Transcripts For CSPAN Q A 20140130

Break the dysfunction, at least to an extent. Flood insurance. Infrastructure. You know, everybody in that congress has railroads and roads and airports and schools. Theyre all decaying. Metro north. And the amtrak line that im willing to bet a lot of folks here rode today is a 20th century track. 50, 70 years old in some places. And your train going home is going to break down, is going to stop just like last thursday night in the new haven line, people were stranded out on the tracks in one of the coldest days of the year. Soverb has a stake in infrastructure. And there are ways to do an Infrastructure Bank a railroad trust fund, this is an idea that in the absence of earmarks, i came to congress in the postearmark era, the senate had abandoned earmarks to the over the protests of many of my more seasoned colleagues would you like them to come back . Do you think that would help . I think whats needed is maybe not specific earmarks for specific congressional districts or even states, but i think a solution that provides something for everyone in infrastructure. One of the things we talked about before coming on stage was Veterans Affairs. I know its something youre very involved in. The president talked about the troops quite a bit but didnt set any policy. This is maybe something to have bipartisanship on. Can you lay out a couplele of places where you think that might go . I think the invisible wounds of war are an area where this nation simply has failed to address our only gation. Post draw mat exstress, traumatic brain injury. Different veterans of different ages and different eras have different needs and challenges so what we need is a really comprehensive, broad, big approach like the bill that ive offered, proposed by senator sanders, chairman of the committee where i serve. I see this issue through the eyes of two of my four children who have served or are now serving in the military, through the eyes of their contemporaries, making dillingses about what to do with their lives, some having come back from war with real needs and challenges and we have not even begun to address that obligation. So health care. Counseling. Skill training. Job opportunities. There is a range of challenges and needs that we need to meet and again, the president cant go into all of these details in the state of the union, but id like to see his support for the kind of omnibus, comprehensive bill that we propose in the senate through the Veterans Affairs committee. I wanted to end on kind of a lighter note. You were cull can you were called in the Washington Post a while ago, a jewish Robert Redford when you were an f. B. I. Prosecutor. I wanted to get your sense of the afghan scandal and how closely it hugheses to the movie from hues to the movie in your experience. At the beginning of the movie theres a line, some of this actually happened. About 5 of the movie actually happened. I took a lot of grief from the f. B. I. Team i was working with at the time, i was the u. S. Attorney in connecticut, and the movie bears a faint resemblance to the truth. Interesting, i think its a great movie. But i wouldnt look to it for what actually happened. From your personal experience. All right, well thank you so much, senator, i really appreciate it. Thank you. [applause] welcome congressman chris van hollen. Thanks for joining us. Great to be here. We will get started. You heard some of what the senator spoke about and i want to get your read in terms of kind of the one thing you learned about the president last night, you know, this isnt his first speech that hes making to congress, youve met with him before. Was there any kind of insight that you drew . First, i thought the president [inaudible] i want to thank Michael Grimm for delivering the republican response which essentially said to the american agenda, im going to throw the agenda over the balcony, the president s agenda. I think that sums up the republican reaction in the house. I think what we learned from the president last night is that hes someone who can bounce back from a tough year, resilient, determined not to have the country go as slow as the slowest boat which is the house of representatives. He laid out a number of specific challenges for the country and the American People. Asked the congress to join him in those challenges. But also made it clear that he will look for every avenue within his authority to move the country forward, that congress is not the beall and endall and hell engage Business Leaders and educational leaders and civic leaders, as hes doing today in both maryland and pennsylvania, to move forward wherever he can. So look, i think resilience is a characteristic the president demonstrated last night. In terms of the speech, when you look at it, i was talking to house derms before, what was the anticipation, they were nervous he wouldnt give them enough to run on in the elections. Do you think he did to try to turn people out in 2014 for you guys . The interesting thing about the president s agenda, i dont think its just red meat for the base, i think its overwhelmingly popular with the American People he laid out specific initiatives. While it was under the important umbrella of opportunity for all and Economic Empowerment and more shared prosperity, he set out very specific initiatives. So lets increase the minimum wage. So someone who works full time is not below the poverty level. Lets allow people to earn paid sick leave so you can take care of a loved one who is sick. And not have to worry about missing your rent payment. He talks about universal early education, talks about closing corporate loopholes that encourage companies to move overseas and take some of those savings and invest them in infrastructure here at home. On every one of those if you looked at the chamber last night, republican were sitting on their hands. I dont think those are red meat democratic proposals, i think those are commonsense proposals that will resonate throughout the country. What happened in 2006 which was the last shift over in the house, what we said during that election, what the democrats said if you elect democrats as the majority in the house, heres a specific list of things well do. We called it the six for 2006. It was a way to break through some of the clutters and say, ok, republicans say