Democratic speech in des moines iowa. Her name has been mentioned as a possible president ial candidate in 2020. Here are some of her remarks. [applause] thank you. Thank you everybody for coming, it was wonderful dinner. Before we introduce our headline speaker tonight, i want to talk about the flake that is behind me. A lot of people have been asking, that is a weird looking flake, you had to modify it to get hung up is that the right play . I can tell everybody that is right play. The last time you saw this flag was draped across the east village for them president obamas last Campaign Speech of his entire career. We wanted it to be here tonight to show that we have had good days in the past, we have a good day today, and well have good days in the future. [applause] so, barack obama, no pressure senator will amy is the daughter of an Elementary School teacher. She was the first woman to be elected to the u. S. Senate minnesotas history. She is one of the most effective members of the u. S. Congress. Thats not just me senate, was reported lester that she was right number one in the senate with most bills enacted into law on the hundred 14th congress. [applause] she has worked on a law that cracks down on sex traffickers, she has led ledgers to combat the opiate epidemic she has reached out to work with the democrats on the democratic bill. In a recent poll 72 approve of her work including a majority of republicans. Most recent recently shoes one of the senators to call for a commission on the Trump Campaign ties to russia i think she will continue her work investigating because im sure theres much more to find out there. Speaking of that guy who we are going to try not to says name tonight, somehow the sexist boss from every 76 got into the oval office. A lot of us dont know for sure how it happened, but one thing has been clear since the womans march and that is, it is going to take the women of the Democratic Party to save the Democratic Party. [applause] and is going to take the women and the mothers and the sisters of the daughters and the grandmothers to save our country. Senator Amy Klobuchar is one of those women. Please join me in welcoming her to polk county. [applause] [applause] thank you so much. Hello good neighbors. It is great to see all of you. I had no idea where this leg was from until he said it. Could we just have a hand for president obama and michelle and the incredible work they did. [applause] this is truly a beautiful iowa sunny blue sky day. As i have told many of you before, i can see iowa from my porch. So, it is good to be back with friends and i thought i was going to come here to cheer you up but you have cheered me up. This is incredible energy. Congressman smith who has neve r given up about caring for this country, thank you for this work. Danny, thank you, you not only represent your members but you represent the working people of america. Thank you for that incredible speech. [applause] thank you bruce and all of the elected officials that are here. Thank you rob for that wonderful speech even though you trash talk to my state. Do you think i didnt notice that . Right on cspan you trash talk my state. I think my favorite line was when he said that we are not going to be moping around in the backyard, right . Instead what i learned here is that you will be yelling from the porch in the front yard. Thank you for that. [applause] a lot has happened since i was here in the fall before the election. Some really big things happen like back in january on that inaugural stage i was officially displaced as the most famous in america by melania trump. That has been hard on me. She was actually born in our away from where my relatives are farm in slovenia. Every time i look at her is like looking in the mirror. [laughter] okay, so i could spend as your speakers before me, my entire speech talking about donald trump. There is endless material. Look at just what happened in the last week when democrats and republicans, after working together for months behind the scene and across the area, finally averted a government shutdown. We did that and congress. We get that done. It is not easy to do in this time of gridlock. We have had many of these close calls. For me, the loss moment of these urgent disaster episodes was actually a few years ago when we had the fiscal cliff boat. We voted until 3 00 a. M. On new years eve. There i was, new years eve, this romantic moment, this is a true story. On the senate floor, the clock strikes 12, i look to my left and i see harry right read, either to my right and i see Mitch Mcconnell, every girls dream and new years eve. So we got out of that disaster. Lastly, despite all of the rancor in our politics we averted disaster again. We kept in funding for the troops, medical research, agriculture, roads, bridges, broadband, minors healthcare and planned parenthood. [applause] what did donald trump to . He sent out to tweet the next day threatening a quote major shutdowns fall. That is not leadership, that is tweet or ship. Without of cost estimate, no regard for the consequences of how it passes, their Health Care Bill on tuesday, 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 there they are, big backslapping celebration and gleefully he tweets, big win, from the oval office. Then theres the attacks on refugees, immigrants, and judges. It was alexander hamilton, good want to quote these