look at the ongoing trade disputes between the u.s., canada and mexico. also, the national reviews robert talks about redefining what disability means. a look at available programs for the community. c-span's "washington journal" live 7:00 a.m. eastern on saturday morning. join the discussion. >> at that same event current and former elected officials discuss the future of the democratic party and the 2018 and 2020 election. we hear from chris coons, former agriculture secretary, tom bill sack. as former new orleans mayor, this is two hours and 35 minutes. [inaudible conversation]

>> a morning my name is will marshall, i'm with new market. welcome to today's symposium on building new democratic majorities, big ideas for a big party, we are glad you have come. we are off to a late washington start, if they ever decided to invade washington again they should come early in the morning. but i'm glad we are here. this is the washington debut of new democracy. a new organization formed in the aftermath of the 2016 debacle. its mission is to provide a platform for the pragmatic winning of the democratic party. people who are problem solvers and can win elections in tough places in america.

's highly competitive places in the red and purple zones. particularly in washington the voice of the pragmatic democrats is often muffled. there is infrastructure to amplify the folks on the other side. lot of organizations and money. sometimes the voice of the governing rate is that it gets drowned out. one of the key functions of new democracy is to provide a platform for projection. to have a home base and support network. democracy will expands the party so we can compete and win everywhere in america.

i cannot find it now but all of the program today is a map. thank you. i may never see this again in my life. that doesn't have to be this way. the party has been competitive and we have to do that again. the simplest way to understand the mission there storming around the country and if we stayed out of washington we look at democratic leaders and candidates ran orlando, denver, and tamoi. we thought the national party has a lot to learn from the democrats out there fighting and winning in competitive places,

what we heard was a deep hunger for new leaders what were looking for his alternatives from what we hear from the washington establishment. they speak mostly to grievances of victimhood to people's economic aspirations. they have even more power in washington which is the least trusted for government. it has narrow appeals that leaves too many americans excluded. so a crucial midterm election new democracy has come with a simple message. it is hard for democrats to think strategically not ideologically. we are out of power and most of the states. we cannot afford to indulge in secretary and debates about who

is or who is not a true progressive. we need to take advantage of this midterm electoral. it's a pretty significant chunk. we understand of building new majorities. building strong candidates. that is the only way to stop the trump republican wrecking crew. the only way to stop them from packing the supreme court and dominating it for a generation. stripping more working people of healthcare coverage. looking at the psyd long race and looking and alienating our

allies while dabbling with dictators as summits. but opposition is not enough. we cannot build this through resistance. a big idea is that it inspires public confidence to create a new and inclusive prosperity. we have done that in our platform. i hope you all got that 16 big ideas for change that we could define to the right-wing populism on this strange new fraction. i could say more but we do not have time. these are some dark times in american politics. we believe the voters are hungry

and ready for an optimistic and forward-looking brute blueprint for building a new american prosperity, not going back to resurrect the old factory, we have unmatched access, talented industrial people, huge scientific and technological base, and a culture of risk-taking. the pragmatic leadership and the revival of americans can-do spirit and orientation of the future we can look at these for america's preeminence just as we did in the last. that is the new democracy mission. before turning the program over, i want to say two things, one is this is a conversation, we hate -- so were going to have a big

conversation, we will try to get the audience involved as much as we can. also we ask everybody to practice introductory minimalism. we have bios on the table. a lot of our guests are not going to get the lavish introductions they deserve. in the interest of keeping this risk. i want to say how grateful i am to our elected friends and our friends who are new leaders in the congress. they have really stepped up to the plate. we will see a great selection in the party. so my gratitude for coming out to help new democracy. thank you for coming. we hope you will stay involved in this effort. it needs, we need to build a

network of the pragmatic center. let me turn it over to my good friend and i will not say a lot about him except that he is one of the founders of new democracy, without his help, encouragement and guidance we would not be here. thank you for everything. >> good morning everybody. [applause] >> thank you. i am thrilled to see senator coons walk in the room. my job, i will introduce him in a few minutes but i will have to fill the time until he gets here. it has been almost a year and a half since i served as governor so i do not do this much anymore. >> speeches are not as long so i am glad and you should be glad that i don't have to fill a lot of time. i want to think will, he has

been wonderful when it comes to promoting the problem-solving politics the people in the country are so hungry for. i had the opportunity to attend the kickoff events and the one in denver. the level of energy in the country and the level of talent for mayors and state legislators, members of congress and others is incredible. we had so much strength across the country, it's really something important and valuable for us to build on. for understandable reasons, people are anxious and desperate about this coming election. we hear every election that this is the most important election of our lives. , people really feel like this

