00:00So anyways, I'm going to keep my questions short, but as you know, West Virginia is one of the top ranking and lowest of education, and as we know, the big beautiful bill has unfortunately passed cuts in the Department of Education.
00:15I'm a student at Marshall, and I want to know your opinion on how you think this is going to affect poverty rates and education in West Virginia as a whole.
00:23What's your name?
00:24Haley Harvey.
00:25Haley, come on up here.
00:25Oh.
00:28All right.
00:30Now, all right, I'm going to ask Haley a question.
00:36I'm going to ask it to you.
00:37Now, sometimes I am attacked by my opponents for being, quote, unquote, far left, fringe, out of touch with where America is.
00:50Actually, much of what I talk about is exactly where America is.
00:56All right?
00:56So, Haley, I'm going to ask you, all right?
01:01Here we go.
01:04In, we are living, as you know, in a competitive global economy, correct?
01:10We're competing against countries all over the world.
01:12And in order to compete effectively, we need, in Vermont and West Virginia, a well-educated population, right?
01:20You are the future.
01:21Congratulations.
01:22You're the future of America.
01:24All right?
01:24We want you to do well.
01:25Is it a radical idea, do you all think, and Haley, you respond first, that we make, in the United States of America, public colleges, universities, and trade schools tuition free?
01:43Yes, yes, yes, I believe that education is the key to getting out of poverty.
01:52I feel like education is what makes us strong.
01:56And I feel like education should be just as accessible as health care.
02:03I mean, whether you're from West Virginia where education is low, I feel like that's where it's needed most.
02:09We need access to scholarships and resources that allow people to go to college and make better for themselves.
02:18And maybe one day, if we get the education up higher in West Virginia, that we could actually make a change.
02:31Now, my second question is, are you a communist?
02:35No.
02:35All right.
02:36Now, I just want to clear that up.
02:37See, I've been called a communist because I say what Haley said.
02:42Look, again, this is, you don't hear this on the TV, and you don't hear this in Congress.
02:53But once again, you are living in the wealthiest country in the history of the world.
03:01And if we had good policy and the courage to take on the billionaire class, there is no reason that every kid in this country could not get an excellent higher education, regardless of his or her income.
03:18That is not a radical idea.
03:20And I want to just, I want you to think about, you know, we've talked a little bit about education.
03:30We've talked a little bit about health care.
03:31Think in your own minds what it would mean to the people in this state, in my state, all over this country, if you did not have to worry about whether you could afford to go to a doctor or not.
03:42What are you, and if you had enough doctors and hospitals in your community, think about how that would alleviate stress.
03:51Think about what it means, parents, if you knew your kids were getting the best education in the world and not having to worry about whether you could afford it or not.
04:02And I want to tell you something, not only is this not some kind of utopian, idealistic vision, it makes sense.
04:09Haley hit the point on the head.
04:12You want to have a prosperous country, you need a well-educated country.
04:16I want her to get the best education.
04:19We want to invest in our kids.
04:23And it's not just college kids.
04:26I want the best and the brightest to become teachers in America.
04:32And they deserve to be paid decently.
04:39And every psychologist, child psychologist, will tell you that zero through four are the most significant years of a human being's life in terms of intellectual and emotional development.
04:53I want the best child care system in the world.
04:56These are not radical ideas.
05:05Many of them already exist in other countries around the world.
05:11We are way behind, despite being richer.
05:13The problem is that these people on top are incredibly greedy.
05:21We are way behind.
05:22We are way behind.
05:23We are way behind.
05:24We are way behind.
05:25We are way behind.
05:26We are way behind.
05:27We are way behind.
05:28We are way behind.
05:29We are way behind.
05:30We are way behind.
05:31We are way behind.
05:32We are way behind.
05:33We are way behind.
05:34We are way behind.
05:35We are way behind.
05:36We are way behind.
05:37We are way behind.
05:38We are way behind.
05:39We are way behind.
05:40We are way behind.
05:41We are way behind.
05:42We are way behind.
05:43We are way behind.
05:44We are way behind.
05:45We are way behind.
05:46We are way behind.
05:47We are way behind.
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