This was hosted by georgetown university. Welcome everyone who is watching us tonight here on zoom as well as on youtube, facebook and twitter. On zoom, we have members of the Georgetown Community but also excited to have students and members of the community from a couple of nevada universities. Unlv and university of nevada at reno are also participating. Welcome. Thank you for joining us. So everyone is aware, the video is being recorded and will be posted for viewing later. I have always been very interested in the issue that were going to be focused on tonight, diversity in Public Service. As a person of color myself who spent most of my career working in the political trenches, looking around and seeing a lack of representation always struck me. On the political side, on the policy side. So tonight were thrilled to be joined by senator cortez masto to talk about some of these issues. Shes well versed in them. She spent her career fighting for issues and fighting for members of underrepresented communities. The first latino in the United States senate until a few minutes ago, reportedly being considered for vicepresident , to be running made on joe bidens ticket. Senator, we will get to that. Were excited to sort of dig deep and dive deep into some of the issues. Here is how its going to work. Those of you participating on zoom, you will see at the bottom of your screen a q a button. Click on that to start typing in your questions. You can start populating them now. Keep an eye on the chat as well. At a certain point, our staff will get let you know when you are up to ask your question about halfway through the program. Once we select you and your question, get ready, because were going to put you on camera. Make sure you look your best. With that, i think thats all the housekeeping. Senator, welcome. Thank you. I am excited to be here with all of you. I look forward to our conversation. I want to talk a little bit about policy. I want to talk a little bit about pipeline. I want to talk a little bit about politics. Lets start tonight, actually, by talking about you. Tell us a little bit about your own path into Public Service and what inspired you and what the call was for you personally into Public Service. Yeah. You know, i probably didnt realize it at the time, but came to appreciate it as i got older, but my father was in local politics. My mother and father both were always actively engaged in the community and Civic Engagement and the political side of it. This is a couple who like any couple struggling when they first get married. My father was a parking attendant here. My mother was a bookkeeper for a title company. They were always involved and engaged in making sure that around the dinner table we were talking about social issues, policy issues, what was happening in the community. Then at the time, as we got older and my parents made sure that my sister and i really graduated from college. In my household it wasnt a question of if we go to college. It was no, you are going to go to college and graduate and decide what you want to do. As we grew up, my father continued and mother continued to grow in their professions. My father went on to be a conty commissioner when i was younger here for 16 years. That was an opening for me and my sister to understand what it means for good government, what it means to give back in your community, what it means to listen to your neighbors and your Community Members about the challenges that they are facing and how working together you can solve problems. Then he went on to be my father went on to a career as the ceo of the visitor authority. Many of you know that tag line, what happens in vegas, stays in vegas. That was part of his Marketing Team when he was the president and ceo. Not only is it a Success Story when i talk my father is a Mexican American. Grew up in new mexico. At a young age was brought to las vegas by his parents. My grandmother was born and raised here. My grandfather became a United States citizen. It was a story of trying to come to a country, do right, work hard, play by the rules so that your family can succeed. Thats what my parents did. Worked hard so my sister and i could succeed. All the while, my father never forgot where he came from and my mother as well and who helped them get there. Thats what my sister and i learned growing up. Even though i fought it i will be honest with you. I went to unr and graduated. Went on to law school at gonzaga. It just felt natural to get back into Public Policy and Public Policy legal aspects and being involved in the community. I so believe in good government. I believe in working with one another to solve problems. That is why i do what i do today. If you had asked me when i was in college, is this where you think you want to be, i would say no. It was natural for me. Thats why i truly believe why i do what i do today. I grew up in it. I saw the benefits of it. Thats my passion and thats what really motivated me is really solving problems in the community. Figuring out how we work on this together. I dont think compromise is a bad word. We all come together for that reason, to figure out where we can focus on Public Policy thats good for all of us and that we come together in that process working together through compromise. Thats a little bit about my background and why im doing what i do today. Im going to come back to parts of your background. Obviously, you have been your election was not just historic, being the first latina elected to the u. S. Senate, but you have used your platform to fight for diversity and fight for underrepresented communities and a whole host of issues. I know you are a softball player. I will toss a softball to you why not. Why does it matter . Why does it matter to have more diversity