Transcripts For CSPAN3 Center For American Progress Holds Ideas Conference 20170516

[ applause ] thank you. Thank you so much. Good morning everybody. Thank you to entire cap team for putting together this ideas conference. Thank you to the staff here at the four seasons for looking after us so well. Im glad we could bring a little bit of l. A. Weather here for at least a couple of days in washington. Enjoy it while it lasts i hear. Thanks to all of you mostly for coming here and being a part of this most urgent and important conversation. For the last few months commentators have been calling this a big moment for the Democratic Party. And they are right. I believe this is an even bigger moment for the American People, a bigger moment for our country. For practically my entire lifetime and maybe yours we have heard politicians at events like this talking about how we are on the cusp of a technological revolution, one that will forever alter the way we work, the way we learn, the way that we communicate, flying cars, solar energy, robots that will make us breakfast. That revolution isnt coming anymore. That revolution is here. 25 years ago our country imported half of its oil that we needed to meet our energy needs. Today foreign oil accounts for just about a quarter of our energy usage. 25 years from now we may not be using fossils fuels at all. 25 years ago aids was the number one killer of men 25 to 44. Today that diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. In 25 years from now we may be able to say the same about lung cancer or alzheimers. Its amazing. The generation ago the only place that you would see Something Like this literally was in a sifimovie. We are living in this exciting future that we have all heard about in so many ted talks over the years and yet for a lot of americans this doesnt feel like an exciting moment. Doesnt feel like a moment of incredible progress. It feels like a time of great anxiety and great great an ziity and great uncertainty. Over the next 20 years, Artificial Intelligence is going to wipe out millions of jobs. If one of those jobs might be you, youre wondering how youre going to get by, let alone get ahead in this new economy. Youre wondering if any of those leaders who talk about this new future actually think theres a place in that future for me. See, i hear these an ziities every day. For 16 years as a local elected official. Ive been knocking on my neighbors doors, Holding Office hours where people from all walks of life can come talk to me about anything they want. Listening is at the heart of what i do. It may surprise some in washington to hear that the concerns that i hear about in las vegas are similar to ones that we hear throughout this country in places like lansing or louisville. Four Million People live in my city. Yes, some of them are movie stars, even a few of them car da kardashians. In the san fernando valley, we had car factors that shut down. Angelinos know what its like for a company to pack up and leave town. Time and again weve had to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and face an uncertain future. So whats happening in my city is in many ways a microdozen m for whats happening around the country. Los angeles has a diverse and driving creative class. Theyre innovating, collaborating and having a great time doing it. Why not . You can go on your smart phone and have whatever food you want delivered to your home. You can get ride share. You can get somebody to pick up your drycleaning with a tap of the finger. We have a Ballooning Service class, people cooking food and doing the drycleaning. Theyre scrapping to stay afloat and hoping one day to get ahead. Meanwhile, our middle class is getting squeezed out. The paycheck for years staying the same. Their Health Care Bills going up, the cost of college for their kids, skyrocketing. A secure retirement, a hope and a dream. These folks arent just anxious and insecure. Theyre angry and impatient. They hear us talk but regardless of whether or not they agree with what were saying, they dont see anybody taking real action to improve their lives, so they dont trust their leaders, any of them. This isnt just about honesty or ethics. People dont trust that we have it . Us to solve their problems. This isnt just a problem for progressives, who believe some challenges are so big that only government is capable of addressing them. Its not just a problem for democrats who watch donald trump win the white house. This is a problem for our countries, because this distrust robs of us the ability to take the action we need to embrace the future instead of fear it. The kind of action we can only take together. How do we win back this trust . I tell the young people that work for me that in order to make an impacts, you have to show people that you can pass tests of the heart, the head and the guts. First your heart. Do people feel you can connect with them around the challenges they feel . Do you get it . Do you feel it . Second, your head. If you can connect with them, do people believe you have smart ideas to address those challenges . And then third, your guts, and this is the most important of the three. Even if you show you can care, even if youve thought of good solutions, do people believe youll do whatever it takes to deliver what you promised even if it cuts against your own political interests . You need all three to lead. Mayors who are directly accountable, who hear from our constituents not just at town halls but at the Grocery Store and diner, it goes back to listening. If you really listen, americans agree on a lot. They want a decent job with reliable benefits, including Quality Health care. They want Affordable Housing in a safe neighborhood. Theyre worried about how theyre going to get these things in an economy that leaves so many behind. They want their leaders to worry less about winning arguments and more about getting results. Ill tell you a secret. When mayors are by themselves, democratic mayors tend to admit that regulations often times do more harm than good. Republican mayors often know that they can raise taxes to invest in critical things without the whole world imploding. Mayors are in the business of getting things done. While washington is stuck or even worse, we see washington moving backwards, cities are moving forward. In los angeles we raised the minimum wage to 15 an hour. Peel already have more money in their pockets. Theyre spending its on main street and its helping our businesses. We dont want just 15 an hour jobs. We want 40 and 50 an hour jobs. Were making investments in infrastructure thats about creating hundreds of thousands of paying union jobs. People without College Degrees who half a century ago were building bombers on the Assembly Line today are building rail cars, improving track and jobs where they live. Thats just the start. We passed the nations largest hieshing initiative. Weve got the highest Graduation Rate than weve had in decades. How . We literally show up at the door of dropouts and walk them back to school as they reenroll. This fall were becoming the largest city to make college available for every school graduate. [ applause ] were evenly taking the lead in health care. In l. A. Obama care insured more than a million and a half an leanos. And health care was meant 50,000 new jobs, 60 billion added to our gdp. Thats why im ready to fight like hell to make sure that trump care never becomes the law of the land. [ applause ] you see, mayors understand its not enough to feel peoples pain or have a laundry list of ideas to help. We need to convince people that they need to trust us to fight for them and deliver for them. And when we do, Real Progress is possible. Let me give you an example. Anyone whos ever been to los angeles knows that we have the worst traffic in america. And everyone who lives in los angeles knows that its more than a pain in the ass. Traffic robs us of billions of dollars to our economy and millions of hours we could be spending with our families. We proposed the largest Infrastructure Initiative in this nations history times two. It would produce 465,000 goodpaying jobs that will stay here at home. To get the initiative, mesh m pass, we had to get twothirds of the residents of Los Angeles County to agree. So i crisscrossed an area surprising 10 Million People, coalitions of business and democrats and republicans. On election day measure m passed with 71 of the vote. It didnt pass because we had the best targeting ads. It passed because we had left hand and because people trusted us to deliver. Los angeles wasnt alone. In november, even on a tough night for our party, cities across this nation passed 230 billion worth of Infrastructure Investments. How long have we heard a trillion dollars being talked about in washington . In one night americas cities delivered nearly a quarter of that. For all of us, this is an important moment. Because the intranny jens here has reduced washington. Here in washington, while people are going install, cities are going big. Which brings me back to the challenge. I know youre pissed off about the political moment that were in. Thats why were here, right . Make no mistake. Our values are under attack and we need to fight back. In los angeles weve set up a justice fund to make sure no immigrant faces deportation without legal representation, because you know what . Im the grandson of a dreamer and if the white house withdraws from the Paris Climate Accord were going to adopt it in los angeles and ive got a dozen more cities ready to do the next day. Its the right thing to do for our economy. Yes, weve got to fight and weve got to win. But this white house isnt going to succeed in dragging us back into the past because i know we have the constitution and we have the American People on our side. Were going to win those fights. But every day we spend playing defense is a day were not making progress. If we define ourselves solely by our opposition to this administration well sell ourselves short and more importantly, well sell the American People short. My friends, our nation is at a transitional moment. The future is here. And American People are waiting for someone to step up to lead us with the confidence and courage we need. So dont see the power you have before you. Exercise it. Dont settle for being pissed off. Dont fall into the trap of being paralyzed with fear and anger. Dont fight pessimism with more pessimism and most importantly, dont lose faith in america. We have done Amazing Things our history, but you know what . We are doing Amazing Things right now. In cities across this country. Take it from me. As a mayor i see it every single day, so lets refuse to settle for letting the future happen and lets resolve to make a future in which every american can find their place, achieve their dream and reach their god given potential and lets prove that we have the heart, the head and the guts to actually deliver. And if we can do that, we can do a lot more than just win an election. We can lead this great country into what i truly believe is a bright and brilliant future. Lets go do it. Thank you. [ applause ] good morning, everyone. Im susan rice. You may have seen a parody of me on certain cable news channels. Since i left the white house, ive become deeply concerned that the United States is squandering one of our greatest skroij assets, americas leadership of the world. Im here to argue for a better strategy, a progressive strategy that will renew our Global Leadership. It seems that the Current Administration looks at the world and sees only threats, immigrants, refugees, muslims, mexicans, even trade. Its America First and the rest of the world last. I fully recognize that we face serious threats. I spent eight years actually reading the president ial daily briefing. And the last three and a half years personally briefing president obama. But the world i see is also filled with profound opportunities. Our relationships are not zero sum. They should be mutually beneficial. Through enlightened selfinterest we can expand opportunity, not horde it for a few. I believe the strategy must be balanced, confronting threats while seizing opportunities. Its a strategy based on the four pillars, a strong defense, skillful diplomacy, Smart Development and domestic strength. First, our National Security begins with a strong defense. The United States must remain the worlds preeminent military power. That requires sustaining a force thats smartly funded, wieszly deployed, and ready to deal with a threat, any threat at a moments notice. Conflict is not inevitable. And bluster is for bullies. But our adversaries from russia to north korea must know that we will confront them with unity, resolve and with every tool at our disposal. When we employ military force we must use it additionally, because weve learned from vietnam to iraq that even the finest fighting force on earth cannot defeat the underlying political, economic, and sectarian forces that fuel conflict. So instead of simply vowing to bomb the bleep out of isil, we must use our full arsenal, including cutting off finances, discrediting extremism on line and helping stabilize fragile states. We must confront terrorists from syria to afghanistan to northern mali and the southern philippines where al qaeda 3. 0 may be germ nating. We cant allow twitter wars to become shooting wars. So instead of vacillating between reckless saber rattling and dubbing kim jong un a smart cookie, we should steadily apply increased pressure on north korea while protecting our allies and our homeland. And instead of excusing russias outrageous behavior and branding nato obsolete, we must defend every nato ally unconditionally and firmly counter russias cold war tactics. Even as we address todays crises, we must get ahead of emerging threats that will endanger us from tomorrow. From rising oceans to the dark web, from conflict in outer space to the manipulation of Artificial Intelligence. Second, an effective Foreign Policy requires skillful diplomacy. It should embrace the mantel of Global Leadership because the United States remains the worlds best hope but we need to be a steady, trusted partner, so that, as Charles De Gaulle said, the word of the United States president is good enough for me. From north america to europe, from israel to asia, our allies and friends must know we stand with them. Not based on a business transaction, but because we are bound by shared values and shared interests. And lets stop pretending that our interests and our values conflict. Yes, sometimes we must work with unsavory regimes, but our values and our interests converge. Democracies in respect to human rights are our most reliable partners. Visit Arlington Cemetery or allied burrell grounds around the world. Our soldiers didnt fight as some part of a protection racquet. They dpied for the rights of all people to live in freedom, dignity, and equality. [ applause ] these are our values. These are universal values, and they are not expendable when inconvenient. To tackle challenges that transcend borders, we must cooperate across borders. As a former u. N. Ambassador, i know well the frustrations of multilateral diplomacy, but International Institutions and collective action make us more effective. We should reject the deconstruction of the Administrative State and update the post War International chur architecture that the United States built because it remains the right framework for promoting peace and prosperity around the world. The fact is, we cannot bomb Climate Change or even violent extremism into submission. Pandemic flu and zika wont stop at the rio grande. Cyber thieves and criminal ca cartels dont respect baujds. We need collective action to achieve lasting security. We also need a well functioning state department. [ laughter ] diplomacy isnt optional but its not cheap. You dont fully fund the state department, then i need to buy more ammunition as secretary of state mattis said. We must value and fully fund the talented career professionals who do the delicate work of diplomacy. [ applause ] third, our diplomacy needs to be backed by an equal dedication to Smart Development. Helping other peoples is near is neither charity nor wasteful spending. Its one of the wisest investments we can make in our security and prosperity. From afghanistan to nigeria, weve seen poverty and corruption stifle opportunity and extremism take root when u. S. A. I. D. Helps a farmer increase her yields in ethiopia, supports microenterprise in haiti or electrifies a village in kenya so that children can study 59 night, thats not just good for them, its good for americas security. When we combat malaria, aids, and ebola, investing in Global Health infrastructure, thats good for our security. When we educate and empower women and girls, thats good for our security, too. So yes, we still need to let girls learn. [ applause ] finally, an effective Foreign Policy must be grounded in domestic strength. To lead the world and protect our people we cant rely solely on military might. We must continue to prosper by growing our economy, creating jobs, raising wages, reducing inequality and lifting americans out of poverty. We must pursue trade that is fair and free and not seed the asiapacific, the worlds Fastest Growing region to china. We need to challenge american entrepreneurship and remain the leader in r and d and education. These advantages dont just make us competitive, they, too, make us safer and stronger. Ultimately, of course, the greatest source of american strength is our people. The extraordinary skill, spirit, diversity and audacity of americans. Our founding ideals including the inherent equality of every human