Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20240622

He has a poverty summit. When you talk about using the power of the presidency to try to change and start a debate in this country of what we can do so the situations that are occurring every single day in america because children are abandoned by a system that is not focused on kids, i think we can make some real changes. Weve got about 10 minutes left. Well try to get in three more questions. Paul. Paul senator, four years senator santorum what if i filibuster . Paul senator, four years ago your family played a big role in your campaign. Youre a dad of seven. How have things changed in four years . Is it easier, harder . How do you how do you stay dad . Senator santorum its hard. Seven kids, going through those teenage years and everything its theres challenges out there. Ill be honest with you. I feel first, the biggest issue, if you recall four years ago, was our daughter bella and the Health Problems that she had. Im just were just real excited shes doing better she has ever done and has been for about three years. After the campaign, we you know, we realized we had to look at some things because she was just getting there was a pattern of her getting sick, very seriously sick. And she had that pattern but it was getting worse. So anyway, we dug into some things and we actually found a therapy thats in our book. She takes something to boost her immune system and its just changed her life. Shes doing great. And so i if she was in the same position as she was four years ago, i wouldnt be sitting here. But she is doing great. And so we feel very, very comfortable on that front. We have six other kids. As i said, theyre going through their teenage and college years. I dont need to say any more than that. But its a last time around, it was a family enterprise. And in spite of the travel and other things, it actually in many respects brought the family even closer together. And everybody is excited about it. You know, our kids are its just fighting them off as to who goes to what trip because everybody wants to go and be out on the trail and do things. Its sort of like the Family Business in some respects. You want to go to the store and participate, but its so i feel very good. Our family is well prepared to do it. Not to say we dont have our issues like every other family but if we didnt then you should be worried about it. Paul you would be taking a pay cut if you win, right . Senator santorum yeah. Its pretty good job. Mr. Rappaport from the new york times. Talk about taking on the clinton machine. Is it more or let formidable candidate than president obama . Senator santorum yeah, we took on a machine in 1994 when i ran against harris and we were you believe against carville and begala and bill and hillary came to pennsylvania with great frequency to campaign against us. You know, pennsylvanias not the redest of states. We felt we went up against their best and brightest. Health care was the big issue back in 1994. The guy i was running against was the senate sponsor. In fact, you go back and look at your political reason, kids in 1991 really ushered bill clinton into the 1992 campaign becausecarville made health care the issue of the 1991 special election and went down to little rock, basically took their experiences in pennsylvania in 1991 and applied it to the race in 1992 and the rest is history. They had a lot riding on pennsylvania in 1994. Let me assure you, they threw the kitchen sink at us and we were able to survive. I remind people in 2000, we won by five points in 2000 in the state that bush lost by four. We were the only conservative to win in a state that bush lost. I think we have a good track record of being able to overcome big election odds. I beat two incumbents. I represented a 60 democratic seat and a 70 democratic seat in my first few terms in the congress. I think we have a pretty good track record. When we get to a general election we can be pretty effective. I feel like Hillary Clinton is in some respects tougher than barack obama. In some ways. In some ways easier. I think hillarys going to have a harder time galvanizing her base. I think she probably has a little bit more of an opportunity to appeal outside of her base. The president last time obviously lost independents and moderates, and that would have been an opportunity for me, at least i believe, we could have done better there. I think shell shell have pluses and minuses, but, again we have a track record. Not just gone up against the Political Team but also went up against her in the United States senate on more than one occasion and i think we did pretty well when we did that. So if youre looking at debate performances and how well you can stack up and be effective, i think we have some pretty good evidence that well do very well. Phil, last question. Senator santorum i kept trying to finish up. Phil are we going to see mrs. Santorum this time . Last time she had a pretty tough go at it. What is her role in the santorum 2. 0 is going to be . Senator santorum the least disruptive model possible. Particularly with our daughter whos doing well but she is still 24 7 care. If care is not there, then we got to hire someone to be there. That becomes economically challenging, lets just put it that way. So ill be honest with you. A big part of it is just family economics for us to have nursing care when karens not home 24 hours a day gets expensive and its not covered by insurance or anything like that. So part of it is driven by just the family realities of having a disabled child that requires 24 7 care and the other reality is we have six other kids. Theyre going through teenage years and sort of good to have a parent around. Thats happening. We had some experiences about that in the last year or so. And so karen and i is a division of labor, if you will. While i think karen does an amazing job on the campaign trail, is a huge asset, the most important asset that we have is our family. And while she maybe a great asset on the campaign, she is the indispensible asset at home and thats the way well view all sorts of opportunities on the campaign. Thanks for doing this. Senator santorum you bet it. Appreciate it. Senator santorum appreciate it. What painless. Somewhat. Im glad. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] on todays washington journal, the latest and of elements on the Iran Nuclear Negotiations and how the committee on benghazi lance to continue with its investigation. Member of the energy and Commerce Committee and then later mike pompeo of kangas kansas. Washington journal is live every morning at 7 00 et on cspan and you can contribute by phone and on facebook and twitter. At 8 00 et on cspan2 nasa promises the biggest planetary unveiling in a quarter century. The spacecraft new horizons is doing a close flyby of pluto. That is live and 00 a. M. Et at 8 00 a. M. Et. At 10 00 secretary jeh johnson on the deportation cases and the benefits of giving certain groups legal status called administrative legalization. Letter today, a look at the europeans future by a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on cspan3. Next up, former Maryland Governor Martin Omalley running for the democratic nomination discussed issues concerning latino voters. I am so privileged to introduce one of our keynote speakers. Born and raised in the state of maryland, governor Martin Omalley has become one of the states most dedicated and revered public servants. And attorney by profession, governor omalley began his career of Public Service at the age of 28. He was first elected to the Baltimore City council where he spent eight years and was later elected as mayor of baltimore for two terms in 2006 he became marylands 61st governor. A post he held until january this year. Throughout his distinguished career, governor omalley has focused on improving the lives of his constituents. Whether it is advocating for better education, safer communities, or Stronger Economic opportunities. Nowhere is this more evident than in governor omalleys work on behalf of the growing latino population in maryland. He has worked closely with an clr affiliates nclr affiliates for years. He has long risk supported comprehensive Immigration Reform and supports president obamas immigration relief order. It is his record of accomplishments on issues regarding latinos that stands out. In 2007 he appointed tom barrett as marylands first latina secretary of labor. In pioneering effort on immigrants reformation. He issued an order for undocumented drivers which he helped make permanent and 2013 when he rightly noted that the measure protects the safety of all marylanders. In 2012 he shepherded the passage of the maryland dream act. The following year he helped beat back a challenge to that law when Maryland Voters overwhelmingly passed a referendum and support of the dream act. One of his final acts of government was to increase minimum wage, one of his Top Priorities on policy. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to governor Martin Omalley. [applause] thank you very, very much. I want to say a special thank you to janet for your kind invitation and the ability to be with all of you here today. As many of you know, this is janets 20th year at the helm of the National Council of laurents of la raza. Ouncil of la raza. That means 10 years of exceptional leadership. A sane and humane vision for immigration that will uplift our entire nation. [applause] janet and her family are doing great things. Her grandparents moved to the United States to escape the mexican revolution. Neither her mom nor her dad made it past the seventh grade in school. They believe in hard work, family, community, possibility. All of the things that our nation promises. Growing up, the kids in janets family slept dormitorystyle in one big room. But they also shared something else, and that was in unshakable belief in the American Dream. Janet and her six siblings grew up to pursue College Degrees and law degrees. Janet went on to work at the white house to service a top administrator at the university of kansas and of course to lead this fine organization. One of janets others is a federal judge, and one of janets sisters is a judge. And, that is the first time in our countrys history that a brother and sister have served on the federal bench. And that too, is the American Dream come to life. [applause] and now, janet helped lead the fight to make that available and true to every hispanic american family, in fact to every american family. Of course, janet has big shoes to fill after the 30 magnificent years of her predecessor. He made this organization a National Force in pursuit of hispanic opportunity and equality. When he was a child in south texas, his family faced a nightly curfew. In spite of growing up in the face of exclusion, his distinguished resume includes decades of leadership of nclr, American Ambassador to the dominican republic, and a host of other achievements in service of the cause. Along the way, raul benefited from one of the most farcited transformative investments that our nation has ever made in our people and the growth of our middle class. And that is when raul went to college on the g. I. Bill. Millions of americans have been affected by this. Americans had the good sense to invest in him. I know the power of that investment personally. My dad, tom omalley, went to college on the g. I. Bill as well. I think it is fair to say he went to college only because of the g. I. Bill. His dream was set in motion when my great grandparents came to this country from ireland. My great grandfather, whose name also happen to be Martin Omalley, had no money. His first language was not english. But the hopes and these dreams that he had for his children for his grandchildren, were purely american. He started from zero. Just like so many new americans from all over the world come here and start from zero. The americans that he worked beside risked their lives in the mines of southwest arizona. They have the same spirit, the same love of family that builds up our country one person and one family at a time. It is a spirit that has always made us the land of opportunity. For many years, i had very intentionally and repeatedly used in my own Public Service the term new americans. The genius of our country is not so much about where you come from, it is about where you are going and where we are all going to gather. [applause] of course, we know that both the positive and the negative aspects of American History can often repeat themselves. Todays new american immigrants are not the first to face the ugliness of exclusion, fear, or hate. During my service as mayor true story i always kept a sign from the 1890s on my desk. And, it it read help wanted. No irish need apply. Those signs were once very common throughout america. For me, that sign was a daily reminder that not only were we once strangers in a strange land, but more importantly, we are all in this together. We must hold together if we are to succeed. [applause] and, i suppose, this truth is why i have always seen in the eyes of my new american neighbors, the eyes of the great grandparents that i never met. You see, the cause that we share is the cause of human dignity. The work that we share is the strengthening of our common good as one american people. It is the dream made real by families. The dream made real by my family, your family, every family and america who love their children and love their country. [applause] it is the living reality of that dream that lift us all. As governor of a american, i fought to make that dream real every day. How did we do this . We did this by including more of our people more fully in the economic and social and political life of our state. You see, in maryland we did not wait for the federal government to act. We pursued our own dream to make sure more had access to affordable higher education. [applause] after i signed the dream act into law, our brothers and sisters in the Republican Party decided to petition it to referendum and it was a straight yes or no vote. When we started out, we were losing. In fact we were about 10 points down. But instead of following popular opinion, we forged a new consensus. We became the first state in the union to defend the dream act at the ballot box. [applause] after that conversation that we had around the referendum get this we actually won with 59 of the vote. We were good, compassionate, generous. This is not simply a victory for the dreamers, though it was, but it was also a victory for marylins future. For the future we all want for our children. In maryland, the also expanded access to drivers license because people need to get to work safely and obey the rules of the road [applause] and, at the very start of my administration in 2008, i established the new american commissions. Its purpose to highlight and welcomed the schools the skills being brought to our state by new americans from all over the world. That was helped by our first labor commissioner, a name that will be familiar to all of you tom perez, who is now the labor secretary for the United States of america. I regret i have but one cabinet to give to my country will stop during my two terms as governor, we actually increased government contracts to latino businesses by 114 percent. [applause] we were the first to expand the living wage, we raised the minimum wage to 10. 10 per hour. Hundreds of thousands of maryland residents will have gotten a raise. We froze tuition for years in a row, and we did a better job then any other state to help this, of course, helped all of us. But it also particularly help hispanic students win bachelors degrees during my service as governor. We kept marylands Unemployment Rate down to one of the lowest in the nation. What does all of this mean . Anyone can talk about it. But we actually do it. [applause] [speaking spanish] [applause] we created a real opportunity in maryland for all of the people. We did it by investing in our people. We did it by including more people more fully in the economic, political and other together, through these actions, we made the dream real for more and more families. Tomorrow, i will lay out a detailed immigration policy for our nation. And, today, i want to talk to you about what guides my thinking. First, we are and we have always been a nation of immigrants. E pluribus unum. Out of many, one strong nation. [applause] second, we are a strong and enduring people. The symbol of america is not the armed wire fence, it is the statue of liberty. [applause] and, number three, it is in the best interest of every citizen of the United States for us to reform and immigration system that is callous, unjust, and sells our nation short. [applause] you see, our fight for Immigration Reform is not only about our values as american though it certainly is, but it is also about creating an economy that actually worked for all of us. It is about bringing our neighbors out of the shadow economy and into the light of an open and inclusive economy. It is about one of the most important issues affecting kitchen tables all across the United States of america. And that is taking better actions to make sure that wages go up again instead of down for all americans. [applause] and we must begin by providing immediate relief to all of the americans whose hopes of men to gannon it by a whose hopes have been dashed again and again. Many scapegoat and seek every opportunity they can to speak ill of new americans and have fought tooth and nail against Immigration Reform. I know that all of us here today share my disk gust share my disgust with the comments that donald from recently made. [applause] the real problem, the real problem is not that there republicans have such a hatespewing character running for president , the problem is that it is so hard to tell him apart from many of the other candidates they have in the air field there their field. Get this. The Los Angeles Times ran a headline. It read, republican field divided on Donald Trumps comments about mexican immigrants. Divided . As in, not sure hes wrong . [applause] two days ago, donald trump attracted a crowd of thousands of people to listen to his hateful speech rant against new american immigrants. What does it say about the direction of todays Republican Party that donald trump called new americans from mexico rapists, drug dealers, and murderers. And the best they can summon up is that they are divided . There is nothing to be divided about here. If donald trump wants to run on a platform of demonizing immigrants, then he should go back to the 1840s and run on the nomination of the nonothing party. [applause] our children deserve better. America deserves better. Lets talk about leadership in our own hemisphere, if i may. Maybe it is an irish sensitivity, but i have a soft spot for all people who are being treated poorly. I would like to speak with you therefore, about our fellow americans from puerto rico. And our neighbors on the island of hispanola. Poricuas have been our fellow citizens for almost 100 years they have far on battlefields they have fought on battlefields alongside us. We must not let their economy collapse. I was glad to lead the field of our candidates to call on congress to improve legislation giving puerto rico the same ability to negotiate with their creditors as the United States has under the sec code. I also led our health department, the department of health