in Public Policy in Public Service . It is so important. Here is why. Because if we are going to pass laws in this country that really address the issues we are dealing with or trying to solve problems we are dealing with, then we need that diversity around the table when were making those decisions, when we are crafting that legislation or those laws. Otherwise, people are going to be left out. Thats what it means to me. Thats why i realize my election was historic. And thats great to make history. To me the most important part is now i can be at the table, a voice at the table, have a seat there when were addressing legislation that i know that impact people in my community. At the same time, part of my responsibility is opening that door even wider and bringing more people through it and more diversity. It really is it starts with if we are going to pass laws, focus on Public Policy that impacts all of us, then we need to have that diversity in the room making those decisions. Its very simple. This is what i have always felt as i worked in government is if we are actually going to right by our constituents while were working in government, the government and people that work in government should really mirror the constituency they represent. Because that way you understand the issues. You can understand and be empathetic about what they are dealing with and bring those issues to the table when you are trying to find solutions. Let me say whats crazy about all of this is when i got to the senate, you could probably count on two hands let me think about this. About 20, 22 women that were in the United States senate. Only 22 women. Think of this, over 200year history of the United States senate, there were only 50 women in the United States senate. I know that because i was number 50. This is why this is so crazy. This idea that people are passing laws and legislation and its an elite group of that are trying to address the issues that doesnt matter that matter to me as a woman and communities of color. So many of our communities are being discriminated against. How do we expect them to address those issues unless we are there in the room making those decisions . So that to me is what this is all about. Its making sure were opening that door. We all have that responsibility to make sure we bring people with us and bring that diversity. The covid crisis is maybe one of the most important, timely examples of this. We have seen all the data of how minority communities, communities of color are disproportionately affected, not just on the Public Health side, also the economic side. Put a spotlight on the structural disparities, both in health care and economic with communities of color. So i wonder if you could talk about that a little bit, about the real policy challenges there and what being a woman of color, what perspective you bring to that conversation as you figure out how to move forward . Right. Part of this starts with data. Now we have data. We now we. But we didnt have the data initially. We didnt actually ask for that data. We didnt actually demand that demographic, whatever it is that we collected. Federal government doesnt do enough of collection of that type of data to be specific so that we can ensure that we are bringing resources to everyone equally. Thats the challenge still at the federal level, including in some of our state level governments as well. We know now during this pandemic, particularly in nevada i have seen it. Nevada has grown to be a diverse state. 3 million people, but a third of the population are latinos. One of the Fastest GrowingAsian AmericanPacific Islander populations. A strong and robust africanamerican population. Over 23 tribal communities throughout this state. Its just beautifully diverse. What i was seeing and after talking with our state Health Care Experts was that some membersnority community were getting hard hit. We were seeing more numbers in the latino community. Not enough Health Care Access to that community. Not enough education to make sure Community Members make sure they know what to do to protect themselves. Once we got that data, we could Work Together at the state level, the local and federal level to figure out, how do we educate . How do we get resources where they need to be in the hot spot sspots is . How do we communicate . Sometimes theres a language barrier. You have to be able to make sure you are connecting and understanding and knock down the barriers to bring the resources into those communities. For me, as somebody not only as a woman of color, come from a Mexican American father, my mother is italian american, but working in the community and realizing that the language barrier, realizing that the lack of access sometimes to health care, realizing the lack of access to really clean air sometimes and clean water and some of our neighborhoods are low income and they are challenged already. So we have to recognize that to be able to then to fight to get the resources where they need to go. Because we have the data now at the federal level, i have been advocating along with some of my colleagues that we now ensure that the resources that we need to address this pandemic get into those communities. How do we do that . Find where they there are local clin clinics. Local areas in southern nevada, one place where a lot of latinos shop, where we can educate them and bring resources to them and talk to them so that they are educated on these issues. I will tell you, every time we think that we make one step forward in addressing any type of discrimination or a barrier to getting access to health care or any type of relief to individuals, somebody will come along and try to take it away. We have that happening right now. Literally, it astounds me the administration. So