one really is. people are so desperate in 2018 to take back a chamber or two to win back a governor seat in state legislatures all across the country. even as we acknowledge that different campaigns will look different, all you have to do is think about counter lamb and cortez, there different candidates in different campaigns. i believe the conversation taken place today is as important as any. that is because that while it is true that hard-core democrats are sufficiently engage to vote out of animosity toward the presidents and his republican enablers, there are not enough of them to win these big elections. what we really have to do is that we do have to mobilize our base, but we also have to

convince independents and republicans that we have a more inspiring vision for the country and our leadership can make that vision real. if we are thoughtful about it, that is the place, new democracy and ppi have long been leaders with the ideas that will lead to real and sustainable economic growth. when we also ensure the balances are shared more broadly, that's a winning platform. it's good not only for an election cycle but also for the country. that is what today is about. that's what new democracy is about, we believe that when we help the country we help our party. we show examples of how massive examples and skill developments are helping transform lives. it helps our country and our people. when were working with the

private and academic sector it can lead to new startup activity across the state. that helps the party and the country. the list goes on. we are joined today by a number of talented and affected officials area will be hearing from them and are grateful to you for your service and all you're doing. i have an opportunity now to introduce one of them. senator chris and i met in 88, we worked on a campaign for the u.s. senate that was one of the least successful campaigns everywhere. in fact i took a leave of absence for a very good job to work on the campaign, the partner in charge told me he was watching the results that night and said your race was the first one called out of the entire country. i'm sure much of that had to do with the help we provided.

he is beloved in delaware and for good reason. he is brilliant, there is no question about it. you know when you hear it people across the country have seen it. he's just incredibly real. this is a guy who a chemistry degree, law degree and divinity degree for yale, went to south africa to work with bishop tutu. he came back to work for the coalition for the homeless in new york, not in the office but on the streets. he has learned not just in the classroom so much by doing and listening to people getting to know how the things that happen in washington affect those back home. that's what he cares about.

he's a great father with three wonderful kids. he will be an empty nestor in a couple of years. his wife is a wonderful person. he is also -- i talk about him being a dog with a bone. when it comes to some of the really important issues, particularly around manufacturing, particularly around some things that don't get a lot of spotlight, things like patent reform, lot of issues people don't really want to engage in he's willing to roll up his sleeve. we've seen a difference in delaware as a result of his leadership. he started something called the manufacturing jobs for american initiative. it's about our research and development tax credit he put into place, easier access to

credit, he also led an effort to create manufacturing usa, their institutes, their institutes across the country, he's always believe the government cannot do it by itself. it's about bringing together the public and private sector. you're starting to see these manufacturing institutes pop up including one right in delaware, they'll be a new institute around bio -- and i will close with this, this particular new institute is rising right now, we broke down ground probably eight or nine months ago. it's rising on the site former chrysler plant where for 50 years there folks worked at chrysler. was one of the great places in

delaware without a college degree to earn a middle-class job. in december 2008 chrysler close the plant. now you're saying a new science technology and research campus including a new several hundred thousand square-foot institute focused on bio manufacturing. similar stories can be told across the country. it has been a delight to watch and take washington by storm and see the respect he is earned in a short time. we are fortunate that you are here. [applause] >> thank you. good morning and thank you to ppi. where are we going? i do not know about you but when

i watch tv in the morning and turn on my phone and look at the latest news alerts are speaking to the room and half the heads are down because there is a tweet about something shocking our president has just said. i often ask myself, is this our america? where we going? we are gathered today to have a simple but important conversation about our direction. i will open with what i think is our common shared view. if we are going to move from a minority at every level that is dedicated to resistance to a majority that is capable of governance, then we have got to move from grievance to optimism. we have got to abandon a politics anxiety that has wild eyed proposals and instead we need to deliver ideas and practical solutions that meet the needs of americans, who

voted for someone who they thought would shake it up and are now left shaken and wondering who will help move us forward. it is for that reason we are gathered here. it is because of his remarkable record that i'm so grateful today. jack and carla are wonderful governor first lady. what was it about that campaign to make us do anything at politics is still puzzling. we actually both went into the private sector. . . and after a few years of education went into manufacturing a decade later we came back to delaware and ran to office to serve our state and that institute that i get to see literally every morning and every night taking the amtrak to washington is inspiring and a challenge and source of optimis optimism. we both grew up in and around

the area and there are thousands of high quality uaw jobs at the chrysler plant to anchor entire neighborhoods when it was torn down it was heartbreaking. we lost the gm plant in the chrysler plant and steel mills and oil refineries but as governor he refused to engage in politics >> and got the oil refinery opened. in this whole new campus and made the investments of the possible for the fuel centered clean under g manufacturing to be on that side but his actual manufacturing not just that site but also across the state. and with whether a pragmatic leader getting out of the great recession and put us on aed great footing in the

