I look to legislate. I love politics. So i will miss the senate. It is a long time to be here. I do not think that is reason enough to stay around until they carry me out of here feet first. At some point it is time to let new people come in here with fresh ideas and enthusiasm. I said for me, it is time to move on. What are you planning to do next . At Drake University in des moines, a wellknown college because of the relation everything, Drake University a year and a half ago started the Harkin Institute of public policy. We have a nonpartisan board of directors. The former chair of the Iowa Republican party is on the board of the Harkin Institute. For that reason, he will probably never be reelected to the chair of the Republican Party. We have a former chief justice of the iowa Supreme Court. So i will be spending a lot of my time in iowa. We only live about 12 miles from Drake University. So i hope to be doing a lot of work that institute. One of the things you know, as a senator, we have all the stuff on our plate. We have a lot of stuff to deal with. It has been said one of the good things about being a senator is you get to deal with a lot on your plate. It has been said of the senate that one of the bad things about the senate is that you have a lot of things on your plate. So i want to narrow those down and focus mostly on what im probably best known for, and that is disability work. I want to work with the institute and also some here in washington. I hope even some internationally. On what i consider to be one of the last linchpins of making the americans with disabilities act really work, and that his Job Opportunities for people with disabilities. Some exciting things are happening out there, by the way, with people with disabilities getting jobs. Really interesting things. And i would like to be a part of that and are to expand that as much as possible. You mentioned consulting with your wife, ruth. Observations suggest that this country has a lot of political spouses. What is her life going to be like after leaving the senate . I hope ok. You have to understand it is not like youre going to still be very busy. My wife has always carved out her own career. First as an attorney, prosecuting attorney, then here in washington with a law firm. Then later back in the federal government as the president and ceo of the overseas private investment corporation, which she did an outstanding job at. Then later as a corporate executive. Now on the board of regents of iowa. So my wife has always had her own career path. I remember one time when i was first elected, and she was already a prosecuting attorney. You have to understand, my wife and i ran for office in the same year, 1972. I lost and she won. Ruth was the only democrat in the story county courthouse. The only woman county attorney in the state of iowa. So she was interviewed around that time about our relationship and about being a congressional wife. She says, i am not married to congress. She said, my life would be very disappointing if all i had to hinge on was i was the wife of a congressman. So my wife has been an advocate of women doing their own thing and seeking their own career path. She has been very busy. And she is still on a couple of boards today. So she has never been one to just be a senatorial wife or Something Like that. I want to go to your declaration of love for the senate. I wonder if the senate has gotten a little harder to love in the past decade or so. Well, it certainly requires a different approach. Speaking in the language of romance. The last decade has been very different. I always want to be careful about getting into this area because i do not want to become one of those old men that constantly say things were better when i was younger. Things were better when i first got here. I heard that from my father, and from people growing up. Different, yes. And i do believe that there are certain things that the senate ought to be doing that i think transcends decades. Build personal relationships. The grease of good legislation is still personal relationships. Trust. Getting to know one another. That has broken down in the senate. And that has got to be pulled back together again. We need a broader base in the Republican Party now. You might say, what about the Democratic Party . Well, up until just recently, the Republican Party had a pretty good broadbased. There were liberal republicans, moderate republicans. Lately, we have had moderate democrats. Some conservative, in the south. In that mix, we were able to get things done. The Republican Party got rid of all are liberals and they became very, very conservative. That engendered a reaction, i think, on the democratic side. More and more democrats are getting more and more liberal. We have to have more of a mix now than what we had in the past. I know it sounds political, but i hope the Republican Party gets back to having more moderates in the Republican Party. So, that. Might i also add i think some procedures need to be changed in the senate. I have long advocated we get rid of the filibuster. I think we can say it is a weight around our necks that is not in the constitution. It was used primarily for almost 100 years to stop civil rights legislation. That was the basis of the filibuster. But it has no relevance