Transcripts For CSPAN2 Axios Discussion On Bipartisanship 20171030

Thank you very much for joining us. Thank thank you foundation from making this possible, bringing some california vibe from my native state on socal, northern cal, but were very happy to have them here. For those of you for joining us electronically, the axios evinced ines pulled off a bipartisan breakfast. Theres not a lot of meals in d. C. That a bipartisan but we have french toast roles that have cream cheese with raspberry dipping sauce and someone was telling me i should call it freedom toast. Take your pick whether its french toast or freedom toast and then the overnight oats are layered strawberries and blueberries, just like i make at home. Also red and blue. Thats the bipartisan breakfast, and we appreciate those here who made it possible. If you hop on axios. Com, remote mobile site the axios stream, every story, we call it smart brevity. The big idea of axios is to make people smarter faster but most important topics of the time so you can make better decisions. Our events are a manifestation of that. So today with a fantastic conversation about whats practical and what we should be shooting for among the party wars in d. C. And with a bunch of frontline players are going to take us behind the scenes of that. Im going to set the stage with a colleague from axios who has been such a great part of our first nine months who worked on the business side of cnn, excuse me, the business side of political and the New York Times can work on the editorial side of cnn and the washington post. Has a very unusual perspective, 360 perspective on media trends, does a great, great media trends newsletter, love to welcome my color, our media trends subject Matter Expert sara fischer. Good morning. Morning. Thank you. That you very much. With any big story on axios youll find out right away why it matters. So today were doing why it matters, and you popped up a perfect post this morning. Look at how democrats and republicans in congress communicate differently. Totally differently. So Pew Research Center did a study last year, took a look at all the social media posts of members of congress, all the press releases that members of congress put out and they found one key difference which is republicans tend to go to social media first when you want to communicate with their constituencies. Typically a Facebook Post or democrats on the other hand, will go to a press release. I called someone last night who is a veteran hill member, a Democratic Committee staffer and she said one of the things you here on capitol hill all the time which we are sure many of you know is that democrats will go for policy first. Republicans will go for message first. Its a toy giveaway of communicating between the two parties on capitol hill. What would they tell you about why . I i think they would tell the alleys republicans would tell you crafting a message and try to communicate with someone through a medium is an important part of explaining a policy. If you cant communicate it in the right way the message itself, the policy itself would be lost. Democrats would tell you theyre so concerned with explaining rationale that they want to focus on home in on the policy and other delivered that message is an afterthought. What i will say and i talked to folks on capitol hill this seems to be slipping. You see a lot of members, representative dingell, people who are taking to social media and breaking through, these are new changes and it doesnt this is looming that dynamic will be that way forever but thats the newfound for 2016. Sara fischer an addition to her weekly media trends, newsletter, a super popular speaker on changes in the consumption and dissemination of media, sara, my nephew who you met just graduate from chapel hill, 22, how is the way he gets information from about his senator or his member different from probably the way senator member is disseminating information . Total different. First of all that senator or members going to take to every single outlet possible. They will put out a Traditional Press release, they might do a townhall, put up things and social media. They will have one on one groups with lobbying members on capitol hill. Evan might only get one tweet. Hes only given the briefed by his member probably to social media probably just from one way which is why members on capitol hill have to so many different communication methods because you dont know where your constituent is and when. This is something very different like just a few years ago even members but out of press release and that was it. This totally new world for members on capitol hill and thats what why you think so ms not only be think of communication staff of social media staff. Youve had enough of scoops about the power of snapchat. What can washington and i can include communicators, senators, members, media organizations and could include foundations. What can washington and Public Policy communicators learn and what should we know about snapchat . Snapchat is a great visual and powerful medium. If you follow along you a notice they are causally constantly cd rebranding themselves a camera company. They want to make sure every message is a big, beautiful, bright picture or video. Thats difficult folks on capitol hill. For so long but that is how we see the world. Absolutely have see the world. Snapchat is tapping into the inner way a lot of other social mediums never did. Twitter didnt even allow you to attach pictures without it going against your character count. Snapchat has pioneered this visual medium anyway members should be looking into and taking advantage of. You studied political communication at George Washington university. How has political communication changed even since you were editor, even since you graduate from gw you has changed . The biggest change is people on capitol hill and then their surroundings powerbrokers are really engage in social media. In fact, before President Trump, president obama use social media turkey was called the first social media president but he was a prolific. He wasnt on every single day. Now we would talk to some of our advertising partners, some of our forces on the hill and in washington sources they will tell you you have to engage with the members unsocial. Thats something thats really different and is totally ramped up in the past nine months especially since the president has taken to twitter on an almost daily basis. Does the president tweet . And people can tell right away whether its the official or the i i think they can tell. One thing you will see with so many psychological studies about younger kids is they crave authenticity. They want to be spoken to in a way that friends speak to depict this is why youtube stars, who are the people on youtube . They are not celebrities youve heard of. Most of them are people ive never heard of. They are young up and comers who to speak directly to the camera. I see thats a huge difference in Communication Style is you can tell when a member is just putting a link to his press release and sang i put up for x, y and z person when a member comes back with a quick and do something sure. Its either going to be one of their communication staffers were some of the console with about how to create a buzzy tweet. As our ceo would say, blow my mind. What something coming up, dont give away the store but what something coming up in media trends are what something we should be watching about how Public Policy communication could affect what actually gets done or gets thwarted in washington . I was to get a ticket dynamic is being totally upended in washington. Most people who need to give an update will bring on an agency tilt to the do it whether its a pr firm or some sort of digital firm. And for solo people relied on these big names like adelman or ogilvie and they are Important Agency players. Now the smaller netbook groups have different expertise and Political Communications or Campaign Communications are starting to pop up and be leveraged by the Biggest Companies in the world. A lot of those agencies are in d. C. Its a great opportunity for our city. A great opportunity for expolitical staffers are trying to get into the agency world. Thats one thing i have i ought is out d. C. Is changing to age the world. As we say goodbye is media helping or hurting polarization in d. C. . You can look at it either way. I like to be helpful and i was a media always finds transparency. Usually things people should know about. Sara fischer, when people always ask a fun fact, i have a fun fact about you. Sara fischer, how many email contacts do you have . I have a lot of email contacts. They are not all mi all in my t listed many of them are in excel spreadsheet that a vincente. At the olympic what do you get . Tens of thousands. Sara fischer, thank you for your great coverage. Appreciate you. