Thank you. Sit down. Sit down. I have a massive cold today so that makes me feel better. All of the folks here who do such a fantastic job every single day with educational opportunities. Kids and adults here at stanford, thank you for opening this up to representatives and thank you for being here. I want to get right to the meat of this because i am sure you have loads of questions about what is happening, and what has happened. I want to answer them. Were going to talk a lot about the rule of law. Are going to talk about the very simple idea that has been at the root of this country since our founding, that no individual, no matter how powerful, no matter what title is above their name, is above the rules we play with. That has been the topic of discussion in this country for the last week but frankly we have been talking about it and some shape or form for many days. I want to talk about that that to. Then turn it over first, thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this job. My mom grew up in the housing projects of new britain, connecticut, and just one generation moved from poverty. Whether you voted for me or did not vote for me, whether you voted for me or not, the people of the state have voted for me and it is an honor and to be honest, it is a thrill. For so thankful to you giving me this chance and i am Getting Better at it every day because i am learning from you. I am learning what the priorities are, and what you care about. Thatis an exercise for me i am trying to learn and listen. I do a lot of town halls. I try to proactively engage and i am one of the few members of the senate that does my own twitter feed and snapchat. Know, i walked across the state of connecticut from one summer going side to the other talking to people who would never take it upon themselves to shop at a town hall. I have tried to engage and learn in traditional and new ways. Thank you for giving me a chance to do this job. Were going to talk about the role of law and checks and alliances. We are at this moment in part because donald trump fairly transparently advertised to people that he was going to blow up the way things were done in washington. He advertised this ceo model. He advertised in his campaign that i alone can fix that are coat people were drawn to that. This tiring of democracy happening in the country. , the idea wase that you got in efficiency. It took a long time for something to become a law from an idea. The trade was you got outcomes that benefited everyone and said of the elite. Policies but you tended the ruling elite rather than everyone else. When they areway not getting the trade any longer. It looks more efficient than it has ever been yet the results still seem to be accruing to the top one or 2 . Not to me. People started asking themselves whether we should still be invested in this great experiment. And donald trump with his advertisement of i alone can fix this started to look more attractive. This is any moment not just to policy these enormous exchange but remind people why we are engaged in this in the first place and talk about how we can make our democracy healthier. Reminded thate you should not take for granted that this democracy is inevitable. That this is just something you can live with for the rest of your lifetime. We have to breathe new health into it. I will say there are parts of this experiment that there are checks and balances inside this big and ever have worked. The president is in the midst right now with republicans in trying to push through a Health Care Bill that is an absolute humanitarian catastrophe waiting to happen. 24 Million People would lose insurance, rates would go up on everyone. They got this would get done in february and tied up in a neat bow but they have not been able to do that because of the interesting ways is responding because people are rising up and saying, if you vote for this monstrosity we will vote you out. It has taken longer to get it out and it is kind of stuck in the senate because senators know there are no consequences for voting for something this cruel. Check and balance built into a legislator ultimately responsible for the people is holding for the time being but there are other places where they are not holding and that is what we will spend some time talking about today. You cannot have a functioning democracy when the president of the United States can dismiss Law Enforcement individuals and leaders who are carrying out chiefigation against the executive. And i am sorry, the explanation donald trump offers to is not hold water. James comey was not fired because he was not tough enough on hillary clinton, he was fired because he was getting closer and closer to a very damaging story about the Trump Campaign interaction with the russian government. We do not know what the end of that story is but we do note was goingtor call me to the highest levels of the Justice Department and asking for more resources to pursue end investigation to the and it is hard for me to think it was a coincidence that one week later he was fired. We will have the Deputy Director who wrote that memo next week and we will get a little bit closer to the truth during that meeting i hope. But this is a direct threat to the rule of law and i hope what my republican friends go home this weekend and speak, they will rise to the occasion. There are moments when you have to choose between your party and the republic. You will never regret choosing the republic if that choice comes to you. Applause] thehy i believe is fatallyon compromised. We need an independent prosecutor. [applause]] sen. Murphy so lets give the republicans the weekend to choose to join with us in this call but if they do not, we are going to have to consider all of the tools that our disposal to try to push this country forward , recognizing the gravity of this moment. Let me talk about the other threats that exist today. The conduct of Foreign Affairs and international security. We and spent a lot of time thinking