PROSECUTE FRAUD

“And what does that what does that person feel after they try and get their permit, they can't get it. They try and open their small business, it won't work? They get frustrated. By the way, they get pissed. And then not only are they pissed at that agency, or that governor, or they're pissed at, you know, that state government, they also grow and this is an important point a little more cynical about government, and a little bit more frustrated about the process. And when that happens, I think that that creates more distrust in our system. And it creates more opportunity for, I think, frankly, dark voices on extremes to come in and take advantage of people.”

“I do think it is important that we acknowledge Donald Trump has injected chaos and corruption into everything he touched. And I think it's important for me, for other Democratic leaders in this country, to be able to show what calm, competent governance can actually deliver for people. That's what I'm gonna be talking about in these midterms as I see reelection. I think it is important to paint an alternative picture to the chaos Donald Trump has created, one where you can actually grow the economy.”

“The day I took office, it took twenty days for a barber to get their permit, to be able to go out and cut hair. Today, you get it same day. You get it within that day. That may seem silly to you, but but it but understand, I called my barber. I asked him. I said, how many heads do you cut a day? He said, about 10 a day. At $20 a pop, $200 a day for two for twenty days. That's real money.”

“On the issue of Israel and The Middle East and the war in Iran and Gaza, there's a lot of nuance there. I'm happy to answer your questions on that, but I think on the issue of antisemitism, we have got to be in a place where we universally condemn it. And I think what you're seeing from some folks on the right and some folks on the left is they'll only call it out if it's said by a political opponent or someone they disagree with.”

“I actually think the Congress of the United States, the leadership there, I mean, they are frankly, kinda sad, pathetic people. And let me explain why. Right? You put, what's his name? Johnson in as as speaker, and he's effectively a rubber stamp for anything Donald Trump wants. And by the way, whether you agree with Trump or not, I think you can agree that you'd like your member of congress to at least meet the burdens that they have on them in the constitution of The United States, which is to be a check, which is to be a a separate branch of government.”

“Here as governor, I've maintained a similar focus through my office of inspector general, rooting out fraud, through making sure, by the way, we're not fronting you money when you're going out and providing, say, human services. You have to submit for reimbursements, and you've gotta make sure you prove that you did that work. When we find that someone took advantage of the system, we're referring them to prosecutors. I'm proud of the fact that we've had more Medicaid fraud prosecutions in Pennsylvania, I think any other state.”

“We've got a money back guarantee on all of our permits. If we don't get you your permit in time, we'll give you your money back. And fun fact, we've issued 40,000,000 permits during my time as governor. We've only had to issue five refunds, meaning only five of those permits were late.”

“I was very, very detailed and and and very specific in my book about this process. And I was very grateful to the vice president for being considered and grateful to her for the candid dialogue we had. And about forty eight hours before she picked Tim Walz, I pulled out and made clear that that was not something I was interested in doing. I thought I could serve the good people of Pennsylvania, and and do my best serving here as governor in a job that I absolutely love. So this wasn't about her not picking me because of my faith. This was about me, in the end not being interested in in that job.”

“The first day I was governor, the first executive order I signed was to do away with the college degree requirement to work for state government. We have 80,000 employees, damn near all. Now you do not have to have a college degree other than, say, the doctors and lawyers and people like that who require advanced degrees. So now, sixty percent six zeros 60% of all of our hires in state government don't have a college degree.”

“As it relates to the war, which you also asked about in in your question, I mean, this was a war of choice. The president never defined the objectives. It is clear he doesn't know how the hell to get out of this. If you don't know why you're going in, you don't know how the hell to get out. You don't know how to instruct the military, our brave military, including those 13 souls who did not make it home to their families because they went on a mission that the president never defined.”