today. It really does not. What has happened in the last few years is that individuals have found they can use the filibuster to absolutely stop legislation. It was never intended that way. It was intended to slow down legislation if you had a sizable minority. But never to be used in a way it is now. So in 1996, i proposed getting rid of the filibuster. I said at that time, it is in the record, what is happening is, when the democrats are in, republicans will use the filibuster. When the republicans get in power, the democrats go, you did this to us. We will do it to you. The ante always goes up. It is like an arms race. Every time the senate would change hands, the new party would do more filibusters than the last. And i said, it is going to be like an arms race. It is getting to the point we cannot run the senate. That is true today. So two things. Get rid of the filibuster on legislation as well as nominations. On the other hand, i have often said the republicans have a legitimate argument in that they are not being allowed to offer amendments. They are not being allowed to offer amended because of filibuster bills. The best way to get rid of it is to get rid of the filibuster. At the same time, guaranteed to the minority in new rules in the senate that the minority will be able to offer germane amendments to that legislation with a reasonable time limits for debate. If you do that, then we can move legislation. And the minority will have the right someone said, the minority does not have the right to prevail. Which theyre doing now, because minority can control the filibuster and stop things. It should be the right of the minority to amend, to have full and vigorous debates, and have votes on amendments. If we do that, i think the senate would begin to operate very well. I heard you say that the resulting gridlock upsets the balance of power by giving more power to the president. Would you explain why . I think there is gridlock in the congress because we cannot get things done because of more power to the president. We see it with this president , the last president. It is just like an arms race. More power will devolve to the president when we cannot get our work done. When and why did it change . There was sort of a gradual thing. It started in the 1980s. It accelerated a little in the 1990s. And then it took off in the 2000s. Im not going to say, the democrats did this. Both sides started it. Both sides started it. I would say it really escalated perhaps in the late 1990s. I would say from the late 1990s, early 2000, to 2012. Every couple of years it got worse in terms of the filibusters and gridlock. So we do not vote on everything around here anymore. The only thing we vote on is unanimous consent. Something like that. We do not even debate any longer. I think the country loses when that happens. You talk about collegiality and things important to the legislative process. The senates work week has gotten shorter, more structured. People we talked to suggest that this is one of the roots of the problem, that they are not here on weekends. Why did that change . What is going to change it back . Because people are going home to raise money. I was going to say, why are people leaving here . To go out to raise money. Campaigns have gotten so expensive. If you have been reelected as a senator, you better start raising money right away. You remember what your First Campaign cost . Not that much. Good question. I am sure somebody knows. But my first senate campaign, 1984, gosh. It has increased exponentially . Just awful. I would be surprised if my 1984 Campaign Cost i know less than 2 million, maybe 1. 5 million. My last campaign probably came in around 12 million or 15 million. That is crazy. Just nuts. But that is what it has gotten to. That is the other thing. Again, to build relationships, you have to have personal time. It used to be we had a Senate Dining room. There is still a Senate Dining room, but that is where everybody could go. We had a little dining room for only senators to have lunch in. No staff, just senators. We had two tables in there and talk about this and that. Personal stories, what is happening in your family. Get to know one another. We had great conversation at these lunches. Some were political. We talked about this. You are not on record, so you can really talk openly. And that dining room doesnt even exist anymore. There came a time when fewer and fewer senators were going there. And finally, it did not exist. Think about that. Something we used to do on a daily basis, we never do. Why is that . Well, we used to come in the senate was monday at noon. And then we would be here until friday at noon. At a minimum. Sometimes friday, later. Now, we would have monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday. At least four or five days of lunches. Minimum of four, maybe five. Now, we do not get here until monday evening. Tuesday is the caucus lunch for both republicans and democrats. They are party caucuses. Thursday is the policy lunch for democrats and republicans. We leave thursday night. That only leaves wednesday. And what are they doing on wednesday for lunch . They are out raising money. It is not healthy. It is just not healthy at all. And we used to here is another suggestion i make for those new senators. I make it