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much, sara fischer. Welcome our cspan viewers and those of you who are joining us online. Please join the conversation with hashtag axios360. We think that Hewlett Foundation for making this event possible and now its my honor to welcome to our stage republican from florida, congressman who we been talking backstage a lot for these big issues of whats possible in washington, how to make progress across the aisle, from south florida, congressman carlos curbelo. Welcome back. [applause] my pleasure to be here. As we were backstage you said you had a formidable experience involving sports that was the best possible preparation for being on capitol hill. Refereeing high school basketball. And, of course, the papers were always the worst. The kids were okay but i built a lot of character and it taught me that she was have to try to make the right call. Youre going to get tackled from both sides. If you do a really good job, no one will say anything to you. You can just walk quietly out of the gym. Thats kind of what politics is like. And i think one of the problem is the referees want the game to be all about them these days, and its not about us. It should be about the American People like it is about the the players. Some of the things you said did seth lover you are 37 so youre an official millennial. Thank you. Its all your fault. Some people put me as a young gen xers. Some as an old millennial. Im kind of in between like bipartisanship i guess. [laughing] you have been reaching out not only across the aisle but also across generations. What is it like to be younger on capitol hill . I think we bring a different perspective. I think we are a little more sober about politics. I find that people in my generation in both parties are lessened to some of the roleplaying that a think many in washington have become accustomed to. I tell young people, especially people younger than me, i really think its going to take new generations in the United States in order to to have the politil renaissance that i think we sorely, desperate need in this country, bring a more sober, thoughtful, conciliatory approach to politics. Sober, thoughtful, conciliatory, sort of three strikes for the current congress. Of those what would be your, what would you be most helpful about actually making a change . So i think theres some issues out there that just cry out for obvious solutions. Weve been debating immigration in this country, the first dream act was filed in 2001. We are still talk about dreamers in 2017 having done nothing. Broader Immigration Reform was introduced by president bush in 20052006. Nothing has happened. And the solutions at least to me are fairly obvious. One of the things im optimistic about this time, especially the end of the year, is that we may have the first meaningful, significant immigration compromise since 1998. So this would be extending the daca, the dreamer fix, speaker ryan has said that will be part of the budget bill at the end of the year . Thats i hope, and obviously that would be accompanied by some reasonable Border Security measures. I think most american degree that we have right and a dude and control our borders. Brought activity at the border and most americans want to stop that. So now when you Start Talking about it while i think thats what people start to get divided, but it dont think anyone leaves we will build a 2000mile wall, but we should do everything we can to have reasonable, sensible Border Security. Dont tell the president. What is your sense of how much, what he says is for affect, how much of it he really for instance, with the wall, what you do you think he actually either would settle for a recognize these he will probably ultimately deliver . I think, and i dont know him well, i have on interactive within a couple of times, but i think, and you look back at his life and his career in business, hes a very pragmatic person. I really think he will take almost any reasonable compromise. So i dont pay too much i do people im not obsessed with the president. There are people both those better for it and those that are against him that are obsessed with them. Their day revolves around what the president says and does. I just cant do that. I dont think thats healthy about anyone. By the way i have liked and kids i think about them all day but my whole day doesnt revolve around either, you know . Thats just not healthy. So i dont let myself be defined by this president just like it did let myself be defined by the last president. Going back to refereeing people, people ask me all the time how do you do with a trunk with the same way i do with the barack obama. When i agree with them im supportive and i will give you i just have to think that ideas are bad then i will oppose them. I think thats what every member of congress should do. This is not about tell therefrom a party, to greet every time to get not at opposing every time. This is that institutions and the balance of power and i think thats our cost is reduced to work with executive when we think we were talking about the difference between what is practical about by person actually just action, and whats aspirational. Could you talk about how you see that difference between when you think we should shoot for and what you think is realistic . Bipartisanship is not in and come its a means to achieving good, lasting policy. So im part of a a problem sols caucus and you have Josh Gottheimer here in a few minutes we work very closely together, but this dialogue that we are having, its all wonderful. Its important because you cant have results without Good Relationship and sober conversations. But thats not the end. The end is to have good policy. Thats why were hoping to have a role in immigration compromise. There has to be a spending compromised if that will happen at the leadership level. Tax reform, there may be room, there should be room for bipartisanship there. So the idea i think our framers, obviously given the way they develop the constitution, the ideas for people to come together, have rigorous debate and then settle on something they can all agree in, knowing not everybody is going to get everything they want. Dont come on okay once we have a couple of major bipartisan wins, congress can be convincing to do this kind behavior and we can kind of crowd out the forces that always try to prevent that type of compromise either or political gain or for financial gain, a lot of groups after the like to get people riled up, the by the country and make a profit. Who were you talk about when you said make a profit . Theres lots of Interest Groups out there on both sides, and their Business Model is were going to make a lot of people angry, paranoid, scared, and we will ask them for contributions, send ten dollars today to help me stop x from destroying your life. This is a lot of anxiety and economic insecurity in our country, people are susceptible to that and thats what i think, my view, taxi from is one of the biggest things we can do for this country. Greater growth will make people feel better. That will make people more confident. They will be less prone to scapegoating fellow americans are blaming trade deals for some of our challenges in this country, people just going to feel like they can thrive. What are the chances getting democratic votes in the house for tax reform . I think they are pretty good. A lot of our democratic colleagues are fixated on this, the 1 , the top 1 which i understand we want a fair tax system. But i also understand, this is a statistical fact we one of the most progressive tax systems in the world. The wealthy pay a lot to find all of our government programs. So again i dont obsess with the 1 for the 2 for the 10 . I think we should have actually for all americans. But republicans are going to put in a fourth bracket. Theres a good chance that its 39. 