TRANSCRIPT: Congressman Nick Langworthy, Telephone Town Hall, June 25, 2026
Source: official recording posted to Rep. Langworthy's YouTube channel June 28, 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxt8IJFyLJ8 (archived via web.archive.org July 2, 2026)
Machine transcription (whisper.cpp base.en) by LangworthyWatch, July 2, 2026.
Proper names and some words may be mis-transcribed; verify quotes against the recording
at the timestamped source before republishing. Duration 1:11:09.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 >> Well, good evening, everyone.
 This is Congressman Nick Langworthy, and I want to thank you
 for joining me tonight, and welcome to our telephone town hall meeting for the month of June.
 Many of you have probably joined us before, and you know, this part of our monthly series,
 where I have the opportunity to update you on what's happening in Washington
 and how I'm working for you, but more importantly, and so that I can hear from you
 about the issues you care about and answer your questions.
 If this is your first time joining us, welcome at any point during the call.
 If you would like to get in the line to ask a question, press star 3 on your phone.
 Again, star 3 to get in line to answer questions, and we're going to get to as many of those as possible.
 For those of you that have joined before, you know that while we have people who help facilitate the callers,
 we do not screen topics that the people want to talk about, and we have people
 from every political persuasion on these calls all across our nine county district.
 We are not allowed to screen the lists for party affiliation,
 so there's people of all stripes that are tax paying citizens of the 23rd district with us tonight.
 Our only requirement is that you're respectful, so that our time together is productive
 for the thousands of people who take the time out of their busy schedules to listen in
 and participate in this conversation.
 So once again, press star 3 to ask the questions, and I view these monthly events as terrific opportunities
 for us to have a dialogue about the important issues facing our country.
 And as I speak with every day, residents of Western New York and the southern tier across our district,
 most people just want common sense solutions.
 They want an economy that puts workers first.
 They want safe communities, good schools, access to quality health care, and a government
 that respects their hard-earned tax dollars.
 And I'm in Washington this week, we're wrapping up, but we're just leading into this week
 we had a district work period where I traveled across the district meeting with small businesses,
 hospital and health care workers, first responders, community leaders, and local elected leaders.
 And it was an incredibly productive and encouraging week where we discussed ways to work together
 to strengthen our country and all of our communities.
 For example, in Allegheny County, when local elected officials came to me about housing
 and economic development opportunities, they would create more affordable housing and attract
 some new jobs, but they couldn't embark on the project without upgrading their water system.
 I knew I had to help them, it was their top priority.
 So I was proud to come back this past week and announce that we had secured $1.25 million
 to help make the necessary upgrades to the water infrastructure in Allegheny County for
 this historic Gateway project that they're undertaking.
 And it's not going to be on the backs of the local property taxes and the property tax
 rates.
 They're not going to have to raise any rates for that money.
 I mean, these are all tax dollars, but it's not going to be a solely local burden.
 It's a great investment of federal tax dollars, and this is a great example of how federal
 and local officials we work together for shared priorities so that all of our communities
 can realize some real growth opportunity.
 I was also pleased to spend some time at our region's hospitals like UPMC Chautauqua in
 Jamestown and Arnott Medical Center in Elmira where toured the facilities, discussed the
 grants, had great conversations with the nurses and doctors and the people that are
 doing God's work every day in those hospitals.
 And we talked about grants that we're pursuing, some federal budget work that I'm trying
 to get some specific projects to help them improve their facilities and offer more services
 along the lines.
 But also, you know, one of the important topics is the newly established Rural Health Transformation
 Fund, which is a $50 billion fund that the federal government created solely for our rural
 hospitals.
 And New York State has a big seat at that table, and we have an awful lot of rural facilities.
 Several of our facilities in this district are rural, and we're going to be working to
 get the biggest piece of that pie invested in our rural facilities, and it was great
 to have that conversation.
 And we also visited great manufacturing businesses like Jamestown Advanced Products, and then
 Alstom and Hornell, which is the largest passenger rail manufacturing facility in North America,
 and it's right here in our backyard.
 Amazing businesses right here in our district and they're thriving, and we need to make
 the public policy that allow them to grow and to hire.
 We have a lot of work left to do, and there's, I think, a lot around the corner to be hopeful
 about from, you know, doctors and nurses to our factory, line workers to first responders.
 Our district is filled with people who are going above and beyond to make an impact in
 our communities, and it's my job as your federal representative to ensure that our laws and
 regulations that we put in place help and not hurt people.
 But this year, the nation is on the cusp of celebrating our 250th birthday, and we wanted
 to do something a little extra special to highlight the incredible contributions of
 our nation's finest citizens, and frankly, the people that make this community great,
 and it's the everyday heroes that we have.
 And that's why I announced that we're going to have a series of events around the district,
 the America 250 Community Heroes Awards we're going to give out.
 And we're soliciting nominations from across, all across our nine county district.
 Anyone can nominate or apply if they know someone who has gone above and beyond in their service,
 their sacrifice, and have provided community leadership.
 It can be someone from any field, healthcare workers, veterans, active military, first
 responders, educators, coaches, anyone who mentors, nonprofit leaders, volunteers, you
 know, people that have given back to the community.
 It's who we want to honor through the America 250 Community Heroes Award, and I encourage
 anyone who knows someone who would be a good fit to nominate them, and they can go on our
 website at langworthy.house.gov and please submit those, because I think it's a great
 opportunity at this very special occasion that we're also lucky to be here for to celebrate
 our nation's 250th birthday, and this is a great way for us to celebrate our nation
 and our community at the same time.
 So now we're going to get into the questions.
 Again, I want to remind anyone that wants to ask a question, press star three, and we'll
 get you in line to ask those questions, and let's get right to them.
 First, we're going to go to Lillian.
 Hello?
 Hi, Lillian.
 How are you?
 Hello.
 Fine, thank you.
 Great.
 What's on your mind tonight?