not here in this conversation, but i make it to them. We should have our caucuses like we used to. On an afternoon, tuesday afternoon or wednesday afternoon. We used to take two hours. We go to 5 00 or 6 00 in the afternoon. That was our caucus. Now it is lunch time. Why can we go back to having there isnt anything else here, for crying out loud. Speaking of collegiality, i am wondering about your relationship with your longtime counterpart, Chuck Grassley. The funny ways of the senate counting things. You are still the junior senator. The longestserving junior senator. I am the most senior junior senator in the senate. Used to be fritz onyx when strong thurmond was here. Senator grassley and i got sworn in on the same day on 1975. A few hours earlier in his case, senator grassley . We got elected the same day. We were sworn in on january, 1975. Same day. But he came to the senate four years before me. In terms of our time here you are in the house for 10 years before you came to the senate. Exactly. And he was only in the house six years. That is right. I know people say iowa, he is a conservative. I am a liberal. How do they do that . We have always had a good relationship. We do disagree on some things once in a while, but when we work for iowa, our staffs work closely together. You have to remember, iowa is a very close state. The registration is about what it was when i first started 40 years ago. One third democrat, one third republican, one third independent. So i have often said there are a lot of conservative iowans, a lot of liberal iowaans, and the rest are moderates. So Chuck Grassley fills out the conservative end of the spectrum, but does enough things to reach over to moderates. I represent the liberal spectrum and do enough to reach over to moderates. So i always liked that balance. I have always said there has been a kind of balance. The most part, it has worked pretty well. In 1992, he left to become president. How does that look through your Rearview Mirror . I know bob dole once said famously that there is only one cure for the desire to be president , and that is a wooden stake through the heart or Something Like that. But i look back at it and i think, you know, first of all, i was ill prepared to run for president. I had not really planned on it for a long time. It just was not something i was geared up to do. But after the 1990 election, i became so upset about bushs economic policies, but also the move into iraq, the the kuwati war, that kind of thing. That i felt we needed a good populace voice running. I was not prepared. I ran a terrible campaign. If i had had had a brain, i would have just campaigned in a few states. Wisconsin, michigan, ohio, maybe connecticut. Just set up operations in those states and nowhere else. But people said you have to campaign in texas. I remember one time, driving down the highway in South Carolina on a rainy day, and i thought, what am i doing in South Carolina . I have no support here. Dick riley, who they are became a good friend of mine, he was running clintons campaign. What was i even spending a day aside from having staff and campaign people. If i had just concentrated on a few states, that might have been different. But i also believe my message was wrong also. My message was wrong. But i think about those things, and i look back, and however, both the country and me and my family and my personal life are probably better off that i never got elected president. I am not just saying that out of fake modesty. I say that because i love legislation. I like legislating. And i just like that atmosphere. The more i thought about it, i am not really the executive type person. I have never been in an executive. I have always been a legislator. I have to tell you this. I love my anonymity. I really like going into a store and no one knows me. I like going into a restaurant and i do not need secret service or Something Like that. Nobody knows who i am. I have enough notoriety through the issues i am involved in that certain elements of society know me and know me well, but broadly speaking, it is a nice feeling to have that. That anonymity. Once you get elected president , it is over with. As i think about it, i think my life has been more fulfilling. I think my personal life, my wife and my family, has been much more fulfilling. Much more happy with my being in the senate than it ever would had been in the white house. Remember, those trying to get bill humphries to run for president in 1988. We were really working on bumpers to run. I got him to come out to iowa the three of us it was paul simon, berkeley bedell, and me. We try to get them to run. After going around, he said to me and said, you know, i think, i think i could run a good campaign. I think i could even win the nomination. By gosh, i think i could win the presidency. But you know what . I would never have another happy day in my life. The splendid misery from the time of don adams, right . I went and watched your withdrawal speech at the washingtonbased college for the deaf. That was a good launching pad into your focus on the disabled. Would you tell us about your interest in that . It started with my brother, who was deaf. I saw how he was discriminated against for a lifetime. I thought, if i could ever get in a position to do something about