they want job growth and economic opportunity, so do democrats. But how do you distill that in a meaningful way that will impact peoples lives . Minimum wage, paid sick leave, universal prex and prek and some of the specific thicks the president laid out will impact the lives of real americans. If we can get people to focus on the details the contrast will be clear and helpful. One thing you have been very involved and focused on is Campaign Finance reform. Would you have wanted more and where how are you going to try to push that issue in the coming months . There are a couple of pieces to Campaign Finance reform and Voter Empowerment. One is clearly the millions of dollar that was pouring into these races. And you know, my focus has been, look, id like to have Campaign Finance reform so that we can reduce the impact of special interest money but for goodness sake, at least the American Public should know who is spending that money. And that is why i was the author of the disclose act in the house which passed the house a number of years ago. Failed in the senate by one vote in the end on a filibuster after senator ted kennedy passed away we were not able to get 60 votes because scott brown voted against it. But the disclose act and that idea in transparency and accountability is very important to the public. The president has spoken about it in the past. We will be speaking about that more in this election because it relates to all these other issues. The reason people are secretly financing and bankrolling these campaigns is not for charity. Its because they have in most cases an economic agenda. And apparently theyre not proud of the economic agenda they want to implement because they dont want the American People to know who is spending the money. We do think theres a clear connection between these, you know, bread and butter Kitchen Table issues that are important to the American People and the issue of Campaign Finance. The last point ill make is the president did talk about Voter Empowerment and the fact that nobody should have to wait in line five or six hours in order to exercise their ability to vote in this country, again, i think those things also resonate with the public system of republicans are going to have to explain why theyre against a proposal that was derived by the president s former Campaign Counsel and mitt romneys former Campaign Counsel. If we can break through on these sensible policies that are not red meat to the democratic side but i think really should be red meat for the whole country, then we can move forward. Whats your sense on Immigration Reform, the House Republicans look like there may be a little more optimism there, theyre going to be going to the retreat this week, discussing the principles. Is there anything that democrats can do or are you hearing neg in terms of making you more optimist exthat something might be passed before the elections . Well, the jury is still out on this, right. As you indicated, the House Republican caucus was going on their retreat today and will have well have to see how this shakes out theasms president pointed out last night, and it is important for the country to know, the senate did pass a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration bill and it would pass the house today if the speaker would allow us to vote. There are enough votes in the house today to pass comprehensive imgreags reform, the president could sign it tonight. The speaker is holding it up. He says hes going to look for another path. We will see. Hes got a lot of folks in his caucus that are dead set against any kind of comprehensive Immigration Reform so we can hope, and i do hope, that theyll come together but right now, its its hard to put really great odds on that. On that point, how big of an issue do you think this is going to be for 2014 in terms of turning out the vote, if Immigration Reform doesnt happen, and then also, i wanted to have you touch on the number of retirements you guys have been facing in the house. Theres a lot of longtime, veteran lawmakers making the decision not to run. Sure. I think Immigration Reform will play an Important Role in the midterm elections because as i indicated, you know you do have this bipartisan bill in the senate that the House Republican party has refused to allow us to vote on. And you know, people know that. And so if the speaker is unable to, you know, muster a majority in his caucus or however many vote he is think he is needs, that clearly will be an issue ats laid at his feet as something that he was unable to do despite the fact that he had a bipartisan bill sitting in the house. Again, i think its another specific initiative that will differentiate the parties going into the mid term elections along with those other sort of Kitchen Table and bread and butter issues i talked about. In terms of retirement, look. Im sure you talked to some of my colleagues, george miller, were going to miss him terribly as well miss all of them. I mention george, hes been there for 40 years now he said it was time, time to go home and be with his family and do other things. And i think if you talk to other members who are retiring, youll find the same thing. You know, again, in most you dont think it says anything in terms of the democrats ability to take back the majority in 2014 or 2016 . Most of those retirements are in congressional districts we will win. There are a couple in tougher districts. But the same is true on the republican side system of no, i dont think it says anything about the prospects for taking up the house. We will pick up seets in the house and the question is whether well reach the critical number of 17. And what i would say is that as we move through this new year, were going to have a National Debate on all the issues that the president raised last night and again, if we can get the public to focus on he specifics and make it clear that if the house goes to the democrats, you will get a National Minimum wage increase, if the republicans dont go along with it between now and then. Youll get earned sick leave, paid for your family. We will push for universal prek. We will push to close down those Corporate Tax breaks that incentivize companies to ship jobs overseas and invest in infrastruck cher here at home. If we can crystalize the election on the specifics, i think we