6 bracket that exists today and i think if we do that thats going to help a lot of our democratic colleagues consider supporting tax reform package that lowers the tax burden on at least most americans, and leads to greater growth. Youre a republican in south florida. Depending on the issue that can be enemy territory. How have you navigated that . By being a good referee. Look, people in my district, for example, on a lot of foreignpolicy issues are more conservative leaning heavily in a hawkish activist american foreignpolicy on issues like education, strong supporters of public education. I came from a school board. I am, too. So i never district i really try to do whats best for my district. Thats why sometimes im in agreement with our leaders in the house on the republican side, and sometimes im not. When you are not do they get it or do they punish a . Know, yeah. People talk about i think on the democratic side, this might be more the case, but on the republican side theres almost not enough accountability. We have the opposite problem where every member is really kind of expected to act as an independent contractor for the district. And you know thats caused some challenges because weve struggled at times to get our majority to pass certain bills. That he speaks weak leadership. Can you see your generation providing Stronger Leadership . I think our leadership is a product of our conference. I dont think our leaders are weak. I think our leaders lead a very Diverse Group of people who are very strongminded about their ideas, some of who are not prone to compromise. So i do think that as younger members come in, and i see this in our conference at a think in the Democratic Caucus as well, it will be easier for our leaders to be effective because, again, we just bring a different approach, attitude, tone, demeanor to the work. Congressmen come backstage you tried overnight oats. How were they . Very good. Overnight oats were talking about two factors that are most important in working cross the other i i thought these were vy fascinating. You said your two factors were first you said personal discipline. Yeah, you have to really fight the instinct to fall in to the roles. I mean, everyone knows what the roles are. If youre a republican you have to kind of ignore, for example, an issue like climate change. Now, i dont do that. Number one, because i understand the science. Number two, i represent a district where most people live near sea level and near the sea. So its a local issue for us, but thats the key. Dont fall, its easy, its expected of you to fall into these rockets come into these roles, into the silos. You really have to fight that pic on every issue say, well, whats the right thing to do . What makes sense . So yes, it requires discipline in that sense where you have to fight the inertia that is so strong in our politics. Your second one, you have a counterintuitive take on risktaking. Yeah, so a lot of people, spatial i think people who cover politics view bipartisan conduct or compromise as something thats done by those who are seeking political cover or who are trying to play it safe. It is the opposite in most cases today in our country. Partisanship is whats expected of you. Its what republicans and democrats do the republican members of congress support the republican president. Democratic members of Congress Oppose the republican president. Thats what you are expected to do. So i i think to try to break tt is, it actually takes more effort. I dont want to say people use the word courage. I do for anything we do here on the hill is courageous. People are out fighting for our country, they are courageous. But it certainly takes effort. It takes introspection and self reflection to break those habits and say no, im actually going to work with someone who untold im not supposed to work with because its the right thing to do and because i think we can come up with a good idea. You are cochair of the congressional future caucus focused on millennials. What is the biggest hoop that you have for millennials changing the tone, or are you doing some of your own things to make things worse up there . [laughing] well, i i really dont think were doing anything to make things worse. I think millennials have to stop waiting our turn and went to start making demands of our leaders in the house on both sides to. By the way there are a lot of wonderful millennials younger democrats who are challenging their leaders pick we need to do the same and we need to tell people we want to do this differently. We want to help restore the trust and confidence in this government. We want people in our generation who by the way dont care for the government at all. Ask any millennial they think salsas get a medicare will be around for them. They will laugh. They just dont trust our institutions. We want to make our generation believe that in order to do that we need to change how this Government Works or how it doesnt work. Thats the approach i bring to this work, and i encourage all millennials, dont sit back and complain. Its easy to tweak or to send a message over social media and then go back to doing whatever youre you are doing. Get involved. It involved, boat but also to make it directly with your reps and its and let them know that you want things to change for the better. Congressman come as we get the hook, one of the purposes of your job, you met Peyton Manning in person at what was that like . That was my last sports idol. I was a big dan marino fan. Dan marino was the endall beall when i was a kid and when he retired i i was still kind f young, and i really felt his retirement. I saw a man and aye wow, thats like a new version of dan marino. So i adopted it many. I went to a Peyton Manning came almost every year of his career. I think hes just a standup guy, and hopefully he will run for Office One Day because you look at the way back i conducts himself in the way he always tries to bring people together, i think thats exactly what we need. Congressman carlos curbelo, thank you. Appreciate you. My pleasure. [applause] now we will see a a quick vo from the Hewlett Foundation. There has been an enormous shift. Our political system is broken. Our country is barking about it. They are uncertain, angry and fearful. We have lost track. The National Institute for civil discourse has focus specifically on the issue of how can we once again create the safe space for republican democrats to come together to actually do with each other as people. Basically democracy is a conversation. How do we talk to one another . How do we deal with the complex . How is this next generation going to govern america . Thats a question, all across country where seeing a a movemt of young legislators coming together to bridge the partisan divide. The Academy School is to transfer our democracy by recruiting and supporting leaders. Those have served in the military and peace corps weve had over 600 leaders Gotha Program this year. At the faith and politics institute, we helped inspire members of congress to hold onto the values that drove into Public Service in the first place and to reach across divides to bridge those gaps ind Work Together for a better democracy. I believe that whole generation of young people who want to get more involved in politics and thats what its all about. If we can do that we can shift this narrative drum cynicism the optimism. We believe it over 10,000 Service Leaders got involved, that is a movement that can transform our democracy. What we now know is we have to revive civility and respect not just amongst our leaders but amongst we the people. Thank you very much to the Hewlett Foundation, and now our next guest list the dream of a lot of people in washington probably some of the people in this room, service some of the people in our audience and that is he came to work in washington, was one of the youngest white house speechwriters in history and then came back to get elected and become a congressman from his native new jersey, after his summers on the jersey shore, his official bio points out teachers the fact that his first Bruce Springsteen concert was in brandenburg arena in the meadowlands. Were honored to welcome to the stage congressman Josh Gottheimer. [applause] thank you very much. Appreciate you. So you are cochair of the problem solvers caucus. How is that problemsolving going for you . Its actually going okay. Come on. We are up to 23 democrats and \20{l1}s{l0}\20{l1}s{l0} republicans in the caucus, and we get together