Lobbiest turned around and supported the American People and passed policies that upset his former colleagues greatly. Host and gigi sohn is special council through the fcc and Gautham Nagesh and with the wall street journal. We look forward to having you back. I love the show. I will be back. Cspan created by companies 30 years ago and brought to you as a service by your local cable or satellite provider. Coming up, former graze congressman talks about his trip to iran and scott talks about education and then a talk about defense spending. On the washington journal tomorrow virginia congressman talks about International Issues like the conflict in ukraine and isis issues. And then indiana congressman talks about granting president obama the authority to fight isis arming the jordan forces and the defense budget. And we continue with our president of College Series with the president of nashville. Keep track of the Republicanled Congress and follow the new members through the first session. New congress best access on cspan cspan 2 cspan radio and cspan. Org. James slattery talks next on the iran nuclear deal. The president said today he didnt see a further extension of negotiations being useful. It goes on to say the pressure is growing in congress for spelling out the sanctions iran faces if there is no deal with the United States administration opposes. Republicans have furthered angered the administration by inviting Benjamin Netanyahu to address congress and make his case against the deal. Now we are joined with former congressman, james slattery, on his recent trip to iran. This is an hour. Good afternoon. Thank you for coming out to our first public event. Let me thank the Atlantic Council and the crow share for their generous support. We have been going on four years and i must say the news keeps getter better. Positive indications about the nuclear talks. We are hear to talk about the peopletopeople aspects of the iran negotiations where are just as participant as the techno technicalities technicalities. We want more interaction between the people of iran and the United States. I coordinate the task force here and i am delighted we have a speaker, someone who has been involved with iran for many years, but just had his first visit there. James slattery is the former six term congressman from the Second District of congress. He was a member of the house energy and Commerce Committee which has jur diction over hilary clinton, energy, telecommunication and health care and he is a partner with a law firm and advises clients who have matters pending before congress, federal agencies and regulartory bodies. What is motor important about the congressman from our perspective is he is part of the dialogue that has encouraged interface dialogue and reconcilation between the United States and iran. This is done by a school in norway and the catholic universities of america with vatican participation. And james just came back from his first visit to iran. And i will ask him to come up and talk about what the visit was like and interface dialogue and the prospects for a better peopletopeople relationship between the United States and iran. So congressman. Thank you again for coming. It is great to be with you. Let me say i have admired you from a far and admired the work you did. Your book is one of my favorites. And i appreciate your scall scholarship on that. It is a pleasure to join you to talk about a passion of mine and that is avoiding iran do you want at a talk about getting involved with the interface and what it was like being in the land. Over the last few years, i had the opportunity to participate in the dialogue with iranians. It was composed of muslims, christians, and jews and representatives of the abraham faith participated. The fascinating part was the par advertise pants from iran were approved by the highest leadership in iran and they were what i called second tier people in iran. They were heads of the business community, president s of the universities, personal friends of the Supreme Leader personal friends of the president at the time. Now many of the people that we got acquainted with over a ten year period moved into positions of key responsibilities in this new government. So i feel particularly lucky we had an opportunity to build friendships with these people. And one of the things i learned along the way is the iranians are deeply concerned about respect. The one thing they yearn for is respect. Think about the whole notion of the west respecting them. Very important. Another thing i learned was that if you want to engage iranians and especially the shitte shiite muslims. You can say help me understand what the koran spells out on everything from nuclear war to sex. I think it is a way of demonstrating respect to people of religious faith and many of the people we met during the period were sincere in their faith. Many were clerics and leaders in the political and academy realm. That is the background on the issue. Can you tell me roughly house education and Workforce Committee how many readings . These were primarily meetings in europe. We have probably had 20 meetings at different times. One evening, i took a group of ayatollahs to the floor of the United States representatives. I will never forget standing in the house and the iranian friends were captured by the fact there is an inscription above the speakers house that says in god we trust. And they were fascinated by the fact there is a relief of moses looking down on the house of representatives. I think it is very important for us as we engage iran and for that matter, as we engage the broader muslim world, to respect their religion and figure out how to communicate more effective with them about the common things among christianity and islam. That is another conversation but it is an important part of the relationship that we