00:07 - Good afternoon I'm printing shirts or senior

00:09 - vice president of politics and policy at pcn

00:12 - president of the Pennsylvania press club

00:14 - and your host for today's luncheon

00:16 - joining me at the head table is Kevin Tucker with two t to bony and ten her

00:20 - Dave Patty with customers bank

00:23 - and Luke Bernstein with the pa chamber of business and industry

00:26 - thank you for your support and thank you for being here

00:29 - the Pennsylvania press club luncheon series could not be possible without the support

00:33 - of the generous organizations listed on our sponsor banner.

00:36 - Today's program is streaming live on PC and select

00:40 - an airing live across the state on PC ntv

00:43 - our speaker today is us senator Dave mccormick

00:46 - sen Dave mccormick brings years of service military

00:50 - public and private

00:51 - to his work on behalf of Pennsylvania

00:54 - raised in bloomsburg by two educators he became

00:56 - the first person from his hometown in decades

00:59 - to attend the united states military academy at west point

01:03 - after graduating he served as a paratrooper in the eighty second airborne division

01:07 - he was deployed to Iraq during the first Gulf war

01:10 - before retiring from the us army as a captain senator mccormick has built a

01:15 - distinguished career in both business and government

01:17 - including roles as ceo of a tech startup

01:20 - under-secretary of the treasury.

01:23 - Deputy national security adviser and ceo of one of the world's largest investment firms

01:28 - as Pennsylvania's fifty fourth u s senator

01:31 - Dave mccormick brings decades of leadership experience to Washington where he's

01:34 - focused on strengthening the economy

01:36 - and restoring opportunity for working families across the keystone state

01:40 - center mccormick thank you for joining us.

01:43 - Thank you for

01:48 - that great

01:50 - great introduction thank you all for being here

01:52 - I very much appreciated.

01:54 - Thank you to mom and dad for coming today

01:56 - always great to have them in the audience.

02:00 - Dr Maryann mccormick and dr Jim mccormick and our dear family friend part of our

02:05 - family James Fitzgerald thank you just for being here too

02:08 - and.

02:10 - Lots of friends in the room lots of familiar faces so I appreciate

02:13 - you coming out today and

02:15 - really I want to start by

02:16 - just

02:17 - sharing my appreciation

02:19 - for the opportunity

02:20 - to serve the common Pennsylvania senator

02:23 - I really feel like it's a privilege to do when you walk down those halls

02:26 - you see the statues of Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson despite all that

02:30 - polarization you feel a real sense of

02:32 - responsibility and obligation I'm the fifty fourth

02:36 - elected senator in Pennsylvania history

02:38 - on the ninth sender in the history of america

02:41 - from west point

02:42 - and I'm I have a title

02:44 - that my six daughters and Dina would have never dreamed

02:47 - possible and the best dress senator from Pennsylvania

02:49 - and.

02:51 - Even my buddy John fetterman would agree

02:53 - with it

02:54 - would agree with that title.

02:56 - Today what I thought I'd do is I

02:58 - maybe this was passed out but I thought I'd give you just sort of reflections

03:02 - on sixteen months into the job and really

03:05 - what it means to be in this job and

03:06 - what it means I think for the future of American

03:09 - in the future

03:09 - a penciled in ya

03:10 - I put out an annual report a couple of months ago

03:13 - this is something I had to do as a ceo

03:15 - I was pro ceo for

03:16 - probably a total of fifteen years

03:18 - and every quarter and certainly every year you had to put out a report how did you do

03:22 - what did you promise where did you fall short

03:25 - what's the vision for the future how can you be held accountable to the people that

03:29 - you represent the employees and also that

03:31 - the people that invested in your company so

03:33 - I thought I'd do an an annual report

03:36 - to the voters of Pennsylvania and the annual report

03:39 - has

03:40 - three parts to it

03:41 - the first part

03:42 - is

03:43 - An update on the promises

03:45 - so when I ran for the senate I made a bunch of promises I gave a number of speeches

03:50 - the key stone agenda where I thought Pennsylvania should go

03:53 - and I have the top ten promises and if you walk

03:55 - into my office in Washington you see a whiteboard

03:58 - with the top ten promises it'll be an update next to the promises of what we

04:02 - what we've delivered and where we still have some work to do

04:05 - but on the top ten promises there's there's been

04:07 - lots of good progress you know president trump ran

04:09 - and I ran to an agenda of closing the border

04:13 - of stopping the flow of fentanyl into our country

04:17 - into Pennsylvania we lost four thousand people

04:19 - in the last year of the bite administration to federal in Pennsylvania

04:23 - you ever meet with those fentanyl families it's just a poison

04:26 - that destroys families

04:27 - and I'm happy to say that that numbers down

04:30 - by sixty per se sent so sixteen hundred

04:32 - fentanyl deaths in two thousand and twenty five

04:34 - that's still sixteen hundred tragedies we have to go from sixteen hundred to zero

04:39 - but the efforts to stop the flow of illegal

04:41 - immigrants at the border to go after the cartels

04:44 - with our military capability to prosecute

04:46 - those criminals has made a real difference.

04:49 - In

04:50 - In Pennsylvania

04:51 - and across the country

04:52 - we also promised

04:53 - for energy dominance

04:54 - unlocking the potential of Pennsylvania we have the

04:57 - fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world

05:00 - Pennsylvania was a country

05:02 - we'd be the fourth largest in the world we have

05:04 - so abundant natural gas coal I just came.

05:07 - This morning from.

05:09 - The.

05:11 - The

05:11 - three mile island the crane clean energy.

05:15 - Center there where the reactor is being restarted will we start next year.

05:20 - We have abundant energy in Pennsylvania and we

05:22 - need to unlock it and make sure Pennsylvania's

05:24 - can can

05:25 - have the advantage of that both in energy prices

05:27 - but also in the incredible economic activity

05:30 - and growth that goes with it

05:32 - we promise to really make life better

05:34 - for working families

05:36 - and there's there's been a lot of progress on that and there's still work to do

05:39 - so every Pennsylvania family has

05:41 - more money in their pocket because of the working families tax credit

05:44 - if you made fifty thousand dollars a year

05:46 - you now have thirty five hundred dollars more

05:48 - there's a child tax credit

05:49 - a child care tax cut

05:51 - there is a

05:52 - child

05:53 - care tax credit

05:55 - there is a so school choice

05:56 - tax credit the first time in history

05:59 - that the federal government has helped school choice if you want to

06:01 - create opportunity for every single Pennsylvania school choice

06:05 - is absolutely the way to do it but there's still work to do

06:07 - on housing prices housing prices went up by about eleven percent

06:10 - last year on healthcare costs

06:12 - and inflation

06:13 - inflation is up again

06:15 - gas prices are

06:15 - which Pennsylvania are feeling a buck twenty five a gallon.

