| Speaker | Time | Text |
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unidentified
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| Coming up, the announcement of a joint effort by Congress and the White House to create a regulatory framework for digital assets and cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Stablecoin. | ||
| From Capitol Hill, this is just under 30 minutes. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
|
unidentified
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It's a real honor to be here, to be invited to Capitol Hill here to speak alongside such distinguished leaders from both the House and the Senate. | |
| I want to thank Chairman Tim Scott, Chairman French Hill, Chairman John Bozeman, and Chairman GT Thompson. | ||
| So thank you all for your leadership and commitment to addressing some of the most important opportunities of our time in ensuring that the U.S. remains at the forefront of innovation and digital assets. | ||
| The President said in his executive order in the first week that it's the policy of his administration to support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors of the economy. | ||
| And he established an executive branch working group for digital assets, which includes Secretary Besson at Treasury, Secretary Noam, soon-to-be-confirmed Attorney General Bondi, Secretary Luttnick at Commerce, and all the other key administration officials that have an equity in crypto. | ||
| And similarly, the SEC has set up a crypto task force led by Hester Peirce, which is also looking at this issue. | ||
| And together, our objective is to accomplish the task that the President assigned for us in his EO, which is to propose a federal regulatory framework governing the issuance and operation of digital assets, including stablecoins, in the United States. | ||
| I've talked to many founders over the past few years, and they've told me repeatedly that the number one thing they need from Washington is regulatory clarity. | ||
| They just want to know what the rules of the road are so they can abide by them. | ||
| We're coming off, frankly, four years of arbitrary prosecution and persecution of crypto companies where the SEC wouldn't tell founders what the rules were, but then they would prosecute them. | ||
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unidentified
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And many founders have even told me stories of being debanked personally just because they had founded a crypto company. | |
| All of this, this approach was driving this important technology of the future offshore, and we want to keep that innovation onshore in the U.S. Financial assets are destined to become digital, just like every analog industry has become digital. | ||
| And we want that value creation to happen in the United States rather than giving it away to other countries. | ||
| This will also, I should add, be much better for consumer protection because it's easier for regulators to supervise an activity when it's onshore. | ||
| And it's probably not a coincidence that the single biggest fraud in the history of crypto, which was FTX, was based in the Bahamas. | ||
| By moving the innovation onshore, it will be easier to separate out the good actors from the bad actors. | ||
| And we want to encourage the good actors, the innovators, while protecting the market from the bad actors. | ||
| And I think a market structure, market structure legislation with clear definitions and fair rules will do that. | ||
| I want to say additionally, we're excited about working with both the House and Senate on stablecoin legislation. | ||
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unidentified
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I know Senator Haggerty introduced a bill today. | |
| Stablecoins really have the potential to ensure American dollar dominance internationally, to increase the usage of the U.S. dollar digitally as the world's reserve currency, and in the process create potentially trillions of dollars of demand for U.S. Treasuries, which could lower long-term interest rates. | ||
| So let me stop there, and I want to thank the Chairman here today, Chairman Scott, Chairman Hill, Chairman Bozeman, Chairman Thompson. | ||
| I look forward to working with them as part of the administration to help turn President Trump's policy into reality. | ||
| This was a week one priority for the administration, and we're excited that our counterparts in Congress are equally committed to ensuring American dominance in digital assets. | ||
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unidentified
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I look forward to working with each of you. | |
| And with that, I would say work with each of you in creating a golden age in digital assets. | ||
| And with that, I'll turn it over to Chairman Scott. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you. | |
| I think David represents promises made, promises kept. | ||
| I love the campaign trail when President Trump's out there making promises, and we see today he's keeping those promises. | ||
| And in so many ways, I think back to a kid as I was a long time ago growing up in a single-parent household, mired in poverty, and hoping that the American dream would one day be accessible for me. | ||
| I think that we're standing here today at the precipice of greatness for so many kids who are looking forward to democratization, having access points for their families and for themselves, that makes it easier and less expensive to do business in this country. | ||
| I love the concept that we see today synergy within the administration, the House, and the Senate focusing not on ourselves, but focusing on working class Americans who desperately need to reduce their prices and increase their access. | ||
