Transcripts For CSPAN2 Communicators With Representative Ro Khanna 20170227

Cable Television Companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Host and this week on the communicators we want to introduce you to one of the newest members from Silicon Valley. This is representative ro khanna whos a democrat from california. Representative khanna, tell us about your district. Guest its an extraordinary district. Its the heart of Silicon Valley, so you have apple, google, intel, yahoo , cisco, linkedin, tesla all in the district, and its one of the only majority asianamerican districts in the nation. So its one of the most diverse nations. Theres a huge caucasian population, chineseamerican, indianamerican, filipinoamerican, vietnameseamerican, latino, africanamerican be, so its an extraordinary place to represent. Host how would you describe the relationship between Silicon Valley and washington . Guest well, its, its an emerging relationship. I think there is somewhat of a frustration in the valley with the type of bureaucracy in washington, you know . And the valley is defined by a culture where youre not afraid to dream big, to take risk, to fail, to try again. And i think some people look at washington as are very riskaverse and very cautious. And so theres a cultural difference. On the flip side, i think that people in washington have a real sense of our obligation to the nation. And sometimes i think Silicon Valley needs a dose of not just what theyre doing for technology, but what can they do for the country. Host now, how do you instill, as now many a person representing Silicon Valley in washington, how do you bridge that gap . Guest well, i think this election was a wakeup call to a lot of folks saying, yes, theres extraordinary inknow violation innovation, and theres extraordinary Economic Growth, but there are a lot of places that have been left out of that. Men rico more relatety, an economist at berkeley, has talked about how theres a force multiplier. If youre outside 300 metropolitan areas, youre stagnating. One of the things Silicon Valley has to think about is how do we create opportunities across the country and partner with other places . Is there anything you can do and congress can do to make that happen . Guest sure. Lets be very specific and concrete. If you look at apple computers, and people say, well, okay, theyre creating jobs in Silicon Valley, but theyre also creating the iphone and ios, the operating software. Well, theres someone in kentucky who i met who has created a four Month Program to not only educate people, former coal miners and others, on how to use ios software, but guaranteed them a job doing that. And apple says there are probably two million jobs that you could have by understanding basic web design, web creation. You dont have to be a software programmer, you just have to have the basics. So how did they do this in kentucky . They had a grant from the appalachia Economic Development center, and thats a federal program. Congress could support programs like that that arent abstract Training Programs, but concrete, tangible skills that are going to lead to the jobs of the future. Host so, congressman, how can washington best help these companies . I mean, with tangible legislation. Guest i dont think the question should be how should they help the companies, because sometimes apple or googles interests may not be the interests of the average person. I think the question washington should ask is how do we make the jobs of the future accessible to people and how do we create those opportunities. And that involves several things. One, we have to figure out what the credentialing will look like for the jobs that are available. Not everythings going to require a fouryear degree. Im not as concerned about the folks who are getting fouryear degrees or ph. D. S, but what are you doing after high school thats going to get you a credential thats actually going to get you a job . And i think the federal government should be looking to credentials that actually are, relate to employment and having conversations with the private sector and then funding those type of apprenticeship programs. Host funding. Guest funding. Funding but also being creative about it. There is a labor mismatch, i think. There is this misconception by some companies that they just have to go to stanford and mit and hire from a certain elite number of institutions. Thats not the case. You and i know, you grew up in the midwest, i grew up in pennsylvania. There are plenty of creative, bright, brilliant people with great skills who may not go to a fancy university. So on the one hand, companies have to think broader about how theyre going to get their work force. On the other hand, our government needs to think about what type of credentials and skills are going to lead to employment. One example is anyone who understands how to operate on an ios iphone platform or on an an dried Google Android google platform within a few months can get a job. Anyone who understands basic cybersecurity within a year can get a job, you know . Not to be partisan about it, but we had our president elect become a celebrity by a show called the apprentice. Well, we ought to do a lot more apprenticelike programs in the United States when it comes to tech jobs. One point about these tech jobs that are so important, for every one tech job created, theres a multiplier of four or five other jobs. Look at my district. I told you all the company, but only about 20 are actually involved in tech. But, you know, the