 Okay, since Trump took office, you have made cuts to snap meals on wheels, food banks,
 the National Labor Relations Board, consumer protection agency, the Department of Education,
 USA Food and Drug Administration, libraries, museums, FEMA, the National Parks National
 Institute of Health, Cancer Research, the Kennedy Center, the World Health Organization,
 and the list goes on.
 You've also spent $7 million on Super Bowl ads, $1 billion to the Board of Peace, billions
 on steak and crab blags per key headset, $40 billion to Argentina, $1 billion to retrofit
 a free jet from Qatar, $1 billion for a ballroom, $200 million on a jet for Melania, $50,000
 bonuses for ICE agents, $20 million for Trump to go to Scotland and open a golf course.
 Okay, ma'am, is there a question?
 I know you've got a lot of grievances with the President, and I'm not sure that every
 statement you've made is true, but I'd be happy to answer your question.
 So it just seems to me that you have done nothing for the middle class, you've worsened
 the conditions of the poor, all while enriching the wealthiest among us.
 And yet, when I've been on these alts before, you kind of always talk about financial responsibility.
 It doesn't seem to me that you are financially responsible, we're $40 trillion in debt, and
 I don't know why are we spending money on ballrooms and...
 There hasn't been a dime appropriated for a ballroom, so $300 million came from...
 There has not been a single appropriation line item, there has not been a single bill
 put before me to put money to a ballroom.
 Okay, well, I'm $15 million to destroy the reflecting pool, and it's a billion dollars.
 These monies aren't new appropriations, they're from existing appropriations, so the President
 has prioritized in different ways funds that were previously appropriated.
 No one put the reflecting pool revitalization into an appropriation.
 These departments do have budgets, the administration has put their own priorities together.
 Many of the things that you listed before are programs that were changed by the President.
 Yes, he's made a lot of administrative changes to programs, but the cuts that you talk about
 aren't true.
 And you asked about what we've done for the middle class, we've brought tax relief to
 people across the board.
 Everyone's tax return nationwide, it's a matter of fact that tax return checks went up 11%
 across the board every socioeconomic corner of the economy.
 We doubled the child tax credit.
 We put more money in the pockets of everyday citizens, and you may have a disagreement with
 that, but that is actually a political fact, a non-partisan entity with someone that was
 based out of St. Bonaventure, research might claim that the rebate checks went up 11% to
 question if it was true or false.
 This entity typically, someone that's a Republican elected official like me, they're trying to
 say that we were making a false statement.
 They had to declare that it was a true statement, that data has shown directly that those monies
 going back to taxpayers was up 11% year over year.
 We increased the salt deduction, so so many people that pay state and local taxes have
 an increase in monies going back into their pocket, so they're not facing the double taxation
 that they have in years gone by.
 That's real money back in people's pockets, so they could spend it on the cost of living.
 That's been nagging this country for the last five or six years.
 Well, an awful lot of that went towards the very wealthiest.
 How much did the wealthy pay in in Texas?
 They pay an awful lot more than everyone else.
 I'm taking from your commentary that you come from the path to a better future is to just
 tax the rich into oblivion and that somehow will create more jobs and have a better country.
 The socialist mindset doesn't work.
 Well, they're paying a lower percentage than some of the middle class know.
 The progressive tax rates go up exponentially.
 The more money you make, the higher your income taxes are.
 There's a great many Americans that have zero federal tax obligation.
 Yes, I know, but also have people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos pay very, very low percentage
 of tax, one percent or something.
 They pay an awful lot of taxes and they're putting a lot of payroll taxes out.
 You realize an employer pays half of the taxes that every worker goes forward with.
 They are putting huge amounts of money out into the economy to create jobs.
 But they also pay a very large sum of money in Texas.
 This notion that people don't pay any taxes that businesses pay no taxes is just not accurate.
 I mean, we could agree to disagree and I appreciate your opinions, but we've done a lot for the
 middle class.
 Doubling the child credit on everyone's income tax puts more money in their pocket and it's
 now cost index to inflation and will go up each and every year.
 That is something that no one can argue that that's not for regular middle class families.
 It's real relief and I'm proud that it was a part of it.
 Thank you for being with us, Lillian.
 I appreciate you.
 Next we will go to Noah.
 Hi, Noah.
 Hi, how are you?
 I'm doing very well.
 Where are you calling from tonight?
 I'm calling from Lancaster.
 Okay.
 Thanks for being with us.
 So I was having a lot of conversations with the neighbors recently because it's a hot topic
 in the paper about data centers and I know the moratorium has been a pretty prevalent
 conversation and I know two concerns that come up in conversations is one, the impact
 on our land and environment and what that could mean for places like Erie County and
 I'm sure Allegheny County as well.
 And then the other thing is the cost of data centers, the energy costs going up.
 And yeah, this is bipartisan data that shows that there is both of those things will affect
 the people of Western New York if data centers are being built and I'm just curious as to
 what you and others in the county and New York State are willing to do to kind of make sure
 that those costs and the burdens of those data centers don't fall on the people.
 Yeah.
 Well, this is a very hot topic as you well know and New York State has, towards the end
 of the legislative session, passed a one year moratorium on the construction of data centers.
 It's unknown whether or not the governor will sign it into law or not.
 Obviously, it's very hard for anyone to cite any project in New York of that magnitude.
 You know, there's developers that are shopping at the bit that want to build these things.
 I mean, my personal position is a pretty simple one and that's of local control.
 And I believe that this should, and this runs in contrast to the state's position on a lot
 of the green energy projects where they have taken that local control away.
 I believe local zoning should dictate the siting of any data centers.
 This should be up to the zoning boards, have the full process in place, the full public
 scrutiny and, you know, those people closest to the local taxpayer need to make the decision
 of whether or not that fits the character of the community and what that impact is going
 to be on a very local level.
 You know, Fabia, for me, is a federal official to tell you that Lancaster needs to have a
 data center in the middle of the village.
 I mean, that is not my place to do that.
 It shouldn't be the governor's place to do that.
