Patients and visitors. [applause] officer jason salus, officer Robert Sparks officer captain raven. Captain raymond. Medal of valor, Santa Monica Police department california. For courage and composure and ending a deadly rampage. They placed themselves in mortal danger to save the lives of student and staff during a School Shooting on the busy campus of santa monica college. [applause] major david huff. Medal of valor presented to major david huff, oklahoma. Uncommon poise and resolving a dangerous hostage situation. He saved the life of a twoyearold girl after negotiating negotiations deteriorated with the man holding the child cap the at knife point captive at knife point. [applause] officer donald thompson. Medal of valor presented officer donald thompson, Los Angeles Police department. Courageous action to save an accident victim. While off duty, he traversed to two freeway dividers and endured first and Second Degree while pulling an unconscious man to safety before the car became engulfed in flames. [applause] officer coral walker. Valor presented to officer coral walker, omaha police department. For taking great and Decisive Action to subdue and active shooter after exchanging gunfire, he singlehandedly incapacitated a man who had injured and killed multiple victims on a shooting spree. [applause] officer gregory stevens. Medal of valor presented to officer gregory stevens, texas police department. In the trading courage to save lives. He exchanged gunfire at close range of two heavily armed assailants putting a deadly act of terrorism. Preventing a deadly act of terrorism. [applause] mrs. Constance wilson accepted on behalf of Sergeant Wilson iii. Medal of valor presented to Sergeant Wilson iii. Giving his life to protect innocent civilians. He put himself in harms way during an Armed Robbery drawn drawing fire from the assailant suffered a mortal wound as he kept store employees and customers safe. [applause] officer nile johnson. Medal of valor presented to officer nile johnson, florida. For swift and valorous action to and a crime spree. Officer johnson pursued a man who had shot a Miami Police Officer and two other innocent bystanders withstanding fire from an assault weapon and apprehended the assailant. [applause] special agent tyler cahl. Middle valor presented to special agent tyler cahl, fbi. Four heroic actions to save a hostage. [applause] deputy joey tortorella. Valor presented to deputy joey tortorella, Niagara County sheriffs office. Placing himself in great danger to protect the community. He confronted and subdued and a gunman who had shot and wounded his parents inside the home and by doing so, prevented the gunman from threatening the safety of students at a nearby elementary school. [applause] president obama lets give one last big round of applause to the recipients of the medal of valor. [applause] president obama thank you all. Thank you for your dedication. Thank you for your service. You are continuously in our thoughts and prayers and we are continuously giving thanks for all that you and your families do. Thank you, everybody. [applause] at the opening of the summit, Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell focused his remarks on the work of Law Enforcement officers and police week. Mcconnell this week we commemorate National Police week and pay tribute to the local state, federal and lawenforcement officers who keep our country and our community safe. We are grateful for their service and their sacrifice. We benefit from their pledge to serve, protect, and defend. Meeting from several officers in kentucky who were in town for the events. I met with kentucky Police Officers who laid done their lives in the line of duty. Fiveally, tragically, officers from the bluegrass state were lost in 2015. Anonymous or from the lieutenant center. On march 11, officer rhodes. On june 23, state trooper eric chrisman. 6, senior Patrol Officer daniel ellis of the Richmond Police department. The names of these five officers, along with the names of hundreds of brave officers from across the country have been added to the National Monument list of officers lost in the line of duty. The names of over 500 kentuckians appear on the memorial and more than 20,000 names across the country appear in all. Four capitol the Police Officers we have lost in the line of duty since 1994. The recently held a ceremony to honor their fallen officers. Us of the continued sacrifices of the men and women who stand guard every day at the heart of our democracy. Cosponsor of the resolution to recognize National Police week this year. Follows the Law Enforcement officers memorial, the 15th anniversary of 9 11 and all the officers lost in the line of duty in 2015. The proud sponsor of the followed heroes flag act. And the immediate and the members of Law Enforcement and Public Safety officers lost in the line of duty. This bill has passed both the house and senate and is awaiting the president s signature. Would guess t it would help equip Law Enforcement to respond to events like the San Bernardino shootings. Passing the police act would help give our Police Officers the training that they need to do their jobs more effectively and im hopeful that we can quickly move this important legislation. Enforcement is a dangerous