blow by. I think because of my involvement over the last ten years in the interfaith dialogue, my name may have come on the radar screen in iran. I know a number of people in the government and i received an invitation to talk about a conference called the world against violence and extremism. They told me i was the first former member of congress or current member of congress that has been invited to iran since 1979 to speak. I dont know if that is true or not. But that is what they told me. My topic at the last minute was can religion be a force for peace in the middle east. And the answer to that question is yes, it can be. But it can be a problem, too. But i was particularly pleased that the chief of staff and former Prime Minister and the former president all three spoke at the conference and were clear, strong, and emphatic in condemning the violent acts of terrorism on the parts of isis and other religious phonetical kitchen fanatical groups committed in the name of islam. I wish the western media did a better job of covering the conference. I thought the statements were clear, and strong and saying the things so many of us in the United States would like to hear said by leaders in the islamic world. I remember clearly the first time i went to iran in 1996, aliving in the middle of the night and jet lagged, but the First Impression is important. I remember being a little nervous going as a journalist afterwards afterwards. I put down my passport and this big gruff man giving me a smile. I understand you had a positive reception shall i say. It was really interesting. My trip started at the Pakistani Embassy here in washington where the iranian intersection is located. It blew my mind. I go into a meeting and the three people that interviewed me to get my visa two had degrees from kansas state university. I used to represent kansas state and the university of kansas when i was in the congress. They were both in my congressional district. They started talking to me and one remembered me being the congressman from manhattan, kansas. And he was talking to me about the fact they got married in man manhattan and his wonderful experience in manhattan, kansas. So fastforward to my first night in iran and i sat down to dinner with the mans assistant, and guess where he went to school . He went to the university of kansas. And he was telling me he remembered me being his congressman. And he had a conversation about the jayhawks and their season. Talk about a small world, though. It blows your mind. Back to your point, i arrived inat 3 30 in the morning and i think every light was on when i flew in. Was it thursday night . It may have been. Anyway every light that you can imagine was on and there wasnt a cloud in the sky so it was a great view as you arrived. We arrived and i should identify doctor here sitting in the front row and he was my guide as we landed there. One of the funny things that happened is we got off the plane and went through there passport area and they were short on vips because a lot were there to atened the conference. We had to wait and while why we waited i started chatting with the passport patrol people. One of them who spoke good english said i hope you can get this nuclear thing worked out because we are working forward to meeting american women here. I thought this was once again a reminder of certain things being universal. And i responded by saying to him you have to keep in mind if we do this there will probably be handsome Young American men here competing with you for the attention of the persian women. We had a Wonderful Exchange there. And they asked me if i wanted to go by one of the ayatollahs mosque on the way to a hotel. So what do you do at 4 30 in the morning . It is on the way. Long story i shot i found myself going through the memorial, shine, mosque burial sight and i thought well you know why not . You know, so we walked through and it is pretty obvious i am a westerner, but i found it interesting. So hostile reactions from anyone. Expressions were friendly. We took pictures of the facility and quitely walked out and left. We went to the hotel and in the morning, there was a session for the conference. But that was my first introduction. I want to open the floor to questions very soon because i know you probably have a lot of them. But i dont know if you would like to say a few words about how the vissit went. I remember many efforts made back when they were trying to have american congressman go to iran but it never happened. There were members of the Iranian Parliament in i believe 2000 who came to new york. They went into the metropolitan museum of art but i dont remember if they went to washington or congress. Thank you, barbara for putting this wonderful meeting together. Before i answer that james, talk about the importance of the dialogue and talked about the iranian side and those who participated. But he didnt mention the american side. There have been many things from the leaders but the key point is we are bringing people who distrust the leadership. You know how our political leaders respect the religious separation here. We need to bring common issues and talk about that and break the breath and also make friendships and connection and us as a human being and people who love to have relation and respect. Outcome of that has been one that was a change of iran. History wasnt just officially in congressman, he was someone who takes care of families as a friend of communities you have been working on for years. That is how we were able to go to iran. And we were received well. Not as an official guest but as a friend. Considering i think whoever came here yes, it has happened but not just because of the abraham trade but because of taking part in World Economy bank or meetings from the parliament. There are other officials meetings going on but some have been