Well, good morning, everyone. What a pleasure to see a full crowd here tonight. I mentioned to the president that i was worried about the crowd showing up and he said dont worry, theyll be here. Its like field of dreams, they will come. We built it. Thank you for coming out and braving the roads this morning. My name is gary greg, the director of Mcconnell Center, and its been a pleasure of mine to be able to work with the students of the Mcconnell Scholars Program and many of you in the audience over the last 17 years. Over those years weve had some of the most consequential leaders in America Today visited with us, spoken to us here at the university of louisville and i think that today is no exception to that. We have been able to host, for instance, moments of historic importance like vicepresident biden here the day that mubarak resigned in egypt. And we broke news and had some very important things happen in the louisville tarmac that morning. Secretary of state colin powell delivered his first public address as secretary of state here at the Mcconnell Center in 2001 just after 9 11. David petraeus gave his only public speech as cia director here at the Mcconnell Center and many of you were here for some of those events. Today, i think at this important moment in american history, we will make history again by having the two leaders of the United States senate here today on a very important day in the United States senate. Ladies and gentlemen, would you please rise and help me welcome the interim president of the university of louisville, greg postle, the majority leader of the United States Senate Mitch Mcconnell and the democrat leader of the United States senate, chuck schumer. [applaus [applause]. [applause] good morning, thank you so much, dr. Gregg, for the introduction and for all of your hard work orchestrating this event. Leaders mcconnell and schumer and all in attendance on behalf of the students, faculty, and staff and alumni of the university of louisville, its my sincere pleasure to welcome you here this morning. Thank you for braving the slick roads to attend this muchanticipated event. Universities and colleges benefit in so many ways from their graduates. Some distinguish themselves in their personal and professional careers and thereby increase the influence of their universities. Others continue to give to their alma mater, giving their time, talent and treasure to be sure that the missions and the principles of the university are able to go forth and be bolstered. Were happy to say the person i am privileged to introduce this morning falls into both categories. Leader Mitch Mcconnell graduated with honors from the university of louisville with a degree in Political Science in 1964 and then went on to receive his law degree from the university of kentucky in 1967. In 1977 he was elected to his first of two terms as Jefferson County judge executive, a post he held until 1985 when he was elected to the United States senate. He has served continuously since that time and is kentuckys senior senator. From 2007 until 2015 he served as the minority leader in the senate and then since 2015 has serveds a the senates majority leader. Those who know Mitch Mcconnell know that hes truly passionate about his alma mater. The cornerstone of his legacy is the Mcconnell Center, which today is managed beautifully by gary gregg who you met earlier this morning. The mission of the Mcconnell Center is to identify, recruit, and nurture kentuckys next generation of leaders. The validities are those of leadership, scholarship, and service. The Mcconnell Scholars Program is home to 40 of the brightest undergraduate students in the state of kentucky who are selected for their ability and their distinguished High School Careers and who have an opportunity to study honors courses, participate in key programs to develop leadership capabilities, and also do some of their study abroad. The Mcconnell Center also is home to the Public Lecture series which we enjoy this morning. The idea is to invite influential political leaders, business executives, and accomplished scholars to the College Campus to help enrich and inform the campus community. Senator mcconnell has been very clear about his desire to bring to this series a wide variety of speakers over the years who represent many disciplines and many philosophies, so as to make sure that the dialog is diverse, which, of course, is interesting with the goals of the university. With that said, my sincere gratitude to leader Mitch Mcconnell and i welcome him this morning as he introduces todays keynote speaker. [applaus [applause] well, thank you very much, and i want to express my gratitude on behalf of all of us affiliated with u of l for your service, as acting president here and youve done, in my view, a seamless job of plugging the gap in this period that weve had here between president s. And i also want to single out gary gregg. When this program started in the early 90s, i really had no idea it could develop into what it has become and gary, youre the reason for that and i thank you. Gary came here in 2000 and took it to a whole new level and i hope youll join me in thanking gary gregg for the great job hes done. [applaus [applause] weve had a lot of interesting speakers here over the