inclusive way to champion the employment of people with disabilities to be one of those practical and cable leaders that inspires the whole country. thank you for what you have done and for being so active and engaged in a part of this important discussion which i view as the beginning of an important debate for the future path of 2018 and 2020. it is a critical moment less than four months away from a lasting impact of our party country moving forward. you only have to look at the supreme court pick or his tariff trade war with our closest allies or his truly disconcerting behavior at the nato summit in advance of his upcoming meeting with putin to recognize how big the stakes are not just as a party that all citizens for our country. we have heard predictions and we were looking at a list of

compelling candidates and there are far too many in the parties sitting on their hands waiting to wash over us and restore the governing majority or to engage in a relentless race from the left to make more and more outrageous proposals rather than showing if we get the key we are serious and capable of governing again. this moment demands leadership and vision and that starts by having an honest conversation about where the democratic party is. because after the 2016 election we spent far too much time shocked and acting and pretending as if we are not in the weakest plan it has been elected orally since 1920.0. if we are not honest with ourselves how we got there that we will not have a clear eyed vision how to stop, trump we gave our majority to put the country on a better path. while many of us will the presidents conduct alarming or

reprehensible i will remind you more than 40% of voters on average and a working majority in those key western states we need to learn how to win back whether michigan or wisconsin or pennsylvania or ohio they approve of what he is doing so we have to take a step back. fact democrats are at his store close of representation in the statehouse endingpr congress and local governments all over the country to recognize those local leaders and mayors and county executive executives. i would have to mention those county executives and those who are successfully leading innovative and effective governments and ask how we can start winning again. i argue one of the biggest reasons has nothing to do with policy. because frankly if you just talk about what is long-established policy on healthcare and taxes and energy and the environmentnd broadly speaking the general

public agrees with us that we are not breaking through because they don't hear us. whether we like it or not millions of americans including those the most try to win over to trust us again view the party is condescending and detached from the real struggles they f face and dismisses of their lives and traditions of middle america including their faith. i have heard from far too many they see the democratic party as literally soulless. so how do we remake the party to build on policies will make the country stronger to improve america's lives but communicate we are not just offering policy papers that actually going to listen what they care about and genuinely concerned them and fight for themff and offer real solutions. how do weea do that involves

remaking the image of our party that shows the fault line betweenen those who have run and running again for those on the left who want to take us in a different direction and those in this room t that is why this conversation which is beginning here and must continue so important. we are in the middle of a very serious debate about what it is the democratic party will stand for not just this fall that 2020 and going forward. first of all even if we disagree let's give the fall -- the far left credit to do something we are not doing to reach out to tap into the deep motivating energy and passionate moderate as one of the challenges as those who have more centrist and mission the energy andn' passion is where it is happening. so look at the policy platform

ideas we are committed to more inclusive and progressive where everyone can succeed. but there is a big difference in tone with air angry or upset if you like washington has no sense of their lives to tell them anything that will shake up the status quo and might have a chance to improve their lives. just lookf back president trump successfully ran on. just because he said so cheaper or better healthcare for everyone. just because he said so a country without criminals or crime because all we really need is a wall. these are wild eyed proposals

with a disjointed wishlist to impose tariffs to solve trade imbalances to enacting a muslim band he said that would make us safer. we know this isn't true in nondeliverable but yet these ideas are harming our country and standing in the world and our families in the long run by trump was willing to be bold and tapped into real fears and concerns and succeed to convince millions of americans he had an answer for them that spoke to her they were and he understood and that makes it all the more important to route policies and messages in fact and principles that we believe in and can fight for and what we know to be true the democratic party has to offer bold ideas

that will work and we can deliver on and you have done an amazing job to begin that process to layout the menu that is substantive and thoughtful and bold. some members of our party i fearhe instead are taking the easier to propose ideas that sound great in a tweet like free college or free healthcare just because we say so and if that isn't enough, guaranteed jobs from the federal government for everyone because we say so. but that doesn't feel like the democratic party. that has stood up to fight for and provide real solutions to working families for decades. does it appeal to the people does it convince anyone? especially those deeply skeptical that we can be the responsible governing party? i say it does the opposite. if we want to move from a party of the minority committed to resistance that regains the majority, we have

to act like it. i understand the strategy of racing farther left in a talking head social media world pie in the sky policy and extreme rhetoric they get more followers and likes and tweets but that doesn't make usus responsible or that rhetoric a good thing for our country or party. i will give you a quick look back at the end of the 2016 election just to make the point. what was our strategy in the last closing six weeks of the 2016 campaign? as best as i could discern was essentially look at this guy. he's crazy. he is unfit. he is unstable look at how crazy he is. but running against trump to adopt his tone and style simply won't win. i have some experience with this. back in 2010 my got into the

race to run against a former governor and spent six months in an uphill race against a very well-knownn and funded candidate but then in a shocker in september he lost to a fringe unknown candidate named christine o'donnell. a french tea party candidate who almost no one saw coming. two weeks later i was on a nationally televised debate hosted by cnn unexpectedly and in the run-up to that debate lots of folks advised me all you have to do is just point out how not he is. but my mother and former vice president gave the same advice my mom was head of corporate hr for many years and said respect your voters. an election is a job interview.