 It should be up to the town and the villages that these projects are being considered in
 because they understand best what the local impacts are going to be and they should not
 be thrust on our rural communities in particular, and that's a worry of mine.
 It's like a lot of the green energy projects.
 Well, we'll just slap it in this place because there's not a lot of people around and there's
 a lot of land where I think the solar farms, the industrial solar farms, the wind projects,
 a lot of them have been predatory on our rural communities.
 I have a concern about the affordability and the availability of electricity for these
 facilities.
 I mean, we have to generate more electricity in the state of New York, and I've been a
 broken record on this topic and I really like to see our shuttered coal plants be converted
 to natural gas plants so that we can start creating more electricity and the scarcity
 in the system.
 Unfortunately, the governor's public service commission has green lit too many rate increases
 to build out the grid for full electrification.
 I'm opposed to full electrification.
 I want energy choice, but data centers are going to gobble up a lot of power.
 Three state in the country is dealing with this same thing right now, but we have a higher
 regulatory burden in New York, which is driving up the prices, but simply put, my position
 is local control in any effort to take away local control into where these things go is
 just dead wrong because you don't deserve these thrust on you because all but he says,
 this is where they need to go.
 This needs to be a local conversation to make sure that any project that is a data center
 meets the character of the community.
 Yeah, I appreciate that perspective and I appreciate your concerns and advocation to
 the locality.
 And yeah, I just want to also just make it the concerns of my neighbors present.
 This is something that is worried about and we love the land of this county and we love
 to also don't want our electric prices going up.
 So I appreciate your time.
 Thank you.
 Well, thank you so much for being with us, Noah.
 We're going to go to Nathaniel next.
 Hello, Nathaniel.
 You're doing.
 Thanks for taking this call to this question.
 I'm doing very well.
 Where are you calling from tonight?
 Painted Post and Savannah County.
 Great to have you with us.
 Yeah.
 My question is, I think I saw you on some of the advertisers promoting the banning of
 the stock trades for Congress.
 I would just like to know what do you think the chances are that that bill will get put
 on the floor for a vote?
 Well, it needs to because, I mean, this is part of the reason there's bad actors in both
 political parties on this.
 There's members that literally sit there and they trade.
 You've seen the names.
 I mean, what brought this to my attention in particular was before I ran for Congress,
 there was a Republican Senator, there was a Democratic Senator, they went into briefings
 before the economy shut down before COVID.
 They come out of the briefings and then they bought hundreds of thousands of dollars, if
 not millions of dollars in stock in companies like Zoom and things that would become necessary
 components of a remote work society.
 That's a betrayal of the public trust.
 I have access to information before it's in the news, not necessarily even classified
 information, but when you're talking about where a project should be cited, if you're
 on the Appropriations Committee and you know that there's a particular thing coming through
 the Department of Defense and it's going to affect the company's stock eventually.
 You go and buy that stock and you enrich yourself.
 I think we need to take the temptation out of it.
 I don't trade stocks, I've never traded stocks since I've been in public office.
 My money is invested in mostly in the 401(k) system that the federal government has for
 employees and it's just in basic index funds.
 There's plenty of opportunity for somebody's income to grow, just like any other worker
 in America, in index funds, and it can continue to prepare for somebody's retirement.
 We should not be sitting there with the temptation of day trading and I have the same concern
 with betting markets, frankly.
 I mean we've seen some bad actors out there on these betting markets and there's been
 indictments based on betting markets and what happened in Venezuela with a DOD employee.
 People that have going to public service should do this for the right reasons and not self-dealing.
 That's my personal philosophy, that's the way you know the code of ethics I hold myself
 to and we need to take the temptation out of it.
 The speaker's under a lot of pressure to bring this bill forward and he's hearing from a
 lot of us that you know we want to see action on this because you know the time for talking
 should be over here.
 And there are you know unfortunately people on both sides of the aisle trying to block
 this but you know I do think there's the inertia to at least get this through the house.
 I'm never sure where the Senate is on any topic because they just they march to their
 own drummer over there and so many of them have been in government too long that I think
 they've lost sexual reality to be honest but really this is an idea that time has come.
 We are more than fairly compensated and you know the idea that you you should go out there
 and try to enrich yourselves because you have access to decision making that could enrich
 yourself.
 It just take the temptation out, ban it and be done with it.
 Do you think you think you or any of the sponsors of the bill will take this to the National
 News Forum and promote it?
 I think that's the one to say.
 There's been a lot of you know conversation on it.
 It was it kind of a fevered pitch a few months ago.
 It hasn't gone away.
 I mean it just you know particularly in this day and age the news cycle moves so fast it
 moves on to the next thing but there's there's an awful lot of sponsors of this legislation
 and and there is there's there's certainly you know members on the other side of it.
 I mean you know there's questions on whether or not you know this on what the nuances of
 the final bill are is somebody's adult children that don't live with them.
 I mean you know how can they be bound by it?
 I mean they're they're free and independent citizens.
 I mean I I know that we have to make sure that members and their spouses aren't doing
 this and that's that's you know I've co-sponsored a variety of the bills that tackle this in
 different ways.
 I think we have to deliver on this this year yeah so we'll continue to keep the pressure
 up.
 Yep last comment.
 I'd just like to say I'll vote for you again but I'd be really impressed to see this go
 to the floor for a vote.
 Thank you.
 Very good.
 Thank you very much for the kind words.
 Next we are going to go to Sally.
 Hi, welcome to the call.
 Thank you.
 I'm coming from Don Kirk so my question is about the energy plant just got sold.
 And I'm hoping that you have an idea of what could be coming down the pike.
 I mean we were getting set up for the natural gas.
 And they closed us we were one of the cleanest cold plants in the country.
 And I'm hoping that they'll open it up again.