years. In my view, none more interesting than our guest this morning. [laughte [laughter] chuck schumer, of course, is from brooklyn, born and raised. His dad owned an exterminator business and one of chucks siblings remembered that we always associated the smell of triple x roach spray with love. It was his hard work, day in and day out that took this kid from brooklyn to the worlds greatest deliberative body the United States senate. And while last year Time Magazine named him one of the to its distinguished list of 100 most influential people. After graduating from harvard law school, chuck was elected to the new York State Assembly at the age of 23. About the same age as the graduates in this program. In his memoir chuck remembered his parents, actually didnt want him to run. They thought the life of a corporate lawyer would be respectable. [laughter] and more comfortable. Well, chuck, ive got to say my life would be a lot easier if youd only listened to your parents. [laughte [laughter] since that first electoral victory hes kept a perfect batting average, never losing a single election. Came to congress in 1981 and has served in both the house and the senate earning a reputation for tireless effort on behalf of the people of new york. A lot of people talk about working hard so that chuck has taken it to a whole new level. I mean, there is nobody that works harder than this guy. The Washington Post once wrote, work has always been schumers ace in the hole. Members of the Congress Said they passed his pet bills because he wouldnt quit peststering him. When the senate convened for the 115th Congress Last year, he became the first new yorker to serve as Senate Democratic leader. And he lives with his wife an accomplished woman of her own right and no matter how much time he spends in washington he never lets anybody forget where hes from. In our jobs and our leadership roles i get to work closely with him every single day. We negotiate the legislative schedule, nominations and other important Public Policy matters before the senate. As a majority and minority leaders were kind of like the offensive and defensive coordinators. Ive had both roles. As coach pet pettorino can tell you offensive coordinator is better. Washington can i often think they teach them in Journalism School that conflict is the news. But the senate is collegial place, we dont dislike each other, we can Work Together, and we have a long history of robust debates over the history of this country. I have to remind students from time to time anything you may have heard us say about each other pales in comparison to what adams and jefferson said about each other. We have yet a single incident where a congressman from South Carolina came over and almost beat to death a senator from massachusetts with a cane. So, robust debate is not unusual, been going on in this country for a very long time, but at every critical moment in this country, weve come together to do what needed to be done, to move the ball down the field. Now, a lot of people probably look at chuck and me and conclude something very different, but, in fact, its a great tradition of Senate Leaders working together. In 1990, George Mitchell and bob dole worked together to pass with the americans with disabilities act. Trent lott and tom daschle wrote a book together after they left the senate in the early 2000s. One of the most visible ways that chuck and i are seen together is every day when the senate floor opens for business. After the prayer and the pledge of allegiance, each of us has the opportunity to offer opening remarks detailing our views of the bits of the day. Traditionally, i speak first followed by the democratic leader. About you now that we have this show on the road, im the warmup act and i am thrilled to have my good friend, the democratic leader of the senate here this morning. Join me in welcoming chuck schumer. [applaus [applause] thank you. Thank you, everybody. [applaus [applause] its so great to be here with you. What a wonderful room and thank you, mitch, for that kind and generous introduction. We really do get along, despite what you read in the press. Now, as mitch will tell you, i all the like to start off with a little story, a little joke. My colleagues sometimes say no one laughs harder at my jokes than i do. But so this is a story its actually dedicated to my parents. I am blessed, my dad is 94, my mom is 89, praise god, and my dad as mitch mentioned struggled his whole life. He had this little exterminating business, it wasnt very successful, but when at age 70 he retired, my brother, who is a corporate lawyer and the financially successful schumer bought them a little house in florida. So, every winter theyd drive their car down to florida had a great time. My dad never played golf before, they took up golf and see their friends down there and had a good time. As they got older, things changed a little bit. My dad couldnt golf anymore and many of their friends passed on so they needed something to do. So Florida Atlantic University Offers any Senior Citizen is allowed to take a course for free. So, my parent enrolled in the course called humor. Now, what was that . Every thursday at 4 p. M. Theyd roll up to Florida Atlantic university, go to the course called humor and