60 middle more than and High School Teachers here in washington, d. C. For the summer nations more about our government and how the process works. Also learning how they can use cspan Video Library in the classroom. Years fellows, kamps and sunshine cavalluzzi. With, how do you engage High School Students in government . Its a challenge because our discourse places so much emphasis on stem. They understand why that side but they dont always come in as to why the humanities is important. Challenge to start with relevance and to contextualize. We doing it for . What are our responsibilities to do it well and thats where library are e the incredibly important because we can see in realtime how these why s are playing out and they matter. I think the beginning cell is always something along the lines the only ight be government class you ever take. Youre going to be a voter forever. Forever so i ror need to give you tools that will help you for the rest of your pursuits. Hose and its helpful to do that if you know not just whats happening now but why its happening. And we know with twitter and sociomedia the Attention Span of this generation can be small. Ely so what are some of your secrets. I would say, too, as a component, this is a chance for them to learn a story. Bit about their their story doesnt begin the morning they were born. T starts with people who came before them who shaped the world around them, the way it operates. Realize, wait a minute, its not just starting with me but what i contribute nd where im coming from is part of the bigger story in. That way, allowing them to take in other peoples opinions, take in the perspectives of others through social media but also through video. To be s them a chance able to really think, okay, this is how i see the world but why this way e the world and how can i maybe expand that a little bit by taking in other peoples perspectives. You get students at the high school level. Let me follow up with you. Do you sense that the students to high school with a basic understanding of government and the documents that shaped america . I think some of them do. F you dont know why its important you dont always Pay Attention when you learn. They certainly have a sense that extraordinary is country, but its my responsibility to take that and help them understand why its so extraordinary. What does it mean to say were free. Lets explore this more. Have a really ds fundamental understanding and other kids have, you know, a my job to so its meet them wherever they are and push them further. Sense . T is your i would say, too, a lot of times students are picking up just what they hear and maybe come in with a lot of assumptions and our job is to work through their assumptions, to challenge, but space that they can acknowledge and admit that its okay if they dont know something, and that thats okay. Thats a good starting place to acknowledge that maybe i have limitations and thats a healthy to move forward and to give them the opportunities and the resources, and the Critical Thinking skills to be able to take in, things like government, again, some of the larger issues that are at hand in the world around them. I think back to your point twitter, when youre trying to tell a story in 140 characters its in a very long story. Things i think about when we talk about the declaration of independence, hey all know the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness part, nd then i ask, whats the next sentence . Its the revolution, de arriving their just powers from the governed. The why does it all matter . Byte, but e sound what does it mean and how does it fit into this grand american narrative. Talk about the last year, one of the most polarizing elections, and certainly one of the most consequential elections history where you saw the popular vote going to the democrat and the electoral donald trump, our 45th president. How do you teach that in the classroom . Unique a very experience because four years ago, at the 2012 election i pitched to my supervisors, i great if we had a class that we could actually engage the president ial election ompletely, because a lot of times in history classes especially, you have a curriculum, you have to get youugh certain time frames, have to keep moving, so we certainly take the opportunity it ngage the election, but oftentimes has to fit in with these other issues and other year i was this given an opportunity to teach in he fall semester an elect active solely based on the election and it gave students a chance who wanted to learn, were eligible to vote in november for the first time a chance to really process how they how they think. Again, where they stand on some of the issues and how they of the nd the history presidency and history of the media and the presidency, so we had a really great opportunity it was at the end of the day, so all of that energy at the end of the day coming in there is they engaged it well and i got a firsthand look being able to see how a 16 and 17yearold is taking in all of this. Realtime with no shortage of news . In fact, a lot of times, whatever would happen in the day i would have to scrap my plan. All right, were talking about this today because this just came out. It even challenged me as a teacher to say, i need be very flexible and very clued in as to whats going on around me so i can adapt in whats happening. It was a challenge for sure but they were excellent. A lesson on the Electoral College . Absolutely. Teaching was ter in the fall of 2000. It was an interesting contrast between that which was a similar theation and this one where emotions were so heightened on both sides but it was great timing worksay the in the a. P. Class we had talked in october and never about the Electoral College why, do we have it . What are the arts against it . O to have this timely example, when we talk about how government is relevant, this is why. Ow do we take the theory we talked about and set it in the context of this reality. Some of the moments that you that other entify teachers can use, all