In the Senate Subway and the doors are closed and youre trapped taking questions from me. Well take questions from Facebook Live and the New York Times. Lets get into it. So we kind of take it as an article of faith that bipartisanship is good. Polling says we want people to work across the aisle. This is a good thing. We like bipartisan bills. But when we get into the nittygritty of governing, thats not really always the case, even though it has a positive connotation. I know that when democrats were in charge, republicans would say, we dont want to give them any victories, its too close to election year. And then when the tables turned, republicans were in charge and they dont want to help each other. Even pass simple things, simple bills together. We have to start by asking the question is can it happen and is there any point to bipartisanship anymore . And what function does it serve . Senator corker, do you want to start with that . Sen. Corker sure. Bipartisanship means when you pass a piece of legislation, it will stand the test of time, when you pass a piece of legislation when you have no support from the other party, the other party tries to unwind it. When you can get 70 or 80 , theres always some overlap, youve got a piece of legislation that again, will stand the test of time. Just for what its worth, in the Foreign Relations committee, we never start a process that doesnt start in a bipartisan way. I know mark on the intel committee, its exactly the same way. Do you agree with that . Sen. Warner i agree. And i think its even more important. If theres one thing i have learned, and i think maybe one of the reasons we both think we we both have had careers in business and the idea that we would start and say, im going to take ideas from this half of the room, but im not going to take any ideas from this half of the room is just fundamentally foreign to anyone from a business background and also, you know, politics may be the only endeavor that people have a whole career where they have, you know, maybe had a career where their only success has been stopping things, and again that is fundamentally different from the business perspective where you have to get to yes at some point. And i would argue that theres no other system in terms of democracies around the world that is so much built like ours in terms of a whole system of checks and balances. Our system was set up to require that kind of forced compromise, Neither Party has got a monopoly on truth. And if you dont have that bipartisanship, one, as bob said, you dont have them stand the test of time. But two, you end up in this repeated, repeated gridlock, where the rest of the worlds not standing still. I think theres one of the valid debates, if we cant find ways to break through this is, is can this great system we have really stand the test of time . It appears, i have never was never a fan until recently, in parliamentary democracies, but in many ways, whoever wins gets to run the show, until they get voted out or a government falls. I think our system has worked better for the most part. Although in the last, say, eight or ten years, its at least raised questions in my mind. So how did we get so screwed up . You talked about universal truths. I mean, whats going on . I would like to hear both of your observations, from the u. S. Capitol and also from your home states. Whats happening . I think that sen. Corker whenever were together. Sen. Warner oh, he started the first one. I think we have turned the keys over to the, you know, to often turn the keys over to the extremes in both political parties. Theres always been extremes, right . How did they get the keys . Sen. Warner i think where they got the keys is they often bring the most energy, they bring somehow we have lost this we as a sense of americans, trumping americans. Redshirt, blue shirt teams. I would argue and i think this has gotten worse is that we have ended up concentrating too much the and this is not a critique of any respective leader. But republican and democratic respective leaders in both the house and the senate, where it appears, and bob and i have both sat through many of these settings where they say we have always worked together. Theres always individual Power Centers that were distinct. I think we concentrate so much into the Party Leadership now, and then when the Party Leadership is reenforced with the party extremes, we end up with this divide. When he talked about the Party Leadership being distinct. What do you feel chairing a committee that is traditionally bipartisan, do you agree with that assessment . Sen. Corker i would make some different points. I think being chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, our Foreign Policy is so important to the safety of our men and women and all of you, that we should constantly, at least at the shores average at the partisanship leaves and we work together. And certainly with Foreign Policy, we want to make sure the things were doing absolutely will stand the test of time. And its just been my nature. I have never been a partisan. But ill get back to some of to some of marks comments. Number one, the countrys divided. And i know people back home dont like to hear this, but washington more fully than people think reflects the country. And the country is very divided. Secondly, think about the way the whole congress has changed, lets just look at the senate. You used to have people up in the northeast that were republicans, that were way more liberal than southern democrats. And so bipartisanship was easier to come by, now as you look at the map, the ideology just doesnt overlap as much. Thirdly, we have basically destroyed the senate by using the filibuster for everything. The 60vote threshold is there to end debate. Thats all. Now the 60vote threshold, when i first came here, it wasnt quite this way, but it was moving this way. Startedere in 2006, 2007, what happened two years later was all the outside groups started scoring votes not on the actual vote of the bill but the cloture vote. Right now, Chuck Schumer is under pressure to block things with 60 votes, mitch was under pressure, so we have taken something that was actually supposed to be used to stop debate because it had been debated so long, and now were using it to stop anything from going ahead and we have either got to have greater discipline, i mean it requires you allowing something to go ahead and then voting against it on the 51 vote threshold, or