Tech Industry fuels restaurants, out fuels dry cleaners, it fuels lawyers. It has a bigger Multiplier Effect than manufacturing. Host well, i want to make sure that we get to david mccabe and introduce him as well. Next question from him. You mentioned job training. I think one thing thats interesting that we see is we see often the pace with which suggest con valley Silicon Valley changes work. For example, uber has created this whole new class of drivers, but what happens when Autonomous Vehicles come around . Im wondering how you make sure that if the government is training people or working to train people for these new jobs, how you make sure that that training keeps up with the pace of Silicon Valley. Guest its a great question. And first of all, on the training things, it cant with a promise it cant be a programs without a job. A lot of times people talk about Training Programs and folks say, okay, weve been trained, but we dont have a job. So you have to actually tie training to jobs that exist. Lets think, for example, driverless cars. I think some of the negative terrorist about the job displacement has been overblown. Even if you have Autonomous Cars or trucks, youre not going to displace Truck Drivers. We have most pilots, most airplanes are largely selfoperating. But we still have pilots to maintain the airplane. I wouldnt want to get on a plane that didnt have a pilot on it even though most of the takeoff and landing is automatic. Similarly, youre going to have Truck Drivers Still Necessary if even if a lot of the vehicle is being driven by driverless technology. Be the challenge will be those Truck Drivers are going to now need a slightly different skill, theyre going to need a profish be city and a comfort with technology. Theyre going to need an ability the adapt and change. So the skills that we need to teach are not, okay, youve got to learn java programming or proficiency in a certain, in android technology. The skill we have to give people is a technology proficiency, literacy that will continually continually that will allow them to continually adapt. Host so is a Silicon Valley, can that be created anywhere, or is it pretty unique in your view . Guest i think its pretty unique. I wish we could create more clusters, but there were a lot of things that went into that. There were universities there, there was Venture Capital there, there was huge strategic federal investment there. That doesnt mean that we cant create other innovation clusters and encourage entrepreneurship. Steve case has this Great Program about investing in Venture Capital not just in Silicon Valley, but going across the country to invest in the future entrepreneurs and visionaries. But we dont, we dont need to have Silicon Valley everywhere. Itd probably be a boring country if we had that. I mean, its great that we have different occupations, different cultures. What we to need though is innovation and some jobs of the future accessible to all parts of the country. So they dont all have to be Silicon Valley, but they all need to have some Tech Innovation hubs. And that, i think, is very doable. Host what have you heard from some of your constituents about the incoming or the new administration . Guest well, theres obviously concern, theres concern on, in particular issues of Civil Liberties and civil rights. And, you know, you look at a place like the valley, and it was founded by people who were immigrants. A lot of these companies. Andy grove, elon musk, sergey brin at google, you have a sense that incredible diversity gives us a strength because it gives us alternative risk taking, and so theres a concern that the administration not be too inwardlooking and we still recognize the extraordinary contributions, the extraordinary competitive advantage we have being a nation where everyone from the world aspires to come here. And i think that is one of the biggest things that you hear in the constituency host well, this is a president who still uses twitter on a regular basis guest right. Host uses one of the products that came out of Silicon Valley. Guest sure. Host on a business side, is there concern . Guest well, the question is what is he going to do, right . So my perspective is, okay, we know some companies have trillions of dollars offshore. Its a good idea to figure out how we bring that money back x. The president s talked about that. But the devils in the details. Are we going to bring this money back in a way thats going to help main street or a way thats going to help wall street . If we bring it back and it just goes into stock, cash buybacks as it did in 2004, youre going to have a bump in the stock market, youre not going to really have an expansion of jobs in my district or across the country. If you did it in a way which linked bringing the money back to expanding the payroll, the investment in actual job creation, then i think it would with productive. It would be productive. So i think this is a lot of wait and see what are the actual plans and who is it going to benefit. One of the things hes already done is starting to pull back on u. S. Trade commitments, and you, of course, worked on trade at the department of commerce. Im wondering what you think the effect of his trade policies both the ones hes already committed and the ones hes articulated, will mean. Guest i was not for the tpp. I thought the trade protections to the pharmaceuticals went too far and would have deprived people around the world of potential lifesaving drugs. And we couldly, i think the and secondly, i think the balance