Kristol. This is just over an hour. Thank you all so much. Welcome back. Our final session will speak on the current state of politics and i am pleased to begin with senator mark warner from virginia. From 200222006 senator warner served as governor of the great state of virginia and when he left Office Estate was right that the best day for business the best managed state in the best state in which to receive a public education. In the senate he has distinguished himself as a leader works with colleagues from both parties on behalf of the state and every one in our country. He serves on the finance banking budget and rules committee and is vice chairman of the select committee on intelligence. Senator warner is with us today. He has been a great leader for our country and please help me welcome him to speak to us as well. Senator warner. [applause] thank you mitch, thank you for that introduction and thank you for the great work you are doing in new orleans. Thank you for your familys longterm contribution. I started in politics indirectly working for moon landrieu. Its a real honor to be here with you and let me also give a shoutout to the remaining virginia mayors who are here. Hello you guys, how are you . Let me also realize i had more Senate Sessions and i know you are winding down so presume i spend another three minutes complimenting everyone in the room site you get to the meat of my message. The truth is and i know this has been a subject of your conversations over the last couple of days obviously cities are continuing to face great challenges and great opportunities. You know when this is not exactly a newsflash for those of us who work at the federal level we have been. Dysfunctional over the last few years and candidly if you look around over the last couple of weeks that this function does not seem to be decreasing and unfortunately as former governor we are seeing the level of dysfunction that takes place at the National Level unfortunately creeped too often into too many state governments as well. The one bright spot i would argue in our nation is what is happening in cities and urban areas. It really is a renaissance. The truth is as you know better than i, americans know that and are voting with their feet. Nearly 60 of all americans now live in cities. 80 of americans now live in urban areas and every expectation i have seen shows those demographic changes are all made going to increase. One of the responsibilities i want to say is we have a whole lot to learn from you about how we deliver government and govern in a 21st century way. Theres another statistic that reinforces this trend. There is a total of 3148 counties or cities, local jurisdictions in america. Here is the stunning statistic. Between 2005 and 2015, literally 2100 of those roughly 3100 jurisdictions across america lost jobs and lost businesses. Twothirds of america have seen a decrease in Employment Opportunities in their communities disappear. Only 1043 jurisdictions saw an increase in businesses and jobs and we know the vast majority of that growth took place in your communities. This disparity may grow. Some of it is obviously about education and Skill Development but a lot of it comes down to a fundamental understanding of what is happening in the economy and in the workplace. Let me give you another stat. Over the last few years i think we have all wrestled and again you guys wrestle with it anymore as her away frankly than we do in washington. What is work and what is the economy going to look like in the next decade or so . I know you have had penalty or where you have dealt with psychology changes, Artificial Intelligence and i believe people on the panel later today are going to talk about some of these transitions. Quite honestly if you kind of get caught up in some of the what could happen it can lead you to a pretty dark space. I believe the most positive report that i have seen recently was done by the mckinzy Global Mission and the good news that came out of that report said that by 2030 the United States of america will still have a significant net increase in jobs jobs. All of the jobs in the country arent going to be destroyed by Driverless Cars but what was also in that report was that literally one third of all americans will either have to change their jobs or change and significantly alter their skill sets if we make sure we take advantage of this opportunity of new jobs that come about by 2030. And i would argue a lot of this goes on, what is causing all of the political angst . What is causing the fraying of our social institutions . I am a proud democrat. Most of the folks on my side of the aisle would say that a lot of that angst is political and ees driven by income inequality and i agree. Income inequality is a major challenge that we all days and we see it in so many visceral ways as mayors and many of us in the federal government. I would argue that the problem of income equality is this unique problem driven by technology, driven by stats that come out of things like the mckinzy report and that is the enormous challenge of income insecurity. That change and that insecurity is coming from the changing nature of work. So what should we do . Let me try to offer you two areas where i think we should spend some time, some thought and i hope find ways to collaborate and partner. First, comes the responsibility to actually renew and revive our traditional social contracts. Our social contract in this country arose in the 20 century basically back in the 1930s and 1940s where there was a partnership that started between business, labor