deferred action for childhood our riders program.they wanted on the flr, adesses it and they are on the cusp of doing so. they need re-more signatures to get to the requisite 318 signatures. there's one democratic holdout we said last week he will be signingthis week . there's two republicans, although proponents of the effort is quite likely that come tuesday, those signatures will come across. set up a debate for later this month. there's another option which is that they can keep talking and in addition to do this in july, so although proponents have left open still a possibility. >> washington journal is life every day at 7 am eastern. we take you back live now to the conference of the aclu to hear from senator elizabeth warren. >> it is my great honor to be

intrg our next speaker today, the persistent senator elizabeth warren. [applause] now as most of you know, mitch mcconnell and his republican colleagues didn't stop senator warning from reading coretta scott king on the floor of the senate and what senator mcconnell that at the time was the very divisive words she was warned, given an explanation. nevertheless, i'm thinking you want to say the next three words with me. nevertheless, she persisted. senator or in the process and she read the letter to millions of people on facebook why and mitch mcconnell's smuggling victory

, we got her turned into a meme as you all know. how many of you have seen that in to? how many of you have seen it on the t-shirts? how many of you have a teacher? how many of you seen the tattoo? i think the whole idea of persistence is an apt description not only of that moment but of elizabeth warren's career andlife. early marriage and motherhood made it a challenge for her to complete law school nevertheless , go ahead. nevertheless she persisted. she launched a successful academic career including 20 years of teaching at harvard law school and becoming a nationally renowned scholar . when warren established the consumer protection bureau, there were vested interests in wall street and financial institutions that pushed back . nevertheless, she persisted and she won, she got the bureau founded. in 2012, senator warren ran for senate against an incumbent in a state that had

neverelected a woman as senator. nevertheless, she persisted and she won and today she is persisting in being a bright spot in a congress that has become a black hole for civil liberties. among the many bills that senator warren is sponsoring are able to report outdated marijuana policies .a bill to end discrimination based on sexual orientation in public schools. all built to improve procedures for handling complaints of sexual harassment against congressional employees . reforming the use of solitary confinement by the bureau of prisons and i know you're not going to care about this one, a bill to protect children affected by immigration enforcement . we all know that none of these bills is an easy risk but nevertheless, do we wa senator warren to persist in persisting? i want to tell you i happen

to be a meeting of democratic senators in 2017 in a totally nonpartisan fashion of course and the presiding senator commented that morning that it was lucky to have the president of the aclu in the room the morning after there d been in incident of repression of speech on the floor of the senate. when i told senator warren that day i would like to ask you to ratify, i told her to get ready to protect her freedom of speech. what do you think? what i would like to do now is to invite senator warren to the stage to exercise her freedom of speech right here and now. senator elizabeth warren. [applause] >> hello aclu!

all right. i am so p to her with you this afternoon and i want to say a very special thank you to your extraordinary leader susan herman, thank you susan for all you do. i also want to give a shout out to a person who has shown deep appreciation and commitment for the fight for justice. anthony romero. anthony, wherever you are. [applause] i also know that out there we have some full from aclu in massachusetts out there. massachusetts aclu? okay. let's be blunt. our democracy is under attack. voting, and impartial

judiciary, free press, the rule of law,the foundations of our democracy are under attack every single day . under attack but not lost. i look out here and i see thousands of deeply committed women and men. people of every race, gender, religion d color. people committed to building a better future. i look out here and i see donald trump's worst nightmare. [cheering] so today, i want to talk about the fight to save our democracy. why we fight and who we are fighting for. like a lot of people i started taking a lot more seriously about democracy after the 2016 election. i went to donald trump's

inauguration. i know a lot of people didn't but i wanted to see it with my own i. thought it was important and i was right. it is now her into the back of my eyeballs. every time i tired, every time i started, close my eyes, donald truis bei sworn in by residents and i'm ready to fight. i'm in the game. [applause] now, when the history books are written about donald trump inauguration, they will talk about is deeply dark speech. they will talk about how the first fight people as president was over the size of his crown but they will also talk about the next day, about the women's march. yeah. they will talk about the largest march in the history of the world.

historians will talk about a renewal of democracy , it's strong resilient democracy, a democracy that springs rectally from the people. this democracy is led by women in pink who organized the largest march in the history of the world. since democracy is led by the people who rush to every airport terminal across this country and saidno donald trump, you cannot ban muslims . this democracy is led by the scientists marching in their lab, urging our government to protect us from climate change and environmental destruction.

