Not yet, you're you are live now. There we go hi everyone. This is a congresswoman Kendra Horne Thank you so much to everyone for joining us for everybody who's with us today for another edition of our summer Facebook Live Town Hall series again we just sincerely appreciate I appreciate you your engagement your questions and the opportunity to provide regular updates about the work. I'm doing both here in Washington. And that we're doing to help Oklahomans in Oklahoma as well especially in the midst this unprecedented health and economic crisis due to a global pandemic. so thank you again for joining us for the summer Townhall series Wednesdays at noon Central as a reminder for those of you who are watching this later or have questions but aren't able to watch it live. You can submit questions through our website. At Horne dot House dot Gov forward slash questions Horn dot House dot Gov forward slash questions and you are welcome to join us live on Facebook or on zoom using meeting ID. 9264503 1102 and and we'll be back here again next Wednesday. for those of you who are watching live, we want to hear from you and take your questions. you can submit them on the. on the Facebook live chat or via Zoom or again by going to our website and and submitting questions dot House dot Gov forward slash questions and as a reminder, this is so important for me to hear from you. what you're concerned about what issues are impacting you and your families and and for me to be able to share what we're doing to help Oklahoma families and individuals and businesses. and our health care workers as we are navigating this challenging times and so please submit your questions but as a reminder we are we are all in this together. It doesn't mean that we have to agree with each other. in fact, I think most of us are going to disagree on certain things, but we can treat each other with respect and have a dialogue in the process so please keep that in mind as you're posting your your comments and questions and I think that so many of us that we're we're struggling with similar issues similar challenges and there's more that we have in common than we have. It's different more that unites us than divides us and and it is it is always an opportunity to find there's always an opportunity to find some common ground and that's what I will continue to do to put Oklahoma and Oklahomans first ahead of any party or. Other or other issues so I'm I'm very glad to have you here today. So let's talk about what's what's been happening? I'm I'm sure that you're seeing a lot. There's there's a lot going on and certainly we are here in Washington DC this week as we were last week addressing some of the most important issues facing our country. Last week, we passed the defense authorization bill and as a member of the Armed Services Committee, I am incredibly proud of. That we did on that bill to make sure that that our military service members their families and have the resources they need, especially with the inclusion of my military Home act in the authorization bill and the strong bipartisan support that that the bill the bill received both in Committee and coming out of the floor of the House of Representatives and we are this week last week this week we are now doing the important work of tackling appropriations bills the bills to form the government as some of you. probably know when I was sworn in in January of 2019, it it was in the midst of an unprecedented government shut down. the first class of members of Congress ever to come in the midst of of of of a shutdown of that nature and to me the bottom line is that we have we have work to do we have to reach across the aisle. We have to get things done and it is never acceptable for us to use shutdowns or partisan gamesmanship. A tool to hurt Oklahoma families and to not provide the resources that are needed to not be responsible for taxpayer dollars and to be responsive to the needs of our constituents. so we're going to continue to work on that which takes me to the next package in response to covid- 19 pandemic as as you likely know we have passed as a Congress and have signed and the President has signed in the law for major in response to this Cove, 19 pandemic and while we have seen some progress, we've done things that help our families and businesses with the P program with with expanded unemployment benefits with with additional supports for individuals health and well-being including free testing for Covid- 19 investing in research and development of vaccines and and much more. we we To do so the question I know on everyone's mind right now is is what's what's next? when will it will there be another package when when will it be coming through? what will it include and and those are those are things that are important to all of us but as we've done with the previous packages, we have to ensure that we a space for bipartisan negotiation that we get them across the finish line. That means that we have to sit down and talk to each other and the bottom line with any package in response to Cove at at 19 in response to this pandemic is that it has to be timely. It has to be targeted and it has to be transparent to be timely. It has to get through both houses of Congress and be signed into law to actually get the help where it's needed targeted needs to be focused on specifically on responding to the the variety of impacts that. Cohen, 19, is brought to our communities the health and economic impacts and and it's important to have all of those things and not allow other things that aren't related to political pet projects to come in to the mix and then transparent we need transparent negotiations need transparency and oversight and implementation to ensure that the programs that we pass and the funding that we provide as Congress gets where it needs to go. We can make it through this crisis together and then on the other side of it work work to recover and make our whole community stronger So though I don't have a crystal ball about what the next package will include. I wanna talk about a few of the items that that I think it needs to include and where things are right now so as I mentioned timely, targeted