can break through. Were going to get the hook here, this is something were going to be focused on a lot, we have a story out today saying republicans are not going to go to the mat on the debt chairman, theyre going to cave. Youre budget chairman, you have do nvolved in this talks, you think they will cave . This is when it would be interesting to be inside the Republican Caucus in maryland over the next couple of days. As youve heard in the last couple of weeks, republicans keep saying theyve got to get something in exchange for the debt ceiling. You know what . You dont get to enact your republican agenda in exchange for paying our countrys bills on time. You dont get something for upholding the full faith and credit of the United States. You dont get something for agreeing to pay for something that congress on a bipartisan basis has already voted on in the past. And so, if they make the mistake they made last october, and essentially threaten to shut down the government and much worse, i mean if you were to put the full faith and credit at risk, then im sure there will be a big public price to pay and the more leveled levelheaded members of their caucus recognize that but the question is whether the tea party element will essentially run the show. They did a little bit of breaking that fever with the bipartisan budget agreement but that is still a major part of the House Republican caucus and when it comes to imgreags reform and the kind of question were talking about with respect to the debt ceiling that remains the fundamental question. This sort of war within the republican party, are they beginning to reconcile or not . The fact that they had, you know, multiple responses to the state of the union address, the tea party response, the libertarian response, the official response and of course mike grimms response. The fact that you had multiple responses seriously shows that theres a real division that continues. Thank you so much congressman. Really appreciate it. Thank you very much. Im going to welcome mike allen back to the stage, he is with senator patty murray, chair of the Senate Budgeting committee. Thank you, anna, and thank you all for being here and thank you who are watching. We have the honor of being with senator patty murray, chame of the Senate Budget committee, the fourthranking Senate Democratic leader and the number one ranking Senate Democratic woman. Senator murray, last night the most porn thing that you learned about president obe ma was what . I think what i was most impressed with was theres a lot of discussion about him being not engaged, he was very much engaged. He knows exactly the issues the American Families are talking about, their hopes and dreams, and spoke directly to them. I felt he understood where the country was. Senator, you were on the escort committee, you actually interacted with the president. What was that like . Well, actually, i happen to be talking to the president at the exact same time that Michael Bennett was, we had a discussion about who the president was going to be rooting for on sunday and i won no, actually the president was going to get in the middle of it. But uh but we know whos going to win. Now chairman murray, things have started to work in washington, we thought that wasnt possible. And you were a big part of that. The budget deal you made with your house counterpart, pule ryan, was an amazing accomplishment. You and were talking about how an important part of that was the personal relationship, the trust you established. There was a token of that trust you presented with chairman ryan. Tell us about that. As you know, a Budget Discussion can be very difficult and challenging and the way that we broke up our tension most often was to talk about football. I happen to have a very good team this year, the seahawks, and his team wasnt doing so great so i would give him grief about Russell Wilson who happens to be from wisconsin. So he kind of became our point of bringing our discussions back to somebody we both could support, so once the budget agreement was done and we had voted on it and gone home, i called the seahawks and russell very graciously signed a jersey to paul and i brought it back here and presented it to him. It was a great moment and he now has a real treasure. Now senator murray, how do you keep the momentum going from that agreement . I think thats really an important question. I think one of the things that kept ryan and i together working on this agreem was the knowledge that the country felt broken. Like democracy cant work. My country cant work. That is a very bad feeling for a family for families, businesses, communities, everybody, wanted our country to work. And that focused us on making sure we could find an agreement. I think what i have heard so much from people coming out of this is, thank you for showing me that there is a way forward, that people can Work Together. And i think if we keep that goal in mind, on all of the tough issues that we face, that the country is counting on us to find ways to move forward and to come to an agreement. Surely we have partisan differences, surely we have different philosophies but to not make them feel like the country is broken. Something fascinating you said to me as we were chatting back stage, was that the success with the budget agreement might be a template for eventually getting tax reform done. How would that be . I think theres a couple of things that we learned, one is to trust each other not to take things out of a negotiation room, to use politically against each other in trying to reach an agreement. But i think the bigger template for tax reform is that we didnt try to do everything, all at once. I think the country has been through a lot. People are really feeling fragile. And they want to know that nothing big is going to happen that changes their life so dramatically that they cant figure it out. So we set our goals smaller. A twoyear deal. Replacing sequestration. Doing it in a way that didnt really frighten people or impact people but brought back certainty. I think the lesson for tax reform is that we have to do the same thing and actually the president suggested last night in his speech that we perhaps Fund Investments in transportation infrastructure by looking at closing closing some tax loopholes and bringing money home here to the