「Washington D.C. The Senate Office Building.」
Inside the hearing hall of the Appropriations Committee, the room was packed. All several hundred seats were taken, and reporters, representatives of lobbying groups, and congressional staff filled every corner.
All eyes were fixed on the man seated at the center of the witness table.
John Murphy sat there, the "National Strategic Supply Chain Resilience and Regional Industrial Upgrade Act" provided by Leo placed before him.
"Senators."
Murphy's voice carried through the microphone, filling the hall. It was steady and powerful.
He was no longer the timid, back-bencher Representative. He was a newly-minted Senator, carrying the will of the people of Pennsylvania.
"I know what you're all looking at. You're looking at the budget number—two billion dollars. You think that's expensive."
Murphy raised his head, his gaze sweeping across the powerful men on the dais who held the nation's purse strings.