many years to tear down the d discrimination around housing, health care, education. Now this administration has rolled back some of the regulations. Now we see, unfortunately, more of the easier ability to discriminate. Let me give you an example. Right now, just out today, we know that under the Affordable Care act, the secretary of health and human services, in the middle of a pandemic decides to rewrite regulation under the Affordable Care act and roll back some of the discriminatory laws that we put in place antidiscrimination to protect individuals. They are rolling those back. Certain individuals now will be discriminated against and not get health care they need. Women, lgbtq, people of color. If you have a language barrier, you are out of luck. That to me is why when we fight to be at the table and pass legislation, we have to be vigilant around it to make sure that were constantly talking about these issues. Even though you may pass a law that addresses some sort of discrimination i know banking and housing where i sit, because i tried to eliminate red lining in housing issues. Thats been rolled back by this administration as well. We have to be vigilant because we have to be back there fighting it again. Its constant awareness of whats going on to ensure that were bringing those equal resources everywhere. A reminder for those from the georgetown and community and other universities, you can begin to submit questions at the q a tab at any point during the program. Feel free to start submitting them. Senator we could have this same conversation about a whole host of issues, Climate Change, education. One other one i want to focus on just given Current Events is criminal justice. When you look at the tragic death of mr. Floyd in minnesota or arb where it took months to Pay Attention to what happened. The disparities, once again, are tragically evident. You are a former prosecutor. Talk about some of those challenges and where diversity and positions of power and Public Service could help address some of them. I think thats why its so important you bring diversity at all levels. As a prosecutor, one of the things we looked in our state particularly as attorney general, was our state prison system. What was going on . Why were there disproportionate share of minorities or people of color in the prison system . What was happening here . What can we do to bring change to this . So we looked at the state level of changing some of our laws to address what we were seeing, that disproportionate share of people of color in the prison system. Was it enough . No. More needs to be done. What we see across the country this is completely outrageous to me that you have a man of color who cant jog down the street or a woman sleeping in her bed is killed or what we saw recently in minnesota with mr. Floyd. It requires and mandates justice. At the same time, it also mandates us all not to sit back and say, there it goes again, there it happens again, to demand change. We need a paradigm shift. We need this change. We need to recognize its happening and figure out what were going to do about it. We all collectively can no longer sit back and we have to say and do and demand that change. Yes, we want swift justice. Yes, we dont we want to stop discrimination, but we have to work collectively at all levels to address it. I think thats why for everybody who is watching, no matter what field you work in, you bring that with you. You bring that sense of change, that sense of diversity, that sense of justice with you. That will help make the change as well. I have always felt that way no matter what job that i have held. Its important that you carry that responsibility with you and treat people equally with respect, with tolerance. You call it out when you see it. As a country, we unfortunately we have so much more to do. It does not help, let me add this, that we have a man in the white house that thinks its okay to discriminate and call people out and use hateful bullying language in the highest office of the land. Theres no room for hate and discrimination in the white house, particularly from the president of the United States who is supposed to represent the best of us, represent all of us. Thats what we expect. Thats what we demand. I dont see that now in this white house. To me, that change starts at the election box in november, quite honestly. Obamas election was clearly historic. Racism didnt go away. Im wondering if you occasionally hear criticisms of him from the black community that he didnt go far enough. Im wondering if thats an unfair criticism not just of him, but as a person of color, as a woman, do you feel undue pressure from the communities you represent . Do you feel people are judged differently or there are Higher Expectations for you in dealing with some of these challenges . You know, thats a great question. I never looked at it from that perspective us because the only thing i know is im a woman. I have dealt with issues thats the only issue i know to deal with from my perspective as a Mexican American woman and italian American Woman throughout my career. This is what i say to so many people when i talk with them, particularly when i talk with communities of color, i dont know what its like it stand in your shoes. If we stand together, we can be a force to make change. Thats to me what it is about. It is about this listening, understanding, education around issues that are impacting our communities. Let me just give you an example of this. I worked my career around Domestic Violence prevention, sex trafficking prevention, reducing violence against women and children. I know as a woman that what i have had to deal with around this issue. I also know a man doesnt think about it from the perspective that i do as