days, who said judges dont have the power of the pfister the sword. They get their power from the constitution. It is our duty to stand up for judges and an independent judiciary. That is what we do as democrats, he has attacked at the press as well. I am the daughter of a journalist, so i take this personally. I heard some unless we can put it like this. President trump is a man who tweets everything that enters his head, yet he refuses to acknowledge the constitutional amendment that allows him to do it. Guess what . We democrats not only acknowledge the first amendment, we embrace it and we will defend it every step of the way. [applause] so, donald trump likes it when we talk about him, right . Here in iowa, you pride yourself on being first. First in corn production, first in hogs, first in caucuses, and i know you are up for the challenge so here it is. Must be the first Democratic Party dinner where the rest of the night we do not even mention his name. Okay . Are you up for . [applause] so, tonight lets talk about something else. Lets talk about how we move forward as citizens, as a party and as a country. Here we speak from the heartland. We are the people in the middle of the country. There are many in this room who are in the middle class, middle income, even if you who could be described as middleaged. [laughter] and yes, from time to time, in the middle politically. My husband is the third of a six boys. His mom and dad had four boys and his mom really wanted a girl, got pregnant again and had identical twin boys. Thats a true story. They all lived in a mobile home in mankato, minnesota. He was the middle child and he got forgotten a lot. In fact, one time they actually forgot him the gas station. They did not realize it until they were miles away. I have never done that to him. But, we all know it is not easy be in the middle child. This time, those of us in the middle going into the 2018 and the next years in the middle of this country, we will not be forgotten. We have a voice and people should listen. Because, both iowa and minnesota have a strong tradition of grass roots of politics, yes a party caucuses, yes but we also have independent voters. Not all of the states and country have that. If you dont believe me about Minnesota Three words for you, governor jess even to our. So what do we do now as we move forward. First we have to acknowledge the elephant or the donkey in the middle of the room. That is what happen this fall. It was a tough, tough night. I was going around our Minnesota Party with my junior senator, al franken. We were going around in the night goes on and it is getting worse and worse. Finally i go home. I get a text from my daughter and at that moment i realized i forgot she was at hillarys party in new york. I felt this incredible guilt. I had even forgot she was there i so taken by what was happening and the text said, mom, what should we do now . I wrote her this longmont guilt tax back, you need to go now. You and your roommate are staying at a friends, a you have . , this isnt going well, she is probably not going to speak. My daughter writes back immediately, mom, i mean our country. So i told her the next morning, i said our country has been through tough times before. The congressman could tell you that. We have been through wars, injustice, discrimination, financial problems and deepseated discord, through it all we have voice had a peaceful transition of power. We have always kept moving forward and that is what we need to do now. I still believe that today. But, what is moving forward the click . When you have an administration that is exactly this way and that. When you have republicans in congress who want to hold us back when we had big money is our friend danny pointed out, that is trying to hold us back and a lot of families who just feel stuck. That is what the Democratic Party needs to focus on. While there are plenty of reasons why we lost in 2016, there is at least one that we can definitely fix for next time. We can make sure that no one is left it behind in where we go, and who we talk to, in what we say, and in what we do. We know a little bit about how important that is in the heartland, because minnesota manors, wisconsin matters, West Virginia matters, florida matters, nebraska matters, ohio matters, and yes, i what matters. [applause] i learned what matters by visiting all 87 counties in my state every single year. It gets interesting when its a small county and youre looking for something new to do every time. At one point in one of my smallest counties found a new business for me to visit and it was called, insect inferno. Subtitle, we kill bedbugs with heat. They literally had a truck where they would put mattresses and couches to kill bedbugs. It had signs, we kill bugs with heat. So the senator that i am i went into the truck and they said we want you to see what it is like but we will only turn up the heat halfway. As a former republican candidate for president once said, if we want to win, we do not show up in the places where we are comfortable. That is right. We also 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 go through my state i hear a lot. I hear about dads who can be sure their sons and daughters will have the support they need to take over their family farm. Moms who cannot figure out how to pay for their kids prescriptions when they double and cost. Teenagers