and transparent, we need to. Support and help for people in our communities who struggling during this pandemic and playing partisan football with proposals simply doesn't help anyone. This is not a time to score points. This is the time to do the hard work and roll up our sleeves and I have and I will continue to call out individuals on either or groups on either side of the aisle that don't that don't keep this in mind that they try to turn these things into political footballs targeted again. This is the time for us to invest in emergency response, but we have to do so in a way that addresses the real impacts in our communities and make sure that each part of these bills goes to addressing the pandemic and helping people make it through And finally again the transparency piece we have to make sure that that not only in the implementation of this legislation, but also negotiation there is transparency and and that's one. Reasons that I host this weekly sessions to take your questions and give you an update. so there's a lot happening right now. And I wanna talk about where things are a few months ago, the House passed the Heroes Act which was a very large piece of legislation that included a lot of different things. as you may know I voted against the Heroes Act, not because I didn't support many of the items that were in there, but because it failed the test of being timely and targeted it included some additional things that were unrelated to the covid- 19 pandemic that didn't get to the heart of addressing the needs of our communities and Timelines we didn't have we didn't have Republicans at the table. We need to have both Republicans and Democrats negotiating these things and just this week just a couple of days ago, Senate unveiled their package, which sadly fails this timely targeted and transparent test yet again it is it is something that we have to continue to work on, but it is unfortunate and frustrating to see individuals to see either. Or either body of Congress playing a political football with the lives and well-being of individuals and in our community the the Senate bill the Senate bill fails these tests. I think on on a number of levels first and foremost most the the First Tee is timely again. there was no input from both sides of the aisle and from what we know not even support. From from all of the members of of one party on either side two this in the Senate bills are full of things are unrelated to the covid- 19 pandemic and full of pet political projects that don't actually get the help and resources where they are desperately needed where Oklahomans and families and individuals and businesses across this country are struggling and and. Have have experienced the impacts of Cohen, 19 through no fault of their own including almost two billion dollars for a new Fbi building in DC billions of dollars for additional weapons systems and and and and military aircraft. which we have already worked in the authorization bill and the appropriations bills to make sure that these things are funded and and again we're talking about. Covid- 19 relief That doesn't get there it also has a number of other giveaways that are totally unrelated to the covid-. 19 pandemic and tax breaks that only go to a very few without including and what it doesn't include is it doesn't include any additional funding for state and local governments to help ensure that that that they can take care of the immediate needs in To pay our heroes, our first responders the people that are putting themselves out there and taking care of us as well as as as well as our front line workers. it doesn't include additional funding and an expansion of the snap benefits, which are so important to families where people have lost their jobs and and they're struggling to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. Speaking. Over their head, It doesn't extend the support for programs that help people who are on the doorstep of eviction who are right there at the edge of their rope and there's so many things that it doesn't include that all of these things I've mentioned have bipartisan support. I've worked with the problem Solvers Caucus the caucus that I'm a part of equal number of Democrats and Republicans here in the House to support. Funding for state and local governments so that our schools have the resources they need to to make decisions to take care of the health and well-being of our educators as well as our children and many other things that have strong bipartisan support. So this is. this is where we are. I think we will. I think there is a pathway to to get there because there is still strong bipartisan support for so many of these provisions, including ensuring we. You to invest in testing Research and that our front line workers and our community have sufficient PPE amongst other things as well as continuing to help our small businesses keep the lights on and continue continue to move forward so. all of these things being said again, I still think there is room for us to find a bipartisan compromise. We've done it before and and I think we can and we should do it again we have to. make sure that. We are putting front and Center is the health and economic well-being of our communities and we are all in this together if we take the actions we need to take to reduce the spread of this virus to provide critical support for individuals families businesses as are in this unprecedented time of crisis for the to help address the impacts of this of this pandemic we will come out on the other side stronger and again. that's why I'm. To advocate for strong sound. physical policies that ensure that as the economy begins to recover, we are we are in working in a bipartisan way to ensure that we are protecting and securing the long-term sustainability of our critical trust programs of social security of Medicare of Highway Trust and so so many so many things so that's where we are right now on this next agreement and I'm gonna continue to work on that here and. And and hope that we make some good progress and and we'll continue to advocate for bipartisan solutions that are timely targeted and transparent Next thing I wanna talk about is something