and government that said we are going to try to take care folks with benefits during changing times. Unfortunately that social contract is frayed and disproportionally that social contract is fraying for low to middle come americans who often get the short end of the stick and i believe we should be supporting innovations around the way we deliver benefits. We need to recognize the traditional work experiences in the 20 century and i will come back to this in a moment. It has to be altered to recognize the dramatic change in work. Second, and i say this and i saw my friend greg fisher earlier, i spent longer in the fiscal sector than i have been politics. I was very lucky to be an entrepreneur and did pretty well with cell phones. Im the guy that coinvented something called nextel so im the only politician that said even when im speaking and the cell phone goes on it doesnt bother me at all but even as someone in american capitalism way to recognize and i would acknowledge that 21st century capitalist in america capitalism and america is not working people. Quite honestly we now have incentives that favor investment in 20th century assets like equipment over the context of what 21st century capitalism should focus on which is the human being. Let me come back and spend a couple of moments in each of those topics. First lets look at the changing nature of work. Many of us in this room probably had parents that worked in a single job for more than 30 years. My dad is a classic example. He served in world war ii as a marine. He came back, never finished college, ended up going to work. He worked at a Single Company for 40 years. He never made a lot of money but he had job security. He had a whole set of benefits, health and retirement and while we were never rich we never worried about where the next meal would come or whether we could pay the rent and in his retirement he had a Retirement Plan and a set of benefits that if he had been laid off there would be things like unemployment, workmans comp or disability. My generation, we have a different system. Social contract altar. We move from fixed pensions to 401 k s but for the most part that 20th century social contract maintained even through the baby boomers. But now we are in the midst of i think one of the most dramatic and significant changes in our workforce and the nature of work that we have ever seen. The millennials have arrived. 83 million strong. Shortly the millennials become the majority of our countrys workforce. If you ask most millennials and i know if i ask my kids and they have talked to their friends they dont ask somebody where do you work . They ask you what are you working on . Thats a totally different mindset than most of us grew up with. Meanwhile our social insurance system, health care, retirement, unemployment, disability, workmans comp, all of those benefits that were created in the 20th century in the 30s and 40s we are the only industrial country in the world who still makes all those benefits contingent upon an individual being a fulltime traditional w2 employee. Yet, the whole nature of work is changing and today in 2018 not at some future state in 2030 were literally one third of all jobs are going going to change t today in 2018 if you take nothing else for my talk today remember this fact. One third of the American Work force today is working in some level of contingent work. You are either parttime, you were independent contractors entrepreneurs but you are not in the traditional Work Environment and an establishment. Most of your parents and many of you did most in your career. The fact is you know this better than most of us here in washington. You see it and you try to attract a new workspace. You see it in your interactions that i know you will have analyst later today. You see it as you try to wrestle with challenges around Ridesharing Companies for new startups by airbnb and others in terms of this new notion of work and how it manifests itself. The truth is any projection that is out there can show that one third of the workforce that is contingent today will move to over 50 of the American Workers by 2025 will be nontraditional fulltime permanent employment. Now to get this right i believe one of our most important responsibilities is to rethink the social contract. The area where we can do the most coordinating thinking is on creating affordable benefits systems. What that means is that every american starting with that first job at 16 should be able to collect some benefits and move those benefits as they move from job to job and allow that social safety net to follow them. What that looks like i dont know but it has to be won by government, i dont know. Frankly a lot of that in terms of that social benefit and the structure can be carried with you on the cell phone. But we have got to make sure we try experimentation and you guys at the city level are aware of this experimentation takes place. The federal level i want to partner. I have a bipartisan bill with senator young from indiana that would create portable benefits Pilot Program for states localities nonprofits. Im trying this kind of experimentation. The truth is we are already seeing some of the start. Last year in Washington State there was a bill put forward in the legislature that would create an affordable benefits system. A couple of days ago uber created a First Step Towards creating an important benefit system for their drivers and in new york city there has been work for three years right now in terms of trying to take the fund and move it to Ridesharing Companies. Nowhere was