of it veil on our cspan video. Of donald ation trump, from january 20 of this of therom the west front capitol. [applause] President Trump what truly atters is not which Party Controls our government, but hether our government is controlled by the people. [applause] bean january 20, 2017, will remembered as the day the people this nationulers of again. [applause] President Trump the forgotten en and women of our country forgotten no longer. [applause] brian everyone is listening to you now. Came by the tens of millions o become part of a historic movement, the likes of which the world has never seen before. At the center of this movement crucial conviction, that a its n exists to serve citizens. Americans want Great Schools for their children. Afe neighborhoods for their families. Jobs for themselves. And reasonable demands of righteous people and a righteous public. For too many of our citizens, a different reality exists. Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities, out factories, scattered like tombstones across the of our nation, and an flush with cash but which leaves our young and deprived of dents all knowledge. The gangs and nd the drugs that have stolen too robbed our nd ountry of so much unrealized potential. This american corn imagine stops right now. And stops [applause] january 20, the inauguration kamps ald trump and bill in the classroom, how did this speech play out . Well, weve certainly watched it in real time. I it up in my classroom. Actually it was lunch so students were not actively in class but i made wanted to ts that come by watched it. Students have opinions like americans have opinions. Reactions. Ixed some, you know, certainly embraced some of the populace of it. E others felt like there was going i be some exaggerations, but would say for the most part, students were clued in. They were watching it. They were processing it. As somebody who likes to take things in the big picture, group in eresting, a y fifth period class, at the end of the school year, brought back this as a subject of populism. What is the grand narrative of presidencies using populace plays out d how that in the inaugurations as well as some of the other campaign you ric, and so for them, know, its interesting, but again, as much as there were ome differences in how they interpreted the day, they certainly were able to see it in larger historical context, which is, you know what were looking for. In the context of your hadses on government, weve polarizing times in america, before world war ii, the u. S. , on movement in the vietnam, the civil rights movement. Watergate, the impeachment of bill clinton. How do you deal with the current Political Climate in context to what weve seen in century . I think explaining to students thats whats different ow in some ways is the ease of communication. The fact that news travels so fast and so broadly that it feels like everything thats everywhere is happening to you. And thats and also, with the array of news sources, that you can choose to only hear things that you agree with and that makes it different but these are new times, america has always been tronger than the challenges that we faced and for kids feeling up settled or feeling frustrated, eeling there is no reason to be pessimistic. Here is a reason to be optimistic, that they are better at channeling, with the modern uls available than anyone in history has been and they have the capacity to create change should view that as an important tool but also its critical that they do talk that they do e expand outside their hearrmation, narrative and other stories. That they listen to Something Like the inauguration dispassionately. Twice, once to it with emotion and once with reason. Ow what die do with this information . For both of you, does fake news come up . Yes. Yes. Its not a new discussion. I think most teachers would probably say that weve been alking about checking your sources and making sure you find reliable information along the way. Some way, as funny as it sounds, its actually, i think, teachers that as this is now a National Dialogue and words are thrown around because students are now even aware of, i dont want to be i want to make ure that im doing things accurately so in a way, its given legitimacy to something that i think weve been saying along. Youve got to make sure that what you say is supported by the and you cant just go in and, you know, make something up on the paper and evaluated well for that and well hit you on that. Actually ways, its nice that there is a National Conversation about this because say, look, us to see how this is playing out around you, were not just to be this up and trying difficult. As part of your july fellowship youve had a chance go to the white house and hear from people in the briefing room. Trumps first ent News Conference. Lets watch. Concerned, sir, that youre undermining the peoples faith in the first amendment, freedom of the press, the press of this country, when you call stories you dont like fake news. Its a story i dont like. President trump i do that. I do that. Thing, okay. I understand, and youre right except, see, i know sometimes ill say, wow great story and ill get killed. I know whats good and bad. I would be a pretty good as you, not as good but i know whats good. I know whats bad, and when they it, and make it really bad, something that should be positive, sometimes something positive, be very they will make okay. They will even make it negative. So i understand. So because im there. I know what was said, i know who is saying it. Im there. Me, s very important to look, i want to see an honest press. When i started off today by that its so important to the public to get an honest press. Believe you esnt people anymore. Now, maybe i had something to do with that, i dont know but they dont believe you. If you were straight and really like it is, as Howard Cosell used to say, right, of ourse, he had some questions also, but if you were i would be your biggest booster. Your biggest fan in the world including bad stories