and Human Services to end the and equitable treatment of treatment of puerto rico under the establishment of the Affordable Health care act. We must all demand action, and on the island, where mass deportation of dominicans of haitian descent have already begun, i was the first and only president ial candidate to call on the United States to work with our allies to use the full force of our diplomatic might to stop this atrocious affront to human rights from happening in our own hemisphere. [applause] we would not tolerate the expulsion of citizens without due process based on their skin color or ethnic background. We should not remain silent when such an injustice is being perpetrated in our own hemisphere. We must demand action. [applause] the people of this world of ours, this earth we share, the people of our own american hemisphere, they care a lot more about what we do they and what we say. And that is why i pledge to you that i will always act according to my principles and guided by our better angels. It is the way i have always led into the way i will continue to serve and lead. We are the greatest and most powerful republic ever brought forward on the face of this planet. We have literally saved the world before and we can save our country now. We have come a long way. A long way since the depths of the recession. But, a great deal of work remains. That work, the ongoing continuing, urgent work of continuing more people more fully in our economy. There are things we need to do. We need to return to ourselves. To practice the commonsense economics of our parents and grandparents. We must always raise the minimum wage, keep it above the poverty rate, and pay overtime wages for overtime work so families can get ahead. [applause] and, we must respect the rights of all workers to organize and collectively bargain for better wages. [applause] and we must send our kids to College Without saddling them with a large amount of debt and college loans. [applause] this is not rocket science. We the only advanced industrialist nation that saddles kids with that kind of debt. That must not be the way it is. We must also create an american jobs agenda to build a new clean, green, Renewable Energy future for our children and grandchildren. [applause] and, we must rebuild American Cities of places of justice and opportunity for all and we must protect the American Dream from ever again being wrecked by the elite and powerful and reckless behavior of a select few on wall street. [applause] and, we should stop entering into secret, socalled freetrade agreement that lower wages for workers, lower standards for workers, and export american jobs abroad. [applause] there are things we must do to build a new Foreign Policy of engagement and collaboration, to fund and craft, to carry through on a new National Security directive. But it all depends on making our economy stronger at home. Making the dream real again for all families. I would like to leave you with this full final american story. A true story. You will remember last year when refugee children were streaming north from guatemala, honduras and el salvador. They were at the hands of murderous drug gangs. Fleeing death at the hands of murderous drug gangs. When children arrive on our doorstep, between starvation and drug gangs, we cannot do americans turn our backs. We cannot turn them away. Or worse, chained him up behind barbed wire in conditions that see a lot more like you would see at a local humane society. No. We must act like the generous, compassionate people that we have always been. When those stories and that suffering was playing out, i stood up and i spoke out. And i said, we should care for these children decently and with care for the dignity of every single child. [applause] sadly, at the time, and some of you will remember this, there were some other governors around the country who spoke with these courageous children as if they were some kind of invading swarm of jackrabbits. One of my advisors warned me at the time, he said, i am not sure of this. I think you are going out on a limb. I was not going out on a limb. I knew i was speaking truthfully to the compassion and generosity in the hearts of the people of my state and the people of my country. And, i was not wrong. Our people rallied. We called on faith leaders. And we accommodated, through foster care, more children than any other state in the United States. [applause] a few months later, as my wife katie and i were hosting the holiday open house at the governors residence, there was a long line of people that were coming in to shake hands with her governors and first lady and say hello and merry christmas. And i will never forget, one gentleman came up to me with a young teenager with him, and he said, governor omalley, i went to introduce you to the manual. He is 13yearsold. He was one of the refugee children who you helped, who just came here from guatemala. And, that little boy, who had braved the desert and deprivation and so many other horrible things to get away from the drug gangs that plagued his country and threatened his life, he did not speak english. But he shook me by the hand and as he took my hand, he immediately released and hugged me around the waist in an embrace that i will never, ever forget. Because his dream is our dream. The dream of everything that has ever been possible here in the united state of america. Do you know who believes the most rationally in the truth and the reality of the ongoing truce of the American Dream . It is everyone who has ever risk their life to get here. That is who believes in the American Dream. [applause] i believe it, you believe it now, together, let us fight as one to make it true for every american. May god bless you, and may god bless the United States of america. Thank you. [applause] thank you. Thank you very, very much. [applause] this weekend, on cspans road to the white house, two Major Political events from iowa and were the only place where you can watch or listen to these events in their entirety. We will be live in cedar rapids for the hall of fame dinner that will mark the first time all five Democratic Candidates share the stage. And saturday, we will be live for the family leadership summit where nine president ial candidates are scheduled to speak. On cspan, cspan radio, and cspan. Org. Cspans road to the white house. 2016. Wed take you there. And joining us this morning katrina vanden heuvel. Good morning. Paul orgel Bernie Sanders speaks. You did a little bit of a q a with the candidate. They call it his most revealing interview. The socialist president ial candidate sets out his vision for america. Here is a look at the piece. They write here that in the beginning there were plenty of doubters, but two months into the campaign, everything about the sanders candidacy, the crowds, the poll numbers, the buzz is bigger than expected. It says something about the prospects for progressive politics. What does it say . Katrina vanden heuvel this is a economic populist moment. The economic populist wing of the credit party is ascendant. Someone was going to fill that space in 2016 and Bernie Sanders is filling it. It might have been elizabeth warren. But Bernie Sanders has staked out his ground. He is someone the nation has been covering since he entered congress in 1990. Millions of people are meeting him for the first time. He announced only two months ago. The crowds just grow. Part of it is the mainstream Corporate Media in this country has for a long time sort of police the parameters of the possible i would argue and led to a kind of downsize politics of excluded alternatives. The views Bernie Sanders holds about a more fair country and how to get there, tax increases on the very wealthy, the belief that this country belongs to its citizens and not to billionaires debtfree education safe and secure retirement, expanded social security. What does it mean to be a socialist . It is essentially being a social democrat. He would be centerleft in many european countries. It is a modern new deal. I think Bernie Sanders and his issues are very much in sync. According to many polls with Many American views. The Mainstream Media has said that he is french or his views are french. He is fringe or his views are fringe. He was a guest on meet the press for his first time in his 24 years in congress. Where is john mccain is the most frequent guest on meet the press. That does not make sense. There should be a full breath of dth of views. The nation is not endorsing anybody right now, but we want robust debate. And an airing of new ideas. That lift up at a moment when many people Pay Attention to a political system and other times they dont. In 2016, a lot more people will be paying attention than they might have. Paul orgel politico has a piece that says sanderss Senate Colleagues are stunned by his assent. Ascent. Is it the message or the messenger that is catching on . Katrina vanden heuvel very good question. You have a cohort in the senate. People like elizabeth warren, senator jeff merkley, tammy baldwin. These people share his views. But i think the media in this country too often does the horse race to the detriment of giving people the issues. Bernie sanders is running a Serious Campaign with serious ideas and solutions for the problems he sees in this country at a very serious time. In fact a crisis moment for democracy and our economy. I think he has caught the wave. Is he more surprised about how it is all catching on . Perhaps. But he himself has been a very sharp critic of a media which hasnt permitted the full range of views. He says he goes on and talks with reporters. At the end of those interviews people say what do you think of Hillary Clinton, instead of pushing him on his issues. He is not there to criticize Hillary Clinton or raise millions of dollars to create warped opposition ads. He is there to have a serious debate. Is our country ready for such a campaign . I think we are seeing elements of such readiness. But we havent seen it. The other excitement, the day after he announced he raised 1. 