Good morning, everyone. Thank you for braving the cold. For those of you watching at home, we had a big snowstorm here in d. C. , and it was difficult for a lot of people to get in, and we have a pretty full room considering the circumstances. So welcome to all of you. Thank you to winnie. One of my first jobs in politics was here at the center for American Progress when it was still just a fledgling organization with about i dont even remember at the time. But winnie was my boss here, and it was an honor to work for her. I learned so much from her, so thank you for the introduction and thank you for hosting us here today. So this panel and this conversation is about whats going on in the country. If you take a look currently at whats happening in washington, just last week, theyre having snowball fights on the senate floor debating whether Climate Change actually exists. Theyre trying to figure out what parts of the government to shut down. Its not a serious conversation. And then when you go and you look at whats happening in the country, there is a real fight for middle class and working class families thats going on. If you take a look right now in wisconsin, its sort of ground zero in that, where they call the special election to talk about whether people, secretaries, you know, regular workers can get together to organize themselves to be able to fight for or negotiate for better wages, better workplace environment, that sort of thing. These types of things are happening all over the country. Meanwhile, on our side, we are fighting every day. There is a group of state legislators here that we brought in from around the country that are legislative leaders who are on the front lines of this fight, and theyre fighting every single day for working class and middle class families. If you look at whats happening in nevada, there is an equal pay measure there. In minnesota, there is a package of bills that are protecting workers and advancing things like paid sick days, minimum wage increases, protecting wages. This is happening in all parts of the country, but its something that we dont hear. And so the state Innovation Exchange which was created last year is to help organize and e k÷ work with state legislators on things like those issues, things that matter to everyday americans, things that matter to parents. As a parent, i care about the education that my kid gets. I care that theyll get wages. I care that my daughter is paid equally for the same job as a man when she enters into the work force. Those things matter not only to me, but it matters to other americans. If you take a look, one of the Silver Linings of the midterm elections was that in places like my home state of nebraska, where i grew up, they voted they actively voted for Pete Ricketts whos very conservative for governor, but they also actively voted for a minimum wage increase. The same thing happened in arkansas. They voted against a personhood amendment in south dakota. We are, as progressives, right on the issues. And we want to take that fight and campaign and narrative to the states, which is why the state Innovation Exchange is launching a new campaign focused on middle class and working class families called opportunity works for us. It will be a way for us to work with legislators, to provide them Technical Communications and other supports, to be able to really advance and take this fight into the states and really support all of the work that theyre doing. And thats what were going to talk about today. We have a great group of panelists here from cap as well as some legislators from the state. We also have, as i mentioned, some state legislators here from around the country who i also hope will contribute to the conversation. So let me start by introducing david madlin from the center of American Progress. David is a director of the American Worker project and the managing director of Economic Policy team. Hes written extensively about the economy and american politics on a range of topics including retirement policy, labor unions and workplace standards such as the middle wage. His current work focuses on the importance of the middle class to the economy and democracy, as well as policies to restore the strength of the middle class. And on his right is melissa boteach. Melissa is the Vice President of the program of American Progress. In this capacity she oversees American Progress and analysis as well as the campaign to cut poverty in half in 10 years project. Melissa served as the policy lead on the shriver report, a book and multimedia platform by Maria Shriver and cap about the one in three women living in or on the brink of poverty, and the Public Private and personal solutions to help the nation push back. We also have here Senate Majority leader Loretta Weinberg from new jersey. She serves on the state committee and the government committee. She is a former member on the Senate Congress committee and the Senate Judiciary committee. To her left is representative Jessica Farrar from texas. Representative farrar is currently serving her tenth term as state representative district 148. She was first elected in 1994 at the age of 27. She is the longest serving hispanic member from Harris County in the texas house of representatives. Rep farrar currently serves a as the vice chair to have the judiciary and civil juris Jurisprudence Committee and a member of the state affairs committee. Rep farrar currently serves on the state committee and serves as its chair. Im going to hand it over to david to talk a little bit about whats happening with the American Worker in the states and some ideas that cap has for how to advance this middle class working class agenda in the states. Great. Thanks, nick. Do you want to join us . Yeah, ill be there in a second. Thanks very much for letting me sort of, i think, frame this discussion, because what i want to focus on is why we are talking about the state of the middle class and what we can do about it, so well provide some big picture ideas. The center for American Progress, we have long been focused on strengthening the middle class and weve been doing that for a couple of reasons. First, there are sort of obvious trends where the economy is only working for those at the very top. It is not working for the broad middle. Let me highlight a few indicators of those problems. First, theres the typical income that a typical family is taking home. And right now, that is lower than it was in 1989. Thats two decades of stagnation or decline for most families. At the same time, the cost of basic middle class goods have risen significantly, you know. So we looked at, for example, just over the past decade, we looked at the cost of things like health care, child care, housing, Higher Education for a typical family, and we found that those costs had gone up by 10,000, the same time incomes were stagnant. Thats putting a big squeeze on the middle class. Not surprisingly, debt for the middle class has nearly tripled over