who cannot understand why their friends have gotten hooked on opiates. Manufacturers who cannot find workers to fill jobs. Small Business Owners who cannot get a broadband connection. That is too many cans. We are a nations of cayenne, i can, we 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, invents, and exports to the world. Thats a competitive agenda that includes everyone. The truth is, that how much money wall street makes in the short term that helps iowa and minnesota, instead we should measure our success by how main street the ice in the long term. I have seen what success looks like. I have visited golden grand energy in mason city where they are creating jobs in the midwest instead of feeding the coffers of oil sheiks in the mideast. Or when i got to stop by popcorn heaven in waterloo, where innovation has led to popcorn flavors like dill pickle and southwest have wings which i somehow ate at 10 00 a. M. These workers and small Business Owners like those we see costanza in my state shows us what is possible. That is in the center of this competitive agenda. I think of it with four corners, it is kind of like the state of iowa, square but cool, right . First, our nation can only compete in one corner if workers are paid fairly and prepared for the 21st century economy. The basic bargain, and danny knows it used to be that if you worked hard and play by the rules you could get ahead. You can make sure that your kids and grandkids, now far too many times the cost of that basic bargain is too high. People are working two or three jobs was saving such not add up to much more than they could put under a couch cushion. Theyre doing everything so they can get by and their kids a leg up but it doesnt leave them much time to do anything else. We need to give workers a raise. We need to make sure no good job goes on filled because workers are not getting training. As the Democratic Party we need to make an important statement. That is that not Everyone Wants to go to a Fouryear College. We need to respect that. [applause] my own sister didnt, not at first. She did graduate from high school and she got her ged. You know where she got her ged . In iowa. She got a job at a plant town here, people were nice to her, she ended up going to a Community College in iowa and eventually she got her fouryear degree. After all of that, she got the best score on her accounting exam in iowa that year. Thats a little trash talk for you, and she has been an accountant ever since. There is not one path to success, theres many. That is why we need to boost science, technology, math and engineering in our high schools. I think some people think about the stem idea in their mind goes to Silicon Valley and Mark Zuckerberg and phds in whatever, but that is not the only thing were talking about. We are also talking about bluecollar jobs, bluestem jobs. We need high school auto classes with a hightech spin. Theres a shortage of welders, why not teach kids who want to get that skill, that skill earlier. Lets give students a jump start in learning about things like computer integrated manufacturing and medical research. The student sitting in our classroom today are the ones going to work in the lab. They are going to follow through on joe bidens moonshot. Those are the students will end up places like mayo and carver. They are the ones who help save 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 free Community College is still an idea, that is great, and lets do it. We need to strengthen apprenticeship programs. Thats a bill i have with Susan Collins, republican of maine. Theres a reason unions have been running the programs for so long, they work. We need to make sure veterans can get good jobs in the come home and the skill they have learned fighting overseas are needed over here. We need to bring down the cost of Fouryear College and is the burden of student debt. If billionaires can refinance their second homes and their planes, i think our students should be able to do the same. [applause] many paths. Every person in this country deserves a clear path to a good job. As your great island, Tom Phil Sackett and tom harkin who have preached so many times, these paths could use some clearing and rural america. For the poverty rate for children is actually five points higher than urban areas. Warehousing is hard to come by, you know that. And where it is harder to stay in business. It is time for us to make a real commitment to our rule communities by expanding broadband, by supporting our farmers, building Affordable Housing and taking on rural poverty. That is how we leave no one behind. [applause] so, my grandpa never graduated from college or high school. He worked 1500 feet underground in the minds in ealing, minnesota and he save money in a coffee can so he could send my dad to college. My dad grew up on that iron range in northern minnesota where he went to Community College in ely and then he got his journalism degree from the university of minnesota and went on to interview everyone from mike ditka, from Ronald Reagan and ginger rob tritt robbins. My mom taught second grade until she was 70 years old. We lost her a few years ago but i still have adults come up and tell me she was her favorite teacher. What i learned growing up is that no matter where you come from you can succeed. Now, i am here today the granddaughter of iron or minor, the daughter of of a teacher and reporter and the first woman elected to the United States senate. That is how america works. , but could my grandpa do that today . Thats how we get to the second corner of trying iowa. We need to give american businesses the incentive to invest and innovate right here in america. 