it. Well, i did. I got into congress, later in the senate. My first work in the house was my thought on disability was on deafness. That is what i was focused on. So i was involved in closed captioning and setting up the National Captioning Institute in virginia to caption prerecorded tv programs. Jennings randolph and i, the senator from West Virginia and i, set up the first decoder box for jimmy carter in the white house. Later, that led me, by the way, this was one of the things that not many people know about, but they know about my sponsorship of the americans with disabilities act. But before that, i did Something Else. I got a bill through called the Television Decoder circuitry act, which mandated that every Television Set sold in america with a size 13 inch screen or bigger had to have embedded within the tv the chip that decoded that line. I got it through. And that is why you have that mute button you can hit now. All the lines come across the screen. My interest was in deafness. But later on, my nephew got my sisters boy got injured in the military. Got shot down and broke his neck. Became a quadriplegic. He got out, went through rehabilitation in colorado, and then he wanted to go to college. I will never forget. Called me up one day and said uncle tom, i cannot even go to college. I said, you are at fort collins. What are you talking about . He said, i cannot get around on my wheelchair. I cannot get up the steps to go to school. They have classes on the second and third floor. And i cannot get there because there is no elevator. All of a sudden, my concept of disability started expanding way beyond, way beyond, deafness. Also about that time, i met a young man by the name of danny piper, who had down syndrome. He played football. He acted in school plays. He was a magnificent young man. I had to start thinking about how many people with intellectual disabilities are up there like him in the shadows someplace . So bit by bit, my concept began to grow. About that time in the mid to late 1980s, i found there was a movement in america to have a broad civil rights bill covering all disabilities. I came to the senate in 1985. In 1986, the democrats took the senate. Two senators wanted to get me on the committee. John glenn, because he and i flew the same jet in the military. And then ted kennedy. And ted said, i want you on my committee and i said, i dont know, glenn wants me on his committee. I said, if i could work on disability issues, in your jurisdiction, if you could figure out how i could have that niche on your committee, id be interested. Ted kennedy went, let me think about it. Within a day he got back to me and said i tell you what, you come on my committee, ill form a disability subcommittee and you can chair it and i said, ted, im on your committee. And thats what gave me the position to be able to have the hearings, shape the bill and move the americans with disabilities act through the senate. Was your brother still around . Absolutely. What was that like . That was wonderful. There were two great moments in my time here. Two or three with frank, my brother. One was passing the americans with disabilities act when i was on the floor and i gave my speech in sign language. To this day, bob kerrey will tell you about that because he was sitting in the chair. Suddenly i started speaking sign sign language with no verbal noise and the recorder didnt know what to do, he didnt know what to do. He sat there looking at me wondering what the heck was going on. So i gave a great part of my speech in sign language. And he always remembers because he said, what can we do . We didnt know what to do and my brother was watching that so my brother got to see that and he was very proud of that, about that. And he just always i just wish they had Something Like that when i was a kid because he realized that he was discriminated against, that he was limited in what he could do simply because he was deaf, limited not by being deaf but by societys perceptions of him. Do you have any sympathy at all for the small organizations who had to invest much money that they may not have had in retrofitting facilities . Thats some of the complaints, we dont have the money to build the ramps. Right after we passed the americans with disabilities act we passed a tax bill and we put in there a tax credit, credit, of up to 5,000 for any Small Business that has to widen a door or put in a ramp. To this day, a lot of Small Businesses dont know that although weve tried to broadcast it. Up to 50 tax credit, up to 5,000 so most can get it done with very little expense and weve set up systems around the United States, like clearing houses, where if anyone as a problem, they have a question, they can call and theyll be able to tell them how to meet the requirements of the a. D. A. And a lot of its so simple. I remember a school, debuque, iowa, called up. They were furious because of the a. D. A. , they were going to have to replace all their water fountains in all three schools and they put out a bid for it and the company came in and all the plumbing had to be changed. It cost a lot of money. They were furious. I sent my staff person out to meet with them and see what could be done. So he looked at it and he made a suggestion to the school board. He said ill tell you what, beside