this experimentation take place more than at the city level and i want to find ways to partner through the second thing we need to look at is the whole notion of how we deal with human capital. The truth is even if we get this right on the social contract and allow people to move from job to job and have benefits that travel with them we are not going to be adequate for all of our people if we dont also recognize that the third of the American Workforce that needs to change jobs or change skills before 2030 if we dont have incentives align. That means we need to have a belief a real conversation about the notion of american capitalism. In 20th century our capitalism system basically said investment in plant and equipment, investment in r d trump investment in human capital. If you just think about the way we think about things you buy a piece of equipment you buy and the computer thats an asset but if you invest in someones training on an accounting basis that the cost. 20 century capitalism also was sams that the role of government and the role of education was to help prepare someone for that first job but once you got that first job weather was on the line are working in the corporate environment it then became the responsibility of the company to continue to upscale youth roared for your career. If you accept my premise that no one will work in the same job for 30 years if you look at the the we are constantly wanting to change careers and that approach of how incentives are aligned in the 20th century are going to work for the 21st century. The truth is we have a tax code that unfortunately we missed a huge opportunity from the socalled tax reform that was passed in december to realign. Candidly we could have ended up with repatriation had a requirement for those companies to put Training Programs in place for Older Workers at 80,000 a year but we didnt do that. So what we need to do is we need to think at the federal level and the state level on how we align incentives and i believe mostly the private sector should invest in human capital. Ive been working on legislation that the number of colleagues that takes the r d tax credit model which has been extraordinarily successful and use that r d tax credit model and provide that same type of tax credit not taxdeductible for meaningful investment in upscaling workers who make less than 80,000 a year. And lest we do that the right way we are not going to have a workforce that is truly prepared for this 21st century. I see the red light is flashing. I only have two more pages. Let me close it up with this. The truth is if we are going to get this right i believe we are going to need to change a lot of our political debate. If we think about affordable benefits im not sure whether thats a democrat or republican idea. If we think about changing our tax code to recognize that we have to treat investment in the human being in that same tax treatment that we get if we invest in research or piece of equipment im not sure whether that is left or right. I would argue the politics of the 21st century have a lot less to do with liberal versus conservative or left versus right and much more to do with future versus past. I cant think of anywhere where the rubber hits the road more than our nations system. My hope is he will continue your leadership and i i hope is in some small way those of us who think we have some ideas that contribute at the federal level that you will look for ways that we can partner whether its around affordable benefits are workforce training or around the 21st century infrastructure planning how we get that done. They are those of us frankly in both parties that want to get the job done by than simply blaming each other. Thank you for your leadership and i look forward to working together in thank you so much match for having me here today. [applause] senator warner thank you so very much. The entire day today we have spent talking about how to create jobs and how to put americans back to work. I think you like me are completely moved by how incredibly nontraditional for discussion has been today. I want you to think about it. We heard from addin newman who is an israeli immigrant who is coming to america to create thousands of jobs with a timely new concept about how the put people back to work. Steve case who started aol came and talked to us about how the pay for and finance it. Senator warner told me the world is changing so dramatically and we have to change with it and we have to invest in human capital. Of course you understand the only place in america where that discussion can take place is between and amongst mayors who can go back and say the world is changing but we are going to be in front of a rather it rather than behind it and frame it in the context of not let versus right and not republican versus democrat at the past and start doing the things because we can see it coming already because we are on the front lines. Now we have to testify to it. I think this next panel is going to be a wonderful way for us to finish but before we do that i want to introduce our sponsors for luncheon. F. Mcardle is an airbnb for the global network. Responsible for airbnbs global work which provides opportunities for Host Development Office Security experience for travelers and raises awareness for funds for local nonprofits. Please help me welcome her. [applause] mayor landrieu, thank you so much for having me. I wanted to start by introducing my dad wary and my brother. About six years ago i told them i was joining a small startup called airbnb. When i explained this model was for locals to open their homes to strangers travelers looking for a place to stay they started laughing. Thats a crazy idea. Six years later we are in over 191 countries in over 4 million homes across 65,000 cities. At the end of last year the number of guests who stay in an airbnb had reached 260 million guests. My dad now a retiree is a super host and hes welcoming guests from all over the world to his home and earning valuable supplemental income. The average u. S. Home hosts about 42 days a year approximately 7200. 