a woman. I as a woman know that i am very cautious when im walking to my car in the parking lot at night because i have concerns about being attacked, possibly raped or harassed. I ahma a man doesnt have that same concern. What our obligation is to educate. Like i do with my husband and my friends, to educate them what its like in my shoes, to understand what i live with every day so that now they can have a better understanding and together we can work to make change. I think thats what it comes down to. Often times, we jump to wanting it and demanding the end result. We forget the education. We forget to make people understand what it is were dealing with, how we come along through this process. I think people are im not saying everybody is open and willing to do it. So many people want to be educate and understand it and they would be there with us. A part of what i have done is that piece of education. I think it gets discounted often. We never fund it enough. It always starts with me with that education piece. Its really interesting to hear you say that. One of the things that was really stark for me when i was working in politics was the increased otherization in our politics. The number of focus groups i sat in where people would talk about their concern, how their livelihood was in competition with others, the anger that you feel that these communities over here, we are talking about them and you are not talking about me. If you put more funding into this community, thats coming away from us. It feels to me that too often political leaders dont do what you just talked about, connecting the dots. Were not in competition. Just because were trying to take care of the economic despaisparities in the black or Brown Community does not mean it has to come at your expense or vice versa. How do we bridge that divide . It goes back to what you just said. You touched on it. We have to stop making it us versus them. We have to when we are passing legislation or we are looking at appropriation, at least in congress, we have to make sure we are thinking and talking in terms of all of us. This benefits all of us and explaining how it benefits all of us. We dont do enough of that. Particularly in this environment, its so partisan, so fast moving. We dont get enough of that piece of education and bringing people along. Thats why for my purposes, i love going out into my community and just talking to people. I know i will find Common Ground. I know that no matter where i show up, i am willing to talk with you. If you are willing to sit and listen, i know we will find Common Ground. Nevada is still a purple state. We have democratic urban areas. Most of our rural areas are red and republican. But i know up. I walk into a room with a cattleman association, all of these incredibly white men who have incredible stories to tell who have worked for generations, the family as cattle ranchers. I know they didnt vote for me. I will walk in the room and say, okay, i know you probably didnt vote for me but you are stuck with me for the next six years. So lets get something done. You know what . We find Common Ground. Health care, access to health care, small businessowners need health care. Immigration. Who do you think is working their farms and ranches . They are supportive of addressing and making sure that individuals can come to this country to work and they are supportive of putting them on a pathway to citizenship or giving them the opportunity to succeed. There are so many things. You would not know that unless you go out to talk to them. They are environmentalists. They work and love the land. If you want to talk them about Climate Change or Climate Crisis and how we can sustain the land, they will be the first ones there, our farmers and ranchers because they do it all the time. We never engage them. Thats what this is about. You have to take the chance to go out there and just talk with them and figure out where you can find that Common Ground. Were not going to agree on everything. You will come to some Common Ground somewhere and find agreement where you can Work Together. I done thit think that happens enough, particularly in congress right now. You talked about the historic nature of your election and how after 200 plus years you are the 50th woman, first woman from your state, first latina ever. Why is it so hard . What are the obstacles that people from these communities face in breaking into the system . Thats going to take longer than our conversation here. Let me just say this. Let me just tell everybody who is listening, because as a woman and somebody who fought my career is in law enforcement. Most of the people i dealt with were men. What i would tell everyone is, you are going to have barriers. You will have times when people are going to shut you out for reasons you do not know or reasons that they will be overt about. At the end of the day, its how you handle that. Its how you want to educate or continue to move through that process and move over. Theres no doubt in my mind, i was turned down for jobs that i really wanted because maybe i was a woman or my background, you name it. But i didnt let it slow me down. I think thats it. I think you have to continue to move forward. You have to figure out a way that you can still achieve what you are passionate about and move forward through that. Others helped me along the way. I didnt do it by myself. Thats the other piece of this. You dont hesitate to reach out and ask for that help and ask for assistance. A lot of the times we wont do that. Thats part of this. Once you get there and this is why i feel so strongly about why i do this is you dont forget where you came from and who helped you and you have a responsibility to help others. Open that door wider. I was listening to an