5 million. Do i like to measure viability of candidates by their fundraising prowess . Hell no. But he raised 1. 5 million in 24 hours. He raised more than rand paul or ted cruz. I think there is an element of running as a small donor insurgent with real Ideas Campaign that people may be more ready for than many people have understood. Paul orgel phone numbers on the bottom of the screen for katrina vanden heuvel of the nation. The nation is celebrating its 150th anniversary. What does it mean to be 150 and what is new in store for readers these days . Katrina vanden heuvel i find it astonishing. I find it astonishing to survive. Think of the longevity. We were there for the launch of the telegraph. We were there for the launch of twitter. We Just Launched an extraordinary new website. It is very nimble and innovative. We are here largely i think because, though we cover politics and believe in movements which make fundamental transformational change, we are here because we believe in the power of telling truth to people, of challenging the conventional wisdom, of pushing the consensus and raising issues which at one time might seem heretical that at another time seem common sense. We were at the forefront of opposition to the iraq war in 2003. Many liberals were not. We were accused of being antiamerican, which is always what happens when you oppose government in wartime. 10 years later, the opposition to the iraq war, the view that it was a catastrophe for this countriesys security, the can common sense. Martin luther king jr. Was our civil rights correspondent for six years. James boldin wrote a report from occupied territory James Baldwin wrote about policing abuses. Toni morrison has an extraordinary essay in our special issue on the role of writers in the time of fear. We launched chris hayes who i hired at 28. He now has his own show. Melissa harris perry, naomi klein, who was just speaking at the vatican. We have a slew of writers. We have tried to do investigative writing that makes change. We believe in journalism that rights wrongs. The nation, 150 years old, i dont think many other places are going to make it that long. We plan to survive. Katrina vanden heuvel paul orgel we will talk more about Hillary Clinton, coming up. Lets get some calls in. Carol is calling from florida. Independent. Thank you for waiting. Caller good morning katrina. I understand Bernie Sanders was promising 50 million for jobs and i would like to know who will pay for the jobs. What his idea is for paying the deficit down. And the government doesnt create jobs. So what jobs is he talking about exactly . Katrina vanden heuvel i have not seen that exact framing. , good caller. I have seen that he has called for major infrastructure investment, which Hillary Clinton i believe today in her first major address on the economy will also second. I believe Bernie Sanders has put forward budgets. Which i would argue are the most sensible common sense budgets floating around this country. Because they call for beginning to pay down the debt but at the same time making investments in this countrys future. There is a lot of money that sloshes around in terms of tax breaks for oil and gas companies, military companies, pharmaceuticals. These tax breaks arent doing a lot except enriching companies which already are very rich. I think you can find ways to create a budget. By the way a budget is a moral statement, a values principle statement. You can find a way to do a budget that is very responsible and beginning to pay down the deficit and at the same time making investments if you reallocate the money. There is a very interesting idea out there. It is not new. Bernie sanders is one of the proponents. Called a robin hood tax or wall street tax. Tax wall street to invest in main street. I think you can really take on some of the companies which have reaped huge, huge riches to find ways without stopping them, but to just reframe and restrain them and bring that money back to reinvest in the country. What is the ultimate security . A healthy, literate, secure, country. With a rising middle class. Bernie sanders talks a lot about the disappearing, beleaguered middle class. I think that is where budgets should be focused on. Rebuilding a middleclass and true security at home. Paul orgel to the Hillary Clinton speech today that you mention, we will have a live today at 10 00 on cspan. The wall street journal says that clinton will tilt toward the left in his economic plan. She will focus on her differences with republican rivals and accuse them of seeking Growth Without regard to whether the middle class thrives and say that raising incomes for all americans is the defining economic challenge of our time. The speech will also draw implicit contrasts with Bernie Sanders. He is focusing heavily on inequality. Arguing that the economic pie should be divided more fairly and calling for taxes on the wealthy to pay for initiatives to aid the middle class. More on the battle here . Katrina vanden heuvel i hate to do this because i dont think Bernie Sanderss candidacy should be viewed as a foil to Hillary Clinton. You see that too often in the coverage. I think his campaign and issues should stand on their own terms. We will see moving Hillary Clinton to speak more urgently to the defining issue of our time, which is how do you rebuild the middle class . She will not be as straight what she is talking about, first of all, in my mind, is it left wing to argue that people who work 40 hours a week should not live in poverty . That to me is humane. That to me is a politics the pope could support. By the way, the pope traveling around latin america talking about unfettered capitalism makes Bernie Sanders look like a centrist. But that is a different issue. Hillary clinton is going to talk about the bottomup wage stagnation what can be done to rebuild the middle class. She is going to talk about empowering workers. She is not simply going to focus as so we democrats have for too long on the role of technology and globalization. She will make the point that we have this inequality, is not immaculate conceptions. Politics and policy play a role to rebuild an economy that works for everyone. Bernie sanders however gets more to the nub of the problem and it is a position poll that majorities of americans support which is increasing taxes on the very rich. I dont think you can really begin to address the defining crisis of our time which is inequality without taking that up. I know it is heretical, but the nation at 150 years old cover this years ago. President Dwight Eisenhower had a 90 marginal tax rate on the wealthiest in his presidency. No one is calling for that now because we have essentially moved into an era where we are trying to recalibrate after the erosion of the safety net over 4060 years of largely republican assault. So i think Hillary Clintons address will have interesting ideas, but i dont think she is going to talk as friendly as Bernie Sanders does about the importance of taking on banks too big to fail, ensuring they are responsible to the real economy, that they are not defrauding bilking and criminalizing the economy in which they have been so blessed to work in. Paul orgel we will go to michelle in wisconsin, a democrat. You are on with katrina vanden heuvel. Caller good morning. I was calling because i do like Bernie Sanders. He is straight and upfront. He wants to take on wall street and the big banks that tend to put failure in our economy. I believe that for our economy to get a boost and go in the right direction we need to tax the wealthiest people. They seem to get around on these tax breaks and everything. And yet the republicans will say, oh, that is just a tax break and the poor middleclass are getting handouts. Well if the big corporations that are Million Dollar profits and billion dollar profits should be able to pay their taxes on those things, and i am thankful that Bernie Sanders is going to be straight and take on wall street because a lot of our failures in our economy is because of them controlling so much stuff. That we just the poor in the middle class just dont have a chance anymore. I dont understand it. Paul orgel thanks for calling. Katrina vanden heuvel i talked earlier about the ascendancy of a kind of populist wing and i mean that in the best sense of the term. Because there is also a rightwing populism that roams the world. A kind of economic progressive populism that there is far more attention being paid now to the middle class low income workers. Low income people. And we forget, our contributing editors of many years, the great essayist gorbye vidal, one of his favorite expressions was the United States of amnesia. The hyper financial is a should of ourization of our economy these weapons of mass destruction blew up our economy. The reckless casino capitalism that is so much a part of wall street. These exotic instruments which bankers sometimes dont even know about. I think we need to rein that in so there is more connection between the real economy and this wall street economy. There are simple things that are just matters of raw fairness. Why is it as warren buffett, a billionaire, says that he pays fewer taxes than his secretary . There are so many tax breaks because the very richest have something that i would call the income defense industry. They have the best lawyers the best accountants, the best