being, our commitment to free speech and a free press, our welcoming of immigrants from every corner and calling them simply americans. Make no mistake, the world watches very closely what we do and say. So we must ask, what message are we sending now . Because at this moment, our single greatest weakness as a people, as a country, and as a Global Leader is our profound political polarization. It hasnt always been like this. I grew up in this city and im old enough to remember when loyalties and even major legislation crossed party lines. When civility was the norm, and politics mostly ended at the waters edge. That seems like lifetimes ago. But it wasnt. We need to shake off this National Funk and remember that first and fore most, we are all americans. We must honor our constitution, our founding values, and each other. Surely we will often disagree. But we sure as hell need to agree that a hostile foreign power has no business messing with our elections. [ cheers and applause ] because heres the truth. If we cannot find our way to put country over party, democracy over demagogary, even in the face of such a dangerous external threat, then we might as well hang up our leadership cleats and resign ourselves to becoming a secondrate power. That should not be our future. We are so much better than that. At our best, we are still the bright beacon to the world of hope, creativity, justice, and opportunity. When americans of every race, religion, and class stand together for the rights of all, for women as well as men, for our immigrant heritage, for lgbt citizens, for the belief that we are all equally gods children, when we recall that we all love this country deeply, when we remember what america truly means, then and only then well be strong at hemoand an Even Stronger leader in this complex world. The choice is ours. We can either squander our greatness or build a Common Future based on respect for the dignity and value of every american and all man kind. Together lets ensure we make the right choice. Thank you. [ applause [ applause ] good morning, everybody. Hello. Thank you. Thanks for joining us today. Youre from minnesota and it is a politically diverse state. Thank you one person. As it turns out youre not the only person from minnesota. No. This is pretty can be pretty tough territory or treacherous territory for democrats. You theres a minneapolis star 46 tribune moel that had your rating at 72 , so awesome. But how do you tell us a little bit about how you navigate that state that is pretty divided and give us lessons that are first of all you see people like Tammy Baldwin in wisconsin who are able despite their states voting differently in the president ial election are able to navigate it. I think one of the things we do is first of all, not be afraid to go anywhere or talk about any issue with our constituents. We dont leave people behind. I actually visit all 87 counties in minnesota every single year. Ive gotten to my 12th year. Ive been visiting places recently k5u8d insect inferno, lets kill bed bugs with heat. They did make me go in a semiand turned up the 450e9 but halfway. It reminded me of what a candidate for president said you go not just where its comfortable but where its uncomfortable. I think a lot of what we need to do in the Democratic Party is reach out to every people in every town and not just considering them to a place where, oh, you dont win those counties or those regis. I think thats what we learned from the president ial race but its been a strategy, our winning candidates in some of the rural areas and i think talking to them and figuring that out and having an economic agenda that includes everyone is going to be important in the coming elections. And do you find its if youve been doing that for 12 years people feel theyve been heard, theyve been listened to, or do you still you do have these uncomfortable moments. Well, right. You get to know all of the elected officials, some of whom are nonpartisan. It doesnt say it on the ballot. People may think theyre republicans. Its people you get to know as friends. Its a way of relating to people than we night in more partisan settings. You seem to make a lot of progress. Thats right. Youre on the World Economics senate of the senate ad committee and i know you and your staff take this seriously, spend a lot of time in different parts of minnesota and doing tours on the world economy. Say a little bit about what you think those elements are. Because i think in the you know, in traditionally people whirl and they think aakk and minnesota is a very diverse state. Im on the Agriculture Committee and were fifth in ag. I spend a lot of time there. Thats very important. I think people should think about that not just because of the ag aspect of it but because of the child nutrition aspect of it. Our Democratic Party has to get strongly behind them. It is so much more than talking about the farm bill. Its about rural economic development. As i look at whats coming at us with technology and robots and some of the changes well see i think well, how do we resolve that and make sure there are jobs in the future. The first obvious answer is training people for the jobs we have now and that we will have in the future. But the second is continuing this great entrepreneural north american focus on businesses, new businesses, startups. This is one of the easiest places to start is where theres a lower cost of living. Whether its where spam, hormel, the spams only museum or as we call it, the gugenham. Or companies that make cutting boards in duluth. So to captuduluth theres the development of entrepreneurships. How do you do it . One, theyve got to have wifi. You cant have doctors in northern minnesota that if they want to look at their xrays have to go to the mc2k07b8gddonalds parking lot if they dont want to go to the hospital. That is a true fact. You cannot have kids on tribal lands who one house gets wifi and he looks out his window and all these other kids are doing homework in the front yard. That is a digital divide. Yes. We need to resolve that and we have a package infrastructure. Two, world hospitals hurt horribly by these budget that is proposed with the medicaid cuts coming out of the Health Care Bill in the house. The third would be making sure we have Educational Opportunities available and then i would also say that the whole budget, when you look at it, youve got to look at it in temples of rural america, so you can look at this dwige divide. Tom daschle would tell you that in machine and south dakota it gets cold. Note to administration, not everyone can afford to go to florida every weekend. So looking at how we do the budget as a statement of values that includes everyone in the country. The this you have an interesting way i think you know, there are understandable reasons why theres so much anxiety in the country. Right. Weve had two decades of extraordinary change. We had 9 11, two wars, the election, Global Economy and others. Heights natural for people to feel an ziity. Weve had a good recovery but not everybody feels it. So what i think is the approach that and you but the approach that you have articulated i think flips its kwae on its head as opposed to what are the what are the opportunities for people. Its not as if everyone in duluth is going to become an engineer or a coder, but i think were all looking for ways that you can harness this is what we do in america, right . We face big forces. Theres a lot of disruption and we figure out how to make the forces work for us. But not everyone is going to be an engineer or coder in duluth but you can get talent in the community and the Community Grows with that. Talk a little bit about that. From that perspective and you can see how it would work. I dmecommend c. A. P. For the plan you put out. I think when as democrats we go into areas and say, oh, hey, Everyone Needs a fouryear degree. Thats just not true. There are people who dont want to follow that path. And we have to allow different paths for different people. My marco rubio moment. So much more grace. Thank you, jen. In my sisters case, she never graduated from high school. Thats in suburban minnesota. She ended up moving to iowa, worked in some plants, did things like that and final by went on to get her g. E. D. And a twoyear degree. Then later after that she got her fouryear degree and ended up being an accountant. Those stories are all over america and they dont always end with a fouryear degree. Sometimes they end with a good job in welding. The sometime they end in someone repairing robotics equipment. As the Democratic Party i think its important for us to stand up for the idea that not all paths are the same and now we have the need for welders and people to do some of the with jobs in the trades where we have an ageing population. I think thats one way, when you look at the c. A. P. Record to reach out across all divides to include everyone in this progress. Yeah. Thats good. So youre learned some disturbing news about the president in the last 24 hours. [ laughter ] i havent text go with the last last three hours . Ok. Youre on the district kmeechlt youre a former prosecutor. Youve i know you support a special prosecutor for russia as well as an independent commission. Just how are you anything about processing the latest news and where senate as a Senate Democrat where do you think we take this from here . First, on the latest news, i think its important that clearly if there is some kind of readout from that meeting and a transcript, that means theres a tape unless they had someone in there you know. We have to get hold of that. Obviously, the classified information should be dedakotaed but when you have the president of the United States allegedly disclosing secret information, as our function in the senate is oversight of intelligence agencies, oversight of the Justice Department. We need to get hold of that. Because one, its a troisk our intelligence and our agents out in the field. Two, its a risk to our relationship with allies. And three, its putting people in danger. One of the reasons that president s are so careful when they look at disclosing classified information is that you never know the next level down of where that source came from or how it was done. That is why when president reagan disclosed that the russians had shot down a plane and decided that would be better for the country to understand that, he worked with our intelligence agencies to figure it out. We have to get to the bottom of this. How does this relate to the bringinger picture of whats going on . I always echoing in my mind is what former director clapper said last week before our committee and he said that we are simply emboldening russia when we dont take this seriously. When were not investigating whats happened and by giving this classified information to them that they didnt even give to the senators at the laptop briefing that i attended at 8 30 in the morning, that emboldens russia. I really get back to where i start, which is that we need a special prosecutor appointed by the Justice Department to get to the bottom of what happened. [ applause ] all of the standards of that rule have been met. We also need an independent commission, because if you want to stop this from happening again in the future, look at what the 9 11 commission did. They were able to put out some rules of the road so that if there is a breach in the middle of a major president ial campaign there is some suggestions and maybe an agreement on what people do when they get that information. What does the media do . Look at what they did in the french elections. They didnt put things out in a radioactive manner, because it was a cyberattack from another country. So when we have 17 intelligence agencies telling us that russia tried to get involved in our election, many influence our election is critical, but its qvale critical that we put some rules of the road in place so it doesnt happen again. All right, thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. [ applause ] please welcome to the stage Donald Susman. [ applause ] thank you all. Thank you, jen, for returning to c. A. P. Im thrilled to have a chance to introduce our next speaker who really needs no introduction, as people say, in june, nancy odell nancy pelosi will be 30 years in the house. She was the first woman to ever serve as speaker of the house. She oversaw the repeal of dont askdont tell. It was nancy pelosi who passed the Affordable Care act through the house of representatives. Believe me, it was her effort. I dont have to tell you how critical that piece of legislation is. Just how hard leader pelosi is fighting to protect it now. Theres no one id rather have in her role leading that fight. Joining nancy to the stage will be someone to lead the conversation. [ applause ] theres nobody id rather have introduce me. Thank you so much for being here. Good morning. Its been a couple of months in washington. Let me start up with health care. When we started off in january, we thought that the republicans would pass their Health Care Bill within weeks, and it would be their plans were to have it passed into law by now. Scary as that is. Id love for you to talk about how you managed to change the conversation, what really happened, and what do we have to do from here . Gorge, everyone. Its an honor to be here at c. A. P. Thank you for the intellectual resource that c. A. P. Is to our country, to our party, yes, but in a larger sense to our country, and thank all of you for being so much a part of it, intellectually, politically and support wise in terms of when youre in the trenches, its wonderful to know that people are out there caring, pushing, thinking and supporting. The here we are. On saturday it will be four months since the inauguration of the president of United States. Four months is absolutely nothing, nothing in terms of jobs, nothing in terms of the everything we do is see through the patriotism, including the Affordable Care act. Thats a commitment of our founders to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The healthy life the liberty, pursue your happiness, not being job locked or policy locked because of a preexisting condition. Thats good for the economy. It encourages entrepreneur shirp and the other. People can be a photographer, an artist in any way and reach their fulfillment, life, pursue their happiness. So we have the promise that they made that they were going to refeel Affordable Care act, 70 years in the making and they come up with nothing. What they have now, just to cut to the chase, what they have now is deadly, people out there on the campaign as recent as last night when i was at cnn, they said i will die if this if the Affordable Care act is repealed. You hear that all over. What the republicans are doing now is they are i called them upon shus pilot. Theyre going to do terrible things but theyre saying to the states its up to you to address the essential benefit package which seriously jeopardizes all the essentials named that for the reason benefits that are in the bill including the preexisting condition. This is part of a billinger to enlarge the issue. This is about the dekoj instruction of government, which they have always been about in the congress, so when people say how much longer will the republicans put up with trump, no, no. Theyve been there longer on these issues. PreAffordable Care act. Weve put on like 21 Million People, theyre going to take off 24 Million People. Age tax if youre 55 to 64. Young person tax if you move and kids are mobile as you know, if you change policies, 30 tax. Undermining medicare, which is part of their medicare wither on the vine thing. You understand theyre all about trickle down economics, tax breaks for the wealthiest people, and if it trickles down and some good happens that would be good. If it doesnt, so be it. Thats the free market. So this what theyre doing is not a healthcare bill. It is a tax bill described disguised as a healthcare bill. Over 600 billion probably more like 700 billion will be sucked up to the wealthiest people in the country, and corporations at the expense of middle income people and those who aspire to the middle class. Robin hood in reverse. So this has to be fought. It is one of the most damaging, if not the most damaging bill to women in legislative history. 