Is this a good look . Thank you all for joining us on an evening of active democratic voting and significant raining. This event marks the oneyear anniversary of the 12th installment of the bob and Elizabeth Dole series on leadership. Some of you know that the purpose of this is to the series as to call on leaders from National Politics from arts and education and grapple with the question of the characteristics and circumstances that allow some people to leadership and what allow some of us to struggle to overcome the obstacles and the diverse interests that are part of any dynamic and true democracy. We are extremely fortunate to have our firstthat live this question every day. We are very proud to name the series in honor of the Extraordinary Service of bob and olivia stole. Elizabeth dole. Showing the confidence and creativity to signify differences as you note as we enter the discussion that when senator dole joined others to help found there were a few ideas and animated the ambition for a little bit of text. We are aggressively bipartisan, not nonpartisan or postpartisan, but actually recognize that this is not been classic cohesion. The a of bipartisanship is creating the resilience that allows us to have consistent policy going forward. The second idea we talked about a little bit in the room is that they wanted to make sure we are in the arena. We are not a think tank and having a lot of people hit print and through wonder of imaginative that the world will give a we actually try to combine advocacy with aggressive analysis and we have a team of lobbyists that meet with your staff on a daily basis and, finally, they help us appreciate very quickly the vast majority of very good people grappling with very bad and to think about how we can as an Organization Find some way to help you overcome those challenges. It is with that injury that i should say a few words about the legislators to my left. First of all, going down to the end Chrissy Houlahan from pennsylvania sixth district suburb of West Philadelphia storms on Armed ServicesForeign Affairs and spent three years in the air force on active duty as an engineer and in 13 years in the air force reserve becoming a air force captain and the chief operating officer of several successful companies. Had a successful session talking about the challenges probably facing andalso benefits that are shared broadly and hopefully touch on that and next representative the northern detroit suburbs also between those overseas served in the office of International Intelligence and secretary for International Security and to my immediate left representshe has investigated Money Laundering and eight years in the cia and has also worked in the private sector helping colleges and universities increase graduation rates. Also about issues around diversity on campus. Here we are. Those of you who also have teenage daughters and we came onstage and saw heard about us woman being played it is a megan trainer song im a force of nature you cant ignore, never secondguess me because i am the boss, dont underestimate because im the one in charge. With that i will now try to moderate this panel. A couple of questions. This out as National Security thing how did that is started . That is kind of fun. Whose idea was that . I think it came of a serendipitous occasion when several of us were out as candidates are up to do on the fundraising can trail and we ran into each other almost exactly at the same time in the same place in california none of us being from california and we were going to be having backtoback events largely with the same group of people and we realized this was probably not optimal and we probably should do something that was innovative and all of our teams encourage us to discourage us to do is join forces and have one event and we invited three other women and we created the very first bathhouse opportunity and we realized that the power of that event that we were able to share our motivations and stories and the passions that we had and it was more powerful with more of us and we discovered this opportunity on the campaign trail and we have now translated that into the work we do on the house floor and we continue to be at this point abigail would prefer not to be called a bad asked because she is from virginia and she is polite. I am from philly so i am not and i can use those terms. That is the inception of that idea. I will add that the idea of people who have served running for congress was a strong powerful message and there is some commonality among people who have served that run pretty deep so when we got together not only did we think this makes sense but we really enjoy each other and we purposely got offices close together as you can in the lottery system, we spend a lot of our time together. If someone has had a bad day we asked if it is time to go out or rally and as i think often happens in some women organizations you go from working together and having a close working relationship to be in each others support and friend and it makes it a pleasure, frankly, beyond the normal fundraising gig. If i might add just before all of this happened that they are talking about, there was an element that we experienced when you walk into a room and talk about your background and someone comes up to you and says you are kind of a bad asked they seem unique because they havent been in the forefront other than tv shows. We have certainly had boring days, but there was an element of it being new for a lot of people. That came naturally because this was the reaction people were having to us so it became one of those things that people were saying and then we just agreed to it. It seems important on a lot of levels. Politics is fundamentally about creating connections and having that level of trust and when we talk about partisan we have recognized over