it's led by people with disabilities who stormed the halls of congress during the health care debate to put a human face on medicaid. it is led by the aclu that sues the trump administration to stop one discriminatory policy after another . it is led by dreamers. it is led by high school students . and is led by all of you. that's why we are here. we are rewiring democracy, but let's not kid ourselves. the other side says they got

a lot ofpeople, grassroots for trying to build democracy and we will just give up. number the other side has not given up . every day we wake up to attacks on our values, attacks on the law and tax on just plain old common sense. you know this better than most cause the aclu is on the front lines, fighting to protect thepromise that makes america an extraordinary country . the promise that we are still strugglingto fulfill . the promise that no matter who you are or where you come from, in america everyone will have a real opportunity to build the future. yeah. [applause] the promise that every kid, black, white,

brown, born middle-class, working-class, born poor, born in a city, a sober, bald head on the reservation, born gay, straight, trans, the promise that this will be an america where every kidwill have a fighting chance to realize their dream . [applause] that's the america i believe in. that's the america i love and that's the america i'm fighting alongside you every day to make a reality. and that's the america that gives me a chance to be here today. now, when i was a kid growing up on the ragged edge of the middle class, my dreams were closer to home. graduate high school, go to college, he will and have babies, maybe someday my

whole. but in my life there were a lot of balls long-term on the way. i was 12, my had a heart attack in my family nearly lost everything. when i was 19 i dropped out of school to get married. didn't work out. but i lived in a country where i could get a first rate public college education for $50 a semester.think about that. a country that was investing in highways and bridges and power and all the things that build a vibrant economy good paying jobs right here in america. i didn't grow up in a perfect country, not by any stretch. black and latino americans were locked out of many opportunities and often confined to the worst jobs. women limited chances and

lgbtq people were locked firmly in the closet but we were in america that believed an opportunity and slowly but increasingly, we opened those opportunities to more people. i want to take just one example. the white wealth gap has been huge since we first started measuring it in 1940 but the civil rights movement of the 1960s stirred a determination to expand opportunity in this country new laws that increased access to voting , housing, public accommodations had a real impact from the mid-1960s through the 1970s, just about a 15 year period area that black white wealth gap by 30 percent. there's your evidence that rights matter and there is a

reason to fight for rights. they matter to people in this country. [applause] now, we are far from perfect but we were a country that was expanding opportunity for more and more of our kids. i took advantage of those opportunities and i stand here today, the daughter of the janitor became a public school teacher, a college professor and now a uned states senator because america invested in kids like me. [applause] i am grateful to that america, grateful down to my toes and i believe in that america. but for decades now, powerful interests have rated the game against working people al across this country. bit by bit, the opportunity to build a future has been

moving further and further out of reach. our government has been taken over by the rich and the powerful. a generation of trickle-down economics deregulation and tax cuts for millionaires has destroyed unions, undermine the public pools and left us with a crumbling infrastructure. for a whole generation, gdp has climbed in this country. ceo salaries have grown by almost 1000 perct while wages for working people have barely bunched. flat wages coupled with rising costs for housing, healthcare, childcare, college we families all across this country. black, white, brown, suburban, urban and rural and i want to pick up from my early example.

remember how that black white wealth gap was jumped by a third in 15 years? chop by a third when the right to vote, the right to get a job, the kind of rights the aclu fights r every day , when those rights were protected, once the republicans pushed their trickle-down economy and began a direct assault on voting and other rights, the black white wealth gap trip and poor kids, black, white, latino, or kids stuff. in the 1960s, the chance that any child in america would do better than her rents was 9210. think about that. by 2000, that chance to climb the ladder was just under

5050. and here's the reason i find. i ran for the united states senate and headed to washingtonch system that was leaving so many behind. i knew it wouldn't be easy, trying to turn a governmt that works for the rich and powerful into a government that works for the rest of us but i go to washington to the top. i went to washington to win them and so did you. [applause] >> in the 1920s the aclu has fought to preserve the promise of america and here's what i love most about the aclu. you don't just fight. you win. you fight. you fight for the underestimated, those were left behind. women, immigrants, african americans and people of

color. gay men, bisexual and transgender people. mentally ill individuals, prisoners,oplepeith disabilities and the poor . you began fing agast the harassment and deportation of immigrants in 1920. you fought for workers rights , you fought against the ugly internment of more than 120,000 japanese americans. you stood with civil rights leaders, activists and protesters during sit in marches andfreedom rides and fighting for racial equality in america . you took on sex discrimination, fighting for equal rights for women in the workplace and in the marketplace and since the supreme court upheld a woman's rit to choose in row versus wade you've been fighting on thefront lines for reproductive rights . yeah.