of power with the multinational corporations and arbitration went too far. But on a more philosophic level, when we though in this country that there are folks who are anxious about their prospects, about whether their kids are going to have as good a life as they did, our First Priority has to be how do we build our own work force, how do we provide them with opportunity before prioritizing global trade. And so i think that this election showed us that there are a lot of people who are not part of the innovation Economic Growth. And id rather that we focus first on them than focus on trade. A lot of the companies in your district, though, are very committed to global expansion. Apple, of course, has pretty aggressively courted the chinese market. It seems like theyre very close to making a deal on manufacturing smartphones in india. So im wondering how you think that position might jibe with the companies you represent. Guest well, i think theyre also thinking about expanding in the United States. I mean, google has just opened up a data center in oklahoma. Sales force just opened up a huge they bought chase tower near indianapolis, i think in indianapolis, in indiana. Created almost a thousand jobs. These are companies that are also looking for their Strategic Interests and partnering in the u. S. , and even if theyre not directly creating jobs, theyre creating potential App Developers and others who can create jobs in the u. S. So i think as a congressman from who represents in the United States congress, my First Priority has to be how do we provide these opportunities to people in this country. Host how can your Current Committee assignments help you in your work . Guest well, ive been very fortunate to be on the Budge Committee which, of courseing the Budget Committee which, of course, debates the big issues of where economic priorities ought to be. And where i fundamentally disagree with the president is his idea is that if we just had the right tax and trade policy, we could somehow bring these old jobs back. And my view is weve got to think about what the jobs of the future are. And i think its patronizing to say that if youre a coal miner, a steel worker and thank them for building the great country we have, but its patronizing to say that their kids may not aspire to do something in technology or innovation. The question is how are we going to create that opportunity. That requires an investment in apprenticeship, in training, in building these skills. And thats the missing part of the president s agenda of job creation. You cant just solve this by tax and trade policy. Well, the Budget Committee is going to be debating those big issues. And, of course, im on the Armed Services committee where were going to be talking about cybersecurity, and thats going to be a huge issue. Host well, lets get into cybersecurity. Silicon valley, washington and the trump administration, there could be quite a mix of issues in there. Guest right. Well, the first thing is just the job opportunity. I mean, whether youre President Trump or whether youre the republicans in congress or a democrat, we know that there are about 240,000 jobs in cybersecurity that are needed. And we know that we dont have people skilled in those jobs. Merrick College Close to my district in oakland is showing a model where for two years in Training Programs you can get someone certified in cybersecurity and get them a job. You dont have to be a apparently, you dont have to go to mit or stanford. So theres a huge job opportunity by, in cybersecurity. The second thing is weve got to, even if we care about our competitiveness, we cant put all the burden on cybersecurity on private business. Especially small and mediumsized businesses. Right now most of that burden falls on the companies themselves. We need the government to have some sense of how we can protect cybersecurity so that these companies arent having to bear all the burden and cost of protecting their own data. Host is there an unwillingness in Silicon Valley to work with this administration . Guest i dont i wouldnt say that. I think theres a skepticism. Its no secret that a lot of people in Silicon Valley supported the president s opponent. But a lot of them went when the president called to meet with the president , and the question is whats best for the country. Now, there is going to be resistance where people think that the president s policies arent good for innovation, arent good for job creation, arent good for the middle class. But there will the first lens is always going to be what is good for the country, and if the president proposes something thats good for the country, therell be cooperate. Let me give you an example. I was interviewing someone on the Budget Committee yesterday. The president has called for allowing for the importation of drugs from canada, a great view a great policy, in my view. The republican witness was actually opposed to Donald Trumps plan and was, in my judgment, just articulating the pharmaceutical industry perspective. So where the president has a message that i think helps people, certain orally i will support it certainly i will support it, and i hope others from the valley will as well. Host david mccabe, go ahead. Do you think that could expose you potentially to criticism from some of the people that work in your district . Weve seen you say Company Leadership may support the president when Administration Priorities are in line with their own, but there was a story just yesterday about how employees at uber are very anxious