its going to require us to change the rules which i hope doesnt happen. I actually dont believe the country is divided as, i think there are regional differences, but i think even generated a lot of the enthusiasm for mr. Trump was around the just get stuff done feeling from a lot of folks. So, again, dont want to start off with bob and i disagreeing. Neither of you mention the media and i want to know what you think about this bifurcated media culture where people are getting their information only from one news source and there isnt this universal truth that you alluded to earlier, senator. You are in your own states, do you feel people are living in an echo chamber, if you will . Sen. Corker i think anything you watch past 6 00 in the evening is probably detrimental to your broadness and thinking. Its been very damaging and unfortunately, so many people that we represent, only get their information from one news source. Its just sad. People ask me, where do you get your news, corker . I said, well, i get up and i read the new york post, the washington post, and i scan all those things and read many articles at length. And thats how i start my day. So you know, i have an idea what hes thinking about things. And yet most people go through life and now kids, are just getting these headlines, which dont you know, which dont give any news, but the evening cable programs, even though i respect many of the commentators, i really do, i just i cant watch it. And it is sad to me that our nation, its really entertainment. We know that, right, its a business model, where you basically keep your base riled up, mad at the other side, and if you can build upon that, if you want to go even more energetic and more extreme in what youre doing, you make more money. Thats unfortunately what people are viewing as news but its not. I think it hurts. We both grew but it is not. Sen. Warner we both grew up in the age where you started with Just Three Networks and you had three folks and you basically, you know, trusted walter cronkite. And there was a common fact set that you could then argue about, but you didnt question the validity of what they were saying. And one of the things i the russia investigation has been fascinating on so many levels. But one of the most fascinating has been understanding, you know, and im i was in the Technology Business longer than i have been in politics, im pro tech, im pro innovation, but this enormous ecosystem that we have created with social media and people who only receive their news through devices. You know, the average couple of guys who kind of flipped on folks on facebook and google, they make this pitch now, that we look at our devices about 150 times a day. And again, were the only kind of asset where were looking at devices and were actually giving those devices every time we look at those devices more information about us. Theyre trying to get our kids to look at our devices 250 times a day and the algorithms are not necessarily driven on one side or the other. If you look at a conservative story, to keep you looking again, they have got to produce a more conservative and a more outrageous followup story. The flip side being the case on the liberal side. Where is that common square that tv or New York Times, or wall street journal, they might have different editorial columns, but they start with the same news fronts. But now we have a whole new set of facts and unfortunately, with a relatively little bit of money and a few number of hackers to manipulate news that comes on any of our devices, no matter how nonfactually based, thats only going to get exponentially worse. It is a huge issue. You mentioned the probe into the russia interference into our elections, so lets talk about that a little bit more. You and senator burr have made a real effort to make that collegial and bipartisan, so do you think in the end your committee can produce a consensus document . I think on a lot of issues, we will have clear consensus that russia massively interfered in our election ss. Interfered in our election. We need to figure out a way, to sort through, i hope in collaboration with the companies, the social Media Companies that they bear some responsibility, at least around disclosure, to kind of be partners with us. I think there remains a huge open question, one of the things Bill Richards and i have tried to do, was there collusion, or was there not collusion, im keeping an open mind until the very end. We have got more people to talk to. I think if we could come with a bipartisan conclusion, i think it would be extraordinarily valuable to the country. You know, having a on an issue as important as this, having some split, i think would be very detrimental. But time will tell. Does it bother you that the president of the United States is using the biggest bully pulpit that exists in the country basically to look into all the probes into russia, is it basically a witch hunt . Theres not a Single Member of our intelligence community, including all the people that President Trump has appointed who have that conclusion. Theres not the facebook, googles and twitters, who were reluctant to acknowledge and frankly blew off some of the suggestions at first have come around. They have reached that conclusion. If you talk to the french about the massive amount of russian interference in their election cycle. They know about the Misinformation Campaign and the disinformation campaign. And the dutch, they hand count their ballots because of russian interference. Money add up all of the that the russians spent in interfering in our elections, the dutch elections and french elections and double it, its still less than the cost of one new airplane. So this is a great investment in kind of, the way i think 21st century conflict will start to play out. And yes, of course it bothers me that the head of our government, because we dont have a whole of government approach to stop it. It could be the chinese, it could be some other entity Going Forward on how we prevent that. So looking at that, in an odd way, do you guys think that President Trump has in a sense created some bipartisanship . Obviously its pushed a lot of democrats im not done. Its pushed a lot of democrats farther to the left. Remember when we came back and we said theres going to be a lot of moderate democrats who are going to vote for the health care bill. It didnt work out there, and republicans are pretty behind the president. But is there an area