71 are sharing their primary home, the home that they live in and 54 of those hosts have allowed them to keep their home and stay in their home. If you look at this map of d. C. You see those green dots are where the hold tells her located near capitol hill and the red dots are the homes on airbnb. They are spread across the four quadrants of d. C. This really illustrates the Economic Impact this is having on neighborhoods that dont traditionally benefit from tourism. Another example is rio. In 2016 we partnered with the city when they were hosting the olympic games. As a result 85,000 gas stayed in homes across rio and 30 million host earnings were earned by locals. Had those guests needed to stay in hotels that would have required the construction of 200 20057 hotels. Just think about that. 267 hotels. When these travelers come to the city it generates tax revenue for the city. Last year an airbnb had collected over ford and 69 million in occupancy taxes for the u. S. And cities are using them for important critical areas. What we have seen with the growing community of travelers who can stay in homes on airbnb, but they are looking for is a connection. They are looking to connect with locals and experience the city through the eyes of the olds. Thats why in 2016 we launched airbnb experiences. And now you dont even need to have a home to host pretty good host by sharing your interests to an audience of billions so be it cooking with a new york chef or urban gardening in l. A. These are experiences that like Small Businesses entrepreneurs and community nonprofits. In the case of nonprofits airbnb 100 goes to benefit the local nonprofit. Locals can now become entrepreneurs and generate supplemental income for neighbors who dont traditionally benefit from tourism. One year we have seen huge growth. We now have over or thousand experiences across 50 states and im personally very proud to say that over 60 of those homes are women. [applause] let me introduce you to one of those women now. People come through the doors and they are walking into a 100yearold round stone that is full of music and people. We have Music Masters who teach the repertoire. The airbnb experience gives us an opportunity to share the music with people from all over the world. Also helps our program. It is something that is lasting and want to make sure this never dies. Bet is five. She grew up in harlem. Now she is sharing with millions of people around the world. At a time when jobs are being replaced by robots and automation we are investing in self striping people. And just when you are a top 20 of those earning over 22,000 a year. This is only the beginning. This year we plan to expand to over 200 u. S. Cities and we are going to invest 5 million to make that happen. But we cant do this successfully without all of you. We would love to hear from you. If you would like to be one of these please contact us. You can reach us at mayor said airbnb. Com. We have a team over here and we will be at the summer meeting in austin to share some very exciting experiences with you then. We look forward to partnering with you on the future of travel. Thank you. [applause] thank you so much. Me introduce Jpmorgan Chase company irene baker who is Vice President for global philanthropy irene the firms 150 milliondollar commitment to detroit and the Global Cities initiative. Irene thank you so much for being with us. [applause] thank you very much. Its a pleasure to be here. Thank you to the u. S. Conference of mayors tom cochran and mayor landrieu. You have been great partners and great leaders. We were just in new orleans for the executive leaders meeting with general odierno was a special adviser to Jpmorgan Chase in the local cities initiative. As the mayor mentioned i am part of the Corporate Responsibility group that Jpmorgan Chase. We call it the city strategy. It is new. Ive been at this job for about a year and a half up when i think about it is not really new periods based on the lot of the great work that Jpmorgan Chase has been doing there are four foundation in their business for a really long time. I dont have to tell this group that cities are the key drivers of Economic Growth. The senator mentioned it. Where people are, 60 of people in the cities and 80 live in urban areas so this is where challenges are often their most acute. Whether its income disparity, job growth, housing, Public Safety all of these issues are touching the cities and you guys are on the front lines. I think we have all come to recognize that these require a comprehensive and collaborative approach. The government cant do it alone alone. You drive incredible change but it requires partnership with the private sector, the Business Community, nonprofits and foundations. Jpmorgan believes the Business Community has a real responsibility to invest in the communities we serve but to help cities think about the bigger economic and social issues that you are facing. As more and more people are being left behind we need to Work Together to think about how to address these complex challenges. Economic