This is the right flag. The last time you probably saw this flag, it was across the east village for president obamas last Campaign Speech of his entire career. So, barack obama no pressure, senator klobuchar. [laughter] senator klobuchar is the daughter of the newspaper man and an elementary schoolteacher , the first woman to be elected to the u. S. Senate in Minnesota History in one of the most effective members of the u. S. Congress. That is not just me saying that. It was reported last year she was ranked number one in the senate with the most bills enacted into law in the 114th congress. [applause] she has worked on a lot to on sext cracks down traffickers led the legislation , to combat the Opioid Epidemic and has reached out to work with democrats and republicans on the 2014 farm bill of legislative farm bill. Her legislative record is amazing. In a recent poll, 72 of approved of her work, including the majority of republicans. [applause] the majority of republicans. Most recently, with other senators to call for the independent commission on the Trump Campaign ties to russia. [applause] one thing has been clear since the womens march. It will take the women of the Democratic Party to save the Democratic Party. [applause] it is going to take the women and the mothers and sisters and daughters and grandmothers to save our country. Senator klobuchar is one of those women. Please join me in welcoming her to pulolk county. [applause] unbelievable. [applause] sen. Klobuchar well, thank you so much. Hello, good neighbors. It is good to see all of you. I had no idea where the flag was from. Lets give a hand to president obama and michele for the incredible work that they did. [applause] sen. Klobuchar this is truly a beautiful iowa masonic am a blue iowa sunny, blue sky day. This is incredible. Thank you for your work. Danny, thank you. You not only represent our members, you represent the working people of america. Thank you for the incredible speech. Thank you, bruce and all of the elected officials that are here. Thank you, rob, for that wonderful speech. My favorite line when you said we will not be moping around in the backyard. Instead, we will be yelling from the porch in the front yard. Thank you for that. A lot has happened since i was here in the fall before the election. Some big things have happened like back in january on the inaugural stage i was displaced borns. Trump she was one hour away from my relatives. Every time i look at her, its like looking in the mirror. [laughter] sen. Klobuchar so, i could spend my entire speech talking about donald trump with endless material. Look at just what happened in the last week with democrats and republicans after working together finally averted a government shutdown. Right . We did that in congress. Got that done. It isnt easy to do. We have had many of these close calls. From the verge of disaster untiles when we voted 3 00 in the morning on years eve and there i was this romantic moment, a true story of the senate floor the clock strikes 12 00 and i look to my left and see harry reid and mitch mcconnell. Every girls dream on new years eve. [laughter] sen. Klobuchar we got out of that disaster. [laughter] sen. Klobuchar and last week, despite all the rancor in our politics, we averted disaster again and kept funding for troop, medical research, agriculture, health care and planned parenthood. [applause] sen. Klobuchar and come up what did and, what the donald trump do . He sent out a tweet the next day to threaten a major shutdown next fall. That is not leadership. That is tweetership. Millions of americans are wondering if they are even going to be able to go to the doctors office. And he has his guy pals over and gleefully are celebrating a big win from the oval office. Then, theres the attacks on refugees and immigrants and even judges. It was Alexander Hamilton who said judges dont have the power of the purse or the sword. They get their power from the constitution. It is our duty to stand up for and an independent judiciary. That is what we do is democrats. As democrats. [applause] i heard someone last weekend put it like this. President trump is a man who tweets everything that enters his head yet refuses to acknowledge the constitutional amendment that allows him to do it. Guess what . We not only acknowledge the first amendment, we embrace it and will defend it every step of the way. [applause] so, donald trump likes it when we talk about him. You pridewa, yourselves on being first. First in corn production, hog production, the caucuses you are up to the challenge the first Democratic Party dinner the rest of the night we do not even mention his name. Ok . Are you up for it . So come tonight, lets talk about something else. Lets talk about how we move forward as citizens, a party may country. We are the people in the middle of the country. There are many in this room who are in the middleclass, middleincome middleclass, middleincome, a few who could be described as middleage. [laughter] and, from time to time, in the middle, politically. My husband is the third of six boys. His mom and dad have four boys and she really wanted a girl got pregnant again and have identical twin boys. They all lived in a mobile home in minnesota. One time, they forgot him at a gas station. I have never done that to him. It isnt easy being the middle child. Those of us in the middle this time