How we overcome these restrictions. Tom has pointed out, representative waters pointed out, the fact that when these restrictions are in place they are significant for people. And the fact that we have communities that fight hard to overcome those restrictions does not make them right, or correct. And so, i think we have to continue as representative waters has stated and tom has stated and everyone here needs to understand, to fight against these restrictions, understand exactly what they are, which are efforts to take away the right to vote, restrict the right to vote from people, minorities, young people, you know, the idea that many of these i. D. , voter i. D. Laws do not allow you to use your college i. D. , in texas, right, you can use gun, firearm owners card but can not use the college i. D. As your voter i. D. And, how can that possibly be if your objective is to do anything other than limit young peoples right to vote . And how, how can that be right in the country we live in. Hands . I will end by saying, dont get the wrong impression, i think Voting Rights act i told you is the most important legislation passed in 100 years. It is still in place today and it should be in place and it has powerful tools to prevent discrimination when it occurs. How much discrimination in the occurring in this country . In the last six years under eric holder and under the obama administration, do you know how many cases have been filed under section two of the Voting Rights act claiming discriminatory practices . Three. In, under section 11. About, there hasnt been a single case filed. This idea that voter i. D. Keeps people from voting, like i said, the data show that is not true but will tell you one other thing as lawyers you appreciate. Look the indiana and georgia laws were challenged, on their face back in 2006 and 2007. In both cases the courts threw out the cases saying there with no evidence they were discriminatory or unconstitutional. Absolutely nothing has prevented either the u. S. Justice department or civil rights organizations from filing an as applied challenge in those two states in the last seven years, if they actually could find individuals who were unable to vote because of those laws. No as applied challenge has been filed. And just a year ago, i wrote an article in which i went and i looked up the names of the witnesses that were put forward in the georgia case, all of whom swore under oath that they wouldnt, didnt have an i. D. , would never be able to get an i. D. , even though georgia was providing free i. D. , and i checked their voting records with the official voting records with the secretary of state. All these individuals who had sworn they would never be able to vote, including a number of elderly voters had all been voting in election after election in georgia with the i. D. In place. So the idea that is a problem just isnt true. And, you know, where the, one of the only western democracies that does not uniformly require an i. D. To vote. Even mexico, which has a much Larger Population in poverty than in us, requires a photo i. D. To vote. They have had no problems with depressing turnout just like the states here who have i. D. In place have no problem with depressing turnout. Congressman waters. Let me just say, mr. Hans made argument that basically conclude that we dont know what is in our best interests and that they are looking out for us, whoever they are. And that, were too unsophisticated to appreciate that early voting days are not in our best interests and we dont know how to use it. Secondly there is so much fraud that we are to be absolutely ecstatic they would have voter i. D. Laws because in the final analysis they protect us. And of course, where you have found fraud, biggest fraud cases have been blacks against blacks, et cetera, et cetera. Well, i mean, those arguments dont hold water. So while mr. Hans has a book with all this information that he is sharing with us today, we must understand that no matter these kinds of representations, weve got to organize, weve got to work hard. We have got do everything that we can to get congress to do what it needs to do and fight is on. And we do not buy any of his arguments. [applause] so were going to try to ask our panelists if they might join us in the riverside room downstairs for the aba expo is. You will have a chance to talk. I dont think any books are being sold. But you will have the opportunity to get a free professional head shot or anything like that. Secondly, our, real goal here was to have a full and spirited discussion of every aspect of this important problem. I think we succeeded. Thank our panelists for that. August 6th, this week, the 50th anniversary of the what every Single Person that you heard from today identifies as one of the major if not the major civil rights legislation that we have passed takes this opportunity on august 6th to celebrate the importance of civil rights in america. Thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]. Later this month on cspan2, a look back at the Voting Rights act which was signed into law 50 years ago this month. Ari berman, author of book, give us the ballot, modern struggle for Voting Rights in america, speaking at politics prose bookstore in washington, d. C. You can see that live on booktv on cspan2 at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. With the u. S. Senate on its summer recess, booktv is in prime time all month on cspan2. Starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, the printers row lit fest with Kenneth Davis on his book, the Hidden History of america at war. Untold tales from yorktown to fallujah. At 8 50 p. M. , glen beck at freedom fest. His latest book, it is about islam. At 9 20, san antonio book festival, helen thorpe, soldier girls. At 10 05 p. M. Eastern on cspan2, tonight, conversation on concussions and the future of professional football. Up next on cspan2 our congressional freshman profile with republican Tom Macarthur of new jerseys Third District. The former insurance executive won his first term by almost 10point margin. Congressman Tom Macarthur of new jersey, can you recall first time you ever visited washington, d. C. . Wow, that