06:19 - In large part because of the conflict in Iran so

06:22 - we made huge progress in the economy the job numbers

06:24 - are good the economy is strong the stock market is good

06:26 - but we still have work to do

06:28 - so so that's sort of the update

06:30 - that's in this and we can talk more about it

06:32 - in the q and a section

06:33 - if you'd like but the second thing I really wanted to talk about was

06:38 - the future

06:39 - and in this report I talk about the fact that

06:43 - we're at the point.

06:45 - Of the most consequential change in

06:47 - all of our lifetimes.

06:49 - Everybody here the moment rent is the most

06:51 - change you're ever going to experience right now.

06:53 - I would go so far as to say and this is a big statement

06:56 - it's the most consequential moment of change

06:59 - in human history.

07:01 - In other words change is happening faster now that's ever happened in a they'd have

07:04 - to think about it the industrial revolution the invention of the printing press

07:08 - think about these monumental moments

07:09 - this moment of change is happening so quickly

07:12 - and what's different about this moment that other moments

07:15 - is that order official intelligence and all that goes with it

07:18 - it innovates on top of itself

07:20 - and so it has the potential

07:23 - and the likelihood of fundamentally changing our society

07:26 - for the good

07:27 - and potentially for the bad.

07:29 - It's a it's a moment

07:30 - that unlike any other.

07:32 - Changing the nature of work changing productivity

07:35 - changing now national security changing the way we interact with one another

07:39 - changing the nature of jobs.

07:42 - This is a moment like no other and

07:43 - we have to figure out how to.

07:46 - Embrace it

07:47 - mitigate the risk

07:49 - channel the incredible opportunity

07:52 - and we have to make sure that Pennsylvania

07:54 - remains in the lead of this moment so we we can

07:57 - sit back and hope

07:59 - put our heads in the sand and hope this moments not coming but the moment is here and

08:03 - we're in this existential battle with China by the way in terms of who is going to

08:06 - lead in the world who's going to innovate in the world

08:09 - and so the question for all of us the question for all of you

08:12 - is what do we want to do

08:14 - and my view is that Pennsylvania can lie lead this

08:16 - revolution Pennsylvania is uniquely positioned

08:20 - to be at the forefront of this moment and to make sure

08:23 - that it benefits Pennsylvania in unique and profound ways

08:27 - and the reason for that is Pennsylvania is blessed Pennsylvania by the way

08:30 - in the last two hundred and fiftieth year vs fifty years

08:33 - this is our birthday the two hundred fiftieth birthday

08:35 - I remember when I went to the two hundredth with my dad

08:37 - to Philadelphia when I was ten years old

08:39 - this is the two hundred and fiftieth

08:41 - and at every moment at every sort of hinge point in American history

08:45 - it was Pennsylvania

08:46 - whether it's the writing of

08:48 - the constitution the declaration of independence whether it's.

08:51 - The hard fought

08:53 - fight for freedom

08:54 - and emancipation

08:56 - at gettysburg whether it the industrial revolution.

08:59 - Whether it's the arsenal of democracy

09:01 - where Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh

09:03 - had more than fifty percent of steel production in the world

09:06 - Pennsylvania has always been at the center and I think Pennsylvania

09:09 - is uniquely positioned to lead this revolution again why

09:13 - while we have abundant natural resources all the energy

09:16 - in this world of

09:17 - of AI computing power is what's going to drive

09:20 - the pace of innovation in computing power

09:23 - is driven by energy.

09:25 - So all those energy resources make present Pennsylvania

09:28 - uniquely position but it's not just that

09:31 - we're entering a world where people who make things are uniquely valuable

09:35 - people who build

09:37 - or uni weekly but we have incredible skill labor

09:39 - electricians pipefitters steamfitters machinist

09:43 - to build the data infrastructure to build the energy infrastructure of the future

09:47 - we have incredible universities

09:49 - whether it's in the west or the east whether it's

09:51 - carnegie mellon or pit or penn state or penn or drexel

09:55 - we have incredible universities that can

09:57 - supply art credit incredible community colleges

09:59 - incredible state universities that can support.

10:02 - Other skills and the kinds of capabilities that are needed

10:06 - for the future.

10:08 - So we we are in a unique position

10:10 - to lead but it depends on what we do.

10:12 - It depends on what we do and let me describe

10:15 - three areas that I think Pennsylvania has the most

10:18 - potential

10:19 - the first is the intersection of AI and energy.

10:22 - So last July my wife and I hosted an energy and innovation summit in Pittsburgh

10:27 - we had the CEOs of all the energy companies the CEOs of the technology companies

10:31 - the biggest investors in the world

10:33 - we had president trump we had his cabinet we had the

10:36 - governor governor shapiro we at center fed Norman

10:38 - we had lab our leaders

10:40 - and in that one meeting.

10:43 - Those corporate companies those

10:45 - corporations announced ninety two billion dollars of investment in Pennsylvania.

10:50 - They

10:50 - unheard of

10:51 - unprecedented Pennsylvania's history

10:53 - fifty billion and energy infrastructure

10:56 - forty two billion in data centers and and training

10:59 - and that's just the beginning of the investment that will come to pass me I know

11:03 - there's controversy around data centers I can

11:05 - certainly address that in the q and a section

11:07 - that these have to be things that communities embrace

11:10 - but they

11:11 - make no mistake about their economic engines

11:13 - that offer the opportunity to bring renewed life

11:16 - to Pennsylvania and to our economy but that's not

11:19 - that's not the only trend the second big trend

11:22 - is the re industrialization of defense.

11:24 - So if you

11:26 - had never

11:26 - in my lifetime sorta had a period where the nature of warfare

11:30 - is changing so quickly look at what's happening in Ukraine

11:33 - with drones and autonomy robots on the battlefield look

11:36 - at what happened what's happening in the middle east

11:38 - with Iran

11:39 - and the entire defense infrastructure is going to be reinvented.