 I asked the governor's staff very nicely they have a Washington representative that
 comes with me from time to time I was very polite I think he'd all be proud of me that
 I wasn't I wasn't rude I just said I just implore the governor please green light them
 to reopen this with natural gas I said it create jobs it creates power and it can be
 probably back online in less than two years by everyone that Senator Burello and I have
 talked to Senator Burello and Senator Assemblyman Molator and I went out in front of that plant
 it was it was still pretty cold out it must have been winter time still and you know publicly
 called on the governor to do the right thing here let's let's provide cheap electricity
 we've got plentiful natural gas let's create jobs that'll help lift up Dunkirk's you know
 sadly you know failing tech space because of the loss of this plant let's bring it back
 I didn't you know the governor didn't give me any indication that she would consider
 that they said we'll take that under advisement I'm not sure what the plans that this company
 has for the energy side I would hope that they would strongly consider trying to get
 back in the natural gas business they do need state permission if they were going to do
 that though well it and it's not just the loss of this plant Dunkirk it was systematically
 taken apart and destroyed back in the 70s it's very almost frustrating to me when they talk
 about the Rust Belt Pennsylvania Ohio yeah what about Western New York what about it back
 we are the capital of the loss of jobs during an after-arrow where we lost so many of our
 manufacturing jobs to the free trade agreements that gave away the store gave away our jobs
 gave away our opportunities I mean we used to have so many manufacturing companies you
 know I you might know I I grew up in Chautauqua County and you know we've seen far too many
 companies go out of business over the years and it was a race to the bottom on wages and
 price and we sold out our jobs to Mexico and then after that they got even greedier and
 then they you know sold the rest of the jobs out to the Far East and that is what is that
 and the high cost of doing business in New York have cost us so many manufacturing jobs
 and opportunities and and now our state unfortunately has to bribe companies to come in they have
 to give away the store in terms of tax base and incentives to bring them back to the table
 and you know we're not going to get silver bullet solutions we've got to get you know
 small lean small companies that are going to you know thrive and succeed we have the workforce
 we have the people we need a better economic climate frankly but you know we are we are
 taking on you know that kind of America last free trade mindset and you know some people
 don't like to talk about tariffs but it levels a playing field and it puts American workers
 ahead of foreign workers and it makes it a lot of sense I meet with companies in Washington
 every single week that are coming here and bragging about how they're trying to bring
 as many jobs back from other countries as possible because you know the presidents tariffs have
 re-leveled that playing field because these companies don't want to pay that extra price
 for having all of their workforce overseas anymore now we've got to make it attractive
 to come back to New York which is a really tough burden compared to other states in the
 union that have much better regulatory and tax climates exactly um can you tell the fact
 though to to the governor if she she already knows the desperate situation in Dunkirk she's
 well aware of it but this is where natural gas became electricity just down the streets
 for me this is also you know we had we were I think the the pick for tearing down what
 you do to tear down a community because our our tear down came a lot before even Napstah
 when I owned a business where I had the Chinese they came to take um the steel plant down
 Roblin steel brick by brick took all the machinery took all the bricks and went back to China
 and that was when Tiananmen Square was happening those Chinese workers sat in my establishment
 and watched what was going on in China we've given far too many of our jobs away in and
 COVID it became very clear when our supply chain we couldn't get the things we needed
 in this country because we were so dependent on others we need to make things here it provides
 jobs it provides stability it strengthens our economy and it puts the American economy
 first but we're also competing against other states and that's where we need Albany to
 really see that we can't afford to continue to chase away businesses and opportunities
 to other states just you know with increasing investment in New York City in taxpayer giveaways
 I mean Dunkirk got nothing New York City got $4 billion extra because they couldn't make
 their budget numbers right you know New York City's got the power in our state but we need
 a business climate that works for us not just not for downstate New York so I really appreciate
 you being with me Sally we're gonna get on to another caller we are going to go to Lisa
 Hi Lisa hi how are you I'm doing very well think where you call from tonight I am calling
 from Panama New York okay thank you for being with me thank you so a couple things I've already
 heard some of my questions I've been answered by other participants with the whole data center
 batteries storage and wind turbines and solar fields I live in middle of Amish country and
 I grew up in Pennsylvania and things were very different in the Commonwealth back when I was
 there and they're having some of the issues I'm a nurse in New York and in Pennsylvania and I see
 the regulation I see that the overreach by state governments and I'm all for state right but when
 they try and systematically get around the constitution and gerrymander and things like get
 around the Electoral College it just infuriates me for one just people have spoken and like Western
 New York where this red is can be other than around Albany and it just feels like what can we do
 to keep that overreach and I know that's not your thing you know but it seems like we
 kept so we kept wind turbines out of Panama and the valley and it seems like it's being incentivized
 and just like your last caller said it's like okay well we'll just pick on little old Dunkirk
 or we'll pick on Chautauqua County and they want you to be destitute and depending on them and then
 they throw a little money and say oh you've got ten million dollars to revitalize Jamestown which
 they said they did that to Dunkirk I guess a couple of years ago well Lakeshore hospital still
 closed they have gutted all our small hospitals everybody has to go to Erie or Buffalo to have
 a baby I work at a critical access hospital in Corey and people come from all over and we can
 barely keep up so how do we stop the gerrymandering how do we get our voices heard and how do we
 keep like the takeover from happening well I mean I so I've got to just start by saying I can't get
 into electioneering on this call this is a government conversation as far as lines and
 districts being cut I support this being done once a decade I don't think this constant changing
 of lines of districts boundaries is good for the stability of our country you know you shouldn't
 have politicians picking their voters the voters should pick the politicians and you know excessive
 amounts of redistricting you know snap you know states that have referenda to you know change
 things you know this isn't good I think they're going to try it again in New York by their own
 accounts with the democratic majorities in Albany saying that they're doing it in response you know
 to the to the Trump administration it's been a lot of redistricting on both sides all over the
 country it's a massive distraction for people and we can't live in this constant you know campaign
 of outrage it's time that we do serious governing and there's you know my guess is it'll continue but
 you know we're going to have an election every two years and if you don't like it I guess try harder