the past several decades, so middle class is in quite rough shape. And that matters because not just for people suffering, but really because this is how the economy works. The middle class are the basis for strong growth, and they are the consumers that purchase products that cause business to invest. They are the source of sort of a good democratic base, and right now we have this really fundamental debate about how the economy works. This progressive idea ive been talking about, how the economy grows from the middle out is a stark contrast to what has governed the way the economy has been run for the past three decades, which is this trickledown idea. They make things as easy as possible for the rich, cut their taxes, cut their regulations, and the economy will grow. Weve seen thats been a failure, and we have an alternative weve been pushing and developing, and its proving to be correct. In fact, you have organizations like the International Monetary fund coming out and saying the records of inequality we have are harming the u. S. Economy. So that leads us to this place where people are struggling, its harming our future growth. What can we do about it . Well, cap has spent a lot of time not you know, you might think of most of our work is on federal issues weve also done a lot on the state issues. And recently we put out a report on policies to rebuild the middle class in the states. And im going to highlight some of the main themes of that report. What i also want before i do that, we also this decline ive talked about is not inevitable. These policies were working on matter significantly. And just to highlight that, we recently did this report called the Inclusive Prosperity Commission where we had commissioners from around the world, from england, australia, canada and the u. S. Leading economists and policymakers where this is a growing problem for many countries but not all. All countries face the same challenges of globalization and technology that harm the middle class in some, but some countries have done a great job with their policies and have had wage growth in the past decades. Theyve had a much growing middle class. Australia and canada are sort of prime examples. So better policy makes a big difference. Now, what are those kinds of policies and what can states do . The three main areas, i think, weve been focusing on are raising wages. Raising wages, reducing costs for middle class, and making the tax system more progressive and more efficient. Now, to highlight a little about how to raise wages. Well, the basic ones most people are familiar with are standards like the minimum wage or paid leave, et cetera. But i dont want the conversation to end there because there are a whole host of other things. You think when the government is spending money on government contracts, for example, youll have standards on those to raise wages for those workers, and the government influences lots of jobs that way. You also think about the way we enforce our existing laws. There is a rampant wage theft going on. We can do a better job of enforcing that. We can promote things like profit sharing. So theres a set of policies on wages. Theres also a set of policies on making core middle class goods more afford and accessible, like housing, health care, and you think of, you know debate there. Theres medicaid, that were quite familiar with. Theres making preschool to higher ed more affordable and states are at the center of that debate. But theres still also other things that are not quite on the radar screen but are emerging. For example, a bunch of states are starting to create retirement plans for private Sector Workers who dont have plans. And that will get them into having a good, lowcost plan. And finally on taxes, you know, its really a shame that actually, all states have regressive tax systems, where the poor and middle class pay more of a share of their income than the wealthy. Thats wrong. It doesnt work properly, and we can do significant things to change that. And theres a whole host of policies to talk about there. And so i want to leave with the idea this really matters and there is a lot we can do. Thank you so much. Ill turn it over to you now for some thoughts on new ideas that cap has been talking about and trying to advance in states as well. Sure. A key complement to the middle class agenda is an agenda for economic mobility. For the millions of americans who are inspiring to be in the middle class. So in addition to the jobs and wages and all the important policies that david outlined, were also doing some thinking about how we remove barriers to opportunity for those americans who are struggling on the brink. So there are sort of two areas i want to explore here. One is making sure your zip code doesnt determine your life chances. And the second is thinking about how we remove barriers for the one in three americans who have a criminal record. On the first set of policies, i think its really important to remember that there are millions of americans in high poverty neighborhoods, and both the built environment such as the infrastructure and the schools, but also the social environment, can limit life chances for americans living in those kinds of neighborhoods. At the federal level, there is an initiative called promise zones where local communities can apply for a designation and theyll get more technical assistance, theyre going to get a better chance at getting federal grants, theyre going to get volunteers coming to their communities. So right now theres five federal promise zones and 15 more coming down the pike. Theres no reason states cant have a Similar Initiative considering the amount of both flexible federal funds and state funds that come to their communities. So one of the things were proposing that states think about, for example, is having local communities apply for some kind of designation in a high poverty area where states can leverage resources, federal and state flexible resources, send americorps and vista volunteers to those communities, provide greater mobility for those americans living in the high poverty communities. Its not only in the interest of people in those communities, because when you have a high poverty community, youre limiting both the life chances of individuals but also the Human Capital that can contribute to the states broader economic growth. Thats one area where were looking to explore new and innovative ideas to partner with states across the country, and we think this is generally a bipartisan idea. The second is that one in three americans in this country has some kind of criminal record. This is a barrier to employment, its a barrier to education and training, its a barrier to housing, to good credit, to all kind of things. And so one of the things that were looking at is a suite of policies at the state level. Theres obviously things that local governments can do, state and federal government employers, but states have a lot of policy tools at their disposal. One