11:43 - In the next ten years

11:45 - and Pennsylvania

11:46 - is the place that a lot of that reinvention

11:49 - should take place the budget is going to

11:50 - go up by hundreds of billions of dollars

11:53 - Pennsylvania whether it's AI and robotics in Pittsburgh

11:56 - or whether it's the next generation combat vehicle in York

11:59 - or whether it's next generation shipping in an war

12:02 - at the Philadelphia shipyard

12:03 - or whether it's Toby Hanna or letterkenny

12:06 - or whether all the defense industrial base that's around johns town

12:09 - from the era of Jack murtha

12:11 - Pennsylvania is uniquely positioned to lead

12:15 - in the defense revolution that fence

12:17 - re industrialization

12:18 - because cause of all those same attributes

12:20 - but that's not the only thing

12:22 - the third thing is life sciences and pharmaceuticals

12:25 - Pennsylvania

12:26 - think about that AI revolution I talked about

12:28 - it is radically changing

12:31 - the state of innovation and invention

12:34 - in pharmaceuticals and drugs in life sciences

12:36 - I mean I was just spent the last couple of days I was in Pittsburgh with the

12:39 - Jay bhattacharya who is the head of the nih

12:42 - then I went to penn

12:43 - who went to the car t lab where they literally saw blood cancer leukemia lymphoma

12:48 - we now have a we now have a cure.

12:50 - I went to the rehabilitation center at the

12:53 - university of Pittsburgh

12:54 - remember the six million dollar man people with

12:56 - gray hair remember the six may doorman right

12:58 - while the six million dollar man was someone who lost his arm in a in a

13:02 - a

13:02 - Space shuttle

13:03 - wreck and they

13:04 - inserted a chip in his brain and he had a robotic arm

13:07 - that's now reality.

13:09 - The brain can guide

13:10 - a robotic arm

13:12 - as their prostheses

13:13 - this is unbelievable the pace of change

13:16 - in life sciences is incredible Pennsylvania

13:19 - is the foe fourth largest and I each recipient.

13:22 - In the country it's one of the reasons that I have been such a firm

13:26 - supporter of nih and have oppose the administration's

13:29 - proposals to cut in age

13:31 - because it's leading this unique invention and unique opportunity

13:34 - in Pennsylvania and it's also leading

13:37 - to a reshoring of pharmaceutical companies

13:39 - Eli Lilly Johnson Johnson announcing big deals

13:43 - in Pennsylvania

13:44 - so we are at a moment

13:45 - of enormous transformation

13:47 - and ironically that transformation is creating new opportunity if you talk to folks

13:52 - who who build things welders and pipe fitters and the fitters

13:55 - there's not enough of them to go around I just

13:57 - came from a as I said the three mile island

13:59 - they can't hire enough people

14:01 - to meet the needs of the two thousand people that are going to need

14:04 - to restart

14:05 - that plan

14:06 - but it's also going to create enormous disruption

14:09 - among many people in other professions and so

14:11 - how we help people

14:13 - adopted this new world and create unique opportunity

14:16 - is one of the most profound challenges of our day

14:19 - but it's not going happen unless we lean into

14:20 - it it's not going to happen unless we lead

14:23 - it's not going to happen unless we determine how Pennsylvania

14:26 - can be at the forefront

14:28 - of this amazing moment

14:30 - and as I say to the governor often and I say to anybody who will listen

14:33 - you know Pennsylvania and america are not just in a fight with China.

14:38 - For leadership in the world

14:40 - we're in a fight with north Carolina

14:41 - and Georgia and Florida and Texas

14:43 - because capital and talent are like water.

14:46 - They will go the path of least resistance so we're in a unique position here but we

14:50 - have to embrace that we have to lean into it we have to ensure

14:53 - that Pennsylvania remains at the forefront

14:55 - of the most profoundly changing the most exciting time.

14:59 - In human history.

15:01 - So that's the second thing

15:02 - I want to leave you but then Ronald Reagan had this incredible quote forty five years

15:05 - ago he said.

15:06 - We have the right to dare

15:08 - to dream big heroic dreams

15:11 - and we should be dre dreaming

15:12 - big heroic dreams for Pennsylvania at this moment.

15:15 - Because the opportunities

15:17 - are unparalleled

15:18 - but we ha have to grab them and we have to

15:19 - mitigate the risk and make sure that everybody

15:22 - benefits from this moment of enormous change

15:24 - the third thing in my report

15:26 - that I talk about

15:27 - is

15:28 - The way we should serve the way that people in

15:31 - my position of people in public life should serve

15:33 - and I start by

15:34 - talking about a servant's heart.

15:36 - So in other words I I had the profound opportune unity and the privilege to be

15:41 - elected to serve all the people of Pennsylvania

15:45 - and that means a lot of people didn't vote for

15:46 - me only about half the people voted voted for me.

15:50 - Yet I need to serve every single Pennsylvania and responsibly a democrat republican

15:54 - independent mean we're going to agree with me on everything but I need to be

15:57 - listening I need to understand I need to share

16:00 - why I'm taking the position why I'm doing the things

16:03 - that I'm doing

16:04 - and I try to do that in a number of different ways

16:07 - first I try to do that by engaging so since I took office fifteen sixteen months ago

16:13 - I've had forty four keystone coffees.

16:16 - In Washington anybody that's in Washington to

16:18 - Pennsylvania come around when Tuesday morning

16:20 - we have a keystone coffee usually get one hundred people and we sit and talk and

16:24 - people ask any question they like and I do my

16:26 - best to respond and tell them what's going on

16:28 - every two weeks

16:29 - I do

16:30 - a

16:31 - Tele town hall.

16:32 - I usually get about ten thousand people

16:35 - on the tele town hall and I just take questions as they come in

16:38 - no screening of questions

16:39 - and I've done about twenty two of those so think about that

16:42 - two hundred and twenty thousand people

16:45 - or twenty

16:46 - yeah two hundred and twenty thousand people have been on these

16:48 - tele town halls

16:49 - and then I try to be in Pennsylvania as much as I can since I've

16:53 - been in office I've done about two hundred and sixty visits

16:56 - to vfw in schools and factories and fracking sites and nuclear facilities

17:00 - and homer city and shipping port in anywhere

17:03 - where things are happening

17:05 - that offer a unique opportunity for Pennsylvania so I can be a cheerleader

17:08 - and where I can see the things that aren't going well

17:11 - so I can hopefully be a force

17:12 - for good the second thing I try to do listen I'm an unabashed

17:16 - unapologetic conservative

17:18 - Iran on conserve principles I ran a conservative policies I have voted

17:23 - for conservative principles and conservative policies

17:25 - but that doesn't mean we can't work together.