about the fact that travis kalanick, their ceo, is working with the president. So im wondering how you balance the interests of the Corporate Leadership in your district, the people who are a part of a lot of the job creation in your district, with the rank and file employees who work there. Guest thats a great question. One, i dont think the Corporate Leadership is behind a lot of the job creation. I think its the little guy, the entrepreneur, the person who works at these companies is driving a lot of the Economic Growth and innovation. I think even the leadership would tell you that, so i think it would be a total irresponsible thing for me to do to think that im going to be representing the tech leadership. Im there to represent the entirety of the district can. On areas where the administration is doing things which i think are fundamentally good for the American People like allowing for the import of prescription drugs, there i think we should find some way of working together. But that doesnt mean that we be a rubber stamp for policies that are just corporate in nature; repatriations a great example. If the administration comes and supports repatriation like they did in 2004 that all the Corporate Leaders want but i think its only going to benefit the Corporate Leaders and isnt going to create jobs for ordinary people, i will be opposed to that. So my lens is going to be does it help the actual people in my district and people in this country, not does it help some elite in particular company. You willing to, weve seen some of your new colleagues in Congress Pressure Tech Companies over issues like diversity or their safety measures, for instance, in the sharing economy. Are you willing to pressure the companies in your district, many of which have supported you in your campaign . Guest well, first of all, i think theres an issue of ethics. I was joking with someone, if a president if i were to do some of the tweets the president did, be disciplined by the house ethics committee. You cant use your office to bully a company into making decisions about where thenar locate or where they should locate or who they should hire. You have to respect that. That said, i will certainly speak out from a policy perspective on things that will help increase diversity, that will help incentivize Tech Companies to pay their fair share of the tax, to not outsource their tax burden, the stand up to them on issues of privacy. So on Net Neutrality, well be a strong voice. So on a policy perspective, i certainly have no problem standing up to tech interests. But grow wont see you wont see me tweeting at Tech Companies saying you need to hire x. I fundamentally think thats actually ethically not right, to be using your position to do that. Would you say, how would you balance the interests of the Tech Companies with the interests of low income people in your district . Income inequality is a huge issue in the bay area. Guest i dont think theres always a conflict. I mean, i came out, im going to be proposing a massive increase in the earned income tax credit because we need to make sure that people who are working, who are right at the poverty line have a sustainable wage. And i dont think that thats going to face massive opposition from the Tech Community. Im going to be sponsoring a walmart tax, that companies that are underpaying their employees should share some of the public cost. You shouldnt be able to, you know, shouldnt bag groceries at walmart and have to be on food stamps to buy groceries. And if walmart or other companies are doing that, they ought to pay for that underpayment. So there are policies that i have that i think the Tech Community would be behind, and if theyre not behind it, so be it. But my first obligation is to the people in the district. Host did you see that recent Facebook Post by a woman named, i believe her name was melissa buyerly calling out the rest of the company, shes a tech executive out in San Francisco guest i missed it. Host saying the rest of the world needs to get on board, and she used some salty language basically saying you need to be more like us in Silicon Valley. Is a discontent between the people in the valley and the rest of the world . Is it a little bit of an isolated place . Guest i think the valley needs to think about, first, whats good for the country and not whats good for the valley. And thats something i tweeted when President Trump won, someone tweeted back saying california should secede from the nation. Ing this is crazy, people died during lincolns administration. I read some poll that 30 of californians are contemplating secession. People have forgotten the extraordinary sacrifices that people in this country made so we can have the freedom, so i can the have the honor to represent my constituency in the halls of congress. No one, no region, no entrepreneur, no company is greater than the United States of america. And the valley needs to think of itself as having our moment for a few years to make a contribution to the United States, not think that somehow were going to be greater than the story of the United States. Host is it valuable for you and your district to have peter thiel close to the president . Guest ing peter thiels an bring. I disagree with anymore an individual. I disagree with him on a lot of things, the gawker lawsuit. I wouldnt say its valuable other than the fact that the district, i think, believes in the Free Expression of ideas, and peter thiels entitled to his world view and articulating his policies, a lot of them which ill