about me. Example, go, as an cnn, i mean, its story after after story is bad. I won. I won. Thing, chaos. There is zero chaos. Job is putting out lies by i said to him this whole russia scam that you guys are building so that you dont talk about the illegal ect which is leaks, but i watched him working so hard to try and get that story proper and im saying, here my chiefofstaff, a really good guy did a phenomenal job, i election, right . Won the presidency, we got some senators, weve got some, all you take a look hes done a great job. I said to myself, you know, and you take a mebody, look, hes working so hard just putting out fires, that are fake fires. I mean, they are fake. They are not true. That was back in february from the white house, and the News Conference with donald room. From the east cavalluzzi, as you look at that and try to teach that to the students whats your take away . One of the things that will end up having been such a privilege in teaching that was he opportunity to go to the white house, and to tell my students, i was there in the White House Briefing room and extraordinary experience or me and jim popped up and said hi to us. He was there still doing a job. These arent just sound bytes. Accusations, ust real people working really hard to do a job and there is a what makes etween headlines and what is actually the story and that we need to, s responsible consumers of news, separate the two and say maybe its a fake or story but the impulse to just label something in a way hats quick or convenient from whats actually being told, and lets understand that everybody business, from the president to the reporter and everybody in the middle are really trying their best to tell a story and they might disagree on what that story should look like but they are all working at this, and i always remember how john stewart used to call his show fake news back his days, thats what that term used to mean to me. Well talk about the interesting feature of that being applied to cnn, news thats on any other broadcast television. I would just add, you brought media earlier, this is one of the limitations of social need yeah is that it takes very brings it ues and down to 140 characters. Reallyng that just cant cover the complexity of, these are human beings working hours hours to make sure that they feel like they are communicating something they or they have about the factual support over, and whether thats people in the dministration or people in the media, i think when we forget the humanity side of that and we forget that there is complexity to their tories and world views, we fall into these traps of just kind of black and all the time. I think well also discuss in y class, whats our responsibility as consumers in contributing to this . That we expect our news in realtime. Journalist to be able to, as its happening, be weeting at it or put up a blog post or put up a news story virtually as its happening, and then also not make mistakes. Holding them to an unfair standard. Dont ever make a mistake. You change your mind as get more information because then well call you a flipflopper. Are we Holding People to a possibly hey cant reach. And then, contributing to that in our own way are we complicit do we need to step back and be more responsible as consumers. Lets talk about the in this country and the process and a moment that took place back in february on the senate floor. We card it live on cspan 2 with senator Elizabeth Warren of this husetts, and then exchange with the Senate Republican leader Mitch Mcconnell on the domination of sessions to be the u. S. Attorney general. Senator sessions voted against reauthorizing the act. Ence against women a bill that expanded the protections and services to victims of Sexual Assault and domestic violence. From the piece bedford minuteman that really story of how sexual massachusetts. S this is what it said. They are mothers, daughters, sisters, fathers, sons, and brothers. They are mr. President the majority leader. The senator has impound the motives of our colleague from alabama as warned by the chair. Warren, quote, said senator sessions has used the to ome power of his office chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens. To order senator 19. R the provisions of rule mr. President senator from massachusetts. Mr. President , im surprised Coretta Scott of king are not suitable for debate senate. United states i ask leave of the senate to remarks. My is there objection . Object. I appeal the ruling objection is heard. Will take her seat. Mr. President i appeal the ruling of the chair and i suggest the absence of a quorum. The role. Mr. Alexander a senator warren was giving lengthy speech. To violate the rule. She was warned. Given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted. The senate debate, really an incredible moment where politics media cess and social came into play. Absolutely. One of the things that bill and i are responsible for doing this as you mentioned is creating content to include in cspans classroom and this was one of the moments that i chose or one of my lessons of rule 19. 2, which is something i can assure you in 17 years, my students have never been until now, and thats one of the gifts of this ime you mentioned its polarized but we also have an awareness that i have never seen intricacies in the of the process among the public as that trickles down into our classrooms. About the w i talked senate rules and you all kind of mentally snoozed because you didnt think it was important. Here we go. Lets put it in this context. You saw hash tag nevertheless persisted. What does that mean . Lets look beyond a hash tag and all of this at is about and what are these underlying questions. Certainly when there is a dynamic there where youve got two kind of very large figures in their parties and there is using the rules as well as using the media around to have an oing inevitable story that comes out of this. Students graph at a time to and thats what i like about the hash tag, even though its simple its a good