interview you did not long after arriving in the senate. You were talking about showing up and looking around and realizing that everyone else looked the same. A lot of white men. What jumped out to me from this interview was you said, we should be mandating diversity in our committees, mandating community in our hiring practices. Can you do that . Yes. Talk to me about that. Yeah. Let me tell you. This is why its so crazy. Remember when i walk in to the congress, into the senate, this is an over 200yearold institution that was run by white men. The rules they passed were based on their focus and their perception of things. When i first got there and im on the rules committee i still am, i got asked to participate in a small group of senators to address some rules and make changes to them to update them. Remember, this Committee Rules probably the last time anybody looked at them was 100 years ago. When i looked at the Committee Rules to look at as we sit in committees, how we bring diversity there and equality and everybody has an opportunity to speak and ask questions, not anywhere, not one word or one time did i see in the rules committee the word diversity. Or the word bringing different people from different perspectives or different color, but diversity did not exist. Quite honestly, a woman did not exist. So part of my fight was, we need to change this. We need to say that when were creating these committees and the makeup of them, they have to be of a diverse nature or they have to have a diversity associated with them so were pulling people from different perspectives in the creation of these committees. That to me is a no brainer. Remember, we just changed that rule three years ago. Thats what im saying is sometimes you have to get [ no audio ] figure out how you can make the change within a system. That system change has taken place. Thats on the Democratic Caucus side when we create our committees and theres mandated diversity. We mandated diversity through our Senate Offices on the democratic side, that you have to not only in hiring diversity, but you cant just check the box and say, im done. You have to figure out how you bring those different perspectives into your offices. One thing i give Chuck Schumer for, but this is one he understood and said, okay, we need to mandate through the Democratic Caucus this idea that diversity, not only does it matter, but we are going to make change about it. Thats what we have done. When i first got there, my goal was to say, how do i bring more people of diversity working on capitol hill . Everyone that i walked around with was white. I reached out to the Senate Offices. I had a meeting with some of the staffers who were latinos. Some were africanamerican, Asian American, lgbtq, native american. Anybody that i could talk to that was on the hill. What were the barriers . What prevented you from getting here . Whats preventing you from moving up . Getting promoted. We had this incredible conversation. Once i learned some of the barriers, as a senator, it was important for me to start tearing those down. Part of that was many people of color dont have the opportunity to come to capitol hill to work or internal because they dont have the means to be able to afford the room and board. Most of the people that are even interns on capitol hill come from a school that will pay for the room and board or they get a fellowship that will pay for it. Unless you cover your cost, you are not going to be able to come. Thats why we made change and asked in the senate that we pass when we appropriate eap funds, we put costs to cover interns so they could come to capitol hill. I created a scholarship in my office so somebody that wanted to come that was first generation that didnt have the ability, couldnt go to a school or get a fellowship, didnt have the ability to cover the cost, we could cover the costs for them. Thats the change that im looking for. How do we make it happen . Here is the problem. Lets make it happen. How do we continue to grow it . That to me is important on capitol hill. I got a lot more questions. I want to get to the student questions. Students, this is a Good Opportunity to start submitting your questions via the q a tab below. Before we turn to them, i have to turn to politics a little bit. Joe biden announced before he became the presumptive nominee he was going to select a woman as his running mate. Once he did that, your name popped towards the top of many lists. You were under active consideration. Just in the last couple of hours you announced you are withdrawing your name from consideration. Can you talk about that decision . Yeah. Absolutely. First of all, its an honor just to be mentioned as a potential vicepresident running mate. Then an honor to be in the category of women that he is looking at, the diverse women that i know. They are trailblazers and inspirational. It was exciting. Very humbling to be thought of. Im going to be there 100 for joe biden. To me, its so important that you put him in the white house. I also feel very strongly as a United States senator for nevada, i was voted in by people of nevada to represent them for six years. They gave me that honor. Right now, nevada is in the middle of a pandemic like everyone else, but we are so hard hit because we are a hospitalitybased industry. Majority our revenue comes from gaming and tourism, convention space. Its hospitality. 