7 million veterans will lose their tax credit for their families in this bill. Children will be hurt severely, people with disabilities, seniors, you name it. You name it. But they dont its part of the deconstruction of government, which is not even philosophical, its ideological. So thats what and will it lose two million jobs. So with the work i have to do, all the gratitude in the world to the outside groups who are participating in all of our town meetings and creating some in the republican districts to make sure that people had a place, platform to speak about their own stories and what this meant to them. And that is how we defeated the bill the first time out. They won the bill by making it worse. Picking up some of the conservatives to make matters worse. And now they want to make it worse in the senate. It would be a horrible thing, its possible they could pass a bill in the senate. A great deal is at stake. We dont want to be fear mongers but we have to mobilize. And the mobilization outside from the groups has been spectacular. If any of you have participated, thank you, because our inside maneuvering can only go so far. The outside mobilization is makes all the difference in the world. Lincoln said public sentiment is everything. With it you can accomplish almost anything, without it practically nothing. And so that is where we see our strength as we go forward with this. May i just say, many honors are afforded a member of congress, but being introduced by Donald Susman is high among them. Where did he go . Did he leave . Hes there. I would like to thats an applause line, Donald Susman. [ applause ] we have a number of the leaders, a lot of the online groups that have formed since the election in the audience. And we want to also pay tribute to the fantastic work theyve been doing to defend the aca. And also theyve been doing a lot of work on my next topic, which is to ask you a question about the recent events related to russia. I know that you did a cnn town hall, but as is the way we live in washington these days, the president could tweet between events. And so the president did seem to confirm the Washington Post story, and youve been you handled intelligence before. I think i would love you to talk about, you know, what you think happened here. But also just really raise from your perspective, whats at stake in the issues here, related to russia . And why are you so concerned about it . Well, in terms of there are many facets to this as the president is fit to be president of the United States when he would do such a thing. You know, theres other takes on it. But almost 20 years of experience as the top democrat on intelligence or as in the leadership of the gang of eight. This is a dedication. You really have to read your stuff, know your stuff, be brief, constantly. You cannot connect the dots if youre helterskelter and thats what hes been. He hasnt even taken his briefings. So without being political, we try not to be. What the president did was totally outrageous. Totally outrageous. If it was unwitting, that would be pathetic and dangerous if it was intentional, that would even be i dont know whats worse. But the fact is intentional is worse. You think . Unwitting hes a loose cannon. Heres the thing. This russia thing, the reason hes admitted he was tired of the russia trump connection investigation and thats why he went to where he did with director comey is the russia connection hits us in three areas of security. What were about is security. We take an oath to protect and defend the security of our country. Seriously jeopardized by the trump russia connection. Economic security affected by his actions as the security of our democracy. Proven that they have hacked, leaked, disrupted our election, the question is what is the connection. And that requires investigation to get the facts to prove the case. Or not. What are the republicans and the president afraid of . The truth. When it comes to our National Security, here he is putting putin on a pedestal, undermining nato questioning whether we should have sanctions visavis russia in terms of their aggression in europe. And that is not in our National Security interest. That is undermining our transatlantic pillar of strength for us. Casual about it. What do the russians have on him politically personally, financially . Go to the next step, we cant see his tax returns. Show us your tax returns, we can see what the connection is between you and russia. And by the way, the connection between your selfaggrandizement and the cost to the average person in this country. This is about our economy as well. And then, of course, i mentioned about the security of our democracy. So this is intrenzic, systemic, porn important we get to the bottom of it. I do not think the attorney general should be the attorney general. Hes already violated his recusement. Again, what, though, is the price that we pay . What is the opportunity cost . All of the above. We want to be talking about jobs. Were retail people. Were the house of representatives, we go home every weekend and put our hand on a hot stove of people saying when is it my turn . Why is it that i see the rich getting all of this, when is it my turn . And we have to be i know you all are working on job creation, i heard glen talk about the senator talk about jobs and technology and the rest of that. But we have to all we do is fight for working families in our country. All we do is walk that walk. We didnt talk the talk. And we paid the price. We have remove doubt in peoples minds that the people they voted for are people who are there to undermine their interests, whether its their health security, Economic Security or the Pension Security and the rest of that. So it is for the good of the country, theres a middle class is the backbone of our democracy. For the good of the countries, forgetting politics and the Democratic Party, for the good of the country its essential we understand that hot stove as we are making our policy and how we go forward. Im looking at the clocks of that. I know you have a tight schedule. So many ideas to hear. Well have a discharge petition, cummings will be introducing it tomorrow. Over 70 of the American People think there should be an outside investigation. We of course support all these independent council, if we can get that, special prosecutor, but i dont think that certainly not sessions. Rosenstein i dont think he should be making the appointment either. It has to be somebody not appointed by donald trump. But in any event, to get something going, and our Intelligence Committees trying to do their best. The power of subpoena makes all the difference in the world and the majority owns the power of subpoena. And when you have an incumbent in the white house of a particular party and the congress owns the power of subpoena, it deters. The groups are out there helping to protect the Affordable Care act, raise minimum wage, build infrastructure and the rest. We have to while we address these other issues make sure that people know were thinking about them, were not just having a washington conversation. That doesnt relate to their lives. All of this does. We have to show them the connection. Our caucus. And they have been brave and courageous. For the Affordable Care act in terms of that. Of course i had my priorities there. Not only house but the governors, the state houses, the senate, however that turns out. That we have a debate as to what whose side people really are on. What, you know, going to open up the coal mines and bring jobs back from china . Oh, really . Oh, really . What is it that were doing to think about the by the way, i have a coal miner that my father gave me when he was in congress, in the 30s and 40s and the new deal. I have coal miners in the office all my time. Clean coal is the oxymoron of all time. I love the coal miners, they love coal and dont want to deal with pensions and healthcare and all the rest for the coal miners, the whole thing about people voting for them because theyre going to open the coal mines is emblematic of the challenge we have from a message standpoint. But we have no problem from a value standpoint that unify us and, again, the humility to accept new ideas, fresh ideas, entrepreneurial thinking about subjects. And, you know, even solomon when he was going to be king, he was so humble. Following david, lord, how can i have the wisdom to succeed david and that humility is what god came, solomon because you did not ask for great wealth or longevity or vengeance against your enemies ill give you such wisdom that youll be renowned for the wisdom. That humility left to wisdom. We have to be humble enough to accept the ideas whether theyre left right, middle or wherever theyre from for the good of the American People and hopefully that debate will either change who is in office or change the minds who are in office on the other side. Because nothing less is at stake than the great middle class which is the backbone of our great democracy, the greatest country that ever existed in the history of the world. So thank you for the support. [ applause ] thank you. Everyone could i have you all take your seats . Thank you so much. Could i have you all come back in the room and take your seats . What a fantastic morning its been and its not over if i could have you all come back into the room and take your site seats, thank you so much. Hello everybody, weve got a lot to look forward to and we need to keep our program going. Leading up to lunch well hear from senator harris, that will be followed by a critical and timely well hear from senator kamala harris. That will be followed by a critical and timely conversation about russia with senator murphy and congressman adam schiff. But first there is a woman who has not given up the fight a smart and thoughtful leader championing the vital role that women play in our economy who understands why working families need paid leave and health care and will help to make it happen. Who knows how to get things done. Who helped lead the effort to repeal dont ask dont tell. She hailed from my home state, the great state of new york. Please join me in welcoming senator kirsten gillebrand. Thank you for all your great work and advocacy. I want to thank you neera for her years of vision and leadership. You really have done on extraordinary thing. I think the amount of people who are here to hear what cat has to offer shows just how hard you have worked. Thank you, neera. So this is an opportunity for democrats to talk about the work we need to do. I feel grateful to work with my colleagues and sharing a stage with so many i work with in the senate every day. I was originally going to talk a little bit about how President Trump is routinely betraying the working class voters he pledged to fight for from his harmful budget to his critical tax plan to his horrific Health Care Plan and more. But last nights reporting has taken us to a whole new level of abnormal. This is not business as usual. The president is truly creating chaos and hasnt created a single job or made us safer. Every single week its a different thing. According to news reports, and the lacking response by the white house, it appears that the president divulged highly classified information to an adversarial Foreign Government that was provided by an ally with the agreement it would not be shared. If this is true, President Trumps actions are not only irresponsible but have put lives at risk and undermined our National Security. I believe it is incumbent upon all of us regardless of party to stand up and fight back harder than ever. On these ties to russia, we must not stop until we have full transparency and accountability. That means not voting for an fbi director until a special prosecutor is named. But we also cannot let donald trump distract us from our work, everyday work of fighting for working families. Since this is an ideas conference, i brought one idea i would like to challenge the president on to step up. I want to challenge the president to join us in fighting for a national pay leave program. Mr. President , if you are really standing up for working americans, if you are really fighting for them, then there is no excuse not to have america join every industrialized nation in the world that already guarantees National Paid leave. It is not just a womens issue. It is a middle class issue that creates Economic Growth and rewards work in this country. Year after year, we are short changing our workforce and were shortchanging our economy. And that should not be acceptable to any of us as democrats. But this is important. If we are going to pass a paid leave plan, it has to be a real paid leave plan. Let me explain what that is. It has to be gender neutral. It has to allow you to care for not just a newborn infant but a sick or dying family member. It should be a test of whether or not it is real paid leave. Remember, on the campaign trail, candidate trump broke away from most of his party. He announced he supported paid leave. It made sense, right . Because paid leave shouldnt be a democratic or republican idea. Because it rewards work. Because it helps us care for our families. Because it grows the economy. Its something that we should all agree on. But unfortunately, again, this was another one of Donald Trumps empty promises. Real paid leave works like this. First, it has to be national. So a state like north dakota or nevada doesnt have to worry about not having enough population. We have enough population in new york. Thats why new york was able to pass paid leave. We have 20 Million People. Second, paid leave must be gender neutral. That means it has to cover women and men. It has to cover husbands who want to care for their wives when theyre sick. It has to cover sons who want to care for a dying parent. Third, paid leave has to be comprehensive. That means its not just about maternity leave. Its not just about babies. Because its not enough. You have to cover all illnesses. No one should ever have to choose between a paycheck and being able to sit with their dying mother who has been diagnosed with cancer or alzheimers. We have to make sure you can be with a child if they are sick or in a wheelchair or needs the care of their parent. It also has to be 12 weeks long. Thats long enough to be with that infant, be with that sick parent, be with that dying family member. Four, it has to be sustainable. A National Paid leave plan can only be sustainable if every worker in the entire country is part of it. So if its going to survive, everyone who would benefit needs to chip in. So it actually needs to be a universal earned benefit. Fifth, paid leave has to be affordable and manageable for workers and businesses alike, particularly small businesses. Now, we have great data in from california, a statewide program, up and running for ten years. What we know from california, 90 of businesses said it had no negative impact or a positive impact on its bottom line. We also know that 99 of businesses said it had a positive impact on morale and retention. Small businesses around the country, 70 of them, want a plan for paid leave because they have to level the playing field. How are they going to compete with the googles and facebooks of the world and that have kind of cash flow. They just dont. If you dont have National Insurance plan and paid leave, they can never compete. Businesses also have seen the numbers. They know that this is good for the economy. If we had a National Paid leave plan, it would potentially put into the economy 21 billion annually. It makes sense, because a woman in her lifetime loses about 320,000 because we dont have paid leave. A man loses about 280,000, because we dont have paid leave. To do a real paid leave plan, it shouldnt just be a tax cut for the good corporations that are already doing this. This is not about giveaways for successful companies. So we need a bill. We have a bill. Its called the family act. Let me tell you what it does. Its a common sense bill that p passes a National Paid leave plan. Its nationwide. It is gender neutral. It is comprehensive, sustainable, affects all businesses alike and it is affordable. Let me explain to you what it costs. Its the cost of a cup of coffee a week. On average, its 2 a week. Just imagine this, you are asking every employer to say, would you buy one cup of coffee for each employee a week. They overwhelming say yes. I would do that. I do that anyway. For a worker, would you put 2 a week into a savings plan to know that when your mother is dying, you could be by her side. So that when you become pregnant, you can be with your infant. Workers will say yes. It is not a lot of money. It is 2 a week, 104 per year per employee. Thats the amount of money any business can afford. I think this is something that makes sense. I want to talk about how were actually going to get it passed. This is what matters the most for the people in this room. Weve been stuck in a madmen era where our policies do not reflect the face of the workforce. 