that we are addressing today and that is our that is a child care legislation I have heard from so many families and and single mothers and families of all different backgrounds, front line workers essential workers who are struggling from childcare facilities. who are. To figure out how to keep their doors open our children are are such. an essential part of our future and we have to make sure that that quality affordable childcare is available that we are that we're making it accessible especially during these challenging times so let me talk about a couple of things that we're we're doing here in the House today as we know, 19, has devastated the childcare sector. it's caused some temp. And and and and some permanent closures of child care providers which is only making the shortage of quality affordable health care even worse for working families and forcing them to make very difficult choices and and and figure out how they're gonna take care of their kids. and and do their work as essential as essential workers and as well as make sure that we have childcare available on the other. This pandemic so there is an urgent need to support a child care, which is why we are. We're taking up two bills that are urgently needed and will provide additional relief and support for child care workers and working families in need of in need of child care. the bills are the child care is essential Act and the child care for Economic Recovery Act. The childcare is essential Act. What it does is it provides Grant funding. for child care providers to help stabilize a childcare sector and support the providers to safely reopen and operate it creates a 50 billion dollar Childcare Stabilization Fund within the existing childcare and development block Grant program the CDBG program where providers can use these grants for a wide range of expenses and and help with the cost so they can keep the doors. similar to what we did with PPP this is specifically for child care the childcare is essential Act protects also protects workers by requiring providers to continue to employ and pay their employees at pre covid- 19 levels, which is why the grants are important. It requires providers who are getting Grant funding to provide families with with relief from co-payments and tuition so that we're helping family. As well as a child care facilities so that working families or families that are struggling with this very difficult choices and decisions about how to both take care of their family and by going into their workplace when they're essential workers and taking care of their children so that they can do both and it also requires providers to meet health and safety guidance from the CDC and that's about ensuring doing everything. To ensure a safe place for children and for child care providers, it also strengthens federal investments and and tax subsidies that help bring quality quality child care really within the reach of working families who are already working on a thin margin by investing 10 billion dollars in infrastructure to improve child care safety and providing eight hundred and 50 million dollars to support family. Workers and and funding for child care programs as well as improving tax benefits for families and working caregivers and and it also enhances the child and dependent tax care tax care credit. which means that families can use. more funds and put them into their flexible spending account or FSA to to help pay for childcare. And so many other so many other things including including expanding the employee retention tax credit, which is so important, not only for child care workers and facilities, but also for for businesses in many different industries and I'm also proud that this bill includes my my bill the children's mental health Care Access Act. It was included in the broader bill because we know that taking care of children and our front line workers is not. Protecting their physical health and safety, but also addressing mental health needs and that includes children after months of social isolation uncertainty stress these things are not only being felt by parents and childcare workers and facilities. The children are filling them as well So my bill in with provide a mental health grants allow child care facilities to apply for grants through the same block Grant program to help provide. Mental health care services to both their children as well as their their workers because we know that children also experience mental health issues in fact the 20:19 AM, a study found that 16 and a half percent of American children experience mental health issues, but fewer than half receive treatment and while our children aren't as able to verbal. Especially our youngest, what what the impacts of of this uncertainty and the stressful times are having on them. they feel the impacts and that's why it's it's so important for us to make sure that our child care facilities have the ability to provide evidence based and trauma-informed solutions to our children and this is again the kind of bipartisan problem solving we need during this pandemic and Is this is why we need to continue to work on this and that's why when I introduced the Children's Mental Health Care Access Act. I worked with Congressman Tom Cole from Oklahoma and we introduced this bill together and it's why in so many of these places. I know that there's still room for bipartisanship because I continue to work on that and I'm gonna continue to do so so again. Thank you all for being here and we'll. You questions now, I know we had a quite a few things to talk about but I know we also have a lot of questions so. Go ahead and get started on that and and again if you have questions you can submit them for today's Facebook live town Hall is you can submit them on Facebook in the comment section or through Zoom if you're watching there or at our website at Horn dot House dot Gov forward slash questions and so my first question is one that we received during last week's town Hall, but we didn't. To get to and I wanna start here because it's such an important question and and that is a question from Stacia who asked my son is in the service. What is being done to protect our