growth and social equity are not usually exclusive and so at jpmorgan as we think about how we approach responsibilities we take a comprehensive proactive and very strategic approach. We are a local firm with global reach. We have incredible customers and we want to bring all those resources they are to your cities. So we all know driving Economic Growth and a inclusive growth covers a wide spectrum of issues to jpmorgan focuses on four of those key drivers Workforce Development which we have heard a lot about today, financial health, individual financial health, Small Business expansion and Community Development and neighborhood stabilization. So we brought in experts. Some of you may have been at the panel earlier this week with my partner and your former colleague and former home secretary and urban land institute. For us its not just about capital although we know thats important. It really is about leveraging our core businesses. Leveraging the talent of our people and thats not just their bankers. We are talking about our marketing folks and their h. R. People and bringing them into nonprofit to build capacity. We know we have to invest in the Community Organizations to really drive longterm success. That means market taste approaches. That means making sure the capital we invest back into the community and other nonprofit and the so its not just our dollars but we create a cycle of prosperity. The mayor mentioned detroit is our signature investment and we just rolled out a similar strategy in chicago and washington d. C. What i would say is we didnt go into a saying we have 150 million. We spent real time in the city figuring out what the challenges were talking to partners on the ground in figuring out how we target residents. The same is true in other places and mayor duggan was a big part of our decision to invest. As we think about how we approach other markets in other cities Jpmorgan Chase, my role role, we have incredible investments in cities across the country so how do we bring those together to have more impact and how do we bring other people to the table to say this is the right thing to do. The water is warm and we should all be investing together and partnering across private sector, Public Sector and nonprofit foundations. As we think about the 35 cities where we have significant philanthropic businesses and where we think we might be growing and we have announced we are going to be expanding our resale business to a number of cities so we are excited to partner with people in this room and beyond and how we can help drive equity and make sure there isnt a difference between Economic Growth and social equity so thank you very much. [applause] thank you irene. One of the Silver Linings and there arent many actually the current level of chaos in our politics is a growing desire for the new ideologies that force collaboration and compromise. I know for some of this seems far off. All of us in this room believe there are solutions that can unite us as a country. When mayor rawlings introduced me to the new center we thought this would make a great panel to close out this are what incredible winter meeting. We know that our conference is a shining example of bipartisanship that im please to just have my colleagues are republican or democrat to introduce our next session. Please help me look mayor giles and mayor rawlings who been strong and forceful advocates for agenda and have worked closely with all the mayors to push our agenda forward. I invite them up to introduce our next panel. Come on up. [applause] thank you mitch for a great and very substantial meeting. Like mayors do in their cities everyday we certainly have covered a broad and diverse number of topics and literally sitting around the table with their democrat and republican colleagues. I hope the example we have set for colleagues in washington will rub off in some way and im certain discussions with partners like the new center will help us make her case that there are more areas of agreement when they talk and listen to each other. I urge every mayor here to review the work of no crystalline bill gaston the beautiful book that is sitting at your table and consider them a resources you see Common Sense Solutions that will make our city stronger. Thank you. [applause] thank you, mayor. Thank you for your leadership match. You are doing it right job. This has been a great conference and we are continuing to unite our conference the same way you united new orleans in the country during tough times. Aristotle said that the virtue is the mean between two extremes points of view. I think we believe that. We understand rather than getting caught up in political currents that disparage government or really look at how converging views are wrong, mayors try to find Common Ground as we have seen lately and try to be the Reasonable Voice of national politics. The new center that you are going to hear from coal less by bill kristol of the Weekly Standard and bill golson of the brookings institution, people that didnt think they would come together for a new center view of policy proposals that can bring us i think together in our cities and our country. I am a passionate radical centrist. Im a member of an Organization Called no labels and its democrats and republicans. I went to an event at mike got to see one of their sessions last year. I thought theres no better audience than mayors that believe this. The upcoming discussion features those leaders. Both named bill sold the easy to keep them in charge here and it will be moderated by evan ryan the executive