what was it . Some erstwhile comedian who never made it in the catskills told jokes and my dad said college was easy i should have gone and they called each week with their favorite jokes and this is one of them. Mrs. Walters is brought before the judge and the judge rolls his eyes. Mrs. Walters, youre back. Yes, your honor, im back. What did you steal this time, mrs. Walters . Your honor, i stole a can of peaches from a supermarket down the road. The judge is exasperated. He said, look, i know youre a kepto maniac, i know its an illness and i know you cant help yourself and you can easily afford a can of peaches. This is march youve been arrested for shoplifting 17 times already and i have no choice, but to sentence you to some time in jail. Now, how many peaches were in the can, mrs. Walters . Your honor, there were four peaches in the can. And i have no choice im going to sentence you to four nights in jail, one for each peach. Hes about to bang the gavel and pronounce center when a gentlemen in the courtroom gets up agitated, your honor, may it please the court, im her husband. She also stole a can of peas . [laughter] so when you students all get old enough to retire and move to florida, you can enroll in at Florida Atlantic university and call your children and regail them with jokes. Anyway, its great to be here and i want to recognize at the beginning this Incredible Group of young scholars. You are going to have a positive and Lasting Impact on your state, on your country. Give yourselves a round of applause. You are our future. [applaus [applause] the scholars are so good i recruit them. One of the wonderful mcconnell scholars, jack, will be an intern in my d. C. Office this summer. Jasper, are you here . [applaus [applause] credit also goes, of course, to the great director of the Mcconnell Center, gary gregg, whos done an outstanding job at the helm for almost two decades. And finally, id like to thank my friend and he truly is, my friend Mitch Mcconnell, for this gracious invitation. I really respect and appreciate what mitch and his wife elaine have accomplished here at the Mcconnell Center. Nurturing the next generation of bright kentucky leaders. In new york, particularly in upstate new york, ive worked hard to support our network of worldclass public universities and tried to attract companies that would keep the Young Students in new york once they graduated. That is indeed just what the Mcconnell Center does, among other things, for kentucky and you should be very, very proud. Now, much of the coverage about Mitch Mcconnell and me, as he mentioned, focuses on the differences between us and the two states we represent, but the truth is, there are plenty of things that link mitchs hometown of louisville with my hometown of brooklyn. Take basketball, for instance, i know mitch is a huge fan of his alma mater. Every monday id come back and say how is louisville doing . Where are they in the rankings . I dont ask him this year as much. [laughte [laughter] , but i didnt want to miss this opportunity, that two of the three louisville basketball teams ever to win the National Championship were led by new yorkers. In 1980 it was the mcrae brothers, rodney and scooter from mt. Vernon in westchester county. In 2013, kevin ware and smith from the bronx in brooklyn and this year, jordan wora is from the great city of buffalo. So you never know. Here is another thing you might not realize we have in common. Bourbon. It turns out that brooklyn, where i was born, raised and still proudly live, produces some of the best bourbon in the world. I know thats a contentious thing to say in these parts, but i think its true. Now, this particular bourbon will james, is disspilled right around the apartment around the corner from the apartment where ive lived, my wife iris and i have lived more than 30 years. Its filtered through the same limestone that was used to build some of new yorks iconic structures, from the brooklyn bridge, to the statue of liberty, and as a thank you for his invitation, id like to give this bottle. [applaus [applause] brooklyn bourbon. Guest now, mitch and i dont agree on a lot of things, as you just heard im sure hell never agree that new york bourbon even counts as bourbon, but when we need to come together to solve our countrys problems and most pressing issues, we can and do successfully Work Together. As the longest serving leader of the Senate Republican caucus, he understands the pressure that every leader faces, including me, im new at the job. We try our best to understand each other, to never ask things that are impossible of the other, to be honest and respectful, to work in good faith and try to meet the middle wherever possible. Now, thats how we get things done in the senate. Sometimes it doesnt happen. Its no secret i didnt agree with the way health care and tax legislation were considered in the senate, for example. But sometimes it does happen. Late last week, for instance, in the early hours of friday morning, the Senate Passed a twoyear budget deal that provides significant investments in our military and in our middle class, including funding to fight opioid epidemic, and relief the student loan burden so many young people carry with them. Its a significant achievement, a genuine bipartisan