place to start. A good place to start a dialogue. Have never i thought would watch an event taking place on capitol hill, day and ng in the next say can we talk about this . I want to know what happened here. Can you help me understand this. So they are even coming in with an attitude like im going to acknowledge that i dont know much. Through this. E which i always appreciate. We, of course, remember where on 9 11, 2001. Your students were either not infant at the time. So how do you teach post 9 11 politics and Security Issues to generation. Its really difficult. And particularly because i was happened so for a long time i had students who ad experience and had experienced with it me and so now, kids who dont have any memory, i use video. I go to the archives. I go to news clips and show it we talk through it. Imagine what it would feel like to be watching this live. Know. And i have some personal stories from my students of that day consent are with their that i think helps contextualize it. Meeting dont remember someone at the gate and that moment in a relationship do we love each other enough for me to the airport and come to the gate or am i just going to weight on the curbside . Dont have any recollection of even those simple things. So contextualizing for them how changed is a challenge to help them place peoples concern about security threats, in onal that divide of life before and after. The rt of came with president s first overseas trip. He traveled to saudi arabia and terrorism, National Security, and immigration. President trump every time a murders an innocent en , and falsely invokes the name of god it insult to every person of faith. Terrorists do not worship god. Worship death. If we do not act against this then we know or, hat will happen and what will be the end result. Life isms devastation of will continue to spread, eaceful societies will become engulfed by violence, and the futures of many generations will sadly squandered. F we do not stand in uniform, condemnation of this killing, then not only will we be judged not only will we we udged by history, but will be judged by god. A battle between different faiths. Sects or different civilizations. His is a battle between barbaric criminals, who seek to and decenthuman life name of ll in the religion. So bill kamps, you hear the president outline his agenda in 9 11 world and trying to turn the page from barack obama. How do you incorporate that into the classroom . Certainly we talk a lot about 9 11, because so many of the different themes coming up in history related americas appropriate role in the world have shifted in the post 9 11 world. We talk about, what was the doctrine . What was the bush doctrine . What was their Foreign Policy approach . World they see the around them . How did they define terrorism . As were see an emerging trump what does that look like. How can we be America First in his perspective but at the same he speaks of a hard line stance on the issue of terrorism. Balancing intend on those two things, and letting them, again, explore, you know events e some of the that they lived through as men who are, you know that have shipped their perspective. Living through vietnam its going to have a ery key impact on how they are going to want to do policy in combating terrorism. Then generation is living through whats happening in north korea. You could call at this time doctrine. Rex s secretary of state york, at the new nations. Matter ofikely only a time before north korea develops he capability to strike the u. S. Mainland. Ndeed, the dprk has repeatedly claimed it plans to conduct such a strike. Rhetoric, the United States cannot idly stand by. Nor can other members of this are within striking distance of north korean missiles. Aving for years displayed a pattern of behavior that defies ultiple u. N. Security council resolutions, including 2321 and erodes global progress on Nuclear Nonproliferation there is no reason to think that change its will behavior under the current multilateral sanctions framework. Too long, the International Community has been reactive in addressing north korea. Those days must come to an end. Most g to act knew on the pressing security issue in the catastrophic g consequences. Weve said this before and it bears repeating. Of strategic patients is over. Additional patience will only of a nuclear e north korea. How dos you look at that you incorporate that to your government students, you have the issue of terrorism, you have National Security, and you have the very real threat of north korea. Which are so deeply complicated, and require, you now, a really intense commitment to knowledge to delve into, and i think if i actually ook all the way back to your first question about how do we teach government, how do we make history important, we start why we need to know what weve done before so we can understand how to respond they se situations when present themselves now. I think also, we talk about what are our responsibilities as them is to ne of have a position on these issues, but have not just a position but an informed one. So we talk about understanding things like these are people who have access, people like ecretary of state tillerson to information we wont have for 30 years. And so we need to judge them, more ering that they know than we know, that the president and National Security team knows more than we know and they are their best faith on the best information they have. But then as well, exploring, if we act here, where else do we have to act and that idea of a doctrine what other commitments does that require . Its easy to see problems and want to help. Thats our instinct as humans. So as far as my students thinking about, as a voter, what was did that mean . Where does that mean we also have to help and the last piece, that i tend to students, their default is to assume all of our response has to be military. Because thats what they see and whats in the movies, thats whats this video games, thats in a lot of news host different set of circumstances, but are there