work and a noble calling. Im grateful for the service of every Police Officer in kentucky. I know my colleagues share the deepest admiration and respect for Police Officers everywhere. I join the republican leader in recognizing the contributions of Law Enforcement officers around the country. Im sorry that you have such a tough job, and i do not think that we appreciate them enough. I appreciate what the republican leader said. We two we too have had our share. Many men and women are killed needlessly. Journals washington is live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Sday morning, jared polis jared polis joins us to discuss bathroom laws like the one side in north carolina, as well as efforts to elect more lgbt people to congress. The economist and author Stephen Moore who was reportedly asked by donald trump to review his tax proposal. He will be on to discuss the elements of mr. Trumps plan as well as the plans offered by the other candidates. Washingtonh journal. In the washington post, a band of exasperated republicans actively plotting to draft in independent candidates who would keep donald trump from the white house. Bill kristol is joining us here. Thank you for being with us. How is your effort coming along . Bill there is a lot of support out there. We should have a choice other than Hillary Clinton or donald trump. Getting a serious, credible candidate to run every four years, it is not so easy to do. You have two parties who set a with a semimonopoly situation. There are serious people engaged in real discussions and it is not too late. You can get on the ballot and you can raise money. It is a question of finding the right candidate. There are deadlines, the deadline for texas has passed although there may be another way together on the ballot. Way to get on the ballot. What are you facing in terms of the calendar . Bill texas and north carolina, you would probably have to get a lawsuit. The lawsuit would probably succeed. Everywhere else you can get on. Other places are harder the and others stop anything can happen. You can get on a bunch of balance in july and august. Ballots in july and early august. June is a real deadline for the mitt romneys of the world. Someone who would have national credibility. Of independence, harlequins and democrats who think that person would be a better president than hillary quentin or donald trump. We keep hearing the name mitt romney. How likely is that he would run as an independent . Bill he has publicly said he does not one either donald trump want either donald trump or Hillary Clinton to be president. I have been critical of mitt romney at times but i would support him over the others. I think he would be a good president. He is a man of good character. He might do it out of patriotism. He does not need to do it but it probably would be a losing race. He would get attacked by the i by everyone. I think he does think the country deserves better. I think he is looking at it. I think the senator from nebraska who has written so eloquently and powerfully and has gotten a huge grassroots response. About the need for a better choices out there. He is reluctant for many reasons. Maybe he will be persuaded to do it. Tom thurber, retired senator, wonderful man, has worked across the aisle, strong conservative. He would be an interesting candidate. All of these people i can say , the only thing moving them is patriotism. More trouble so to speak then it is worth for shortterm gain in the case of romney or colbert who are comfortably in myretired. But all of them just think of how awful it would be to go forward for the next six months with the choice being trump and clinton. Reince priebus calling this a suicide mission. To ensure of there were thirdparty conservative strong americanke foreignpolicy, and of these are things donald trump has been associated with. Ballot it would be a very good thing. Announcedistol, you for the first time in 11 president ial election cycles that you will not be voting for a republican candidate. What kind of a reaction have you received . Mixed. Some people think im being foolish. People say its better than hillary. They think that the deficiencies are manageable. Meet the basic standard of being president. I got a lot of encouraging emails and response. Republicans and conservatives want to take their time and take a look at how things look in september and october. People do not have to declare now. Vote when you have the most information. People do have to cross a fundamental line. Are you comfortable with donald trump given his record and temperature and character. What do you think of donald trump . I dont have anything against them. Businessman who does what he does and is maybe unpleasant to work for, but that is his own business. I never given much thought to him. I have no particular concern but i do not think he should be president of the united states. Inwho else is joining you this effort to find a Viable Third Party candidate . A lot of volunteers. Conservative types, the editor of the National Review has written eloquently in the case against trump but it is a very ad hoc volunteer effort. This is very much a spontaneous, decentralized effort. People say the recruiting someone but its really up to them. But dont have any means