7 out of 10 moms are working, 4 to 10 are primary or sole wage earners. Time has shifted. We need this national plan. It will help the economy grow. Somethings happening in america that ive never seen in my lifetime. Its about you. Its about the grassroots. Its the reason why so many of you showed up today. How many people here marched for the womens march. How many . Nearly all of us. We marched in new york, washington, worldwide. It was a moment in our history where people believed their voice actually mattered. After seeing donald trump get elected, they said, this is not my country. I did not sign up for this. I dont agree with this person. What did they do . For the first time in their lives, people across america made a sign. They made a sign that talked about the issue that they cared most about. They talked about the issue that made them angry, the issue that they had passion for, the issue that they were not going to stand President Trump unwinding. So whether you were marching for black lives matter or reproductive rights or lgbtq equality or clean hair, clean water, it didnt matter. It was your issue, what you cared about. If we are going to pass a National Paid leave act plan, it is only if every one of you stands up and fights for it and demands it and says this is important to me. Its important to my business. Its important to our economy. Its important to our families. Because its about us. If we arent willing to fight for it, it will never happen. This moment in time is about the democratization of democracy. Its about each individual having a voice. A 17yearold girl that tweets something that goes viral that makes a difference. Its the very creative person who creates a meme thats really funny that says it exactly the way it is. Thats whats happening today. And all of us need to be part of it. If we are all part of it, we will win. We will defeat donald trump and his horrific policies and do good things like pass a National Paid leave plan. Thank you, all. [ applause ] please welcome senator chris murphy, rep adam schiff, and david sanger. Thanks very much. Im david sanger from the New York Times and delighted to be here with senator murphy and congressman schiff and have a a little discussion about russia and other issues in the news. I wanted to start, though, just with what we had on the front pages today. Somewhat remarkable situation where the president had his meeting with foreign minister lavrov and kislyak last week. We learned about the details in large part from photos that were issued by task, because we didnt actually get in for any of those. That apart, weve now read a set of descriptions of the conversation which seem to suggest that the president didnt issue any didnt reveal any sources and methods but described a fairly sensitive intelligence around a program that concerns the isis ability to put laptops on computers that could be loaded up with explosives and seemed to suggest the city in which some of this was learned and so forth. So congressman schiff, as you sit on intelligence and are familiar with the difference between revealing sources and methods which nobody has alleged here has happened. And describing the program in some detail, tell me what part of this we should be concerned about and what part isnt all that concerning. Well, what we should be concerned about and again, i have not yet been briefed on it. I can only go on the basis of whats been alleged publicly. The allegation is that the president discussed a threat to the country from isis with sufficient detail that the russians could determine what the source or method of gathering that intelligence was. The denials by the administration as i read them and im reading admittedly between the lines, are really a form of nondenial denial. Stating that the president did not discuss war plans is a bit of a non seq. Nonsequitor. Saying that the president didnt comment on sources an methods is also a bit of a ruse if, in fact, what the president did was reveal sufficient detail that the russians could therefore conclude, reverse engineer in a way, what the actual source was. Whats the implication of that . Well, it could compromise the source of information. So that source could dry up or go away. If its a human source, it could be worse. If the source is a sister Intelligence Agency of a friendly country, that country could decide it cant trust the United States with information or worse that it cant trust the president of the United States with information. That obviously has very serious repercussions. And particularly if were talking about information about a threat to americans posed by isis. So again, i cant say whether these allegations are accurate, but if they are, and certainly the president s tweets suggests he talked about something of concern here, we immediately have to go into damage mitigation mode. Find out what steps we can take to minimize any risk to our sources and if the damages to our allies, what steps we can take to reassure our allies that we treasure the relationship, treasure the information, and were going to work much harder to protect in the future. I have to hope that someone will counsel the president about just what it means to protect closely held information and why this is so dangerous ultimately to our National Security. Senator murphy, well start with you on this. The president made an argument in his tweet basically he was trying to bring the russians over to be more active against isis. We have certainly seen cases where president s of both parties, president obama, president bush, revealed some intelligence information without the source in order to go motivate another country to help along. You might put it in another context. Tell the chinese more about the north Korean Missile program if you are trying to give some urgency to the sense that they have to back him up on sanctions. Could you argue that this is the kind of thing that president s sometimes just have to do . You could argue that if you were under the belief that this white house was operating in a way that was anything other than Foreign Policy by improvisation. You are right, in previous times, other president s have decided to share classified information with socalled adversaries but they only did so after consulting with the intelligence agencies and having a whole of government approach to declassifying that information. It was strategic. This clearly, as far as we understand, was not strategic. The idea that russia is going to be a responsible partner in the future of syria is belied by years and years of facts on the ground. We have been trying to get the russians to be a meaningful partner inside syria. They end up doing more damage than good. They end up conducting themselves in a way that kills, hurts, and maims civilians that such more, not less people inside the ground on syria are pushed into the camps of extremists rather than moderates. So we have enough experience inside there to understand that russia is not going to be a credible partner. There is a reasonable way to use classified information in order to win new friends or influence adversaries. But thats not what happened here. This was a president who was trying to show off how much he knew in the context of that meeting and potentially did serious jeopardy to immediate u. S. National security concerns as we are finding out today that some of our allies are already rethinking whether or not they should share information or rethinking what kind of information to share with the United States. Let me just add, chris is exactly right. The point hes making is also far broader than this context. If you look at many of the president s statements or tweets that have an impact on Foreign Policy, they all have an improvisational character. Some have an erratic character to them. We try to look for a method in this when there may be none. If you look at some of the comments hes made about north korea, for example, and you ask, is this part of some clever art of the deal strategy of saber rattling or whatnot, you might conclude it was true if it was done in concert with others in the administration in a cohesive fashion. But too often, its not. It looks like the president has one Foreign Policy and the secretary of state has another and the u. N. Ambassador has a third. No one is quite sure who to believe. As much as we may try to rationalize it and explain it, the reality is that we have created not a strategic ambiguity, but a very nonstrategic and dangerous ambiguity about where we are, what we stand for, what we want to see happen, what our policy is. So we mentioned north korea briefly. I wanted to turn to that before we get back into the russia investigation. The other fascinating intelligence leakage story thats going on right now is that it appears that the day that its been released by a group that calls itself the shadow brokers which outside experts widely believe are tools that were developed by the nsa. I realize neither of you can comment on that, but lets take that for a moment as the working assumption of the question if that turns out to be the case, have leaked out and now may have been exploited by the North Koreans to be used for greater havoc. So what should american taxpayers think about the fact that Cyber Weapons that are being developed by the United States are showing up in basically black markets and being exploited by our adversaries . Ill start with you since i am sure youve heard a bit on this topic within the committee. Sure. I think what this incident points up, and youre right, we cant confirm or comment on whether what the shadow brokers have disclosed either came from the u. S. Or did not come from the u. S. But we do know a few things that the director of the nsa has said publicly. That is from time to time, we will discover vulnerabilities in Software Including software of u. S. Technology companies that can be exploited in times in cases for very legitimate foreign intelligence gathering purposes. But of course that also poses a great vulnerability and there is a process within the administration or at least there was within the last administration to determine whether the importance of that potential access outweighs the risks that those vulnerabilities get out into the wild and can be manipulated by bad actors. According to director rogers, in 90 of the cases, the Intelligence Committee reveals to the technology company, hey, you need to patch this vulnerability in your operating system or whatever the problem may be. I do think that one of the implications here is if, indeed, this came from the United States, i cant confirm or deny whether it did. That will, im sure, influence that process more heavily in favor of disclosing to the Technology Companies a vulnerability because we have seen very graphically the risks of not disclosing to the Technology Companies or having a quicker fix. It is possible that it was disclosed to Technology Companies. It was only disclosed to microsoft by their accounting relatively recently before they patched it in march. It does raise the question, do we have the system under control . This is a question i think the committee will need to continue to examine and explore and decide whether there are changes that have to be made. Again, its difficult to comment on in the abstract without being able to say this is the case here. I think it will have a demonstrable impact on one of the debates weve been having in this arena, the whole debate over encryption. One of the arguments the Technology Companies have made against any kind of a mandate that companies have a door of even with legitimate government process in which the government can say, you need to decrypt for us or you need to allow us into a particular device. I think the argument of the Technology Companies is now far greater potentially by saying, look, not even the u. S. Government, let alone our own company can be trusted to protect a door or the keys to that door. This will have implications even beyond the issue of the potential exploitation of zero vulnerabilities. Over the course of the last 15 years, weve had a massive scale up in conventional military power, doubling of the u. S. Defense budget from the start of the iraq war until 15 years later. Weve had a massive scaleup of our ability to deploy Cyber Weapons around the world through a similar increase in funding for our intelligence agencies. Theres the old saying that if all you have is a hammer, everything looks to you like a nail. And that is the reality of american Foreign Policy today. Lets talk about the only means by which we actually took a Nuclear Security threat off the table at least for the time being. That was with respect to the Iranian Nuclear agreement, an agreement that we achieve not through conventional military power. We certainly used cyber tools along the way, but that was not ultimately dispositive. This speaks to the broader imbalance that exists in the National Security tool Kit Available to an american president. If all you have are cyberwarfare and conventional warfare tools, you cant meet the broader array of threats presented to the United States. So many of us are worried about the deep cuts to the state department, because we fear this enormous plusup on the other side leaves us vulnerable given the reality of cyber warfare vulnerabilities. But just misunderstands the way in which you actually solve some of these complex problems which ultimately wont be through internet attacks or conventional military buildup but through cats that today the state department has and can perfect. Let me ask you this. So the president clearly is issued at least in the skinny budget what theyve called a National Security budget what they have called a National Security budget, wanting to increase the Defense Department intelligence agencies considerably. The state gets 30 cut in that i dont think anybody thinks that is likely to go through in that form. What does that tell you about what the president thinks about the role of the state department as an instrument of National Security. I think its pretty clear he views Foreign Policy through a military lens. And thats not just evident in the way that hes budgeted, but through the fact that he has loaded up the National Security cabinet with exmilitary officers and still has left an entire level of professional service unappointed in the state department. When were here talking about big ideas, when i think about big ideas for the future, i think we should be talking about instead of a 50 million increase in the military budget, we should be talking about what you could do with a 50 billion increase for the nonkinetic budget. The fact of the matter is all virtually all of these new threats posed to the United States as i said are not conventional military threats. Whether it be bioterrorism or online terrorist recruiters, the spread of corruption, energyrich petro dictators. None of those threats can be confronted with the stuff that we very proudly make in connecticut. Submarines and helicopters and jet engines. Ultimately those are state department tools. So yes, i think this president views Foreign Policy through a military lens but it fundamentally misunderstands how all of our adversaries today are confronting us with asymmetric power, not conventional military power. Again, this is a point that i think our military understands even if our president doesnt. Some of the most powerful advocates of the state department have been secretaries of defense like bob gates. In the military they have an expression, if youre going to cut diplomacy and development, you better buy me more bullets. I think vividly of being in mosul many years ago with general petraeus in the early stages of the iraq war. He had something when he was head of the 101st on the chalk board that said essentially money equals ammunition. What he meant by that was the resources that they put into development projects, with the equivalent of buying ammunition. The more they put iraqis to work, the fewer they had to fight. The more support they built among the local population. That i think in microcosm is a good illustration of the fallacy of thinking that you can solve every problem by use of the military. Not only i think is the enormous cut in the state Department Budget terribly wrong headed. But a deemphasis on development is equally the wrong direction to move in. Some of the bravest people ive met were working in places like afghanistan and helping to build public trust, Public Confidence in the afghan government. And if theres any core problem in afghanistan, just to use that example, its not the building up of the afghan forces, as important as that is. Its the failure of the government to attack the problem of corruption and to give afghans a sense of hope and confidence that their government is worth fighting and dying for. And you dont build that just through a defense budget. You build that through the state department and usaid and the whole range of tools in the tool box, not simply the military tool. Senator, when you hear these arguments and you convey them to secretary tillerson, either through the Committee Process and so forth, what kind of responses are you getting . Whats your impression the way hes dealt with the issue . Hes talking to us as much as hes talking to you. Its not soaking up a lot of your time. No, listen. I think tillerson has communicated what hes at the state department to do. I dont view tillerson very differently than i view someone like scott pruitt or betsy devos. I think that tillerson is inside the state department to undermine it, and i know that because he is going through a reorganization of the state department with an end goal already decided. He has announced at the end of that process there will be 2,300 less personnel in the state department, which again, fundamentally misunderstands the threats that are presented to us. You know, bring it back to russia for a moment. Russia does not want a militarily own ukraine. What they want to do is use this build up of separatist forces in Eastern Ukraine as a means to politically and economically destabilize kiev, so eventually you have installed, again, a prokremlin leader of the Ukrainian Government such they are brought back into their orbit. Ultimately, you cannot confront that with military power. You have to give the ukrainians the anticorruption tools, the economic revitalization tools, Energy Independence tools to be able to survive what may be a longterm occupation of their eastern front. And yet this administration seems to see ukraine as a military problem, just as they see many of these other problems through that lens, and in the end, that is a recipe for failure. Congressman schiff, lets turn back to the russia investigation for a bit. Your committee is famously got off to a rocky start, if i could put it politely, but now youve got a chairman who seems committed, from at least his public statements to actually conduct a big investigation and a thorough one. As you look at the two big baskets of this investigation, first, what the russians did in the election, how they did it, what parts of it may have been successful, what parts may not have been, how you would prevent it, and secondly, was there any collusion or collaboration with anybody affiliated with any of the president ial campaigns. Give us sort of a rundown of what you think are the Big Questions and what early answers if youve gotten to any yet you think you have on those. Well, i always like to start out in talking about the investigation by answering perhaps the most important question, which is why should people care about this . Is this an effort to simply relitigate the election, as the president wants to suggest, or is there