is a great question, bill. It was when i was a kid. I know i was here but first time i really remember being here and taking it all in not long after i was married. I came with my wife. It was before children. I would say 33 years ago maybe, maybe 32 years ago. Just as a visitor . Just as a visitor, yeah. What surprised you about washington and congress in particular in the months youve been a member of the 114th. Wow, it is an incredible privilege not just to observe but be part of it. Be part of the discussion. Try to frame issues and move our country forward. I represent people back home in new jersey and do right thing by them. I hope that never gets old for me. What is back home like . What is the makeup of the Third District . Well its the southern part of new jersey. There is only one Congressional District out of 12 south of me and it goes from the Delaware River outside of philadelphia, clear across the state to the ocean. And on the eastern side, the ocean side of my district, it is 30 miles of the most beautiful part of the jersey shoreline. In Burlington County as you get over towards philadelphia, i have a lot of farmland, beautiful country and, it is just a great place, hardworking people, raising their families. It is a great place to live. As you came here, as a member representing that district, what were some issues that were top of your mind or top of your constituents they wanted you to address . Well, then and now it is economy. We have had a recovery that doesnt feel like a recovery. And unemployment numbers are going down but largely because people arep fromming out of the workforce are dropping out of the workforce and taking parttime jobs to hobble together a living. It is unfortunate. It has not been a recovery at all. Thats what people back home most want to see is Congress Work together, democrats and republicans, and get things done that can move our country forward. On that we saw a news article that says you have a regular practice of entering the House Chamber you there the doors on the democratic side of the aisle. Why do you do that . I started to do it, i think just you know, sometimes you go in one side. Sometimes you go in the other side. But i stop to talk to people and ever since, which has been really most of my time here, i just do do it every time now, i see my republican colleagues at different events, social events, political events. We convene as a republican conference. I have plenty of opportunity to be with my republican colleagues but less so with my democratic colleagues. One. Things i observed even before i took office even during the orientation process, partisanship is sort of built into the dna of this place. If youre not intentional about overcoming it, you just slip into being a republican or a democrat with very little interaction. So, it may seem like a simple gesture. But for me it is the opportunity to get to know people from the other side. Have you seen other members trying to make that intention effort at bipartisanship . Wealthy there is, yeah, there are certainly classmates of mine, people came in at the same time that believe that we were sent here to make the place work and you simply can not do that if you only focus on your own party. You can get away wit some of the time on issues perhaps that have broad support across party lines but, but on issues where it could go one way or the other, if you dont cultivate real genuine relationships with people in the other party, then i think those are lost moments. Tell us about your background and what the experiences that you had that really you think trained you most or qualified you most for the position youre in now as a member of congress. Well, i always said as i was running that i was running as a businessman but i think the things that have shaped me, and made me able to function in this place with other people, because it is really a very human environment, are not just the business things. It goes back further than that i grew up in a family, middle class family. My dad was a midlevel government worker. My mom was a stayathome mom with five kids and it was a pretty lively house. My mother was a very liberal democrat and my father at that time was a very conservative republican. He has moderated a bit through the years. He is 85 now. And my mom was a democrat. My father was a republican. We grew up literally arguing religion an Politics Around the dinner table. And i think that shaped me a lot. I say my mom. This was the mom that raised me. My birth mother died when i was four. And of cancer. My dad had no insurance at the time. And i watched him work at least two jobs, for most of my upbringing, three jobs to pay, i didnt know it at the time, but to pay for our family to Stay Together and have a life. It took him until i was about 19 years old to pay off medical bills from my mothers death. She died when i was four. And you know, i watched his work ethic. It shaped my work ethic a lot. I got married out of college. 33 years ago my wife and i had a, our first child was born with special needs. And that kind of grew me up fast. I was in my early 20s. We had to make a decision that nobody wants to make, which is what to do, we found out on the fourth month of pregnancy if she lived grace was going to have severe handicaps. You know, that shaped me a lot in life. We had grace. She lived to be 11 years old. Very, very difficult, when she died. Very dark couple of years. We had adopted a child and we adopted another child about a yearandahalf after grace passed. Before i talked about business at all, those are the things that make a person a person. Those are the things that make me feel compassion when i see people struggling. My life has not been all roses. Government can not do everything but government can certainly help. When i look at issues like health care, or immigration, or job creation and the economy, all of the issues whatever you might think of, for me, trying to find where government can help real people have better lives. Given your back, experience with your mom in health care, is obamacare getting it right . Do you feel like unfortunately i think not. I think free market reforms are