about the role in the world. I was often, antithetical to the Obama Administration and some of its conduct with Foreign Policy because i did not believe there was legal authorization for this administration to take military action against isis. I did not think it was wrong but i thought they needed to get authorization from congress to do that and my worry is that today it is much harder to declare war than it was 30 or 40 right . Ears ago, it is not to armies marching against each other for a time. It is something much harder to define with victory that is much harder to it your head wrapped around. That if congress we will never, ever authorize war ever again. In syriaappening today should be very worrying. Reports that the president has slow creep ofd a troops inside that country from a number close to zero one year ago to a number that now looks like 1000. A mission that is very hard to define, a stance of late about helping local groups but increasingly looking at an increasing mission that will happen after isis is moved. Between all the factions that exist around this town. If that is the case, syrias starts to look a lot more like iraq. Do not know if it is a worthwhile thing. I worry about it getting into another major intervention and can talke east we about the situation in north korea as well which prevents real challenges to the rule of law, too. I am happy the check and balances have held and i think this massive uprising of activists all across the country is making a difference, right . Creating this around the trump agenda. It does not mean theyre not parts that will be able to push its way through but it is meaningful and making Congress Stop and think whether they want to endorse some of the most reckless parts of this agenda and risk the electorate on the back. I am trying to raise my voice and i would be happy to talk to about what we have gotten for connecticut and south connecticut in the last Appropriations Bills that i was author of last year but i am also trying to raise my voice on a National Level and be part of what i think is a National Moment for the country. I am perpetually a Glass Half Full guy. I cannot not ultimately see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am stealing a little bit of this from a colleague of mine our declaration of independence as the north star of our country. All men are created equal. It was flawed at the beginning because at the time all men were not created equal and women of course were not included. But at the time, the entire country history was trying to get closer to that reality of equality. Quality of existence, opportunity, experience. And yet you can also read it as one of two steps forward and then one step back. When you make in enormous amounts of progress in a short way, theres a tremendous in which you build a trench. The ability to think about health care as a human right rather than a privilege. Of talk about universal health care and then the enactment of a law that got us closer than ever. The decision that allows people to marry whoever they love rather than their sexual orientation. Our ability to bring in waves of immigrants from south america and the tradition of those who came from before. All of this progress in a short amount of time, there has this been decision to put a trench on and toput a pause on it being. Rench for the time i would argue that the definition of this country is not about two steps forward and one step back but our ability to build a ladder out of that trench. After the pause, to decide to get moving on the road to the north star. That is what it is, it is a moment in which we decide if we are still on that journey or not. I just fundamentally believe that we will make the decision that we are. And this Resistance Movement that has been built up over the last 110 days across the country is a collective effort to build that ladder out of that trench. And get back on that journey. If that is the case, then count me part of that resistance. Thank you very much. [applause] lets ask some questions. Hello, to the overflow room. We have two microphones, if folks can line up at the microphones, we will take as many as we can. We will take as many as we can. The roads are awfully jammed today, i will take as many as i can in the next hour. Lets get right to it. We will go there to there. Then upstairs. We will sort of do that. Quick questions and i will give quick answers. I am a Founding Member of indivisible greenwich, thank you for all that you do in so many areas, specifically i am going to address the independent commission issue. In the face of the comey firing, and the threat to the rule of law, the Washington Post ran a piece that talked about democrats stopping this scandal. Trying to get to the bottom of tiesdent trumps russia using tactics such as asking senator mcconnell to yield for a question. Shining a light on all things russia. He said the filibuster and withholding consent. In light of the threat of the threats to the foundational underpinnings, will you agree to use these measures until such time that your republican counterparts agreed to an independent commission and special prosecutor to investigate trump and russia ties . [applause] thank you for the question. I have not read that article, so i cannot opine on that. I think you heard me say that we absolutely are going to have to use every tool at our disposal to translate to our colleagues in the house. Into the American Public how serious this moment is. I do not think we understand what a cataclysmic moment this is for the republican party. We are asking them to step outside of their party and to directly challenge this president , to call for the appointment of this independent counsel. I understand that they may not be able to make that decision on a dime, it might take them a couple days to figure out the gravity of this moment. Im willing to give them a little bit of space, but we do not have the luxury of time. The trail will grow cold, the message that is being