going into 2018 in the middle of this country will not be forgotten. We have a voice and people should listen. Because both iowa and minnesota have a strong tradition of grassroots politics. A lot ofso have independent voters and not a lot of people in the country have that. Me dont believe governor jesse ventura. [laughter] sen. Klobuchar what do we do now moving forward . First, we have to acknowledge the donkey in the middle of the room. That is what happened this fall. It was a tough, tough night. I was at minnesota up parties with my junior senator, al franken. As the night goes on gets worse and finally i go home. I get a text from my daughter and i realized she was at hillarys party in new york. I felt guilt because i have had forgotten she was there so focused. S mom, what should be do now . I wrote this long text. Go now, the subway is still running. You need to leave. You have class tomorrow she probably will not speak to my i mean our country. So, i told her the next morning. The country has been through tough times before. Wars and discrimination a financial crisis with deepseated discord but through it all we have always had a peaceful transition of power and that is what we need to do now. I still believe that today. What does moving forward look like when you have an administration that is exhibiting zigzagging this way and that and you have republicans in congress to one who want to hold us back with big money . That is what the Democratic Party needs to focus on. While there are plenty of reasons we lost in 2016 at least one we can definitely fix for next time. We can make sure no one is left behind where we go or who we talk to or what we say or what we do. We know how important that is in the heartland. Georgia matters, wisconsin matters, wisconsin, west virginia, nebraska, ohio and yes, iowa matters. [applause] sen. Klobuchar so, i learned what matters by visiting all 87 counties in my state every single year. It gets interesting if it is a smaller county and you are looking for something new to do every time. At one point, my staff found a new business for me to visit. Inferno. Ed insect kill bedbugs with heat. I went into the truck and they said we want you to see what its like, but we will only turn up the heat halfway. True story. As a former republican candidate once said, if we want to win, we dont show up in the places where we are comfortable. We show up where we are uncomfortable, even when they turn up the heat. That is part of what we as democrats need to do in this next election. We leave no people behind. [applause] when i gochar through my state, i hear a lot. Cant be sure their sons and daughters have the support they need to take over the family farm. Mom to cant figure out how to pay for their kidss prescriptions when they double in cost. Teenagers who cant understand where their friends have gotten hooked on opioids. Manufacturers who cant find workers to fill jobs. Small Business Owners who cant get a broadband connection. Thats too many cants. We are a nation of can. We can dream it, we can build it, we can do it. I think america is at its best when we are a country that thinks and invest and exports to the world. That is a competitive agenda to include everyone. The truth is, it is not how much money wall street makes in the short term. Instead, we should measure our success by how mainstream thrives in the longterm. I have seen what success looks like. I visited Golden Grain Energy in mason city creating jobs in the midwest instead of feeding the coffers of the Oil Companies in the mideast. Popcorn have by been in waterloo. They have flavors like southwest hot wings and a pickle. Dill pickle. I think of it with four corners. It is like the state of iowa, square but cool. Firstcome our nation can only compete in one corner if workers are prepared for the 21st century economy. Be ifsic bargain used to you work hard and play by the rules Community Get ahead. You could get a head. If you the rules work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead. To muchngs dont add up more than they can put under a couch cushion. They are doing everything to get by and give their kids a leg up on it doesnt leave much time to do anything else. We need to give workers a raise. We need to make sure that no good job goes unfilled because workers arent getting training. Not Everyone Wants to go to a Fouryear College. We need to respect that. [applause] sen. Klobuchar my own sister did not graduate from high hig school at first. She got her g. D. You know where . And i will. In iowa. She got a job at a plant down here they were nice to her she went to a Community College and eventually got her four year degree. After all that, she got the best score on her accounting exam in iowa. She has been an accountant ever since. Theres not one path to success. There are many. Boost why we need to science, technology, engineering, math education in our high schools. Peoples minds go to Silicon Valley and phds in astrophysics or whatever. Thats not the only thing we are talking about. We are also talking about bluecollar jobs, blue stem jobs. We need high school auto classes with a hightech spin. Theres a shortage of welders. Why not teach kids that skill earlier . Lets give students a jumpstart in learning about things like computer integrated manufacturing and medical research. The student sitting in our classroom today