Next, a forum on the federal governments response on the coronavirus. Former lawmakers and federal officials talk about the need for bipartisan leadership and the role of past crises in determining future actions. Welcome to a unique event to discuss the critical need for a healthy, bipartisan leadership at this time of covid19. And Christine Todd whitman im delighted to be cochair of the National Institute for civil discourse. The am tom daschle, one of cochairs as well. Along with christine im delighted to join her and keith to discuss the critical nature of bipartisanship as we look to our response to the covid19 crisis we are all facing. Ofad the responsibility being majority later during one of our last crises after 911. We learned the value, the importance, the critical nature of bipartisanship then. We hope we can apply those lessons and many more as we look to the challenges at we face in our country today. Already, and icd executive director. Capacityon is to build to engage differences constructively. Tonight we will focus on how we can pull together to mitigate the challenges from covid19 and emerge stronger than ever. Lininghere is any silver , we are learning how to connect in different ways. This is our effort to ensure we can continue to have the discourse we need that will help get through the crisis. We prerecorded each of the presentations in an effort to accommodate our circumstances with the covid19 reality. In our first segment we will talk with former u. S. Health secretaries mike leavitt bush administration, 200509 and Sylvia BurwellObama Administration, 201417 . In our second segment we will talk with jeff flake and Gabby Giffords. In thepresented Arizona Senate and in the house. The university of arizona founded the National Institute for civil discourse nicd in the wake of the tucson shooting that killed six and enter 13, including gabby. They were determined that not be the last chapter in the story. In the third segment we will talk about a current example of healthy bipartisanship. Before the coronavirus truck, beforeministration the coronavirus struck, the Trump Administration and leaders in the congress were working to end a surprise billing. Others chose this topic to work on. On theshare our findings impressive work of congress to end Surprise Medical Bills. We will also hear from common sense americans directly throughout the program. Christine thank you again by joining us and we hope you will look at our website for ways to engage productively in a bipartisan nature to solve issues we face today. I want to thank participants and the dialogue. It serves as an example of what kami done and what should be done as we address the need for bipartisanship in the chanting months ahead. The need for healthy bipartisanship in the time of covid19 is crucial. Our communities need resources. Our communities need assistance. We need a government that will Work Together for the people. That is what is written in our constitution. I hope our new normal what include for us to have a government that will focus on what really matters for our American Society and not just political division. Is ar enemy this fight virus, not each other. Need the best ideas, improved and hardened through rigorous ideological debate. Debate should move us all forward, not to score points against one another. We expect our leaders to lead, to lead us through this crisis and lead us to what comes next, a stronger, better prepared and, hopefully, even a more united country. Step up to provide this kind of leadership. I say thank you. We are pleased to have Sylvia Burwell, whovia served in the Obama Administration and is now the president of american university. Served in the bush administration. Thank you for being with us. You have both wrestled with pandemics as you served as secretaries of health and Human Services. You are wellpositioned to think through where we are and where we are headed and what we can do about it. What perspective or advice would you have for everyday americans, as we try to get to that covenant to pandemic . The covid19 pandemic . Fmr. Sec. Leavitt i will start and i think sylvia and i will have a lot to say about this. The most important thing is for us to acknowledge this is biology at play. This is not congress or a foreign power. This is biology. Pandemics happen. They have happened over the course of time, at each generation forgets, because there is so much time in between them, much impact they have in shaping the way the world is. It changes the economics. It changes the politics. It has an impact on the sociology. Not just our country, but all over the world. We are in for a time of change. It is a certainty that this is not going to be a won and donesixmonth experience. We are going to be managing something we do not have full control on and that is not something we are accustomed to like very much. This, are going to manage not necessarily solve it, in the near term heard in the longterm, nature will play it to hurrynology we have nature along will come into play. But we all need to just realize that it is what we are dealing with. And i thinkurwell as mike said, this has happened. And it will happen again. Where i would start is first, in terms of individuals who are participating and listening to this, first and foremost, apathy and thanks. Empathy for those of you who are sick yourselves or have family mappers who are sick, or have family members or know of folks who have come to pass from covid19. To you, 70 and understanding that these. Sympathy and understanding that these are difficult and hard times. The on that, thanks. We know about issues of pandemics and their trajectories. We know that it is extremely important for individuals to play the role they play in getting us to a better place. That is an Important Role that everyone is playing. And it is a frustrating role. I am a mother of a 10yearold and a 12yearold and we are homeschooling here, as i am doing my work. We