no one ever got hired by spending the entire job interview to say look at how crazy she is the cat how incompetent he is you are only hiredco by saying why you deserve the job and what you will do if hired. trust that your voters know. at the end of the day we have to face the fact that simply running against someone or offering in impractical pie in the solutions won't work. we need to stand for something americans can believe in and hold onto to get them to engage and vote the next two years is just a race for unrealistic proposals to rally those of the strongest supporters that will be case so too make a win back those states we have to show up and listen to people and make the case for

democratic parties and reasoning to the left that is why why democracies work is so important to offer bold proposals with college affordability with individual savings and health insurance rates and we have to be pro- worker and pro- employee there is a difference between radical and bold. we can be bold to say healthcare isn affordable without having to say we will make it free. we can be bold to say we will fix the disastrous immigration policy without abolishing i.c.e. we can be bold to say we can protect our environment without protecting the energy industries that we rely on for a paycheck or for lower cost. and guess what? we can be bold i also saying we are willing to work with responsible republicans to get that done.

i have worked in this divided senate across the island with bipartisan republicans to get bills passed to strengthen the economy and manufacturing and r&d in intellectual property and competitiveness and although i'm not suggesting anyone run to strengthen taxes. [laughter] i do think knowing what we are talking about and having a iroposal how to bring back manufacturers to those sites and those thousands of folks whose lives were jarred and disjointed by the clerk load -- closure of the chrysler plant is a key piece to an incredible path forward that is how we make progress and why it's so important that new democracy has laid out this compelling platform yesterday it was a great starting point for those policy ideas that matter to harness talent and innovation to build prosperity to keeping markets open in the economy growing to encourage new wave ofin startups even in the rural

communities also stop insulting the closest allies and recommit ourselves to the global liberal order and organizations like nato who help build us up over seven decades. we don't have to be radical to be inspiring american people want todi support and be part of a party that welcomes them and hears them and no one judges them where they are respected but also in spider -- inspired by our optimism by the solutions put for right it is a time to listen and lead input real ideas forward rooted in principle and fact to show the american people that we are optimist and up to the task. thank you. [applause]

it is essential to think about how we reverse that line in this critical battleground and we have a group to talk about that with former secretary of agriculture tom bill sack so we will talk about aspects ofl this challenge i just want to say one other thing. everyone know she is a rising star in the house to represent illinois 171 of the districts that trump one held by democrats so she is right at ground zero but the party asked her to really look into the attitudes of the democrats

and voters in general inn the midwest she has this wonderful report you should all read because it is a focus group on elected democrats who are expected to win and are succeeding so with that. >> suggest one correction the party didn't ask that port i put that together so i'll tell you who is sitting in front of you. i represent a district and downstate illinois. what that means i am not from chicago we have 102 counties and only one of them is cook county. we have 18 members of our delegation 11 of whom are democrats and all of those democratic members of congress

are from chicagoland except for me. if you can picture the state of illinois it is pretty i big and just the entire northwest corner of which i represent the rested i was all surrounded by republican members of congress. i represent 7000 square miles, 14s counties most of them are rural and in some cases donald trump l carried henderson illinois across from burlington iowa and the entire population is only 6000 people. so what we have seen happen is that democrats were writing off places like that. in fact in henderson county donald trump one by almost 30 points but i still want i want all 14 counties on my election cycle with an 18-point swing from obama in 2012 to what

president trump one by in 2016 the 18-point swing i carry the entire district by 20 points one out of five voters that voted for trump voted for me. so what ended up happening my colleagues turned to me toin say you are one of a dozen democrats who was elected in a district that donald trump one, how did you do that? as a result of that they elected me to be one of the cochairs of policy communications among the democratic caucus. the only reason i bring that up in this setting is at the leadership table of the democratic caucus in the house of representatives there is one midwesterner. everybody else is coastal. one person who comes from a

world district. and one person comes from a district that donald trump one.ru so what i appreciate about the democratic caucus that we value diversity of every sort except the kind of diversity we just mentioned that geographic diversity, the approach to politics that it's okay to work across the aisle. it's okay to make sure we are focusing every single day relentlessly on bread-and-butter issues that people back home talk about. so when donald trump made that statement to the end of the campaign it was directed toward an african-american audience when he said what if you got to lose? people in the district like min mine, i can tell you that resonated with them. because just like chris was talking about in the governor,