17:27 - That doesn't mean we we don't need to look

17:29 - for opportunities to work together so I've got

17:32 - an incredible relationship with my fellow senator John fetterman

17:35 - and we

17:36 - believe it or not we disagree and probably eighty

17:37 - percent of things but we look for opportunities to

17:40 - work together whether it's on antisemitism or

17:42 - whether it's on fracking or whether it's on

17:44 - mushroom farms or whether it's or not shutting down the government

17:48 - and I have most bipartisan legislation of any senator

17:51 - and certainly any freshman senator in the senate because I look for opportunities

17:55 - with Chris coons on nuclear power

17:57 - and I look for opportunities for route with Ruben guy I go

17:59 - from Arizona

18:01 - on housing

18:02 - and I look for opportunities with jacky rosen

18:04 - on the middle east I look for opportunities to work

18:06 - across the aisle and you know why

18:08 - because it takes sixty votes to get things done.

18:11 - So if you want to get things done for Pennsylvania or for america

18:15 - you gotta lean into it

18:16 - you gotta find ways to work together

18:18 - and I have a great relationship with governor

18:20 - spiro I have endorsed governor shapiro his opponent.

18:22 - I'm a republican

18:24 - and I recognize that I need to work with governorship bear when he with me

18:27 - on things like Eli Lilly and on things like.

18:30 - Some of the big projects coming into our state

18:32 - that's the way it should be I think that's what Pennsylvania is

18:35 - expect so just so you know that this isn't.

18:38 - Hand waving

18:39 - just since I've been in office fifteen

18:41 - sixteen months.

18:43 - I just want to

18:44 - describe the big six

18:45 - the big six

18:47 - or six big things that have happened in Pennsylvania

18:49 - you had the nip on us steel.

18:52 - Change them on valley for years viewed from western Pennsylvania

18:55 - this both saved thousands of jobs

18:58 - it resulted in a brand new.

19:01 - Steel mail coming to the mind ally

19:03 - next generation steel make it really save steel making

19:06 - in america

19:07 - huge for western Pennsylvania

19:09 - lots of lots of hands at work there

19:11 - lots of people working together to make that happen

19:14 - we had the a w s announcement in berwick Pennsylvania

19:17 - six or seven miles from where I grew up.

19:20 - Twenty billion dollars from e w s Amazon web services

19:23 - ten billion bucks county ten billion in luzerne county.

19:26 - These are huge opportunity

19:27 - I know there's controversy but as I said

19:29 - I think those

19:30 - risks can be mitigated and these are offer a huge

19:33 - opportunity for Pennsylvania the energy innovation summit

19:36 - that I announced

19:38 - that I mentioned ninety two billion dollars the thing I most proud of

19:41 - his all the people that were there

19:42 - because winning

19:44 - is a team sport

19:45 - you can't win if you're isolated you gotta bring people together

19:48 - business

19:50 - labor.

19:51 - Different parties

19:52 - to make it work

19:54 - for Pennsylvania Eli Lilly.

19:56 - A four point five billion dollar investment the lehigh valley

19:59 - thousands construction job this is next generation

20:02 - drug making this is the glp drug it's

20:06 - these are great jobs eight hundred

20:07 - new jobs but a great economic engine

20:10 - one hundred

20:11 - which already talk about

20:12 - five billion dollars of investment in the Philadelphia shipyard

20:16 - five thousand new jobs

20:18 - and these are great jobs

20:19 - and there's going to be a lot more

20:20 - we're going to go from one ship a year to twenty ships a year

20:23 - in the Philadelphia shipyard.

20:25 - Westinghouse

20:27 - six months ago we sting house Japan announced they're going to buy

20:30 - ten nuclear reactors we sting house

20:32 - eighty billion dollars.

20:34 - The reason I tell you those things is that in any one year

20:37 - one of those announcement would have been a big deal

20:39 - anybody that's been around for awhile knows that

20:42 - to have all those announcements come at fifteen months it's not an accident

20:45 - so result of a lot of hard work from a lotta

20:46 - people but it's also a result of the moment when.

20:50 - The moment

20:51 - is here

20:52 - for Pennsylvania to take leadership at the national level at a time of profound change

20:57 - so

20:57 - So let me stop there and just

20:59 - thank you all

21:01 - for listening I'm happy to take any questions from the audience but I

21:03 - am going to leave you with a thought

21:05 - which is.

21:07 - From William f Buckley when that Buckley was a great conservative

21:10 - died about ten years ago but he wrote an incredible book

21:14 - and the book book is called gratitude

21:17 - and the book is about the gratitude we should all have as Americans to be Americans

21:21 - were already uniquely blessed wherein the one percent of the

21:24 - one percent of the world because we have all that america

21:27 - has to offer whether you're born an American or come

21:29 - here and become an American citizen we are blessed

21:31 - to be Americans

21:32 - but he also warns

21:34 - that with that privilege of being an American comes a responsibility.

21:38 - A responsibility to do

21:39 - everything you can

21:41 - to keep it that way

21:42 - and I know many of you here

21:45 - in the press or in various ways serving the

21:47 - public are doing all you can to keep it that way.

21:50 - I'm trying to do all I can to keep it that way as well

21:52 - thank you.

21:53 - That

22:03 - okay first question

22:04 - people say data centers are why electric bills are high

22:07 - is this true and what state policies are impacting utility.

22:11 - Great thanks yeah the data center thing is is really is trusting it's reminiscent.

22:16 - Of fracking fifteen years ago

22:18 - fracking has sort of moved into a mainstream thing where I think

22:21 - most people

22:22 - not everybody most people recognize that fracking is clean

22:26 - it's relatively.

22:29 - Non intrusive

22:30 - to the environment and brings huge economic benefit to jobs but also to the royalties

22:35 - of the people that own the land and so forth

22:37 - this is one of those

22:38 - same things

22:39 - so let me start by saying

22:41 - no senator.

