Bipartisanship in politics. This form is hosted by Georgetown University and took place on capitol hill. Its just under an hour. Hello. We are at georgetown. The way you can tell you are at a catholic meeting is there is no one in the front row, and the audiovisuals never work. Thank you all for coming very much. We are delighted that you are with us. My name is john carr and i am director of the initiative on catholic social thought and public life at Georgetown University. We are the host of this. We are very grateful to the Chaplains Office for their help , and karen, and our friends at the Democracy Fund who support our efforts on civil dialogue at a time when that is more important than ever. We do a bunch of stuff, we do large dialogue, of a georgetown and i will mention a couple of those at the end. Probably the most important thing we do is reach out to Young Leaders here in washington. Its my experience, im very old, as i am told by my children all the time, but my experience is a lot of Young Leaders come to washington full of ideals and many of them motivated by their faith. They get pulled into the wars, and the great temptation in washington is not corruption, i dont think, it is cynicism. Now, especially, we wanted to hold up a different vision and different kind of leadership. So here we are, the day before the state of the union, which is as close as you get to american liturgy. I am catholic, there is an entrance procession, they stand, they said, they dont kneel, but they are tempted. There is ritual clapping and sometimes booming. Sometimes booing my memories of the House Chamber are not about the state of the union. They are when pope francis was here a couple of years ago and i had the privilege of being in the chamber. Ive never seen it that quiet. Ive never seen people that happy, frankly. It seems like the only thing they could agree on was they wanted to see the pope. He had a different message. He said each son or daughter of a given country has a mission of personal and social responsibility. Your responsibility as a member of congress, and i would suggest that people who work with congress is to enable this country by your legislative activity to grow as a nation. You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens, the tireless end of any pursuit of the common for this is the chief aim of all politics. Thats not where we are today. Today we gather for an hour to hear from three leaders who have a different vision. They are not your typical partisans. We have an africanamerican senator who is a republican, who challenged a republican president for his response to charlottesville and what he said about african nations. We have a member of the house who is a business person who is running for president , to take on bipartisanship at a time of great partisanship, and to lead a software glad to have congresswoman tingle who has served all her life as an advocate for the Auto Industry and autoworkers and now for michigan. But before and after she was in the house, she was a bridge builder. As you know, she comes from michigan, the 12 district. In the bio i read, it said shaped by her catholic education. She works for Human Dignity for children and women. She was a graduate of georgetown, two degrees. Put this on the extra credit. Things i was thinking about these three members struck me is for them, the personal is political and the political is personal. Youink was just recently had joe kennedy in your district to talk to High School Students about the opioid crisis, and there were a lot of experts. Congresswoman dingle was a different kind of expert and talked about her own family, her father, her sister mary grace come and she said i hope what happened to our family will not happen to your family. My brother wrote a book about addiction. The other thing i read and loved about congresswoman dingle is she offers an annual holiday greeting called the dingle jingle. This is the to closing verses of this years jingle. In the congress we will keep on fighting, maybe we can keep on maybe we can find some Common Ground. How that funding chip and fixing daca before we take those jet planes out of town . The matter whats pursued, no matter if red or blue, lets keep taking a stand, lets work handinhand. Iscongresswoman dingle hardworking, one of the most hardworking members of the house. A bridge building and apparently a rhyming member of congress. Her, howestions we ask can you be both principled and civil in a time of Great Division . What are the behaviors and actions that help and hurt and what advice would she have for Young Leaders who are trying to choose politics as a vocation . So thank you very much, congresswoman. Ive been losing my voice for , which i can make a joke and say republicans are happy, but its not the right thing to say as we were standing here today. Thank you for that kind introduction, and the tingle jingle started with my husband long ago, so im just trying to keep up the him years later. A sort of laugh when you talk about father, its good to be here with you, i am always in the last few, i never go closer. But it is good to be with all of you and talk about a subject thats very passionate for me, long before i ever got in congress. , iecommend to all of you went back to georgetown in the i90s and got my masters and lobbied for the Doctoral Program , an Excellent Program for everybody that wants to keep learning and studying and some dam want to get my doctorate from that program. We were the two that lobbied for that program for decades and it finally came in, and i think life should be about lifelong learning. Thesistingly, my masters was on civility in congress. Is the subject that in the 1990s this is all coming right to my heart. Its been a crazy day and i did not even look at the questions, which i should have, but youre really getting this straight from me. In the 1990s i began to worry about what we were witnessing and i think there is a real