servicemen against the bounty put on them Stacia Thank you for your question and thank you for your family's service and sacrifice and for your son putting putting his life on the line as. As a member of the armed Services Committee, I am absolutely committed to doing everything in our power to ensure that our men and women in uniform those who put their lives on the line that we do everything in our power to protect them and to uphold our end of the bargain, and that means that we have to stand up to foreign adversaries when they threaten our men and women in uniform and. Even the mere possibility of Russian bounty is deeply troubling and the bottom line is that this administration should be doing everything in their power to stand up for their troops cuz I know that I am and I'm concerned that if they're close close relations with with Putin keeps them from doing so it falls to Congress to hold bad actors accountable and we need to do what's right for our National security and for our service members and to hold our adversaries accountable and that's why I. With the group of members to with the Blue dog caucus to advocate for a vote on two different bills that will help to address this. The first is the defend act the deadly escalation by foreign entities, Notification and Disclosure Act as well as the stopping malign actions from Russian terrorism or the Smart Act both of these bills that have been introduced in the House. we were we. In the House, following reports of a Russian plot to pay bounties to the Taliban to kill a US troops in Afghanistan and and that's and we introduced these bills in response to address to address these issues and to ensure that again, Congress can take action to do everything in our power to ensure that the bad actors are held accountable and and we will continue to work on this and I am. To work with the Blue dogs to urge Congress to take legislative action by bringing both the Defend Act and the Smart Act to the House floor for a vote so again, I thank you for your question and thank you for Thank you for your service and thank you and thank you for your son and and his service as well and and we will continue I'll continue to keep you posted on the progress and rest assured that as a member. Services Committee this is something we will continue to work on so again if you have questions you can submit them in the chat on Facebook live or you can go to Horn dot House dot Gov forward slash questions and we will get to some additional additional questions that have come in and thank you everyone who submitted questions and so I'm gonna start with We've got a question from Tom today. who ask. My wife, it's been eight weeks and she's still cannot get her unemployment sorted out We are hurting Tom. Thank you for your question and thank you for reaching out. I'm sorry that you and your wife are going through this and and yes, we are happy to help we are we are here to help and my office has worked to help thousands of Oklahomans get access to the unemployment assistance they are entitled to because they lost their jobs through no fault of their own and and we. We're doing everything we can to help to help this in this process and we've been able to do that. Tom what the way the best way that we can begin to help is if you reach out to the to my office at four zero 56 zero 23 zero 74, or you can visit Horne dot House dot Gov Forward slash Help dot House dot Gov forward slash help and and and we we can begin to help you and your wife as you know in the care. I fought for and we passed it was signed into law expanded unemployment benefits that include that include people who are self-employed gig workers part-time workers. additional benefits to help address the vast needs of our communities and those who have lost jobs through no fault of their own as a result of this pandemic and we will continue to do so we've worked we have worked since. A passage of the Cares Act will continue to work to ensure that we do everything in our power to help so thank you for Thank you for your question. I appreciate it and and we will do everything everything we can to help and and speaking of speaking of this of of of the issue of of the stimulus and unemploy. We've got a couple of questions here that. I'm gonna take both of them together. I think they're they're both incredibly important. and and and on on a lot of people's minds, the first is from Hazel is how soon do you see everyone in Green? please hurry and a follow up from Dakota is it possible that the House goes to recess without a bill? so I'll start there and then we've got a few more questions about this specifically Hazel. I am hopeful that we will see an agreement soon though. the the specific answer to that is I don't exactly know what that requires is everybody coming to the table table and negotiating bipartisan negotiations, making sure both Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate are all at the table so we can get to an agreement. That's what this takes and that's why I. Continue to for bipartisan solutions and say we've got to get out of this whole idea of a partisan back and forth that doesn't get us further down the road. That's why I continue to work so hard with my colleagues and the problem Solvers Caucus to come to the table with solutions that actually help our communities that meet the real needs that that our businesses our families our workers, our health care system are. In the midst of this pandemic and we have to we have to put the focus there. I think as we are seeing some of of these critical programs that are expiring including protection eviction protections for families that are on the verge of losing their homes as more Oklahomans and people across this country are at the end of their rope trying to figure out how they're gonna keep the lights on and the and and and and and a roof over their. Food on the table we have to ensure that we're doing everything we can to take that next step and I think that urgency is building. It's really unfortunate that the Senate is just now coming out with their proposal given that that we have known that there would be needs for a several months and how much we have seen a spike in