but they are the ones that will work in the labs and follow through on joe bidens moonshot. Those are the students that will end up at places like mayo and harvard. Saveare the ones who will our families from the devastation of alzheimers and find a better treatment for opiate addiction. We need to support Community Colleges. President obamas two years of freaking the college free Community College, thats great, lets do it. We need to strengthen apprenticeship programs. Theres a reason unions have been running these programs for so long. They work. We need to make sure our veterans can get the jobs that good jobs when they come home and that the skills they learned fighting overseas are needed over here. We need to bring down the cost of Fouryear College and ease the burden of student debt. If billionaires can refinance ir second home in plain second homes and planes come our students should be able to do the same. [applause] and klobuchar many paths every person in this country deserves a clear path to a good job. As tom harkin has preached so many times, these paths could use some clearing in rural america. The poverty rate for children is actually five point higher test points higher than urban five points higher than urban areas. Make a realor us to commitment to our rural communities. By expanding broadband and supporting our farmers and building Affordable Housing and taking on rural poverty. That is how we leave no one behind. [applause] my grandpa never graduated from college or high school. He worked 1500 feet under ground in the mines and saved money and in a coffee can for my dads college. He grew up in northern minnesota where he went to Community College and then got his journalism degree from the university of minnesota and he went on to interview everyone from Ronald Reagan to ginger rogers. [laughter] sen. Klobuchar my mom taught second grade until she was 70 years old. I still have adults come up and tell me that she was their favorite teacher. What i learned growing up is that no matter where you come from, you can succeed. Now, i am here today, the eranddaughter of an iron or a minerhe daughter of teacher could my grandpa do that today . Thats how we get to the second corner of this economic agenda. We need to give american businesses the incentives to invest in innovate in america. 13,000, thats the number of hardworking americans who were laid off in the latest steel downturn with china producing steel in heavily subsidize production come American Steel companies could not compete. We need fair trade. We need to sell our American Goods to customers around the world. But we must do more to catch Foreign Companies who are breaking our trade laws. We brought president obamas chief of staff up to the iron range and he saw it first hand. Hill. A guy named dan know, my kid just graduated from preschool. The teacher asked them what they want to be when they grew up. My son said i want to be a steel worker just like my dad. He took his tshirt and through it across the table. He caught the tshirt and he said make it come true. You know what happened . We pushed and we pushed and we the headse tariffs and of the company said the reason they were able to open those plants again was because we made an even playing field. [applause] another example, a little closer to home and i will come american biofuel. Little closer to home in iowa, american biofuel. These companies are becoming more and more innovative. The plant in emmitsburg is churning out fuel. One plant has figured out a way to turn garbage into ethanol. The renewable fuel standard has created more than 850,000 jobs in 10 years. It has increased our dependence decreased our dependence on foreign oil and our investment inincreased our investment clean energy. Informal white house advisor named carl icahn saw his financial portfolio grow by 100 million after he suggested the changes. We made a big deal out of it and , guess what, they backed down. Being competitive does not mean for this return to make a quick buck. It means investing in the longterm. Enforcing our trade laws is important. Creating tax incentives for american businesses to create jobs here is important. We even have to think beyond that. Technology is changing American Work and we need to support new and innovative startups and businesses that can support a changing workforce. Workers are looking for flexibility. I have a millennial. I know this. Often, when they find flex ability mother dont have security. That is not right. , when they find flexibility ey dont have security. Our party must get behind big ideas so they can share corporate profits to take those benefits from job to job to build up their savings. More than 70 are led by immigrants. 