to bring pressure and a dont want to pressure anyone. The one who runs should be someone who decides its the right thing to do and is committed to doing it. When you look at the calendar how much of this is about the white house have much is about the senate race . Candidate one of the on the belt would give people like me which are down where the senate and the house race is others can port a lot of money into the senate and house races. Up on the notion that there could be someone better than Hillary Clinton or donald trump. Bill clinton is the editor of. He Weekly Standard thank you for being with us. Coming up on cspan, a discussion on the stop act, legislation and fundraising by members of congress. Specialistsecurity on efforts to protect Health Care Data from cyberattacks. Thehe u. S. House takes up Defense Department program and policies bill starting tuesday. The 610 billion authorization bill passed out of committee by a 60to vote. 602 vote. The Iran Nuclear Deal and the white house messaging strategy are the focus of a House Oversight Committee Hearing tuesday. Live coverage begins at 10 00 a. M. Et on cspan3. Secretary, we proudly votes tof our delicate the next president of the united states. Next, a discussion on the stop act. Proposed legislation from congress but personally asking for Campaign Contributions. In the cosponsor is representative rick nolan of arizona. Good morning everyone, my name is thomas burr, on the washington correspondent for the Salt Lake Tribune and the 109th president of the National Press club. We all know that it takes money to run for political office. In some cases a lot of money. First elected to congress in a special election in march, 1214 with a reelection bid only six months away, he said he was shocked to hear from party elders that in the next six months he needed to raise 2 million. In february, he introduced the stop act which would then members of congress from personally acting for money. Rick nolan was one of the first to pass the bipartisan legislation. Terms in served three the 1970s and was later reelected in 2013. He said when he returned he hardly recognize the institution because of the amount of time members spent dialing for dollars. Toget members of congress put down the phone and solve americas problems. Our guest will speak for a few minutes in the guatemala have some questions. In addition to the reporters in the room have a number on the phone. If anyone listening it would like to ask a question please email them to this address. Welcome to the National Press club. Thank you to the National Press club thank you to my colleague. When we first started this effort i know we wanted it to be a bipartisan effort right out of the gate so with your support we did accomplish that. I will spend a couple of minutes talking about the actual construct of the stop act. The narrative has been told in the past several weeks. I will give you my perspective and rick has comments as well. In many states are state legislators are prohibited from raising money when in session. Judges were on the ballot and elected in the state of florida as well as a total of 30 states are prohibited from directly soliciting Campaign Contributions. That was upheld by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court indicated that the prohibition might be constitutional on judges but said perhaps it would require a different construct for elected officials in the legislative body. I took the model that applies to state that is leaders and said lets a product lets apply that to congress. They say every member of commerce can read it before we vote on it. It says no member of the house or the senate, Vice President or president may directly solicit Campaign Contribution. That includes a person, a phone call, that includes email, and website. It removes a member of congress from solicitation. The main focus of the stop act is less on Campaign Finance reform. We can have that debate, i would be happy to enter into campaignfinance reform. We can do better when it comes to broader campaignfinance reform. We all know the amount of money in politics. Lets talk about the amount of time it takes to raise that money. In a u. S. Senate race, a member may have to raise 20 million to 40 million. Consider the amount of time it takes to raise that money. I was the first time candidate two or three years ago. I had a long practice a consulting practice. When i decided to run for congress i was able to decide how much time to commit to the campaign, how much time to fundraising, to sign waving, to parades. At that consequence time was my own business endeavors. Now, as a sitting member of Congress Running for reelection, my first priority, the greatest responsibility that i have for every minute of every hour of every day is to represent the people who have entrusted me to serve and to spend hours upon hours every day raising money and not doing the job i was elected to do, i believe it is a violation of public trust. Candidate, ime have the luxury to decide how to spend my time. As a sitting member of Congress Running for reelection, i do not pick the have a choice. Members of congress should be told, to the job you are in to do. Lets leave fundraising to the Campaign Apparatus and make sure the resources are