understand many of the frustrations as i work on the university and all we are trying to do to continue our mission. Daytoday frustrations, helping our six road with her spanish, which i do not speak our sixyearold. To the issues we are all dealing with in our work. Starting and recognizing it is a stressful time is an important starting point for individuals. Where, we are in a place we have seen pandemics before. A helpful framing we both worked on when we were secretaries of health and Human Services, and when i was facing some of the challenges, i remember calling my predecessor and getting advice about it. There is a framing when we think about these things. Prevention. Detection. Response. In times of uncertainty it is helpful to have a framing to think about things. You, like, as you noted, this is an act of nature, elegy, nobody wanted this to come and nobody particularly wants to put in shelterinplace orders or td economy tickets hits. No republican nor democrat does. It falls to elected officials today, on whose watch this has happened, to figure out the theresponse rate wisest response to that. Any thoughts for elected officials trying to it manage and lead us through these devote times . Ar. Sec. Leavitt this is time when leadership is vitally important. Time when it has a lot of hardships for those who lead. Sylvia and i will resonate with the fact that anything that a leader says, in advance of a pen to make happening, comes in advance of a pandemic happening comes off as alarmist. But after it has happened, anything you have done seems inadequate. That is a difficult position to be in. The point here is, we need to have some empathy for those who are doing their best, to navigate through what are, what is someoints out, incompleteness in our understanding of this virus. The fact that we still do not know things, that we are learning. The fact that there are different opinions about what is the best way to go about combating this cunning enemy we are up against from the natural world. And differences in priorities. If you are a healthy person who is suffering economically, you ought to get back to work. If you are a person who is not naturally healthy and not suffering economically, youre all about health. Leaders have to deal with both sides of that. Us, if we do not deal with both sides of it, we do not successfully come out on the other side as a prosperous society. History also mentions and makes clear that we can. And i think we well. But this is a hard time for those who lead. To our publicwell officials, acute thank you for acute thank you for your a hutge thank you. I have been on b director in the office of management and budget as well as the secretary of health and Human Services. I have sat on the economic teams and health teams in various positions. These things should not be pitted against each other. As we think about what is in the nations interest economically, it is to pass through as quickly as possible. That means following the Health Guidance to do that. We think about our public officials, i know they are focused on that those two things should be handing glove, instead of pushing against each other. That is how i think we will be thinking about the question of how do we move from this deep social distancing and folks all teleworking, with only essential services functioning, to a different place. Host any thoughts about, at times like this, how we have good come a healthy bipartisan relations . And the importance of that at a time like this . Fmr. Sec. Leavitt i think we ought to pause and celebrate something we have experienced so deeply we did not notice it. Of sweepingera unity across the country. People giving up longheld traditions for the good of the nation. Entire seasons of professional sports. Businesses closing. And schools, universities, operating in entirely different ways. Yes, there was some self protection involved. But for the most part it was all of us doing our part. Who would have thought 30 or 40 days ago that congress would have come together in 10 days and past eight to trillion dollar and pass a 2 trillion dollar stimulus package to maintain the economy. These are moments that say to me, we have still got it. Deep down inside, there is a sense of community here. Now, are we going to see some of that breakdown . That is human nature. There is a lot of human nature that plays out in a pandemic. There are a lot of people shopping, who knew they should have been there weeks ago but did not get there. Lets not let this moment pass without recognizing that humanity that is being displayed. Now, whered we go from here . I think we have the same dilemmas we always have. That is acknowledging there are lieutenant legitimate points of views that differ from our own. Because priorities and circumstances differ. It is the reason we have to have a structured government to make decisions. A pandemic is unique. There is a role for everyone in a pandemic. Anyone has an Important Role. Fmr. Sec. Burwell it highlights the importance of having bipartisan relationships and the ability to Work Together. And to Work Together quickly. That is exactly what the nation needed. The need for bipartisan work was highlighted in a way one cannot even imagine by the demands the pandemic was placing on us as a country. And on ss edisons. It raises the importance of it. And upon us as citizens. It is important to think about how to build upon that nobleness and coming together we have seen and a number of ways and places. That nimbleness. Fmr. Sec. Leavitt before the covid19 pandemic had, the National Institute for civil discourse, through our common sense america program. Host a healthy example of bipartisan work was on surprise medical billing. We thought leaders in the house and senate and the Trump Administration step up on a bipartisan basis to work on ending surprise bills. That is still in the works and layer, iflater a you fall victim to covid19 and then you fall victim to surprise