every single week were in washington. People like carlos who by the way we are both in a big and tall caucus and so we have a lot going also but he did not show up. You should given grief. We have pipers were cut in the morning and he did not show up this money. And mike, he blamed you. There enough. We now know what a pompous and breakfast is. Whats a bipartisan workout . Half democrats and have republicans. We do crossfit. Its run by a guy named mark mullen from oklahoma. He was an mma fighter. These are pretty tough workouts. What would you say is a difference in the workout style or the entrance of democrats and republicans . [laughing] thats a good question. I havent gotten that one. We are both tough. The democrats, we bring the towels and feel badly when the republicans are having a tough time. [laughing] but the caucus really, we did the only come to question her, our caucus is the only bipartisan framework on healthcare so far. This summer we got together after john mccain voted no later night and we been working for weeks, a group of us, 40 of us, around the clock trying to get to a yes proposal on a piece of healthcare to get the csr payments done, to make sure we get premiums down and choice up and save individual marketplaces as is getting attacked. That framework we didnt spend the rest of the summer talking to Lamar Alexander and patty murray at a by partisan group of government. I think is an opportunity. I dont think the story is over get on saving this piece of healthcare and trying to get premiums down. Is it over for this year . No. I actually think we keep rolling everything into december but i think this could be part of grand bargain. There are still plenty of conversation going on. You see alexandermurray innocent keeps coming back up in conversation we are working with them. I think the Congressional Budget Office yesterday scored and said it would be again for the country, helped bring the deficit down. Im optimistic thats an area where we can get something done. We have to. We cant just throw all the people off healthcare and that premiums go up 20 or more percent in the next year. There may be more than one computer was listening to your friend. Whats the least true thing that he said . The lease im not answering that question. [laughing] ill give you a hint. What is the likelihood that House Democrats will vote for tax reform . I think theres real opportunity for some of us. A lot of us want to get there, the question is for me and for many people, this is this is ag regional breakdown, for those of us who are in states where we have higher property taxes and higher state taxes, the state and local tax, limiting the deduction is an enormous problem. Women taxes will go up. You involved in a meeting last night. Whats going on with that . I was not in meeting your fed meeting with republicans last night. Thats my understanding. Ladies and gentlemen, please take we have our seats. Go ahead. [laughing] thank you. I was expecting some grand entrance of somebody. Whos out there . [laughing] theres a real come your people like peter king and others, and in new jersey of several members including Leonard Lance whose and republican delegation to we will do an event later this morning about the fact that a lot of the states including ours paid in much more federal taxes that we get back. As it is where at a competitive disadvantage. In my district we get back 33 cents. Other states are getting four dollars back for every doctor send in. To add insult to injury, all in a distant deduction is huge every regional issue. Based on the intel you are giving about where the majority is headed, what is a likelihood you wind up being able to vote for tax cuts . If they get rid of the state and local tax deduction, the likelihood goes up a lot. So the congressman was right. Did he say that . He said he could see getting democratic votes. Golda meir if they make it come if they fix it. None of us, you may have, mike, because you access to everything but none of us have actually seen the plan. The democrats, we have seen the full details so its hard to answer that question into the sea all the details and then we should have this conversation next thursday. One of your traditions back home in new jersey is joe with josh, right . Cup of joe with josh. What are you learning with cup of joe with josh the washington chip a tentative . New jersey is all about diners fully go to diners. Town to town, diner the diner. People really want us to try to figure out, to sit together across, i hear this all the time, even if people are on opposite sides they want us to try and find a way instead of just screaming at each other. There will be issues will not get there on that as you know in our caucus, there plenty, we get together and try to figure okay, on healthcare, taxa from, on infrastructure, hopefully on daca we can find a way forward. I dont care what Peoples Party are, thats what i hear most. Herb jackson is with us today. Herb, give us a ways back there. We were chatting before, and he said a problem for you back on is that you are well known for working across the aisle and a bunch of the democrats elected you dont like that. Have you been to the diners . [laughing] listen, theres always going to be people in the far left and far right who believe we should obstruct unless we get 100 of everything i everything i just dont believe thats how you govern. I started my career working for president clinton. He always taught us to work with democrats and republicans. They gave them a hard time about it but i think we have got roads, weve got a third of the bridges integers are considered unsafe and eighth worst roads in the country my district. Weve got to fix this. You cant keep punting. Hunting. Punting. If you insist and getting everything you want have done you were never going to succeed. Thats were i focus on. Some people get upset about it but i think governing is digging out a way to yes. A number of jim people in the audience and in our virtual audience, and you had a formative experience involving senator Frank Lautenberg of new jersey and smoking on airplanes. We were talking earlier about both practical and aspirational possibilities. This is kind of both. What can the young person learn from that episode . I did not smoke on the airplane. Senator lautenberg as you know took on smoking in the airplanes and for our guys its hard to believe it existed. Right. People smoke on the airplane and he went to the point were smoking a section but you are obviously and a capsule smoke on your plane. He took it on and it was considered impossible, one of those third rails which given the lobbies on the other side. It was one of those moments where you can take on an issue. Its tough and you can overcome it. I had in notice them out of the he brought both private and Public Sector expensed as table and he was not afraid of a fight. So that really will push you in a direction. And on capitol hill what is the biggest pushback or resistance youve gone to work with other younger members, to work with some republicans come to break out the boxes that the parties seem to have retreated to . I would say given this wasnt exactly a moment of history that was in the brochure when i ran, you know, during orientation, and im sure carlos can attest to this computer altogether across party lines and you go to the Kennedy School and they have all these different training seminars on process of congress. And then you get there the first day and reflexively people snap to their side, and unless you actually make the effort, you could just in time with people from your own party. Because you caucused together. Even though the house of representatives you to anywhere you want on the house floor, people go to the respective sides. You have to actually make an effort to spend time together. And believe me, when you go against the grain, members of your party are not thrilled with you and leadership are so thrilled with you. I heard carlos say it was discipline. I think its discipline and is also you have to not be afraid to do what you think at the end of the day is best for your constituents, even if sometimes its going to ruffle some feathers. Every time i walk on the housefly make an effort not just go to my site but go to the other side and talk to people about it. By building those relationships and on the problem solvers caucus, when you want to work on legislation in a bipartisan