we have had more than our fair share of plants like maytag send every one of their jobs to mexico. companies that were bought out sending everyone of their jobs to china. companies like robertshaw that makes his water gadgets to go in dishwasher's and sent all of their jobs to mexico we have seen more than our fair share the average family income with a family of four is 45000 in f my district. so what do we do as democrats? first of all if you listen to senator coons really he nailed it. you show up and you use these things proportionately and it is something politicians have a hard timein doing. it is much more natural for me to listen more than i talk

because for most of my career i was a newspaper reporter. seventeen years. but you know that any good reporter you ask questions and follow-up questions then you listen.te the reason i did this report help from the heartland if you google that it is the first thing thatrt comes up. it is a 52 page report so just read the executive summary you get the essenceth of it and then there also breakouts of all states and what has happened with these 1000 seats we have lost over the last decade most of those are in the midwest the governor seats, state legislatures and congressional seats we have lost 1000 seats.

i wanted to find out who is doing it right we talked to 72 democratsit more at the local level like the sheriff and state representatives and mayors and county officeholders to ask i call them survivors they could navigate this in a tough swing district. what did they do to be successful? the secret to their success are spelled out in this report. we narrowed it down to four. i will give you the essence of those. our democratic brand we have a branding issue. we can all play a part to improve that. it's difficult. but that is something we have to work on together to improve the brand of the democratic party. focus relentlessly on jobs and

theepa economy meaning there are so many issues that divide us in our country and you know what they are. i don't never go into a room to start with those issues thatss divide. if somebody ask you a question about these issues of course as a member of congress i answer them honestly that i try to get back to the topic that i know people care about. we connecting with voters just show up and it is listening and using what we learn from people to help guide policies to make sure they do reflect what people back home want us to focus on and to adapt the campaign and secretaries lsat can talk about this better than almost anybody i know because he ran for governor with the most unique campaign in the state of iowa. but it is adapting our

campaigns to the world area. so with secretary self back to with the rural state and basically when you go doorknocking if you were in a republican household with your little packet they won't notice if you walk right past their i house. sometimes those are gettable voters you cannot just act like if it is a rural county north they voted republican you just forget them. if it is adapting the campaigns. maybe rural radio or newspaper ads that i can tell you as a congressional candidate most people don't do rural radio or newspaper ads anymore.enal even considering things like that. so in closing we have a

wonderful opportunity this november. the best crop of candidates and the tough swing district they have ever seen in my political career. people who fit their district like a glove and that is the secret. candidates do matter the campaigns obviously matter and showing up and listening matters that caliber of candidates really do matter we were talking earlier there was a candidate running in eastern iowa right across from my district coming from a blue-collar family and is 28 years old and with the race in new york she would've been the youngest woman ever elected to the u.s. house of representatives at 28 years

old. just a remarkable candidate. i am very excited about her also to callout one running one of the most unique campaign her name is alyssa running in michigan. she is a former cia officer and served three tour in iraq.ev never has run for anything in her life and made this decision because she was so motivated by the direction her country is going that she decided to fun. and michigan winters are not exactly mild. she already has her field operations up and running last winter and her people knocking oner the doors she calls it snow boots on the ground. but instead of handing literature to whoever answers,

her people are asking those what is on your mind? what doo you want from your congresswoman? what do you want to see happen in washington? so down to the precinct level she knows what those people care about. and can adjust what she is talking about and she realized potholes in the state of michigan in her district is a big deal. when i went to campaign for her a few weeks ago, she had a go pro in the window of her car and driving and talking about how bad the roads are in michigan and she starts naming these potholes because they are so brutal one was named alcatraz because you could get in you cannot get out. but she is running a hyper local campaign as a congressional candidate and

that is my advice. tip o'neill all politics is local we have to remember that again to treat all of these campaigns that same way so all of these new candidates have a greatse shot coming out of central iowa tremendous oucandidates there are 70 swing districts democrats have to pick up 232 win back the majority. we have 72 open w house seats so that gives you s an idea when the seat is open it is a better opportunity we have 15 veterans. that are the most phenomenal people plus amy mcgrath video out of kentucky or the richard video. out of west virginia. just amazing and others who

have gotten or publicity with these amazing veterans and human beings they are among the 15 that a record number of women which i'm very proud to say 27 women right now are the nominees and their parties. [applause] very proud of t p that so we hae every opportunity to win back the t house. i think we can win it back how far do we let the pendulum swing? right now it is in a bad place if we let it go this way to the point of hanging on i don't want to win back the majority for one cycle if we make some meaningful changes in this country has to last more than two years but we have to let these people who swing like this to get some good things done. yesterday in the new york times the headlinest is the center is sexier than you think y.