| That's what the bicameral working group will help tackle. | ||
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unidentified
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I have a pre-existing working friendship with GT and French and John. | |
| And the good news is we come together already having proven the ability to work together to get things done for the American people. | ||
| It's an exciting time to be an American. | ||
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unidentified
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And as David said, the golden age has begun. | |
| And the good news is it's going to get better. | ||
| I'm excited about what we will accomplish for the American people. | ||
| I'm excited about the synergistic approach that we're taking in the House and the Senate with the White House leading the way. | ||
| Next, you'll hear from Chairman French Hill. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman Scott. | ||
| And David Sachs, thank you for coming to Capitol Hill to celebrate with us the fact that in the 119th Congress, we have a bicameral project for both a stable coins bill and a regulatory framework that will bring clarity to digital assets in the United States so that we are the land of opportunity, the land of innovation that we have been for decades and so many other technologies. | ||
| We don't want to be behind in financial technology and digital assets in the United States, but our innovators, as David Sachs reported, need clarity. | ||
| They need to know what the rules of the road are. | ||
| And that's why I'm excited to be here today to share this announcement that we're forming a working group on a bicameral basis between the House Financial Services Committee, the Senate Banking Committee, the House Agriculture Committee, and the Senate Agriculture Committee to make progress on that clarity for a regulatory framework and to create and structure a stable coins bill that will lend itself to advancing America as the reserve currency of the world. | ||
| This is a big, a big issue. | ||
| Bicameral support this year is dynamic because last year in the 118th Congress, we had success on a bipartisan basis in the House on both stablecoin legislation moving out of the House Financial Services Committee and for the regulatory framework moving across the House floor with a strong bipartisan vote. | ||
| 71 Democrats joined House Republicans in moving that policy forward. | ||
| So in my view, with the wind at our back of a leader like President Trump who knows that financial innovation, financial technology is where America's heart is, where our entrepreneurs' heart are, our hearts are, that that will lead from the executive branch. | ||
| And now, with this bicameral partnership with Senate Agriculture and Senate banking along with our House committees, I look very, very forward to the success we're going to have in the 119th Congress. | ||
| And let me ask my good friend from Arkansas, a fellow Razorback, the chairman of the House Ag Committee, John Bozeman. | ||
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unidentified
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We're all still excited about the big Kentucky win. | |
| So it's good to be with you all. | ||
| We've been working hard on this for the last three years, and we've had our ups and our downs. | ||
| When we started working on it, crypto was gaining popularity. | ||
| And then with Sam Bankman-Fried and other things, it seemed like perhaps it was in trouble. | ||
| It's rebounded, though, and is bigger than ever. | ||
| So our goal is to make sure that consumers are protected, make sure that the industry, in order for it to grow and be able to offer all of the things that it does offer to the various disciplines that are out there, whether you're a bank or whether you're investing a client's money for their retirement or whatever, you've got protections, there's structure in it, and it will allow the industry itself, | ||
| because it is regulated, people have confidence in that, to grow. | ||
| It's a little different than our normal situations in the sense we've got these jurisdiction things. | ||
| So I'm the chairman of Ag. | ||
| Why am I here? | ||
| Because we have the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. | ||
| And some assets are commodities, some are securities. | ||
| So the SEC has jurisdiction over the securities. | ||
| CFTC has jurisdiction over the other. | ||
| So the idea that we're working together, again, revolving, working separately, we've made progress over the last several years, but working together now with purpose. | ||
| And then also having the White House, having the czar over here, again, to visit with him and really set up a structure so that we can get a final structure to make this thing work is very, very important. | ||
| So I appreciate Senator Scott, I think, really coming up with that idea. | ||
| And I think it's a good one, and we're looking forward to actually get some things accomplished in the next several months. | ||
| Good afternoon, everyone. | ||
| I'm Congressman G.T. Thompson, chair of the House Agriculture Committee. | ||
| And this is what we're doing today is sort of the next step in what will be a milestone, which will be a great accomplishment for our country. | ||
| You know, America really was the leader when it came to Internet 1.0, right? | ||
| It was the Internet of Knowledge. | ||
| And the Internet 2.0, again, it was America that led that for the world, not just for our citizens, but for the world. | ||
| And that was the Internet of things. | ||
| And then Internet 3.0 is what we're talking about today, and that's the Internet of value. | ||
| And we're approaching it in a principled way. | ||
| You know, my colleagues here mentioned a couple of those. | ||
| Number one, do no harm. | ||