something far more significant here . And as important as the issue of collusion is and the issue of just what active measures did the russians employ to interfere in our election, was there collusion, was there compromise, was there blackmail, was there the use of paid media trolls, was there the use of their propaganda campaign, how many of the tactics that the russians have used elsewhere in the world did they employ here . As important as that is, we have to understand the broader context. The russians hacked into our election not simply because they hated Hillary Clinton and wanted to see donald trump elected, as important as that was, but rather because they wanted to tear down our democracy. And not our democracy alone. They, obviously, want to tear down the democracy in france. Theyd like to see Angela Merkel gone, theyd like to see the disillusion of europe, and what we are engaged in, really, is a new war of ideas. Its not communism versus capitalism, but it is autocracy and authoritarianism versus democracy and government. Thats really whats at stake and having a keen understanding what the russians did here is not only important in terms of whether there are u. S. Persons involved that need to be brought to justice, but also how do we protect ourselves in the future and how do we protect our allies and how do we protect liberal democracy around the world . What just took place in france, and were still looking to confirm the responsible parties and the tactics that were used, was one of the profound fears that i had of our own election, and that is while the russians hacked and dumped documents in the United States, my biggest worry was not that they were going to hack into voting machines, which would be very difficult, because most are offline and most others set paper trails, but rather that they would hack and dump forgeries among the real, or worse still, real documents with forged paragraphs. And forged paragraphs that suggested illegality by a candidate. That would be almost impossible, if not impossible, to refute in the weeks leading up to an election, and particularly with a polarized electorate, no one would believe the refutation even if you could make it. This is what we may face in the next round, and theres no way to cyber defend your way against this. We all need to improve our cyber defenses. They are never going to be good enough. The russians are capable enough if they want to hack into an institution, they will find a way in. The only way to truly protect ourselves is to inoculate ourselves, is to inform the public this is what they do, this is how they do it, both parties need to reject it, regardless of whether it helps one or hurts the other. We have to forge a national consensus. We will not allow a foreign power to meddle in our affairs, and this is why i think investigation is so important. So there are a number of baskets of issues were looking at. Were looking at whether the Intelligence Community got it right in their assessment of not who did it, because theres no question about that, but what the motivations were and how much of this was about injuring the democracy generally or helping trump or hurting hillary. But also what was the u. S. Government response . How soon did we recognize this was not simply a foreign intelligence gathering operation by the russians, but they intended to weaponize the data, and if that wasnt the goal at the outset, when did it become the goal . And what other tactics did the russians use . All of this we need to know, not only in terms of justice considerations, but also because the most fundamental point is how we protect our democracy in the future. Senator, last one for you, because i see were running out of time here, but if you look at the french election, couldnt you argue that that education process that congressman schiff has described actually worked to some degree . I mean, the last dump of data, the last 72 hours before the election, got pretty much it was pretty transparent effort, and by the time we were all done looking at this, it did not seem to have any kind of the effect that the russians may have or the perpetrators may have intended. Does that give us sort of a guide Going Forward . Well, i think it may, but for the fact that we had to be the guinea pig, right, that did it wrong before the french figured out its got to be someone, right . So yes, if you are the second victim of an attack that looks very much like the first, then you may be able to develop a series of prophylactics against it, but if the russians invent a new way of trying to manipulate an election, along the lines of what adam is talking about and you are the first, then you may not have the flexibility and the nimbleness in order to respond the right way. With respect to the investigation, before we leave, i just think its important to talk about the subject that will dominate the news for the next few days. I have all the faith in the world in adam schiff. I dont necessarily [ applause ] theres a but. Theres a but. I dont, though, ultimately in the end have faith in the republicans that are members of both the committees in the house and the senate, and i worry, as many of my colleagues do, that ultimately only a professional special prosecutor can get to the underlying facts here. In part because the Intelligence Committees in the house and the senate are not by nature investigative bodies, and i think at this point we understand that no matter who is put into the fbi, they have been sent a pretty clear signal by the white house that if they actually pursue the facts where they lead, they are likely to get fired or at the very least neutered. Theres no perfect way to do the investigation, theres a flaw in every single one of the avenues to the truth, but i think youll see mounting pressure this week to move towards special prosecutor in part because many of us worry about a political process inside the congress being ultimately stymied by republicans and those of us who do not have faith that the fbi will ever get the necessary green light, no matter how good the Civil Servants inside the fbi are, and so this will be a dominant narrative this week, that ultimately i hope is dispositive on republicans in the end. Unfortunately, we are out of time and dont have time to grab questions. I wanted to thank you both for taking the time to have this discussion, and appreciate you doing this. Thanks very much. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Having a good time . Its been a fascinating discussion, i think. I have two roles here today. One, im accomplishing by having the room quiet down. So thank you. Second, it is my great, great privilege and really a true honor to introduce our next speaker. We have a tight schedule today so were going to have to do this through lunch, so just lets try and clank a little less so everyone can hear in the back. I am super grateful to have her here. We have as our next speaker one of the great progressive champions in the senate, but truly one of the great progressive champions in the country. I want to say one little story about her. I talked to her days after the election. I think many of us myself included were a little shell shocked by what happened and whats at stake for the country. But i talked to her and she talked right back at me about how we needed to get up and fight because our values were going to be at stake. And man, was she right. So im thrilled to have as our next speaker senator Elizabeth Warren, a fighter. Shes been a fighter every day shes been in the senate and she is a true fighter now. She has been a champion for ensuring that we have new institutions like the Consumer Financial protection bureau. Yea yea but shes also been in every fight whether its with health care. She has been a voice for the voice less. She has been a person who reminds her colleagues, outside advocates. The decisions we make in washington are really about either expanding opportunity or contracting it. And shes been fighting for expanding opportunity every day. Shes the first woman selected to the senate from massachusetts, a former harvard law professor. The author of this fight is our fight. Please welcome senator Elizabeth Warren. [ applause ] thank you thank you. Thank you, neera, and thank all of you who are here today. I am so glad to be at caps ideas conference. You know, ive been here many times before to talk with a lot of people in this room about ideas. Progressive ideas, big ideas, small ideas, and my aim is always in the same direction, how to make this country, how to make this government, work for people. I believe that this is the central question facing america today. Set aside the debates about Big Government versus small government, about more government versus less government. The important thing we need is accountable government. Government not just for the rich and powerful, but a government that works for and answers to all of us. Accountable government is the basis of american democracy, but for years, lets just face it, it has been slipping away. For years government has worked better and better for those at the top and pushed the concerns of everyone else further and further behind. There are a lot of reasons for this, but two of them are actually pretty obvious to most americans, concentrated money and concentrated power. And its time to speak plainly about these problems and start thinking about how to fix them, because concentrated money and concentrated power are corrupting our democracy and becoming dangerously worse with donald trump in the white house. First, consider the impact of concentrated money. Over the past few decades, money has fundamentally reoriented our democracy. Money slithers through washington like a snake. And im not simply talking about giant bags of money that then cash exchanging hands in dark alleys. Im talking about the dozens of perfectly legal ways that the super rich and giant corporations use their cash to and their influence to rig the system and to get government to favor their interests over the interests of everyone else. You know, take a cleareyed look at how washington works and who it works for. Politicians swim in oceans of Corporate Campaign contributions. Billionaires build super pacs to secretly finance candidates and tilt elections. The revolving door spins freely between jobs in government and jobs with powerful corporations, blurring the line between serving the public and serving corporate masters. Bought and paid for experts testify before congress and appear constantly on the news. Agency after agency, industry runs the show and the fox guards the chicken coop. Armies of lobbyists swarm washington, you know, like a plague of locusts, demanding favors for their employers. Now, President Trump did not invent these problems, but boy has he made them worse. We all remember Donald Trumps Campaign Promise that he would drain the swamp in washington, right . 117 days in and the swamp is bigger, deeper, uglier, and filled with more corrupt creatures than ever before in history. Days after the election, thenpresident elect trump put together a Transition Team of lobbyists, wall street bankers, and bigtime industry players. Team trump has ousted scientists from the epa and is looking to replace them with hacks from industry that pollute the environment. The department of education is bringing in people with ties to forprofit colleges that rip off students and leave them with tens of thousands of dollars of debt. Consider the case of just one adviser who whispers directly in trumps ear, Billionaire Hedge Fund manager carl icahn. In late 2016, icahn made a massive bet that the price of renewable fuel credits would drop. Then, as trumps adviser, he pushed policies and recommended political appointments that did, in fact, cause the price of those credits to drop. Generating a 50 million profit for himself and the company he owns. You know, wow. I have called for an investigation into icahn, because it doesnt matter if youre a nobody or youre friends with the president , Insider Trading is illegal and white house advisers should not profit off their white house work. Period. [ applause ] but lets be clear. Icahn is just the tip of a massive iceberg. The cabinet and the white house are filled with wealthy individuals who are neck deep in personal financial conflicts. President trump himself set the example by refusing to divest from his family business. People who work for him have followed his lead, showing a brazen disregard for longstanding ethics procedures. So what can we do about all of this . The answer is actually there is a lot that we could do about this. We can pass legislation to require the president s to disclose their tax returns so that the American People can see any secret dealing. We can pass my president ial conflicts of interest act, which would require president s and Vice President s to put their assets in a blind trust during their years of Public Service. We can beef up independent inspectors general who look over the shoulders of political leaders at the agencies. We could upgrade the office of government ethics, which polices financial conflicts in the executive branch. And we could demand that republicans who control congress start using their Oversight Authority to hold this Administration Accountable for self dealing. There is a lot we could do. We have to remember when people shrug at the president s conflicts, its not because they dont care. Its not because they think its okay. Its because they know that money is already causing a deep rot in washington, and that is why it is time for systemic change. We can start that change with the way that political campaigns are financed, and we can build on the foundation of Many American cities and states that have established publicly funded elections. Get the money out. Yeah. But we need to do more. Thats not enough by itself. Regulatory process must be reformed so that giant companies cannot bury Public Servants in an avalanche of nonsense and stand in the way of progress every time the government tries to act in the Public Interest. It is time to slow down the revolving door between corporations and the companies that pay employees barely described bribes to take public jobs. And we need to fight for a Supreme Court that will reverse its terrible Citizens United mistake. [ applause ] and let me add to that one. And while were working on the Supreme Court, we must also build the Movement Across this country to pass a constitutional amendment that will allow us to shut off the spigot of cash that is drowning our government. We need that kind of change. Look, i get it, theres more we could do, but ill tell you what, thats a good start in taking down the government for sale sign that hangs over washington, d. C. Reducing the influence of concentrated money will not be enough to fix our political system. If we want accountable government, we also need to reduce the influence of concentrated power. Now, before i was a senator, i was a law professor. I taught contracts, i taught business transactions, i taught bankruptcy, so it shouldnt surprise anyone here that i believe strong, Healthy Markets are the key to a strong, healthy america. But today, markets are struggling in every corner of our economy. Competition is increasingly choked off. Airlines, banking, health care, pharma, agriculture, telecom, tech. In industry after industry, a handful of giant corporations control more and more and compete less and less. Massive consolidation means less competition, which means prices go up, quality goes down, and many peoples jobs are eliminated. Massive consolidation means that the big guys can lock out smaller, newer competitors. It means the big guys can crush innovation. It means the big guys can grow fat and lazy, jacking up prices and feasting off yesterdays glory. And studies show that consolidation even contributes to flat wages and income inequality. Concentrated market power also creates concentrated political power. The kind of power that captures our government. And thats exactly whats happening. As President Trump bows to the power and influence of these industrial giants and financial titans. The ceo of exxonmobil is now the secretary of state. Goldman sachs now has enough people in the white house to open a branch office. The senate is scheduled just this week to vote on associate attorney general who worked for years at the chamber of commerce doing what . Shielding companies from any government accountability. You know, do you get the feeling that if Bernie Madoff werent in prison, that hed be in charge of the s. E. C. Right now . You know, look at all that and add to it a congress that devotes its time and energy to figuring out how to cut taxes yet again for giant corporations. Because apparently paying zero is not enough for some of these giant corporations. Even Health Care Bills get perverted into corporate welfare systems. Taking Health Care Away from 24 Million People in this country to fund tax breaks for a handful of millionaires, billionaires, and giant corporations. But heres the good news on this one. More than a century ago Congress Passed antitrust laws to break up the corporate wealth and power. Teddy roosevelt earned the title of trust buster as he fought back against powerful monopolies that wielded huge influence over our government. And heres the good news. The reformers won. Donald trump used to talk about the dangers of monopoly. But that talk has disappeared. It is time for us to do what Teddy Roosevelt did. Pick up the antitrust stick again. Sure, the stick has elected some dust, but the laws are still on the book. We can crack down on any competitive mergers and existing monopolies. We can