every water fountain, put a paper cup dispenser and waste paper basket. Thats all you need to do. So someones in a wheelchair, take the paper cup, fill it up, put it in the waste paper basket. And thats compliant. Theres a lot of people out there trying to trying to make money off this, say, well, yeah, you do all this and costs you millions of dollars and we can do that but a lot of times you dont have to do that. These are sometimes very simple things. This time going by so fast and theres lots to talk about. You mentioned john glenn and military service. Youve served a long time in the reserves when you were in the senate. I wonder how that affected things you had to do, like voting for war, what perspective did it bring . What affected me more than anything was my time in the service because i saw so many friends killed in vietnam. I did not serve in vietnam. I was in and out of vietnam but thats another story but i saw a lot of my friends and i remember another young man, i wont mention his name, but i saw him once at q. V. Point in the philippines and i knew hed been flying in vietnam. He was an a4 pilot and i saw him and asked him how things were going and he was kind of quiet. I said, so whats the latest . He said im headed back to the states. I said, your tours over . He said, no, i got canned, i cant fly anymore. I came back from a bombing run and i told my commanding officer, im not dropping any more bombs and he said they had me on the next plane off that Aircraft Carrier back to the states so i asked him about all that and what he told me, i got so disillusioned by the vietnam war, and then the second thing that happened, after i got out of the military, i went in the reserves, i flew in the reserves. I was better trained, got more hours flying, flying in the reserves than i did on active duty. And yet it cost the taxpayers about one third as much. Suddenly im thinking, we got to put more money into the reserves and the National Guard, get more bang for the buck because they can do other things other than just being on active duty so thats why i have been a strong supporter of reserves, National Guard units. And i also think that if we had more reservation and National Guard rather than active duty, less opportunity for the generals to get us into wars, things like that. Whats the john glenn story . Oh, i always wanted to fly airplanes when i was a young boy and i never flew in an airplane, never flew in any airplane until i was in college and a navy plane, when i was in navy rotc but i always wanted to fly so when i was a junior in high school, there was a picture in the Des Moines Register of this marine major who had just broken the crosscountry speed record from california to new york in an f8 crusader. And his name was major john glenn. I took that picture and pasted it above my bed and said i want to fly that airplane and as my skill set and perhaps a little bit of luck would turn out, i did get to the fly that airplane. And of course john glenn went on, obviously, to be an astronaut. And went on to be a United States senator. And so when i came to the when i first came to the house, i introduced myself to john glenn and so we talked about flying the f8 and what was it like and when i came to the senate, we just always had that kind of relationship there. It was interesting fighter. It was the fastest plane at that time. It was first jet to go 1,000 miles an hour in level flight so glenn flew it, i flew it and we always had that bonding because not many people flew that airplane and a lot of people were killed flying it, too. That was the john glenn story. Did you ever show him the clip . I never did. I dont have it anymore. I dont know what happened to it. Once i went to college and went in the military my brother or somebody threw it away but the picture exists. You can go back in the archives of the paper and find picture. You said there were a couple of special moments in your career besides a. D. A. Im guessing one had to do with the passage of healthcare legislation . Yes, absolutely. Americans with disabilities act was the biggest point in my legislative career. But the Affordable Care act also because in that i was able to put in the prevention title and as it so happened, kennedy became very sick, as you know, and it sort of devolved on to chris dodd and me to get this done and so kennedy asked me in the beginning, since youre so involved with prevention and stuff, you take care of that. So the prevention title in the Affordable Care act, thats what we did. That was my deal. And think what it does. It means from now on you can get colonoscopies, Breast Cancer screening, Cervical Cancer screening, cholesterol screening, all these things can you get with no copays and no deductibles. My idea was always to change our sick care system. I always said we never had a Healthcare System but a sick care system. If you got sick, you got care, one way or the other. But there was nothing in our system to promote wellness and to keep you healthy in first place. So thats why i wanted that prevention title and its taking hold and theres another part of the prevention title in which i got 15 billion dollars, billion, with a b, over 10 years, for grants to communities to set up Community Wellness programs and thats now happening all over america. Where