United States to invest in something thats important to families and businesses and communities. So instead of taking it home, were going to throw the entire whole thing out and start all over, you dont know what will happen to you when you fill out your tax forms next year, rather, taking small things and pushing forward in a way people feel more comfortable with. You must have felt pretty good last night. The president s priorities seem to be a number of issues that have been your priorities for a long time. Specifically on inequality. Ive heard you talk about how that impacts women. Absolutely. When women are earning 77 cents on the dollar, that impacts their ability to be able to put food on the table. When 2 3 of the people who are on minimum wage are women that impacts their familys security. I lived this growing up because my dad was had multiple sclerosis and there were seven kids purple heart. Yeah, made in america. My mom, raising seven kids, not working, had to go back to work and couldnt find a job that had the same kind of pay as my dad and it was very difficult this impacts millions of families across the country system of that job security of raising the minimum wage and dealing with income inequality and providing the kinds of support that families need, theyre not asking for the government to run their lives or control their lives but just to give them that little bit of support when they need it to get backen their feet and be able to be a thriving citizen. All your family is on pacific time, late at night after we were all exhausted, after youd done an npr interview, you went home and were texting and emailing with relatives and there was one specific thing on their mind. I have a a big family. Four brothers two sisters, and multitudes of people beyond that. One thing they were all saying to me was they were so impressed that the president talked about women and fighting for women and giving them a place and some security, whether its income inequality or whether its minimum wage, fighting to make sure that women have the support they need, preschool education, they all love that. Because everybody has women in their lives that are important to their family, to their income, and they want every american to be able to have that. And i thought it was striking particularly because thats how the women on the floor of the senate, the democratic side, felt too when the president and the president spoke to all of us. Theres been a lot of attention to the shriver report. How do you think that thats changed the conversation around minimum wage . I think that has brought front and center what the actual issues are that women face. Look, what every family wants today is certainty. That theyve got the income coming into their house to be able to provide for their kids and fair families, certainly something every woman cares about, and men too, but women in particular. This is something they consciously think about. So the shriver report really pointed out some things that women were really feeling, like its not just me thats struggling, it is something that is struggling in this country that we really need to Pay Attention to. Of all the things you know about chairman murray, theres one thing you may not know and that is, shes a fisherwoman. Thats right. What do you catch . Im from the west coast and i catch salmon and i am i usually compete with my family and win on that one too. Where are you going to watch the super bowl . I will be at home with family and friends watching the super bowl, cheering on the team thats going to win, the seahawks. By how much . I have a prediction that sherman will intercept a pass from Peyton Manning and we will win by 13 points. Thats an optimist. Now, youre going to drive, you usually fly but youre going to drive from your house to here. Ive done that before. It takes a long time. How long . Well, actually, the shortest amount of time is my husband and i had to drive a car back to my daughter when she was in high school and we left here and arrived two and a half days later, driving four hours each every time, splitting it. Ill never do that again. If you did and you had to take with you Russell Wilson or Richard Sherman who would you take . I would take both. Fantastic conversation. And sherman is a very smart individual and one that i think contributes much to his community, his family does as well and certainly russell is a young, ener jet ex, very compassionate individual who has a lot to share. Murray, thank you for being here. Before we say goodbye, ill tell you who is next, i lost my paper here. Thank all of you who are watching on cspan, thank you in live streamland, thank you all and chairman murray, thank you. [applause] senator chris coons from delaware, thank you for joining us. Well get started right away. Tell us about, we were talking about this back stage, you were at the white house a couple of weeks ago, you talked to the president before his state of the union, what was the message that you delivered to him there and how did he respond when he gave his speech last night . Manu, what i wanted to challenge the president to do is speak directly to the American People in the state of the union last night about the broad pack about the package of bipartisan manufacturing bills that are introduced, could be brought to the floor and could be passed. I spoke about the manufacturing jobs for American Initiative and went through the caucus and said theres always a great bill on Community Colleges that al franken is leading. On skills and skill certification that kay hagan is leading. On cutting read tape for manufacturing that shaheen is leading. Earlier that day the president had been in north carolina. To announce the law firm of the second of these advanced manufacturing hubs. The first had been youngstown, ohio. Theres a bipartisan bill that brown and senator blunt are leading, its one of a package of bills that could be pecked up, passed and signed into law. My challenge to the president was, its great to speak about new york inequality. Its important to talk about raising the men mum wage and extending unemployment for those out of work but its not creating a ladder into the middle class. These are things, concrete, good, bipartisan things you could do. Its too early to give up on congress. Please speak to these, please challenge