push back. We can pick up tools at the federal trade commission, the department of justice and other agencies to promote healthy and innovative markets throughout this country. We can break up the big banks. If the president and his team refuse to act, then state attorneys general can step up and use these tools. We with do that, we can do all of that. We just need real leadership and officials with the courage to act. We can make change. [ applause ] so concentrated money and concentrated power. They influence every decision made in this town. But capture is not complete. At least not yet. And its not yet complete because for more than two centuries, we have slowly and painstakingly built strong institutions in america. Institutions that intended our government to work for everyone. Two houses of congress, three branches of government. Multiple regulatory agencies to work in the Public Interest and independent judiciary, a free press, institutions that help preserve accountable government. Anyway, dont get me wrong, theyve been creaking under the pressures created by a political system drowning in money and strangled by concentrated economic power. Today President Trump is waging a direct assault on those institutions. First he turned over the levers of government to the rich and powerful. Then last week he made it perfectly clear that he believes that he should be above the law. After he fired james comey, trump went on National Television and told the world that he fired comey in part because comey was leading an investigation into ties between the trump campaign, the trump administration, and russia. Trump said top of mind when he fired comey was, quote, this russia thing with trump. It doesnt get much more brazen than that. It is a basic presumption of our democracy that politicians cannot interfere with Law Enforcement investigations into their own potential wrong doing. But President Trump openly admitted for trying to interfere with an Ongoing Investigation and he clearly believes there should be no consequences for himself trump has tried to set himself up. He attacked a judge overseeing a lawsuit against his for profit college. As president he attacked the judges who stopped his unconstitutional muslim ban. Trump fired her. When Preet Bharara, the top federal prosecutor in manhattan was looking into shady stock trades made by a cabinet official, trump fired bharara. Each move hacks away at the very foundations of accountability. Now is the time to remind b donald trump its not the play thing to make him richer. Now is the time to remind him our intelligence secrets are not gossip. And that his personal desire to impress his russian buddies does not outweigh the safety, security, and lives of americans and our allies. [ applause ] now is the time to remind him that in this country, no one is above the law including the president of the United States. It is time to resist. It is time to fight back. And it is time to be clear about what we rebelieve in. And were ready to fight for it. We believe in equal justice under law and were ready to fight for it. We belief in an economy that doesnt just work for the super rich, but an economy that works for everyone but for every single one of us app and we are willing to fight for it. I have news for donald trump. No matter how much he might admire Vladimir Putins russia. Here in america we will never accept autocracy. Here in america, we will embrace and defend democracy. And we do that by demanding that everyone in our government is accountable. Even the president of the United States. Thank you, all, for being here today. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So i know you have to get to an important caucus lunch where im sure nothing will be discussed of importance. But we do want to take a few questions. Im having a hard time seeing whether oh, there. Theres one question right there. Theres a mike right behind you. Thank you so much for your leadership. And its a question that ive been grappling with and your passion is so palpable. When do we call a spade a spade and call explicitly obstruction of justice . So i think we start putting in place for a special prosecutor. And why . Because we want someone whos going to investigate the ties between russia, the trump campaign, and donald trump himself who cannot be fired by donald trump. That seems like a good start. Someone who is independent, will run a transparent investigation. Who has the right authority to run it and who also has the resources to run it. I think this is a first start for where we need to be. And we need to push our colleagues hard on this. And begin with an investigation. It doesnt mean it is the end point. It means we start by making sure that we have documented the facts. I want to be clear on this point. In a nonpartisan way. This is not a point of democrats versus republicans. Every american should care about the integrity of our democratic process. Democrat, republican, independent, libertarian, vegetarian. Everybody should care. We have to get someone independent to do the investigation. Then we see where it takes us. If theres nothing there so be it. If there is criminal activity there, then were ready for the next step. I think thats the best way for us to do it and keep this country all moving in the same direction. Because thats what its going to take. I dont want this to be a partisan issue. Questions . Any more questions . Right over there. Mike is coming. Thanks for your leadership and awesome thoughts. But i wanted to know this Campaign Finance reform has been a major issue for a while and tried very hard to fight it and you did give different alternatives today. Is there anything different that weve been thinking and making efforts on that actually can make happen . So i want to make two points on Campaign Finance reform. The first one is that we just got to get a lot of people around this country energized behind this one. Americans get it. Americans are appalled by what were doing in washington. If we can get the democratic process up and running, if we get the grassroots really engaged, this is an issue on which people all across the political spectrum say there is a terrible problem in washington and it needs to be fixed. So this is one of those that i think is much less about my trying to knock on doors around the United States senate and much more about being out talking to people all across this country and building the kinds of connections that i know. C. A. P. Supports and others are supporting to try to put wind in our sails as we go forward. Thats number one. I want to make a second point. And that is, Campaign Finance reform is not enough. The power of money in washington is something weve just got to face head on. And its not just in the campaigns. Look what happens on the lobbying side. Look what happens in every Regulatory Agency in this town. Theres always someone there to make every decision that has to made and every informational session and every single time they open the doors to these agencies. Theres someone there whos paid to be there to take the point of view of the giant industry. And say, oh, you got to watch out for them. You got to make sure, when were writing this, couldnt we get another word in here or a little piece or a thing over there . And thats what happens. You end up with a special this and an extra that and a piece of this. You do that one year and then you do it the next year and then the next year and then the next year and the year after that and the year after that it tilts the system enormously. We have a problem of bought and paid for experts in this town. They show up in their equivalent of their lab coats every night on the news, every morning on the news and what are they doing . Theyre spouting the position theyve been paid to take. Washington, the whole place is influenced by money. And one of the things that we have to talk about and have a serious conversation about is not just Campaign Finance reform its how we build a democracy, so were getting ground up, people from the grassroots, how their voices are being heard in washington. And i think thats going to be a hard task but ill say one more time i think there are a lot of people at the grassroots who want to make that happen. If we seize this moment we could fundamentally return democracy to the people. Thats why im a happy warrior. You bet, you bet. Thank you. We have one more . Nope . Thats it. Its good to see you. Its an important meeting. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Take care. Hello, everybody. Im delighted that ive been asked to participate here this afternoon with the center for american progress. I want to talk a little bit about Public Policy and a bit about how how Public Policy good Public Policy is advanced or how it is undermined by the president of the United States of america. Im the Ranking Member of the Financial Services committee. And i have been focused on the implementation of dodd frank reforms. We spent almost 20 hours pushing back on something called the choice act. The choice act is legislation that was introduced by chairman henslin to basically deregulate. Deregulate the big banks. To do deregulation in ways that would undo the Consumer Financial protection bureau. Deregulation is all about consumer protection. And reining in wall street and the banks that put us into the position we found ourselves in in 2008 when we almost had a depression. And so during this period of time, wall street and the banks literally had put on the market and produced these exotic products. Exotic products mean iing no interest loans. Loans that reset in six months. All kind of loans that people signed on the dotted line for they couldnt afford. As a result of that we literally because of these predatory loans, we literally ended up with foreclosures all over this nation and particularly in many of the minority communities that had been targeted with these exotic product. So dodd frank reform was all about reining in these Financial Institutions and getting a handle on what was going on so we could prevent ever having to bail out these big banks and Financial Institutions again. During this period of time we had millions of jobs lost. We had 13 trillion that was lost and on and on. It was a bad period of time. And so dodd frank is a profound piece of legislation to confront what with. The republicans have been pushing back and they have gone at the center piece of the financial reforms by dodd frank. And that is a Consumer Financial protection bureau. We were very lucky despite the fact that the republicans didnt want it, we got mr. Codre who has been doing a fantastic job with this bureau and compensated many of the constituents in all of our communities for that those loans and all the kinds of things that had been ripped off. Were talking about payday loans. Were talking about student loans. Were talking about the automobile industry. Were talking about the fact that communities are targeted and were targeted by many of these industries basically to rip them off. How to get tremendous profits from people who were unsuspecting, uneducated, who did not know how to fight back. So weve been working so hard and along comes mr. Henslin and the republicans and doing everything they can now that trump is in charge and now that we have a new administration to move with what is known and is talked about as deregulation. But all that is is undoing protections for consumers. Thats really what its all about. And so we are working hard now that the republicans are in charge. Theyre trying to be able to get this bill out of the Financial Services committee. It will go to the floor. The republicans have the numbers. Were depending on the senate to be able to push back. We dont know how well theyre going to do. Because wall street basically has a lot of power and influence in the congress of the United States of america. Theyve had it historically. They dont want to give it up. Many of the members of congress both on the democratic side and the republican side have resisted really getting in there and learning exactly how its done. They say, well, we dont understand derivatives. We dont understand default swaps. We dont know what that stuff is all about. But that stuff is all about how these major Financial Services industries are able to make tremendous profits. In so many different ways. And so while we are pushing back and fighting, democrats must be focused along with all of the other stuff were doing on what we can do to undo the power and the influence of the biggest banks in america. The consolidation have us at the mercy of five of the biggest banks in america. We cannot afford to have them continue as theyre doing going back to the predatory lending that they did that led us into the crisis in 2008. But really, the leadership starts at the top. And this president has already done in his executive orders a direction to say i want to review all of this dodd frank business. I want to know what it is hes done thats hurting our industries out there providing loans, et cetera. And so hes moving in a direction off deregulation in a massive way by way of the choice act. We call it the bad choice act. But it is moving and its going to be on the house floor. Were going to lose the vote. Its going to go to the senate. We dont know whats really going to happen. We have to make sure our legislators over there and i want to tell you Elizabeth Warren and sharon brown and some of them are on it. But theyre going to need the help of other democrats and certainly we would hope some republicans would step up to the plate and get involved in this. But this president , this president is one i have focused on saying oh my god she said the word impeachment. Oh my goodness. Its too soon to say that. They say that we cant focus on it because we have members in districts that he won and they cant afford to talk about impeachment. And it goes on and on and on. But theres no way we can move with an agenda to deal with the middle class constituency of this country and poor people and just the citizens of this country who deserve to have good Public Policy. With him at the helm. He does not believe in it. Hes hired thats a good way of it. Hes appointed, he supported all of these appointees who are focused on his agenda. Just think about it. Mnuchin. Hes your treasury secretary. Hes known as the foreclosure king. He foreclosed on 46,000 homes in southern california. So these billionaires whether were talking about mnuchin or dont get me started on betsy devos. Dont get me started on oh sessions. Thee these billionaires who are now part of his cabinet are opposed to everything that we stand for. And so were not going to be able to move an agenda. There are some people who say cant you try and work with him . No, we cannot. Hes a liar. He cannot be trusted. How would you sit down with somebody who would mimic and mock a disabled journalist . How would you sit down with somebody who talks about grabbing a woman by her private parts . How would you sit down with somebody in the way of an investigation getting to us finding out whether there was collusion between his campaign and the kremlin and putin . Well, i decided a long time ago when i looked at his allies and those people who are around him and their connections to the kremlin and to the oligarchs of russia and to oil and to wanting to lift the sanctions so that putin can drill in the arctic. When i looked at that, i knew right away that this was bad business. And that these allies are all aligned and theyve been working on this for some time. I believe that not only was members of this Campaign Like flynn and carter page and others who have relationships with the kremlin and with putin, et cetera, they didnt just start this. Theyve been working on this for some time. And even though i cant get into it into depths, its all about in the final analysis lifting those sanctions. And thats why, you know, people dont well, why did putin want to have trump so badly . Why was he against hillary . Its not about Public Policy. Its about oil. Its about drilling. Its about lifting those sanctions. And tillerson is in on it also. Tillerson, the ceo coming from exxon who lobbied for lifting the sanctions, who negotiated lifting those sanctions. Its all about the money, follow the money, follow the oil. Im convinced that if we had had the kind of investigations that we should have had by now, we would have connected those dots. We would know exactly what was done. I must tell you even though we had those who were saying were finally moving, were not moving. Were too slow. And i want you to know that our Intelligence Committee in the house even though our democrats are good and they want to do well, they dont have the cooperation of those republicans in ways that will get a credible investigation done in my opinion. And the same thing with the senate. I had so much hope that the senate would do better. I was depending on john mccain and Lindsay Graham to get him back for what he did to them when they were running, that they would step up to the plate. But now im a little bit disappointed. They dont have the personnel, et cetera. Weve been calling for and people have been asking for an independent commission. Were talking about independent counsel. But i want you to know if it was not for the media, we wouldnt be as far as we are now in understand i understanding what has been going on. The congress of the United States has not done their job. We have not been the balance, the check and the balance on the president ial on the executive. And so everybody whos supposed to be investigating, supposed to be looking at it, you keep on doing it. Were going to keep on calling for