 next time you know people that aren't happy with with the outcome you know there's been plenty of
 times where I've been on the side where you know my preferred candidate didn't win but it doesn't
 mean we aren't all still Americans and we love the country and you know we should respect the
 office even if you don't like the occupant or their their agenda but you know in terms of you know
 predatory nature of policies I mean so much of my philosophy guided around local control whether
 it's you know for instance when it came time to look for projects to invest you know our fair share
 from the federal budget you know those leaders in Allegheny County I met with last week they came
 to me and they said that this water project was the key to them opening up some opportunities for
 some new businesses some additional housing stock but they needed help with the waterline I listened
 to local elected officials bringing me that project it wasn't something I dreamt up for them but that's
 what the partnership in the collaboration should do and I do that in different places throughout our
 district and they're not all Republicans and they're not all Democrats you have to work across the aisle
 to get things done I mean this week we passed a landmark bill on housing and this is the first
 landmark housing bill that the federal government's done since 1990 when George HW Bush was president
 this directly addresses housing affordability it stops the big banks and the hedge funds from
 gobbling up all the houses in a particular area and driving up the cost and keeping you know we
 got a lot of young families trying to get their start you know young young couple that just got
 married trying to get into that American dream and they're priced out because you can't bid against
 the hedge fund that has unlimited funds right now I'm going to talk to the county because a lot of
 people come here as you know to come to the lake and they buy these houses and all in then they're
 gone they don't create jobs we don't have any industry here in to speak of we don't have they
 want to put more condos on the lake and and that's great you know I suppose but even the
 property tax it increases the property tax base and it should you know you know our key and should
 talk what's a success is capitalizing on the fact that we have that lake and that's why I'm very
 dedicated to the health of that lake because we're going to have to have tourism as a big part of
 the equation right because it is a gem it is I grew up on that lake I love that lake I believe that
 that is the key to us you know we have something that a lot of places in the country don't and it's a
 special place and it deserves a better economic opportunity but we've got to tackle the ecology of
 the lake and we've worked with a lot of local partners on that to bring you know funds home
 actually partnered with Senator Schumer on that we don't work that often but you know back to the
 housing bill we you know this is something that had broad support across all parties because everyone
 understands that housing affordability you know is a key issue and there we can work together
 if you put some of the politics aside for five minutes and I think that's something very important
 that we all have to understand and I had one other question about health care okay all right so
 as you know during COVID especially we had very little PPE at Westfield when I worked there and
 we actually had to give a lot of ours to Brooks Hospital which had nothing Lake Shore had just
 closed because they got rid of their equipment there was nothing they I even called and left them
 very long message with the then Governor Cuomo and you know when he's on TV spouting off about
 this is a ventilator and this is an ambu bag and like first of all that's not how you use an ambu bag
 second of all like don't bring all your sick people here it's an aging county we only have 268 beds
 only 12 ICU beds in the South County and at the time Brooks had nice to you now they don't
 everybody's losing their OB there's like very little care and then if people are on bedellus or
 univerra like Medicaid or partial Medicaid like the dentist and the doctors can just say oh we're
 not going to take it so I don't know block grants I don't know if the federal government can do
 something about that because people don't have a lot of choice and they're waiting forever to get
 approval from their insurance companies and the years are like their family doctors anymore and
 there's just well we'll send you to Pittsburgh we'll send you to Buffalo how about you like how
 do we get investment in rural health care and preventative health care and how do we get industry
 back here not just tourism how do we get like regenerative farming is are there funds for that
 because we have a lot of farmland that is and people don't know they don't understand regenerative
 farming and that's something that would be helpful for the lake that's something that would be
 helpful for people where they can feed each other like there's so much prime land here that we should
 be feeding a lot of people you know I you know we certainly have an abundance of abilities in
 agriculture it's really tough for farmers to make ends meet with the regulatory burdens that New
 York puts in front of them you know we've done a lot for dairy bishes we've done you know we're
 looking at more relief for you know farmers as if you know certainly been hit with fuel costs
 but you know in terms of of bringing manufacturing jobs back we need the state to understand that
 you just can't tax and regulate people into oblivion because if the site selector is looking at where
 to put the site they might like the workforce they might like the site they might like you know
 your access to the interstate all those things that a place like Chautauqua County has but then
 they're going to look at the numbers and if you're looking at Indiana or you're looking at western
 New York those numbers might not make sense even in Pennsylvania's business climate which if you
 talk to Pennsylvanians they think they're a high-tech state and then you know the idea that you have
 to come to New York and we pay you know 30% more per kilowatt hour of electricity even though we
 have Niagara Falls and you know you have higher levels of taxation at all levels I mean we are
 in a far worse stead economically as a business climate than Pennsylvania but you bring up a lot
 of great points and I'm really glad that you were with us tonight and and thank you for calling
 next we're going to go to Michael hello Michael how are you very well
 senator congressman thank you thanks thanks for taking my call absolutely where you call from
 tonight I look at Phil New York beautiful out here oh yeah looking out at the ski slopes right now
 and it is wonderful my question is and I guess it's not more of a it's more of a statement than a
 question is that around health care and health care insurance particularly and I think that there
 are many people that are listening in right now that can relate to this people that are on Medicaid
 you know have almost unlimited capability to get health insurance and prescriptions and
 pharmaceuticals and things of that sort people that are Medicare we have very few choices
 and we can go and we can get our third choice which is you know federally funded but most of the
 plans are so limited and it's most impossible to get you know the pharmaceutical care that you need
 and you know I know president Trump is you know move forward with the most favored nations clause
 and that's great except the problem is is that I'm a dual citizen so I have Italian citizenship
 and US citizen and in Italy I can get my prescription I used to be able to get it for 88 euro which was
 about a hundred about a hundred dollars here it's two thousand four hundred dollars but now with the
 most favored nations clause what they've done is they've raised the price in Italy to nine hundred
 dollars and it's still nine hundred dollars here so you know it hasn't done anything for someone