breakthrough and shows in very Divisive Political climates, the senate can be the place where the business of the nation gets done. Last april mitch and i cut our first budget deal and then sanctions against president putin for his interference in our 2016 election and now we have this twoyear budget agreement which hopefully will lead the way, mitch is an appropriator, they never let me on the appropriations committee, that we can do appropriation bills throughout this year and the next where genuine bipartisanship happens every, every day. We have proven the senate can function when both parties work in a bipartisan way and endeavor to forego compromises. This week, the senate will have an opportunity to build on that progress. The senate is poised to take up one of the very most contentious of issues, immigration. Leader mcconnell, to his credit, has promised an open process thats fair to both sides. Democrats and republicans are laboring to find a bill to protect the dreamers and provide Border Security and garner 60 votes. Through the stormy waters. I believe it can get weve shown that the senate can lead before and it must do so again. The house is fractured. The president is the president. And the senate, is the senate that has the potential to act as a beacon of stable leadership and process in a political culture plagued by gridlock , indecision and we have a special obligation to this country. The senate, where each individual senator is empowered with the rights of the minority are not only respected but cherished by the rules made bipartisanship, not just by goal, its practically a necessity. In the senate, you all know what president washington called it. A blooming saucer for the hotkey of politics which can lead the senate through difficult times. If there was ever a time when our politics needed a cooling sauce, it is now. That is what our history teaches us. We begin this week on immigration but im sure it wont be the last issue on which the leadership in the senate is required. I am hopeful that the same spirit that led mitch and i to a budget deal, that spirit of bipartisanship and compromise, putting country before party will lead us through immigration and the many challenges to come. As you know, abe lincoln said the best thing for politicians to do is tell stories and i like to do that. When youre around as long as ive been, youve got a whole lot of them. I thought id conclude by telling you young folks how got i got into politics. The question i get most asked when i go to campus. Mitch came out with a book that documents his journey into politics so its only fair. Unlike many of you and unlike mitch, as a High School Senior i had no idea that politics would end up being my life. I went to a workingclass high school in brooklyn, James Madison high school. My father was an exterminator, didnt go to college but from that workingclass high school in 1967 i got into harvard. That didnt happen very often. I got into two reasons. I was a decent, not great basketball player. In madison, our teams motto at madison was we may be small but we are slow. But second, i had to get a job when i was 14 to help my family. And it was a Madison High School teacher advertising for somebody to run something called a mimeo machine. How many of you young people have ever heard of it . Neither had my daughters but there was a day before xerox machines whenyou would take a stencil and put it on a clunky machine with rollers. I got the job. What was the new business at Madison High School teacher . He had this brilliant idea. He was going to prepare students for the sats. What was his name . Kaplan. 30 years later and a Great American success story, sold the business to the Washington Post but i went and worked there at nights, weekends, holidays id work the machine. The business took off so we gotan electric machine and as the machine went around and around , i read the preparatory materials over and over and i took five apps and i got for 100s. So the guidance counselor said you should apply to harvard, youre an athlete with 800. I was scared because no one like me went to harvard in those days. It was 80 percent private school so i went to the one guy from my high school whod been to harvard and he was a basketball player and i said how am i going to make it at this place . He said try out for the freshman basketball team. They are terrible and youll make it. He said, those will be your friends that you will hang out with. So its the fourth day of tryouts and were wearing these little numbers. Coach calls me up, number 27, you are schumer. You went to madison, house coach soandso . And he looks at me and said you played forward . How tall are you . I said im six foot one, sir. He said,can you dribble . I said thats not my strong suits her. He said go home. He didnt watch me touch of all. I was distraught, wrote wrote my mom a note saying i should have gone to Brooklyn College and im coming home monday. That night someone knocks on my door. How would you like to join the Harvard Young democrats . We are working for a man named Eugene Mccarthy who is running in the New Hampshire primary against lynch and johnson on the basis that the vietnam war was a mistake. I didnt have a political bone in my body, my mother was a democrat and i was against