13000, that is a number of hardworking americans who were laid off in the latest downturn. With china producing half of the world still and heavily subsidize production, American Steel companies cannot compete. American workers got hurt as a result. We need fear trade. We know that with her agricultural products, we need to sell our American Goods to customers around the world. We must do more to catch Foreign Companies were breaking our trade laws. We brought president obamas chief of staff up to iron rich and he saw firsthand. He met a guy named dan hill who everyone had spoken and the steelworker spoke at the end and he said, you know mr. Mcdonough, my daddy just graduated from preschool and the teacher asked them what they want to be when they grow my kid said, i want to be a steelworker just like my dad so please catch the tshirt you are in football and they said make it come true. And you know what happened, we pushed and we pushed and they upped those and guess what, the head of that company said the reason they were able to open those plants again was because we have an even playing field. [applause] another example to home is renewable fuel. There become a home grown economic generator. These companies are becoming more and more innovative, but their plants in emmitsburg is turning out fuel. One in minnesota, not a poet plan, another has figured out a way to turn garbage into ethanol. The renewable fuel standard, one i fought to strengthen has fought to create 850,000 jobs in ten years. Its decreased our dependence on foreign oil and increased our investment in clean energy. It was a shock when this administration started hinting when they got it after we had heard they were supportive of the fuel standards the changes to weaken the policy. Less of a shock when it white house advisor named carl icahn, did you hear about this . Saw his a financial portfolio grew by 100 million after he suggested those changes. We made a big deal out of it and guess what, just right like rob does a legislator they back down. Being competitive doesnt mean selling out for the short term to make a quick buck. It means investing in the longterm. Enforcing our trade laws is important for this economic corner, creating tax incentives for american businesses and create jobs here is important. We have to think beyond that. Technology is changing American Work and we need to support new, innovative startups and businesses that can support the changing workforce. Workers are looking for flexibility. I have a lament one real sly know this. And looking to the economy to find it. Too often when they find flexibility they dont have security. Thats not right. Our party must get behind big ideas on how workers can share corporate profits and take benefits with the from job to job to better build up their savings. Thats reality and that is the way forward. The other piece of the corner we cannot afford to shut out telling from around the world or drive out the people who call this country home. Look at the fortune 500. Within 70 are led by immigrants of our american companies. 25 of u. S. Nobel laureates were born in other countries. So when you talk about Immigration Reform they think of people on the coast but we know Something Different in the midwest. We know there are many Rural Communities where there wasnt a dr. For miles and miles. And then we put a program in place called the conrad 30 named after the former democratic senator and im now leading this continuation of this program with heidi hyde camp of north dakota and Susan Collins and other republicans. It says if you get educated at a medical school in iowa and minnesota and you do your residency and want to stay here for fears, you can do the sis you go to a rule or underserved area. Its 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 whether sag workers or hospital workers. The other corner, strong, sturdy infrastructure. I know how important it is for my state because i live a blocks away from the eye 35w bridge that collapsed in the middle of the summer day. As i said that day a bridge shouldnt fall down in the middle of america especially not an eight lane interstate highways which is one of the most heavily traveled bridges on our stay. Not a bridge that my family drives over every day in the middle of rush hour you know we do . We rebuilt that bridge. Bipartisan work financing it 13 months. What about the other bridges the charles citys bridge that partially collapsed last month in iowa . What about the highways you drive on every day to get to work . What about the energy grid that hasnt been updated since the 1950s. We had a dr. In minnesota who would work with he had to drive to the mcdonalds parking lot to look at xrays for his patients. Or, i one of our reservations a young kid gets wifi in his house looks out the window and theres kids in his yard. That was the only place they could do their homework. We need a big infrastructure investment. The president said he was going to start with that. Remember on Election Night . But its too bad they have not done it yet. Guess what . The Senate Democrats have a plan