25 of Nobel Laureates were born in other countries. When people talk about immigration reform, they think of the people on the coast. We know Something Different in the midwest. Communitiesny rural where there wasnt a doctor for miles and miles. Then, we put a program in place called the conrad 30. Im now leading this continuation of this program with Heidi Heitkamp of north dakota and Susan Collins and some other republicans. At a medicalucated school in iowa or minnesota and you do your residency and you want to stay here for a few years, you can do that as long as you go to a rural or underserved area. It is keeping a lot of the medical workers going in our hospitals. When we talk about immigration reform, people need to understand that it matters in our states where theres act workers and hospital workers. Another corner strong and sturdy infrastructure. I know how importuned this is in my state because i just lived eight miles away from that bridge that collapsed especially in the middle of a summer day. An eight lane interstate highway should not just fall down in america. We rebuilt that bridge in 13 months. What about the other bridges or the charles city bridge . That partially collapsed last month here in iowa. What about the energy grid that hasnt been updated since the 1950s . What about broadband . We had a doctor in northern would look at xrays at the hospital. He would have to drive to the mcdonalds parking lot to look at xrays for his patients. , aone of our reservations kid gets wifi in his house and he looks out the window and theres all these kids in his yard. Thats the only place they could do their homework. We need a big infrastructure investment. Was whatdent said that he was going to start with. Remember, on Election Night . It is too bad they have not done that yet. The Senate Democrats have a plan and we will work with anyone or anybody to get it done. [applause] sen. Klobuchar last, we need to keep costs done for american families. Costs are going up. Your cable bill, your phone bill , pharmaceuticals. We need more competition period. We have to much economic concentration. Whether it is in health care or the cable industry. Look at Prescription Drugs. My daughter has a severe allergy. She carries and at the pen everywhere. You saw that price quadruple. There was a backlash all over social media and we were able to get the costs down. You cannot do that for every drug when four of the top , theng drugs in america prices have gone up over 100 . We need competition in the form of the bill im leading to have Medicare Part d negotiate better prices for seniors. [applause] sen. Klobuchar we need to add generics and bring in less expensive drugs from canada that is the amendment Bernie Sanders and i have had that is the bill i have with senator john mccain. We need to make reforms to the Affordable Care act to reduce Prescription Drug cost and help other people on the exchange. Want to do what they did in the house on thursday. What the republicans did. That brings us backwards. Here in the heartland when you pass a big bill like that, we want to know its price tag. We dont even know how much it costs. I had to make a decision at the end of last year. I had an opportunity to run for governor. You know what i decided . I decided i wasnt going to leave my duty station. The United States senate is the place to be. Place where we are going to not only be a place of compromise but also an emergency brake. Tax reform that helps the wealthy, we can stop that. As long as you have our backs. [applause] sen. Klobuchar a complete reversal of the work we have done to combat Climate Change to get out of the paris treaty 195 nations have signed onto we can stop that. [applause] sen. Klobuchar any efforts to roll back progress that lever on lgbt writes, we can stop that. Rolling back Voting Rights after reaching what happened after weve seen what happened we have one of the top voting turnouts. You just handicapped yourselves because of what the republicans did in the legislature. We cannot let this happen on a national level. [applause] sen. Klobuchar we can stop any efforts to disregard, down ploy downplay or distract from the russian interference in our election. 2016 and we know they will do it again. I spent last week with john mccain and Lindsey Graham in georgia. Weve drawn the frontline with the ukrainian troops. The president was there and he 10,000ou this sense ukrainians have died because of the russian invasion. Then, you hear the stories of estonia where they had the audacity to move a statue out of a Public Square and into a cemetery. Russia shut off their internet. In lithuania, when they invite members of the Ukrainian Parliament to come and join them and celebrate the independence , whathuania with 25 years do the russians do . The Hackett Group roman terriens desk parliamentarian they hack into the parliamentarians accounts. This is not just about one candidate or one party or one election. This is about protecting our democracy. That is why four of us stood up on january 4 and we are still saying it now that we must have an independent commission to investigate what happened in this last election. [applause] so, yes, ther senate is a place where we can stand up and do whats right. Its not the only place. The other place is right here in this room and in this town. Look at what happened the day after the inauguration. Menions of women and marched across this country and the majority of them had never been involved in politics except a vote. How many people in des moines . 26,000 people marched in des moines. 26,000. On day three, you know how many women signed up and send cards saying they wanted to run for office . 