investment advisors. There is no reason that private equity firms should have something called this carried interest tax break where they get off paying far lower taxes on Investments Capital gains tax let me put it simply. Wealth should be taxed at a higher rate than work. And i think it is very unfair in this country that wealth is taxed often at lower rates than work. And so people get shafted. And in that shafting, people like Bernie Sanders find an anchor and a passionger and a passion among millions who want to write the right the wrongs. It is not revenge or vengeance. It is fairness. It is a fair deal that we are trying to get back. Paul orgel lets go to a republican in illinois. John, you are on with the editor and publisher of the nation. Good morning. Caller good morning, sir. Paul orgel what would you like to say . Caller more people should read the federalist papers that was written in 1787. Uhh. About energy, in politics. And uh. What is happening today. It is in the book. Uh. Exactly detail. Articleed. Article number nine is exactly about what happened with the recent lag flag issue. Article number 11 is about commerce in the navy. And uh number 64 is about treaties. Everything that is happening today is in the book. Business should be taxed as commerce. The business should be taxed but not the wealthiest person. That is more like an income tax. And, uh katrina vanden heuvel but good caller whats going on with the corporations is massive tax evasion. Listen, i am not antibusiness. I think there is a role for business. Honest, strong business which helps create jobs. That helpedtoo often these corporations are truly unpatriotic. They shut down factories in communities. They take their money out of the country. So that they dont get taxed. They dont contribute to the revenue base of this country. I think in that lack of patriotism, we need to say lets strike a new deal. And that term new deal i am not using lightly. We need a new deal. A new social contract. And that is something that is very much prodemocracy and very much it seems to me coming back to the federalist papers, at the heart of the best role in this country is a social contract that honors the rights of workers, the contributions of workers, communities, and gives business the right to do well. But this maximization of shortterm profit, which will request is going to talk about the failure to invest longterm in communities the ripping off of profits in order to benefit a few shareholders or to take money and reinvested in profits. All of this is not part of what i think Founding Fathers really thought about when they thought about the role of commerce and business. In this good country. Paul orgel what do you make of this socalled trust gap concerning Hillary Clinton . Is it real in your view . What has caused it in your view . What can be done about it . Katrina vanden heuvel on some level, i try to avoid the personality scrum coverage of campaigns. I want to see where she moves on the issues. But i do think that it is an extraordinary situation. I have never accepted that the clintons are a dynasty. The bushes are a dynasty. Rand paul and ron paul are a dynasty. The clintons are a political marriage. Hillary clinton has had an extraordinary career. I do think in her handling of the emails for example, i think it is not at all clear that any laws were violated. But there was athere was trimming here and there. And the danger, as she, in her first interview last week, she was reading lawyers notes, as opposed to speaking from the heart, it confirms the narrative that has floated around the clintons for a wild. They play by their own rules. It compounds that narrative. It is a problem. I think she has a companion a campaign. There hasnt even been a first debate. I think the debates should be moved up and there should be more of them. I think she has the ability to address that. I think policy, how people will lead a country, a staggering difference between the republicans and democrats on the economic issue. The republicans have tried to roll back health care, cut medicare, lower taxes for the richest. Those are the fundamental issues. Hillary clinton has a chance to speak to the issues more honestly. We hope to get an interview with Hillary Clinton. We would like to interview all of the candidates and post sharp questions. Host we move on to an independent collar. Good morning. Caller good morning. Katrina, you talk about these corporations like they are a democratic system. Theyre are not, they are owned by shareholders. You called it unpatriotic. They are not in a democracy. There is the dividing line. What is the progressive nature of our country, our National Debt is 18 trillion. Where does that end . Where does any sort of trust happen for the average american citizen when it comes to we cant protect our borders, we dont have a country if we cant defend the borders. What are we supposed to say to our kids . We are going to be 25 trillion in debt. The biggest National Security risk is our National Debt. Guest i disagree with that. I think one takes the debt seriously, but there is a fetish about the debt. We have the ability to live within our means irresponsible pay down the debt, but do so in a way that is in sync with the values of our country. The fetish with the debt, we have the ability to control our own currency. To revisit policies and regulations that, by the way the corporations didnt see the shortterm maximization of profits as part of the corporate charter, but that is what has happened. Corporations have to operate in a national environment. They dont want to, they want to be free of all politics. But that would lead to anarchy. That would be a true world, if corporations just ran roughshod over sovereignty. They operate by their own rules because they have the money to lubricate systems. They can buy their representatives, to have seven lobbyists for every representative. You cant say that corporations are unto themselves. They are chartered by states. They have to abide by certain rules and regulations. In terms of the border . I dont think this discussion is totally off base. The wrong questions are being asked. Why are people coming here . We need to examine the root causes in the country from which immigrants are coming. They can come into this country in many ways, they have contributed in many ways. I think donald trump is a bully and a big it. He is jumpstarting a conversation that the Republican Party is trying to avert its eyes from. In so many ways, he is threaded through what the Republican Party has become with its strategy, in light of the racist funders and policies and politics and people in the party. They have a lot of soulsearching to do. It is a suicidal politics for the Republican Party. It is an ugly, odious politics. Talking about rightwing populist, you hear that donald trump in europe, he is similar to the neofascists running around france or Eastern European countries. It is a danger sign. I am torn between people media giving him more coverage. Coverage is often a disinfectant, one hopes. He will hopefully falls to if you want to talk debt, he has built his empire on a ponzi scheme. The time he became a folk hero. The folk heroes go down. Host david in florida, democratic caller. Caller good morning katrina how are you this morning . Young lady, i respect your clarity and how you speak. I think america is quite intrigued with how you deal with things. I like to ask you a question and i would like you to give me an answer of whether im right or wrong in the way i thinking. The last segment was on Lgbt Community and what the Supreme Court did. As far as im concerned, underneath the constitution under life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we have a government that is charged with not only taken care of the majority, but also taking care of the minority. When i look at what the Supreme Court did with the decision for the lgbt, i dont see it in a religious way. Religions are not losing any of their rights. I see it as the Supreme Court holding up the rights of the minority, which you are charged to do in the constitution of the United States. Do you agree or disagree . Guest i agree. I dont see any religious liberties being infringed. I see an expansion of freedom. If i might add to what you said, so often, Court Decisions, after a long. Of social movement, social transformation. The court ratifies what has already been going on in communities in various movements , in Free Association of people. Talking about the constitution. I think Court Decisions do protect the rights of minorities, to expand freedom and in that, i agree with you. Host what do you make of the debate over the Confederate Flag . Guest i think it has been healthy for this country. I come back to the United States of amnesia. The nation, dont forget, it was founded by abolitionists committed to ending slavery in the aftermath of the civil war. The great historian of reconstruction, Abraham Lincoln on the unending battle to secure the rights which we are given. But that battle goes on. The Confederate Flag, i see racism and oppression. I think it is remarkable to see what happened in south carolina. It took a terrible tragedy, but that flag came down. And now we need to look hard at the Structural Racism in this country. Reverend william barber, an extraordinary figure if your listeners havent read about him, he is the head of the naacp in North Carolina, he leads moral mondays, and yesterday, in North Carolina they are launching a lawsuit to challenge the restrictions in the Voting Rights act. We are living at a time when the flag, the Confederate Flag and its racist, oppressive citizens and symbolism is coming down, and we are still waited with racism