the years that democrats dont know and the anonymity of constant fundraising and air travel people must be jealous of you guys. We did have a person asked to join connor, connor lamb who came in on a special election and wasnt part of the original there are bad ass and the guys. There are five women and four guys who have Service Backgrounds and we had the g 9 that someone named us. This is a model of how we should be behaving toward one another. We are a broken democracy right now and if we are not trying to find commonality we are doomed. I would add we have an ongoing text chain and it is unending. I think congresses 435 entrepreneurs it is not a chain of demand organization. Most of us have worked in chain of command organizations and, therefore, the process of being a new freshman is getting to know these different members and i have to be honest, you have to sort out the workhorses from the show ponies and that is an ongoing process and the group that when you have a Service Background like i never have to question whether i am with the workhorses and if abigail says i have a great idea for bill on Rural Broadband if she suggested it i will always read everything, but i am 99 sure i will get on that where as if there is Something Else you just dont know what are they doing it for, what is the hidden punchline and i dont know that everyone in congress as a group that they know are like these are my workhorses who have similar overlapping interests and i trust them with my reputation and with my voice the way we have. I think people are just a little jealous. Can i have one less thing . With the 10 we are diverse even though we are all of service one of us comes from maine and one from california and one is hispanic caucus and one from Staten Island and enough said, we dont have all of the same opinions and even though we may vote differently we respect that the other one is coming with true intentions and it is interesting to listen to their arguments about one vote or another. I think there has been a challenge in the introduction to your question you are talking about politics is about finding solutions, i was struck by that because i think we are reaching a challenging place where sometimes people dont necessarily want to find solutions which is astounding and challenging for me to face and digest and i think with some of us who came into congress together with similar backgrounds, we share some of that sentiment and we are constantly seeking people who want to work either across party lines within our own congress or on issues that may be of top priority to some of us and maybe not top of mind for others, but i think another thing is we have been constantly turning trying to find people beyond what is a Wonderful Group of people and strong members of congress and we have been trying to get out and meet people particularly on the other side of the aisle and having 10 of us out there all the time saying who can we work with and who can we bring to the table at a time where there are not a lot of people that want to come to the table. We have found the table can be a scary place and the bipartisan death hug, sometimes we are accused of. Let me ask you, you bring Service Together and have a common history, you are the majority makers and the democratic caucus. There is no kind of. And not only did you flip three republican seats that c7 have been republican for long time if i have my math right, 48 years. 50. Almost 106 years since Chester County had elected a democrat. [ applause ] i have been to Chester County, that is placing a tremendous amount the Republican Party is having the same in challenge. How are you finding the challenge of being part of a party system where there are certainly great distinctions between where you are and the president is and having a constituency that is not aligned with the dominant energy that you call the show horse energy or the Twitter Energy of the Democratic Party. Is that something you navigate every day . I think that the only reason we became representatives of these districts is because we are independently minded people and we also had a stomach to say no to people even when they say everyone is doing this and you say it is not third grade and i think that if you are not independently minded and you are not looking to appeal to a broad base of people you are not going to win in these districts. You can run, but you will not win. I was tell people that come to lobby me on this or that whether it is a union or a big company or whatever i say i am in a really independently minded district and i will be the person who reads every single bill because i cant just check the box when the Democratic Party says this is the bill that we are all signing onto or i can sign on to everything that is bipartisan even though i want to because you have to really of your own mind of these things and it is amazing how many members of congress walk onto the floor on both parties and just look at how the leader of their party or senior people and they say this is a yes, we are yes and i do not think any of us do that and have the luxury of doing that. Even at the very end where are we on all of this and why are we doing this. Just to make sure you are making good decisions and especially right now with the Defense Authorization act. We have these amendments and a variety of perspectives and a couple of times where i go into it and this is why i think im a yes and why are you in know and it is great to challenge yourself. I think the benefit of being from a district like ours were like ours is that we have the challenge every day of trying to please a broad group of people which is just impossible. We also have the challenge of understanding a broad swath of people because there are a lot of people in my district who did not vote for me and a lot that did. It is the