parallels to vietnam on how we shape american foreignpolicy and could you see that in secretary of state tillerson . Guest there are certainly parallels, starting with the not a newkorea is story in america and for politics for more than a generation now. Theres this question do we want to be aggressive . We want the world to know that we are state taking a stand an issue. We dont want to back down. We dont want to show weakness. But how do you bring americans into a conflict were there is no pearl harbor moment. For americans, there is a defensiveness position. Some sort ofor level of proaction and that is a harder thing historically for americans to show that they are in for the long conflict in that regard. Host every president at the administration with the new party in power tries to do Something Different from their predecessor. Is it different with this president . Guest i think it feels different. Thats the question for us to explore in the classroom. And have them at context of history to go by, does it feel different because it is different or does it feel different because we see it . Does it feel different because he is directly communicating with us on twitter that no president has ever had before . Host do you think that is a good or bad thing . Guest i think theres a mix. They have gone up always with the antibullying doctrine and do not name call. To them, they would not talk like that. I think they do like being able to hear this unfiltered thought whether from a comedic perspective or from an information perspective. I think there is fairly split opinion. Guest one of the lessons for cspan that i wrote last week is twitter the new fireside chat . Is that really just the new medium . Roosevelt was able to say essentially say that i directly want to talk to the American People in their homes about the crisis going on. Are these the new waters we are swimming in . It doesnt matter if you like it or dont like it. This is the reality. If this is the reality, what will the next president do . If this is the new normal, what is the next step . Im even having them anticipate a little bit. Host reaction to Vice President mike pence responding as he outlines the trumppence agenda. [video clip] the president has taken Decisive Action to make this country great again. President trump told you that he will battle for every american who has lost a job, every family who has lost a loved one, every american of faith who has lost their rights and freedom. That is exactly what he has done. Our president has been busy since the first day of intensive ministration, rolling back the government and slashing red tape. This president has signed more bills into law, rolling back federal regulations and red tape than any president in american history. [applause] he is unleashing American Energy and unburdening american businesses. He is putting americans back to work and is fighting every day to put America First. Which was on full display just last week when President Donald Trump pulled the United States of america out of the paris climate accord. [applause] amazing to think that International Deal the last administration went into would have cost 6. 5 million jobs in the next 25 years and put incredible burdens on the American People while at the same time allowing countries like china and india to get off virtually scotfree. In his decision, he put American Workers first. He put americas future first. I promise that President Donald Trump will always put America First. [applause] host Vice President mike pence and we are here with our High School Teachers. One teaches government and the other teaches history. Let me go to your course on government. The fundamental question, what is the role of the federal government . You can use what you heard from Vice President pence about what should the government do and what it should steer clear of. Guest absolutely. That frames almost everything we talk about. Everything we talk about in the terms of policy and your position on it as a political activist comes back to what is your role in particular to the federal government . Those commentary is effective and instructive in the context of do we agree with this and why are why not . I think it also affords an opportunity to differentiate between politics and policy. It is one thing to say you will do something. It is one thing to leak that you might be considering, proposing a bill about fill in the blank. For everyone to get up in arms and crazy about it, it is a whole different thing to have a bill go through the process. It gives us a great venue to talk about what is the role and what does it look like when it gets done . Where should we be freaking out, if we are someone thinks that is not a good idea . Host freaking out is an education term. [laughter] guest it is to me. Host did you two know each other before you joined the program . Guest no, not at all. We work really well together. We have collaborated on a couple lessons. Definitely a wheelhouse of coming up with creative extension activities for teachers. We have laid out the lesson and we have asked some of the questions. Here is how we can take it further could she is a master of further, and i would say she is a master of that. Guest he is the king of incisive questions for kids to ask amateurs great. Host what a good question to what is a good question to ask . Guest in regards to what youre talking about the role of government, it would be allowing them to ask the question of where has that role of government changed over the course of the 20th century . How have americans at different points based on the things that they have lived through, how would they answer that question . How would someone in the progressive era of 1910 answer that question versus someone in the midst of the Great Depression . We can see that letting them understand that somebody in the these sets of circumstances might have a different opinion on government then my circumstances in 2017. Host you are in new jersey and you are in california. Have you compared details on