22:43 - Is going to goad alizarin county or pikes county or somebody's else say

22:46 - you need to have a data center.

22:48 - So these are decisions that have to be made at the local level.

22:52 - My only request is that when people make those decisions I hope they do that

22:56 - with all the facts and there's a lot of misinformation

22:59 - and the facts are that these are economic engines.

23:03 - They create thousands of jobs to build them.

23:05 - They create hundreds of jobs to man them.

23:08 - Ever the four years they get updated on the technology which are thousands of more

23:12 - jobs or at least hundreds on refurbishing them with next generation computing power.

23:17 - I was with a bunch of truckers the other day

23:19 - and they average the trucking association

23:22 - that there's

23:23 - two to one

23:24 - logistics jobs for every one permanent data center job and then as all the economic

23:30 - support around them whether it's

23:32 - restaurants or hotels and so forth

23:34 - so they are economic engines

23:36 - but I believe before a data center should be

23:39 - excited there should be a covenant

23:41 - a handshake more than a handshake.

23:43 - An agreement an explicit agreement

23:45 - between the community

23:47 - and the hyperscale hers and it should include four five things

23:50 - number one

23:51 - they should bring more energy than they use.

23:54 - They should bring more energy than they use

23:55 - so in other words if they are going to use

23:58 - a gigawatt of energy they should bring more than a gigawatt of energy

24:01 - homer city for example Indiana county where where my dad grew up.

24:04 - Has a brand new homer city it's the biggest project in the country

24:08 - four point four gigawatts.

24:11 - Three point four we're going to be used by data centers

24:13 - of four gigawatt gw onto the grid

24:15 - Thatcher lower prices over time so number one

24:17 - always more energy than they use at least as much as they use

24:20 - number two

24:21 - the water issue where people are worried about water

24:23 - it's gotta be it's these are closed loop system so

24:26 - almost all the water is recycled so they're not ongoing using the water they're

24:30 - recyclable water so that's generally not been a

24:32 - problem in any of the places they've been cited

24:35 - the third thing is these are a huge boom for taxes so this should they there's

24:39 - explicit amounts of taxes that should come to the community

24:42 - as a result of this that should lower

24:44 - home prices should lower.

24:46 - Home.

24:48 - Property taxes for the constituents

24:50 - and there should be an explicit understanding of what other investments

24:54 - they you're going to make and the community are they going to build roads

24:57 - are they going to build schools are they going to do philanthropy and finally

25:00 - there needs to be clear understanding of where the labor is going to come from

25:03 - are they going to use local labor

25:05 - are they going to bring labor from outside of Pennsylvania

25:07 - they have to bring local labor

25:08 - and the first generation of data centers didn't have all those parameters

25:13 - nail down

25:13 - I think the next gen narration well

25:16 - and I think when communities see that deal most will most will say yes.

25:22 - To get acquainted

25:23 - Macedonian women and never just stop

25:25 - running for governor and

25:27 - I did not help him.

25:28 - Get.

25:30 - I did not make any calls or anything to get him

25:32 - named as ambassador by I thought it was a

25:35 - great great honor for him to do that.

25:37 - You know he's a thirty year.

25:39 - Veteran.

25:41 - Taught

25:41 - at the war college and ironically he's an expert

25:44 - on Europe

25:45 - and and so he's

25:46 - truly a

25:48 - a very qualified person for that role.

25:51 - So

25:52 - That's the that's the short answer

25:54 - obviously there was some

25:55 - question of him whether he was going to run for governor

25:58 - the fact that he had the this on the path I think

26:01 - open that

26:02 - channel up more for for Stacy garrity but

26:04 - that was a secondary benefit not something that was explicit.

26:09 - Hospitals are among the largest employers in the commonwealth

26:12 - and they are awesome clothing.

26:15 - What can be done to.

26:17 - Protecting patient care and economic activity that

26:20 - hospitals provide.

26:23 - Thanks this is a real problem.

26:25 - We have rural

26:26 - particularly rural healthcare rural

26:28 - hospitals are closing

26:29 - some some urban ones are struggling too

26:32 - but healthcare in general is is a very fragmented

26:36 - industry

26:37 - and the rural systems are really under siege

26:40 - they're they're really struggling and so a real problem.

26:43 - Because when they close down

26:45 - then local communities don't get access

26:47 - and and when they don't get access they either have to drive.

26:51 - For an hour or two to get

26:53 - access to care

26:54 - or worse they don't get care

26:56 - and so it's something very fundamental

26:58 - and I think the answer is going to have to be.

27:02 - Around reinventing rural healthcare

27:05 - now the good news is there's

27:06 - huge

27:07 - steps that have been making a tele medicine and other things that allow.

27:11 - Us to deliver.

27:13 - Real high quality healthcare

27:15 - in rural communities and the the way that we're trying to accelerate that those

27:20 - Charlie gero hey Charlie good to see you.

27:23 - The way that we're

27:24 - trying to accelerate that is what the trump administration we and the congress passed

27:28 - in the working families tax credit

27:29 - act

27:30 - which was a billion dollar a rural healthcare fund

27:33 - and a mandate for that fund is is very.

27:36 - Is very clear

27:37 - it is not to underwrite

27:40 - failing economic models

27:41 - it's to reinvent the models.

27:44 - That

27:45 - are going to be able to deliver

27:47 - high quality care.

27:48 - I've toured a number of these.

27:51 - Rural healthcare

27:52 - system some of that are on the leading edge and some that are struggling

27:55 - and there's real breakthroughs.

27:57 - The the thing that is

27:59 - now happening more and more and I think you'll see more of this

28:02 - is with the combination of.

28:05 - Of cameras in the rooms and and doctors on site

28:10 - you can deliver all the spy casualties

28:12 - to folks in rural settings

28:14 - at least the preliminary

28:15 - diagnosis and then send them off to big urban centers

28:18 - when the need be

28:19 - so I think the reinvention is the key I think using technology is the key

28:22 - and I think there's money to do that.

28:25 - Pennsylvania received.

28:27 - Something like two hundred million dollars

28:29 - which is explicitly we

28:31 - are the

28:32 - governors to allocate to which systems he think will lead the invention

28:36 - the reinvention and

28:37 - hopefully that's a good starting point.

28:40 - An administration that quickly moves the priorities and

28:43 - demands for attention.

28:45 - Marine like reformers

28:47 - by the unexpected Greece or.