better. The intent is good. I think there are things that i would keep like coverage for kids up to 26 years old i think is good. I think preexisting condition coverage is important. These are things, i came out of the insurance industry. These are things Insurance Companies can model into their premiums so i support that. I also believe we should have safety nets for those that have access to coverage. I think federal government is the wrong place to do it. I think state plans like that would be a better place. I saw it. I mentioned i was in business. That is the other thing that shaped my life. The insurance business. I got out of college, is have very lucky i fell in love with my first job. I investigated insurance claims in the new york city projects. It was really eyeopener. I grew up in a little farm town. I grew up working on a neighbors dairy farm. Suddenly i was transplanted into manhattan, investigating claims in the projects. I really found it interesting. I ended up going into management and ultimately had a chance to run a very small company. And grew that. From one office, 100 or so people, to thousands of people and 100 odd offices across the country and i saw some things that help and hurt. I saw where state and federal action enabled us to do things and made it more difficult to do things. I learned to work with other people whether they agreed with me or not. That is how you get business done. Sometimes i made acquisition. And i sat at the table with somebody who was my opponent in the marketplace. And, and figured out what they wanted and needed so that we could do a deal together. And those things i think combined with the things that have shaped me personally, have given me ability to actually get things done. Thats what i hope to bring. Politics became somewhat of a calling . Youve been a mayor, correct . I was a local mayor. Ive always been directly in public policy, in governments role. I studied history in college and focused a lot on American Social history and political history. Yeah, i ran for local office. Actually became a local council man. Then a deputy mayor and a mayor. I really liked it. And felt that i was pretty good at it. I have solved problems that had been unsolvable in a town, a small town, not small, but midsized town of 26,000 people. And then when this seat opened up i decided i had something to offer and ran for it, ran for the office. Go back to your family for a moment. Understand you and your wife set up a charitable foundation. What motivated that . And what do you do with that foundation . Well we, my wife runs it. Im her secretary and treasurer. But shes the leading person in that. And i, you know, we started to do do really well in business. And i grew up with the sense that when you have been blessed, you have a responsibility to, and a joy helping other people. So we were trying to figure out what to do with the things that we had. We decided to create this foundation. Initially to help children. We named it igh charitable foundation. And maybe i will take a moment and tell but the name because it is kind of telling for how we thought about it. When i first suggested buying my company from its owners at the time, i had the first meeting with them and i broached subject. I was running it already but they owned it and they were interested. And i came back, you know how you do. You put your notes into a file and i gave it a code name because i didnt want you know, put acquisition of york. I wanted to keep it a secret at that point. I gave it the code name igh. By the time i was done with the acquisition, i had file cabinets of these igh files. It stood for in gods hands because i thought it was so far beyond, this was so far beyond my ability to buy a company. I didnt have the money to do it. I borrowed money from the owners of the company to buy their company. So we named the foundation that we wanted to focus on kids in really difficult circumstances that might feel uncared about. We wanted to remind them theyre in gods hands too. So it has evolved somewhat. At the time we focused just on children. We built a school in africa for kids that lost both parents to aids. We have done work in india for young girls being prostituted very young. Their mothers were prostitutes and literally growing up in the red light district. We wanted to get them out of that environment. Weve given away now, over 2200 wheelchairs in memory of our daughter grace. As time has gone on, weve felt the need to do other things. We have done a lot with disaster assistance. Weve done a lot in the last five years or so with wounded warriors. We began to go in other directions as well. We still do a lot with children. And then it has really been a great privilege to be able to see kids get some help, people get some help. Were catching you in a couple of days before the end of the session, at least before the august recess. Fairly light legislative day but whats typical day for you like here in the house . Long. You know, there is a mix of, of official duties like being at hearings or briefings. There is relationshipbuilding. I will spend time sometimes with other members. And try to get to know them and them me. There is getting my mind around the issues im voting on. And while it is hard to get deeply involved in every issue i simply wont vote on an issue without knowing why im voting the way it is voting, meeting a suspension vote. Meaning rules are suspended because it is sort of an easy bill to pass. Even though as i have a need to understand what im voting on. So i will spend some time on that. There are some political responsibilities sometimes that go beyond the official office. For those we have to leave government property. And go do that. So there is a lot to it. How is your relationship with Speaker Boehner and his team . Its good. The speaker has been incredibly helpful to me. When i was running, he has been helpful since. Just in terms of giving guidance. Ive spoken to him on number of issues that concerned me. He has been helpful politically to me, outside of the official duties. And your district is considered a bit of a tossup district. Do you think that leadership understands the political calculatio