400,000 workers in nevada are workers that work within this industry that have been furlough order concerned about their future. Small businesses, the same. My focus really is on my state right now and ensuring i continue to fight for those resources, that i continue to advocate where i can in the senate to make sure that our industry and our economy in nevada turns around much quicker. People have to realize, when i was attorney general, that was from during the time of 2007 to 2014. That was in the middle of our closure crisis. Nevada was hard hit because of the nature of our industry. I worked really hard as attorney general to bring the resources back into our state and to ensure we could bounce back. My goal now as senator is to do the same thing. Our economy has to recover. I want it to spring back as quickly as possible. That means my fight is in the senate on behalf of the state of nevada. Thats my commitment. I cant walk away from that right now. Obviously, selecting a woman brings diversity to the ticket. Do you think its important he select a woman of color . I think its important that we get the best person for that job. I think the best person is a woman. Theres no doubt about it. Based on the women that are there, i am excited to see a woman being chosen. I am excited for all of these women. They bring different perspectives that we need. That representation, of course. I am biased in the sense i know as a latina the impact i can have on other latinas. When i got elected, i will tell you, i got outreach by so many people. I tell the story all the time. Its indicative of the story i get from so many people when i meet them. When i was campaigning on the campaign trail, i got a letter from a fifth grader. Shes a latina. She found out i was the first in the senate. She said, im running for student government. Do you have tips on how i can win . I thought, wow, i gotta meet her. I called her in. We had a conversation. I realized, part of my responsibility as somebody who is now potentially going to be a senator and became senator, is to make sure that these young latinas and latinos know im advocating on their behalf and i will pull them along with me and that if i can do this, they can do this, too. Thats the one thing i want to get across to people is that particularly these young girls that i get to meet is that there are opportunities for them. As i blaze this trail and whatever you want to call it, my goal is to make sure that they know that, listen, the only thing i have done is work hard and make sure that i look out and advocate for others. If this is something that you want to do, you can do it, too. Follow your passion. Follow your positiassion and it take you where you want to go. For me, thats the key to all of this. Ensuring that when we get the right person in the vp, other people will look at that, young girls particularly, look at that and say, wow, she did it. That means i can do it, too. Thats what this is about. Im going to put a pin in my questioning and lets turn to the students. When we call on you, please introduce yourself, tell us who you are, where you are zooming in from, what you are studying and what year you are in school. First up is jacob. Jacob, introduce yourself. Jacob, you might be muted. There you are. Sorry about that. There you are. Good evening. My name is jacob. Im a sophomore. Im studying international history. Im from new jersey. So my question is, there are members in our party who are advocating for vicepresident biden to begin reaching out to black americans right now. What is your advice to our party about balancing our outreach to the Latin X Community and black community so neither feel like they are forgotten in this upcoming election . I think thats the best question. Thats what should be occurring. Here is what i know running for office in the state of nevada thats so beautiful diverse is you cant show up at the last minute and say, i want your vote. You have to start early. You have to be engaged. You have to be talking to them about the issues. You have to be listening. Its the only way you are going to build a relationship. Its the only way when you really want to ask for their support and their vote, then they know you, they know that you will be an advocate on their behalf, they have heard. They know you showed up before and that you are not just showing up for a vote and then forget them after you get elected. It requires that to happen and that engagement to happen early. You need to be in those communities all across the country, engaging now. You have to have incredible staff, folks that know the communities and be working hard. Then you have to do the followup. Part of what i have seen is you go into the communities and then we never hear from someone again. You have to continue to show up. You have to continue to be engaged on the issues that matter to those communities and reaching out. I think and know that joe biden, as he has done that, i have seen him do that in nevada. I know they are doing and working as hard as they can across the country, he will be successful. Thats the recipe for success for any candidate, not just president ial. You have to be there now and talking always. Jacob, thanks for the question. Lets turn to jodi from the university of nevada, reno. You are on. Hi. I am a graduate student at the university of nevada reno and i work at the university. I would like to know, what do you think a graduate student, traditional and not traditional can do to propagate diversity in our local areas which feed into larger state and national stages . Yes. Great to see you. Its a great question. I think first, what i would do, figure out your passion, issues that matter to you. We all have those. Then figure out how you can work within the community, whether thats getting engaged with a group thats similarly has issues that you are passionate about or working in local government or volunteering on a campaign or volunteering with a group on those issues. Then when you go in the door and you start working on whatever those issues are, you are demanding at the same time the diversity. You should always this is a great