of the things thats gotten a lot of attention lately is efforts to ban the box, which basically means delaying the point at which employers are considering a persons criminal record so that it can be at a point where theyre already competitive and their resume isnt just thrown in the trash, even though they may be very qualified for the position. Other things were looking at, for example, are subsidized jobs. This is a proposal that, for example, during the recovery act, there were over 30 states who partnered with the private sector to create subsidized jobs for people who were having the hardest time finding work in that economy. And over 250,000 people were put to work in public, private and nonprofit jobs that gave them a foot in the door to the labor market, temporary income and also increased their longterm employment prospects. So people even with criminal records, a subsidized job is a opportunity states can take by creates job for those opportunities. And a new idea cap is pushing something called a clean slate. And that is for those with lowlevel offenses, after ten years with a clean record from time of a arrest, having an automatic expungement mechanism, so that is no longer a barrier to economic mobility and having a second chance. So those are two areas were looking to explore in partnering with state governments. Thank you so much. I want to turn it over now to the legislators who are sort of on the front lines of all this, really trying to push they are on the front lines of all of this, trying to push these ideas in the states and really fighting on behalf of working and middle class families and advancing this type of agenda there. So ill first turn it over to you, senator weinberg, to talk about whats happening in new jersey. Well, theres a lot happening in new jersey. I assume most of you are familiar with our governor. So we have what will i think is a rather progressive legislature, both policies assembly and senate, but an office of governor which, under our constitution, is the most powerful office, as a matter of fact, one of the most powerful offices in the nation. So the interplay between the legislature and the Governors Office becomes very important with the kind of issues that we passed. You mentioned ban the box. Weve passed that in the new jersey legislature, and it is now sitting on the governors desk awaiting what were assuming will happen, which will be a veto. We have had great difficulty with the Minority Party who, for some reason, are terribly reticent, afraid, whatever words you want to use, to override a gubernatorial veto, and in the senate we need three of those votes in order to be able to move things forward. Having said that, we do have a very good family leave policy in the state, which was passed, i think, three or four years ago. We are working now, and it is working its way through the legislature on the sick leave issues guaranteeing sick leave to employees, and particularly those in lower level. We raised the minimum wage, but we did it through a very arduous process because the governor vetoed it. We had to go through a constitutional amendment in order to get it on the ballot. We are not an Initiative Referendum state, so in order to get the minimum wage on the ballot, we had to go through a constitutional amendment, which meant we had to pass it twice in two different legislative sessions, have them veto it each time and get it on the ballot where it was passed overwhelmingly in new jersey. And we did, i think, add a very positive part to it besides the really minimal increase in the minimum wage. We added into it that it is added into the cost of living. We dont have to go back to the legislature each time. It will be automatic increases, some kind of a formula attached to the cost of living. And right now were working on a whole package of bills that run the gamut between giving tax credits to caregivers who are taking care of elderly or children because they are really the backbone and theyre saving the economy a lot of money by keeping their loved ones at home, whatever the issues are. Were working on a package of bills that would allow people time off to go a Parent Teacher conference, that sort of thing. So theres a large package thats kind of going through review and hearing from the advocates. And were almost ready to move the sick leave through both houses. That should happen sometime over the next couple of weeks. So its been an interesting endeavor, and im delighted to participate, and certainly to hear about the growth of six. So there are places that we can reach out and kind of commiserate. Comisserate. We havent even met and we both were nodding at the same time. So i appreciate the opportunity and would be happy for any kind of change that we have. Great, great. I turn it over to representative farrar to talk about youve been the legislator of texas for some time now. Probably have seen all kinds of things happening there. But i think it will be very interesting to hear how it is fighting for middle and working class families in texas. And i know youve been very much on the front lines of that. Well, nick, unfortunately, its becoming increasingly more difficult. I come from a land where the voters pick candidates, and particularly the state leadership and the majorities in both houses, both the house and the senate, on god, guns, gays and abortion. In doing so, they have overlooked their economic situation. However, myself and my colleagues have done a great job, i think, in terms of stopping the worse things from happening, but that has become more and more difficult recently. Our lieutenantn removed something called the twothirds rule which required the senate to have twothirds of an agreement to actually even bring up a bill, so that has been removed. So a lot of people are shaking their heads and wondering, what do we do now . However so what we have been able to do in texas is also pass things sort of incrementally and also be able to communicate with our constituents we use. So our tools are the parliamentary process, the house rules, and we have a lot of expertise on our side on that, to our advantages that the other side also is sort of complacent in their power. And so they dont have theyre not as familiar with that. So weve been able to stop bills on technicalities sometimes, and other methods which i cant disclose here or i would probably be tortured to death. And the other is just taking it to the outside, and i think you all saw around the country what happened in texas the summer before last, the famous wendy davis filibuster. But that was actually the culmination of the use of social media when abortion issues were brought up in a special session at the last minute, and so from tuesday to friday, we were able to bill the capitol. And at one point they had to close the doors because so many people came, the occupancy limit had been exceeded. So these are our tools. But nonetheless, we are we let people know on payday lending. These are