there to raise the money. Every angleom including an intern 20 years ago who took naps in the phone booth. Ive risen to the staff ranks, i was council and supporting the appropriations chairman during an 11. I ended up being a district director and i ended up running for congress. This is the pressure on a members time to do something other than what you were elected to do. Stop act would say let the campaign raise the money and that members of congress get back to work. A couple of housekeeping items today. I say this every step of the way. The storyline that i tell is not to judge or criticize my colleagues. In private conversations are think rick would agree with this. I think our colleagues are begging for breathing room. If its health care, transportation Immigration Reform tax reform or a balanced budget members have priorities they want to work on. This is not to judge or criticize my colleagues. This is to judge and criticize the system that has given us a what we canngress discuss during questions if you would like following the 60 minutes story, somehow this was david jolly versus the and rcc. Thats up the case at all. This is about the amount of time members face to raise money for their own campaigns, the rick nolan campaign committee. The requirements and expectations to raise money for. Our party the generation ago the obligation was not there. Its focused on the total a motive time for fundraising. Of membersnd tired of Congress Pulling the curtain back and lamenting the amount of time they spent fundraising which is simply an image an admission they did nothing about it while they were there. We are trying to start a movement today. Members of Congress Working to demand change while we have the ability to change the law. With the help of the American People coming in the mail and. Mail the past couple of weeks im optimistic we can make advancements on this issue in the near term. Thank you, david. Thank you president tommy burr and Jimmy Horvitz president of the newsmakers operation. A special thanks to my colleague david jolly for the tremendous leadership in stepping up and speaking out on this critical what youh regard to were saying in your introduction, i served elected office for 10 years in the late 60s and early 70s. Business. Years in it was a long hiatus. After all these years. Seeing what had happened to the congress, i hardly recognized the place. It was so dramatically different. Suggestedvid jolly that i join him in introducing the stop act it made wonderful sense to me because among the things that had changed so dramatically was the massive amounts of money that were going into politics. Decision. Ns united there are hundreds of millions in fact billions of dollars. Orh of it is secret money dark money. Its terribly negative, denigrating the candidates. And its born out of necessity for members and candidates themselves to raise enough money to defend themselves and to get their message out there. Without that you might as well go home. Youll get defeated and it is an affront to your supporters not do toeverything you can show that you are all in as well. When i served in the past, we did not spend any time dialing for dollars. It wasnt done. The republicans and the democrats did not have call centers. In my judgment, the single most important thing that we can do, the two most important things to do is the reversal of Citizens United to get all of this money out of politics but the other single most important thing we can do is to pass the stop act. What has happened with the massive amounts of money is it has totally changed the way that we do politics. Its turned members of congress and to midlevel telemarketers dialing for dollars. Republicans and democrats have told us that you should spend 20 hours to 30 hours per week dialing for dollars. And another 10 10 hours per week on fundraising events. Now youre approaching 40 hours. I dont know about you, david but the sevenhour trip for me doortodoor. Thats 14 hours and you have not spent any time thats 54 hours and you have not spent any time working . I have not spent a minute in the call Centers Across the street. Why . We are to do the peoples business. To go to washington and go to work. Thats what being a member of congress is all about and that is what has made this country the great country that it is. To complement what david has said here, the members dont want to do this. They came to washington they came from conservative or liberal backgrounds, they came from ideas. They wanted an opportunity to express them. They wanted an opportunity to argue them. They wanted a vote on them. Thats how you find Common Ground. We spent a lot of time talking about the character of the candidates and their integrity and their vision and that is important but the process matters. 