responsibility that in order to continue serving all of my constituents i have to be in tune with people across the perspective and the spectrum and i think that seems like ours are the seats that can truly be the examples for how you lead a divided nation and how you tried to bring people back together because if i can have people come up to me and say i didnt vote for you, but and bases company they are pleased with that is the first step from getting away from this team sport notion where it is win or lose because that doesnt serve our district and it doesnt serve this country. Let me ask you about the work, we have the pleasure of working closely with former senator who helped me realize that independent thought takes time and you have to be able to read legislation and one of the things that we are well aware of is there are a lot of demands on your time and not a lot of time to sit back and close the door and bring in policy experts. How are you managing your time or make your time to bring independent thought and how can that make that easier . It is incredibly broken and sometimes they will need all three at the same time and then you have to meet with constituents outside the hallway at the same time and you are there for your five minutes of fame to ask your questions and that is why when you look at ccm there is no one in any of the rooms because we are all somewhere else doing Something Else so it is a challenge to make sure you are educating and that is sitting in the committee and asking and one way that it is integrated there is a great group that i will say periodically to my team i dont know enough about this can you help me by bringing those people and to brief me and we will share with the office and you do that with hours. We are trying to collaborate even on how we are learning to make sure we are getting up to speed. It is a broken process and in addition to being at three Different Committee hearings you can be asked to be fundraising at the same time. It is a broken system. We have put a lot in helping on modernization because it feels like as metaphor and substance that would be a place where we could provide those resources to do what you are describing. Are there any particular ideas . I got a chance to testify in front of the select committee on modernization and i was frustrated about the issue of schedule. Is asinine that we had a classified reading for the entire congress and at the very same time those were supposed to be called. We were supposed to all 435 of us be at this two different places at the same time. I testified my idea which i dont think is down is to do block scheduling like we do in high school. You have the opportunity to look rotate the different classes why we cannot figure out how to manage schedules like that it blows my mind. I would love for you to help us on that. Okay i tell people back home and they are shocked that votes are called about the same schedule as the verizon cable guy between 10 and four and you are, like how can it be i have to wait for the cable guy from 10 to 4. That is how it is every day. Throws off your schedule and i think that the one big accomplishment that if 290 members of Congress Actually sign on to a bill then regardless of where it is in the Committee Process which is a whole other ball of wax it will go to the floor and i think the first one we are poised to do that is a really important one which is the 9 11 compensation which is about to run out and we have a lot of First Responders were dealing with Serious Health issues and we work in a bipartisan fashion to head to 90 and we have another couple doing that and that to me is the single most important accomplishment because the Committee Structure is political and on its own schedule and this forces and if you do it to in both and i went out one more piece the procedural and what you end up doing this will put forth this motion that has something truly controversial so it is mostly people who are making thoughtful decisions about pieces of legislation because they cant and dont want to. They are the ones who are sometimes voting with the minority and vice versa. They really serve no purpose. The interesting thing is to later use and what is the interesting thing is they are one of the most Interesting Times to be on the floor because you are on the floor because you just voted and that is when the motion to recommit goes forth and you have almost every member of congress on the floor because we just voted and it comes up and you dont go anywhere. You have hundreds of people engaged, engaged together on what they are debating. Would be a beautiful thing if you were sitting there almost all members of congress watching the debate, the bill you are actually going to vote on as opposed to this vote that is a concocted version of something that is later going to be used and both parties are using it and that is also another reason that there is less of an emphasis to get rid of it. If we could root moved to the place where everyone agrees in 2025 no motion to recommit we will be in the majority and you do Something Like a corn call instead and 20 minutes of debate based on the actual bill. That would look like the way it is supposed to work. A little bit of a policy issue and we will open it up for conversation. What you ask and it was challenging because you have done a lot of stuff. Prescription drugs, we spend a lot of time thinking about this and it seems to be a moment where you could see both parties feel compelled to move forward. You could have the realtime benefits act. A little bit about potential. I think it is on the front end of my mind because i cant get through the Grocery Store without someone pulling me over and saying i cant word my childs insulin and we people that tell you their nephew is rationing their insulin or their daughter couldnt go to camp