economic issues, so we attack. For us it means different things. For us it means instate tuition. We all know the wage someone makes if they dont finish high school, if they do finish high school and if they get a college degree. So we have a significant Hispanic Community and a significant immigrant community, so years back, over a decade ago, we were able to pass a bill that allowed immigrant students to pay instate tuition because they had been here so long they actually qualified. However, they didnt have the legal status to be able to do so. But thats under attack, and people the people in the majority in my state ran and won on the issue of doing away with it. So thats something that frequently comes up for a vote. It has failed it has failed by just a few votes. Im not so sure about our prospects this time. Im now outnumbered. My side is outnumbered 2 to 1. So well see. Also, its difficult to do things bipartisanly in my state because republicans who stick their neck out are targeted in primaries and eliminated very quickly. So we have lost a lot of moderates on the other side. It has just become more and more difficult. Nonetheless, we dont give up. And another economic issue is payday lending, so there are bills proposed to provide more Consumer Protections, more Consumer Protections in insurance policies. These are ways that we might be able to win, and also, more importantly, is being able to stop the bad stuff. Because even though it is so skewed against the consumer and my state, there are interests that want to take it even further. So we can sometimes block some of that as well. Womens health is an issue that affects families as well. We have the highest rate of uninsured in the nation, and this affects when women are sick, it affects the family disproportionately, so we would like to be able to get in and take care of Cervical Cancers and other kinds of things that if caught early, we have good prospects. If delayed, we all know what happens, and we also know the costs to the public in terms of emergency room care. And so, unfortunately, our state leaders got into a fight, a political fight with planned parenthood and did away with the medicaid waiver, which was a 9 to 1 match, we turned that away, and without i can understand that theyve got the power, they can do that, but they failed to put in another system of health care before taking the rug out from under texans. And so in doing so, many clinics were closed, places where women had gone before to get their health care were closed, and so they have slowly tried to restore that and done a state program, which has not even come close to what it used to be. And so, yeah, its nice to come here and meet people who do things for working people that give them a fair chance, and so we will continue to do that. Another way that we have in texas, too, is education funding. We have never actually funded education proactively. Its always been in reaction to a lawsuit that says your system is unconstitutional because it fails to fund the system adequately. And so we are under that again, and there is a pending case, the legislation is in session, we could do something, but we probably will not, and so well find ourselves here again. Heres the thing, though. Texas, our population has just exploded, and we have more people, a lot more people, and the cost of educating these people has become more expensive. So when you talk to leaders at colleges and universities, they say, we have to do a lot more remedial ed. Thats very expensive to do. So were failing to do that. I think also we have to recognize that we have a lot of adult learners as well, and i think our policies need to reach out there, and i think i hope theres movement. Theres certainly bills filed and theres some interest. I hope that in our state well be able to convince enough people. Our state has been a place where progressive things have been able to be done as long as you didnt hold a press conference about it, and heaven forbid, people know we did something good for them and not the other tenants. I was principal of the electorate that i mentioned before. Anyway, i hope to bring back news in the future. Womens health, thats really under a national attack. Same thing happened in new jersey. Our government has a line item veto in the budget. Which i know the president would die for, to be able to get. For the last five years he has taken out this same money for Family Planning centers that would generate a 9 to 1 match, 7. 5 million. We are so opposite texas with the most densely populated state, and youre probably one of the least densely populated state in the nation. We have the highest property taxes. I think if were not number one, were certainly in the top three. But that money has been zeroed out every single year for the last six years. We lost six Family Planning centers over that length of time. There are places that women went for their really, for their family Care Medicine for screening for Breast Cancer or Cervical Cancer or, heaven forbid, we are still debating Birth Control in the year 2015. I cant believe it. I just have to share one story. When we were first fighting to get this money back into the budget, and we appeared before, it was in the assembly before the budget committee, and somebody from planned parenthood gave the testimony. We helped avoid 4,000 unwanted pregnancies in which a member of the new Jersey Assembly in the new millennium said, i am offended for those children who should have been born. I always remembered that since because i thought, im as old as i am, and i am still having a conversation about womens access to Birth Control. If that doesnt wake people up in this country, i dont know what else will, because without that, there is no security. Without the ability of women and their partners to decide when and if they want to have children, you can take the rest of this out. So i feel a little passionate about that. And something i mentality to say earlier our state leaders sent a letter to president obama about the increase in the medicaid caseload. Its great to see people here talking about medical expansion. In texas its impossible, and we have a Million People who fall in that gap. The economic policies were discussing here, because theyre not implemented in my state, that is why our medicaid caseload is growing, and i suspect that to be true across the country. And actually, thats a point i think i want to pick up on, in that i think if youre listening to this conversation, its interesting that there are really great ideas out there, things we can be doing to move middle class and working class families. But then you hear theres actually theres politics happening. Theres realities on the ground and these states on how to actually get those things in action and moved forward. So the thing i think id be interested in and one of the things i think i would be thinking about in the state Innovation Exchange is, how do we start going on the offensive . Not only on trying