way and your people you develop relationships and trust. On our caucus part of the rules of the caucus if you cant campaign or write a check against anybody else in the caucus, democrat or republican. Because how do you actually get to compromise with someone on an issue if they think you want to kill them . It really ruins the spirit. When we get to 75 75 of our s agreement, we vote as a block to get which hope we will bring the middle in and fight the extremes. Thats tough. That means you have to sometimes, you dont always get what you want and pitch but as for the effort. I really see if you are discipline, if you do it everyday, you start to develop the relations, uses muscles and thats what we need more of in congress. This has been a band to remember a couple years of the state of union, a buddy system where you encouraged to bring someone of the opposite party. Do any of the caucuses do that . Our caucus you have to come its oneonone. One of one. Its no was arc. Democrat and republican have to come in together. So a lot of the caucus still have this is way to bring along a republican. You were early on the equifax issue. What did we learn from the vote the internet for Vice President hence broke the tie . Heres what i learned yesterday. That equifax, we hearings on Financial Services committee. Real quick, bring our guests up to speed on the issue report. Those of you probably thought home there was 150 million or so people whose data was breached from equifax which is one of the largest credit check agencies. Theres three big ones, and many of you probably received notices at all or software went to a website and you can then find out if your data was compromised. The problem was in many instances the Computer Systems were down. People didnt answer the phones. We personally when we registered said your data was likely compromise but we are backlogged for weeks. You will hear back from us in weeks. We found that a credibly offensive incredibly offensive. So we brought equifax before the Financial Services committee, the second time we did, ask them to come up to the hill. The ceo refused to come to testify, which i find the on defensive, given how many peoples credit is capra must. Whats the take away . We have an issue here and there to keep pressing this. We had to get legislation done on this. On the house side. So that there has to be rules in place of how to respond when you have a breach. Aspirational versus practical. What is practical about what could happen . On this. Was yes. A clear code of conduct if theres a breach yet respond in a period of time. How much of will is there on the other side . There is bipartisan bill on this one. People are very frustrated and their constituents are extremely angry about this. We hear about all the time. I know a lot of republicans do. As one of the younger members of congress, what a going to do to get younger leaders for House Democrats . I have spent a lot of time on the phone talking to other members who are simile situated to me in the sense of position wise, moderate, willing to work across the aisle. And what happens is a lot of those seats tend to be tougher seats to pick up. And so it spinning time and explain to them what it takes and how to get it done. But also what its like when youre here. They sort of leave that out also of the manual. They talked to you about the running that what its like to be here. I think its important for people to understand, and thats what i spent a lot of time talking to people about. What about younger leadership . I think this is a very big issue on our side. We need, you want to make sure when we get younger people in and we encourage them to run, which were doing more of, theres an incredible amount of people running the cycle. I have met a breath of energetic people. The question is when the gator not being frustrated after a turn or two. I have from people a vineyard, you want to make sure youre able to move up and leadership. Thats a big issue thats talked a lot about in our caucus. You were somebody really new washington, as we say goodbye, was the Biggest Surprise either a perk or a chore of being an actual member . Well, this is to the perk. The biggest benefit is that, and i know even though ive been there for a long time, walking onto the house floor as a member of congress representing people, its pretty speedy what people want from you on what people give you, like what is the surprise is how little time he you had to do every sie task. The amount of activity to get done, to read the piece of legislation. People dont realize this. You dont get bills months out. You get in the day before, or if you are lucky a few days before, the week before. Like trying to make sure you read it, analyze which are voting on in time. When carlos and i met two weeks ago on Immigration Reform, if at 9 00 p. M. At night because everyones schedules crazy, and you work until 1 00 a. M. They would be happy to see this. We had to white boards up debating, what we were working on, Health Care Reform at night, debating what we could get to where and i thought we should take pictures and send it out because of people solace they would feel a lot better. I felt better given what you see on cable news, people screaming at each other. We need more of that. Was there pizza . There were tacos and beer. That didnt make the pictures. What are the chances that in january 19 you are in the majority . Good luck with that problemsolving. [applause] thank you. Well be right back. There are many factors that led to more partisanship. Congress is not working together. When not working together as a nation. The Congressional Management Foundation is to build trust and effectiveness in congress. We work with offices to improve their operations, especially as it relates to interacting with citizens and having helping them have a better understanding and medication. Understanding this isnt just ideas or parties, that there something underneath that helps us understand how to address polarization. We do research and Commission Political scientist to study the overlap between racial polarization and political polarization. They offer an incentive to reach out and find if theres something there i might support that that mother might support something i think is very important for my constituents. I think were moving in the right collection. One problem is the members of congress dont engage in the giveandtake that goes into good legislation. One of the things we want to do is discuss the way we originally intended to work to try to improve understanding and in the long run comes better policy. Voters want to see progress for they want to see the congress enacted legislation. Its not a situation where things just get better over time and its inevitable. We have real work to do. Thank you very much to the Hewlett Foundation for that message. Our next guest, one of the bestknown bipartisan players in washington, building any branch of government, he grew up in the country of West Virginia, learned politics from father joe and monica. We welcome the senator. Thank you so much. [applause] whats going on in washington. When i was a young kid, whats the difference between a democrat and republican be. He said not a whole lot. You put a pile of money on the table and they will both spend it all, but the republicans will feel bad about it. Thats my particular career. What did mama katie to about navigating life and never getting people. She was a woman of social phenomenon. Back in the 50s commute and have social nets. We lived in fancy neighborhoods and they were always worried when she would hear the train whistle, trying to gather everyone out. It was a Norman Rockwell setting knows all about the family that she made all of us kids whitewash the basement, have a nice place for people to stay, we had nicknames and she would say they always need a place to stay so they would jump off the train and she would feed them and they could paint do carpentry work and then we lose them. Id come home from school and id say words like go to and they say their back on the two again. She lose him for about six weeks and may come back in any young lady or girl who became pregnant out of wedlock and their parent to disown them i got mad at him, mama k would take them in. In two or three weeks she would invite the mother down to have brunch the daughter will be there before you know it theyd be going home together. I