where democrats and republicans are standing together . Senator shots from hawaii has said we need to put our policy differences aside and address this in the white house. Do you think in that way there is a Bipartisan Coalition . Sen. Corker i dont know if i want to do the cause and effect necessarily. But no doubt on the russia bill. I mean sanctions bill. Sen. Corker it was a big bill and it did a lot and we had combined that with the north korea bill, and the iran bill, a nd we had 98 votes on the floor, two negatives, Bernie Sanders and rand paul. I rest my case. So thats a form of bipartisanship with those guys. Sen. Corker and look, we have we i dont want to jinx something, but theres numbers of other things that i think will be coming out of the committee that matter that are going to be very strongly bipartisan. It but i just think that i think whats happening in the senate is that i have seen the senate and i think mark, i think your committee is doing the same thing, i know we are in Foreign Relations. I watch other committees, i think theyre beginning to rise to the occasion. In some ways, and again i want to be careful about my comments because of some of the things that happened in the last 60 days, i dont mean this in any way to be pejorative, i dont think theres anything coming out of the white house that typically would come out of the white house. Like on a health care bill, typically a white house would produce what they want to pass. Instead, they worked a little more closely together, we did. But i think the senate is kind of rising to the occasion. I have been so proud of the most recent hearings we had. We had a hearing with tillerson and mattis on the authorization to use military force. Outstanding. We just did one on nuclear issues. Outstanding. And i feel the senate kind of moving back to the place that i think all of us would like for it to be. We still are going through some big issues right now and i realize from marks standpoint and many standpoints in an inappropriate way, were using reconciliation to do really big issues. You know, thats not the best way to do it. But generally speaking, i see the Senate Taking up some of the vacuum that, where you might have things directly coming out of the white house, theyre not happening and the senates taking the lead. That was a very understated assessment of the can executive branchs management style. Youve been a little bit more candid in recent weeks about some of your feelings, youve been a match for the president on twitter. Was it good having him out of the country . I was just curious about that. [laughter] in terms of your personal journey, shall we say, you kind of played an inside outside game, if you will, when the president was first elected. You didnt back down on your criticisms of things they did in the administration. But everyone knows that you were on the short list, i dont know that the president actually asked you to be secretary of state. That was something people assumed you wanted to do. Well get back to that. Not his will get back to that. [laughter] you tried to go over to the white house, and tried to show them the error of their ways, you really tried to do things. And at some point, something made you throw up your hands and say forget it. What can you tell us behind the scenes of that . Sen. Corker i wanted to save all that for my book. Just like a teaser. Sen. Corker actually i dont plan to write a book, im just kidding. I havent taken a note since ive been there. Thats always a problem for some people. Sen. Corker i havent, so. So first of all, i dont think people, so yes, theresbeen some so yes, there have been some issues at the top. But mnuchin was in my office today. Ivanka was in my office on thursday, pence called me thursday, tillerson and i talk a lot. So its not like, i mean these are the people i was dealing with anyway. You know, our office is in Constant Contact with, you know, the National Security adviser. I am talking with generals and others. Nothing has really stopped. Whos one of those people sometimes would get called for times a week by the president. Four times a week by the president. I was one of those people when a big decision was being made and he had his staff sitting around the oval office, they would call me on the speakerphone before a big decision was being made. And im still someone that is being called about big things. But i think what probably began the i was critical when i needed to be critical and i was constructive when i needed to be constructive. Both were meant actually the criticisms was they were meant to be constructive. I think were things kind of got a little bit more terse was after the charlottesville deal. And i just and i want to have and i do not want to have all of this rewritten again and all that. But the governing model of dividing your country to solidify your base is just not one i can adhere to, ok . [applause] there was something about that episode that turned the volume up a little bit. And actually, you know, my comments were actually aspirational. The adult daycare part . Thats an interesting aspirational comment. Sen. Corker it had progressed a little bit by that point. But i said that he had not yet demonstrated the stability nor some of the competence necessary to be successful, but the country needed for him to be successful. The world needed for him to be successful. You know, it went about 30 days before we had another meeting. Know, we did and, you talked it through and i knew it was going to come up, so i said, mr. President , this is my quote. I stand by it. Wait, what happened then . And then what did he say. Sen. Corker because i dont ever say what other people say. Im just going to leave itthere. I am just going to leave it there. But, you know, obviously, the meeting ended fine and then and then, i dont know what the second series of stuff was. I think, you know, one sunday morning, the sunday morning shows were repeating something i had said. I dont know what it was. It generated a tweet. And i have never tweeted anything out, ever, like that in my life. And i was coming home from a workout with my wife, getting ready to go to church, and my phone was blowing up and todd was calling who was in the audience, and i just typed out the response. And todd said, lets take a 20minute deep breath on this one. But we felt like it was the right thing to do. I dont like that kind of thing. That is not who i am. It is not the way i conduct myself. But