students . Guest we have certainly chatted about it and the differences in our schools. The answer to that question is the same as the answer to are there differences between us and the Founding Fathers . Our kids have different experiences that shape their behaviors. They are very similar. This generation is extraordinary. It is such a gift to spend time every day in southern california, new jersey, and anywhere else in the country. Host you have been teaching for 17 years. How about you . Guest 15. Host our kids watching the news today any differently . Guest i think part of it is social media. Access to news has been much more egalitarian that it is more accessible to them that way. They are interested. I came away from the president ial election class were and the students were like, i have opinions and ideas. I want to do something with this. Where can i go . What can i do to be engaged . It is great that we have raised awareness in the context of the events of last year. So what do we do with that . How do we take that energy stored up and put it towards something that is productive . Host do you in any way deal with the political rhetoric versus the political reality . Sunshine absolutely. Kids are getting news differently. Most of them are getting it through their phone and a quick burst on their social feed. They decide whether to click or not click. Pause before you retweet and pause before you click. Am i being manipulated in some way . Am i being marketed . Am i being targeted or is this something i really care about . Is my reaction emotional or intellectual . Host one of the mostwatched hearings for the cspan network, jim comey, the fired fbi director who testified on capitol hill. It is on our library if you want to use it in the classroom at cspan. Org and our website for teachers at cspan. Org classrooms. Heres senator jack reed, a democrat from rhode island. [video clip] the russia investigation, as you pointed out, as all my colleagues have reflected, is one of the most serious, hostile acts against this country in our history, undermining very core of our democracy and elections. It is not a discrete event. It will likely occur. It is probably being prepared for 2018 and beyond. And yet the president of the United States fired you because, in your own words, some relation to this investigation. And then he shows up in the oval office with the Russian Foreign minister first after classifying you as crazy and a real net job nut job, which you disproved this morning. Your conclusion would be that the president is downplaying the seriousness of this threat. In fact, took specific steps to stop a federal investigation of the Russian Investigation of russian influence. From what you said this morning, it does not seem to particularly interest him about the hostile threats by the russians. Is that fair . I dont know if i can agree to that level of detail. It is no doubt that it is my judgment that i was fired because of the russia investigation. I was fired in some way to change the endeavor was to change the way the russia investigation was being conducted. That is a very big deal, not just because it involves me. The nature of this work requires that it not be the subject of political consideration. On top of that, you have the russia investigation itself as vital. If any americans were part of helping the russians do that to us, that is a very big deal. I am confident that if that is the case, director mueller will find that evidence. How you translate that moment in our history, and earlier this year, and turn that into my lesson plan . How i taught last year changed this year. We were just walk wrapping up the watergate discussion. There were a lot of social Media Outlets saying is that firing comey similar to the incident . I said no, this is a word. You are hearing this. This is something that we need to make sure that you are clarifying. Here is that event playing outcome the firing of the fbi director. How similar is it . How different is it . Is this going to have the same direction . The Media Outlets were engaging in that question. You had people on both political sides saying it is a totally different situation. Others were saying it is exactly like that. What were your students telling you . One of the things they were really hung up on is how director comey found out. He was giving a speech on the other side of the country and then he thought it was a joke at worst. Their first reaction was very much about that. I thought that was interesting and a reflection on who they are, as students. It lent itself so beautifully to a discussion we have had all year long. What is the difference between can and should . Can the president do this . Of course he could. But should he . The difference between politics and policy is what is allowed and what is it acted leads to wonderful questions. In this case, my government class was at the beginning of the day. It was ideal for us because you draw the lesson plan and today we are queuing up cspan. The republicans blocked in nomination of president obama on the Supreme Court. This year, the nomination of neil gorsuch, who now sits on the Supreme Court. It was fascinating to look at again. We talk about Senate Confirmation hearings. That is not something as appealing to students. Senate confirmation hearings made it highly relevant to their lives. Those unprecedented to watch and raise questions. It was a gift toward government teacher for this is why we have to care about the rules and your ship. Leadership. One of those moments from the senate floor. When president clinton nominated stephen breyer, i voted to confirm it. When president clinton loaded ginsburg, i voted for ginsburg, i confirmed. I thought it was the right thing to do after you won the election. He was the president area the president gets to appoint the Supreme Court justice. And president obama nominated kagan, i made sure that they got an up or down vote, not a filibuster. No filibuster. No filibuster. We thought it was the right thing to do. It is not because we