the war so i said okay. The next morning i got on a bus, went up to New Hampshire with a bunch of kids from the whole boston area and i loved it. It was like sports. You write are only slits, not on the doors, we had a great time. It was so good that i was given a high title in the Mccarthy Campaign in the nashua New Hampshire office because they had to mimeo machines and i knew how to run them. It was a ramshackle campaign. If you remember your history, mccarthy didnt quite win the primary. He came within three or four points but lyndon johnson, a man who i admire in a rare act of humility saw the handwriting on the wall and said week later im notgoing to run. I said to myself wow. A group of students and other assorted nobodies, a ramshackle campaign and we toppled the most powerful man in the world . What a system we have. This is what i want to dedicate my life to. So for the rest of my days ive been interested in politics and have been an elected official since ive been 23 and my dad, he would take sunday nights in his exterminating business and my sister and i, he hated going to work monday morning. To this day i wake up monday morning and i love going to work. Thank you very much for the opportunity to address you. [applause] thank you senator schumer. Senator schumer has agreed to take questions. I know from your audience that just turned in cards and Mary Kay Lindsay and hannah washington will take turns asking questions. Good morning senator, thanks for being here i dont see where you are, mary kay . First question from the audience, theres been talk of a blue wave of democrats winning seats in the midterms. If this is to happen, what are the biggest obstacles democrats must overcome before that time . I think that our goal and i have said this publicly i think in 2016 we didnt do enough of this. People will make their own decisions about donald trump. You do know that in off year elections its often and referendum on the president. Right now his popularity levels are low particularly in states and districts where they are contested races. But our mistake i think, we cannot just run against donald trump and it is the job of we democrats to put together a strong, cohesive , Economic Group of proposals aimed at the middle class and those struggling together theres a lot of discontent in america. People dont have faith in the future. In other words, i read this, even at the height of the great depression, when Median Income was much lower than in the last 10 years it went down 10 million, people had more hope for the future. Thats our job as democrats. Weve always been the of Economic Advancement and we may have lost some side of that so we proposed a whole bunch of proposals, three of which partially got into the budget agreement that mitch and i came to in the senate and the house voted on, trying to reduce the cost of the Student Loans that so many of you willcarry on your backs , and Franklin Roosevelt said in the 30s that every rural home to get electricity, it was a necessity. We democrats believe every rural home should have broadband and we are endeavoring to do that and theres an initial amount of money to start doing that in the country and third, child care. These days , with so many families where both parents work or singleparent families, and hard to work and what you do with the kids . You want good childcare for your children and weve double the amount that went into the bipartisan childcare act asked by Lamar Alexander and my good friends in the senate, a Tennessee Republican and patty murray, democrat of washington. Thats what we have to focus like a laser on. Its very important for the country as well as four seats in the house. Thank you senator. Thank you for your time this morning. This person would like to know, you feel theres a lack of leadership in Politics Today and would you define what you think a servant leader is . I dont know what a servant leader is, i guess thats in a book somewhere. Who wrote the question . What is a servant leader . [inaudible] well, yes. I think that alltoo often in our Politics Today , talk is replaced, it replaces action. Thats not a good thing. And to have people who, the people i think, the senate is an interesting place. Its only 100 people and i like to tell my colleagues to look into the souls of people , to see who they are. Its very hard in a body that works so closely with so few members to hide who you are. And i think the senators that have the most respect are the people who get things done, not the people who make the most flamboyant or even fine speeches. So i think that role has always been important. These days, with so much press magnification of the small and trivial things, that ultimate value of being a servant leader is very important and i think we have a good bunch of them in the senate. And if you ask me who every one of my colleagues are, of course. Thank you. Automation is a challenge in the changing economy. As automation increases into the 21st century, we may see fewer jobs. What do you believe is the answer . Thats a great question, people of all political spectrums struggle with this and its a very, very difficult issue. Its not certain that efficiency and automation will reduce jobs. Some have argued, some economists say it will increase