communities are getting together and saying what can we do to promote wellness in our community . And theyre getting these grants. So to me, i like that part of my legacy because i think its going to take hold and it will promote wellness and more healthful living but theres Something Else i did. Im also on i have been on the ag committee for 40 years. I was chair of two farm bills. Two things that i point to with pride maybe three two one, i started a new conservation program. Its now called the conservation stewardship program. We have over 60 million acres in the United States now in this program. The concept behind it is this. That since world war ii in agriculture, the government paid formers subsidies based on what they grew and how much they grew. It to be a program crop and the more you grew, the more you got. That promoted bigger and bigger farms all the time. The more you got, you can bid up the price of land. It skewed the system. So i always thought, no, thats wrong. What we need to do is to pay farmers not for what they grow and how much they grow but for how they grow it. Are you a good conservationist . Do you preserve soil and clean water . Do you provide Crop Rotation and good tilt for the soil so thats what the program is. Its not that old but i think its firmly established and more and more farmers are seeing the benefit of it. The farmers get a benefit of it and People Living in cities and downstream get cleaner waters. Our hunters like it because we have more cover for wild fowl, pheasants and ducks and things like that, for hunters. They like that. So thats another thing that im glad i was here to do. The other thing i did in the agriculture bill is i started something called the fresh fruit and Vegetable Program. I did an experiment, 2002 farm bill. I got 5 million for four states, 25 schools in the states, 100 schools, try an experiment. What would happen if you gave kids free fresh fruits and vegetables, not in the lunch room but in the classroom, or in a kiosk in the hallway. Not just at lunch time, but whenever they felt like it, in the morning if they were hungry. So i started that. 100 schools, four states. 5 million. In the last farm bill, in 2008, i was able to expand it because each one of those 100 schools are still in the program today. They love it. We found kids eating fruits and vegetables theyd never eaten before, fresh, fresh fruits and vegetables and they got those free because you always say, well, we have a vending machine and we always have a couple of apples in the vending machine but a kid with money is not going to pay for an apple. Theyll buy candy or cookie but if they get it free, they eat it, they like it, they dont go to the vending machine. In lunch rooms, when reporters have watched, when they go in their lunch bags, they end up in the trash can because you cant force kids to eat them. Yes and no. Yes and no. Thats another thing. School nutrition standards i changed those, too, thats the school lunch program. But the fruit and Vegetable Program for kids is fantastic. Now over 100 million a year. Low income kids across america are getting free fresh fruits and vegetables with a lot of spillover effect. Kids in lunch room, they throw stuff away. They want hamburgers and french fries. Thats right. So people have accused me of trying to tell parents what their kids should eat and tell the kids what they should eat. I said, yeah, im guilty. I plead guilty. Should we let kids eat what they want to eat . If they want candy bars in the morning, would any parent want their kid to eat candy bars all day long . Or to stuff themselves with hamburgers or french fries every day . No parent wants that. Parents want their kids to have healthy food. To the extent that kids revolt against that, i understand that. That will work for a while and pretty soon theyll start to change. Things will change because kids will find as long as the food is prepared well, theyll find that a lot of healthy food is pretty darn good but people say, these kids, they throw it away and stuff. Well, for a while. For a while. It will change. We have maybe four or five minutes left. Youve told me some of the things youre proudest about. Do you have any regrets over the years . Oh, sure. Oh, sure. Yeah. Probably the biggest regret i have, the vote that i wish i could take back, was the vote on the iraqi war, resolution of george w. Bushs. A lot of people say it was a resolution to go to war in iraq. No, it wasnt, it was a resolution to give the president the power to go ahead and initiate action in iraq and i voted for it and it was a bad vote, terrible vote. I was convinced at the time that the president did not want to go to war, that he only wanted this as a hammer at the u. N. To make the u. N. Inspectors do their job in iraq. Colin powell convinced me, not so much about the weapons of mass destruction, this was before that. But that the president would not go to war but this was just a hammer to give him the power. I believed him. I was wrong. That was not a good vote at all. I suppose there are others but the others pale into insignificance compared to that one. But im sure if i went through all the thousands of votes i cast, im sure theres some others. The last thing i want to ask you about something youre synonymous with, iowa president