harbored allusions that we usually agree with these nominees of democratic president s. Certainly not. We even protested when majority leader file closure on the kagan nomination. It was not necessary. Jeff sessions, the current attorney general, was the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee at the time. It was not necessary. We did not even want the pretense of the possibility of a filibuster on the table. It is quite a different story from what we are seeing today. This is where our democratic colleagues have taken us. A partisan minority will prevent the Senate Bipartisan majority. What they really subject this qualified nominee to a filibuster . America will be watching. History will be watching. The future of the senate will hang on their choice. From the senate floor, bill camps. Neil gorsuch did finally get confirmed. He did not mention what happened last year. He did not get into the whole situation with a nomination being held off for what was almost a year in terms of trying to prevent obama from filling that seat left by scalia. I probably did not overstate enough, trying to understand what they were living through was a historic event, to see the link of time that seat remained think it taken to. Mained vacant. That is a good moment to let the students understand that this was something that is a process in our history. It really stalled out in the name of partisanship. It makes it oppressive. Democrats controlling the senate, hypothetical, you wonder if there would be political payback. Cannot imagine that there will not be. You can argue that what Mitch Mcconnell did was payback. All the political i thought it was interesting. You are gambling on a republican winning the presidency, which at that time, was not as for seen. I cannot imagine there will not be retaliation. This has been going on so long with judges. You have a broader question . I think it is a hard statement to generalize with students. For some, they are all in. They are political junkies and follow events and stories. For some, we have students who start worrying about what they will eat that day. It is a most like they do not have the privilege. There are absolutely direct connections. Topics of immigration, that hits home for many of my students. They are thinking that their parents, their parentsjobs. In that regard, there is often not disconnect, that we try our best to make that connection for them. It is hard when mice realities lifes realities come into play. Why are these the realities you are facing . Should you take out a student loan . Should you get a parttime job to help your family pay expenses . All of that is connected to what here. S when you dont feel like you understand, you do not realize how important, not only the decisions that are made, but your voice is in influencing. This is why you need to care. I do not think a lot of students understand why they should. That is my greatest responsibility to teach them that they need to act. It affects americans one way or another. Here is the senator from vermont. I note that no republican wants to see anybody die, nobody does. That is the reality we are dealing with. You cannot ignore it area if somebody has cancer, if somebody has Heart Disease and you take away their insurance, i do not need someone from Harvard University to tell me or you what you know to be the case. This is the United States of america and we can do better than that. Mr. President , i would ask unanimous consent. Mr. President , this issue is not just about health care. This is a profound, moral debate, defining who we are as a people today and who we want to be as a people in the future. Mr. President , a great nation is not simply won by how many millionaires and billionaires we have and by how many tax breaks we can give the billionaires. A great nation is judged by how they treat the weakest and the most vulnerable amongst us. Those people do not have fundraising, they do not contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars into the political process. A great nation is judged by how we treat the children, the elderly, the sick, the poor, the people who have disabilities. That is what a great nation is. This legislation is not worthy of a great nation. On the senate floor. One voice out of many. The one topic has consumed washington and the country, health care in america. The day the house voted on the bill, i was home watching the news. One of my students know me saying there brother is diabetic their brother is diabetic. This issue is so real and relevant. We have to talk about what do you do . What are your responsibilities . Do not get a nickel. Cynical. Special interest is an amorphous idea that cannot walk into a town hall meeting. You have to be informed. This one is more compelling, but it is a platform for you need to have an opinion and take action. You need to let your voice be heard. What is your didnt population in california . Student population in california . We had a significant amount of students with parents have college education. 30 hispanic, it is a fairly mixed group. My daughter will be in middle school. She is coming to my school. We have 1500 students. We are the center of the nation, in a sense. There are students who speak multiple languages, different backgrounds, to come into the school. They talk about the United States demographics. You are but the country is going to be looking like in a few years. In that sense, seeing the trends. That is not just diversity. That includes Economic Diversity as well. How do you engage . That is a real challenge. I appreciate that our school has taken that to push that push. We have students were coming from a lot of different walks of life. We need to understand that we may not be able to teach the same way we taught 10 years ago. The world is changing and needs are changing. It can definitely be a challenge. I am not nearly the expert level, where i should be. Challenge is important if you want to do this well. Tom mccarthy held a five hour plus meeting in your area. Lets watch