we are willing to work with anyone or anybody to get it done. Last. [applause] we need to keep cost down for american families. The cost of everything is going up your cable bill, your full bill, healthcare, pharmaceutical, the bottom line is this, we need more competition. We have too much economic concentration weather in the feed industry weather in healthcare for the cable industry. Look at Prescription Drugs. My daughter has a severe allergy and she carries an epipen everywhere. We saw that double, triple, quadruple. Only because there is a backlash and all over social media that we are able to get the cost down. You cant do that for every drug when for the top selling drugs, four of the top ten selling drugs in america the prices have gone up over 100 . When he competition in the form of a bill im leading to have Medicare Party negotiate better prices for seniors. [applause] we need to generics do we need to bring in less expensive drugs from canada. Thats an amendment Bernie Sanders and i have had and that is the bill i have with senator john mccain. Like many in this room, i believe we need to make reforms to the Affordable Care act, reducing Prescription Drug costs, helping out people on the exchange. Reforming Delivery Systems and more. But we do not want to do what they did in the house on thursday what the republican state. That brings us backwards. Here in the heartland when you pass a big bill like that we want to know its price take. They dont even know how much it costs. I had to make a decision at the end of last year trump had one and i had the opportunity to run for governor. You know it i decided . I decided i was not going to leave my duty because the United States senate is the place to be. This is the 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 are back. [applause] a complete reversal of the work we have done in president obama did to combat Climate Change and get out of the paris treaty that 195 nations have signed onto, we can stop that. Any effort to roll back progress on lgbtq rights, something i wanted minnesota is on the forefront on, we can stop that. Rolling back voting rights, after we have seen what is happened and i cannot believe the story because rose competitive with you in minnesota. We have one of the top voting turnouts, you just handicapped yourself because of what the republicans did in the legislature. We cannot let this happen on the national level. We can stop that. [applause] we can stop any effort to disregard, downplay or distract from the russian interference in our election. They did it in 2016, and we know they will do it again. I spent the last week of last year with Lindsey Graham and john mccain in the baltics and in georgia and in your crane. We were on the front line with the ukrainian troops on new years eve. Which one do you kiss . You both of those guys im president was there and he gives you 10000 ukrainians have died because of russia invasions. 10000 people. Then you hear the stories where they have the audacity to move a statue out of a Public Square and into a cemetery. What did russia do . They shut off their internet. In lithuania that members of the Ukrainian Parliament just to come and join them just to come and celebrate the independence of lithuania 25 years, something we can imagine our country doing what it they do . They hacked into the parliamentarians account. They have seen the movie before. We sought again in france, but guess what that guy one. [applause] that happened today. [applause] en noted, this is not just about one candidate one party or one election. This is about protecting our democracy and that is why more of us stood up on january 4 and were still saying it now that we must have an independent commission to investigate what happened this last election. [applause] so yes, the senate is the place where we can stand up and do whats right. Its not the only place. The other places right here this room in town. Look at what happened after the inauguration. On day two millions of women and men march across this country and the majority of them had never been involved in politics except to vote. How many people in des moines . 26000 people marched in des moines. On day three to know how many women signed up and sent cards say they wanted to run for office when they never had before . 6000 women across the country said they wanted to run. [applause] on day 9 cents the inauguration when the refugee order came out people just to sit home, they spontaneously shut up that their airports across the country. They would not have done that if they had not marched on day two. What else has happened . Huge outcry against betsy devos and the first time in the history of the United States of america 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 put on. Fastforward day 100 and thousands of people from across the country march again to say with one voice, we believe in science. I guess what . Those were not all activists that worked on campaigns before. They would not be Holding Signs like my favorite one, what we want, science, what do when we want to . After pure review. If anyone asked you about being too loud about this and why you are marching and knocking on doors, you say, i am not just resisting, i am 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 as our friend said and reacting to the latest tweets. We have to be proactive and put out to our own