| You know, protect consumers, provide that regulatory structure, that certainty, both for the industry, but quite frankly, for the consumers as well. | ||
| And secondly, is foster innovation, because the opportunities are just really unimaginable. | ||
| Well, what I think, what I know, what I believe, is that whatever's over the horizon is going to be very, very exciting. | ||
| So I'm really, well, first of all, just very thankful to President Trump for his historic efforts to bring regulatory clarity to the digital assets markets. | ||
| His leadership with the work that David Sachs is going to lead on his behalf is going to be a game changer for American competitiveness in the global race to build the new economy. | ||
| The President could not have picked a better person to helm his AI and digital asset efforts. | ||
| David brings a wealth of experience in exploring new technologies and building successful businesses to this new role. | ||
| You know, we've had great conversations, and I know that he is laser-focused on bringing certainty to digital asset markets. | ||
| I want to congratulate my friend Chairman French Hill. | ||
| He is the right man to lead the Financial Services Committee in the House at this moment in this time, and he's a great partner and the type of leader that we need to advance this issue. | ||
| We worked incredibly well last Congress together alongside Patrick McHenry, and I'm excited to build on that work together. | ||
| I also want to congratulate our newly elevated Senate colleagues, Chairman Bozeman and Chairman Scott. | ||
| Perhaps there's no one more pleased than me to be able to say, Chairman Bozeman, John and Tim and their members are going to bring a wealth of talent and expertise to this discussion from the Senate majority. | ||
| We did incredible work in the House last Congress in the 118th, and I'm proud of the efforts that went into our historic vote on FIT 21. | ||
| I'm equally excited to have these partners and a new administration in place to be able to finish the job. | ||
| I'm thrilled to lead the House Agriculture Committee members as we work with this incredible team to put a bill on President Trump's desk. | ||
| And I think at this point we're going to be in a position to take a few questions. | ||
| Thank you, everyone. | ||
| We're going to take some questions from the crowd. | ||
|
unidentified
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But you, direct your questions, can you please say your name and Al German? | |
| Emily, we'll start with you. | ||
| Emily Wilkins, CNBC, thanks so much for holding this today. | ||
| I wanted to start off. | ||
| I mean, you're talking about legislation. | ||
| Can you talk a little bit about FIT 21 last time, the bill that you plan to introduce again? | ||
| What differences are we going to see now that we have a trifecta in Washington? | ||
| Well, thanks, Emily. | ||
| We did do good work, good strong bipartisan work on FIT 21, which was the Clarity for a Market Structure Bill. | ||
| That bill, I think, had the basics for the exact bill that we'll propose to introduce again in the 119th Congress. | ||
| There may be some modest changes, but it had bipartisan support. | ||
| We did a lot of work in our markup and in the floor preparation for it in both the Ag Committee under Dusty Johnson leadership and GT Thompson's leadership and in House Financial Services. | ||
| So on the regulatory framework bill, that'll be the approach that the House takes. | ||
| On stablecoins, I think you'll see us have a bill that's very similar to the approach that's been taken in the Senate. | ||
| Recently, Senator Haggerty's introduced legislation. | ||
| That bill was closer to the original proposal that Patrick McHenry put in place early in the 118th Congress, and I think you'll see the House expose a draft for stablecoins that would be similar to the approach taken by Senator Haggerty. | ||
| But let me ask GT to comment or Tim. | ||
|
unidentified
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So I established this year a digital asset subcommittee so that we could take a deep dive into market structure as well as stablecoins. | |
| Good news is stablecoins led by Bill Haggerty. | ||
| On the Senate side, it's out already today. | ||
| We've seen Cynthia Lemmis as a co-sponsor. | ||
| Market structure is a place where you have left and right leaning in. | ||
| We have members from Gillibrand and Lemmis working together in the past, now working together in the future, coming to the table to create the framework for the Senate so that we could harmonize FIT21, the parts that we see as a path forward to a signature into law. | ||
| So the good news is from my perspective, having the Digital Asset Subcommittee really working on the market structure at the same time simultaneously having Bill Haggerty lead the conversation around stable coins, having that bill out for us to take a look at. | ||
| And there will be an amendment process that will be a part of that for us. | ||
| And then hopefully very quickly we'll see the House working on it as well. | ||
| So we'll have legislation that's able to go to the President's desk. | ||
| Let me just say I'm very proud of the work that we did in the 118th with FIT 21. | ||
| And that was done in, you heard others talk about we had Republicans and Democrats certainly in committee and on the House floor, a significant vote that we achieved. | ||
| But I'd like to say we achieved that in a tripartisan way. | ||
| We worked in bringing the industry, bringing key stakeholders to the table. | ||
| And so I look forward to, quite frankly, on working with my colleagues here and President Trump to continue that process of refining what we do, whether it's market structures and the other aspects of this bill. | ||
| Hi, Brendan Peterson with Punch Bowl News. | ||