cases across the country in Oklahoma included so I'm hopeful. We will get to an agreement soon and Dakota I think that that we will we will probably I think we will probably stay until an agreement is reached, but I also think we have got to to continue to and I will say we have to stay at the table. We have to we have to keep this focus. focus. it has to be timely and transparent, and it really has to meet the meet the needs. This crisis and not just try to score partisan points. that's just not acceptable right now so some of the provisions and and I have a question for Michael about where I stand on extending the $600 pandemic unemployment benefit and and and many of the other benefits. So I think that it is absolutely important for a long time I have advocated for bipartisan solution on the the unemployment benefits we know that the pandemic unemployment assistance, which is for part-time workers self-employed workers go to the end of the year. as you extended times for unemployment and and the additional assistance has made a difference for so many families and we have to find the right amount that helps to helps families and individuals who've lost jobs who no fault of their own but still incentive. Incentivizes work and that is so important. It's why we have to also discuss things like Hazard pay for our front line workers because so many of our front line workers have been out there day in and day out making the sacrifices with their families with their children and we have to make sure that we're taking we're taking care of them, but we have to find an amount that is the right amount and and I don't know that there is a magic number but I do know that. we should not. be continuing to kick the can down the road and just pointing fingers at each other while people in our community suffer because that's not the way to get to a solution And that's why I also know that we have to ensure that whatever package includes funding for state and local governments to help them take care of of critical services in our communities to make sure that our cities who rely solely on sales tax revenue. Fire and police and water and and other services that are absolutely essential are able to provide those critical services in our communities and to to continue forward as well as our public schools, we have to make sure that our public schools have the resources to do what they need to do to make decisions that are based on the best evidence and recommendations of the CDC that protect the health and well. our educators, our teachers, as well as as well as our students and. you know there, there are no easy answers here. they are only. a lot of tough choices that have to be made. Because the impacts of this are far reaching. but that's why it is so important that right now we look at the facts in front of us, we understand and we listen to the public health experts in the science and the data and that people have the resources our schools are public schools have the resources. because. that is essential for children for parents for. Cats and for the future of our communities and those are the kind of things that we should be focusing on making sure that those resources are there. That's a benefits for families who are who are struggling to just put food on the table. are able to get food and and to make sure that we're doing things in a in a smart and sustainable way. so I think that's that's what I'm gonna continue to focus on and we'll absolutely. continue to advocate for to make sure that we're doing things in the right way that we are both supporting businesses and we're working every day to help our small businesses in Oklahoma get access to the critical funds they need to keep the lights on and the doors are open through this time to make sure that people don't lose access to health care. Those are the kind of things that we can all agree on and we should be putting the focus in to stabilize our economy. We have to make sure. That our families have their basic needs met that we're not seeing. business after business after business and industry after industry after industry shutting down as a result of this pandemic, we have to approach this in a smart and sensible way. and that's what we need to do in this next phase. So thank you for those questions and I will continue to keep you posted remember for those of you who have questions you can submit them in the comment section and and you. So send us Emails at Horn dot House dot Gov forward slash questions. With any additional questions you have next question comes from. Sherry who says first, I am a registered Republican but will be voting for you in this election. I'm thankful for our men and women in blue and do not support defunding our police would you support police reform and would you support prison reform First of all? Sherry Thank you thank you for your question. Thank you for your support I sincerely appreciate it. I'm gonna take those two. And address and address both of them. separately because they're related. but they're both so important. so we in the House of Representatives passed pass the Justice and Policing Act a few weeks ago which was an important step forward to address many of the challenges and many of the systemic problems that face our our police departments across this country. today and to address Systemic racism and and to and to take care of all of our communities and I think it did so in a really thoughtful way and I'm continuing to work. This is something that I think is incredibly important with my colleagues with the problem Solvers caucus in a bipartisan way to get to solutions bipartisan solutions that address that address the necessary reforms to take care of our. To make sure that that we're addressing the systemic problems and inequities but also to ensure that our that that our police officers who are sworn to protect and defend our communities are able to do so that practices our are best practices are in place for community policing and and that marginalized communities are protected we can and we should do both and and the bottom line is that. And should ever be afraid to call the police or interact with the police because of the color of