watched all that. I lived with all that. It reminded me of the modern version of that, the opiate crisis that has hit many states very hard. The United States government, are they doing enough . No. Were just finding out that they basically heard us by not enforcing, youve read all the Different Things weve gone through. Dont know if that was intentional or not. But i know one thing, you cannot send 9 million pills and say someone is on top of the third its a Business Model. How did it sneak up . I feel like in the bubbles, the problem was evident for a lot longer before people realized in the new yorker reports out that the numbers have put it in needs with the aids crisis. This is a pandemic. We lost 200,000 americans. We would have been rallying the troops. Weve got get everybody involved. For all hands on deck. We havent done that. First of all, how it got starte started, you look back in the 80s with the veterans administration, trying to make sure they taken care of the returning veterans and folders and the pain threshold becomes an element of wellness. They say whats your pain threshold. They say we have a medical drug called oxycontin, will give you 24 hours relief, no addiction and the rest is history. So heres a Government Agency sent without a product that we approve this product, it does what its supposed to do. Theyre allowing it to be distributed by the drug demonstration. Then you have your doctor who is the most trusted person next to your Family Member think this will help you so they legitimized it. The federal government, the most trusted person next to your family, its all been legitimized and became a runaway train and then we had vicodin and lortab, schedule three for a long time. I got here in 2010 and i said i cant believe it. They went out like m ms. So you spend more time with us, to what degree do you think he now gets it for what degree do you think the white house needs to go further . First of all, weve got to get a secretary of dhs and the drugs are that has had a personal relationship. Someone who has experience. I would suggest the gentleman who came out of the dea today. Ill try to pronounce his name, his first name is joe. [laughter] thats a smart politician. Senator mansion, last in the month you are part of a red state democrats met with the president to discuss tax reform. What was that like. It was very engaging. Ive had quite a few conversation with the president and been in his presence, we agree to disagree and i can tell you this. When im with the president , i truly have a feeling he wants, hes much more comfortable trying to do a bipartisan deal than trying to hold apartments in line. Thats our comfort level. He will do it i guess because he is expected to be republican president , but you can tell his body language and tone of voice is much more comfortable trying to find that deal. A lot of people are not gonna believe that. Talk about through a little more. Im trying to find out which one is my class. Okay. I can only give you my experience. I think other people have different expenses. We joust back and forth one time we were talking and he said joe fired up with the parish on you, i could come after you hard and you would have voted for my health care. Thats West Virginia talk maybe, i dont know if its new york talk but he put the push on full throttle the person says i need you, i need you i said, mr. President , no you couldnt because i know theres a fix, i know theres a balance. We can find that middle. We came through this process in an orthodox way. By the middle. Thats what people want. How do you react to that. We just both laughed. I said if i didnt think there was a middle ground and right now will find middle ground. We have Lamar Alexander and patty murray, we think we have a very good bill. You have 24 sponsors. What is the last time youve seen a major piece of legislation with 12 decent 12 hours. It does happen that way. We have to convince them that the to your transition was can happen matter what. If you did the skinny bill or the grant cassidy bill, you have a stabilized market. Its nothing new. I will circle back to this. The 60 minute whistleblower, what would be a case for . This is my audience and i will mention it. I think all 100 senator should be there. This is not a democrat or republican problem. The drugs are has to be someone with the expertise a medical background and been personally involved. You can find a lot of doctors or Family Members who has a daughter or son, someone whos passionate and can be swayed that as soon as i do this i will have another better job waiting for me. There should be anybody who sits in an agency that oversees and investigate and prosecute that has a revolving door that can quit one day and go to somewhere else. That is wrong. What can washington learn from the states about actually getting things done. These are the good old days. What you mean . What i mean, unless i looked into the little bio on all these others, i can tell you, we all have the same struggles. We had education problems and medicaid problems. We all had response ability and on top of that we had a balanced budget. The first thing represents the this is what you have to work with. Then you pick your problems based on your values. You can give all the wish list you want to make all the political speeches you want but you can only afford to do so much. That type of constraint doesnt happen in washington. We just make more promises and go further in debt and print more money. We didnt have that luxury, thank god. This country has to get back to the fiscal responsibility that all of us are responsible for. What is the likelihood that there are Senate Democrats will vote for President Trumps tax cuts. Have got to be honest, i dont think this is his tax policy. What you are seeing, they put a template out that he and i were talking and they said this will not be a tax cut for the rich. I said mr. President thats a great place to start. When it he said that you. We had a dinner over there. There was a divorce. Three democrats, five republicans. We had a lovely dinner. We had another dinner later on , i was invited for dinner at jerrod and about the trump home. Which dinner was fancier. The dinner i got the most, they were asked me to myself we were having a nice dinner and they brought in apple strudel and it looks like a beautiful eggs. Im thinking okay, i know im from farmington, a cold mind town, ive never seen an egg served with the strudel. You what i do with this. They said well, when in rome, just go for it so i went, it was ice cream and its a french way they roll the ice cream so then on top of that, i go back to the office after i made a little bit of a fool of myself, not knowing that i had a scream in the shape of an egg nice and my governor friend from my wyoming called me and says keith whats wrong. Can you tell the difference between ice cream and an egg. I said yeah, whens the last time in wyoming use ice cream that looks like an egg. With that being said, they showed me how too do it and i did it on youtube and went completely crazy. They were both very elegant but very nice conversations. Good conversations. With that, i said when you have mike mullen, mike was the joint chief of staff. You have a person who supposed to know whats going on around the world and the greatest threats we face, the question was asked and it said general, whats the greatest threat to the United States of america. He said iraq in middle Eastern Syria and all the things were going crazy around the world im thinking, to find out now hotspot is. He never missed a beat. He never skipped a beat he never paused. He said the greatest threat to the United States of america is the debt of this nation. If we let this runaway that continue will be the greatest threat we face as a superpower of the world. That was very, very sobering to me and ive always felt that because again papa joe, my grandfather said joe, uncontrolled or unmanaged that will make cowards out of the decisions you make. Nothing about it. Weve all hit some tough times. That old saying of rob peter to pay paul, were just trying to get through. If you dont change your way, both peter and paul will leave you. This is the thing were trying to do. Were playing a game with russian roulette. They want me to vote on a piece of legislation and ive been very clear. I cannot say that you want now to use dynamic scoring knowing that we are going to start