from time to time, you have to push back. You cannot let things like that stand. I want to get to the relationship, and i want to talk about taxes. And i know that we cut you off, so tell me what you were thinking before. Sen. Warner my stuff about process is going to be kind of boring. Sen. Corker ive been meaning to tell you that for ten years now. Sen. Warner ill make it a little bit i cant imagine your tweetage. I dont want to agree with him now, but i do think there are some moments in the Foreign Relations committee, intelligence committee, we have virtual unanimity, we just did a fairly significant bill that didnt get a lot of attention. But nine democrats and nine relief for on some community banks. Bob and i were putting the band back together on gse reform, which is literally one of the most complicated issues i have ever dealt with. But there are some things that just pissed me off. As somebody who wanted to be there, to get to yes. You know, you take the health care process, which was, you know, for all the bad the democrats did on obama care, the majority this time took that and it was 10 times worse in terms of trying to get things secret and a process that was only trying to be done with one team and i left now, because im actually missing a vote or two, that i can already tell you what the votes what the results will be. I like to say that i work in the only place in america were being in a gang is a good thing. I mean there was a great visual contrast. They had president reagans proposal from the last time we reformed our tax code, held up today, a big old book, and President Trumps, which was a threepage flyer. And we are talking about something now that is going to its got all these kind of exploding time bombs in it, gimmicks, 500plus Million Dollars of billion dollars of these exploding things, that will add another 2. 2 trillion. And the kind of unwillingness to sit down and say, hey, yeah, we got to find away to make america competitive on an international basis, and we ought to make our tax code simpler, that would mean lower corporate rates and that would mean trying to bring money back, those are all goals that, sign me up, put me in , coach. I spent years trying to get on the finance committee. And it has been such a bitter disappointment to see that not to see that process not work. Other republican colleagues would privately come to me and say, i know this is not the right way to do it. And it felt like after the healthcare debacle took two or three times of failing, it took this effort, that i think a lot of times our colleagues asked how can we put some fixing together on the health care. And some momentum got going and then it slowed down again. If this effort around finance fails, we ought to be able to do this in a way that makes ourselves more competitive, but doesnt add to a 20 trillion debt that we have got. The lack of fiscal responsibility is such an embarrassment, and again, bob has been a leader on this as well. But if we could just play back, if we if you and the press would just keep better notes of all the things we say, so when we switch back and forth, whoevers in charge and just play them back to us, we might get better policy. We do take note. I want to talk about your relationship, but lets just talk about this tax deal, sent you brought it up. The house is going to vote on that, the package that would debt by well over a trillion dollars over ten years, likely passed without a single democrat. You were complaining about the process. You mentioned the obama care process. Super interested to know if you think that is a positive comparison, even though that ended up being a completely partisan process in the end. And now you think the tax situation could have gone better . Sen. Corker were not complete. But, look, i think both sides of the aisle have, through the years begun to take greater and greater advantage of something called reconciliation that was never intended to be what it is. And reconciliation is the process where one side of the aisle, if they have control of both sides can pass with just a 50 plus one vote. So it is not good. The rules that define it are very confining, so you cant really end up with a product that works as well as if you did it under whats called regular order. Where 60 votes are needed . Sen. Corker i know i am speaking greek to the audience. It is not a good process. We could come up with a Better Process if we took a longer period of time to make it happen. And so you end up in a situation where you say, look, i wish we were doing it in a different way but this is the way it is being done, that decision is being made at a different level. Then you come into, do you like the substance or not . Is it substance that you agree with or not . And i think that, you know, for the republicans, the two things they felt they were elected on was Health Care Reform and tax reform. And i think, i hope that what is going to occur is that after this process is completed, we can move to a regular order issue where there is not an urgency around dealing with those two issues and moving them out of the way. The only thing i the otherto that, tenant i heard from so many of ,y other republican colleagues we shouldnt add excessively towards our debt. I work in the only place in america when were 600,000 in 600 billion in the red this year we highfive each other. , we would be bankrupt if Interest Rates were 200 basis points higher than they are right now. And the notional idea that theres not a way to sort through. At some point, you do have to have faxed. We have the worst of both, we have the highest tax rate in the world, we have the most complicated tax code. Other countries have figured out a way to have a competitive tax rate. And still generate the revenues to pay the bill. And im not advocating a european style government at all. And one of the things i hear, and i would hope that bob would think about this. If this effort doesnt go through, i have heard people say, well, democrats will crow about it and move on and we will be at a disadvantage. All say this right here in front of everybody, if this effort does not go through and you want to find a way to make American Business tax competitive, bring modicum of middleclass tax relief, sign me up. But lets do it in a way that has a little bit of impact input from both sides and also does not add dramatically to the debt. And im not going to say virginia is going to be a picker cert of next year, although