jobs. The classic example is amazon knots out a lot of small stores but then hires loads of people in their warehouses. But i think its a real worry, not just of leadership but of the average american. How are my kids going to have a good paying job . This is a difficult issue that i havent heard good answers to that i do think and i dont know how to get there, ive begun thinking about this that certain jobs, im going to take a minute on this. In an ideas economy, wealth tends to agglomerate not to any political reason, its just plain economics so i like to tell my constituents that the two bookends of the 20th century were henry ford and bill gates. Each massproduced a major product that was very, very much needed by the country. Cars, computer platforms. Each became a multibillionaire because of it, as they should. The goodthing about our country that when you create a good new idea, you become wealthy andthat inspires others to struggle to find new great ideas but heres the difference between order and the gates. Ford created , these are just numbers for example, they might not be accurate but ford created 1 million jobs where people for the first time made 10 million a year. He made something so you need people to make the cars, picks the cars, to service the cars, to transport the cars. Bill gates in addition to society was massproducing a computer platform was equally important because but because it was fundamentally an idea, i know you but those quote windows in there but it was an idea. So he created 10,000 people so to speak, figuratively speaking who made 1 million a year. How do we deal with that issue . Because in an ideas economy, particularly where ideas can be transmitted at no cost because of the internet, wealth will continue unabated to agglomerate to the top. Its one of the differences mitch and i had on the tax bill and a part of my skepticism was because of what im telling you. One thing we may be exploring, there are certain jobs that will be more and more important in society that added Human Dignity and grace and health and we should think about how we might transform them so they garner more pay and more respect. One for me would be teacher. But another which people havent thought of his people who take care of the elderly. Were all going to have more elderly people. Were going to have to work longer in the diminution of our workforce. Whos going to take care of these people . Maybe it shouldnt be a job where you get paid the lowest possible wage because it had so much. Those are hardly complete answers but its a place im beginning to think about. Thank you. Our next question, how do you feel about the possibility of instituting congressionalterm limits . Im against them. Im better at this job today than i was five years ago. You wouldnt have term limits for other jobs that demand certain skills. You wouldnt say a surgeon at the top of his game should stop doing surgery or a ballplayer should keep playing as long as they are really good. Id rather it be by the merits and let the public make the judgments to instill term limits. There are other things i do to make incumbency less successful, if you will, particularly campaignfinance reform but i dont think term limits are the answer the constitution is not originally foresee the role party ship leadership would play in congress. How have you interpreted your responsibility and adapted your leadership dial to design your role in your party and in the senate. That you are sort of the same and i think mitch would agree with this. The number one thing a good leader, we have diverse parties. He has a Susan Collins and ted cruz, we wont say rand paul kentucky. I have Bernie Sanders and joe mansion. And i think what makes us most successful and helps us represent broadly all of america is to try and create unity in our caucuses. I really endeavor and each of us, its a very interesting moment. I think its one of the highlights of being senator. Every tuesday we have caucuses. Its within our own party, but they are really open discussions, less frequently than you think, what happens in these discussions leaks out so people are quite candid. And i make an effort to tell my caucus that we have to understand each other. We may not agree with each other on every issue, but if we could Work Together in a unified way and that applies within the Democratic Party and between the democratic and republican parties, we do a lot better. So the role of party as a unifier in a certain sense, in a divided and fractious country where things are more atomized than ever, can be a unifier, not a separator. I see that as one of the very most important roles i have as party leader, to try to get my entire caucus to Work Together and this year we had a good deal of success getting there. Thank you. In light of decreased funding for the epa, how do you plan to protect our air and Water Quality given catastrophes like flint michigan . I agree with you that the idea of removing so many people from the epa doesnt make sense. Most americans believe in clean water and clean air, youve seen what happens when we dont have it and just in terms of Life Expectancy, the fact that our air is cleaner and water is cleaner, Life Expectancy is higher and thats the most important thing to most people. Gods