ideas. We have to go where it is uncomfortable and we have to listen and learn from our friends at work and other people we may be not always agree with. We need 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 our iowa. We see the sunny days, the cornfields in the soybean fields, and the Wind Turbines for miles and miles. The fields that feed our families and fuel our local economies. We see local innovation pumping out new ways to take on big challenges. We see people standing up and speaking out, sometimes for the first time. I think there are few in this room that we could say for the first time. We see people who really care. Teachers, nurses, engineers, firefighters who work hard every day to strengthen our economy. We see potential a promise because this is america. My state has the biggest somali population in the United States. They have been a big part of our community and working in our economy. You have seen them when you come up to the twin cities and you have a number of his somalis here in iowa as well. During the last president ial campaign they experienced think they have never experienced before, not even during 9 11. I heard the story in the twin cities a few months ago look of a family who went out to dinner with her two kids. A guy walked by and he looks at them and says, you for go home to where you came from. And the little girl looks up at her mom and she says, mom, i dont want to go home. You said we could eat out tonight. I dont want to eat dinner at home. You think of the words of that innocent child. She only knows one home. Its my state. Its your state. Her home is in the United States of america. That is what this country is about. Iowa democrats, lets not think as you hear these great leaders tonight, lets not think of this as a moment in time just to overcome. Lets think of this as an opportunity. A moment to shine, to show the world what america really stands for and to show the world what we are made up. Lets start here, now, on this great day in front of this amazing plague. Thank you polk county democrats. Thank you. [applause] [applause] the house returns for legislated business on tuesday after a week long break in the firing of james comey. More details on the week ahead from a capitol hill reporter. The congressional porter with usa today, the firing of fbi director, james comey jew a lot of attention in the senate this past week. A lot of time spent debating and discussing it on the floor and in committee. What can we expect next week as the house returns to capitol hill . I think more of the same thing. A lot of these house members, particularly republicans have escaped the questions on this. We have seen a few republicans who were in tossup districts. We have seen some said there needs to be special prosecutor and some say there needs to be special prosecutor with caveats. If trump does not nominate a fair, respected fbi director there should be special prosecutor. That doesnt mean anything but most of them have done to avoid it. Youll expect them to go on record. Reporters on the hill will be standing outside their votes asking. Especially something these committees investigating russia you have to see press conferences and answers on how to move for. Chuck schumer asked on the senate floor for an all senators briefing both from the attorney general and Deputy Attorney general. Youre confirming in your tweet the news on this friday afternoon that rosenstein is coming to the senate next week. What do they want to hear . They want to hear what happened. This is an interesting thing. This is something democrats demanded quickly. Schumer, shortly after the announcement of the firing came out with a press conference and basically said, rod rosenstein, america depends on you. It was a very dramatic play for rosenstein to appoint a special prosecutor. Of course republicans are not going to go along with that. He did get Mitch Mcconnell to agree to invite rosenstein to private senate briefing. Rosenstein has accepted and we dont know when or where that will be. But they did confirm he would be coming next week. The democratic leader in the house, nancy pelosi sent out a letter calling on speaker ryan and republicans in congress to join democrats to establish this independent commission. Their proposed legislation while with a like to see happen . They would like an independent commission appointed which would basically be separate from the people investigating. This is been around for a while. It has not moved if it was just democrats one republican walter jones. A few other republican signed on to the that some republicans who are expressing an openness to a special prosecutor. They havent signed on but theres an openness. Nancy plenty must think she has a window. They need 218 votes to force legislation. They do not have that many people so theyre bluffing and helping people get on or behind the scenes that theres conversations. You Cover Congress or usa today, you can read her reporting at usa today. Com and on twitter. That is where Market Forces put you right now. [inaud] good afternoon when the indicative director of the environmental and Energy Study Institute we are glad to welcome you here today to a briefing entitled briefing for infrastructure for dividends were holding this in conjunction with our partners because we are working together to take a look at americas infrastructure, its needs for investing