that is embedded in the structure of voting, online voting, hours to vote, a disproportionately affects african americans, the poor, the latino people, young people. Host next call from bill in putnam illinois. Republican. Caller first, a brief comment. I was disappointed that you didnt broadcast anything on freedom it appears you are not going to do a broadcast on scott walker. Host actually, we are. Scott walker we will have him live. Caller on cspan3, not broadcast television. Host that is because the senate will be in session and the house of representatives will be in session, so part of the reason we have a cspan3, and we will have it on in prime time. Does that help . Caller no. Guest you are asking a lot considering if you look at basic cable and broadcast tv. What i said earlier, i would argue that you dont get a good grasp on the different views in this country. I dont agree on much with kim blackwell, but i think the mission of cspan is a valuable one. I said earlier that you are going to have lynne cheney, the cofounder of code pink, that range is vital. At the end of the day, i may represent a point of view of trans partisanship. I think it is vital, above all that there be a robust debate in this country of ideas debate and so in that sense, i think cspan they are doing Hillary Clinton, scott walker. Host all the candidates and the freedom fest. An independent color for our guest. Caller good morning. Cspan the cover of your Current Issue flashed the cover of your Current Issue. Is that related to the bds movement . Has Bernie Sanders taken your pledge . Guest he has not it is not related. It is a climate pledge. It is calling on all candidates running in the president ial campaign to neither except nor list con pain to neither accept or List Campaign donations from oil companies. As we see in these last days, exxon has pumped money into climate denial groups. It is a crisis. That is the pledge that we have put forward. Bernie sanders in our interview he took up the pledge. Governor omalley has taken up the pledge, jill stein has taken it up. We havent heard from the clinton campaign, nor link tasty. None of the republicans were willing to consider it. Host speaking of republicans, i have one more question. Which republican on the gop side would give Hillary Clinton assuming she wins the nomination , the best fight . Guest i have two thoughts. One is the money race. I think we are seeing different campaigns going on. You have the wealth primaries with the donors who are prominent. You have jeb bush raising unprecedented amounts of money. Hillary clinton is aiming to do the same. Scott walker announcing the same. I would say it is the race of big donors, working peoples rights to negotiate living wage and etc. My father, a great political figure who waged many battles he has a keen eye. He knew scott brown was going to win in massachusetts. He is very astute. He thinks marco rubio will give Hillary Clinton a run for the money, excuse the expression. I am not so sure. On the money front, jeb bush is poised. On the other hand, a do a radio show every few weeks with rich lowry. And he says that the lack of enthusiasm for jeb bush is quite astonishing. Host anthony from new york is on the line. Thank you for waiting. Caller hi, thank you for the opportunity. In light of the two callers before. You folks do a remarkable job deciphering all this information. It is like Niagara Falls of information, 365 days a year you are up at 7 00 in the morning. The at the producers, moderators, and im very grateful for that. And whenever people call in with comments that are stupid or inconsiderate, i think to myself that there are people out here who do recognize the hard job that you have at hand. We are grateful for having you. When you look at the media overall, it is frightening. Cspan and nation magazine are some of the only places you can go to to get information that educates and enlightens rather than shapes opinions. More importantly, i would ask katrina vanden heuvel, during the bush administration, it was apparent that the bush and cheney rose to power through enron, they embezzled money. It was between wall street, the energy sector, and they put these people in power to bring the Largest Military Industrial Complex here to comply with what was requested of them. I wondered, there is no accountability. Nobody has been brought to justice. Guest you raise a fundamental question. We should remember enron. It prefigured the blowing up of the Financial System with banks and corporations. The lack of accountability for those who misled us, they let us into the war in iraq. We saw in the last year, in the desire to, instead of negotiating and finding a deal with iran, which would be the most sane outcome, there is no longterm solution to the problems in the middle east, other than a diplomatic one. I do tv with bill kristol often the architect of that debacle, we are back on tv talking about how we have to go to war here how can we extend troops here. It is a recipe for disaster. Im not calling for them to not be allowed on tv. Said that those who call for this disaster shouldnt be allowed on tv. For the wall street financial crisis, for the war in iraq, we need to think hard about what it says about a system that doesnt value of accountability. That, to me, is one of the central questions of our time. The other is the danger that our country when it commits to endless war, rather than finding political, democratic resolution. That should be at the forefront of our mind if we dont want to mortgage our future. Host one last call for our guest. Mike from florida. An independent. Caller hi, i want to know why the people are calling in to say that our government does a great job. Why doesnt the democrats call us call them out on this . Guest i do a weekly column for washington post. Com. Is this the model . Is this what we want our country to be . People dying because they dont have access to medicaid . A governor who puts ideology over the concerns of his citizens . I dont want to get caught up in the size of government. But government should work on behalf of the improvement of peoples lives. One of the theorists said he wanted to strangle government. Any sane society has to have a government that is doing things on behalf of its citizens. Government has been corrupted by money, lobbying, but we dont kill government. We dont say we dont need it. We try to make it work on behalf of people, of the people, by the people, poor the people for the people. We are looking good on Court Decisions, obamacare, lgbt writes, samesex marriage. But at its core, it is a 1 core. It is theyre working for the 1 . Every day, there are decisions that benefit corporations and their rights. Over the peoples rights. I think we need to have some balancing, leveling, fairness. Host our guest has been katrina vanden heuvel, she is in new york. She is the publisher of the nation. It is celebrating the 150th anniversary this month. On todays washington journal, the latest on the iran nuclear deal. And benghazi. We will hear from a couple of members of congress. Representative Jan Schakowsky of illinois. And then mike pompeo a member of the select intelligence and select benghazi committees. Washington journal is live every morning at 7 00 eastern on cspan. You can contribute to the program on facebook and twitter. Up next, cspan sits down with 2016 republican candidate ted cruz of texas. It is part of our road to the white house coverage. Senator ted cruz, we want to talk about the politics and policy that has shaped your life. I want to talk about the first. How did you become such a good debater . Sen. Cruz i guess as a young kid. I like debating. My parents were very different people, and both of them really shaped me. My fathers story, he fled cuba as a teenager. He was imprisoned and tortured and came to america with nothing. That had a big impact on the at home. In terms of being engaged in the political world. I remember some years ago, my wife and i were having dinner, and they said, when did you first get interested in politics . I said, i dont know. I dont remember a time when it doesnt. When i was 3, 4, 5 years old. Im not sure why that is. Heidi begins laughing. You know how sometimes you are will see things about you that are blazingly obvious, and you are too obtuse to see it . Heidi says, no wonder. Think of your family. Ive always said, its an incredible blessing to be the child of an immigrant who came here seeking freedom. In our house, there was always an urgency to politics. It wasnt just, picking up the newspaper and saying, thats interesting. It is understanding that having principled people in office is how we protect ourselves from tyranny. Debating comes from speaking from principal and with genuine passion. Did anyone along the way teaching the skills, and if so who . Sen cruz in high school, i got involved in a group called the Free Enterprise institute. It was a small nonprofit in houston. What they did, they had students study free market economics. We would read Milton Friedman and hightech hayek, and then we would give speeches on freemarket economics. Later on, we formed a group called the constitutional ground breakers. It was five high school students. We spent hundreds of hours reading the federalist papers, the antifederalist papers, the debates on ratification, and we memorize the court the constitution in a short form. We toured the state of texas speaking on it. We would go to a rotary club. While you were sit in having lunch, we would set up five easels, and each of the high school students, we would write the entire constitution from memory in a shortened, pneumonic form. Then we would write a definition of socialism, government ownership of