problem that people dont get to know each other. I say im not old, but i am seasoned. Most of you are many of you may know my husband is a great man, john dingell, and i married him when i was a child, but weve been married for 38 years. , when it him in 1980 was a very Different Congress and a very different time. There was actually a headline that said i was going to work. I cap my career at general motors. Members did not go home, they lived here. The families lived here. People had relationships. I watched things change, i was part of watching it change. Any member by the 1990s it didnt go home every weekend or two weekends out of the month is going to lose their election. I cannot remember what year this was, but they briefed spouses when they would get here and people keep telling me i have to move here, but do i have to move here . Can tell you what to do. Every district is different, every marriage, every relationship is different. You took the guilt away from me for not moving here. Its really a complicated time, but in the 1990s is when you begin to see that people by the early 2000s, and i love newt gingrich, actually, i dont agree with him on much, but he and marion were very close friends. I think a lot of things he did in the mid1990s contributed to what has been somewhat of a loss of stability, but republicans trusted me enough that we actually organized bipartisan retreats. I worked very hard to keep them from being political. I wasnt always successful, but tried hard. We talked about a lot of issues back then and the lack of relationships. Everybody loved those weekends because you got to know people that you would never get to know otherwise. I have been here for three years and i have nothing on my ethics what im doing isnt necessarily the right thing to do, either. Code elsewhere away that you travel with people and got to know people. What has happened is that. Embers fly in on mondays i did not realize we didnt have votes on wednesday morning. We come in just in time for votes. Tonightfundraisers and up at eight receptions. Tomorrow night i think there are 15, and im out of here on wednesday. That doesnt give you a lot of time. In the 1980s and 90s we would go to dinners, sit around the table, you talk about ideas. I had a really great conversation with a head of homeland security. Nobody would believe the discussion i had with the secretary of labor yesterday, but those opportunities are not there for people to just sit and talk. Is i dont know where you all were, where you come from, but get to know each other. The first bit of advice i would say is lose the electronics. Pick up the phone and talk to people. Every talk i give to high school or two college or graduation speech. Noto too much texting and enough just talking to someone and really having a dialogue. You get a lot more out of a dialogue. I have many friends on both , and theree aisle are days i feel more comfortable on their republicans out of of the house than the democratic side. Most people dont know this but i was republican when i married my husband. I was a teenage republican camp friends, and have many mintz abraham was actually my date for my high school prom. We had relationships that go with that. Maybe one or two of you remember who will millikan was, but he was a republican moderate. He was actually probably more liberal than many democrats, and i am a dingle democrat. They both reached across the aisle. Broyhill was ranking minority on energy and commerce. People thought his first name was dingle. But brown remains to this day one of John Dingells best friends. Fred upton is one of my best friends. We went to lansing to be there with the governor. Fred and i probably agree on more than we disagree on. Fred is that theyre working immigration right now and trying to find a solution. What you have to do is go talk to people. Youve got to go have a conversation. John moolenaar is another ishigan member whose office right across from mine. He is very conservative, and we do many of the Prayer Breakfast things together. About healthng care and daca. I thought i was going to die of shock, when he settlement on a Television Program he would not vote for another budget extension without daca in it. I think that too many times, people think we are in the middle of a war of words, and these are real peoples lives we are talking about. David brett from the Freedom Caucus is one of my dearest friends. Arent you worried about this or that . Youre not going to find Common Ground if you dont sit down and talk to people. We can respectfully disagree. News over the holiday when i said i would work with President Trump on an infrastructure bill. This country is not only broken bridges and roads that are in terrible disrepair and potholes. I just got another flat tire because of the potholes. Flint is far from the only city across the country, and every area of the country deserves to have broadband. My job was to represent the working men and women of my and they need me there. John delaney just walked in and he is even more articulate than i am on some of these issues. I will work with him on any issues that benefit the people of my district. If he does something i disagree ithat is morally wrong, represent the Largest Group of muslims in this country. I tell you something, i am a catholic girl, and im very proud of my catholic roots. The nuns have put in me the backbone and the value i went to boarding school in fifth grade. I was catholic educator from preschool through and im still being educated. I did not think it this age would be defending freedom of religion, which is a pillar of our constitution. We put together in a day and a half the young people call me and said we want to do a protest at the airport. Another friend of mine said we will help you guys. We had 20,000 people in a day. And the airport cooperated with us. They let me get up in a package carrier and talk to them, and they said we get them to go home so