us, get taos do this. Does that concern you, the fact that he did talk extensively about going around congress, to do does he need a more sustained push within congress to get things cone this year . I think the speech was balanced. Each time he spoke about an executive action he was going to take, for example on the men mum weage, he spoke to Congress Asking us to reach an agreement. One specific moment on opportunity and mobility he spoke to the earned income tax credit and specifically spoke to senator rubio, having some positive, concrete ideas hed like to see us Work Together on. Enge the speech would have benefited from more of that, rom more specific, outreach. One of the applause line he is got was that this nation, where the nation of a son of a single mother and the son of a bar keep could be the president and speaker of the house has always stood for opportunity that got sustained applause because its essential outreach and in part because it recognizes a reality right in front of us, that his tore exly we have been a country of almost unrivaled opportunity and today we need to take action to continue that. What do you wish you would have heard more of last night . No amount of talking about concrete actions to grow the middle class through expanding manufacturing would be too much so i think he could have gone through some of the specific suite of bills i just mentioned and i would have been even happier but he dedicated a fair amount of the speech to that. I do think there were a few things i wish hed been a little clearer and stronger on, n. S. A. Surveillance issues in particular, i think theres more that the president needs to do. Theres an oversight hearing late they are morning with the attorney general where i know a number of us will be pressing him on exactly how he plans to deliver on the president s plan to move the section 215 metadata collection from government control to third party. Theres a number of difficulties around actually do you think that will work, to create a third party to store this metadata . I think that will be very challenging to deliver on, to execute on. I respect and appreciate the president s tone on surveillance issues which is to listen and to work with members of congress, republican an democrat, who have expressed real concerns about how do we keep america safe, how do we recognize that we really are in a world where we need the valued services of our Intelligence Community and our armed forces but we also need to execute on making america safe in a way that respects our most fundamental values, which are our ability our Civil Liberties and privacy. Youre also on the Foreign Relations committee and one of the Foreign Policy issues he talked about last night was an iran sanction. He urged members of congress to hold off on pushing that bill until the negotiations play out. You support this, cosponsor this iran sanction bill. Do you think it needs a vote before the negotiating period ends . Now is not the time for a vote on the iran sanctions bill. Enge that sanctions have so far played a very constructive role. Sanctions have brought iran to the table and the sanctions passed by congress during the bush administration, during the obama administration, this administration has finally delivered on bringing together a Multinational Coalition of our allies and our partners to make those sanctions work, to really cripple the iranian economy and bring them to the table. Now that we have this joint plan of action, now that its been signed, i and others are digging into the details, figuring out what did we really get . Reviewing in a classified setting the iaea report to see if this agreement is as good as its sold as being and i think thats what congress should be focusing its attention on now, making sure the resources are there for the iaea inspections and making sure the questions we have about the scope and promise, theres a dozen issues, we should be working that through with the administration now while holding the bill which i still support and keeping it as a possible future action. For now, i intonet support moving forward with the bill. If there was a vote on the floor on that bill now you would vote no . I would urge we not move to a floor vote now. Do you feel this is a prevailing view within your caucus right now . That a lot of folks support it . I think theres a wide range of views. I think to the extend that we simp he excite further the dissonance or the tension between the administration and congress on this, that doesnt serve our shared goal of making certain that iran does not acquire Nuclear Weapons capability. The thing that most troubles me is that president ruhani of iran, and past fwoshting teams from iran have a demonstrated pattern of negotiating while continuing to make progress towarder that goal of acaring Nuclear Weapons capability. Im concerned that the negotiating framework at the moment doesnt require that iran dismantle any of its core capabilities. It simply requires them to stop them in place. This administration, though, has made Real Progress. In iran really is taking its 20 , etc. Highly enriched uranium stockpile and converting it to ox side or cutting it back to 5 , if they are revealing us to plans for the water reactor, if they are giving searching inspection capability, thats Real Progress and we need to give this window this miami of opportunity for peace, a chance. But if theres any country in the world i dont trust to actually abide by its treaty commitments, its iran. I think theres an appropriate role for congress in holding the president accountable, in supporting the negotiates, but in making it clear that we will act on sanctions at a moments notice if the iranians default on these negotiations. Let me ask you, the Affordable Care act, another area they was speech last night, youre up for reelection in the fall. How much concern are you hearing from businesses about implementing this law, Small Businesses and do you think youve never had a chance to vote on this, you were elected after the law was enached enacted, should there be legislative fixes on the floor this year to cheage elements of the law that may be difficult to implement . I was pleased that the administration heard concerns expressed by many by me and many others on behalf of the sol tier fire service. Im from a state with 60 