out if you give me the static score showing the changes you want to make shows that we will be minimum one half trillion Million Dollars in the hole. If we charge 35 for corporate taxes, we reduce them to 25. Every point we know exactly what that point produces. Dynamic says this. Youve gone from 35 down to 25, but when you stimulate the economy and people have confidence then you have a return of 38 . Does that make sense . Thats what theyre hoping for. I said that would be like me, knowing that i have my payment the next day, tomorrow is thursday, and im walking into night into the casino when i walk up to the roulette or up to the craps table and i salmon to be able to take care my payment. Thats exactly what they are doing. I said i cant do that. Can we be competitive . Yes we can. Can we be territorial, yes. Can we reduce the rate since the simplify, yes. They cant even determine what middle class. They start saying its this much of income. Im in a tell all of you and everybody listening or watching, middleclass, in my mind, is anyone who gets a paycheck. When you get that paycheck, you have deductions of state taxes, thats working people. Thats the working class. The people on the top and the food chain do not get paid the same as most of the way you and i do. Once i understand the passthrough, Capital Gains and all the shelters, is a whole different ballgame. Then you start eating ice cream that looks like an egg. I shouldve brought that up. I can tell this is not the right place to bring this up. As we say goodbye, given where things are headed, whats the likelihood that the Senate Majority leader chuck schumer. The only thing i have said to chuck and hes a dear friend of mine and heres a guy who comes from new york and one from oklahoma, our politics might be a little different. They probably are. Im more of a moderate conservative, im fiscally responsible and socially compassionate. I dont know where i fit but i just know common sense is common sense. You cant fool a West Virginian. People like me in the Democratic Party cant get elected will never be in the majority. If i could thin change two things about America Today and you want to change the whole dynamics of this town, first of all, you understand i go to work everyday and hostile working environment. He says what you mean. I said i go to work everyday is democrat expected make phone calls, whoevers a republican could be my best friend. Doesnt matter. Republicans are expected to do the same thing. They come to work everyday and i said from day one im not to do that. Next of all, they expected to go into the district or the state that a republican is running just because theyre in cycle and we wanted the instead of an artwork are instead of a d. I said my goodness, if you do that and go to work in West Virginia every day, theyre going to catch you in a parking lot and take care of you. They will make you understand thats not the way we do things. I told harry reid, i said im not making phone calls against my colleagues. Im not going to campaign against him and i havent. To change this place, there should be epic violations, there should be rules in the house and senate that if you campaign against the sitting colleague it would change the whole demeanor of this place. Next of all, if you want to change america, change the way we redistrict. When we redistrict, make it be computer driven. Dont like me in the republican sit down and draw our favorite lines. Make diversity more homogenous. Make it work out of a computer driven model that gives us more of a balance. Weve driven this process. Its all right to be on extremes because weve got a district for you. If you are hardcore right in your hardcore left, we will find a district for you. Senators, we say goodbye her here. One of your favorite things about fall is turkey hunting. How is that like being a lawmaker . Well, someone will eventually shoot you. Thank you very much for joining us. [applause] thank you so much. Now it is my honor to welcome to the stage with nbc news capitol hill correspondent, host of msnbc news, casey. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for being here, congratulations on the show. Here you have an exclusive gues guest. We do. We are gonna hear from senator rand paul coming up on sunday in an exclusive interview. That will be great. Hopefully we will have some new guests to announce the next few days. You have covered the white house, youve covered capitol hill, youve been on the campaign trail and that sort of the beauty of Bermuda Triangle of public life. Whats the biggest difference in perspective in the two ends of pennsylvania avenue. So i got my start on capitol hill, which ive always felt like it gave me an advantage in some ways when trying to cover the white house because of the white house reporter, youre working in an enclosed space around all of your competitors but also a lot of your sources for all working out of the west wing, and to a certain extent, a lot of the job is trying to figure out, get the latest statement that they are putting out, try to figure out whats true, whats not true, clearly with trump things have changed a little bit in that regard, but one of the benefits i felt covering capitol hill brought to white house coverage is that theres a lot of communication all the time along pennsylvania avenue. One of the things that i learned early on was that very often you could track down information through people on capitol hill who are hearing it before you were, and they also provided a different perspective. That was valuable. They are very different day today if youre working on the beat, the white house, especially now that i work in television, this matters a lot, its a very physically enclosed small space and that preventpresents a unique set of challenges. I love covering capitol hill because it is one of the most open and acceptable environment still. You can actually walk up. You can stand outside the house floor while they vote and bug people very easily, House Speaker paul ryan gave a lovely speech last night at our annual awards dinner and had photoshop the few of us who cover him behind trees and following him around and he was joking about it but thats kind of the opportunity we get to have every day that i, quite frankly, really appreciate. You have some tough questioning of senators out there. How do you know when to keep hammering them and what is your thought bubble when youre really hammering someone. One of the things thats different, i came from a different background and had worked for the associated press, television is a different medium so when you are speaking to someone on camera youre speaking a lot about how you are coming across in addition to what theyre saying in response to that in the moment, and my personal rule is i always try to be polite. Thats just my unfailing, everybody approaches us differently, some people are very combative, thats not really how i go about my job every day but theres a difference between being polite and not asking tough questions and ive actually found that when you ask a tough question in a polite way , the answer that you receive is remarkably illuminating because you have a chance to see how are they reacting to that as opposed to simply putting them on the defensive and winding up with an angry and unpleasant exchange. The other thing i try to remember is there are a lot of people watching at home who often have a very obvious question about whats going on and sometimes we forget to ask the most basic question available which is often times , you would be surprised how many times that is something people take notice that ends up getting a lot of attention. What is an example of the question at home, a mama k type questions. Rick. Will not be pleased with me but after i interviewed him after the election, the question i asked him was are you smart enough to president of the United States because thats the question ever but he had, after the 2012 campaign, was he going to take another run at the presidency. Then governor perry, to his great Credit Credit treated the question with no small degree of humor and willingness to engage, and i would say still consider myself to have a good working relationship with him and his team today, and to a certain extent, you have to ask those kind of questions in a very, going back to what i said previously about being polite and there is a way to affect question that is not