most precious gift to us is life itself , so i think that its important that these regulations which help enforce clean air and clean water make sense. There are things called externalities. You do something that makes the air dirtier and makes the water dirtier, it doesnt hurt you necessarily but it hurts tens of thousands, millions of people and economists have always searched for a way that we can capture externalities and in a broad sense, clean air and clean water are supposed to capture some of those externalities and i think they are good things. We democrats have endeavored in the budget of 2017 which we passed and in this budget of 2018 where we will be debating was called an omnibus, the details of the budget agreement we came to make sure there are severe cuts to the number of employees in epa, obviously and imagine i would disagree with this. I dont think theyre doing the country a service by eliminating to many of these regulations. Thank you. Should individuals who enlist in the military be guaranteed a certain path to citizenship . The broad issue of Immigration Reform, one of the moments i was proudest of in the senate was when john mccain, great man and we pray for his health and i led the socalled gang of eight, four democrats, four republicans, pretty broad range of views in terms of ideology and we put together a comprehensive Immigration Reform and that was a very, very fine bill that did most of the things you hear 80 percent of the people talking about. We want a path to citizenship for our people. We want secure borders. We want to admit some of the people from abroad who come here and study in science, we want to let them they here because they can create new jobs. We need to have agriculture workers because we dont have enough of them, native people were from america originally. Within that bill. And it was a very good bill. And in that bill, we wouldnt debate. We provided a path to citizenship for the 11 million, not just dreamers we are talking about now. Some labeled amnesty. It was not amnesty. Heres what you have to do. Become a citizen. You had to work, you have to be paid back taxes, pledge loyalty to the United States. You had to pay a fine and admit wrongdoing. And then you had to go to the back of the line, so if somebody crossed the border illegally in 2007, or someone else that say mexicans, someone else had waited in the embassy patiently, the 2006 person would getting ahead of the 2007 person. And americans they hear you had to learn to get english to get a green card for the first time. When americans hear that they say im for it, 80 percent of them. But unfortunately some in the media world, ill say of the hard right, labeled amnesty and that sortof stuff but it is not amnesty at all. President trump has said to me a bunch of times, i dont know if he said to you mitch but he said id like to do comprehensive Immigration Reform and maybe, maybe who knows. If we get past this dreamers issue successfully and are able to help the dreamers, we might be able to go back to that. Im not at all certain but if the president would want to lead on that in a bipartisan way we might be able to get something done and thats the best way to deal with the issue you brought up in the broadspectrum. Can you elaborate on your plan to reduce the cost of Higher Education . Yes, well theres a couple of issues here. One which imentioned earlier is the student debt burden. And here the federal government is making a profit on the backs of people who get out of college and graduate school because theyre paying a higher Interest Rate on their Student Loans than the Interest Rate you get for buying a house, from taking out a mortgage on a house. We democrats believe we ought to lower that rate significantly. I also believe in support for Higher Education. In upstate new york where weve had a lot of the problems that good parts of america have faced, in terms of manufacturing, the number of good paying jobs not there as much as they used to be, our universities both public and private are our key. I believe in strong support of these institutions. I also believe in a program which, where Community Colleges would train people for the jobs that are needed. And are much more focused on what we call the skills gap, where there are lots of unfilled jobs and Unemployed People but the Unemployed People dont have the skills, Community Colleges seem to be a Perfect Place to make those happen but i think our focus on Higher Education is more needed than ever before. Because it is our future in terms of jobs and the question that was asked earlier about how do people find new jobs in this new economy when automation is taking away some of the older jobs . Thank you senator, we appreciate you being here so much, this will be our last question for today. How do you respond to senator rand pauls comments that bipartisanship increases spending both foreign and domestic is notthe kind of bipartisanship we need . Look , ill be candid here. I think rand paul is a very fine man and i think he is, his beliefs are genuine and sincere and he has a large amount of courage to go forward when no one else will but his ideas of railing against the deficit on this bipartisan deal after he supported a 1. 