we can reopen the airport . Iople came together because called ahead of the airport and sent these kids want to organize this. What happened spontaneously was people from all walks of life you cannot believe this crowd. It was people from all over the state and people from all walks of life. Because we did it in a way that respected each other. ,o i know what my values are and when the president is wrong, i tell him to his face. But if theres something thats going to help working many women , people that need a hand up and not a handout, im going to work with everybody and anybody. Im working with him on the opioid drug crisis. I will let john delaney takeover with his wisdom, but i would say you get to know people, dont be afraid of conversations. Find Common Ground, respect each other, and lose the electronics. Thank you very much. [applause] come on up, john. That was terrific. Those nuns taught you well, debbie, they always do. John delaney, as you know, is a congressman from maryland. You may not know he comes from a bluecollar family in new jersey. He went to school on a scholarship from his dads union and the lines or rotary club, i think. He represents one of the most gerrymandered districts in the country. He is not your typical politician. He is working against gerrymandering. He is offered a piece of legislation to open up our election. I will tell you something surprising about john, it is not that he is the first democrat to announce for president this time around. It is not that he would be the first member of the house to serve as president in a long ceo, is that he is the only of a publicly held company that serves in the house of representatives. He is a democrat who is a businessman, a successful businessman. He was onto burner of the year according entrepreneur of the year according to ernst young. He was one of the worlds 50 greatest leaders according to fortune. They must have really good scouts in washington. Universitygeorgetown and a lesson for all of you, he and his wife, april, have reinvested back in Georgetown University in Public Service, education and internships and experience there. He has been a member of the board of georgetown. His parish, a great supporter of catholic charities. Is most known, i suppose, for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. A lot of people talk about infrastructure, john is actually done something. Ive had a chance to meet and have a meal with john. People make fun of the fact that he has announced for president. One of the headlines was, what is john delaney thinking . He answered very directly in the pages of the washington post. The American People are far greater than the sum of our Political Parties. Its time to rise among our broken politics and renew the spirit that enabled us to achieve the impossible. That is why i am running. The other thing i read, and i dont know how i came across it, but it was a statement about his father, after his fathers death. It was a long, wonderful tribute about this electrician in his pickup truck, two kids and his mom and his grandchildren. At the very end, he said, as i look back at my life, i realize that my dad taught me something utterly invaluable. He told me to work hard, to never back down, to stand up for your friends, and most importantly, to take care of, protect, and love your family. In his world, it can you judge yourself. ,hats not a bad message for us for a member of the house, or even for a president , so im delighted that john delaney is going to address us. [applause] its really great to be with you. That was very moving, thank you very much. See everyone. A lot of friends from georgetown. I do concur that one of the best thing certainly in my life was going to georgetown, because i met my wife there, as i think was mentioned, and totally changed my life. It has been an Amazing Community for me. I went to law school, i didnt go to undergrad. I graduated in 1988, before some of you were born. It has been an Amazing Community for me. Its always good to have a good jesuit in the room. For 30 years it has been an Amazing Community, and i have not only at my education in georgetown but from my engagement with the community. One of the things i do not quite appreciate even fully when i was in law school, but i begin to appreciate more with my involvement in the university is a great jesuit motto that we should be women and men for others. I think it is a very simple and straightforward way to live our lives. It is definitely a good way to live our lives, and ive tried to do that as best i can with my life and certainly with my time in service in congress of the United States, which is an amazing privilege. I do think as we look to the future, the central question facing this nation, more so than any particular visa policy is how do we begin to unify a terribly divided and fractured nation, which is what we find ourselves living in right now. What has happened to politics decades, wevel always had partisan politics in this country, and partisan politics actually leads to a healthy debate around the issues. So as George Washington discussed extensively in his farewell address, he warned about the dangers of hyper partisan politics. Importancedged the of partisan politics, but where we have evolved to is hardedged , putting party ahead of country form of politics that we find ourselves in, in my judgment is just terribly destructive to who we are as a country. It really puts the question, one of the great assets of this nation which is our resiliency, our ability to respond and unify as a people, to respond to great challenges and opportunities. But then people have always marveled about the United States of america from other parts of the world is this resiliency, our ability to snap back really quickly, even if we make a mistake. I think that is really in question right now because of how divided the country is. Ts tearing families apart how many of you know families that stop talk