because they cant afford four inhalers it is raw in my district and is compounded by the fact that i am from michigan so we have a border with canada and my own dad across the border to get his heart medicine. We know what we could be paying. I am focused on it because this and the overall price of healthcare has made a situation where people in my district are paying more in healthcare than in their mortgage. That is upside down. That is why i am passionate about it. It is an area where democrats and republicans say the right thing where there is overlap and that is very important and it is why there is a possibility for bipartisan legislation. People need to do more than talking about it. They need to actually turn it into legislation. I would like to see the president do exactly what he said he was going to do, allow medicare to negotiate in bold for prices. He said it, it was such a great thing and there is legislation in the house and he has to use his influence with the Senate Republicans so that we can get that done. That would be revolutionary. I am passionate about it because it is coming directly from the bone in my district and because i think despite everything the average member of calm Congress Democrat or republican knows that this issue is out of whack and there is a political will to do something. And asking you about Rural Broadband. Weve been talking about it for 10 years. We did it with electrification and it is talked about every three days, why cant we get that moved . Why is this so hard . How much time do you have . Three or four minutes. I am on the Agriculture Committee and the subcommittee had a hearing on this today we had a doctor in town from georgia who is a specialist in code Stroke Research and as a physician he conducts a lot of consultations with rural hospitals and the telemedicine capability and he was telling some impactful stories and my question to him was, in my perspective 10 counties, seven have substantial access issues and the other three are fine. I live in the suburbs and ive had broadband from the Time Internet existed in my district, in my portion of and i was saying to him i go out to my suburban communities and i say do you know just 20 minutes down the road they literally cant get connected in their house. You have kids going to mcdonalds to do their homework and farmers who are going to friends houses to do their invoices and the business of running their business someplace else because they cant do it from their place of business. And talking to him my question was how do we make this conversation bigger and stronger because what im talking about it and when i talk about it people will react and say i had no idea because why would they. What sort of groups need to engage on this . Is a need to be the chamber of commerce recognizing the Economic Impact of attracting more of it doesnt be veterans groups because when you have veterans that want to retire they need to be able to receive telemedicine consultation from the va. Is it religious organizations and the problem is that it impacts people they have to farm in Central Virginia and they are working every day to make sure the cows are milked in their running their business and getting their kids off to school and living their life and calling my office, but they are not joining together to lobby and make sure their voices are heard. By virtue of who is most impacted that is why we dont see any shift and we have done a lot. It is truly bipartisan issue, we havent yet found a firm solution, but there is a real recognition that this is impacting our community and i had an amendment i guess it was two weeks ago that would increase funding to a Popular Program by 55 billion ritually represented a 10 increase, but last year the applications for every three dollar result one dollar available. We had over 400 people support that amendment. It is an issue that when given the opportunity to engage people recognize it is a strong issue. Back to my Committee Hearing how do we beat that drum and get people to care about it in a way we will have whole communities that are decades behind their neighbors down the street. Half the eligible voters are expressing a preference for socialism over capitalism. A couple of Democratic Candidates were booed for expressing their view of capitalism was a vital approach to entrepreneurship and social betterment. You have some history with these questions focused onhow do you hear that . How do you think about what we should be doing as a country to make sure that the benefits of that kind of entrepreneur possibility are shared more broadly and are you worried about what is happening . Part of my journey was to be one of the cofounders and chief operating officer of an Organization Called benefit organization. This was in response to running a company i thought was a Beautiful Company and we tried hard not to make this really cool stuff and make money, but we also tried to do really well by our community and employees and the environment and with lisa about the person who bought it did not think that was important and destroyed the culture and the company. It is something im passionate about and you heard some of the speeches for our current candidates in terms of mandating this. I dont currently believe the forprofit economy should be mandated to do good and well, but i think that it is is incentivized by the current millennial population to do the right thing for customers. Customers care about what kind of company they are buying things from. Investors care that the kind of company youre working in is not just making cool products, but thinking about how you are treating employees and the environment. Investors care, employees care. They want to work at a company that thinks about those things and also allows you to bring your whole person to work at one time. 80 or 90 