their skin and this requires that we take action and or their zip code this requires that that we that we come to bipartisan sensible solutions and I'm incredibly proud of the work we're doing and we're continuing to move forward, making some great progress and I will keep you posted as I said with many other things, I think there is a pathway here and and it requires us to sit down and talk to. And that's exactly what we're doing additionally I I've talked about my bill that is that is a mental health crisis response training for law enforcement that I'm incredibly proud to have the endorsement of so many Oklahomans from elected officials to organizations including including the Oklahoma City Chapter of NAACP, a Oklahoma City Black Lives Matter National From mental illness, Nami at the National level, as well as at the local level Tactical Officers Association and and the police amongst many others because this bill would provide Grant funding to get our police departments training to recognize and deescalate when they encounter someone who's experiencing a mental health crisis. This is important because one in 10 calls to police right now is in response to someone who's experiencing a mental health crisis and one -in- four people who are And fatally shot by police live with a serious mental illness so as we're talking about reforms, we also have to recognize what we're asking our our our police departments to do and ensure that we're providing training and de-escalation to keep people safer and and then we also have to make sure that we are in and advocating for resources to address the mental health and well being of of people in our communities, which brings me to your. About about prison reform the answer is yes criminal Justice reform is something that I'm that that impacts Oklahomans it impacts people across this country, but as we know in Oklahoma as as Oklahoma has incarcerated more women per capita than anywhere else in the nation and in the world over too many years The Ripple. Or felt. not only for the men and women who are incarcerated, but also for their families their children in our economies and we need to. take action. We need to continue to take action to ensure that people are getting the support and resources they need that rehabilitation is possible so that when people are released from from jail from prison that they have the opportunity to build. That we're we're building a solid foundation that nonviolent offenders who have been convicted of low-level crimes as we've started to address in Oklahoma. are able to rebuild that we we have to have smart sensible policy that recognizes both the the the health and and economic impacts of Mass incarceration so that we're building opportunity. for for future generations and and that we're doing so in a smart and sustainable way that recognizes the value of everyone in our communities and as well as addressing the disproportionate impact on communities of color, black communities Hispanic communities Native communities in our criminal Justice system to address the inequities there and and we have to continue to do so to provide those. And support and and really look at and look at our systems and give people opportunities. That's why it is so important for us to have programs like we do in Oklahoma such as remerge which which helps mothers to to rebuild to get the skills they need to to. build their lives and and and take care of their families and and. And do so in a productive way. there's a lot that we can do we need to do so but we've got we've we've got to continue down that path. make sure that it's it's intentional and intelligent because to to quote my friend and amazing advocate on this on this important issue, former Speaker of the Oklahoma House Chris Steele. There are no disposable Oklahomans and and the same is true across across this country, so we need to continue to address that and. I have and will continue to work on thank you for that question. I appreciate it and I have several more questions. I know that we're getting close. I'm gonna try to get to as many as possible. in these questions so question from Larry and who is Okay, Larry, who says I'm not heard you state your thoughts on the violence going on in Portland and Seattle. Please tell us your thoughts on the damage the federal buildings and those. Protests and Larry Thank you for your question and thank you for engaging I think we have to look at what's happening in our communities through a lens of of the very real challenges that the protests that we have seen across the country and raising the issue. Of the systemic racism and and the very real needs of so many communities have by and large been peaceful protests have raised important issues and that our nation is founded on the right to peaceably assemble to make our voices heard to make sure that we're exercising our first Amendment rights and and the peaceful protest and challenging injustice as we said goodbye. The Congressman John Lewis this week who is was the conscience of the Congress who's life's work was to challenge injustice to stand up for people who's voices were not heard and to do so peacefully but also strongly is is an example that we should follow and so I'm I'm concerned. about violence I I I understand that the people have the right to protest and make their voices heard. But I'm also concerned about making sure that the the civil rights and and ability to exercise our first Amendment of free speech are protected for everyone in our communities and as we look back on the progress that we've made through accessing the right to. to the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act in the sixties those were all acts of protest, so making sure that we that we find that balance is absolutely important and that we as Congress continue to take action to protect the rights of people to protest but also to ensure that that individuals in our communities their civil rights and civil liberties are protected and and that's any law enforcement officers have to have to disclose who they. and and who they represent and and I think that's incredibly important as we move forward so thank you for that question we've got