question. I go back to this. They think diversity is, i checked that box and move on. Thats not what this is. This is a paradigm shift. We are thinking this all the time. We are to the point that we no longer have to think about it because its happening at all levels. Its not a check box. Its diversity that is happening because thats who we are and everybody now has an opportunity to work and live and love wherever they want. Now we are objeligated and a responsibility to demand because its not happening all the time. Until that happens, we have to demand it wherever we go. Thank you for that. Thank you, jodi. Next up weve got haley. Introduce yourself to the senator. Senator, thank you again for being here with us. Im a senior at georgetown in the college of economics and government. My question for you has to do with, is there ever a moment that you have had in your career where you changed your mind on something or your opinion shifted because of a bipartisan conversation or more education . Thank you. Thank you. Thats a great question. Yes, i know that not only do i think its important we educate others but we have to be open to being educated. Sometimes thats hard. Right . Sometimes we think we know everything. I come with this perspective. You are not going to change my mind. You have always got to go in with an open mind to really be willing to listen to others and hear it from their perspective. Yes, thats happened in the senate. That has happened in my career as attorney general. Particularly when im advocating on an issue or looking at legislation and laws that are going to have an impact on all of us, key to have good law is making ensuring before you pass it that you have reached out to all of the stakeholders, anybody impacted and get them to weigh in, to tell us at least from my perspective, tell me how this will impact you. Do we need to make changes . Thats to me how good legislation is passed. I dont like unfunded mandates. I dont want unattended consequences. To ensure that when we pass legislation, we bring everybody in who could be impacted, talk to them, hear from them, then make changes. So that we include everybody in the process. That to me is good Public Policy. Thanks, haley. Next up weve got jay. Jay, you are on. Introduce yourself to the senator. Hi, senator. My name is jay. Im a graduate student and im in atlanta. My question is, im sure that we are familiar with the incidents that have been occurring over the years from martin to george floyd which was the most recent incident. My question is, are there any laws being introduced in congress to protect those who are unarmed, particularly those who are african before another incident occurs again . Yeah. I think thats exactly what we need to address in this country. First of all, lets start with a lack of enforcement. We need enforcement, particularly what we have seen just recently in minnesota with lloyd george, the case is outrageous. It calls for justice. To me, thats where part of this starts is that there is justice and people are treated equally. The laws are already there. The laws exist. What is happening and why arent why isnt there more of an outcry because of the lack of enforcement . Thats where it starts in making the changes there. I think theres an opportunity to look at this from a federal perspective and make sure we get it right. We also have to include the states as well. There are state laws and federal laws. We ned to make sure we are addressing both pieces of that as we look to addressing this longterm. From my perspective, as somebody who was a prosecutor and former law enforcement, i can tell you right now, some of the laws are not being enforced. If they are being enforced, theres an abuse of force. There should be accountability around it. Thats not happening. Okay. Jay, thanks for the question. Lets turn to carl, a student from unlv. Hello, my name is carl. Im a student at unlv college of liberal arts. Thank you, senator, nor taking t the time to talk to students. I appreciate your students. Putting us at the forefront of your agenda. Your Office Reached out to my family to share about our story when it came to familybased immigration in 2018. I appreciate your work and everything you do for us here in nevada. My question for you is, in nevada, we have seen from a report in the Washington Post in may 2019, women of color call the shots. Nevada has the first majority female legislature in the u. S. History. Being our u. S. Senator, what is one or two of the largest legislative victories for communities of color that are most memorable in your tenure as our senator . Thank you. Im not done yet. Ive been there three years so far. I will tell you, i sit on five committees. Im on senate finance, i sit on energy and natural resources. Im also on banking and housing committee, Senate Rules Committee and indian affairs. Every single one of those communities i have introduced or worked on passing legislation that impacts communities of color around housing discrimination, around health care discrimination, around education discrimination. And in so many other areas. Right now, i have several pieces of legislation addressing Affordable Housing and how we address the discrimination around Affordable Housing. I also have legislation dealing with health care in general and access to health care and discrimination around health care. Many in our tribal communities quite often get left out are discridi discriminated against in so many areas. Theres legislation i have to address that discrimination. I think it is important thats why when i talk about bringing this with me, living and breathing it every day, no matter what committee im on, m committee im on, i always figure out how you address the diversity piece. Let me say this, one of the things