| I wanted to ask if you all are thinking about making changes to anti-money laundering law as a part of this push, given the concerns we've heard about debanking from the crypto sector and beyond and the broader concerns about money transmitter licenses and the sensitivities of AML there. | ||
| We're certainly open for discussion. | ||
| One of the things that the subcommittee will take a look at is the whole playing field. | ||
| At the end of the day, to get all of our members on board, we're going to have to be open to comments and thoughts on the issue. | ||
| I think we're in a good place. | ||
| The Bank Secrecy Act is something that we've discussed with the other side. | ||
| They have a focus on it. | ||
| I think that the broader conversation should not be about digital assets alone. | ||
| It's about bad actors doing bad things by any means necessary. | ||
| And so having that conversation from a panoramic view and not simply from an digital asset perspective is going to be important for us to get to the end of that conversation. | ||
| I just would, I would add, having been the subcommittee chair in the last Congress and Brian Stiles is going to have that mission this time. | ||
| He'll do an excellent job, I think, on the market structure bill and the stablecoin bill as it relates to the security aspects of it. | ||
| We were very sensitive in the 118th Congress about the law enforcement aspects of digital assets. | ||
| Not any different than we are about any other means of transfer or payment method, whether you're talking about cash or the ACH system or real-time payments. | ||
| This is an important point. | ||
| I agree with Senator Scott completely. | ||
| We'll listen to our members. | ||
| But in the drafts that we pro-offered last year, that as I say, we had bipartisan support for, they had strict AML standards in them for this digital arrangement for digital assets that are not unlike the requirements out in the analog financial services space. | ||
| It's why we call the bills fit for purpose because this is not an intermediated form of finance anymore, and so these laws have to reflect how transactions are conducted. | ||
| But it's AML and BSA are important for every member on both sides of the capital. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thank you. | |
| Thank you for doing this. | ||
| For both of the stablecoin and the fit bills last year, I'm just curious this year whether you have any idea of the timeline when you expect to get those worked through Congress. | ||
| And then also, could this ride along anything like the farm bill, for instance, given the agriculture connection? | ||
| Well, we have to work on getting the farm bill. | ||
| And we're going to do that. | ||
| Time-wise, I think one of the most important things we're doing now with every Congress, we have new members that retire or defeated, and we have new members coming in. | ||
| So we're starting that now and have started member education. | ||
| And quite honestly, crypto is not the easiest thing to wrap your mind around. | ||
| Not everyone comes into Congress with a good, full understanding and a thorough knowledge. | ||
| And so member education is what our first goal is here. | ||
| And then how it times up, it is, you know, I think we've shown the ability to be able to move a market structures bill, well, FIT 21 as a whole, out of the House in the past. | ||
| I think we're probably in a really good position when we conclude our work and preparation this time around to be able to do that. | ||
| So I don't see this being attached to a farm bill. | ||
| Justin. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Hang on one second. | ||
|
unidentified
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I would say, if I was thinking about this a little bit, I think what we have is an opportunity to get things done. | |
| My theory is the first 100 days of a new administration is important. | ||
| On the Senate side, my goal is to be as aggressive as possible to achieve an objective of having bills through the Senate in 100 days. | ||
| Just to go back to Emily's question on this and combine it with timing, Maeve, is here's the way to think about it. | ||
| We did a lot of work in the 118th Congress in the House. | ||
| So we're prepared to move forward in the House Financial Services Committee, and I won't speak for Chairman Thompson by introducing legislation or having discussion drafts of our legislation, attaching those to a set of committee hearings. | ||
| But it's exactly as GT points out. | ||
| We have new members, we've got to do new member education, and so we have to level set here. | ||
| This is why Chairman Bozeman and Chairman Scott have stepped up digital assets at a subcommittee level to bring members along and do that member education here in the Senate, something that in the House, we had the benefit, you know, obviously of two Congresses working on that. | ||
| So I think a key element now, though, is the education and technical assistance that can be provided to members both in the House and Senate from the executive branch now as President Trump's leadership posts are confirmed and key among them is his AI and crypto advisor David Saxon. | ||
| David, would you want to speak to this issue of helping members come up to speed? | ||
|
unidentified
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Yeah, I mean absolutely. | |
| So this is what we're here for. | ||
|
unidentified
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And I actually did a session even before the start of this Congress with Speaker Johnson. | |
| We did a great sort of open dialogue with members of the House in that case. | ||
| And I think part of what we're here to do is provide resources on education. | ||
| Some of them can be outside advisors, kind of luminaries in the industry, and we're talking to a lot of those people. | ||