volunteer Fire Companies and for a century they provided all our Emergency Response they respond to car crashes, house fears, they play a central role in our community. And there was an unanticipated impact on volunteer Fire Companies because the i. R. S. Treats volunteer firefighters as employees for tax purposes. The Administration Responded promptly. There are many other challenges that could be done administratively. Some of the more fundamental fixes such as concerns from Small Business owners what is the parttime fulltime definition . What is the numb of fulltime . Mployees is there way to make it less after a cliff and more of a smooth transition, thats a difficult broader conversation. S that difficult environment to move Bipartisan Legislation to improve the Affordable Care act as long as one caucus is relentlessly determined to repeal the act and so really is not yet committed to working in a positive way. The u. S. Chamber has moved from a commitment to repeal to a willingness to work with legislators to improve it and the white house has been positive, has been welcoming of a discussion about how we can improve it, so i will work with the white house and with any legislator, republican or democrat, who wants to improve this law. I will not support bills that will gut it or defund it or deauthorize it. Politically does it make sense to bring a bill, any bill, even a narrow or minor bill to the floor, given the environment and how republicans are running against this law in the mid terms . I choose to be an optimist, i have to be to get on the train and come here every morning, as we were talking about. I choose to see very positive signs, you just heard from senator murray who did a wonderful job of leading a bipartisan Budget Committee effort and got us a budget deal for the First Time Since ive been here in the senate. 1. 0 ave an enacted trillion appropriations deal and i think were days away from having, from the for the first time in five years a bipartisan farm bill. These are not huge advances but they are demonstrating that we can Work Together on the thing that was previously caused government shutdowns, fiscal cliffs. I think we should keep open the possibility that we can improve the Affordable Care act legislatively. I think its too early for us to give up on legislating this entire year. But a cleareyed view of the wreckage of the last three years and the inability to move important bills suggest this is will be quite hard. Youre from delaware, you take the train to work as joe biden did, your predecessor in your seat. Do you think he should run for president . Would you support him if he did . I supported joe biden when he ran in 1988 tissue in 1998, in 2008 an i look forward to supporting him. I think hes one of the strongest Vice President s in american history. Thats why the president has relied on him for a whole series of challenging and Important Roles in this administration. Just last night you heard the president focus on the importance of skills. There are 600,000 currently unfilled highskill, highwage manufacturing jobs in america and he tasked the Vice President with looking at all the different job training program, reducing them, coordinating them, focusing them, thats exactly the sort of thing i know the Vice President is focused on, fighting hard for americas middle class. No one knows more about it, fights harder for it than joe biden and whatever role he seeks in the future, ill support him. One quick thing you learned about president obama last night . Hes a compelling speaker, he has a great sense of the moment and a presence and he was able to lift even a sharply divided, partisan congress to its feet by repeatedly reminding us that nothing worth having in life comes without work. He lifted our eyes and got us to focus on Sergeant Remsburg up in the gallery. Previous president s have used this in a more frothy way a brief positive story. The story of Sergeant Remsburg is one of enormous suffering and challenge and he foused not just on his heroism and combat but the long, hard work of his recovery, both directly and indirect amessage to the American People. Were in this together but with determination we can recover as a country and be stronger again. Senator chris coons from delaware, thank you for your time. Now id like to introduce my colleague for our final discussion of the day. Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us joining us today. One great thing about wrapping up the event is you get the last word. Thats good. One question i have to ask you, we heard from a will the of republicans today and their recurring them was the president is talking about executive orders. They said, one said he wanted to stick a finger in her eye, hes going to circumvent the process. Tell us about that. This is not an eitheror situation. This is the president wants to pursue all the avenues he has. So he wants to work with congress where he can and then he wants to act on his own where he can. So there are a lot of things we think we can do with congress he went through them. Even last night. Immigration reform has a good, obviously were we think has a good chance. Theres housing finance. Wed like to get unemployment benefits, Unemployment Insurance extended. Manufacturing hubs, which is something that has a lot of bipartisan support. So the point is hell work with congress on a lot of issues and were going to continue to pursue that but hes not president of washington, hes president of america. Theres a lot of much of the progress thats being made is being made outside of in the country outside of washington. What we found, the way we think about it, really is how can you leverage whatever it is that he as the authority to do to make progress. The United States, the United States goth is the greatest force on the planet, right . We spend more money than anyone, we hire more people, we so if youre leveraging whatever he has the authority to do, it could have a big impact. One example is a rule we did in the fers term on cars. Fuel efficiency in cars. You do that, what does that do . The carmakers, automakers are producing more cars. That means new research is being done, new plants are being built, that means new auto dealers are being made. Its looking to see where we can target our resources best where he can use the bully pulpit authority