How, how do you assess this, uh, uh, this Democrat primary?

Well, I've, I've tried to stay out of the primary, but I'll tell you, I watch it with great fascination.

Um, we've got a, a two-term liberal governor who is leaving the state in bad condition, uh, fiscally from a tax perspective, education, you name it.

Uh, she is the one, Janet Mills, who had the big fight with President Trump, where I'm solidly on President Trump's side, about transgender athletes competing in girls' and women's sports.

I don't think that's fair.

I think it's contrary to the whole purpose of Title IX to provide, uh, athletic opportunities to girls and w- and women.

And, uh, it...

How are you-- How is your work to build up the Navy, uh, uh, by building up what's going on at your, uh, shipbuilding, uh, facilities, uh, helping our Navy get back to the preeminent status it should have?

She taught at Harvard and Georgetown and the University of Michigan.

Right? There are lots of themes going on.

I have to say that I'm struck by the, the sense that understanding some of the complexities may change traditional ways of thinking about things.

So that's a theme that I'm hearing.

So the first paper was really ...

If you, um, i- if you account for the linkages through networks that include not only trade flows but also financial flows, and, and, you know, if you ...

And across sectors and countries, not just through countries but add the sector component in, we may historically, with simpler more traditional models, have underestimated the potential for larger and more persistent effects of different kinds of shocks.

"Hey, Tom, here's something you might find interesting."

... we have that nice 2% number on the inflation side.

Yeah, so that's, that is a, you know, a little bit less specifically concrete than inflation.

Absolutely.

But I do think that we have a sense of what full employment looks like.

And, you know, this is something we talked about as part of the framework review that was completed recently that, you know, describes that as the maximum employment that you can sustain over time that's consistent with price stability.

And I think that's a helpful way of thinking about it because it also evolves over time.

It's not just one number.

Yeah.

Is there any reason that, d- do they gain any leverage by shuttering the government, other than Chuck Schumer's, uh, Hail Mary against AOC?

None whatsoever.

I think this is all driven by Chuck's fear of the primary with the AOC.

He got criticized by the far-left when he voted to keep government open in March, and I think this is entirely a reaction to that.

What I can't figure out is why more Democrats in the caucus have not broken away from him and said, "Chuck, this is bad for my constituents.

This is bad for our country.

It's bad for confidence in the work that we do here in Washington." I hope that will happen.

Do your, do your colleagues on the Democratic side, are they indifferent to the situation those young military families are in?

Tell me about the Religious Workforce Protection Act.

Well, it's so nice to talk with you, Hugh.

So there are 50 Catholic parishes in Maine, 35% of... or 35 of the 50, more than half, in other words, rely on foreign-born priests and other religious workers who are from overseas.

And what we have found is that there's such a long backlog in the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State that their five-year temporary visas run out before they can get their permanent work visa.

And that means that a priest, for example, has to return to his home country for a year before they can come back.

Sometimes it's even longer.

And let me emphasize, all these individuals are well-vetted, uh, they're here legally.

I can't believe we send people home who are in the work of the faith, whatever the faith tradition might be.