independent counsel, et cetera. But media, thank you. Dig in there, keep doing what youre doing. Keep unfolding and making it very apparent to all of the american citizens that something is tragically wrong with the president of the United States of america. And his allies. We woke up this morning to the fact that your president had the audacity to meet with the ambassador and the Foreign Relations guy from russia, exclude the media, the american media. Somehow the Russian Media got in. And he gave up classified information. Well, you know, while ive been waiting to connect to e the collusion because i really do think there was collusion, just to think about the way that he gave this classified information and the way hes tried to obstruct the investigation by firing folks, you cant find any better person than sally yates. Give her a big round of applause. [ applause ] Preet Bharara up in new york. And of course while i thought that comey should have been fired when he got in if he was really concerned about him. He wasnt concerned about him. He praised him all over the country. He praised him. It was only when he asked for Additional Resources to be able to do a credible investigation that he got fired. So here you have the president of the United States, ladies and gentlemen, this is not normal. Its something very wrong with this picture. And i dont know when americans are going to get so outraged that they will say to all of the elected officials, republican and democrats and everybody, youve got to do what you know you should be doing. Youve got to identify and lay out for the American Public everything that he has done. These firings. These obstruction of justice, et cetera, et cetera. And youve got to impeach him. [ applause ] and so i know that there are those who are talking about well, were going to get ready for the next election no, we cant wait that long. We dont need to wait that long. He will have destroyed this country by then. We cannot wake up every morning to another crisis, to another scandal. We cannot have the uncertainty we cannot have people rolling out who have been with the cia and with the Justice Department and who have been in president ial cabinets, et cetera, saying something is wrong. And theyre saying it every day. Im told there is a credible poll out today that says that 48 of the American Public is now saying he should be impeached. What more do we need in the congress of the United States of america . Let me just say this. That i had the fortune of truly believing in the constitution of the United States of america. I can recall in grade school, basically it would be about junior high when we learned about the three branches of government. And their responsibilities. I was excited about all of that, about the way a democracy works. And i believe it and i believe in it very strongly. I know that there are those on the opposite side and the right wing in particular who think if youre progressive, if youre a liberal, youre not patriotic. You dont any more patriotic than me. I believe in this democracy. I believe in the constitution. Im going to challenge them, all of you who think youre more patriotic than anybody else, are you going to stand up for america . When we show you, when we connect those dots, and we can prove that there was collusion, when we can prove that he has interfered with justice and interfered by way of firing all of those who have come close to identifying what happened in this campaign, i am going to be able to say to those who think theyre more patriotic than anybody else, youre not patriotic because if youre going to stand for our democracy to be undermined, if you dont feel upset about our election systems being interfered with, you are not patriotic at all. And so were going to challenge them and were going to see if theyre going to be willing to stand up. I think every day we get a little bit closer to it, but i want all of my colleagues to say this over and over again and to challenge over and over again, we dont have to be afraid to use the word impeachment. We dont have to think impeachment is out of our reach. All we have to do is make sure that we are talking to the American Public. That were keeping them involved. That were resisting every day and were challenging every day. And were calling this president to account for what hes doing and what hes saying. I believe in this very strongly. And so i dont know whats going to happen after today when all of the questions are being raised about him sharing this classified information, but i think this is going to put us further on the way for what ive been calling for so long. And that is impeachment. Thank you. [ applause ] we always save the best for last. Thank you auntie maxine. It is my it is my great honor to close the ideas conference of 2017 hows it been going . Hows it been going . [ applause ] i want to thank everyone whos been tweeting on c. A. P. Ideas. We have one final speaker im really excited to introduce. But i wanted to say one word about the incredible c. A. P. Staff who have worked so hard to make this day work. Our team, event staff. I have to call out billy, marlene, and lindsay who have been dealing with this conference for months and also dealing with me. So it is my great, great honor to close the ideas conference with senator cory booker who i have known, 15, 20 years since law school. Sadly hes behind me in law school. He is, i have to say, even in his days in law school, he was always animated about serving others. That simple talents serving other people. And he has done that in every role hes been in. Obviously as a mayor of newark, weve heard of his legendary efforts of Public Service. Hell find your dog, save your family from a fire, personally shovel your snow, perhaps not in that order. But. Obviously worked on revitalizing communities ensuring the real opportunity for all the people in his community and fighting for economic and social justice. So i can really think of no better person to close out the 2017 ideas conference than my friend senator kory booker. [ applause ] hello, everybody. Hello. So this is the problem when you have someone like neera in your life who knows you so well. Shes like literally i have a scuffle in the back because heres your hand held mike. Ill speak from the podium. No you use a hand held. They know i roam when i speak. But ill let you know shes been a hee ror for me not just in her current role, but she was one of those people in law school. She tried to shine some light to me. If anything, im just reflecting her because she was one of those sources of strength even back then. That understood Charles Hamilton houston said it. Youre a lawyer for your justice or youre a leech upon society. And she lived that principle. That education is a waste unless its been used to empower other people. And to see her korcareer blosso and get to this place where she is now at a time i think a story in American History that often its the right leader that appears at the right time when their country needs them. This is a time not only her but this organization itself is an urgently needed organization for our country. So i want to thank her for the leadership and the entire c. A. P. Staff. I want to give honor to everyone who is here or has been here. We all need to begin to see ourselves before were democrats, before were progressives. We need to see ourselves as patriots. And for me, for neera to ask me to give the Closing Remarks after you all have heard so many speakers, many of them people that are my friends and my colleagues who are my partners, its just such an honor to speak to a group of patriots and get the responsibility of taking it home. So to do that, i would literally like to take you home for a second to where my mom lives because i this is my attempt to get some points with everybody here who i went to go visit in the leadup to mothers day. My mom now no longer lives in new jersey. She has moved to vegas. And i yes. Momma lives in vegas. And she has i think its an inherited trait. My grandmother was like this. She knows which slot machines will pay off and when. But my mom i went out there because she was performing in a play and her Senior Citizen community, Retirement Community was putting on a play. And immediately before she even had to ask, i knew i had a karmic obligation because she was there for every one of my grade school plays and now the world was coming full circle and i had to be there for her. So i flew out less than 24 hours on the ground taking the red eye back here. But i sat in the front row and it was like got to turn the tables. I was now one of those maybe annoying parents who have sat in the front row. I had my recording device in my hand. Literally recording everything. The Senior Citizen behind me thanked me because he said im farsighted. I can see things closer up, but i could look in your video and see the whole thing so clearly. Thank you for sha, sir. But the moment i want to bring you to, it was actually a powerful moment to me because my mom was playing the red queen in alice in wonderland. And so there came a moment that you all know that suddenly had me very excited and suddenly connected me to deep chords within my own family and country. Theres a moment where alice says, one cant believe in impossible things, she says. And then what the queen responds is i dare say you havent had much practice then. When i was your age, i always did it for half an hour a day. Why sometimes i believed in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. And the reason why that touched me and i know this is the story not just of my family but everyone heres family, is when i sat down with the elders in my family, my aunts and uncles and grandparents, the story of america that i heard was not the story of simple glory and abundance. No. It was a story of profound struggle. It was a story of pain and hardship. It was a story of setbacks and failures and frustrations. Its a story of feeling like youre fighting out there in the grassroots when your very government is supporting things that are working against you, your liberty and your justice. When you witness first hand levels of discrimination and violence. Hearing about literally having to shuttle them out of the country for their safety into canada. It made me understand that when my family and i know yours as well spoke of the impossible dream of america, it went so much deeper than the glory and the remembrance of some days gone past that really havent been. I love the book the fire next time. It is this book by James Baldwin where he tells in brutal truth, its a kind of writer today like a coates of his times where he talks with unflinching realism about the problems of america. And in this entire book he does not pull a punch. But then at the end and in fact, this page in his book, he took some criticism for some people said it sounded too pollyannaish. He strikes this note of hope amidst all he describe candidate calling to the conscience of our country to do impossible things. Baldwin writes i know what im asking you is impossible, but the impossible is the least we can demand. And one is, after all, emboldened by the spectacle of Human History in general, American Negro history in particular, for it testifies to nothing less than the achievement of the impossible. I want to tell you all, baldwin was writing about american black history. But the truth of our country is story after story so many so vast that our finite minds contain the stories of heroic actors who did extraordinary things under an unimaginable circumstances. So much of what we take for granted right now is because of folks like baldwin who answered the call to do impossible things. You pick a segment of our society. The Suffrage Movement with its brutality, women literally dying for the cause of our country. Alice paul, mary terrell, Elizabeth Katie stanton. The heroism of labor activists. You didnt just get a threat to lose your job. You got a threat to lose your life. People like eugene debs, a. Phillip randolph, abolitionists who had the boldness before ill be a slave i will be buried in my grave. Nat turner. William lord garrison. Civil rights activists whose names arent even that well known. Like fred shuttlesworth. Had his home bombed, his wife chain whipped, himself stabbed but kept on fighting for his impossible dream of america. These are ancestors. This is our roots. People who Never Surrender to circumstances who kept on dream i ing. I have to tell you right now when i hear my mom utter something from Lewis Carroll and it actually fortifies me as i get on a red eye to fly back to washington, in my head were the songs from a kid in a black church in new jersey, the songs being sung that my mom would impress upon me. Youre hearing those now in the 1980s as a little boy, but those were the songs that sourced us. Aint nobody going to turn me around. Aint nobody going to turn me around. Im going to keep on walking. Im going to keep on talking. Marching down to freedom land. One of my favorite songs i was playing in my apartment last night, different renditions of different choirs and groups was just this concept. Of keeping your hand on the plow when my way gets dark as night, i know the lord will be my light. Keep your hand on the plow, hold on. Keep your hand on the plow, hold on. Now, i walked the halls of congress. Im sorry. I cant walk in that building. I cant go on that senate floor no matter how despicable the cra im forced to vote on is. I cant lose sight of the history we share that i am a black man in america walking onto the floor of the senate. And the sacrifices of folk black and white, male and female, christian, jewish, muslim. All that it took for me to be the fourth elected africanamerican in the history of our country to that body. Talk about people who kept their hand on the plow. Robert smalls, a name most of us dont know, this is the full history we have of heroic actors. This was a slave who was leant o a slave ship after the outbreak of the civil war and immediately he was plott eting to break fre. When the confederates left the ship one night leaving him and some other slaves on it, he took control of the ship, put on the captains garb, sailed his ship right by ft. Sumtner. He turns his ship and he sails as quickly as he can towards the Union Blockade knowing that the union army would fire on a confederate ship. He uses White Clothing to raise up andaway. They were literally preparing to fire and saw thats a white flag flying. He actually gets to safety. He becomes such a hero. He was credited with one of the reasons why we let blacks fight in the civil war. He himself is credited with recruiting 5,000 american blacks to fight and many of them die brutally in a civil war for freedom. He then after the civil war gets elected to the legislature. We talk about Public Education in our party, well, he passes legislation creating about the first Public Schools legislated by a state in america. Then he gets nominated to congress. And walks the same hallways. That i get to walk now. The end of his life is not great. He literally goes back to the South Carolina state house and is there as an elected representative after reconstruction. One of the most bloodiest periods of domestic terrorism weve ever seen and the South Carolina Legislature Strips blacks of their Voting Rights and he has to vote on it. He has to be there. In a time lynching is all over this country. This man literally when two black men are accused of being murderers and a lynch mob forms, he goes and disperses blacks throughout the town of buford, South Carolina, and then lets the rumor fly that if these two men are lynched, they will burn the town to the ground. And the sheriff protected the two black men from the lynch mob. He died in a house that he bought from his slave master. Its one of the stories from American History that folk dont know. And i wonder how now i hear folk disp despairing. Talk about setbacks. To be elected as a black man to watch Voting Rights be stripped. To it wouldnt be until years later after that that a black man would return to the United States senate. We have so much power, us as americans. If we keep our hands on the plow and dont let anything turn us around. Now, i know were in this time where folk are despairing. I know that. But one of the greatest gifts of my life is a community in newark, new jersey. I grew up in the northeast of the state. I grew up in the suburbs. Yeah, my parents had to fight an unimaginable civil rights battle to move into the town. Literally working with a Fair Housing Council to get white family to pose as my parents to put a bid on the house then when my father and volunteers show up, my fathers lawyer gets punched in the face by the Real Estate Agent and a dog gets sicked on him. But i grew up in unimaginable circumstances that my father told me you are Living Dreams that were impossible seemed impossible to me when i was a kid. Youre living a life which was a dangerous thing to articulate if you were your grandfather. But i tell you this. When i moved to newark, new jersey, i didnt need to open history books to see heroism. I began to meet people who refused to stop believing in america. Housing rights activists. Civil rights activists. Fighting against injustices that we as a country didnt think necessarily deserved us all losing the understanding so articulately a generation before that injustice anywhere in america is injustice everywhere. That were all tied in one single garment of destiny. Somehow that has been ripped of other struggle or neighbors. Our fellow americans. Im so happy that michigan is getting so much attention, but reuters just released a report that was the truth. Over