he has to make a big impact and then what is that leverage . Thats the sort of thats the lens were using to look at things this year that he can do. Hes always said hes not president of washington and it looks like youre going back to sort of your tried and true strategy, which is taking it out to the people. Tomorrow youre going local. Tell us a little bit about taking this message, going to pennsylvania and maryland . Inwere going to, right now, maryland, hes going to a costco, which should be amaze. The Vice President went to a costco last christmas. Costco is the employer who has decided to pay workers are living wage, they pay higher than minimum weage, so thats a good example of how you can continue to be successful but pay your workers a living wage and youre liable to get better, less turnover, Better Service out of your employees. So were going there. And then hes going to u. S. Steel in pittsburgh and hes going to talk about retirement there. We have offered a new retirement account announcement last night called my r. A. You heard him say last night, we spent too much time trying to come up with a name of it, we settled on my r. A. , not so easy to pronounce. But the workers at this steel plant have great retirement, great benefits. Thats not true for all workers as were more mobile, change manager job changing jobs more often. This is the retirement account for people who dont have that kind of pension available to them to save. So and the strategy for taking the message outside of washington . This is theres just nothing his words are very powerful but the images of us being able to show the American People outside of washington with americans that are either directly affected by what hes or arer are or are the example of the problem that were trying to solve that just makes it real for people in a way that you cant get from the east room, no matter how grand that is in the white house. Do you find it easier to work with the local press in a way too, to get the message out . The press, the local press will have, theres buildup leading into, when hes coming usually a lot of excitement about it as el. So thats a benefit in and of itself. But it is but it is even if it werent for that, you would still want him out in the country, even your National Coverage is going to be a lot better if youre not in washington. You know, we dont have a billion dollar advertising budget like we did in the reelect so you have to be more creative about how you put him in the public eye in a way that will get a lot of penetration so we look at not just, what the local media, thats National Media likely to cover and what are the audiences that youre not going to reach by Network Television or print media. This is why we had a big every year we probably have an exponential increase in our use of social media at the white house and were trying to reach as many audiences as possible. Commit to t want to social media leading up to this. What does it get you . Its been really powerful. Each year, it grows, we have an incredibly Creative Team that works on it. And every year they come up with a lot of new ideas, some of which are a little, perhaps, what you dont actually see because it might be too edgy but this is, we reach millions of people, millions and millions of people that follow us on at the white house that are on our ail list that follow barackobama on twitter. Its not just reaching people to hear a particular message but they are able to engage. And its a forum, its a medium that nothing else can replicate in terms of the personal connection that you have. We find that when we try to make products that are shareable in terms of graphs and charts, when we did the state of the union, i think this is the third year weve done this, while the president is speaking on one after half othe screen at white house. Gov, on the other half of the screen, its enhanced state of the union, weve prepared graphs or interactive charts and pictures of the pictures of the individual were talking about, store roins the side, little facts. No one expects to be seeing news or a speech in just one with just one medium, even on television theres going to be a crawl, theres going to be something, some kind of scroll across the screen. We try to make it as interactive as possible and we do develop a relationship with, you know, with these people who are not necessarily supporters but theyre interested in what the president is doing. Its exciting to see, whats the next thing going to be . Its not theres a team of people far younger than me who are really enknow vative and theyve been great. Big block of cheese day, an an crew jackson and west wing reference, all day were doing q a with white house staff on twitter and other platforms. You went into the speech, the narrative wasnt great going. In poll numbers not particularly good. There was a narrative in place that the president cant do anything in these last three years. Tell us about his mood going into the speech as he was working on it. He was you know, he describes it, i think, best, in the David Remnick article in the new yorker and ive heard him say it before, he considers he happens to be president these eight years and the way he looks at the job and certainly the way he approached the state of the union is, ok, what can i get done . And what can we accomplish, what can we take care of, get in good shape and have it be completed . And then but he understands its a long continuum. What can we advance so the next president can pick it up. Climate change, hes going to make a lot of progress dealing with it but its not going to be resolved at the ovene his presidency. But what can you what are we advancing and that is and he has thats the theory about, with prek we introduced it last year, prek for all. We got some money appropriated to expand it somewhat just in the last budget agreement and well do more this year and well keep pushing on it. Its not something you expect to you dopted in a year but have a couple of years. He looks at this as a long arc. It may with his presidency, what hes able to get done the next three years and it may end up going through the fall for the White House Communications director easier to have a president who says, i understand whats happening and whats happening with the press and what its going to be like and i know that you know, he