that is most disturbing in the cares act we passed, we left whole communities of immigrants that dont have access to health care, free testing, didnt get direct payments because some in congress felt it was okay to discriminate against them. So i signed on to a piece of legislation, i cosponsored with my colleagues, so we can make that change, and the next lidge slay tilidge legislative package. So they have relief in pandemic. Its constant and its something that unfortunately, we have to continue to address in society and in our country. Thanks for the question. Lets take another student question. Nicholas, introduce yourself. Senator, thank you for giving your time tonight and thank you for acknowledging the lgbtq community. Im a veteran and a current phd candidate here at georgetown. At 2017 when the Trump Administration implemented the trans ban in the military, you said its wrong. I really apologize. That is my dog. And integral to middle readiness and who want to serve our country. Thank you. So many times not just in the military, but on so many issues our Trans Community is discriminated against. So many. And it requires continued vigilance and fighting. Part of it is introducing and addressing discrimination, whether its in military or the veterans in general, in any other area or field. And part of it, people dont realize, battling the administration, who is rolling back regulations that were there to protect the communities. When i talked earlier about this administration rolling back regulations that protected individuals under the aca from discrimination, that included the Trans Community, and lgbtq. Now there are concerns they will not get that access to health care they need. We have to be vigilant also on what the administration is doing with regulations or rolling back the regulations, so we can actually fight those as well and implement or challenge those. And thats what we do. Its either legislation or challenging the regulations or writing letters or the oversight roll that we have in the senate, we provide the administration on their appointments, those individuals come from a form, they have to report to congress. We have an oversight role in the the administration, through the committee hearings. That is an important role. That is where you hold them accountable on the record. I regularly do that in my committees around diversity and other areas where i see and have concerns about a lack of e e equality or resources going to individuals. Senator, we are just about out of time. But i want to close with one last question. Stacy abrams recently said this was said in the context of the Vice President ial selection process. See said as a young black woman growing up in mississippi, i learned if you dont raise your hand, people will not see you and they will not give you attention. I found that profound. If you are not putting yourself out there, you cant expect to get that seat at the table. A lot of people put up their hands this year in the race for the democratic nomination. But the two candidates at the end are older white men. Not to detract from them. But i think are a lot of people from our communities who looked at that and felt a little discouraged. Im wondering what your message is to those people who see others from their communities putting their hands up, trying to get attention, but falling short. What is your parting words here . Yeah, i dont think they fell short. If you look at the democratic president ial candidates running, we had a Diverse Group of kids. The democrats, we had a woman of color, we had so many different lgbtq. It was a Diverse Group of individuals, and as democrats, that is who we re. Now, we have to narrow it down. But at the end of the day, that is who we are as democrats. We open the door to that diversity. Yes, are we going to have to pick ultimately narrow it down to one candidate, yeah, we are. We going to hold that candidate accountable. We bring that diversity to them and we with demand that diversity, and that kind of perspective from the individual that we elect as a democrat. To me, look how far we have come. That is why i say you know, ask you about being dominated as a vp, to me, just looking at the caliber of the women and the diversity there, its just who we are as democrats and who we are as a country. You know, its not i dont i think our country is beautifully diverse. And we need to now demand that diversity in your government and wherever else we can wherever else we can be. It needs to continue to grow. Im proud of the democrats in a sense that we have that beautiful diversity. I dont think we are slowing down. Let me say one final thing here. I know were not slowing down. Because everybody who is participating, particularly this generation, theyre demanding it. Theyre the voting block of the future. They are demanding that change. They already have made that paradigm shift and they are moving us beyond that. And thats why im excited about the Younger Generation and what they bring to this country. They are the ones that are going to make a change. I wish ip was part of their generational, honestly. Its an exciting time. We have to hold people accountable and make that demand. We have that responsibility also to demand that diversity. Let me just say thank you for the conversation and it was an exciting conversation. I appreciate the conversation. Well, i long leaved that more diversity is a good thing. Its good for the democratic party. More diversity in public life is good for the republican party. Its good for policy making and government, good for business and all of us. So senator, i want to thank you for that thank you for joining us tonight. And thank you for those whoverse school of business. Spin i think you for joining us on todays conversation