a thousand communities have lead levels in their childrens blood here in america four times what flints children have. Right now. Whats it like to live in a neighborhood where you see a parent looking at you with a leadpoisoned child. Im still proud i live in that community today. When we talk about inner cities in a way that is not appealing to our heart and to our hope and to the light, but demeaning and degrading those spaces not realizing the heroes who have been fighting come to my neighborhood. I may be a u. S. Senator, but the folk in my community but people dont care much about my title. Our Median Income is 14,000 per household. And this is before this president got sworn in over a hundred days ago. When we wanted to plant in the soil of our city urban gardening, the state stepped in and said you cant do that because theres too much lead in the ground. When this congress wouldnt pass reauthorized legislation that reagan reauthorized, that Mitch Mcconnell voted for. To clean up superfund sites, they wouldnt reauthorize the small tax on polluting industries. What do people in my Community Think where we have two superfund sights where the Passaic River is still polluted with the agent orange that was dumped into it. And we now know with longitudinal evidence that children born within three miles of the superfund site have 25 higher rates of autism and birth defects. In my community, ive got officers who are fighting every day to stem the tide of gun violence. Literally when gunfire erupts, ive seen it when i was mayor, they dont wait. They charge into places. Putting themselves on the line recovering guns that were obtained illegally by people with criminal records. This issue of universal background checks to those cops in my community, this is not a policy discussion. This is the difference between life and death. I have a friend of mine natasha laurel. They call her momma tasha where she works because she has this heart, she takes care of the folks that work in her ihop with her. But these issues that we as progressives are fighting for talked to miss laurel for awhile. She works a fulltime job. She tries to catch shifts in other places but guess what. We pay for her housing. Because in this country you could work a fulltime job, catch extra shifts, especially if you live places like the new York New Jersey area. You dont live above the poverty line. We pay for her food stamps. These are costs that the corporations just outsource onto all of us. And think about the trials that so many in my neighborhood like miss tasha faces. When one of her boys is sick, literally our ihop on bergen street is across the street from a hospital. Her son rushed to the emergency room is in that hospital and this mom has to make the choice because we are one of the only industrialized nations on the planet earth that doesnt have paid family leave. She has to make the choice. Whether to give up her shift and visit her child and lose out on that money which could be the difference between her family having food or not or staying at work while her child suffers with not just the debilitating effects of asthma but with fear. This is the country that we live in. Anation where basics down the street is a Senior Center building. We still have a nation while people here in washington talk about cutting Social Security or privatizing it, we still have 5 million seniors that live in poverty still on their Social Security checks. Come to my neighborhood. Across the street is a drug treatment center. Do like ive done. Sit in the circle of the men and listen to the stories about how a criminal Justice System treats people who are addicted and turns them into a system that debilitates them and doesnt treat their disease. I tell you all of this to tell you we have an impossible dream in america that has yet to be made real. And this is before theres a donald trump. Im so happy to see activism and marching and organizing, but im telling you right now, if we make this all about donald trump, weve seen demagogues before. Weve seen public demeanors in mccarthyism come and go. My calling is not to have this party defined by what were against or who were against. We must be defined by the dream of america for all americans. [ applause ] now, dont get me wrong. I am upset about donald trump. Ive watched over this last hundredplus days a guy who literally tells his supporters one thing and then gets into the white house and does things that are 100 contrary to what he said and what he promised. Its astonishing to me how someone can speak out of both sides of their mouth. Its astonishing to me that his cras take away peoples abilities to save for retirement, allow people to pollute our streams and rivers, take away peoples access to Preventive Health and family planning. All of that to me is astonishing that he can do those things. Not to mention this recent stuff that to me is more out of a tom clancy novel that should be out of our reality. I had a person call me today and talk to me. I couldnt believe it after the russians literally attack a cyber attacks, attack our election. Literally his associates are under federal investigation. Literally he seems to give better access to the oval office to the Russian Press than the american press. And then he fires the very person whos investigating folks this person said to me that hey, truman had a sign that set on his desk, the buck stops here. Trump should have one that says the ruble stops here. This is surreal times. Dont get me wrong. There are real issues. That necessitate us resisting and us fighting. But i want to let you all know our party cannot be just about that. The trends in our country are too disturbing. In fact, if you think about it, trump is a symptom of a problem. Hes not the problem. This country was fought for by irish immigrants who built factories and pushed our country into prosperity by black slaves who helped labor fuel fortunes in this country by chinese immigrants who built the Transcontinental Railroad by mexican immigrant who is produced food and hope and but the things on the table that we eat every day. Creating extraordinary wealth. And then activists and progre progressives help to fight battles and win more equality, more opportunity, legislation from federal from the federal congress to state houses help to give us rights and privileges. So many things for us to be proud of. We became the envy of the world. But if you look right now, if you look at where america just over my lifetime has gone from being number one on planet earth to where we are now on issues of the competitiveness of our democracy industries and the World Economic forum. The trends in our country are indeed troubling. We know that today in everything from prek enrollment to high school to college Graduation Rates, were now being outranked by our pieer nations. Other countries are investing in apprenticeship programs, training programs. Look at whats going on in germany. In newark when i went to the manufacturers to get more jobs and opportunity. What do you need . They said to me we cant find machinists. Other countries are making meaningful investments in job training but we are not. Things that could be making a huge difference for our people, for our economy, and for global competitiveness. Other countries are seeing the cost of college is 4 of Median Income. And canada its like 6 to 7 . England about 7 . In america, 52 of Median Income to go to college. Other countries have decimated, slashed rates of Child Poverty. In america, still stubbornly one out of five children in america born into poverty. Other countries are investing in their infrastructure. America, we inherited from our grandparents the best infrastructure on the planet earth and we have trashed it. Literally engineers estimating about 3 billion 3 trillion of infrastructure debt. And weve fallen even out of the top ten of infrastructure. And our country is at a 20year low in investment in infrastructure necessary for expanding economic opportunity. And when it comes to the sciences, we are one of the greatest civilizations on the planet earth for investing our Public Resources in science, technology that have expanded businesses and Job Opportunities from our batteries on our iphones to the touch screens to the satellite navigation. All of those things are our collective investment in government research. But now china outstripping us, europe outstripping us in investments in research and the sciences. We as a nation are falling behind in expanding opportunity for all. And were leading in the areas we should not lead in. Wasting public treasure. Whether its leading in Child Poverty or leading in probably one area of Infrastructure Investment we shouldnt want to lead in. With just 5 of the globes population, weve got 25 of the globes prison population. And during the time i was in law school with neera to the time i became mayor of newark, we were putting trillions of dollars, billions of dollars into our investments in prisons. Building a new prison in america every ten days. And so i want to fight in this climate. I want to dedicate myself, but we cannot just be a party of resistance. Weve got to be a party thats reaffirming that american dream. We cant just be a party thats focused on the person in the white house. Weve got to be focused on those folks in inner cities, in factory towns, the grassroots of our country. Thats where our attention needs to be. Weve got to be a nation and a people and especially a party that reignites that conviction that this will be the country of impossible dreams. That that is the essence of the american dream. Weve got to be a nation that says we are about justice and security and opportunity and security that doesnt just mean fighting against terrorism and keeping us safe from foreign threats but security that means all americans regardless of how they pray or whether they wear a hijab or have a bindi, all are free from violence and zri discrimination. Weve got to understand that justice means working 40 hours a week shouldnt mean you living in poverty. Weve got to be a nation of opportunity. And opportunity means we become a party of growth and innovation of technology but we can never be a country that accepts that growth means billionaires and billionaires get richer and richer and the poorest get stuck in poverty. That get stuck in poverty. Technology and innovation shouldnt be celebrated for how many billionaires we create, but how well we do in lifting people out of poverty. The technology cant be used for transforming work for the better where people dont have Retirement Security but that work means that you have true security for yourself and your family. And so i believe what our history shows us, and king said it so eloquently, the arc of the universe bends towards justice. But make no mistake, it doesnt happen automatically. We have to bend it. I believe that we can produce an economy that works for everybody, but we must build it. I believe that we can be a nation that has healthcare for all, but we must fight for it. I believe that we could have a day in this country where america leads not just in our wealth for the richest or the size of our army, but that we set that impossible dream that we have the best k through 12 Public Education, that we will lead again in the quality of opportunity, that well lead again in irrelevant rad indicating poverty, that well lead again in social mobility, that well lead in investigating in science that will lead in conkwerg the threat of Climate Change, and that well lead the globe like the torch barriers leading the globe to Greater Peace and prosperity. And so this moment, as we end an incredible conference, weve got to summon a greater courage, the courage that our generations before us, our ancestors showed us, people without titles or political office, the courage that they demonstrate thundercloud their sacrifice and their service to this republic. And for that, theres no special former l formula. Pchs tgs its work, work, work back into the grass roots, work, work, work, back to foal being woke, waking up sleeping people, tend together hurt, rallying the able, and igniting the dream all over again. We are democrats and we must be patriots who work and sweat, work and organize, and work and never let the dream get smaller. Hands upon the plow. Hold on. Hands upon the plow. Mike hughes wrote a poem just about that giving deference to nations who through song and spirit and faith forged a new america. Let me end with this poem. He said america, land created in common, dream nourished in common, keep your hands on the plow. Hold on had the ho. Hold on. If the house is not finished, dont be discouraged, builder. If the fight is not won, dont be weary, sould soldier. The plan and the pattern is here woven from the beginning into the wolf of america a long time ago when enslaved people heading towards freedom made up the song keep your hand on the plow, hold on, hold on. A song long time ago a people heading towards freedom made up a song. Keep your hands on the plow, hold on, hold on. My fellow democrats, my fellow patriots, we need go back into the fields and put our hands on the plow. We must ignite the dream of our country with our hands forever on the plow. We have unfinished work to done, our hands must remain on the plow. And i know in my heart and i know in your spirit if we continue with that conviction frr were doling the work, if were willing to stay steady, then not only will we overcome the obstacles that seem impossibly large, but we will usher in a greater era for our country where we make reel more real and more true to more people the spirit of our nation. That we will be a nation with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. [ cheers and applause ] we need physicians and other Health Professionals who are competent, who are problem solvers, who are lifelong learners, who you teem leerz, consensus builders and Business Managers and who can share power constructively and gracefully. I would just hope that would you understand what this responsibility means. That it means reaching out, it means caring about more than yourself. It means asking about we rather than me. Howe have the fortitude do the right thing, not theese easy thing. Have the courage to speak the truth even when its unpopular. I want to talk with you about being open to the unexpected. About making room for the improbable and the unlikely. Past comment meant speeches from the cspan Video Library and join us this years commencement speeches as rehear from politicians and white house officials. Starting on the 20th, 27th, 20 nooij memorial day and june 3rd on cspan and cspan. Org. President trump welcomes turkish president erdogan to the white house after meeting him at the north portco. Towards the end of the meeting they let cameras in. Heres a look. It is a great honor to have president erdogan from turkey here. Were going to have long and hard discussions. I know that they will be very successful. Weve had a great relationship and we will make it even better. So we look forward to having very, very sol strong and solid discussions. Well be having lunch in a little while and well be making a statement right after this in the roosevelt room. Thank you very much. Thank you. [ indiscernible questions ]. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Out. Out. Thank you. Later they held a joint press conference are. President trump responded to questions about his meeting with the Russian Foreign minister. This was President Trumps first oncamera response following National Security adviser mcmasters briefing earlier today. Mr. President tell us about the intelligence that you spoke directly with the turkies president about. We had a very successful meeting. Our fight is against isis haz as general mcmast every said i know he saidnd he feels that we had fully a great meeting with the foreign minister, so were going have a lot of Great Success over the next coming years and we want to get as many to help fight terrorism as possible. And thats one of the beautiful things thats happening with turk i can, the relationship that we have together will be unbeatable. So thank you saul all very much, i appreciate if the were going to meeting now. Thank you. Cspan, where are history unfolds daily. In tine teen 79, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies. And is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up wednesday morning, South Carolina republican congressman joe wilson discusses the fallout from reports that President Trump shared highly classified information with the russians. Then Texas Democrat congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee discusses the latest on the firing of james comey and the future of the fbi. And a. M. Track president and ceo Charles Mormon and association of American Rail rods president edward hamburger discuss the state of the union rail system during infrastructure week in washington, d. C. Be sure to watch cspans washington journal live wednesday e wednesday morning. Join the discussion. Tonight on cspan 3, a hearing on improving care for patientsing with chronic illnesses then members of the democrat policy and Communications Committee hold a meeting on the republican healthcare legislation. After that, Homeland Security secretary kelly on u. S. Relations with countries in central america. Later the Senate Judiciary Committee Considers several executi executive nominations. Next healthcare experts on the benefits of Telemedicine Technology and how it can better manage the patients on medicare. Members of the finance committee are working on lek leg slaits slags aimed at improving care for chronic sufferers in the is an hour and 45