so let's offer the center to be sexier than we think and onward to victory. thank you very much. [applause] >> that iss terrific. secretary will stack you need to speak. >> that's good enough. >> i got up this morning and did not have bright -- breakfast lime a little irritable. [laughter] i will get right to the point jack you are great governor congresswoman you are terrific representative for t party i hope you have the opportunity to be in leadership for a long time and i hope you are in the majority. now i said the things about people here i will get to my point you cannot affect change govern you cannot govern unless you win. and you cannot win unless you talk to rural voters. it is that simple.e.

think about those for democratic presidents we had in the last 50 years. johnson small-town, jimmy carter small-town. clinton. small-town.li barack obama raised by his mom from the small town. they all understood and had in their dna a connection to rural america. so we operate at our paralytic we decide to ignore the 15% of america america that is in the rural communities. that is roughly the equivalent population and african-american population and we would never ever or should we ever consider ignoring those populations. why do we ignore the rural population? if you want to be president or governor or senator or state legislator or a member of congress, you have to speak to

the role folks. i have four things i want to share. number one tos reinforce you cannot just give lip service you physically have to be there. you got to go to world communities barack obama spent 89 days in iowa when he campaigned in 2007. you have to talk up the rural folks not talk down to them. our party has attendance on -- a tendency to talk down every single person is allowed to be someone who does not have to produce their own food because you delegated that responsibility of raising the food to several hundred thousand incredibly dedicated hard-working families.evbl they are the people that control the water we consume, the power that we use comes from role america a place

where cities they want to get away from it all. they go? hunt and fish and hike and bike? also disproportionately sends their sons and daughters in the military. they raise these kids with a value service and importance of service. so talk them up. don't talk down. build them up. understand the emotion that occurs in small town america. in my lifetime those that are my age here is what they have seen manufacturing plants h have left, the impact on their central business district as it begins to be boarded up and the merger of their school system with the archrival down the road because they cannot afford to small schools. c and the elimination of

healthcare services because they cannot afford to take care of the doctor and his family. and then most of all you see their sons a and daughters and grandkids leave. understand the hollowing out that they felt and speak to it. understand our party is the party of hope but when we talk about hope we always talk about the people at the bottom of the ladder and encouraging them with our help and assistance to rise up the ladder better understand many of the people and small-town have been at the top of the ladder. they have lost something. it's not about giving them hope and opportunity for things they have never had before which is a much easieref sell but to say we will restore you. what was trumps statement?

make america great again? that basically says to those have come down the ladder we will put you back onwi top. that? we do we have to have a plan. not a program but a plan. that says to all of those people we will be yourll partner. not of a solution or an answer or another government program but to work with you to support production agriculture and understand exports not all trade is bad if you are a farmer you dependat on trade so when we speak of trade as if it were all bad farmers interpret that is they don't get my life. figure out a more nuanced way to talk about trade to recognize those benefits and

guarantee we have a receptive audience with all the tariffs right now. talk about local and regional food systems to hold out for the small producer to develop their own market not based on a commodity or global pricing system that discourages small but big technology give them an opportunity to be entrepreneurial to bring entrepreneurship back to small communities. talk about conservation not just better soil and clearwater but the recreational opportunity that comes with better soil and the opportunity to attract capital into those communities with the construction companies that do conservation and the ability of companies and individuals to get the environmental result to satisfy that responsibility or social responsibility that

they should have. to bring manufacturing back with plant -based bio -based manufacturing. 390billion-dollarll industry employing 4 million people. most of though should be employed inal communities. develop those policies and understand innovation and new ideas but what about the impact of people that will lose their job? we ought to have a strategy for a transition economy to ensure that the ups drivers that they are transitioned in a way that doesn't leave them frustratedm and angry.

and finally we need to understand part of the anxiety is that the face of change is soac rapid that has accelerated beyond our capacity our governments are too slow. it takes too long to do things. we are now in a competition with our friends in china who will actually suggest they have an alternative way to govern that is more practical, quicker and more effective.ni it is an absolute competition and if we don't reform our government and understand the need for quicker decision-making or a streamlinedak process, we can lose that competition. so i hope our party understands the importance of speaking to and about world communities. i am convinced if we do we can have electoral success and

wednesday legislator races that means we can reapportion districts in a more equitable way and have a cadre of individuals behind to be the next governor of a state like jack or congresswoman like sherry or the next senator like chris. then we have a terrific opportunity to take back w the house with someone who can speak not just to a group of sideload populations but to all americans. they leave you with this. as bad as the situation appears to be today, make no mistake you can't do something with nothing. donald trump is something you can't beat something with nothing and our party better understand the necessity to have universalal message. that is my message to all of you. [applause] m