part of the abraham dialogue. So they are friend so it is natural to have a recession or guv them a tour. Some members of the Iranian Parliament have been in washington . I think they are coming every six months for the world bank. We dont do what we should be doing to encourage direct conversations. We are dealing with very few members of the administration few members of the Government Congress or the executive branch, have any personal relationships with iranians and this is a tragedy. That is why i like eisenhower believe in people to people diplomacy and building relationships and friendships so when the time of crisis comes you have friendships and relation relationships to have a bases to go from. Are there plans to get the contact . There is opposition in both bodies as pointed out to the Nuclear Agreement which appears to be in the process of being nu negotiate as we speak. It would seem it would be very valuable to have that contact. I will do everything i can to encourage that and already did some of that. I believe one of the great problems we have to overcome is ignorance. It is amazing when i have conversations with members of the Congress Just how little they anyhow about iran. And there is great misunderstanding on the part of the iranians in key positions of leadership about the United States. What we can do to break down the walls of ignorance and suspicion is of value to the United States. Did you meet any of them i cannot attribute remarks to specific individuals, but i did meet with high ranking members, and i can tell you they had several very important points to make. Number one is hawaii number one is they are all deeply concerned about what affect our elections will have on obamas capacity to implement any agreement. That was a deep concern to them. They were troubled by the prosspect of iranians putting their best deal on the table only to have it rejected by the United States congress and in the United States. This would be a political disaster for them. They need to be told if there is a deal that is worked out they want to be approved and implemented by the Obama Administration and will not be scuttled by the congress. The other thing i took away from the conversations especially with the members, and keep in mind these members are populated by more conservative element in iran, than the other governments perhaps, but they made it clear to me they are determined that iran will preserve its rights under the mpt specifically the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purchases. There is not such a right in the mpt. They perceive they have the right and i am aware of that dispute. There is an intense desire that iran be able to retain some enrichment kalecapabilities. And i deconnected a greatfluxability on the part of the iranians with respect to what i call the technical enrichment questions. The level, quantity, center of centrifuges are negotiable and tied to the issue of whether and when the United States is prepared to lift the sanctions. The quicker we do that the more forthe forthecoming they will be with respect to the nuclear issues. Okay. That is a great introduction. And let me open to you, wait for the mike, say your name and ask a question, please. Thank you. I am with the wes asia council and thank you congressman. My question has to do with your view of the american civil institutions like education and universities and the American People and their role unloading the charge of establishing these peopletopeople contact as opposed to always waiting for either government to be the one that leads the way and opens the path whether you think civic activism in this arena could be the Bridge Builder that is needed right now. Thank you. I support all kinds of bridge building efforts whether they are academic religious, faithbased or anything we can do to encourage dialogue between the United States and iran is beneficial for both sides. We should not be afraid to learn. And so i favor that dialogue. And i must tell you that i think both sides are equally guilty of trying to prevent that kind of discussion and dialogue. We have to really think about and address that i would like to see the administration be more forthcoming and i would like to see the iranian government be more forthcoming to admitting more americans to the area and our greatest enemy in this process may be ignorance. This is 2015. We have all of the communication availability we need. You talked about ignorance. What did you lease expect that surprised you on your visit . There is a bunch of things about iran that are fascinating to me. One thing i wish allamericans understood was 60 of the students in the universities in iran are female. A rather unique situation in islam. When i talk to my iranian friends, they share with me off the record they are troubled with what they will do with all of these educated women in the future. I find that very interesting. The other thing that is amazing to me is in the streets, it is like the worst rush hour traffic in washington all day long. The other thing i observed is every third or forth car is drib n by a woman. It is a whole different world than saudi arabia. And the other thing i found walking the streets, and let me share with you i was in baghdad several years ago to serve as an International Election monitor and the sunni areas of baghdad. When i travelled from the green zone and woke up on election day i thought i was in a thunder only to realize there were bombs going off around me. We went out into the sunni areas to observe the voting place and i had to travel with five Armored Vehicles and literally 15 armed guards with me and i would not have lasted five minutes i dont believe in those neighborhoods but for all of this armed protection. I talked the streets and you know, no problem. Went to the bizarre and people talked to me and visited with me a