was would be somebody who would tell me, were going to get through this and we have a whole new plan and you know, were going to come out of it. More so than anyone ive ever worked for, he has the ability to do that, to look beyond we s happening right now, work hard and get through et, hes like, were going to get through this and it makes it a lot easier. Can you share with us anything he took out of the speech . We took things out of the speech that we wanted to it was a lot, you know, each year, this is the third state of the union i worked on for the president and each year, you know, you say were not going to have a laundry list, its going to be short, its going to be the shortest one yet. And each year you end up, you know, with a high its a high class problem work too much policy that youre to talk about so there are things we hose to hold back. Some things that needed more work and some things well be talking about later in the year. The executive action and we talk about the pen and the phone, executive action is more the pen, the things he has the authority to do that he can be innovative about, for example the executive order in minimum wage yesterday for federal contractors, but the it takes a lot of work. They are you are short of maybe bending the government in a way that theyre not used to or youre by definition looking at novel ways and its very or if youre trying to Leverage Private sector to join you in something, its labor intensive. Some of these things have a long lead time. You worked in the Clinton White house. Yes. Tell house how the culture is different in the Clinton White house and the Obama White House, eight or 10 years later. Im not only in the white house again but im in the exact same office i had, the ventilator still rattles the same way it did 15 years ago. The one word i would use to describe it, the Obama White House is a lot less volatile. When i first got to the Obama White House that was the word in my head almost immediately. I would say that the Decision Making progress process in the Clinton White house was dynamic, i think is a good way to put it, so this is so that is a difference and you dont how do you spend your time is different as a result of that. So no drama obama is true . Its true. Of course theres drama in the course of any day when youre working in the white house but it is its like its different. All the dynamics of the are the same, the flow of the year, the interactions with congress, the interactions with the press, the media has changed a lot but human nature hasnt and some of it is very familiar. One thing weve asked everybody today is, weve asked them to finish this sentence. The biggest thing i learned about president obama last night was that he you probably didnt learn anything about him last night but what have you learned about him in this process that you could share. I think when we started the conversation about how he how we approach this, he is a very resolute and optimistic guy and sees that there is a ton of good that we can get done. He is hes been very clear with the staff, very clear with the cabinet on everyone, you know, pushing the boundaries of our creative thinking and you know, getting outside of the box. To say if theres something good i can do, some difference i can make, im going to do it. Even if there are things that appeared to not be as consequential as legislation, theres something you can leverage out of that. He wants to look at every opportunity there. So he is someone who really slogs through a process which im not sure that comes across. And in coverage of him, i mean. Whether it was solving the website, dealing with health care in the fall, preparing the months and months of work that went into the n. S. A. Issue, preparing for the state of the union, he has a lot of patience and focus to get through difficult issues and really thinks them through hard and tracks them and has a very penetrating mind, penetrating question. So we have a great plan, i mean the one thing that like i said were going to continue to work with congress but the one thing about having a program focused on executive action, it can be a road map for the year which is what you want out of the state of the union. Sometimes, you know, you hope that is what its going to be but something will happen that takes you off course and youre president of the United States, anything that happens in the world affects you. But we have a road map and have things planned throughout the year that come back to issues of opportunity. Its been a really good planning process. How much campaigning will he do for the mid term elections . That is tb determined. Hell be doing fundraising as will the other principals, you know, the Vice President , the rst lady, as well as i think shes going to california. Were in quarter one still. We keep reading that speech writer cody keenan grew his beard for this. Did he shave it . Yes. This is good news. He grew a fulsome beard and he is i didnt realize, i thought this was just a beard but he is going to shave it. Hes going to shave it in pieces. But the great news is that the is that he fenally got rid of the awful beard. As communications director, i had some say in how the person representing the president should look. Did you tell carney to shave . I did but i think maybe it was his mother. I thought it was terrible, the president had derogatory things to say about it but it wasnt until his mother weighed in that he showed up clean shaven. Thank you so much jennifer for your time. Thank you. Its time to wrap up here. I want to thank you all of you for sticking in here even with the weather. I thank all our cspan viewers and everybody else out there and i want to thank our partner in this, innovation alliance. Have a great day and we hope you come to our next event. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] tine the house debates a fiveyear farm bill and president obama savings during a visit to a pennsylvania steel mill. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called on nsa leaker Edward Snowden to return any remaining intelligence documents. Here is a one of several chiefs Briefing Congress on National Security threats. Centers heard about threats from Al Qaeda Affiliated groups in syria. The Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing is an hour and 45 minutes