a precursor of next year, although i hope it will be [applause] sound like a biased group here. Because if the democrats win next year, the first thing theyll try to do is undo a one party only solution on something thats as important as taxes and health. I mean this is not it is rocket science, but its not so complicated that theres not a way to recognize that we ought to figure it out together. Sen. Corker and if i could on that, since we have both, in many ways, i feel like i have been one of the biggest deficit hawks. Sen. Warner yes, you have. Sen. Corker in the senate, voting against really, really popular bills, one of two people against a very popular veterans bill because it broke the bank. And, you know, it wasnt even attempted to be paid for. Thats why mnuchin was in my office today. Thats why and i dont mean that i mean that they im not out here advocating sen. Warner why dont you go out and tweet something again. No at this point . Sen. Corker the growth assumptions and theyre not completed yet. But i actually think its possible the growth assumptions are going to be in line to where this things is not going to produce deficits, but lets see, and theyve got to prove that out. And one of the things that people have to when you use the 1. 5 trillion number, it is a trillion dollar number because we are syncing up current law to current numbers. All of you know that were keeping policies were kicking the can. My point is, i think these guys are over demagoguing it and were overselling it and what i want to do is see whats completed and if i believe its going to add to the dechficit, im not going to vote for it. Sen. Warner two quick points, one, show me any time in recent history, modern history i think , any nation and i dont often quote alan greenspan, but i think he said it last week, when youre at virtual full employment and you do a tax cut with borrowed money, good things dont happen. You have huge unemployment and you do way tax cut when you dont have substantial debt, you can pump growth. But with a relatively full employment, borrowed money tax out in any played nation, i would argue, in the last 50 years. Some of my republican colleagues acknowledged as much today, and this is some of the rules that you have to getaround. They made some of the things around business permanent. And they made some of the things that people really like, the middle class run for five years, and what the republican chairman said is, when i raised the point that that would mean cuts in medicare, he said we always come back and fix those. So we have just created this of extenders,p who i have a lot of respect for, has said this bill is not a 1. 4 trillion number, it is actually a 2. 2 trillion because you add up what will happen when that middle class tax cut runs out and we have to continue it. We just ought to be straight with people. If were going to layer this much on, when we have already, both teams have run up 20 trillion in debt already, we ought to be straight with you. Sen. Corker those questions are being raised in our conference. Im not on the Tax Writing Committee like you are, but those kinds of issues are being raised by our members to, to are being raised by our members, too. Thats a good segue to talk about your relationship. Im not going to use the word bromance, dont worry. How did you guys start to be friends and working together . Sen. Warner i came to see him. I got hired i had seen bob with the auto bailout hearings and he seemed like a smart guy. I had gotten hired and we had some mutual friends as well. I like the fact that he had been a mayor and a business guide. The first week or so, i went to visit and we found we had a lot in common. Did you enjoy seeing him at your doorstep . Sen. Corker this wealthy democrat . Sen. Warner we both can read a balance sheet, which makes us unique in the senate. Sen. Corker no, we have had a great time. And look, we sat together at the inaugural ceremonies and you know, believe it or not, we dont really do that much socially. Shocking. But do you have good fun stories about each other . Sen. Warner the one that, i think we have used this before. But we were working on doddfrank, and he does not like to recall this. But there was like a section of doddfrank that we worked on and two, it actually got 80 votes. And we were trying to work through this stuff, and our staff that had been on the hill for some time, were not following our directions. So we had a famous beer summit where we went with our staff and made us all have beers together so they could hear from both of us. We actually wanted to find a way to get to yes. And it was kind of a little weird that it had to be driven by us to the staff rather than vice versa. As the world as gotten complex, and it really is complex. Things are just and they move so rapidly, senate staffs are first of all, they are outstanding. I mean, i work around the finest group of young people in my officethat ive ever been aroun. I love them. We have these hideaways in the capital that i dont even know where mine is. Ive got five minutes, i want to go back and talk with my staff. They drive so much of what happens here because we are working on so many things and unless theyve got the direction, his staff does now, i know my staff does also. They know we want to get to yes on deals. , ithat time, these issues was a big issue and contentious. There were some personality issues that existed. Some protection issues. That is when it took and it worked. Again, the two sections we negotiated, they will stand the test of time. Sen. Warner again, it seems common sense. Unique. S unfortunately i would learn up a lot. I thought a new something. I had a lot to learn. This was all melting down. We decided to we were seeing a lot of the same experts. Rather than coming to see me and it, we would schedule jointly and ask questions at the same time. We could hear each others ideas and push the experts and not get a secondhand version. Has got to bethat done. People dont understand how big staff is. They can make or break them. You mentioned gangs before. Is there a potential for a new gang to come together on National Security issues . Sen. Corker gangs have a bad timeve spent so much around Simpson Bowles and president obama should have endorsed her early on. I was for a while relatively new and i did not get the joke the fact we were spending all of this time, the leaders never thought it was going to have a shot. It seemed to be common