of the economy is forprofit a very small part of the economy is either the government or the nonprofit and we have to keep capitalism for good and i think we are headed in the right direction. I am anxious and frustrated when i hear the alignment of capitalism because it is a force for good and we just dont see each other when we are talking about the power of socialism to know that we are making a difference. One of the things that people dont take on is the large group of people who is part of the new Democratic Coalition they are 100th running strong caucus of democrats to caucus over pro opportunity, pro people, probusiness. We are the largest Ideological Group that no one is ever heard of and it is really importantwe have heard you. 40 of the new freshman, more than 40 are part of that caucus and we are trying to make sure it is like broadband that people hear this message and we hear how important it is that we are taking care of our businesses because they are the heartbeat of the economy. That is why i am one of the freshman leaders. It is why i am passionate about serving on the committee. We have a lot of work to do and i think we are heading in the right direction. It is so cool that i know people want to ask you questions and you have other events for people will be giving you money which we will be not. I am sure you will stay here for a little while longer and if you could grab a microphone and let us know who you are. Every year we conduct the annual military lifestyle study and one of the glaring results from that study is the Unemployment Rate for Military Spouses which is between 24 to 30 and compared with the Unemployment Rate right now is a big challenge. But are your thoughts on partnering together to help solve the problem . As a Military Spouse i feel passionate about this and my husband 30 years in the army and i have a stepdaughter who is a brandnew officer in the army. I think about this quite a bit and if i hadnt run for office one of the things i was going to do was harness the power of Military Spouses because i think it is a hugely underutilized extremely well disciplined, extremely capable workforce that because of circumstance is left out of their potential. The big thing , honestly, that we are trying to do right now and i wish it would sweep the comfrey is next week the country is when they move so that you dont have to get your teaching certificate all over again and i honestly think that will be we dont have a huge active duty military presence, i think that would be, it is a simple, logical, concrete step that state legislators understand and it is bipartisan so it is great and i honestly think if you sweep the country and do so much good immediately. I am a thirdgeneration military, my dad was active duty for 30 years and my grandmother and my mom were military navy wives for the better part of 30 years i was there career and at a time when there was opportunity for that. They moved almost every single year and asked to be the spouse and be part of the activeduty career. My mom, clearly the smartest person the year i graduated from high school finished the graduate degree shes been working on all through my childhood and one of the things im trying to do is we started something called the servicewomen veterans caucus it is 51 people strong and bipartisan. You dont have to be a woman or a democrat or the Armed Services committee, we are on the issue of women of service and about 20 of that active duty are women and 70 to 80 who are spouses are women as well and making sure we are taking care of military families is really important and we are focusing on some of the issues that elizabeth talked about about making sure we have the continuity so you dont end up tracking around your credits as well. She had to piece together a masters and eventually a phd. Very important issue. This is not a shy crowd. I am thrilled to hear from each of you and what you have brought to congress and how you have inspired women and it is terrific. I am working on the issue of Retirement Security so i want to ask you to think about this issue. As you know, 50 of americans have nothing save for retirement and largely that is because 50 of all businesses do not have Retirement Plans. We have done a survey i know the Bipartisan Center has worked on Retirement Security and we have done a survey of 4000 americans that says if you give people in which 77 of democrats and 86 of millennial like this plan and i will tell it you briefly and you can go back to congress and introduce it. If you say to a person who works for a business that doesnt have a Retirement Plan contribute 1 1 2 of your salary habit matched by the business they get to decide where they want that 3 is invested and when they retire and will get a monthly paycheck for the rest of their life. That gives them affordability right now. People change jobs all the time and all their retirement is attached to their job so what we need is a new system of Retirement Security that is not attached to the business, but goes with the individual wherever they go. I would love to discuss this with you after this issue the Bipartisan Center has their own plan, there are lots of plans out there. If you could take on the issue it is important for women because they change jobs all the time and the idea of having a portable retirement and not just one attached to their job is right for the the 21st century. I think that is very interesting not only for women, but millineals. Talk about people that will not be at the same job. They do not say at one job for long time. That is interesting, frankly, i was a federal Government Employee so we had to make the savings plan and i had one and i moved to the pentagon and move with me and then i came to congress and opened it again under congress of the same concept i think it is super interesting and