bills also. Congress has gotten close to pretty promising i partisan bills they are continuing to look at and taking of including in the next covid19 package. Any lessons there . The work ofabout congress and the administration on surprise billing . Fmr. Sec. Leavitt i have spent a fair amount of time trying to understand why it sometimes collaboration works, and other times it does not. One of the things i have is thed repeatedly component that finds it defines it more than anyone else is what i call common pain. When there is a moment in time when two sides who have been held apart by sometimes things that really did not matter as relevantere not even to the conversation. But it holds people apart because theyre holding each other hostage on a whole bunch of things. I usehere is enough pain that in a broad sensenot just the physical sense. When there is enough energy to say, we just need to get this done. People can set aside a lot of things that really do not matter and get to the essence of it. Progress will be made as a result of this disruption we are experiencing in the Health Care System we have already seen some. Sylvia and i have both worked on trying to unburden the process of telemedicine for years. Literally, years. I was secretary of health and Human Services a long time ago and she was secretary of health and Human Services less longago and we both worked on this. But it just cannot seem to get done despite how much sense it makes. And then when, suddenly, not everyone can go to a doctor and we had a severe need, in two weeks it was just tripped away. It was just stripped away. Literally, decades of progress made in two weeks. That was because there is enough energy, enough, and, to get people focused on what they agree upon. Not all the things they disagree upon. I think we will see some things happen as a result. I think we will see the Health Care System change in very profound ways beyond surprise billing. And beyond telemedicine. I think this will reveal opportunities. Fmr. Sec. Burwell an important area i am hopeful we can move forward together, there has been good bipartisan work in that space. When one looks at surprise billing, it is in the broader context of health care. This is an important thing for us to be able to talk about in ways, what we want for our agent our nation . Access. Affordability. And care. That access has been highlighted in the situation with that pandemic. As we think about surprise billing, it is related to affordability with often is accessif you cannot afford it you do not have access. The surprise billing were going on and the work we have seen on the senate side, in terms of Lamar Alexander and patty murray doing some great work there. There is also a bipartisan bill on the house side as well. This is the kind of example, lets articulate the problem. And then, can we get to the place where if there are different solutions, how much of the solutions can we agree upon . To move forward as we do that. This is a great example of that. Appreciated the service you both provided to the nation and for joining us this evening. What is bipartisanship so important during this time of covid19 . To answer the solution of how we fix this problem, howd we get out of this, how do we recover the country . We need our leaders to Work Together. Our request please, that you would do so at this time. The response to this crisis needs to be bipartisan because it affects us all, regardless of whether we are republicans or democrats or independents. We are all equally affected, equally at risk. We must all Work Together to find a common solution common solutions, and to support and show love to each other regardless. Have jeffdelighted to flake with us who represented arizona in the house and send it and senate. He is partnering with cbs on a series called common ground. Good to be with you. Host you and gabby have been dear friends for some time even though you have different views on policy. You are nice example for us. We would like to talk to about that relationship. Start with the relationship before the tucson shooting. How you met and how that relationship developed. Fmr. Sen. Flake i had heard of Gabby Giffords and she was serving in the statehouse. Sorry, the state senate. She worked with my uncle the speaker of the house. And in the state senate as well. So i had an introduction to her from that. Working in the state legislature in a very bipartisan way. When she got to washington and i had been there just a couple of years before. It was an easy relationship to start and we worked together on issues important to arizona, immigration and Workforce Development issues and other things. She was always, i felt, a very conscientious legislator. We enjoyed working with a tether workingwe enjoyed together although we differed on policy objectives. We had a good friendship. Host and then came that fateful day of the tucson shooting. For is one of those days people, particularly in arizona, where they were memory when i got the news. I know you had significant expenses. Tell us about getting the news and your reaction. Fmr. Sen. Flake i was here at my home in mesa, arizona. I was with boy scouts doing citizenship in the nation merit badge work, getting them signed off on that. I received a call that there had been a shooting. I immediately jumped in the car and drove to tucson. I thought, i want to be there. I will never forget, i got 30 miles outside of phoenix headed toward tucson. They were reporting, i believe on npr, that gabby had passed away. Horrible news to get. I wondered what to i do now . I thought, im going to keep driving. And if human its later, another report came on a few minutes later, another report came on and said we may have been hasty. She is in intensive care and she is still alive. I kept going and i got to the hospital. And then with many others, we had a vigil there for quite a while. The next few days, onandoff. Trying to see if she could pull through. It wasout