40you have already consumed hours of the week theres not a lot of time left over for governing. We are seeing the results of that. They call it gridlock. Looking at the last couple sessions of the congress being the most unproductive in the history of the country. Why . Because if everybody is busy raising money and campaigning there is the time for governing. Thats how you find Common Ground. I served at a time when everything came up through the Committee Process and we were in sessions five days per week. If you had an idea you got an opportunity to debate it in that it rise and fall on its own merits. Plosser rethink comes up under close rule. If the going to be an immense their limited. Day, it was not uncommon to have hundreds of amendments on a particular bill. You argued and debated everson go one of them. In the process you learned to develop respect for your colleagues and you had opportunities to develop the best ideas and the best arguments. You found the Common Ground and that is how you got things done. Thats why this is so incredibly important to the process. If members are coming to washington and dialing for doings, then they are not the job they were elected to do. You that it telling is discouraging to the people running for reelection. Its discouraging people from running for election to begin with. I can think of countless examples. In my state a wonderfully successful business person who was interested in running. He got out here when he was told that the fundraising was going to be required he said thats not what i want to go to washington for to become a midlevel telemarketer. I want to go fix things to get the country on track and make things better. Its destroying peoples confidence in the whole political system. In the simple truth is that ifs of the congress the congress is going to work, if want to fix things in get things done, if her going to find that Common Ground we need to be in committees. We need to be meeting with our constituents. They can tell you what is working and whats not working. We need to be debating and that is how you find Common Ground. Citizens united notwithstanding we need to reverse Citizens United in my judgment, but whether we do are not, it is critical to get members of congress back doing what they are elected to do. In my judgment, the future of our country and the future of our democracy depends on it. Like davis said, i had a lot of our colleagues come up and say youre going to see a growing support for the stop act as more and more people understand the gravity and the significance, and the importance of it. Im convinced in my heart of hearts that it will become a reality. As you pointed out its happening in races, states, and counties. Thank you for your leadership on this and thank you to the press club for helping to highlight the importance of this issue. Thanks to the importance of the committee sponsoring great debates. Im delighted to be here and be a part of it in more than happy to take any questions. What is your opinion on the new book . Congressman. F a he says we are running a casino to raise the money. While some guys might not like money,orced to raise the people would like to keep their jobs. What do you think of that . Congressman xue, is right. If you want to be here to promote the stop act, to help play a role in reversing Citizens United, if you want to be here to have a voice in all the great issues of our time you had better have several Million Dollars to defend yourself and get your message out there. Had an opportunity to read the book yet, just reading the accounts. Its insulting is the unethical to say the least. In his manner of dealing with issues. From every perspective to be men and women of integrity who just have a good ideas that differ in many ways. But they represent all of the segments of the quite large and diverse country that we live in. When you bring them together am a as opposed to sending them across the street, dialing for dollars. What rick said it was mentioned in the introduction of elected youfirst mentioned the reality. There is a story where i was told to raise 18,000 per day. I was a of leadership that wanted to be helpful but canceled me through how to get reelected in six months. I thought this is great. It was a second grade math equation on the whiteboard. Heres a number of days until your election in the number of dollars divided by the day. Thats my was told that your first job is to raise 18,000 per day. Return to my tippy chief of said he just got elected. He was a do all these things for the district. It is the reality. I preorder the book. Rick, if you really want to tell the story think weve demonstrated we willing to sign her name to our cause and i hope that you would or he would too. Ira presented district that president obama won twice. The answer to term limits is to create a tour the competitive districts across the country or members have to reject represent the community first. Dissenting raise money to get reelected. Lets start with the good questions youd like to ask on cspan or anyone listening rg ise, questions press. O the email address. Please identify yourself and your news outlet. You are a senate candidate, how much is this a tactic to raise your profile . It is may 16. How much is this tilting at windmills because getting anything past this year seems impossible. I took a pledge to stop direct solicitation, to abide by the stop act. Consultant would tell you im crazy and if you look at the fundraising numbers, thats true. It has created significant headwind. When you ask the question is it a Campaign Gimmick or not, i always say this. Myself and others who pursue the policy, it actually naturally makes for good politics. This is a 100 issue at home. Should we abandon