28:50 - Whether

28:51 - it's a great question I mean I'd say

28:53 - this administration has been

28:55 - certainly very focused on farmers.

28:57 - No matter how many times sector rollins has been here but it's been a number of times

29:01 - and I'm very focused on farmers

29:02 - and up and so

29:05 - the first way we can that is the farm bill

29:07 - and so we passed most of the farm bill and their working

29:10 - families tax cut act I think we'll have another farm bill

29:12 - this year all of the asset aspects of that were increased

29:16 - to support our farmers

29:17 - the second big thing is a supplemental.

29:20 - So we had one supplemental that was passed a twelve billion dollar supplemental

29:23 - there will hopefully be another supplemental that'll

29:25 - be able to deal with some of the more specialty.

29:27 - Parts of our agony because when you say agriculture in Pennsylvania

29:30 - agriculture Pennsylvania is huge anybody

29:32 - that wants to know what's in agriculture because to go to the farm show

29:35 - and you'll see fifty different parts of our ag community.

29:39 - Us that's the second

29:40 - with regard to the freeze I actually have a phone call when I when I leave this

29:44 - room with us with secretary of

29:46 - agriculture and

29:48 - some officials from the department of agriculture

29:51 - to talk about

29:52 - what we should do about the freeze and how we can potentially get

29:54 - some

29:55 - additional government assistance.

29:57 - My my bottom line on this is

30:00 - the agriculture industry is

30:01 - is the biggest industry in Pennsylvania

30:04 - it supports something like eight hundred thousand

30:06 - jobs so this is not a small thing it's a big thing

30:08 - but more than just a business it is a way of life

30:12 - it's a way that sort of

30:14 - undergirds

30:15 - a lot of our rural communities

30:17 - so when you're supporting dairy farmers as an example you're not just supporting

30:21 - the need for milk and and and

30:23 - effective businesses

30:24 - you're supporting the the need for.

30:27 - Those farming communities to thrive and being

30:29 - able to pass them from generation to generation

30:31 - so that's what my focus has been and

30:34 - I'm not a farmer by any stretch but I grew up in a

30:37 - farming community and so I have some sensitivity to it.

30:42 - Are you a

30:43 - or

30:43 - Were in favor of the war in Iran

30:46 - and what should the us do to help alleviate high gas prices.

30:51 - I support the

30:52 - I support the war in Iran.

30:54 - You know

30:55 - and I say that with

30:56 - you know just a recognition it's a it's a big

30:59 - statements a big bold move to go to Iran but

31:02 - for me it's pretty straightforward

31:03 - so if you say that

31:05 - as five presidents have said.

31:08 - Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

31:10 - That's what for the presence of

31:11 - a Barack Obama Joe biden

31:13 - Donald trump.

31:15 - George bush

31:16 - and

31:17 - and then you know that after we struck Iran

31:21 - in July.

31:23 - Of last year the first thing they did.

31:26 - Was start to rebuild their ballistic missile capability and their nuclear program.

31:30 - I think it's a

31:31 - it's

31:32 - a pretty fair bet without having any classified information all

31:35 - that in this

31:37 - in this presidency and in trump's presidency that Iran would have the capacity

31:42 - to put a nuclear warhead on top of a long range ballistic missile.

31:47 - Up until this most recent conflict with Iran Iran insisted swore

31:51 - absolutely not they did not have

31:53 - medium range ballistic missiles and then we saw

31:56 - a bullet or medium range ballistic missile

31:58 - twenty five hundred miles get dropped on Diego Garcia.

32:02 - So I think if you're just an objective person take politics out of it

32:05 - the probability that a Iran in this presidency would have

32:09 - a nuclear weapon and ballistic missile capability to deliver it certainly to Israel

32:13 - but but even to the united states is is is high

32:16 - if you believe that which I do then you gotta say okay

32:19 - we cannot tolerate that

32:20 - we cannot tolerate Iran having a nuclear weapon why why Iran

32:24 - because Iran was the biggest sponsor of state terror he

32:27 - killed more Americans over the last twenty years than

32:29 - any other country in the world through terrorist proxies

32:34 - and because it says explicitly

32:35 - we want to destroy the great Satan you don't have to guess what they're thinking

32:39 - and so I regretfully I thought we gotta get that

32:43 - we got to

32:44 - make sure they don't have a nuclear weapon

32:46 - so I supported

32:47 - the the.

32:49 - The initial.

32:50 - Strike

32:51 - I supported what happened

32:53 - seventy five days ago

32:54 - and now we're at a crossroads

32:56 - and we've eliminated

32:58 - most of their military capability by most estimates

33:00 - eighty five percent of their missiles drones launchers

33:04 - manufacturing capability

33:06 - but

33:06 - there's two remaining issues one is that they haven't given up their enrich uranium

33:11 - and they haven't given up their desire for nuclear weapons and

33:14 - they're also

33:15 - blocking at least part of the strait

33:17 - and so my hope is

33:19 - but it's a fleeting hope

33:21 - that Iran will say listen we're we're we're done

33:23 - we'll give up the enriched uranium

33:25 - and will

33:26 - go down a path to peace.

33:27 - If they do that

33:28 - it would be great the persian society is the greatest one of the greatest societies

33:33 - in history

33:34 - it's just been run by a bunch of radicals for fifty years.

33:37 - If they don't do that

33:38 - I suspect that.

33:40 - Trump will try to put additional pressure

33:42 - with military action the blockade is working.

33:45 - The blockade is working in that it's it's it's

33:48 - choked out ninety percent of the revenue

33:50 - but they're they're

33:52 - they're holding on

33:53 - and so that's the decision point rep

33:55 - for the people of Pennsylvania I've spent a lotta time across Pennsylvania talk I

33:58 - I try to

33:59 - make sure they understand the risk

34:01 - do we want our children to live under the threat of

34:04 - a nuclear armed Iran

34:05 - but I don't want to make light of the gas

34:07 - prices and you know it's

34:09 - we all feel it but if you're a family

34:11 - that lives on forty or fifty grand a year

34:14 - and your gas prices went up at a buck and a quarter

34:17 - and are sustain that that really they they feel

34:20 - people are feeling this I know they're feeling it

34:22 - and so there's some things we're trying to do on

34:24 - the margin that may bring the price down around

34:26 - but it's the direct result of this conflict

34:29 - the moment the conflicts over gas prices are going to come down

34:31 - significantly

34:32 - and so.

