many years to sort of build

22:56 - a, a successful business as a small businessman.

23:00 - She worked her way through college, was a waitress at University of Texas.

23:04 - Got a job, working in the Texas Senate

23:07 - and then on Capitol Hill for a Texas congressman.

23:10 - And he really is never looked back.

23:12 - She ultimately worked for President Bush, his, head of presidential personnel.

23:17 - She was assistant secretary of state for Condi Rice, had a spectacular business

23:21 - career, 16 years on Wall Street as a partner at Goldman Sachs,

23:25 - and then went work for President Trump as the deputy national security

23:29 - advisor and was, you know, was part of the team instrumental in the early days

23:33 - in negotiating the Abraham Accords.

23:34 - So she's worked in the white House for two presidents, successful business

23:37 - career and, a great mom and step mom to our six.

23:43 - Get this stage six daughters, 2118.

23:46 - So, you know, she's a force of nature and, an incredible partner for me.

23:51 - Well, that's it's a it's a beautiful thing.

23:53 - I, you know, again, I've had the privilege

23:54 - of seeing you and Dina together, away from the spotlight.

23:58 - And it's just great to know, Senator, that as you do this work that you have,

24:02 - such a great, companion through all those things.

24:06 - So, you know, we're coming up here towards, Election Day next week, and,

24:11 - you know,

24:12 - could you just share your thoughts briefly about,

24:15 - you know, the importance of exercising your citizenship, that, as I often say,

24:19 - that representative self-government is not a spectator sport?

24:23 - Yeah.

24:24 - Well, I think that's the most important thing.

24:26 - I obviously hope that, your listeners,

24:29 - will a register to vote

24:31 - if they're not registered and, and be vote.

24:34 - And I hope they'll vote, for Republican Republican judges and I hope they'll vote

24:39 - no, no, no on retention.

24:40 - And I hope, they'll vote next year for a Republican congressman.

24:44 - But, and state reps and so forth.

24:47 - But the most important thing is that that they engage.

24:49 - We're at a moment where,

24:51 - the level of public engagement is not is not as high as it should be.

24:55 - And a moment where people have lost faith, honestly, they've lost

24:58 - faith in institutions, lost faith in the media, lost faith in the church.

25:02 - They've lost faith in, politicians.

25:04 - They've lost faith in their government.

25:07 - And, you know, I'm really concerns me because the entire enterprise,

25:11 - what are what our, founders imagined was that, the country would only be

25:16 - as good as the people who were willing to engage to keep it that way.

25:20 - If you know Benjamin Franklin's famous line,

25:22 - when he walked out of the Constitutional Convention, a woman said to him,

25:26 - you know what happened, sir?

25:27 - And he said, well, we have a republic.

25:29 - You have a republic. If you can keep it.

25:31 - And the only way to keep it is if we all, engage.

25:35 - And, it's a particularly important moment for engagement, you know,

25:40 - we sort of see, we've seen a sea change in the political environment.

25:43 - President Trump winning a second time.

25:46 - And it's very polarized at the moment.

25:47 - And we're in a moment of change.

25:49 - But if you look back in history, we've had lots of moments of profound change.

25:53 - And the thing that's made America, America and the thing that's allowed us

25:57 - to evolve and exit every period of turmoil, stronger and better

26:01 - and more resilient is the engagement of, the American people.

26:04 - So, I try to be a role model, for,

26:09 - for being explicit about where I think the country should go.

26:12 - Why? I think that, people should vote for me. Why?

26:15 - I think they should vote for the other candidates I support.

26:17 - So I try to be very explicit about it.

26:19 - But whether they believe me and want to vote for me or somebody else,

26:23 - that the most important thing is that they get in the arena, get in the ring.

26:28 - Be a participant, not a complainer.

26:30 - Don't sit on the sidelines.

26:32 - Get out there and make make America all that it can be.

26:35 - And Senator, of course, leaders lead by example.

26:37 - And the fact that you and Senator Fetterman,

26:39 - even though you don't hardly agree on anything, the fact that you have chosen

26:43 - to be collegial and respectful and, friendly with one another, that is a

26:49 - that is a bright light, in an otherwise very dark political world.

26:54 - You know, I get so much positive feedback on that.

26:58 - And you're right, you know, we have a lot of disagreements.

27:00 - We disagree on more things than we agree on, but we've we were both

27:04 - so deeply committed to Pennsylvania.

27:06 - And, we're committed to a trusting,

27:10 - collaborative relationship with, with one another whenever we can.

27:14 - I like him.

27:15 - He's willing to get out there and speak his mind and take the heat.

27:20 - You know, politics is, it's a contact sport these days.

27:23 - And, he's had to show a lot of courage to take positions

27:27 - that are, you know, not the positions that the majority of his party is taken.

27:31 - And I appreciate him.

27:32 - And, I think Pennsylvania is lucky to have him.

27:34 - Well, Senator McCormick, we appreciate you.

27:36 - And we feel like we're lucky to have you.

27:39 - And so, thanks so much for your time here.

27:42 - Where can the viewers go to find out more about you and your office

27:45 - and the work that you're doing?

27:46 - Your listeners should go to mccormick.senate.gov outstanding.

27:51 - United States Senator Dave McCormick from Pennsylvania.

27:54 - Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you.

27:59 - Well, that's all the time we have for this week's program.

28:01 - PMA perspective returns next week.

28:03 - And until then, stay current on what's happening

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28:10 - Dawg, from all of us here at PMA.

28:13 - Thanks very much for watching and we'll see you next week.

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