disagree with. You know, thats what robust public debate is about, and i dont think we ought to discourage that. Host ajit pai is the new chairman of the fcc. What do you think . Guest right. I tweeted at him, please save Net Neutrality. I mean, thats the big issue. And to me, the open access to the internet is so critical. Especially this past election. I mean, we saw how much an impact internet has on democracy. And if we start to charge for access to the internet, thats going down a very dangerous road, in my view, for fundamental equality and democracy. So i will fight very hard for the principle of Net Neutrality and try to make that case. He hasnt replied to my tweet yet. I congratulated him, and i said, now, whats your vow on Net Neutrality . The likelihood high is that the tom wheeler rules for Net Neutrality are going to go away in some way or at least be severely weakened. Guest right. So if there is a legislative effort to reach a compromise on the principle of Net Neutrality, what should that look like . Guest i think it has to be title ii. I think we have to treat the internet like we do telecommunications, and there needs to be congressional legislation. Now, you could say whats the compromise. I think this is a substantively correct position that you shouldnt have more speech because youre rich, and you can pay for more access and faster lanes on the internet than someone who doesnt have money. We saw the democratizing power of the internet through Sanders Campaign and, frankly, even through some people who supported trump. We dont want to make the internet like broadcast television. So i will continue to take the view of Net Neutrality, and i think in the long run that will be vindicated. So you would not support a legislative compromise that included what they call the bright line rules, no throttling, no blocking, but did not preclude or inhinted guest id have to look at the dedales. Details. I supported the Affordable Care act even though i ultimately think we need medicare for all. So if there was some legislative compromise that i thought advanced the move towards net knew centrality, i may end up neutrality, i may end up supporting it. But certainly, i think the right way to do it is to have congressional legislation on title ii. And, ultimately, we couldnt get that in the obama administration, and thats why the fcc rules are subject to being overturned. We need that congressional action. Do you think that democrats might be more willing to come to the table in congress now that they know theres a threat that it could be spirally rolled back at entirely rolled babbling at the factor cc . Guest sure. I think the democrats are pragmatic. I dont think theyre going to fall on their sword if theres a legitimate compromise. But a lot of times these things sound good, and then when you look back and peel the onion, theyre just giveaways the corporations. So we have to see what the actual details will look like. Host when you meet with some of the Larger Companies in your district that you listed earlier, congressman khanna, whats the number one legislative issue they bring up to you . Guest job creating, skills. They say we can create millions of jobs, we need people to have the skills that will enable them to fill these jobs. I think that, by far, is the number one thing that you hear. Host energy and Commerce Committee is very active on this issue. Your colleague, anna eshoo, has been on this program many times guest shes great. Guest and greg walden. Have you had a chance to meet with him or talk with him about some of the the issues facing your district . Guest i, of course, know anna very well. Shes been a terrific leader. I have not had the chance to meet with greg walden, but i plan on doing so. Host ro khanna is the newest representative from southern california. David mccabe is with an Organization Called axios. Mr. Mccabe, what is ax be ios . A new startup that delivers the news in a way that is efficient, smart and doesnt waste your time. Host and where can people find it . Axios. Com. Host there we go. Thank you very much. Thank you. Guest thank you for having me on. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas cable Television Companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Today the center for strategic and International Studies takes a look at security along the u. S. Southern border and future relations between the u. S. And mexico. Thats live in about 30 minutes at nine eastern here on cspan2. This afternoon the Senate Returns at 12 eastern to resume debate on the nomination of wilbur ross to be commerce secretary. Then at 3 00, republican senator ben saz of nebraska will deliver the annual reading of George Washingtons farewell address. Later, at 7 p. M. , the senate will hold a confirmation vote on the ross nomination followed by ad procedural vote on the nomination of ryan zinke to be interior secretary. Thats all live today here on cspan2. Watch cspan as President Donald Trump delivers his first address to a joint session of congress. This congress is going to be the busiest congress weve had in decades. And following the speech, the democratic response given by former Kentucky Governor steve bashir and your reactions to the president s speech along with comments from members of congress. Live tuesday at 9 p. M. Eastern, and listen live on the free cspan radio app. The American Conservative Union hosted its annual conservative Political Action conference this past week. The event included a conversation between former republican president ial