sense. Maybe we have to call things differently. I believe if we had a shot to have that on the floor, we would have gotten 75 votes. My best day was 49 senders came over before the first shutdown. We were making the final presentation to all of these folks, presuming we were throwing in the towel and people started to say, im in. We had this moment in time where we had the wall street journal and New York TimesEditorial Board in dorset. It. It was going to take on sacred cows. The entitlement programs do not work in a society that has aged and the revenue stream we had was never going to pay the bills for the size of government we had. Moment, putting one or two of those markers on important. S showing that we can still get things done. The thing i worry about the most , the greatest country in the world. There was a sense we could take on any problem. Are some that somehow feel like it is easier to kick the can. Somehow weve got to get our mojo back. Sen. Corker gangs dont work. I have been on 20 of them, ok . Him credit for this. He is allowing the Committee Process to work. Ive never gotten a single call from mcconnell about anything id to to what we are doing relative to what we are doing in our committee. The way for these things to be solved is through the Committee Process. What might be necessary is not a gang. The professionalism on the committee, the staff is needed for this to function and the expertise by the senators themselves. What could work in a different s, you know, a group of senators come. There are not many left. There are not many left. A group of senators in the center, center right, center votes werehave beebig willing. Anyway, gangs are not a good way of running a government. Jennifer one of the most intense examples of how divided the country has become, if you look at the roy moore situations. It clear theyde believe he is unacceptable for the u. S. Senate. In alabama, we see the Republican Party reporting him. Some stating they would rather vote for him even if the Sexual Assault allegations, predatory allegations are true. That would be better than a democrat. What is your observation about how we get to that place . You are the 13th New York Times person to ask me. You did it more elegantly. [laughter] personally thought reportsore any of these came out, before any of them, that came in the senate was a far, just based on his conduct as a judge. He would be in the senate. He ended up being the nominee. Put out af the nrse call that shows he is nine points down. [applause] these races, remember what happened in the president ial race. People whogroup of are very excited about his nomination. Theres going to be a low turnout. Who knows what happens. Every time i asked a question about it, lets see what happens in the election itself. It doesnt appear that all of these folks that work on electioneering, i am not one of them, i dont think there is an. Ption yet that works getting jeffw sessions to step down, which i hope you will not do, unless that happens, i do not see an outcome other than letting the people of alabama decide between the candidates. Theifer i was asking about mentality. Anything is better than a democrat. Is that generational . How did we get to that space . Sen. Warner im not sure. Alabama is very conservative. If those numbers, and i dont trust any polls, but sen. Corker nobody gets the joke. That was really funny. [laughter] but come december 12, he is the democratic candidate. He was a prosecutor. He prosecuted civil rights case is. S. I think folks will surprise us. Sen. Corker i called a friend over the weekend that i know well. He was sharing with me that numbers of people are beginning to say lets go ahead and vote for this republican. That way it will just be three years. It is unlikely a democrat, unusual for a democrat to win in alabama. If that happens, in three years, for threee a democrat years and elect a republican senator. That is one person. Numbers of people are thinking differently today than two weeks ago. Jennifer there have been provocative articles by some self identified liberals who say they think bill clinton paved the path for this. Do you agree with that view . What judge i think moore done was unacceptable. Paid a bill clinton price for his behavior as well. Jennifer do you think he should have stepped down from office . Sen. Warner jenniffer, good try. Im not going to relitigate 1996 or 2016. Didof the things the senate , did not get a lot of fanfare recently, weve got to make sure all of us, members and staff leaders, have appropriate Sexual Harassment and other training. This is not, every institution in the 21st century should have that as part of the basic hr code. Jennifer i would be interested to hear from you what lessons you think can be gleaned from that night. I thought the democratic candidate would win. This was the first time posttrump, as virginia is a , the, while it is legislature is 21 republican. I was surprised at the margin. I was hopeful. Would people turn out . Out in massive numbers. Not just folks in the blue areas. This is the first time a democrat has picked up a seat in southwest virginia. It was a unique story. A young man named kris hirst. His girlfriend was a tv reporter that was shot on air. A total tragedy. In southwest virginia. Thatbeen a believer democrats can compete everywhere. Theyve got to show up. Just concentrating in suburban areas is not a good plan. Ofnkly theres been a lot rural americans left behind by both political parties. As someone who advocates in competitive, there was a good sign, a lot of it was due to the president. The thing we heard is this kind of divisiveness. I was in southwest virginia right after that. , town hall events. People said that is not who we are as virginians. They had a lot of umbrage toward the president s comments equating those sides. Jennifer what should republicans take from that night . A lot ofer that people in suburban america and everyone have not liked what they have seen the first 10 months of this year. Especially, the governors race was one thing. That said something even more powerful. Sometimes you have a candidate who does not come across. When that many people won, it is people areatever watching, they do not like what they have seen in 10 months. Jennifer can republicans repair at this point . Sen. Corker you said republicans. Sure. Lot if youre going to talk about republicans in general, the base of the party probably is disappointed also. It is