would love to talk to you about that. My name is danny thank you for coping here i am interning with max roses office. I was wondering as a College Woman who is interested in politics, what advice you have or you guys are really an inspiration to me for how you keep fighting and keep going. I have three girls 27, 26, 25 and my advice, do what you are passionate about, find something that motivates you, use the skills you have in the best way you can and dont feel like anyone decision is the endall beall decision for where you will go for the rest of your life. I am 52 and i have had very different careers and they all, when you look backwards connect and make sense. I was looking forward it made no sense and nothing is a permanent choice. If you choose something that is all right use whatever you learned and do Something Else because i think that there is too much pressure to figure out what the right college is and major and first job, just chill, it will be okay. You will find it. At least you couldve been my mother. Dont tell my mother that. And i would echo everything she said and i have three girls as well they are five, eight, 10 years old and i think back on the career that i have had where already i have made a number of changes. If you had told me 10 years ago that i would have left the cia, my dream job to move home because it struck me as a great idea to bring my kids back to virginia close to my inlaws and my parents and become a girl scout leader and live in the suburbs i wouldve thought you were crazy, but there became a point in my life where that actually really was the right choice for me and i did that i worked in the private sector and for time it was really right and things change around me and i felt compelled to be a part of something beyond myself, something i believed in deeply and that is what drove me to run for congress. If i was thinking what i do this or this, none of it makes sense, but looking back it makes perfect sense. I guess my advice would be do what you are passionate about, do what can help you contribute in whatever way you think is valuable, but recognize that there are different ways to contribute to your community, causes and ideas that you think are important. Not to speak for everyone about one of the things i hear a lot from people particularly women will be i would love to do Something Like what you are doing but i could never run for office and frequently i say but you dont have to. There are 100 different ways to contribute meaningfully to politics if that is what is important to you. You can be supportive of candidates and you can write postcards, you can dive deep into policy and advocate in your community, get a job on capitol hill. There are 100 and one different ways and it doesnt have to be the most obvious choice and, i think, you get to decide that success is and you get to choose it and created for yourself and frequently you will hear people potentially tell you all the things you should be doing, at the end of the day if you have greater faith in yourself and your own choices you will create a path for yourself that will lead in the right direction and allow you to be the strongest best person that contributes in the way that is most meaningful and, frankly, to the larger community. Those were very inspirational things and i will bring up the rear with something for monday. I think that most people, especially most women know in there got what the right choices for them and their head gets in the way and all the reasons why that doesnt make sense or shouldnt do that or that is too hard and doesnt project the right image and i literally think of Luke Skywalker in star wars where you have to control your mind to lift the big ship out of the swamp and i think that part of success is being able to control your mind and quiet your mind and listen to those gut instincts and not let you screaming voices in your head dominate your decisionmaking and i have seen, i was an assistant secretary at the pentagon and we had a very large office and on the gender issues i would do career consultations career help for people that wanted to talk about where they were going and i would have action officers one male and one female almost the exact same job sitting next to each other and the same resume and the man would come in and he would be, like, ive been on the job a couple of years and i think i have mastered it and im ready for my first level of leadership and i want to talk to you about that as you would leave. The woman would come in, same background she would say ive been on the job a few years, im not sure i have mastered it, im not sure im ready for leadership, i am not sure i am not sure and it was amazing to me so Jedi Mind Trick control your mind, quiet the voices. Go with your gut. We are going to stop on that. [ applause ] there have been few conversations as clearly remind you why we wanted to create some Bipartisan Center and needs the series in honor of bob and Elizabeth Dole and you are doing democracy and it is beautiful to watch and i hope we can support you as you go forward. There has been discussion about appearance before congress any testimony would not go beyond the report. It contains our findings and analysis and the recent decisions we made. We chose those words carefully and the word speaks for itself. The report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before congress. Former Counsel Robert Mueller is going to appear wednesday, july 17 at 9 am eastern he gives testimony to the House Judiciary Committee and later in the day will take questions from the House Intelligence Committee both open sessions. Our coverage of Robert Mueller congressional testimony will be life online cspan. Org or listen with the free radio app. If you would like to hear the complete reading of the report listen on the free radio app volume 1rs