Vice President of axios though many in this room know who will work as the public liaison for Vice President i do and assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs. At axios avenues leading the team that delivers news in a way that rakes through the noise of misinformation that gives people trustworthy and accessible content. I think this is a very intelligent lunch and i have our day learned stuff that i think we will take it to the next level. Lets go to bill and bill and evan. Thank you. [applause] thank you. Its good to see you. Thank you so much. Thank you mayor rawlings for the introduction and mayor mayor giles and thank you mayor landrieu for hosting us today and im thrilled to be here with you with an audience full of mayors who have to be on the front lines every single day and govern. That is why we are thrilled to have the two bills as i have read we can call you, with us. The first question i have and im sure the audience has the new center and the two of you from opposite sides of the aisle one of the Clinton White house veteran and one of which white house veteran not the natural to people we would see working together came together in the wake of last years election and launched a new center in september of 2017. Tell us about that verse conversation and who approached whom and what happened. First of all thanks for having us here and im very impressed by them air rawlings quoting aristotle in the introduction of a spray the last time i heard aristotle mentioned was when i was and donald trump the other day. I apologize. I apologize but it was relevant. We did the panel a few years ago during the clinton election in 92 analyzing it for the students at harvard. Our analysis and talking afterwards it turned out our concerns in the country at this new moment coincided more than they have in the past. We have always had courts of disagreements but we are now having more cordial agreements and so we decided it was worth trying this little project. It doesnt claim to be wildly original thinking. I think there did turn out to be some virtue. Bill has been a democrat the same amount of time and work on the Mondale Campaign before it came to washington. Just working together in proving that it can be done. I think its very important what you do and the example you set. I dont think contrary to what mark warner or mitch said one could hope washington will follow your models. All the more important to the citizens to see examples of serious and hopefully successful governance that is done with civility and an honest attempt make Public Policy issues and resolve and be serious about implementing them avoiding demagoguery in avoiding inciting angrand resentment and even hatred. I think its a serious nature. They was on a panel on a cable tv show and lamenting what it happened lamenting trumps response. Two or three days will john kelly be able to persuade him . I got exasperated exasperated exasperated. There are other leaders and other elected officials by the governor of virginia and the mayor of charlotte and other mayors ended our case Terry Mcauliffe and im a republicans so i say the governor step forward and provided a model for citizens that was very useful. I wish you good luck in your efforts to work with washington but i really do want to say honestly i think what you do on the ground there regardless of what happens in washington is. Thats an interesting question. I think the answer is yes. The problem were trying to deal with antiquated the 2016 election for a long time. We been building towards this for the better part of two decades. People up have been writing about a promise that amount of time. What is new comments that bill and i have been playing political tennis for 30 years. After 2016 we realize someone move the net. It was pretty startling. You may pick a where bill left off. Its important to say that one of the people who step forward during this difficult time when charlottesville was the mayor of new orleans when he did us all proud, we notice that. Thank you very much. [applause] i should also say, very much the spirit that bill spoke, it is a pleasure to be talking with a group of people who have to take responsibility every day for what they do and for the results. Believe me, if that measure of immediate responsibility were as intense and pervasive here as it was in your cities, we might not need this conversation. Are we having it, the answer is that the federal government, senator want to set it out to be a good partner with you. We have been paralyzed for a long time for hyperpolarization, the American People earn innocent but they are not nearly as polarized as to partisan d. C. A Gallup Survey showed that three times as many americans, regardless of party prefer compromise to get things done over standing on principle. Thats true for democrats, republicans, and independents. Without abandoning what you care about, can you compromise in the name of solving peoples problems . The whole point is, yes, you can. Thats what the mayors as well. They have to work toward solutions. They cannot afford to have that hyperpolarization. Two people sitting onstage to washington better than anyone. What would your by. Guest mayors who come here to advance the citys agendas in this climate, capitol hill and in the administration . Was the best advice . Have a good time in washington. Enjoy the fine restaurants, one of the puzzling things that happened to one of the things that is happened is a huge concentration of power towards leadership on the hill and polarization between the parties. The effects is that