confrontational or out of line. Thats kind of an extreme example, i guess but i try to bring that spirit to my job every day. Once upon a time it didnt work. When it doesnt work, its more something where there simply not a noteworthy moment. For the most part, im not sure ive ever had somebody take a question that i ask and react to it in a negative way. I think again because for the most part i work hard to have cordial relationships with people because i do believe you can have a respectful working relationship with politicians or that we should strive to do that without giving up any journalistic integrity or failing the people that were serving. I believe you can hold people to account and still be a nice person is what im trying to sa say. Casey, the title of our event today is party wars, is progress still possible. Youve been covering public life from the different aspects, weve talked about the campaign trail, in the speakers lobby for nbc news, what would you say has changed about the pace and the substance of our politics. Quite a bit has changed. The pace is something that also affects the substance and i think when you talk to members of congress, many of whom ive covered for ten plus years, theres obviously been a lot of new faces as well, but they will frequently come in private conversations fight the use of twitter and the speed at which information travels as a reason why they feel closed in. They dont have an option to work with each other because the speed and the viciousness of social media very quickly they can put something out, it used to be in the older days, there would be what we call a trial balloon in the New York Times for somebody whos writing the tax bill on the ways and Means Committee would call a reporter who covers the budget and say hey but thinking about doing this, heres the document and that sort of happened with the 4o1k in the past 28 40 hours, that would go out and then other members across the hell would read it and there would be an opportunity to gather reaction, get a sense and take calls from constituents or others. Now, the way that can go out in the morning at 10 00 a. M. And by 10 30 the Breitbart News has written seven headlines, the office is receiving calls of people screaming obscenities on the other line, there is much less opportunity for the bipartisan back and forth in dealmaking to sort of work itself out over time without people coming under in or mess and often very negative political pressure. That puts a lot of pressure on the bipartisan process and it also forces more of the process behind closed doors. Theres a very real sense among lawmakers that they cant let anything get out until the ready to do the whole thing because this exact effect would play out. You start with the healthcare bill about field tax bill and so there is a real tension there between yes, people have easier access to the information going on in theory , but in reality, it makes it harder both for politicians to attempt to work with the other side, and also for us to spend time covering the substance of an issue because we spend a lot of time, i would argue i dont think many of us have experienced what weve expensed in the past nine months in terms of the speed in which the story is changing , and that something we are all kind of learning how to manage in realtime. And ultimate question, remarkable speak speeches and remarks over the former president george w. Bush, jeff flake, all very harshly critiquing this president. To what degree do those remarks reflect what you are hearing behind the scene from other members. I think they are very, there is not a long list of people who are willing to say those things in public. The list of people who are saying them in private is much longer. I think theres a very real, look, the Republican Party has been the conservative party that has meant things about how they hold positions on family and cultural issues and it has meant a lot of them usually have put a lot of value on being polite and i think theres a lot of people who think that President Trump doesnt meet that standard. Number challenges, for a lot of them, this is at the end of the day driven by voters. Voters are telling them when they go home that theyre not supporting the president enough in many cases, and there are others, i would argue jeff flake is in this category, there is a segment of the Republican Party that are based in the suburbs, and those politicians have a much different challenge because they are potentially in danger of losing their seats to democrats and they have a different challenge than people who are going back home to iowa. The reality is, voters are looking more for the approach that President Trump is bringing to the table then to the way things have traditionally been done here. This is really what the coverage has been like in the New York Times saying despite those high profile speeches which should get the coverage, but in the end, at least so far, it does look like trumps party bows the cause of what youre saying back home. You agree with that idea is mark. I do actually. I think it really is splitting the Republican Party apart for this reason because there is a Smaller Group of republicans who were elected in a different time or in areas where, if you think about california republicans, for example, and this is a little anecdotal, but ive spoken to many in that state who are appalled by President Trump and who are more likely to probably vote for democrat next time around and thats a certain set of pressure on a republican from california. They had to figure out, how do i make the stand or not. These are typically people who , they often would prefer to go along with their leadership so with the leadership sticking with the president , that put them in one kind of awkward position and it separates them from the rest of the people in their party who, if you are from a conservative state district, et cetera that is not suburban , this is a real Cultural Divide thats playing out, and you can see it in the halls of the capital because those people are coming in saying every time we failed to do the thing that the president says he wants us to do, we get her back home and theyre more afraid of a primary challenge, not necessarily from someone who is more conservative, but more willing to be the kind of candidate that the president was. Casey, we always and by newsletter and our events with one fun thing, the one fun thing for our guest is a little bit of a hunting theme for the fall, and you wan went hunting with the United States senator. Yes, with ted cruz from texas. This happens every year. This year its donald trump junior doing it at steve king, the republican from iowa who host an annual doesnt hunt. He usually host the president ial candidate, being iowa, so one year rick perry went and they did not allow us to go long but when ted cruz did it, we were allowed to traipse through the field could ted cruz, as i recall, did not actually beg any pheasants but he does know his way around. His not somebody, hes not necessarily an avid hunter like paul ryan who is someone who really knows his way around with that particular activity. I would say it was memorable. But he didnt bag any reporters either. Now, thankfully we all came out unscathed. Congratulations on your show, its off to a fantastic start. We would like to thank the Hewlett Foundation for making this possible and our friends for making this event possible. Thank you to cspan for curing this important conversation, thank you virtual lans, thank you to people here for your early mornings. We had a cool bipartisan breakfast, and thank you casey hunt. Thank you so much. Thank you all for coming. Have a great day. On capitol hill, the Senate Returns to work on some of present trumps judicial nominees including two to the circuit court. Allison and joe who are both on a short list of possible Supreme Court pics, if confirmed, allison would fill the seat vacated by neil corset. You can watch the senate live at 3 00 p. M. Eastern. The house returns tomorrow and will extend funding for the Childrens Health Insurance Program known as chp. Also repeal of the healthcare law independent medicare Advisory Board and several bills funding prevention of wildfires. The gop tax one bill is likely to be announced wednesday in the ways and Means Committee markup of the measure is expected to start next monday. You can watch the house to live on cspan