interesting. The people in the middle have been disappointed. The people on the left have been disappointed. The people on the right are disappointed for opposite reasons. Its the kind of things they hoped to have happen. Lets face it. Particular,ing too people are responding to tone. The tone in america right now. There are a few people that are responsible for that. Jennifer do you think some people might experience a challenge in a primary as a result . Knowcorker i dont even if he will run again. You dont know what happens. Parties are divided. The democrats are able to keep themselves a little bit more together right now because they are in opposition. It is easier to do that. The Republican Party is going challenge. Te a some of the extremes are bearing out. Was a reaction to things that people see in their rural especially in tennessee. You have people that have worked hard all of their lives. They went to high school, community college, they raised their kids. They are not further along. They are not where they thought they would be. 30 years ago they thought they would be in a different place. It has created, both parties have to figure out how to address that issue that people do not have the standard of living or are living in a way of life they thought they would. We have not figured that out. And oureating a chasm party, lets face it, the president won by blaming a lot of that on others. Somebody else that caused you to be in this place. That is not the kind of republican i am. That is not the kind of republican a lot of us are. Youre going to see challenges quote what republicans are in the future. If these guys are in charge, they are going to have the same challenge. Jennifer that could almost sound like a campaign platform. Are you interested . Interest is to finish as strongly as i can over the next 13 months. Im going to miss what i am doing tremendously. When i ran, i ran on a missional way. Matter of fact, i ran against gerald ford and both of us said we could not imagine serving more than two terms. Im going to miss it tremendously. I misswant to do, affecting people, calling peoples lives to be better. What i want to do over the next 13 months is make sure we do everything we possibly can to make as much difference as possible and take stock of what we do. Jennifer senator warner, you said you would be a moderate, probusiness democrat, technology. Has that worked out . Sen. Corker what happened to that . [laughter] i think i have stayed to to that. I would echo what bob said. Governor, i said you should not have to leave your home town to get a good job. I dont think either party has figured that out. I would argue right now both parties are caught up in 20thcentury politics. Youve got one side of the party that is unfettered markets and some on the democratic side want topdown, one government regulation. I did really well in the business sector. I dont think modern capitalism is working for enough people. People are giving up on that. Then they go to the extremes. Awould argue you need political philosophy that is geared in the 21st century. Nobodys going to have the same way my dad did. We have a social contract built on the presumption you work in the same job full time. Weve got to change that. We should have a tax code that invests in human capital. You buy a computer and you train a worker, that is a cost. The Capital Markets need to be thectured, i am not sure pressure businesses are under today that we we we would create the same Great Companies because there is a focus on shortterm quarterly profits. The companies are the exceptions. The tech companies, almost all of them are companies where the founders control the company. I would argue, i would hope the democrats when they are at their left, right,e old liberal, conservative. Whoever can be the future party and does not try to look back to some good old days, because i start to thinkou about artificial intelligence, the things i have seen on the social media sites, this is only going to go up. Im not sure political debate is keeping in touch with that. Jennifer we are going to take some questions. If you would like to ask questions, there is microphones on either side of the rooms. Im also going to take questions from Facebook Live. Trump runs again. Warner challenges him. Who do you vote for . [laughter] one word. You know joseph from california asks, how can there be bipartisanship if they bypass them . Can that happen in that context . The issues i mentioned that i must do issues, they do not feel like theres going to be help on those. Im not sure that is the case on tax reform. I think it could. After that, reconciliation is only available for certain things. The other issue, yes, you have to use regular order. Sen. Warner if there is one thing the country should have learned, the democrats did try. If you look where obamacare and dodd frank were, one party owned them both. You cannot do things without buying into them. Thank you. Windrs of the public get their representatives think or feel and say things differently in private. Thatondering if you feel contributes to the disengagement and may be the disillusionment millions of americans feel with the process. Or do you feel like you guys need not as much transparency . Your meeting with the expert in private where you could ask questions sounds like a committee meeting. Not in front of the cameras where maybe there is more showmanship to get on the evening news. I am wondering where you fall on that spectrum between more privacy to get things done, or more sunshine. If it is not in that spectrum, what solutions do you see . Campaign finance . The fairness doctrine . Its a fair question. You want to take it . [laughter] we have briefings all day long. I would not want that to change. Being a senator, if you go about it seriously, is like getting a in somebody topics. That is why people like being senators. It is challenging. As far as the public part, that is about right. Be talkingwould not differently if we were out having an adult beverage. That is thethink issue. The Public Committee meetings. We have all kind of evenings where we are down in the skiff and no one can listen what is happening. I do not think that is an issue. We. Warner i would argue are lucky because we came to these jobs with Financial Success behind us. A lot of the men and women we has an hour plus flight, i can drive home each night, which is a blessing. A lot of men and women we work with worked hard to