sent to the fbi is a chilling message of pursuing truth. If it agrees to the detriment of the chief executive, will get solidified. I want to give my republican colleagues some time to understand what they need to do here. That time cannot be limitless and then we will ultimately have to use whatever power we have. You teased out some of the tools we have they have limits of efficacy. Excuse me, you talk about asking questions of the majority leader. The problem is, we dont control the house or the senate, so we have procedural tools at our disposal that ultimately arent dispositive in the end, but we should take a look at using everything we have. Good afternoon. The conservatives have done a phenomenal job over the last few decades of controlling and shaping the messaging to the public, now they are already attacking the democrats as a party of no, party of no new ideas, a party attached to obama, and the clinton machine. Can you provide us a little bit of confidence that the democrats have a strategy or the progressives have a strategy, have fresh, bold ideas, fresh messengers that have some people in the pipeline that are going to be attractive to the general public instead of the whole partisan antimessaging that has been going on . Thank you for all your fantastic work here around the area. I am not here to deliver a sermon on the state of the democratic party. I will take the premise of your question and try to answer it. Listen, i think we have to understand that people have watched this economy technically recover. They cannot believe it has recovered for them. Ultimately we have to be a party of Economic Growth but not just for the 1 . We have to be this for everybody not just millionaires and billionaires. Then we need to be a party of inclusion, a party of a country that includes everybody. It doesnt have to be rocket science. We have to be a party of Economic Growth for everybody and a party of inclusion and a party that includes everybody. Then we have to be a party that is not scared of big ideas. The fact of the matter is Bernie Sanders got pilloried during the campaign for talking about free college and that was unrealistic. So what, if that is unrealistic, is a great idea that everybody should be able to afford to go to college. [applause] as a party, i think we have to be consistent about our messaging and make sure it is based in those stairs and we real economic fears, and we cannot be afraid of putting really big revolutionary ideas that may not be realistic tomorrow but tell the country about the vision of where we want it to go. Deep into the future. So i think right now we are at a crisis moment in which this Republican Congress is try to jam down our throat some legislative ideas that would be absolutely cataclysmic for our constituents. So a lot of our effort is around opposing that agenda, ultimately we have to be much better at translating who we are and not being afraid of those big ideas. That tell people about where we want to go. My name is jeffrey stewart, and i am here representing the medicare for all coalition. Our main function, why we created this group is to attain the passage of a bill those already in the house which is hr676, i want to repeat that for everybody. Hr676 it is worth reading. This bill will provide real Quality Health care to every child, woman and man in the United States. It will not only do that but it will provide a savings of 600 billion per year. Not over 10 years, 600 billion per year with a increase of savings in the future. It will also Save Companies thousands of dollars for employees and make our companies more competitive overseas and help us balance those payments. We have several requests for you. We would like to ask if you would commit to introducing this bill to the senate as a alternative to the horrendous bill that was passed in the house. If you will become its champion in the senate, if you will meet with us and work with us so we can find out ways to support you and support a National March to pass medicare for all. [applause] i would be happy to talk more about the bill, i am not familiar with the house bill. Here is my approach to this issue about where we go once we hopefully defeat this terrible and draconian attempt to repeal the Affordable Care act. Im a believer in the public option. That is the ability for anyone to choose whether they want to be on a private plan or on a medicare plan. Originally conceived this is public option was going to be its own medicare light plan. You can shortcircuit that and give people direct access to medicare and allow them to buy into medicare or get prices at a discounted prices at a lower income. I think that is the fastest way towards the kind of system you want, is a system in which everybody is on a medicare products. Give individuals that choice to be on medicare or if they want to stay on their private Sector Health plan. I will look at the house bill, the reason i have been supportive of a public option is because i think from a political standpoint it makes more sense to give people the option to get into that system if they want. I do think that the bulk of our attention needs to be on defeating the proposal that is before the house and the senate. [applause] sen. Murphy that is where our energy has to be. I will just tell you republicans are saying that democrats are not for anything, why arent democrats telling us this 20 step plan that is an alternative to our disastrous Health Care Bill. That is because they want us to be spending all of our time talking about what we would do differently rather than stopping what they are on the precipice of passing. They want to do this quickly, want to jam this through before people can understand it. I am all for discussing ideas about what should come next. I am unapologetic about spending the vast bulk of my time trying to explain what the American Health care act is and why it is so terrible. And why it does not fix a single problem in the existing system and making sure it gets de