ial politics. So are you going to stay involved in will you have the ability to be something of a king maker in the state when people are there . Theres one thing i know, once youre outta here, youre outta here. I have no illusions about that im going to continue to be some grand poobah in the iowa Democratic Party. New people coming in, thats for them. To the extent i can be helpful, i will. I like politics. I still want to be involved some way but not to the extent or in the role i have been playing the last few years. It just wont happen. But i intend to be heard. I intend to use whatever forums i have to continue to push a progressive populist agenda in america, one that talks about more equality and more opportunity for kids without anything, one that is more compassionate and more caring and one that understands what ive always believed, that with the right people and right policies, government can be a positive influence in peoples lives. I still believe that. Senator, its difficult to fit 40 years in 45 minutes. Theres so much more we could talk about but thank you very much for the time youve given us. Thanks, susan. It has been more than three weeks since the midterm elections and a few reace races remain undecided. The senateis when race between Mary Mandrell and republican congressman bill cassidy will be decided. There are also several local races in that state into congressional seats that voters will decide on. Congressandrieu and mckay city are scheduled for a debate monday night. It is the final debate. Here are some of the ads currently running in that race. Im Mary Landrieu and i approved this message. Cassidyy 31, bill gave a speech that was incoherent but his record is Crystal Clear voting to cut Social Security benefits, to pay for a tax break for millionaires like himself. A senate, a senate for this . Thank you before the end of the year, we are going to take what ever lawful actions i can take that is barack obama promising amnesty for millions here illegally. Obama. Stop as your senator, i will fight his plan. Your tax dollars should benefit you, not those here illegally. Remember, mary manger, barack obama Mary Landrieu, barack obama 97 . I am bill cassidy. I approved this message. Every morning i say a prayer for my kids. I want them to be happy and to do their best. Bill cassidy is a doctor but he cut 86 million from schools to pay for a tax break for millionaires like himself. I do not know what kind of doctor would do that to my kids. Landrieu and i approve this message because louisianas children should never pay the price for tax cuts. A few words from Mary Landrieu on obamacare. If i had to vote for it again, i would vote for it again. Thevery happy to see president defends what i think is really an extraordinary record. If you dare disagree with her. If they do not like it, they can unelectu us. Now you know what to do on election day. You can watch the final ve monday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan 2. A look at cronyism and corruption in government with Steve Simpson, a constitutional attorney and director of legal studies of the californiabased Ayn Rand Institute. Simpson has argued cases before the Supreme Court on cases including super pacs, and campaign finance. This was part of the hungry minds Speaker Series in englewood, colorado. It is just under two hours. Welcome to hungry minds Speaker Series with Steve Simpson speaking on cronyism, corruption, and government power. Steve simpson is director of legal studies at Ayn Rand Institute in irvine, california. A former constitutional the guy litigator, steve has litigated in the u. S. Supreme court and lower and federal and state courts throughout the nation. Steve was the lead lawyer in speech now vs. Sec, the case that created super pacs. And he litigated many other campaignfinance and constitutional cases over the years. Steve has written on a wide variety of legal and constitutional issues, and writings have appeared in the wall street journal the Washington PostWashington Times and many publications over the years. Lets welcome Steve Simpson speaking on cronyism, corruption, and government power. [applause] ok. First of all, thanks very much, hannah and hungry minds for having me here. I have to say it is a pleasure to be back in colorado. The last time i was here, i was suing the government, so i have very cheerful memories of coming here. [laughter] it is nice to be back. That seems like a good segue into my topic than anything, cronyism and corruption in government power. We have heard a lot about cronyism in the last several years. The political right and a lot of libertarians have been talking about it frankly for years and it has become a big issue with the Exportimport Bank and other issues. We have also heard a lot for many years about government corruption, primarily from the political left, but frankly thats from across the political spectrum. So i think most people understand that these two ideas somehow go together. Im not sure everybody would place the idea of government power in the triumvirate, and that is part of what i put it there, because i think that is really the key issue. But what i want to start, lets that is in a sense and essence thats what i want to get at. I want to get at what is the issue here and what should we