the means of distribution and production in the economy. She dont know what it is, you cant identify when you have it. Finally, we wrote a quote from Thomas Jefferson. If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be. In four years of high school, i gave roughly 80 speeches all over the state of texas on freemarket economics and the constitution. What the Free Enterprise institute would do, they would pay you 50 or 100 for each speech. I was earning scholarship money. That training i have to tell you, to be 13 or 14 years old and standing in front of several hundred business people, giving a speech and doing q a, it was a lot more terrifying than standing on the floor of the senate, but it was an incredible experience. That played a really formative part in learning the skills of how to give a speech, how to answer questions, how to think through fundamental issues, and then when i was in college, i was very active on the debate team, and the debate team was wonderful training experience. You learned how to formulate arguments, how to respond, and how to persuade. Why do you think the constitution still works today . Sen cruz the constitution was an extraordinary act of political genius, and it started with two revolutions in america. We had one that was a bloody revolution of guns and bayonets, but we had another that was revolution of ideas where, for millennia, men and women have been told that sovereignty originates at the top. That kings and queens have all sovereignty and power, and any rights we have are given by grace by the monarch, like crumbs from the table to be taken away at the win of a monarch. America began with a revolutionary concept, and its reflected first in the declaration, that our rights come not from a king, clean, or president , but they come from god almighty. Sovereignty resides with we the people, and so the declaration famously observed, we hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator. As a revolutionary words. That led directly to the constitution, but the constitution was not a monarch granting rights to the people. Rather, it was a sovereign people establishing a government. As Thomas Jefferson put it, the constitution was to serve as chains to bind the mischief of government. That was an extraordinary understanding, that the key to Liberty Madison in federalist 10 writes about factions, and he writes about we would call them special interests. The framers understood human nature. They understood avarice and greed were part of human nature. They sought to divide power between the branches, between three branches of government the legislative, executive, the judiciary, and between federal government and the states and local government. Madison explains that the whole purpose of that is, if power is divided, no faction or special interest can seize the entire government. Its all if its on unified unchecked power means it can be abused, and what the framers understood was, checks and balances was designed for each of the federal governments a to fight each other. Gridlock in washington was part of the design. Gridlock is a way of slowing down the attempt of one government of one branch of government to expand its power. It underscores right now one of the profound dangers of the obama administration, which is president obama, i believe, is the most lawless president we have ever seen. He has claimed the authority to unit what unilaterally ignore laws, change laws. We are a nation that was founded on rule of law, founded on the understanding that no man is above the law, especially the president , and one of the things that i think is front and center in this 2016 election is whether we the people will reign in an outofcontrol president who is refusing to follow federal law for the constitution, whether we will get back to those checks and balances that at the end of the day protect our individual liberty. If you have the chance to go back in time and ask one of the Founding Fathers a question, what would you ask them . What intrigues you the most about the constitution . Sen cruz thats a terrific question. I dont know that i have a good answer. I would love to sit down with James Madison and just pick his brain, listen to him think listen to him think about how we established institutions establish institutions that will persevere. If you think about it, the United States has very much been an anomaly in history. Philosopher Thomas Hobbes said the experience of man is nasty brutish, and short. That has been the condition for most of history, that men and women have been oppressed, that weve been peasants ruled over by tyrants, and the United States of america i believe powerfully in american exceptionalism. What our framers designed in crafting the constitution is a brief exception from virtually the rest of the history of mankind. To create a land where everyones rights are protected or where anyone concerned with nothing and achieve anything that was extraordinary. The danger how you check against the abuse of power, the natural avarice for power that has been the state of nature for the history of mankind, and the framers endeavored to do so. You know what we are saying now . It would a deeply troubled madison, franklin. It wouldnt necessarily have surprised them. They understood the lust for power, and they were designing a nation and a constitution to rain that in. One of the things that i think they didnt count on is that congress would be so submissive. Part of the reason the president has been able to usurp some of power is congress has rolled over and taken it. Federalist 10 was based on the branches checking each other. What weve seen, weve got Senate Democrats who uniformly are unwilling to stand up to the president , even when he ignores the law and the constitution. That is unprecedented. We have far too Many Senate Republicans that are likewise willing unwilling to stand up to the president. Our system doesnt work if the branches dont check each other and that component, the bipartisan corruption of washington i dont think the framers anticipated that it would get this bad. They anticipated that human nature, but what we are seeing right now in washington is corrupt. Its both parties. I think we need fundamentally to get back to the framers vision, to the free market and constitutional principles that made our nation great. Have you had the chance to sit down and talk to the president . Sen cruz briefly but not at great length. One of the strange things about president obama, he doesnt deal with congress. He doesnt talk to members of congress. He certainly doesnt talk to republicans. He doesnt even really talk to democrats. When democrats talk privately, one of the things they vent about is the president largely ignores members of congress, senators. He is fond of saying hes got a phone, and hes got a pen, and hes ruling in. Sleep. Its a very hes ruling imper iously. Hes come over a few times and has lunch with Senate Republicans and democrats. As a practical matter, he has very little interaction with congress. Its one of the reasons why so little has gotten done. The Harry Reid Senate was a donothing senate. President obama has been so partisan that he spends his time vilifying and attacking the opposing party rather than trying to find common ground. You told your story so often about your father, cuban, and your mom, american born. Can you walk through how your relationship with your dad has evolved from a young child to an adult . Sen cruz my relationship with my dad, he was always my hero, and he was larger than life. At one point, he left. Sen cruz he did. When i was a very young child, we were living up in canada. My parents had moved up there to calgary in the oil and gas business. This is when i was three or four years old. Neither of my parents were christians at the time. Both of them were drinking far too much. My father, when i was three years old, left us, and he flew back to houston and decided that he didnt want to be married anymore, and he didnt want to remain in the home and be a father to his young son. He spent a number of months back in houston, and a colleague from the oil and gas business invited my dad to a bible study. He came to a bible study at the home of an Insurance Agent in houston, and he sat at that bible study. My dad said one of the ins that struck him the things that struck him was the piece he saw on the christians gather their. Scripture refers to it as a pea ce that passes understanding. One woman had a son that would beat and steal from her to pay for his drug addiction, and yet she was emanating gods peace. He was flabbergasted. He was confused. He couldnt understand how that could be. That night, he kept asking questions. They said, our pastor is coming by tomorrow. Why dont you come back and keep asking your questions . Fishing back the next night. He spent a number of our hours arguing with the pastor. My father is a very, very intelligent man. Hes an application and Computer Programmer and a selftaught geophysicist. He was convinced he could prove the bible wrong. They argued into the night. Finally, my father said, what about the man into that in tibet who has never heard of jesus . This pastor very badly did not take the date. He said rafael, i dont know about the man in to debt, but youve heard of jesus. What is your excuse . My dad has described that hit him like a sledgehammer, and that night, he fell to his knees and became a christian, ask jesus to save him, to come into his life. It transformed him. He drove to the airport. He bought an airplane ticket and he flew back to calgary, my mother and me. Do you remember that . Sen cruz i dont. I was three years old at the time. I dont have recollections of it. I know the story, because my