6000 women across the country said they wanted to run. [applause] nine,lobuchar on day when the refugee order came out, people didnt just sit at home and watch on tv. They showed up at their airports across the country. They would not have done that if they hadnt marched on day two. What else has happened since then . Huge outcry against betsy devos. The Vice President had to come in and break a tie on the cabinet nominee. The labor nominee had to withdraw because of his views and the pressure that you all put on. Fast forward, thousands of people from across the country march again to say with one voice, we believe in science. Activists not all that have worked on campaigns before. They wouldnt be Holding Signs like my favorite one. What we want . Science. When do we want it . After peerreviewed. If anyone asks you about being too loud about this, you say im not just resisting, im insisting on a better way forward. As my daughter asked me, what do we do now . First, we hold this Administration Accountable to the truth and to the law and to the people. But we cannot sit these four years out moping in the backyard and reacting to the latest tweets. We have to be proactive and we have to put forward our own ideas and we have to go where it is uncomfortable and we have to listen and learn from our friends at work and other people that we dont always agree with. We have to do it everywhere in the country. When the man in the white house is tweeting in the middle of the night in the middle of the dark, we are going to wake up in the morning and look out the window and see the light. The blue sky of iowa. We see those sunny days, the cornfield and the soybean fields and the wind turbines. The fields that feed our families and fuel our local economies. We see the engine of innovation pumping out new ways to take on big challenges. We see people standing up and speaking out, sometimes for the first time. Fores a few in this room the 1000th time. We see people who really care. Teachers and nurses and engineers and firefighters who work hard every day to strengthen our economy. We see potential and promise because this is america. Biggest somalie population in the United States. They have been a big part of our Community Working in our economy. When you come up to the twin cities and you have a number of somalis here in iowa as well or in the last president ial campaign, they experienced things they had never experienced before. I heard this story a few months ago of a family that just when out to dinner with their two kids. The skywalk to buy and he looked at them and set you four go home. Go home to where you came from. The little girl looks up at her mom and she says my mom, i dont want to go home. You said i could eat out tonight. I dont want to eat dinner at home. She only knows one home. It is my state, it is your state. Her home is in the United States of america. Thats what this country is really all about. Thinkemocrats, lets not of this as a moment in time just to overcome. Lets think of this as an opportunity. A moment to shine and show the world what america really stands for and to show the world what we are made of. Lets start here, now, on this great day in front of this amazing flag. K countyu, pol democrats. Thank you. [applause] [applause] this weekend on American History tv on cspan3, today at bbs on eastern, cr gi the black women who worked during the civil war. She was the wife of edward bannister. Involved on the underground railroad. She was a proud and consistent supporter of the u. S. Colored troops. Omara on, margaret the 1968 president ial election. Hero after hero is slain. John f. Kennedy, Martin Luther king and now, robert f kennedy. Kennedys assassination facilitates a broader national mourning. Now, it throws the democratic nomination into even more turmoil. Lynne cheney discusses president madisons personality, Health Problems and political career. Medicine was lucky enough to encounter doctors who pulled him to exercise. What a modern thing to think. Its often recommended today for people who suffer from epilepsy. 8 00 p. M. , jfks nephew and Douglas Brickley reflect on the life and career of the 35th president. He was a decorated combat veteran. He did believe in a strong military. He had a much broader conception about what american identity really was. Inlaunched the peace corps 19 to q1. 1961. Engaged in the state race. For a complete schedule, go to www. Cspan. Org. Q a, the on comparisons between president s donald trump and Andrew Jackson. Our guest on his book Andrew Jackson southerner. I dont think he represents the positive values that jackson represented. He represents the negative values that jackson represented. I would tell President Trump that if he wants to be like Andrew Jackson, he has to put nation in front of his own personhood and his own family and his own interests. Thats what jackson did for most of his presidency. Sunday night on cspans q a. Sunday night on afterw ords, the business side of health care in an american sickness how health care became big business and how you can take it back. Shes interviewed by dr. David blumenthal. Was wondering if your book give you any thoughts about whether health care is a free market. Whether we can solve our problems in health care through freeMarket Forces. I think what weve seen is the answer is probably not. , ithe beginning of the book put a tongueincheek list of the economic rules in the dysfunctional health care market. If you think of health care as a business proposition that the market will solve, you get to crazy places like a lifetime of treatment is preferable to a cure. Im not saying for a second that anyone really thinks that. Thats where Market Forces put you right now. Watch afterwords