34:34 - What I say to them as we're going to try do everything

34:35 - we can to make sure we end the conflict quickly

34:38 - it can't be a long drawn out affair

34:40 - accomplish the goal and and hopefully get those

34:42 - gas prices back to where they're more manageable.

34:46 - Scheduling

34:47 - medical marijuana to support passage of the

34:49 - banking act

34:50 - illegal medical marijuana.

34:53 - You know I I I'm not sure the specifics of the of the act

34:56 - so I'm not going to

34:57 - I'm not going to comment on that specifically my basic view on

35:01 - medical marijuana prescription is has been.

35:05 - It's been supportive particularly for veterans

35:07 - my view on legalization of marijuana for recreational has been opposed.

35:12 - Because it's a gateway

35:14 - and I think the evidence shows it's been a gateway to

35:17 - more severe drug usage and having spent a lotta time with

35:20 - the parents of those who have been lost

35:22 - by overdose in our community anything we can do hoot stop that so.

35:26 - Supportive all sorts of experiments to deal with veterans and PTSD and other things.

35:32 - All under a doctor's prescription very skeptical of

35:35 - commercial or for recreational use.

35:38 - Guarantee

35:39 - chance against

35:40 - hero and why she struggled to find rain

35:43 - well listen I know something about taking on.

35:46 - Incumbents and I'll be an underdog I think the day I announced.

35:50 - That I was going to run the betting Mark is headed ninety seven to three

35:55 - and other words ninety seven percent probability I would lose

35:59 - and three percent probability I'd win

36:02 - and six

36:03 - or eight weeks out

36:04 - the wall street journal poll and the new York times poll have me down twelve points.

36:08 - So.

36:10 - You know with all due respect to the political prognosticators I I think

36:14 - anything can happen.

36:16 - He

36:16 - Obviously is

36:17 - she's an underdog

36:18 - he's he's an incumbent when you run against an incumbent it's harder

36:21 - and the reason it's harder is is because it's harder to raise money against the

36:24 - incumbent because if people think that

36:27 - the incumbent is likely to be the next governor next senator

36:30 - they don't want to oppose the person who they think's going to be in the office

36:33 - but

36:34 - but

36:35 - but

36:35 - you know I need I think anything's possible politics she's got a great

36:39 - career

36:40 - I think the match up of an army veteran someone

36:42 - who's sort the way she served and so I wouldn't.

36:45 - I wouldn't bet against her

36:47 - but obviously it's a it's a it's a hard races as my race was hard

36:51 - and I even until the day I won dad was pretty

36:53 - skeptical I was going to be able to pull it off.

36:56 - Am I right dad.

37:01 - We had an interview once.

37:04 - During the middle of the campaign with Selena zito

37:06 - and we were at a pizza place in my home town where I grew up

37:09 - and my dad started to just sit there and opinie said you know I dunno be the case

37:12 - he's pretty tough I don't think it's likely that day and I said dad

37:16 - enough.

37:17 - This is a political ripoff order stop talking.

37:23 - The constitution

37:24 - provides

37:25 - for

37:26 - controlling elections.

37:30 - No

37:31 - That's a good question though

37:32 - no the save act is.

37:34 - That the save act is putting.

37:36 - Basic principles that are in the constitution into law

37:39 - and then the states then have the ability to implement.

37:43 - What.

37:45 - The federal implement in the mayor they see fit with the federal law says but but

37:48 - just so everybody knows with the save act is.

37:51 - The safe act requires two things it requires

37:54 - demonstration of citizenship to register to vote.

37:57 - Only

37:58 - American citizens are allowed to vote

38:00 - by the constitution

38:01 - and second

38:02 - it requires a voter ID

38:05 - when you show up to vote.

38:07 - Just like when you go

38:08 - get on an airplane or when you go to buy a six pack of beer you have show ID

38:12 - those are the two simple things

38:13 - so

38:14 - It is the most basic common sense which is why

38:16 - most Americans supported eighty five per se cent of

38:18 - Americans democrats and Republicans alike support voter ID

38:21 - seventy percent support.

38:24 - Proof of citizenship in order to register to vote

38:27 - and so on one wonders why the Democratic party is so opposed to it and I think it

38:31 - probably offers them electoral advantages

38:33 - their critique of the save act is that it suppresses voter suppression that stands in

38:37 - the way of my authorities are women or various

38:40 - people voted

38:41 - I don't think there's

38:42 - evidence to support that.

38:43 - For a couple of reasons one the concerns about that

38:46 - have been addressed so the one big concern was women

38:48 - who would change their names when they got married or something

38:51 - wouldn't be able to show the registration and would be

38:54 - boxed out

38:55 - so there was a number of amendments made to the bill that would ensure for that

38:59 - a woman who had changed her name would have

39:01 - a multitude of ways to shoot to show that she was who she is

39:05 - the second is that.

39:07 - At least where voter ID has been put in place

39:09 - like Georgia

39:10 - and

39:10 - the minority turnout has been higher not lower

39:14 - and there's lots of ways to reduce the barrier of getting a voter ID.

39:18 - So I think those those are specious arguments and I think

39:21 - this is a common sense thing as disappointing honestly

39:24 - where were the

39:25 - party of

39:26 - a body of one hundred people in the senate

39:28 - we can't get sixty people to vote for something that

39:31 - eighty five percent of Americans agree to be true

39:33 - it may go through

39:34 - multiple permutations maybe a little bit it'd be just a voter ID version but it's.

39:38 - It's something and and then all states implement their

39:41 - own policies Pennsylvania unfortunately does not have voter ID.

39:44 - I had only his voter ID the first time you vote and so at some I think it's

39:48 - it's a disappointment I'll say one more thing and this

39:50 - people say

39:51 - illegal immigrants voting it's it's a rare thing and only happens.

39:55 - It doesn't have to happen much to change the course of history.

39:59 - I lost my first race by nine hundred votes

40:01 - out of one point five million

40:03 - I lost mice I won my second by fifteen thousand

40:06 - out of seven million

40:08 - it doesn't take much to change the course of history so

40:12 - we need to make sure that every vote is a legitimate vote

40:14 - and this is one way to do that.

40:17 - Thanks

40:17 - to the beautiful

40:18 - hundred thousand Americans with

40:20 - health insurance

40:21 - or something.