5 trillion increase in the deficit for tax cuts, 80 percent of which house by the calculations ive seen are aimed at the top one percent ring very hollow. That rand paul voted against that tax bill because it would increase the deficit by such a large amount he would have every right, still has the right but he would have the benefit of the argument when he stood on the floor and railed against thisbill which increased the deficit maybe by another 300 billion. You cant, if youre a deficit hawk, youve got to be a deficit hawk all the way through. You cant pick an issue and say im a deficit hawk on the military but not on domestic spending or vice versa. Or i may deficit hawk on Government Spending but not on taxes. Each side has its rationale. Those who are for tax cuts say the economy is going to grow and there will not be a deficit. Even conservative economists dont buy that. On the liberal side people say increased funding for education and infrastructure and that will create growth and we will have a deficit. Both of those arguments, i believe more one than the other obviously but both of those arguments will undercut any ability to get the deficit down. And to get the deficit down, or both sides to get the deficit down, each side cant say im a deficit hawk on this issuebut not that issue. Thank you very much everybody, very much appreciated. [applause] leader schumer, we cant thank you enough this morning for your insightful and entertaining remarks. At a time when Many Americans see politics in such a polarized state, its encouraging to hear that leaders with divergent viewpoints on some issues have a willingness to Work Together for the good of the whole. This was a great message this morning. So as a small token of our appreciation id like to present you with a clock area and its red of course and Asa University of local minerva as a token of our appreciation for your presence here today and for your leadership in this country thank you very much. [applause] story of my life, mitch gets the bourbon, i get the clock. [laughter] thank you all for being here, please be safe on your way home. [inaudible conversation]. A test vote to begin formal debate on the bill is scheduled for today at 5 30 p. M. Eastern. That is approved debate will continue all week. The house is back tomorrow for a three Day Work Week for the president s day holiday. On their agenda, a measure to step up investigation in recovery of us personnel that are missing in action. Also sanctions against hamas in a number of financial bills dealing with mortgage lending, market trading and Interest Rates for consumers. Watch the house live on cspan and the senate live on cspan2. Join us at 2 00 p. M. Eastern for todays white house briefing. Sarah sanders is expected to answer questions about immigration, the Budget Proposal and the obstruction plan. Watch that live over on cspan. And this is a live picture from the National Portrait gallery here in washington. Today the official portraits of former president barack obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are being unveiled. Now were looking at the life picture in the former president and former first lady are expected to be at this unveiling. It hasnt officially begun yet but were live from the ceremony over on our Community Network cspan. Finally, during the later this afternoon when panelists will discuss the Us Government role in oversight of National Security programs and spending. Live coverage from the center for strategic and International Studies begins at 2 00 p. M. Eastern over on cspan3. Tonight on the communicators from the Consumer Electronics show in las vegas. Technology Industry Leaders discuss their latest development in Artificial Intelligence. Using Artificial Intelligence and something as simple as your [inaudible] those are all using technologies that has Machine Learning to help her out what movies you love to watch and what movie you like to listen to. It can be in your internet system and filtering out spam and that Automated System is not a person there marking things as spam or not but a computer algorithm using technology with deep learning in ai. On the other end you can have Artificial Intelligence powering self driving cars and it uses vision learning to help the car navigate busy streets. Watch the communicators tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. The cspan buses traveling across the country on our the capitals work. We recently stopped in montgomery, alabama asking folks whats the most important issue in the state. Being here in the birthplace of the modern civil rights movement, montgomery, alabama the most important issues are equality, freedom and equal justice for all people. We cant just talk about this every february of black History Month but we have to live it every day of the year. We have to do more to build bridges. A famous educator in alabama booker t. Washington once wrote there are two ways to exert ones power, one is pushing down and one is pulling up. Lets start pulling people up. I think an important issue is lack of jobs here in alabama but especially in montgomery. People are graduating from college is whether it be in montgomery for surrounding areas and coming home and looking for a job in their is no jobs here. Everybody you
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