a few more minutes. I'm gonna get you a few more questions. next question is from Dakota who asks how will you be available for meetings with constituents during recess? So Dakota there's a few different ways of course, right now with the cases of Covid- 19 spiking in Oklahoma with with with Levels of cases we are doing everything we can to protect the health and well-being of of of Oklahomans, as well as as my team and so we've a number of ways to do that. That's why part of the reason I'm holding this these town halls to be available for. conversations to answer questions, but you can also if you have an issue that you wanna. You have a group that you work with and bills that you wanna talk about your concerns that you want to express and and work to to find time to meet please reach out to my office again. That number is four zero 56 zero 23 zero 74 and we can set up time for a phone call or or other virtual meetings and and that's what we're doing during this time to to make sure that. People are safe as possible, so don't hesitate to reach out to our office and again we'll keep coming back through this summer on this summer, Townhall series so I can keep you updated on what's going on it's it is not not the way that I would I ideally do it because I miss being able to have large in-person gatherings and and meet with more people Face-to-face and I look forward to the time that we can we can safely do that again. when we have a treatment and when we and and when we have a vaccine and as we are if we are able to and and we if we're all we all do our parts, we should be able to hopefully reduce the spread and transmission by everybody pitching in and doing their parts wearing a mask washing your hands maintaining maintaining physical distance as much as possible. and that's how we'll be able to once again Meet with each other in person couple more questions. I'll try to get to you before the end of this before the end of this time and the next question is from is from Marcia and Marcia says. Are you advocating for more stimulus funds to be put into small business relief phase one and two money was gone very quickly both times and the the in Oklahoma City was overwhelmed dropping applications and banks. Over mind did not go through Marcia I am sorry to hear that you had a challenge with that and if you wanna reach out to our office, we'll be happy to help work with you. We've worked with many Oklahoma businesses to help get access to P funds and I loans and we're continuing to do that and and and yes we need to make sure that there are that there are still resources. For our small businesses, especially those that are the most hard-hit we'd be happy to work with you on that. I believe there are still funds available in the P program, though I do know that the state program recently the distributed some of the the Cares Act funds that ran out of funds quickly as you might imagine the needs are great and that means that we need to respond. I think that the P program is a good example of how we. Can adjust and work towards bipartisan solutions when we see problems and is why the transparency and oversight of implementation is so important, for example, the paycheck protection program that we pass under the Cares that had some limitations, which were not good for businesses. and and didn't empower them to do everything to get the resources they needed to put too many restrictions on them, including an eight week time frame to spend the money and some other some other problems with that with that bill so. I advocated and worked hard in a bipartisan way and supported a bill that we that we got passed well, we got an additional round of funding And then another bill that we got passed out of the House and the Senate that was signed into law that they gave additional flexibility to the paycheck protection program to help further help small businesses navigate this difficult time and again We stand ready to help individuals and businesses get access to the resources. That that that you need and are entitled to under these programs and and so please feel free to reach out to my office. I'm incredibly proud of the work that we've been able to do and I know that there is so much more over the course of the past few months alone. we have helped more than a thousand Oklahomans in Oklahoma businesses access. Services or help them with other federal services from getting their getting stimulus checks to unemployment to the small business program and and much more including including getting Oklahoman's back in back into the country. when everything began to shut down in in March and we will continue to do that because it is so important that. Oklahomans that are impacted by this pandemic Get the resources and support that they're entitled to so that we can all make it through this together and we're gonna continue to do that. so please don't hesitate to reach out again the number to call is 4056023 zero 74 and I see that we are coming up against the end of our hour and I know that there are. Questions and didn't get to all of them, but we will be back again next week and we'll do I'll do my best to get to as many questions as possible and keep you updated about the work that I'm doing here in DC and in Oklahoma to help address the health and economic needs and impacts of this Co 19 pandemic as well as as well as to fight for pragmatic practical solutions that. Care of our families our businesses our health and our economy, and that do so in a way that brings us all together that will get us through this pandemic and that we can continue to move forward and and rebuild our economy and be responsible. for taxpayer dollars and and and that is what I'll continue to do. I am incredibly grateful for your time and for your questions and for your interest and look forward to hopefully seeing many of you. Next week again next Wednesday at noon Central I look forward to your questions and giving you an update on what happens between now and then Thank you so very much and have a have have a great day. Take care of yourselves wear masks wash your hands social distance and and remember the Golden Rule as as we interact with each other, have a great day.