it because were in the middle of an election or should we press forward because the American People are asking for this. Congressionalout reforms and Campaign Finance reform doesnt matter the group. The response is 100 . Talking at the british model of taking political ads off of television gets a 100 response of home. Good policies make for good politics but the focus is on driving for good policy and the politics will take care of itself. You seem to be making a distinction between congressional reform and campaignfinance reform. Tell me a little bit about the difference. I want to get it done. What is a great political scandals of our time is amount of Time Congress is spending raising money and not doing their job. Not even in their office. There becauseen of the pressure to raise money. Im focusing in an congressional reform much like you saw five to six years ago, members of congress were trading on inside information. I call this congressional reform because its focusing in on what i think is a scandal within the Congress Just a matter of time members of congress are shirking from doing their day job. I want one package that balances the constitutional privilege of anybody to participate in elections. Reversingat include Citizens United . I think we can do better than what we have now. Citizens united opened the flood of new money. I would like to see how we can drive down the flood of new money in politics. Whether or not the mud of money people should contribute that can include corporations is something we can revisit. , nolan, back to you, you absolutely believe in reversing Citizens United. One of the first things i did after returning from my hiatus was to take a look at the whole process. I came to some conclusions about what i thought had changed since i had served. Introduced a comprehensive piece of legislation almost two years ago now. I called a restored democracy backed. Thats what has unleashed these massive amounts of secret money. Massive amount of money to defend themselves and get their message out. A colleague of mine whose name will go unmentioned was running for reelection in the senate was looking to raise 50,000. And he decided, im not going to do this anymore, its not what im serving for. Also calledslation for the independent reapportionment commission. Competitive. Ll be the 435. I quite frankly would like to see limits and my legislation included that. Limits on campaign spending. Most western democracies had days outthat go 3090 of the year. Another three hertz 55 days per year, every year is that right and something has to change. Its remarkable the number of people who are denied the right to vote in this country and my legislation calls for a ban on members raising money and dialing for dollars. Speaker ryan was talking about that. Congress onof the both sides of the aisle came to washington to make a difference. I got in the transportation committee. They kicked that can down the road 30 sometimes. Ryan, weith speaker came together and we wrote a transportation bill. You can look at each of these items separately. You can put them all together into one. Without regard into Citizens United, that will take some time. Not,er we passed that or we need to stop act so that members of the congress go to washington and go to work on the peoples business and not across the street and dial for dollars. It is a very disruptive and destructive of our whole system. Think you guys have cosponsors. I dont think there is anything in the senate. The question is why . It seems obvious. What are you up against . Can you talk about that a little bit . It seems like there is a disconnect between the Obvious Solutions and the willingness of people. The process as it is tense to be supportive of incumbency. To have someone who sits on the committee that has some jurisdiction over your profession or occupation calling and saying, i sure got a tough election contest and i would like i would like to ask you to consider double taxing for me, twice 700 for the primary and 2700 for the general. Knowing that the leader will ask them for another 100,000. It has been official for incumbency and that is why in many respects it is hard to get some of your colleagues to embrace the notion. Everything has to start somewhere. Negotiating start with the queen on this deal. This is a good start and a good beginning. I have every confidence that it is ultimately going to become the law of the land. The states have often been the experimental area for new ideas and they are passing legislation. Members of the legislature are forbidden to be calling lobbyists for fundraising when the legislators are in session. Its a good beginning and essential to become the law of the land. We got six more cosponsors that i thought we might have. Left bank [laughter] this is a heartbreaking reflection of how little gets done. Its a heartbreaking reflection of where the priorities of congress are. A members political survival depends on raising money. That is the reality. You can see it. Members of Congress Prior to introducing the stock act, which tried to build a coalition of members. One member jumped at it right away. When the persona can do it, im i said im going to take the pledge and that was a hard decision. I said if i dont take the pledge, this