congressman senators show appear to take an interest in certain issues. Either they had an interest or they were uncertain committees are district said certain issues close to home. When they were trying to see what they could do. Sometimes is partisan, sometimes it was bipartisan. Like what mark warner mentioned he was doing with todd young. They would try to advance legislation. Eventually you had to get the blessing of the leadership. I noticed how much less of that there seems to be. People, theyre intimidated. There told to rubberstamp what the leadership wants and then they cast votes against. But the notion that your congressman and senators should get together in advance something it doesnt have to be part of a cr anything wrapped into massive plan, you can do discrete things that would help the situation. Congress has lost sight of that. I personally would try to corner my congressman or senator and say when they cant do that because leadership is an onboard say see what you can do. Maybe leadership will get on board. So little bit more entrepreneurship by members of congress would be good. I agree with that. The man my own word of advice, for what its worth. This is a difficult environment. No doubt about that. In order to be effective, you need to pick your spots carefully, try to achieve maximum unity in your own ranks, and figure out what the grain of the possible is. Where can you go where you have a chance to make progress. Heres a specific example, if you look at Public Opinion surveys of what the American People care about what the agenda should be, there are differences between democratic partisans in the Largest Group of all, independence but there is one area where theres no disagreement, that is that are countries crumbling around her ears and its time to do what we havent done enough of, and that is invest in the physical infrastructure of this country. Everybody believes that because they can see it. Guess what, the president campaigned in 2016 on a promise to increase infrastructure investment. Its not a wildly popular promise with everybody in his own party but he keeps on teasing us with the promise that they will come up with an infrastructure plan and make it public. Sometime in the next four weeks you will have an infrastructure proposal from the white house. I suspect you will like some parts and not others. But if there is ever a time to get together around an issue to make a difference and renew the broken partnership, he would be around this issue. This issue, this year, right here. We want to get to our mayors in the audience. The microphone circulating if you have questions. These were openly questions to mayors. If you would introduce yourself and your city for the two bills appear. The first question is always the hardest. It seems obvious to every mayor and theres room, that infrastructure is the number one issue. There is, ground in america its clear with a 5 trilliondollar deficit everything is trump crumbling. We need to fix it. What do you think its taken so long for congress to keep that issue of intake and meaningful step forward would you think the debate will go from the initial offer . It depends on what the initial offer is. We dont know. Weve heard everything from 200 billion to a trillion. But the central problem of what im about to say will not surprise a single mayor, who is going to pay for, there are all sorts of policy architectures. I suspect is an architectural matter we could get there quickly. But a substantial portion has been financed to the gas tax. The last time that was increased was almost a quarter of a century ago. Because of disagreements among states and urban states versus rural states, from states that have already increased their gas taxes and those who havent its been difficult to organize a majority in washington around the gas tax. Another possibility discussed across party lines for two yea years, was money repatriated into the United States when the tax code was changed to deal with overseas assets. Some of that money would be used to Fund Infrastructure investments. Unfortunately, that money has been dedicated to other purposes. The spirit of nonpartisanship was a know more about that. Now, with a large federal deficit made larger by the tax bill. And with no immediate prospects of a gas tax increase, wheres the money for infrastructure going to come from . If we can solve that problem we can unlock the entire legislative puzzle. Do either of you have you been an intellectual leader of the conservative movement for some time. Congress just passed 1. 5 trillion tax cut. Because it will create Economic Growth and thats what the argument was. Can you make a conservative case for increasing the gas tax in order to invest in infrastructure for Economic Growth . Yes. Making a conservative case for carbon tax which would address concerns about climate change, Global Warming and from a conservative point of view if it doesnt increase the size of the government from being a tradeoff. A separate issue but its amazing how in all this massive tax debate no one wants to cut the one tax that affects the most americans the most which is the payroll tax. The tax on labor. Especially now its a tax that encourages you to invest in machines and much less in human capital. Its a bad sign for system. Either party has had great interest in thinking about ways to relieve that tax on workingclass americans. The only thing i would add, i think infrastructure is a big word is probably the case that some needs are more urgent than others. Heres what we need in my city, these two highways are