>> what you just heard could be a version of his speech he gave at the heartland retreat with all of the iowa democrats last october. and with that kind of guidance we can reach these voters. thank you very much. now to bring in harrison hickman part of the political strategy and polling fraternity in washington. he is also someone who specializes in electing democrats. a personal note we work together on the hunt campaign in 1884 trying to get jesse helms out of the senate. i guess somewhere in the middle at the time but take it

away. >> i want to endorse almost everything i have heard this morning. i grew up in small town like the secretary mentioned it was so small we had drivers education and sex education in the same car. [laughter] so what i wanted to talk about was before you get is candidates i have looked for on district for almost 40 years but to get through the stereotype whether a woman or banker or teacher or african-american or a democrat that you have to get through that stereotype before people can analyze who you are and what your qualities are. one of the big challenges

today there is a huge gap of the reality of the voters in the impression they have of democrats. but the confusion is an activist on the one hand and with leaders there is that confusion between the people that are the most representative and those that are themo loudest or in this case the most outrageous or anti- trump. there is the assumption that is why democrats are. not just because a fox news we do it a lot to ourselves but we have done some recent polling i want to share a and just randomly picked two states like iowa and new hampshire. look at people who will participate in the nominating

process in the caucuses in iowa and the primary in new hampshire and ask them some questions about the democratic party. we asked them would you like for the democratic party to be more liberal, take the traditional approach of the democratic party or rather it focus on new ideas and innovation? with iowa caucus voter participants and new hampshire primary voters about 30% think the party should either be more liberal or take the traditional democratic approach. those majority in states 50% think the democratic party should focus on new ideas and innovation regardless of ideology.

so democrats want the party to be more liberal and that is a true or to go backwards but when you look for what you want with the next presidential candidate you wantsi somebody who is a fighter for progressive ideas or someone who works in a bipartisan manner? the democratic nomination for somebody who works in a bipartisan manner to get things donee as opposed to the progressive causes so would you prefer a candidate who orrgizes liberal voters appeals to middle-of-the-road voters? with 35 or 60 somebody who

appeals to middle-of-the-road. so people have an impression of the democratic party. so also in terms of policy issues and we gave people three choices so trade has been harmful to the country and beneficial to the country but not enough has been done? an overwhelming more than half of those in bothha state think it has not been beneficial but we haven't done enough so that

polarity of those arguments that we have within the party and the republicans hurt us because many times that is what makes a difference. people ask what i do forr a living that i am a pollster and i explained to them there is no regulation in this business any fool can get into and a t lot have so i hope i have proved i am not one of those. [laughter] thank you. [applause] >> bills for fascinating data points to eliminate that perception gap that is enormous here in washington when it comes to defining the base of the democratic party in washington you get the sense it is progressive activist groups.

and that supposition is they are driving hard on the left from rank-and-file with these key primaries that have different views. so now we will bring in paul who is the author of this important report how democrats make energy and climate change winning campaign issues. we fumbled the politics for a long time but there is an opportunity to stop doing that and make it work if we can get this right. over to you. >> thank you everybody for being here. in the spirit all speakers i want to have an honest conversation to ask a simple question. how did america elect a

president who denies climate change science? how did that happen? i think it happened because the democratic party does not have a serious brand around incredible advanced energy boom that has been the brightest spot in the american economy in the last ten years. i don't know why our nominee. terry clinton for example did not embrace shale gas and most midwestern swingem states and contrast that incredibly positive economic and environmental story to help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 12% under president obama, donald trump's areas we have to recognize for most americans energy is an economic issue

whether those who produce shale whale and gas all over the or those who benefit from the lower prices that they have given us. under president obama, oil production in the united states grew 74% of the largest growth in history. that is incredibly important for our economy lowered the price of oil by half. it also reduced our imports of oil from 16 to 30% were an an incredible success i never heard that during the campaign. look at shale gas. shalepresident obama gas growth was 34%. percent. of that again ins incredible benefit to businesses lowering the cost of electricity throughout the united states.

didn't really seem to come up during the campaign. we have to embrace this incredible energy revolution shale and gas are a part of it but a lot of it is what democrats have been in the lead that includes renewable energy but also efficiency and storage and carbon capture and a whole range of technologies that are transforming america into theec world superpower on energy and in fact if they are largely through research and development at those laboratories which we have championed for decades leading to these advances but we don't seem to embrace it. i have worked on climate change for 25 years. i deeply care. one of the most important issues facing our country and the world but until we start talking about energy in

economic terms first and security terms second, we don't get a hearing on climate change third. and climate change will cost us a bundle. it already years. the storms and other related natural disasters that were exacerbated by climate change in 2017 alone cost taxpayers $130 billion the total cost is over 300 billion almost 400 lives lost but does not include puerto n rico which is already estimated at nearly 5000 people. so is the provision of affordable energy to people living paycheck to paycheck.