to get laws passed but moving the narratives for it, because if you take a look, i mean, the reality is that conservatives now control more state Legislature Chambers than they have since the 1900s. There are now only seven states where we have both chambers and a governor to signing things into law. So the realities are really reflective of what these two legislators have been talking about. What id like to hear maybe from you, david, are there some ideas that we can be pushing in state that are resonant across the board . Lets have the debate on womens health. Lets have the debate, really, are you against equal pay . That type of thing. Then id like to hear from the legislators as well. Either you or some of the legislators in the audience about what are some examples that have worked in your states . What has actually passed in states that are progressive, middle class ideas and you were able to bring sort of coalitions along with you. Go ahead, david. Sure. I think there are two big things to your question. There are policies and the Politics Around those policies. The main point to make is that the economic policies we support for struggling middle class are overwhelmingly supported by the public. The public likes these things and they want us to make a big case and fight for it. You can see, i think the minimum wage is the most obvious example, but rampant success. Whenever they go to the voters, they succeed and succeed overwhelmingly. The problem, i think, is that we havent pushed enough of them on a scale where its seen as carrying a whole agenda and carrying a whole legislature along with it, but this is what the people are behind. And i think there is so i think we cant just have these isolated oneoff issue fights where its the minimum wage today. Its a broad sense of things that are needed. There is a whole package we need to do, and so ill start listing them off, but i think the success will come when we are rallying behind a broad sweep that really are seen as affecting peoples lives. For example, so i mentioned enforcement of basic wage standards. Now, this might seem like its a relatively minor problem, but the best evidence is among low wage workers its about maybe 50, 60 of wages that have fallen in the past week. Among the broader middle class, estimates are maybe up to onethird because theyre, for example, classified as an independent contractor. They should be an employee, they should be getting paid. Theres a whole host of things you can do there. You can increase the penalties, you can target your enforcement, you also can have profit sharing. Now, this means that when a company does well, all the workers do well. They get some sort of share of the companys gains. And states actually have done a fair amount in this space. Theres basically the policies to encourage companies to adopt more of this from education to even relatively conservative states, like indiana provide better access to credit for these kinds of companies. And i can go on and on and list a whole bunch of policies, but instead we got a report. I think we need to package a bunch of them together and rally behind them and make it clear whose side were on, that this set of packages is what progressives stand for. The individual policies on their own are popular, but we havent succeeded in rallying behind them. Thats great, yeah. Thats absolutely right, i think. Im curious from the legislators maybe some of you in the audience if there are examples or stories of ways that you were able to do that in states, really tie it to a higher narrative, get something passed that benefited working and middle class families. Thats encouraging. Go ahead. Lets wait for the microphone. If you can stand up, too. Good morning, state senator jesse barry from colorado, caucus for the senate there. Last year worked on an initiative that received broad bipartisan support in both chambers and it was actually building the narrative of middle class families that were exacted by wage theft. I think the wage theft was families who were very low income folks who may do day labor work. When we Start Talking about the issues of not receiving overtime pay, being forced to work hours and not being compensated, it was a narrative that resonated for so many middle class families. If youre a Grocery Store worker, someone who works in a big box retailer or someone who works in an office downtown, so we were actually looking at the middle class broadly at the entire middle class and saying how are we not earning the wages because of no wage growth but how are we seeing our wages cut on the bottom end as well. And adjudicate wage theft claims. And it passed with broad support in the senate and the house, because it was a different narrative of one class of people. All groups were impacted by this ig big issue. Having no recourse to actually get them back. Thats one example where it was the broader middle class narrative that helped us to win over republicans in both chambers. Thats great. And speaking of this higher narrative thats part of what the state exchanges new campaign is. Its called opportunity works for us. But in each state this opportunity works for taxes and really tying in this great work that people are trying to push forward in advance in states to this higher narrative and partnering with great organizations like c. A. P. , you know, the hill were going to be doing a series of town Hall Meetings across the country with congressional progressive caucus members to hear from working class and middle class families in the country on, you know, what are some solutions, whats going on, what are some solutions . And today were going to the white house to the Obama Administration and white house officials there about this, as well. It really is an effort to organize and move the progressive infrastructure towards this common narrative and frame to support these legislators that are working hard in their state. Go ahead. I like that idea, to be organized in a group of town Hall Meetings with federal legislators, perhaps adding in partnership with state legislators. Absolutely. They are a valuable tool. Our governor has used that valuable tool to propel himself to thinking that he thinks that hes actually going to become a president ial nominee. But the town halls can be excellent because if people come and really feel comfortable speaking, and the press covers it and social media covers it youre building the grass roots to help move things forward, as you said in colorado. You know, i posted on my own facebook that i was coming down here and just titled it something about time to Pay Attention to the middle class, and i got lots of comments, including, is there a middle class left . Was a theme that ran through. And as we talk about the income inequality thats going on in this country, and certainly in our state, and i would assume in yours, too, thats something that we need to keep talking about. You said something a little earlier about people not even knowing their own what really is economically good for them. And we have to keep on getting those issues out there. Through social media, through emails. Through twitters and tweets and whatever all these things ive actually learned. My staff will not teach me how to do my own tweets. Theyve kept that unto themselves to be useful, i guess. 