crumbling some things are falling apart. The obama stimulus a lot of it was stimulus. I really an expert on this. And when you fly around the country get the sense that a lot of them are fine and 45 of your given tell me im wrong. Maybe you need the money for x and upper why. It hurts to say infrastructure and expect everyone to know the subject. Or to say infrastructure, lets just do that. More concrete example of what it will go for what it wont go for. Doesnt seem like we been shy in building sports stadiums for the last 15 years, some financed by taxpayers and some not. Maybe that money as well and bested to produce a huge return. Inclusive growth is a promise in your book. Conservative sounds like a progressive thought. How did you get passive around exclusive growth and what is that mean from a conservative fiscal point of view. Its not good for the country. I was joking about one of aristotles core teaching is a healthy for society. Its one thing when we think of third world countries were democracy is sometimes precarious and have super wealthy elites in inherited money and little opportunity at the bottom. The girl that provides opportunities for those who start off less advantage. I do think there are technological changes and other things which probably make it harder the what it was 50 years ago to construct economic policies for that matter. For it to really do help those lower down. Its conservative to have that as a goal. The means approach to that goal might be for me breaking up the choice and competition the School System and things that are more conservative policy. Were there publicsector impediments of difficult situation. So which one remain the most. Which residential policies. Quite a lot of evidence that make it hard for people to move to places weathers great opportunities for growth. There startup businesses which can hire a lot of people. You dont want stanford graduates to start at higher level in the kids from california state, San Bernardino not be able to live to get on the letter. So, there are million policies that can be debated. Its a conservative golds want to have strong opportunity strong mobility and a strong middleclass. We have been talking about political unity. Its hard to have political unity in the face of deep economic division. Thats what were facing today. Not just class division, salsa geographical division. As the structure of the vote made very clear, its not healthy for cities in the country to have a start political divide between the city and the countryside. I was pleased that senator Warner Center brookings statistics about the breakdown of the relationship between cities and rural areas in the concentration of Economic Opportunity and fewer places. For the other 2600 counties that are languishing, or turning into two americas. Thats not good for either america. We need to think very hard about the inclusion, not just of the excluded people but excluded places in the opportunity that ought to be america. We have time for one more question. I have one less somebody in the audience has one. What are the chances that housing and particularly addressing homelessness could be considered part of the Infrastructure Solution . Anything is possible. But not great. I have to say, breaking my pledge for the second time, that the task spill went backwards on affordable housing. I think every mayor knows that. It will be less tax imitators for builders to include this in their mix. I wish i was optimistic about that. Im not. Im afraid thats a problem in your laps now and will stay there unless theres america on capitol hill. The tax bill i was not a fan of this bill. There were reasonable parts of it, the degree to which the Republican Party passed entirely with republican votes. I was able to jam this with Party Loyalty without input from republicans in this room or around the country. I not republicans, obviously of what really our priorities and problems. Im a little struck by that. Nothing is forever. If the democrats when the house therell be an attempt to revise the tax code. It could be even in 2018. Though be a vehicle to do certain things. Theres also weird sense that i find it among younger members that we resolve that issue so i guess thats off the table. Thats not how it works. Use a bunch of legislation coming up. I would say we dealt with that last year, fix it this year. Reagan passed a taxcut navy wanted it was good for the country, was a tax policy around the world. In 1982 Ronald Reagan signed a tax bill that fix raise problems and corrected some overstepping. I would not up on an issue because people tell you that was dealt with two months ago. Were just about out of time. We actually got a copy of the president s infrastructure for player. Looks like 1 trillion, possibly 1. 7 trillion but they might flip the funding and ask state locality, with 80 . No problem at all. Spanked only pay for 90 already. Im just the messenger. My last question, were sitting here one year from now, predictions . Anything you predict . Is everything now are predictable . It safer to say everythings unpredictable. Did anyone predict the headline and last nights ran unpredictable territory. Thank you so much. [applause] the appropriations and budget reporter for political. Now that congresses has bought itself so whats the status on the immigration and daca talks . Next week is supposed to be the opening of the immigration bill. The white house is supposed to have meetings with congressional negotiators to try to move the dreamers and daca talks ahead
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