[applause] you created the lesbian and gay rights project in the mid-1980s to advance gay-rights and you fought tooth and nail to make marriage equality the law of the land. yeah. and now, you are on the front lines of the resistance against this administration. you have been america's true freedom fighters. [applause] now i know reading that list is a little like preaching to the choir but we come together for a reason. we come together to remind ourselves that we have fought hard fights before. we have fought hard fights and we have one hard fights.

and i came here today to make you a promise. we will do it again. we will fight for this democracy. this presidency is not a dictatorship. we will defend our country. we will fight for our freedom and we will make this america a country we can believe in. so let's be clear about it. when an extremist group like the nra hands in the way of thesafety of our kids, we are going to fight back . when betsy devos turns her back on public education and let's student education

playback against college students, we are going to fight back. when donald trump makes a promise to dreamers and then breaks that promise, we are going to fight back . and i'm just getting warmed up. when racist voter id laws and voter suppression tactics sprout like weeds all over this country, when communities like lake are living with water and polluted air, when there is no justice for eric garner and sandra bland and philando castile and so many more, we are going to fightback . when you can still be fired

from your job because of who you love, when republicans tried to read the census to pretend that people of color don't exist, when you are afraid to report a rate because i could split up your family, when you are treated like a suspect in your daily life because of the color of your skin, we are going to keep fighting back. and if you think we get there skin now, just you wait. i'm in this fight all the way and so are you. when you fight back, you make change and this november 6, donald trump is going to hear all of us loud and clear because we are going to vote like our rights depend on it.

[applause] but november 6 is not the end of our job. no, not even close. we have to show people that when we get a chance to lead, things will start getting better. that we will build opportunities at home. so let's talk for just a minute about who and what we are fighting for. we are fighting for an economy where anyone who works can build a better life for their kids and that means rolling back the trillion dollar tax giveaways to big corporations and investing that money inhealthcare and education and infrastructure . we are fighting for criminal justice systems that promote

equal under law and that means instead of jailing some kid gets caught with a few ounces of pot, let's put the banker who financed the dru des in jail. [applause] we are fighting for an america where people means l anuathat means passing the equality act and the do no harm so that no one can be fired or denied housing or told they can't get a wedding cake just because of who they areor who they love . and we are fighting for dreamers who are as american as you and me and just want a chance to build the future. that means passing the dream act so dreamers have a chance

to live without the fear of being ripped away from the only hold that most of them haveever known. we are fighting for women and that means we will keep planned parenthood open and make sure women have access to safe, legal abortions. by the way, that also means putting more women in positions of power committee rooms to board rooms to that really nice oval-shaped room at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. [cheering] we are fighting for the right to vote and that means a census that counts every person,

automatic voter registration and no more gerrymandering. [applause] and how about we fight for a constituonal amendment establishing an unquestioned, unassailable nationally recognized right to vote. how about it? voting is not a privilege, it is a right. and most of all, we are waiting for an america that is truly democratic. that means ending corruption in washington,getting rid of the cesspool of money out of politics , overturning citizens united and returning this government to the people . >> make no mistake, none of this will be easy but i sure

hope you are ready to fight uphill for as long as it takes because i'm going hill and i need you with me all the way. [applause] so for the next five months and beyond, i ask you to raise your voice. let's fight to make the playing field level for working people once again . let's fight to restore our democracy so we can pass the promise of america on to our children and grandchildren. the darkness of this political moment may seem all-consuming. but i can and so do you. and together, we can light the path forward. together we can see this democracy. and i promise you, i promise

you that we all stay in this five and we all stand together, we will win. thank you. [cheering] >> thank you. >> well, i'm glad to see you are all joining me in thanking elizabeth warren for joining us today and for her work. not only is she persistent

but she is inspirational. now i want to thank all of you for being here and being part of the fight and now we go to the more active part of the afternoon, the breakout sessions where you cannot only get inspiration got but get mobilized. i look forward to seeing you at the awards dinner here tonight. have fun. [inuadible conversation]

>>. [inuadible conversation]

>> this week, live coverage from the us north korea summit between president donald trump and north korean leader ran for starting tonight and joined washington journal tuesday and wednesday morning for analysis and your comments. wac-span and cspan.org or listen using the free c-span radio app. >> the senate gambling in the work on defense programs and policy for 2019,voting at 5:31 starting formal debate on the bill. 60 , they will work on amendments during the week .