 that's on a limited income well I appreciate your extremely unique situation where you have the
 ability to buy your drugs as an Italian citizen but you know this is this is come up and I'm on
 the energy and commerce committee so I deal with a lot of health care policy and the drug pricing
 you know president Trump would would like to see codification of his deals we don't know that the
 content of those deals so it's pretty hard to pass a law but Europe subsidizes everything a
 socialized medicine system gives you it might give you free pharmaceuticals but it also might
 ration your care it might make the decision of whether or not you are deserving of a replacement
 hip or knee based on your age or your weight or your condition congressman believe me I understand
 that completely but I think it's important for everyone to hear you know I am not just just answering
 for you the European style socialist model is not the American health care system so I'm glad that
 the price has been driven down to nine hundred for you here in the US obviously unfortunately for
 you and your unique dual citizenship you can't get it for a hundred bucks like you used to but
 you know the president's right in trying to get these farm these European countries to pay more
 the reason Americans pay more is we're doing all the research and innovation here in this country
 in those those those drugs that are you know researched here founded here the drug trials go
 here these cost billions of dollars I mean I meet with it and I'm not crying for the farmers yes
 excuse me for interrupting but let me just say this what even before I was on Medicare before I
 retired okay blue cross and blue shield in Buffalo high high will end or whatever whatever it's called
 high mark okay and then blue cross blue shield in Monroe County which is a different different
 thing the exact same policy the exact same policy between Erie County at the time I'm in Qatar I'm
 in Chicago County now or excuse me I'm in Qatar I was telling you right now the difference was I
 was paying sixteen thousand seven hundred dollars for the exact same policy as my colleague in Rochester
 was paying thirteen thousand dollars difference now that may not be amount a lot to you but it's a
 lot to me it means there's no competition there needs to be what was the composite where's the
 competition between I mean county to county we're not even talking about state to state no I these
 prices in this begs to the one issue area that I've introduced legislation I called the check act
 which would bring transparency into the entire health care system I mean health care it's kabuki
 theater no one will tell you what things really cost I love it it is exactly you have you know
 situations where they'll bill your insurance company for I had someone come in here and tell me
 that they screwed up their name they needed an MRI they wanted to bill their insurance company
 like four grand for them to go through this procedure
 they said what's the cash price because the person was self-insured and they said seven hundred
 dollars so they just gave them their credit card because they would have been on the hook for the
 four grand because of the high deductible against their their total plan there's the check act would
 address the fact that we have to institute transparency we spend enough money to get the
 outcomes that we're getting in health care between what we spend on Medicaid Medicare you know what
 people spend on private insurance what employers provide for private insurance there's enough dollars
 in the system and I understand there's going to be profit in the system but it's time that every
 one of these actors flip over the cards and show the numbers because we can't track it and we can't
 get it under control until we know where it all goes we would never design a system from scratch
 that looks like the system we have now the idea that Buffalo or counties in the Buffalo area
 are wildly different than Monroe and Rochester it's it's the same standard of living it's the
 same health care systems and that's unacceptable and in what you know we have seen is a skyrocketing
 of cost with zero accountability and you know whether I meet with a pharmaceutical company a
 big hospital system or an insurance company every one of them cries broke everyone says
 that they're at the breaking point and you know honestly there's usually truth somewhere in the
 middle and everyone points a finger at the other at the other person as to why things are out of
 control I concur I spent my entire career helping people get their EMR systems that you know President
 Obama will you know basically dictated and into this system and you know to get more efficiency
 and effectiveness into the into the health care system but it's it doesn't really it just doesn't
 come down to the people in the middle and I'm one of the people who need to be honesty in numbers
 in accounting and it's a system so complicated that the laymen can't figure it out you know a lot of
 times we get calls from seniors they don't know if it's they think they got a big heavy bill it's
 actually an explanation of benefits I mean they're they're very confused it's a confusing system and
 we need transparency in that system so that people can actually know what they're paying and what the
 if it's coverage it actually gives you value I mean so I hear some people paying astronomical
 premiums for things that really don't cover much when they're generally healthy we need to open up
 competition across state lines I mean there you go if there you go it's live in areas that are
 served just as easily by Pennsylvania as they are in New York why why why don't we know this is why
 we have this and we don't have this interstate competition all right and that's why the industry
 competition and everything else we need to receive competition in the help even in even
 interstate it's not there right between county and county it's not there no less cross-county
 or cross-state lines it feels like I don't understand why our representatives are not
 fighting for this and just say open the goddamn thing up yeah I'm sorry I shouldn't say that
 but but but no interstate competition you know let's let's bring cap let's bring cap capitalism
 into the thing you know drive-down costs it works super absolutely and for everybody else just
 because the way this has always been done should not be the way for it Obamacare was supposed to
 provide coverage for everyone and affordable price and drive down the cost it's done the absolute
 opposite price of health care has skyrocketed since we've just shoveled more public money at the
 system and still everybody's crying broke so I I I appreciate you sharing your story Michael
 and with us thank you all right thank you thank you for your time fighting for sorry I appreciate
 it um let's um let's go to Tina hi hi Tina how are you doing okay how about you I'm doing well
 where are you calling from tonight I'm calling from Hammond sport New York well thank you for being
 with us thank you um my question well it is kind of long-winded but I'll try to suffice it
 the average farmer today is in their 50s their younger kids aren't taking it over so obviously
 the land is being sold off and this is happening at an alarming rate I can see that my own community
 from when I was a child I would hear all my life and the thing is even our tier colleges that used
 to be two-year colleges that used to be based for our culture have moved over and more into technology
 and going into four-year degrees so anybody who wasn't raised as being a farmer they really don't
 have the even if they wanted to become one they can't because they want to be able to go and do
 the training because it's not out there but and I don't see the government even looking at this or
 even talking about this because it's not a problem in Steuben County it's not a problem in New York
 it's a problem in America I mean this this is a normal thing the family farm is disappearing local
 food is going by by and everybody knows that local food is better local food is more closer