is really going to get traction. , all my colleagues including two on the other site of the aisle, be the democratic cosponsors. You dont have to take the pledge. I will tell everybody in the media that you shouldnt take the pledge but you can see the fear in the eyes of what it means for their reelection and political survival. We left the challengers out of this. Initially i said lets have it apply to any candidate out of the sec. Of candidatese are members of congress being involved in the solicitation. Someone pointed out if you create challengers does that create an undue advantage for incumbents. Celeste we left challengers out. We have six more cosponsors that i thought we would. We have seen thousands of people phoning and calling us on social media, stopact and putting it online. Its going to take continued pressure from rick and myself and those in the media who support this idea but its also going to require leadership from our president ial candidate. Where is donald trump on this issue . I want to know. Campaignn his entire on getting washington to work again. We can talk about Citizens United and Campaign Finance reform. Where is donald trump on the stop act . Where is Bernie Sanders on the stop act . It will take that kind of leadership across the country for a Movement Like this but i think we can get it done. Up on theto follow prospect for this legislation. How many cosponsors do you have, how many are democrats and how many are republicans . When she need to be up into the hundreds to get hearings . I think we are at about eight. Two democrats from pennsylvania few we have picked up a since 60 minutes, not just because of 60 minutes but constituencies across the country are beginning to call and write their congressman and thats a kind of pressure that we need. What is required for a hearing . For the leadership to greenlight it. Has alleague mr. Murphy Mental Health bill that has about 200 cosponsors on it. But it is still sitting there. I dont buy the notion that you have to have 100 cosponsors to get a hearing. Were trying to be constructive and saying we are not criticizing our colleagues but we are criticizing the system. I did a press conference in florida, i went to the house floor, i spoke about the stop act several times in the house floor. We solicited cosponsors but it has slowed. Thats where we have tried to bring the spotlight of the media to this so we can have a leadership push or some type of hearing. You said you took the campaignfinance raising over to the Campaign Apparatus. What would that do with fundraising itself. Ould imagine most donors as i said earlier that is the indictment of the current system. Why is it that a member of congress is more effective in soliciting Campaign Contribution and the finance director for the campaign . This really speaks to the heart of significant issues we have when it comes to the campaignfinance construct that governs the elections. It also speaks to the pressure. You are to know the anger that develops, i say quiet anger, but it is a real anger. You get a. Youre told your First Response ability is to raise money but the Staff Culture buys into the same thing. Ive seen clips from other members of congress and their own staff is clearing their schedule and putting call time on it. The staff is feeling the pressure from the same reelection requirements in the same leadership push. 700,000 people in florida. The moment the culture appear says you think you got elected to represent 700,000 people, which actually got elected to be one more marble on our side of the aisle to keep the majority and to do that you have to raise 2 million, that makes members angry. Would go to a question from a. Ournalist not in the room i have two questions or might ask. Why get the public that there is brought support for this idea and the general public. A website. Ed we put all of our Organizational Resources behind this. It simply introduces us to what the stop act does. here is your model d. C. Schedule. 20 hours week and other networking. Heres for you call, heres what you say if they say no, say this, if they say yes say this. We have the stop act. Go on social media, promote this, we are trying to create a movement and were seeing that. When you get a letter from summary and iowa, somebody in a letter from somebody in iowa, somebody in Washington State saying, thank you for doing this. It is remarkable. Areave a website and we trying to encourage people to use social media to get in touch with their members of congress. I entry that we should address campaignfinance but dont make the excuse of we dont need a stop act because it is dark money. It is all those issues, but dont talk about those issues to distract from the merits of the stop act. Thats why weve seen the merits of the American People put a spotlight on this. Is,he second question wouldnt it be simpler to have congressionally financed campaigns . He has worked in this a long time. I would be happy to work on broadbased cut broadbased finance reform. Some talk of Campaign Financing and public credits. There is a group called issue one is begun to work. How can we begin to approach of the a bipartisan bill that protects the Constitutional Rights of individuals to contribute with reasonable regulation. Im a very