parents have told me the story. I can only assume that during that time my mother was probably drinking even more, but i dont have any recollection of that myself. What i do have a recollection of is, when he came back and they got back together, my mother became a christian, as well. I was raised in a home where faith was integral. In my family, faith literally saved our family. I wouldve been raised by a single mom were it not for my father giving his life to jesus. You talk about faith and prescription abuse. You lost a halfsister. How did you and your family get through that, and what happened . I have two halfsisters, mary and roxana. My father was married when he was young men and had two little girls relay. He and his first wife divorced. They divorced when mariam and roxanna were about six or seven years old. Then he and my mother got married, and i was born. My sister is particularly mary and the eldest took her parents divorce very hard. My sisters would live with their mom during the year. During the school year, i was an only child. During the summers, they would come live with us. During the summers, i was a kid brother with two older sisters in the house. Miriam was bright. She was pretty. She was full of life. Also, her parents divorce really infected her, and she was angry. She was perpetually trapped as an angry teenager, and she proceeded to make a series of bad life choices. She had a serious drinking problem. She had a drug problem. She made decisions. She got married to a man who had been in and out of prison and was physically abusive. She had a son who unsurprisingly the man she married left her and so she was a single mom raising her son, and her addictions got worse and worse. I remember i was about 27, and i was a young lawyer. I just started practicing law, and miriam took a serious turn for the worse. She had been in prison, and she had met a guy who was a hardcore drug addict. When she cannot imprison, she went to a came out of prison, she went to a crack house, and she was living at this crack house with this boyfriend of hers. Her son joey was in sixth grade, and his mom wasnt come was completely incapable of caring for him. I remember my dad and i both left our watches and our rings and our wallets, we left everything in my apartment. We were driving to a crack house. He didnt know if we would be shot or robbed. We picked up miriam and took her to a dentist. My dad and i sat down with her trying to talk sense into her, and she was angry. Daddy, why did you leave us . She was angry that she missed a swim meet in high school. She was bringing that up. I was not the most understanding kid brother. Our aunt was imprisoned and tortured in castros jails. And yet my aunt raised my cousins baby. As a single mom. We had a lot of strong women in my family and i said miriam, i am sorry that your parents got divorced. Life is sometimes not fair. I am sorry that your father missed a swim meet. Look at what our aunt went through. You have not been imprisoned and tortured but you have a son. Joey needs you. Miriam was at a point where her demons and addictions that argument would not move her. We struggled with what to do. I had just started practicing in a law firm. I had about 100,000 in student loans. My parents were broke. They had declare bankruptcy a few years earlier. I took a cash advance on my credit card for 20,000 and i used that cash advance to pay for joey to go to a military school at valley forge military school. It ended up that he went and lived there. It provided a safe place with order and discipline for him. For a year. He desperately needed. At the end of the year, miriam was doing better. She was not doing great, but she was no longer at the crack else. She had righted her life somewhat and so joey went back with his mom. A few years ago, miriam passed away. She had an overdose which the corner ruled was an accidental overdose. She had gone to sleep after taking a bunch of pills. She went to sleep and never woke up. You have really seen this gerd the scourge of addiction firsthand. Ted cruz it is a terrible disease. Everyone sees the ravages of life. We have had more than a few irish drunks in our family. My grandfather, my mothers father drank way too much. He was a mean man. He was not physically abusive to my mom but he was emotionally abusive. He was a mean drunk. He would yell at her. My mother is a quiet person but she has a spine of steel. She is strong and she stood up to her dad. She became the first person in the family to go to college and he did not want her to do that. He did not think there was any reason for women to be educated. He certainly did not think that his daughter should be the first person in the family to go to college. She ended up getting accepted to rice university. One of the best colleges in the country. At the time, life rice had no tuition. Every student went for free. He dealt with the ravages of being an alcoholic and his son my uncle eddie, was and alcoholic at age 11. He could not work. He was emaciated because he had drank so much that he had destroyed his body. He lived with his parents until he died. He died a relatively young man but he looked much older. It was an addiction that consumed him. It is a very difficult thing when anyone ever deals with it. Had did you pay for harvin . Harvard . Ted cruz my parents went bankrupt. That was a hard challenge. They had started a Small Business in houston. There were a few good years, but in the 1980s the price of oil plummeted and when that happened, they went out of business. At age 17, i found myself financially independent involuntarily. I did a number of things. I had earned a fair amount of scholarships. Giving speeches was one way that i won scholarship money. I won a scholarship from the vfw. I won a scholarship from the Washington Crossing foundation. I participated in competitions where i was scholarship money. I took student loans. When i was at princeton, i had two jobs. I worked those jobs. To help pay my way through school. That was challenging. Princeton, both princeton and harvard were worlds that i did not know. I did not come from a wealthy family. I had gone i graduated from a small Christian High School in houston. There were 42 people in our class. No one in our family had ever gone to an ivy league college. That was something that we were one generation from being removed from having anyone that had gone to college. It was pretty intimidating when i got there. There were people there that were part of dynasties that had gone to these School Generation after generation. I remember one of the people in our class that i did not know was a princess. Princess olga of greece. She was listed in the student rectory under o for olga of greece. That was not a world that i knew. It was a wonderful experience. I certainly learned a lot. You got one of the plum assignments. How did your time with chief Justice Rehnquist come about . Ted cruz coming out of law school i had applied to the Supreme Court and chief Justice Rehnquist hired me. That was an unbelievable experience. He was an extraordinary man. William rehnquist was brilliant and was a staggering intellect. He was deeply principled. He also had a humility that was the most startling aspect of him. He was unbelievably downtoearth. I am convinced that William Rehnquist would not have interacted with any be if people any differently. He was born in milwaukee. When he was 18, he went to new york. He was in north africa in world war ii. He was an enlisted man, a sergeant. What a wonderful statement about our country. The chief justice the United States was an enlisted man. One of his colleagues, lewis powell, had been a colonel in world war ii and powell used to get him and say i outrank you. The chief would say not anymore. He was just a wonderful man. I interviewed him. The interview was very short. It was 17 minutes long. The chief he had been a law clerk at the Supreme Court. He clerked for robert jackson. One of the most exceptional justices to have ever served on the court. He would typically interview 12 to 15 law students and to get the interview, it had to be at the top of your class in law school. You had the have a very strong recommendation. He was so smart that the chief did not need law clerks. I think that the interviews he was looking for three people that he would not mind spending every day with for a year. You spend a lot of term time with your law clerks. The interview is getting to know you. The toughest question he asked if i would be willing to play tennis with him every week and the chief played tennis every week with his clerks and i said absolutely it sounds like a lot of fun. I should tell you that i am not very good. He laughed. What he did not know at the time was that i was unbelievably horrible at tennis. It was the single thing most daunting to me about the clerkship, that i would play tennis every week. I took tennis lessons getting ready for the clerkship. It is interesting. In the course of the interview. At the end of the interview, as we were walking out i said mr. Will , chief justice, i am a little bittersweet about being here. He said, tell me what you mean. I said, we are in the nba finals and the Houston Rockets are getting ready to sweep game four and we will win our second back to back championship. I had tickets to the game. And i gave them up to come here. He laughed and said, i think you made the right decision. Im convinced today the only reason i got the clerkship was that i made the chief justice laugh. He was just an incredible friend and mentor. Steve i had read that you wanted to be a guard for the Houston Rockets. Ted cruz im not sure i could even be a water boy. I have some talents, but athletic talent is not among them