3wv i think the town hall is also important because it gets that there needs to be a grassroots push in addition to whats happening in the state legislature. You see fast food workers striking. You see home care Workers Organizing and thats creating the political and public will, and the space for some of these conversations to rise up to the state and to the national level. And the other place the other thing you get out of town halls and meetings such as that is real peoples stories and voices. And i think, too often you know, low and middle class voices are left out of our policy conversations. We dont consult those folks when we make policy the same way we make business and consult policy. So to find places for not just the National Economic narrative, which is critical but for the micronarrative, the personal story that puts a face an experience on paid sick days and the need for prek, which we havent touched on but another huge middle class and antipoverty policy. I think thats a really important element of the fight. Lets open up for questions, or comments from other legislators, as well. Senate minority leader in michigan. I come from a state thats overwhelmingly blue, but the governor and the legislature are controlled by republicans in pretty big majorities. And weve had some examples, and to your point, first, too, nick, one of the things i think we need to do is weve allowed conservatives to set the narrative and we responded to them as opposed to being proud of the values which have, which are much more popular with the public and really lead with those. Even if it takes awhile to get them passed just keep talking about them, as opposed to referring to their narrative. But some examples we had in michigan, and referenced before, we passed Medicaid Expansion, and got it signed by the governor. Seen Great Success with that. And we passed a minimum wage increase through two republican legislatures and signed by the governor because what we did was we built grassroots support. We started the Ballot Initiative and they were scared of potential of it being higher. But for the first time in michigan we actually got it c. O. L. A. Attached to it. So its going to increase and continue to increase. So what we did was working with grass roots, talking about this issue, really making sure people understood why we were pushing for this, and it forced folks supported minimum wage because they didnt want a higher one, so its not exactly what we wanted. But you know, thats how we were successful in michigan, two examples, helping michigan, which was our Medicaid Expansion and minimum wage. So, i think weve had some success because those issues are just so popular with the public. Sort of chiming in on that. I think, you know, more focused on strengthening and growing the middle class and making sure the economy works for everyone, not just the wealthy few, we really have, you know, as i highlighted in the beginning, both fundamentally economically important to be highlighting these things for peoples lives but also for the future of our country. Theyre also politically successful and political winners. And because just some one piece of evidence of that is several years ago, if you look at the republican rhetoric on inequality and wage stagnation they denied this was happening. They denied the middle class was going away. It was shocking. But like all the evidence, you look at all the government data, all the independent studies all shows the same thing. Real problem. And they were denying. But now in the past couple of months all of their rhetoric has changed and inequality is a problem, wage stagnation is a problem. Their policies have not changed. But the fact that they are starting to even acknowledge this is, i think, proof of the power of people focusing on our issues and we will now get our policies, and win on our policies. Thats a really strong, good point. Lets open it up for questions from the audience. Yeah, hi, i just really enjoying this. I just have a question. It just seems to me, you know, im trying to what she said, you know, about people voting on abortion and gays and it seems to me that the other side, its way ahead in the use of committed science and branding, moral branding, and i think there are theres just efforts have been increasing on that. So i think if you ask a lot of people what is freedom, what what do you think is freedom . What would republicans stand, what do democrats stand for . I think youre going to see theres a lack of moral branding, you know, and so i wonder, you know, to what extent, you know, i mean i think that you know, hearing the panel theres always this, thinking that we need to do more, we need to appeal intellectually. We need to give them the facts. We need to, you know, we need to tell them the deception on the other side. Theres all this, you know, and what were missing, you know, is that is, is that this coming out of science, 95 of human reasoning is unconscious. We are spending all this efforts focusing that 5 of conscious thinking intellectually, appealing and all that. The other side is going at that 95 . So, my question is, you know, i think were in a moral ditch, you know, and i think because partly because of lack of awareness on our side. You know, the linguist from university of california has been talking about this. There are other authors out there, drew weston, jim wallace, you know, other people, you know, when are when are we going to, you know, change our way of thinking, you know, and way of communicating, you know, so that the American People understand what we stand for, and and what freedom really is. I can give a Quick Response to this. I think there is something about the values stand behind, we need to do a better job articulating them. The idea that hard work should pay, its hard to have more of a moral value and moral statement than that. I think what we need to do, you know, we dont need to overcomplicate it with things. We actually need to have fights on these issues. We need to make the fights on our issues. Not on just being defensive, and reacting to their agenda. And i think we see, you know, seek too much ground, and claim that its other issues that are distracting people from core economic issues. If we have an agenda, its popular, move on it, run on it, thats successful. Instead of ignoring, and not having the right kind of fight. This is the central issue. Are we going to have a middle class . Are we going to have a growing economy . Or are we going to have an economy that only works for those at the very top . And we can reverse the fundamental trends of decline in the middle class and we can strengthen our economy, and