 you don't have to worry about supply lines it's not going to be traveling very far it's more
 nutritious yadda yadda we all really always know this but the thing is we're not going to be able
 to have that kind of quality or anything because there is no incentive out there to help somebody
 to become a farmer because as you already know it's very expensive but even if somebody wanted
 to go and do the schooling or anything they can't get that now and I don't see the government doing
 anything to address this problem because this isn't like a little tiny simple thing this is like
 a decade down the road when the whole thing is just going to implode I've heard this loud and clear
 I was on the egg committee last Congress but obviously meet with a lot of farmers and farm
 families throughout the district is you know even though I'm not on that committee I mean egg
 policy is obviously very important to this the communities I represent but the successor ship at
 the family farm you know is is in deep peril and it is across the country I mean the average age
 of farmers is going way up year by year and you know most of their kids aren't taken over
 and I don't think a single dairy farm kid I grew up with runs the family dairy farm now
 and that's I think been going on for for generations you know when I went to school
 you had to you had to take at least a short class on on agriculture and learn about
 how we produce our food I mean I think too many people probably that I serve within Congress
 think that our food comes from the grocery store and don't understand that you know our food has
 to be grown and and you know there's an entire important industry around that you know New York
 should you know and I believe these are policies that the state should be putting forward but
 agriculture should be part of curriculum at least a 10 week class you know one marking period focused
 on agriculture but especially in our rural communities it should be part of it because it's
 it's part of their communities I mean it might not be a salient for kids in the five boroughs
 in New York City but you know in every county I represent it's got a strong agricultural history
 and and present for that matter and we needed to have a strong agricultural future
 so you know we need we need young people to and we have you know obviously with Alfred state we've
 got a great institution that can you know bring a lot of ag tech knowledge to the forefront and
 but you know emphasizing that this is a noble profession that America needs I think it needs
 to be a priority of of everybody in public life but it's very hard work you know that's that's
 another you know barrier to keeping you know families dedicated to what the family's done for
 generations it's a very hard lifestyle they've got my utmost respect you know those that have done
 it forever what what is your feeling about it for from a federal standpoint because obviously yeah
 state's noise is so much I mean I do believe that state education is the primary you know state
 education governance our schools I mean most there's been a lot of noise about the Department of
 Education and you know the president has taken steps towards winding down the Department of
 Education and keeping it more as funding streams than it is bureaucracy in Washington
 but if you talk to anyone running our schools they answer on a daily basis to the state education
 department the curriculum decisions for New York as to what classes need to be offered
 that is a decision you know that is reserved for the states federally we don't mandate what classes
 are taught in our our our high schools and you know this is I don't know school by school you know
 how many I think that's probably a good question for me to start asking to see if ag education is
 still part of the curriculum but you know I do think over the years you know things that you
 learn to work with your hands it's all kind of become tech and you know there's a lot of computers
 in our kids lives but they do have to understand how the soil goes forward and creates our food
 so you know I will certainly look to talk to the agriculture chairman G.T. Thompson who's the
 congressman just across the Pennsylvania line and a dear friend and see if there's any initiatives
 that the ag committee's working on to increase ag education through USDA but our schools and
 in the classes our kids are presented with you know that decision lies you know with with the
 folks in Albany right now but I certainly will will prioritize it in my conversations
 oh yeah but also you know somebody you know is later on life like in their 20s and 30s decides
 that hey I want to become a farmer I mean it's not like they can go and join high school class
 no no I mean I guess I was looking just as our young people and that portion of your question
 if someone wants to go into the business of farming you know there's there's certainly
 people that are looking to get out it's a it's a it's a capital and intensive investment I mean
 people have to be able to be financially literate have to be able to acquire the equipment and the
 land I mean you could start small and grow you know it's a really tough way to make ends meet to
 start from scratch but you know there are family farms on the market and you know that's why we
 don't want to see our rural farmland converted into solar farms so many people that don't have a
 successor plan it becomes a pretty quick exit strategy to sell out to a high bidder from out of town
 that wants to slap up solar panels on a big parcel of beautiful agriculture land that once
 that decision's made it's never going to be a farm again and and that's that's one thing I want to
 you know find more solutions to prohibit and make that you know get the strip out the tax incentives
 so that that can't happen a lot into the future okay well thank you very much for looking into
 that I appreciate it all right thank you very much Tina next we're going to go to bill
 hi Bill hi Bill how you doing I'm doing very well where are you calling from tonight I'm calling
 you from Silver Creek New York okay great to have you on the line what's on your mind well I'm
 actually about the rural hospital like revitalization fund I'm kind of interested to see how much of
 that is actually moving into education or how much is actually allocated directly towards hospital
 infrastructure because it's desperately needed in this area it strikes me for my conversations
 that UPMC should talk what half of this money goes directly to the states for them to develop
 plans so the states had to submit a overall work plan to CMS Center for Medicare and Medicare
 Services and New York's plan was approved as I met with UPMC Chautauqua the old WCA this week
 they said that they are working hand-in-hand with the state to create a plan that addresses workforce
 which tells me that you know education to getting more people into the field of nursing is something
 that they they are desperately trying to do which is it's just ironic New York's facing a 70,000
 nurse shortage when we lost so many nurses due to a mandated COVID shot just a few years ago but
 you know our facilities both when I went to the hospital in Elmira last week but also
 a hospital in Jamestown both addressed workforce is their number one problem and just as an aside
 for anyone listening every rural hospital that I've met is not on the verge of closure no matter
 what people are trying to sell you they are all you know in doing a great job providing great
 services and growing so there is for all the naysayers out there these hospitals aren't going
 anywhere but they do need more personnel and they need you know better trained personnel so I do
 know that some of that rural health transformation fund money that the state is going to get from
 the federal government is going to go you know for the training and the developing of the workforce
 so that is you know we need people to go into this field you know they have to receive a fair
 wage I think it's a extremely noble profession and hopefully this this helps this is a huge shot