and get your reaction. My friends and i came here because we feel the need. We are not children. We are concerned with ourselves and everyone else around us. We are the future. We are going to vote. I would like to go back to a question my friend nast asked you. Yes or no . You get to ask the questions and i get to answer them. Answer them. Let me say one more thing. Someone correct me if i am wrong. I believe the statistic is one in five women will be the victim of rape before their freshman year in college. I cannot try them that. The fact that might be a preexisting condition, you call that not discriminating against women, what do you say about that . How can you say that and the lot answer to me whether rape is a preexisting condition or not . Answer it. I will. My friends and i plan to continue getting involved. You will answer to us. You are our representative. You are voting against you. I will answer the question if you let me. I have given you multiple pauses. It is possible there is someone who has been subject to the rape in this room. I will not reduce that by calling it a preexisting condition. My bill does not do that. You are saying rape is not a preexisting condition. You cannot deny, charge because of being raped. A five hour plus town hall meeting that you wanted to attend. He is my congressman. I was hoping to get there that night but i had family obligations. I think that student is similar to a lot that i know, who have attended rallies. They will come in and either have anger or frustration. They have questions and are looking for an outlet. Many of them realized they have a voice, an opportunity to get involved. I have a great group that i taught this year. They were wonderful. I have students that i know will go on, one of them wants to be a civil rights attorney because of this discussion that came out this year. They have the drive and desire. They just need the resources and materials and the right direction to be engaged. What was your path to becoming a High School Teacher . For me, i went to the university of san diego. I thought i wanted to teach. It never left me. My teachers challenged me, they nurtured me. They made me realize i was capable of more than what i knew. I wanted to pay it forward, which is what my teachers would have wanted me to do. Our students have amazing stories. The kids that the town hall, the kids creating change are incredible. The fact that we get to be a footnote in their stories is such an extraordinary gift. I would not do anything else with my life. I had a guidance counselor in high school. I never had a particularly close relationship with her. Shell if only i would make a great teacher. I never really gave it much attention. I appreciated that there were teachers in my life who were able to see something in me that i had the gift for this. Not everybody can react with High Schoolers and bring out the best in them. Somebody saw that in me. I am simply trying to do that with my students, speak the things that are important to me. Not just about their place in history but who they are as individuals. You have something. You have what it takes. You have the ability to be successful at something. Sometimes there is nobody else doing it. That is a great privilege we have as teachers to be able to be on top of that and push them in that direction. What have you learned this summer . How do you plan to incorporate what we do here in the classroom . I have learned everyday. We have used cspan resources before in my classroom. One of the things i have loved is every time it would be a fun thing to do a lesson on that. There is a cspan for that. That has been extraordinary. I learned a lot watching the way people interact here on the philosophy that has been a teaching moment for me. Also using stuff i have created. I look forward to teacher conferences and interacting with more educators. Selfishly, i think a lot of the lessons are created were things where i knew i would use it. I am being encouraged to develop lessons. A lot of them are something i want to incorporate. I appreciate having a chance to sit and take in the material cspan has to offer. The other thing that i am hoping to pick up in them the fall is another elective. I will let the students have the opportunity to get involved in their community. There is a lot of different ways you can be involved and engaged, that does not always have to be running for congress. There are people who are finding ways to make a difference to be an engaged citizen. There are options. Both of you, thank you very much for being with us. You can check out all of our information at cspan. Org classrooms. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] if you are a teacher of social studying and civics to middle and High School Students, try our classroom resources at cspan classroom website. There is ready to go resources, including current events, lesson plans, and handouts. Also enhanced teaching tools with new content added regularly. Many teachers use these resources. You should try it as well. It is free, quick, and easy. Go to cspan. Org classroom to sign up. Now, the u. S. Chamber of dailyannual briefing. This is just under an hour. Mr. Foster thank you for coming. Its a pleasure to have you with this. Also my colleague randy johnson. And for those suffering from hurricane harvey, we wish them on behalf of the chamber all the safety and the swiftest possible recovery from what they are dealing with. The economy is in its ninth year of expansion, which is fairly notable, as that makes it his third longest in the modern era. By next spring, we will have tied for second, and curiously, despite the length of the recovery and expansion, we seem to be heading into acceleration. Normally as the expansion goes along, the m the economy slows a bit. Instead, we may have an acceleration, and the reason for that is somewhat in this chart. If you look down the far left hand side, there is that little dip that corresponds to the. Corresponds to the period before the election. We have the 6 increase. Ey