40:25 - Let me start by saying I don't agree with that number but

40:29 - but I think it's a good question because

40:31 - this is bike that I wrote an article for the journal.

40:34 - It was like the educate it was like mr Smith

40:36 - goes to Washington the education of a new senator

40:39 - and it was

40:40 - related to the medicaid reforms that were

40:42 - if the family's tax cut act

40:44 - and

40:45 - you know it took me a long time

40:47 - but I got all the numbers associated with us I really

40:50 - want to understand how this is going to affect people in

40:53 - here who would this would affect and why it would affect them

40:55 - and the starting point is

40:57 - that in Pennsylvania over the last five years medicaid has gone from twenty eight

41:01 - billion dollars a year to forty three.

41:04 - Now the interesting thing about that is the number of people who receive it has

41:06 - stayed the same at about three million.

41:09 - Just

41:09 - put that fact aside for a second.

41:12 - The second thing is that.

41:14 - What the

41:15 - what the bill does

41:16 - it's grow it's been growing

41:18 - at double digit

41:19 - but what what the projections were going

41:21 - forward were six per cent a year for medicaid.

41:24 - What the bill does is it bends the curb

41:27 - to three percent a year growth

41:29 - so medicaid based on the bill that was passed

41:31 - will be growing at three percent a year the

41:33 - the rate of inflation.

41:35 - So it's not

41:36 - cutting

41:36 - there's nobody that's cutting numbers it's slowing the growth

41:40 - but then the big thing in it

41:41 - is that you have to work if your work eligible you have to work

41:46 - to be able to get access to medical

41:48 - and what does work eligible he.

41:50 - He has worked eighty hours a month.

41:52 - Not a week.

41:53 - A month

41:54 - twenty hours a week

41:55 - if you can't find a job

41:57 - you can

41:58 - volunteer

41:59 - that qualifies

42:00 - if you can't if you want to go to school or get educated

42:03 - you can that qualifies if he you have a disability.

42:07 - This does not

42:07 - apply to you

42:08 - if you have a dependent it doesn't apply to you

42:10 - so this

42:11 - seems like the most basic common sense I mean the people I grew up if you sat down

42:14 - and said this is what we're gonna do a medical issue that makes it.

42:17 - So this was most of it but what happened next

42:20 - was

42:21 - this incredible campaign of how vicious we're taking babies out of incubators

42:25 - putting men in the in the driveway

42:27 - which isn't true but the best part of this is

42:29 - that the cuts don't go into effect until twenty eight or twenty nine

42:32 - right best part

42:33 - but I'll go to visit these hospitals when people call me and say

42:36 - the countries

42:37 - are killing us already they're killing us

42:38 - I'd say

42:39 - nothing happens until twenty eight and twenty nine

42:42 - so I think people are dealing with a lot of misinformation one

42:45 - that's not to say that these programs aren't struggling

42:47 - that's not to say hospitals aren't struggling

42:49 - so I don't want to make light

42:51 - of the challenges we have in healthcare

42:53 - but for god's sakes if you're going to critique it you gotta have the facts raid and

42:58 - and this thing has been taken and completely hijacked

43:00 - so

43:01 - So we needed a lot more on healthcare the one thing that has happened which I thanks

43:05 - a good sign particular elders we have a very

43:07 - significant

43:08 - aging population in Pennsylvania as you all know

43:11 - is pharmaceuticals

43:12 - so pharmaceutical costs are about twenty percent of all healthcare costs

43:16 - healthcare is about twenty percent the economy so about five percent

43:19 - of the overall economy is drug prices

43:21 - and

43:22 - trump's put in place this

43:24 - which isn't in legislation

43:25 - hopefully we'll be.

43:27 - The most favoured nation.

43:29 - Provision on drugs.

43:31 - Which means that you can't charge less for a drug in France or India or Germany

43:35 - than you do in america because what's been

43:37 - happening is america has been underwriting the drug

43:39 - research and development

43:41 - and then they charge less than other countries because it's profitable.

43:44 - We've taken a step to fix that that should bring

43:46 - down drug prices and then there's trump or x

43:48 - where you can actually we go and order the drugs yourself which takes out the pbms

43:52 - which are a big source of the incremental costs rise so

43:55 - there's things happening on the margin

43:57 - but this is an area where I think there needs to be a lot more good thinking and

44:01 - let me finish by saying

44:02 - nobody wants to make sure that we protect

44:06 - the most vulnerable among us more than me

44:08 - so everything we should do should have the mind or what would these programs for

44:11 - there to protect the most vulnerable among us

44:13 - but in order to do that they have to be they actually

44:15 - have to be sustainable and right now they're not.

44:19 - What are the biggest lessons you've learned during your marriage.

44:24 - I'd say the

44:25 - you know the biggest lessons are

44:28 - well I mean they're just sort of life lessons I think more than anything else which

44:31 - is just get out there and listen.

44:33 - Listen be open minded

44:35 - try to see opportunity

44:36 - don't take

44:37 - that don't believe what you hear about somebody

44:39 - or or something

44:40 - learn for yourself be open minds did.

44:43 - You know I have found it to be a completely.

44:46 - Rewarding.

44:48 - Opportunity I feel pretty

44:50 - privileged to do it I feel like I have a six year contract.

44:52 - I'm doing I'm just like I did when I was a ceo I'm doing everything I can to to to

44:56 - deliver on my

44:57 - promises and the best I can do for the people of Pennsylvania I guess the the

45:01 - pleasant supt price has been the friendship with John fetterman

45:05 - you know he campaigned against me.

45:07 - So I wasn't expecting that we'd forge a a good friendship but I think he.

45:12 - I think he had this near death experience I think he sort of has no

45:16 - tolerance for sort of the silliness of politics and

45:19 - and that's been consist with me I don't

45:21 - I tried to speak respectfully I try to always

45:23 - treat people with dignity and then you know fight

45:26 - for the ideas I think are right and which we found

45:28 - a good

45:29 - friendship I think which has made

45:30 - a

45:31 - Lot of fun for both of us.

45:35 - Well we have some images for.

45:37 - Compliments of the Roman

45:38 - cancel Harrisburg.

45:42 - In closing we want to thank you for being with us.

45:45 - Monday June twenty second.

45:50 - Or website.

45:52 - Three

46:00 - and and.