get here. I have resources and you have to raise 20 million every time you want to get rehired . That is crazy. You need independent redistricting. [applause] people ought to choose their representatives rather than representatives choosing their folks. , he said we do not socialize much. It is hard to call somebody an b. After youve gotten to know them in terms of their kids. Times. Challenges at we have shared those things. That makes a binding. Not having the fact both teams, we are here three days a week for the most part. Both teams eat with their own teams. All of these things, there was a notion of this, you know someone, it is easier to find commonality. Arguing, not arguing for less transparency, you need to have a chance to kick back sometimes with folks on the opposite side. Jennifer you had a question . For this talk. I am a student. I want to talk about the future of things. With theorker, Republican Party we have seen them move away from more of the , bigl responsibility government spending, and now trump with Big Government spending. As a moderate democrat, how do i talk to my more conservative friends into being fiscal responsible land senator warner, you inspired me with your fiscal responsibility talk rather than what we have been hearing in the arena nowadays with Bernie Sanders. How do i talk to my leftleaning friends about fiscal responsibility and what that means for the future of the country . Questioner theres no the Medicare Part d component of that was passed under president for, and he is a friend i respect and like very much, more so as time goes by. [laughter] i dont mean that i did not like him when he was here. Sen. Warner i agree. Sen. Corker and then the katrina thing happened. Of not wrongly accused being openminded. I will use that word. Even more money again being spent. President obama came in and republicans got religion on spending. My friends on the other side of the aisle who had religion while bush was there lost of their religion and liked spending money. Is not every person, of course. Now what has happened is it like a party atmosphere. You have said publicly, to and your colleagues, it is like a party began on election day. I do not recognize my side of the aisle. As it relates to those issues. It is unfortunate it ebbs and flows. You get more fiscally conservative when the other side is in office. The problem is for you, a student, the greatest threat to our nation is not isis or north korea. It is not russia hitting involved in elections. The greatest threat is the fiscal issue and almost no one cares about it. Almost no one cares about it. We will have enough money coming in the next couple of years. The deficit is going to grow. Was during way it the entire obama administration. I do not mean that to be critical. We were coming out of the recession. We are going to be at a point where the amount of money we have coming in will only pay for the entitlement programs. Thats all. Nothing else. Not the military, education, highways, nothing else. That is our future is that we only have enough money coming in to pay for the entitlement programs. Ints, iver two po had this debate with folks who claim to be there is nothing progressive about refusing to of knowledge the mass around entitlements acknowledge the around entitlements. Today there are three people working for every person in retirement. Dont blame us, blamed the doctors. You are living longer. If entitlement squeeze out everything else, americas is this plans Business Plan right now, it has gotten worse with trump, for every dollar you send uncle sam, we are spending education, cents on infrastructure, and r d. As a business guy, i would never invest in a business did not pay tuesday head of the competition. That is a bad Business Plan. The only way you can believe that, unless you raise taxes, is responsible. Y jennifer sir, you get the last question. This building is dedicated in some ways to the freedom of information act. You guys in congress frequently praise transparency in government. If you have to publish your daily schedules showing the amount of hours spent fundraising at dinners, or in these call log centers, would that embarrassment be enough to cause you to change the way campaigns are financed, or possibly look at publicly funded campaign . If you had to reveal your schedule, call logs, the way that secretaries have to do under foia, the way the president has to do under the president ial records act, but you guys made yourselves exempt. I40 i dont do it as much as the other colleagues. I am lucky i dont do it as much as the other colleagues. I think it is a prerequisite that you come into the stock with financial security. It is ae house side, bigger issue. It would not embarrass me, especially right now. [laughter] between mark and i i would be glad to let everyone know how much time i spent raising money, compared to all the hours i spent in the middle east and other things. It would not embarrass me in any way, but i get your point. I think that is the conclusion of our program. I want to thank the center so much. Fantastic conversation. [applause] jennifer i would like to think the audience very much. Live end, a special nod to our New York Times prescribers. Check nytimes. Com for more live events in washington here next year. On newsmakers, the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, the vulnerable, congressional redistricting, and voter id laws. Ont is sunday at 10 00 a. M. Tuesday. On cspan. Wearing military camouflage fatigues with the emblem here, and initials kkk on his chest. On his hip, he had a semiautomatic handgun in a holster. Was followed by him, mr. Kelly, the grand dragon, dark black suit and tie. When he turned the corner, he just froze. His back. Bumped into they stumbled. I knew what they were thinking. Himer the desk clerk gave the wrong room number, or this was a set of. Was a set up. Said,layed my hands and my name is darrell davis. Darrell davis has for a friend ku klux klan members to convince them they are wrong. On q a on cspan. On wednesday, House Minority leader nancy pelosi and arizona senator jeff flake spoke at a ceremony dedicating the House Democratic cloakroom in honor of representative Gabby Giffords and the late congressman leo ryan, both government both victims of gun violence. This is 35 minutes. Rep. Pelosi good morning, everyone. Thank you for being here. As we begin, let us welcome to the room a national heroine, congresswoman Gabby Giffords