| And then I'm also available anytime to talk to members about this. | ||
|
unidentified
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Crypto can be an esoteric subject, and it is good to explain it to kind of demystify it, because I think once you understand that, you've kind of got the cryptocurrency itself like Bitcoin, but then what it really runs on are blockchains, which are just distributed ledgers. | |
| It's really a new type of decentralized computing platform, and there's a lot of things that can be built on that computing platform. | ||
| So in any event, we're happy here to provide those resources to help explain it, both on Capitol Hill and beyond. | ||
| Thank you, Jasper Goodman with Politico. | ||
| Thanks for doing this. | ||
| Senator Haggerty is out with a stablecoin bill today. | ||
| Given that that's out there and that there's been more consensus in the past on stablecoins as opposed to market structure, do you plan to move first on stable coins ahead of market structure? | ||
| And relatedly, to what extent in both of these processes do you plan to engage Democrats versus going at it alone now that you have the trifecta? | ||
| So the bill's out, as you know. | ||
| We have been working with Democrats already on the bill. | ||
| You'll see co-sponsors will line up on both sides. | ||
| Good news is that the bill is moving quickly. | ||
| I'm actually pleasantly surprised at a place where you see very little bipartisan coalition building, the members of the committee as well as folks like Dillibrand off the committee are very anxious to have a win in this digital space. | ||
| And so for the first time in a long time, there's a reason to take a deep breath and release it because the legislation moving forward very quickly is happening. | ||
| Good news is they have had, as French said, a lot of time working on the legislation as well. | ||
| Finding the places where there are disagreement will be the key for us getting it to the president's desk. | ||
| And that's where I think the task happens next, is to take a look at the component parts of Hagerty's stablecoin bill. | ||
| But that's what we're moving first, is stablecoins. | ||
| In the House, and I'll speak for the Financial Services Committee and then yield to my friend GT. | ||
| We're proposing that we'll essentially move the stablecoins and a FIT21 type structures. | ||
| I've now answered that question two or three times on a similar track. | ||
| I mean, we're going to begin that process where we left off in the 118th Congress. | ||
| And we worked hand in glove, diligently, with our colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle in the House. | ||
| Many of the ideas that are reflected in the market structure bill and some in the stable coins bill reflected views from the minority party in the House. | ||
| And we'll continue to do that. | ||
| And you'll see that as we move forward with a set of hearings and the discussion. | ||
| So I remain committed to trying to make these bills bipartisan success in the House. | ||
| And certainly we'll cooperate with the senators and try to be a part of any kind of educational effort here on a bipartisan base to support their efforts here in the Senate. | ||
|
unidentified
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GT I have the same commitment, so I really don't have anything else. | |
| All right, last question, Jacker. | ||
| Thank you so much, Jennifer Schoenberger with Yahoo Finance. | ||
| On the campaign trail, the president said he supported a Bitcoin reserve. | ||
| I'm curious what the plans are for that at this point, and would the administration consider putting crypto into a sovereign wealth fund that it is planning? | ||
| So one of the things that the president instructed us to do was to evaluate the idea for a Bitcoin reserve. | ||
| And so that is one of the things, that's one of the first things we're going to look at as part of the internal working group in the administration. | ||
|
unidentified
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So as soon as we get all that set up, we're still waiting for some cabinet secretaries who are on the working group to get confirmed. | |
| So we're still in the very early stages of this. | ||
| But that's one of the first things we're going to look at is the feasibility of a Bitcoin reserve. | ||
| I think the concept of the sovereign wealth fund is a little separate, and you'll have to talk to Secretary Ludnick, or soon to be Secretary Ludnick, about that. | ||
| Thank you all very much. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thanks, everyone. | |
| Wednesday, a look at ways to increase government efficiency and reduce unnecessary spending with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Citizens Against Government Waste President Thomas Schatz testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. | ||
| watch it live at 10 a.m eastern on c-span 3 c-span now our free mobile app and online at c-span.org john dickinson is one of the most significant founders of the united states who is not well known by all the american public Author Jane E. Calvert is trying to change that with her new biography, Penman of the Founding. | ||
| John Dickinson is known for his nine essays under the title Fabius, published anonymously in newspapers during the time that the states were deciding on whether to approve the new Constitution. | ||
| John Dickinson of Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania was the only founding figure present and active in every phase of the revolution, from the Stamp Act crisis through the ratification of the Constitution. | ||
|
unidentified
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Author Jane Calvert talks about her book, Penman of the Founding, a biography of John Dickinson. | |
| On this episode of Book Notes Plus with our host, Brian Lamb. |