 in the arm I mean over a five-year window this is 50 billion dollars in investment I mean this is a
 massive amount of money it's unprecedented it's never been done before and it's just for us in our
 rural communities across country in New York's got a lot of them so we got a we got a real nice
 chunk of that this yeah it feels like a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity in this area
 which leads me to just one more follow-up is Brooks Hospital allegedly or you know it's been a bit
 now to move to Fredonia is there a chance that there's some type of other infrastructure utilized
 at Dunkirk to just keep some type of regional maybe you know clinic style health care available
 there because it feels like if there's funding to make a matriculation in that you know in that
 sense feels like almost like we could gain some some coverage if you will I think if they're building
 a brand new hospital in Fredonia in Dunkirk's adjacent to Fredonia I have not asked Kalata
 directly what they're going to do with the the building left behind but it certainly has a value
 and you know I would doubt that they're going to keep that as any kind of operational hospital but
 there's obviously a lot of facility there but I don't I will ask Kalata what their plans are
 with you know the mothballed Brooks yeah in the next conversation I have with the President of
 Kalata just make a note of that so I can answer that question but you know we you know it's it's
 wonderful that we're getting a new hospital it's been a lot of years coming you know we're finally
 getting our fair share some of those state tax dollars and yeah you know a whole lot of federal
 Medicaid investment no matter what people say those dollars come down and help build hospitals
 like that and you know it's it's going to be nice to have a new facility there for the people in the
 north county especially when you know we lost Lake Shore and it's you know we're suffering from
 dwindling population but having a new hospital will be very good for the community and you know
 it's not terribly far from from the old Brooks so hopefully there's not a lot of interruption
 right well thank you very much Bill for being with us and I think we're going to take
 one more here let's talk to Larry
 you there yes Larry how are you not too bad where are you calling from tonight
 all right now I'm actually out here in Michigan headed to deliver another load
 not all your truckers from one county yep great well great to have you with us be safe out there
 my question I actually have is two questions deal with trucking one are they going to continue
 to move forward and force the states to make the CDL test English mandatory or is that just
 going to be pushed off again the state to get into compliance I mean they're losing federal highway
 dollars is they refuse to to bring this up to speed now and I'm not sure how the you know I've got
 to do a status check on where the governor is with the state with the federal Department of
 Transportation I haven't heard anything in about a month but you know this CDL crisis is real and
 you saw that crash in Virginia that cost a family you know lives and a lot of tragedy was a CDL
 issued to an illegal immigrant in New York and that would not have happened but for
 you know these wrong headed policies I mean you know the pressures on you guys that have CDL's
 that are over the road are real it's hard work you know your professionals we can't afford to be
 handing CDL's out to people here on a temporary basis you know their visa expires and next you
 know they got a CDL that they're flashing around the country you know that that's expired that's
 that they're not not entitled to have they can't read the road signs I mean this is this got to be
 taken very seriously unfortunately the governor you know has not really addressed this appropriately
 other than try to sue for the the dollars that are being withheld and is it danger to everybody on
 the road and I know you know America's truckers take their role and responsibility very seriously
 this country would be nowhere without truckers you guys work hard this is not a job that a legal
 immigrant should be in yep I fully agree with you on that one also another thing I was wondering
 like the deregulation of the emissions on our trucks is that something that's going to go forward
 or how is that working out I hear that like they're going to deregulate our engines in that so we
 can go back to how they used to be or the last I knew that we're waiting on rulemaking on the EPA
 to make it final administrators Elden that you know was a congressman from New York that
 ran for governor a few years ago he's the administrator of the EPA and and he was there was a rule
 you know pending that would have rolled back some of those Biden era green standards that would
 have made it a lot harder all right one final question is there any programs that they could
 put out there to bring younger generations out here like a lot of people they just they don't
 want anything to do with it like when I grew up I grew up my dad was a trucker my grandfather was
 a trucker now my son he just got a CDL but when he got his CDL he had to jump through loops and
 bounds to get it where the immigrants just got it for free basically is there anything that can
 help younger generations get into the well the one thing that we worked on that that could be helpful
 you know on the cost of any sort of education that goes into the CDL and the training is we made
 the Pell grants you know that need based federal education aid we made that available for
 certificate programs so it's not just for people going into a two or four year degree program
 you could use it if you want to become a welder you can use it you know if you're looking to get
 a certificate for a train I would think that would apply for a CDL training as well but it would
 help you know people that you know need some assistance to help better their life and get that
 training to get that designation but you know we need the industry to advertise that you know you
 can make a good living you make a sacrifice but you know it's something this country desperately
 needs is you know we need to we depend on our driver's life but my family wouldn't have what we
 have and I wouldn't have grown up if it wasn't for my dad's sacrifice so absolutely God bless you
 thanks for being with us tonight and be safe out there I I think our time has come to a close they
 tell me here that we're we're up if we've actually gone into overtime here tonight but I was glad
 to do it I think we got through a lot of phone calls I want to thank you for taking the time for
 those of you still on the line for being with us tonight it means a lot to me to have this dialogue
 with you you know we get thousands and thousands of people on these phone calls and I think it's a
 really good opportunity for you know me to bring an update but also to listen to you and your
 concerns and we had a wide variety of them tonight we have a lot of big challenges to tackle in this
 country to keep it the greatest country in the history of the world and you know as we celebrate
 America 250 it's an important time for us to celebrate the blessings that we have in this in
 this nation and the men and women that fought and died for them so I'm honored to work towards
 solutions that are going to help the residents and the families and and the businesses of western
 New York and the southern tier our door is always open to you if you have any questions or concerns
 or comments no problem is too big and no problem is too small if you need any help cutting through
 red tape in the federal government call any of our offices they're all listed at langworthy.house.gov
 if I wasn't able to get to your question tonight stay on the line after the call you could leave
 us a voicemail and my staff and I will get back to you thank you all for joining us have a wonderful
 Fourth of July celebration with your families be safe God bless you and God bless America.