we have an agenda to do that. Thats a winning message. Also to piggyback on what youre saying a lot of times these bills would go nowhere in our legislature. Youre lucky if you get a hearing right at the end. Of course its not going to go anywhere. But there is a tool that we have used before and i would encourage other legislators that are here, when you file the bill, have a press conference about it. And so you may not be able to win internally, but externally you can score some informational points out there with the public. And so, its been a tool weve used. My name is cynthia gerald im the federal policy director for a Faithbased Community organizing group. I believe that Structural Racism is behind a good bit of the policies, the bad policies that we see in our states. And im wondering how you are explicitly or implicitly addressing that through the policies, and the legislation that youre that are being pushed out into the states . Legislation that are being pushed out into the states . One of the ways that we tackle that is to speak to i mean, both of them, you need the call it out in some ways. Not only our are our Racial Disparity thes a moral problem but its also an economic problem. Wevere going to be a country where communities of color make up the majority of our population. And were already getting there with the work force. We can put our heads in the sand, but this is a moral and economic imperative, starting with education and fair wages. These are all things where the more we close Racial Disparityings, the better we all do as a country. We put in a book not two years ago that laid out the case for this that came with a big poll that showed that the American People are largely on that line of reasoning. They understand that this is an important suite of policies not just for communities of color, but foreverybody. And the more we stand together on this, the better were e eel all do. I want to explore the conversation that just happened with the gentleman and david. I dont think youre saying different things. The dnc did polling a few years ago that showed that the public really does agree with us on these issues. And many of the policies that david is talking about, but many times, the communication is off. Thats why i believe the suite of policies that david is talking about is really something we need to figure out how to get behind. But the way in which we communicate that has been a problem for precisely the reasons that the gentleman has stated. And that, there are all of these things that are involved in terms of people making decisions about what affects them, making decisions based on morality where we had voters that agree with us on 80 of the issues but because of the thing that they centralized, that they will make a decision on that smaller part of the equation. And, so, and i find when we are on the floor and our colleagues are on the other side may talk about faith, when we dont address that at all, that person who holds that so sacred only really has one choice. But there are faith arguments for our policies that we often failed to make. There are economic policies in the benefit of business for some of the economic policies that we make and sometimes we dont make those connections. So i think that goes to the cognitive aspect of that. And ill just give you a policy example. We failed to stand out and ask that before because so many of us are in the mile noerty. Its hard to give progressive stuffer passed. This isnt stuff thats es pass which was the tax shifting, right . Its posed as tax cutted. But when you get into the details, weve cut income tax for the wealthy and raised taxes in other places. Thats been going on for 25 years and been been getting away with us. Do that with a suite of policies that i believe we could be a lot more successful than future judges wanted to throw that into the debate. Thats a good point. One other point i want to make, too, talking about, you know, how we talk about things. I think, often theres a lot of polling that goes on. Theres a lot of focus groups. Theres you will of that stuff. And then we decide all right this is specifically how were going to talk about it to everybody. I think its important that we let the middle class know exactly what that means. That means in txz, if you pay 80 for a refrigerator and you make 30,000 thats the sales tax on it for a thousand doll already refrigerator versus someone whos making 300,000. 80 is nothing. I think thats implicitly unfair. I just dont know that theres enough knowledge about tax policy. And so thats where i think this conversation is going. That when i was arguing about having sort of an agenda and getting behind that i was not dismissing the values behind them. I actually said i think these are values. And, to articulate the values because the numbers get confusing, but the value of whos side are you on and making that clear. And i think thats what a broad agenda does. And it enables all of the language about values and choices because, you know, its really and so i just i was i agree i was not seeding the moral of territory. I think we need to own the moral territory and a broad agenda around strengthening and growing in the middle class and allowing us to do that. And you know, to what we said in terms of the faithbased kplunties. For me, when we have Committee Hearings on some of these kinds of issues if we hear from ministers and other members of the clergy, rabbleis it adds a certain acceptance, even on the part of the more conservative members who are sitting on the committee. Theres a National Group thats very active in new jersey. The narctional council of jewish women. When they come forward people look on them with some respect. They deent realize that theyre pretty aggressive in their own right. So its important. And, you know, if were ever in so and so gets up or rabbi gets up to talk about these kinds of issues and the moral values at Committee Hearings, that adds a level of its okay. Talking to your point. I used to work in faith community. And we did a lot of interfaith organizing to that end. And to be able to say a bassic premise like if you work hard, you shouldnt live in poverty or we shouldnt track people in poverty that last for generations. These are value statements that i think can stem from a faith perspective. But are also broadly shared universal values that speak to people that stem from them that have all kinds of economic rationale. But i think you get at peoples guts as to what they understand is fair. Good morning. Im im im representative Marty Anderson from iowa. We meet all of yours pretty regularly. Yeah ours has been there quiet often. In our caucus, weve started doing some very simple things. Every morning theres a prayer in our chamber. And so were bringing in different people to bray. Im bringing in two nuns who live in my district who were on the nuns on the buss tour. So thats one way to do that, to counter some of the ministers who, frankly, be e by a lot of