strong supporter financing in concert with a system of small donations. The congressman from maryland has been one of the leaders on that and that limits on where money can be spent and how it can be spent. Thats ultimately the answer. As Citizens United is out there, its kind of irrelevant. In my judgment, step number one is to reverse Citizens United and step number two is to pass the stop act so they go to work on the peoples business and put in a system of small donations in public financing. Number of states have done it and it seems to work quite well so i think thats where we have to go as a nation. A kind of wanted to pose a question for mr. Nolan. The minnesota eight is going to be one of the most expensive house raises in the country this year. Involvementhow your affects how you are raising the money that you needed to win reelection. I know you said youre not going over to the dietrich see but what other things are you doing. I have not been in the call Centers Across the state, i come to washington and go to work. During when congress is not in session, i spent a considerable much of time raising money. Opponentself funded worth hundreds of millions of dollars who says he will spend whatever it takes to win this election. Contests were among my most expensive in the country. This one looks like it will be the singularly most expensive race in the country and i feel very strongly about the issues that i have been a part of and brought to the Table Including the stop act. Tom for saying i will not call anybody. I have not taken that pledge. Im trying to make sure i have enough money to defend myself. There spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in Television Ads against me as we speak. They ransom ads last week. My staff really. Sawmill. Runs a he peddled papers here. In my staff that only 3 of the people believe that add. Only 3 is the margin of victory in my district. To getto have some money my own ads out there defending myself and getting our message out there. The importance of this act. Seen,e of you may have vanderbilt and virginia did a study on effectiveness in the congress. You are looking at one of the 10 most effective members of the congress. It is not rocket science. But, you just have to show up. There doingare our business so we get things done. It is kind of hard to get anything done when you were across the street dialing for dollars. That is why this is so important. You were talking about the process of doing this. You bring up Bernie Sanders. Is the system rigged . Can you tell us some of the Things Congress will not do because the money does not want it. Senator brown from ohio talk about how they will not do Climate Change legislation because the Koch Brothers have too much money. Do you want to start . It is definitely happening. It is perverted and corrupted the entire Public Policy process. Have you seen an issue that has been more front and center then Immigration Reform . We have not considered Immigration Reform. I have been here for four years now. Is there some reason why the congress cannot consider Immigration Reform . Is there some reason why the congress cannot consider Climate Change . Is it some reason the congress cannot consider use of force resolution which has been the basis of continuing these wars of choice and conflict in the middle east . Is there some reason why even when legislation comes up, the come up on the closed rule were nobody can offer an amendment or you have to go before the rules committee and give two or three amendments a hearing. Week toe through last make sure veterans and Armed Service members had a seat on the integration to Interagency Task force dealing with opioids. For several hundred years, it was not uncommon to have hundreds of amendments. You were not limited to five minutes. You argued them until the debate was exhausted and you had a vote. Of theerribly corrupt political process. There are those interests that are doing just fine in our society. They are quite content with the notus quo and it would like see the Congress Sitting down in a bipartisan way examining alternatives to the way we are doing business, especially the working men and women across the country who are working making less today than 20 years ago. Paying more in many cases for health care and not getting any healthier than they were 20 years ago. Who see themselves, their pensions in danger. Why dont we have a pension reform act considered . I could go want at great length and tell you how many issues the congress is not considering, it is not allowing consideration of as a result of this process that was ignited by Citizens United and that exacerbated the need for the stop act. Jolly i will comment maybe it isly, because i am a Junior Member of congress, i do not know if ive seen the heavy influence in campaigns contribution setting an agenda. I can tell you what you feel at the level of Newer Ventures is a bit of the influence. You see it with the scorecard community. You do see that restrict an agenda often, because of political consequences going against a Scorecard Group is a risk that perhaps the caucus or leadership is not willing to take. I actually think you see a lot of the slowdown for two reasons
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