people, being very specific about their faith. The other thing we started doing is woe call it moral monday iowa. And i believe it started in one of the carolinas. With the naacp. But we just stole the idea. And so every monday, at noon, before we gavel in at 1 00, we have a gathering that draws a lot of press and a lot of a lot of advocates. And we talk about an issue that were not getting any legs on. So weve had moral monday iowas on date rape. Weve had moral monday iowas on disparities in education and prisons. Weve had moral monday iowa on education spending. And next week, were having it on womens health. We get a lot of press coverage for it. Thank you. Senator winfield from connecticut. I wanted to go back to the point about how we talk about things. So last year we did the minimum wage increase after the president talked about it. That was the traditional way that we do things. How we had a bus come out, how we brought out all the people who might be affected by minimum wage, the year, two years before i had gone to progressive states, we were talking about the trust act. And how we could get it passed in the state. We hadnt really done that and i suggested how we go back to connecticut and work on it and try to get it passed. What is the trust act . The trust act deals with the security communities issue, weve talked about in the past, and how the state interacts with i. C. E. On i. C. E. Detainers and whether or not it responds in a way that i. C. E. Would like it to. So when i went back to soi connecticut, traditionally this issue was talked about by either the leadership which doesnt look like the community that were talking about. Or, its dealt with by us sending out information thats all correct. Or they pick a latino legislator to talk about it. But when i was thinking about it, i disagreed to some degree with tip oneill about what politics is. I think politics is all about identity, not where you come from. Where you come from is part of it. So i thought about the fact that normally when you have that kind of an issue, theres a gap between the africanamerican, and latino communities, sometimes they see us as giving them things, such as college tuition, and all of those things, right . So theres a gap. So being one of the people who came back to deal with the issue, i thought about how do you get them, the africanamerican community, to be a part of this discussion. What i talked about was when i was a child, an experience i had with police. It wasnt a pleasant experience. And that experience was one where i to this day do not take out my trash without having an i. D. In my pocket. And then i related that back to what those people who were talking about in the trust act would feel. And what it did was it changed the conversation. So i think when were thinking about how we communicate we also think about who is communicating. And not always have the leadership which generally does not look like the person standing before you right now. Because, they cant tell those stories. And i think that will have some impact on whether or not we can move those progressive policies, because, the communities that i represent are a lot of what were talking about anyway. So i just wanted to put that point out. Thats a very good point. That is an important point, because, progressives we are a big tent. You know, when we talk about morals and values, lets also talk about including, you know, people of faith from islam, and hindu, and all of those things. We are a big tent, expand and make sure that those values are also interconnected into everything theyre all similar. Even when were talking about its easy to talk about immigration reform. Its easy to talk about black, brown issues and other things. You know, but you need to have the voice of the people who are affected as part of those conversations, as well. So i appreciate that point. And i think it also speaks to, again, the power of personal. Weve seen in the antipoverty Community Conservatives do Something Like a Lottery Winner getting food stamps in one state to further an agenda to put access limits so theres millions of people who want to build statements because of one isolated incident. And so i think theres a need to to give voice to the millions of people who are actually using whether its social services or need a minimum wage or need paid sick days but define platforms for the real stories to get out there and to leverage them for activism. So i think thats a very important point more broadly. Can i also chime in on this . And i think this gets back to the values question, and to the point i was trying to make. I think its a vote and point because having the identity recognized, and is i think critically important but i also think we need to have everyone be able to see themselves in the conversation. And i think thats where the arguments about the economy really come into play. Its not you mentioned the minimum wage. And i think the minimum wage for example for years, the focus had been, this is fair. This is fair. Well, yes, but also, it is good for our economy to raise the minimum wage. And the reason is, because you have more consumers. You put more money in peoples pockets. If you dont do that, youve got the stagnant economy where no business and thats i think the broader story about why all of the policies matter in addition to the identity and the values, they have a broader effect on the economy, and they reflect how the economy actually works. It does not work from rich job creators making things better for us. It comes from the strong and growing middle class, making it function for everyone. And i think when we make those values, fairness, identity, connected with the larger economy story, we have the right mix. Yes. Well its a good start to wrapping this up. Its been an incredible conversation, i can talk about it. I think we all can talk about this all day. Hopefully one of the takeaways that people get from this is that things are happening in the states. This is where the action is. This is where the fight is for the soul of the country, for middle class, working class issues. And it really is, you know, sort of this corporate frame versus the peoples frame. And you know, groups like c. A. P. , and others, are taking it now. Are taking it to the states and really supporting this work. And i hope people watching on television, people here in this room, organize ourselves to be able to fight for these issues that matter to all of us in our own backyards. So, thank you for the conversation. Thank you for your stories. Thank you for your questions. And we look forward to carrying on this conversation moving forward. Thank you. [ applause ] on the next washington journal, a look at the latest unemployment figures with Bloomberg News reporter michelle janrisco. William yourmanis on 21st serve ri policing with eugene odonnell. Washington journal live each morning at 7 00 eastern on cspan. Here are some of our featured programs this weekend on the cspan networks