we are the party that has solutions on energy and climate change we can have energy abundance and climate protection together. we know how to do this under barack obama we had 4 million new energy-related jobs in the united states while we reduce greenhouse gas emissions 12%. we know how to do this and we have the technology in fact to reduce emissionsgr by 90%, i would say we have the technology right now to do that. that includes keeping the nuclear fleet which is more than 60% of zero emission electricity today, it involves using natural gas but capturing the carbon to create friend new products come involving story and by the way

the cost has gone down 70% and we have to talk about it inin the way that americans it. to do this math we have to become the party of economics for average people in the what is the point of the spear in this process. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. that is aged men to sleep important message. in the great primary battle in 2016, we almost had a democratic platform but now we are reflecting this and ds.

but it is just quite the opposite. it has helped to create an energy mix think it's those emissions down. and with that contested territory it is the jobs issue a great middle class when everybody wants and we have a few minutes left so to throw things open to theob wider panel and those in the audience who have a question or comment they would like to add. but one thing i just want to get back is your polling of the fat of the voters that really matter is fascinating.

what is the top issue or top of their minds? >> that anything is to stop the damage of trump. it ishi job one. and the second thing they are interested in is how to build a meaningful community. they are not nearly as selfish as either national party acts like they are.s then to think of the broader community with a better healthcare system and to build a better economy. if there is one thing that we

are falling behind in terms of the ability for our families and communities and provide for the them. >> we talk a lot about economics and people falling down the ladder those who have suffered downward mobility that is a challenge especially if we want the optimistic message but is a heartland reaction due to cultural concerns what about economic

concerns? >> i think the big challenge is people don't really hear what we are proposing in these areas because they are turned off by the national image of democrats. it is hard for democratic candidates to be heard. we work on the independent expenditure campaign to help doug jones and alabama and i can tell you i have no doubt that democrat well seek every sexual predator that we run against left but i worked for the last two democratic governors in alabama it is hard to be heard as a democrat for people to even take your ideas t seriously because we have created such a negative

stereotype. so many times you probably remember a media consultant that said the best thing you have -- and we have the biggest one eve ever. trump will define the political scene and how democrats can offer an alternative is what matters most. . . . . >> this is just in response to paul's comments on energy, i think it was fascinating. since on an economist as an

economist we do write about that a lot. it's interesting what paul had talked about in some of the other congress folks was that thinking about the party with economics with the average person including energy. what we have looked at with the economics of energy, we used a in the 70s for an increase said dollar increase in it dollars gas it took to consumer spending would be severe. you have to look at it in a different way. i also think when you look at the geography of the maps now when you look at it today the increase in the dollar of gas

will heard at the gas pump but you also have to recognize that u.s. now is the largest energy producer in the world. i believe we have surpassed saudi arabia. so, that means it also creates jobs and jobs are in middle america. that is something that i do not think it's recommended recognize. i thought that was interesting. >> thank you. i want to make two quick comments, these standards have improved pocketbooks of americans without them realizing it may have been pushed by democrats.

the fuel economy that your car gets today versus the 1970s was triple, it is due to rise almost twice again, the trump administration is proposing rolling back the standards even though the auto companies do not want them to. what that amounts to is attacks on the american people. we need to talk about these issues in economic terms. rolling back fuel economy standards is going to make that cost more. rolling back other efficiency standards will make electricity cost more. for the 50% of americans who live paycheck to paycheck, it's a big deal. but with the cat efficiency and climate we need to look at it in terms of the pocketbook kitchen table economics. >> thank you. unfortunately my job is to be the mussolini of new democracy to make the trains run on time. we want to hear from the mayor next, brief introductions, we want to big introductions but we are pleased and proud to have the mayor join us.

it's a good time for me to advertise one of the planks for the new democratic platform which calls for them to go local. think about how to remove more power in decisions and resources to mayors. the mayors are the stars of our federal system. they are the ones who are turning in a record of innovation, rebuilding our economy and social fabric from the ground up. we went down and talked about the remarkable change in economic situation there. both of these mayors are the forefront of that revolution. i also want to say that he just

left to fabulous terms in new orleans and gave a model speech which you probably heard of. it went viral about the federal monument controversy. they can front history and i commend that speech it's an eloquent statement and it hit home. so thank you so much for joining us. [applause] >> i think all of you for having me. i'm from louisiana so we know about swamps, to say hey to marianne landrieu's. in the back. she's going to talk about education in the future so i will leave that to her. mayor, it's nice to see you. we are working hard to take our

rightful place in america. we haven't been given are due yet but we are going to get there. i don't know why you asked me to come talk to. i'm unemployed i am out of excuses. i was thrilled to be able to get out of the house and come talk to for a minute about some of the issues facing the country. i don't pretend to speak to the national democratic party, i'm only giving you some sensor perspective about how for the last eight years we were able to get some things done in the state and city, sometimes with the help of washington, d.c. most times without their help. to the issue will spoke about earlier, about how to really

find best examples and this is your phrase of laboratories of democracy and change in cities as well, i want to begin by simply been understood by people, you cannot govern if you cannot win elections. because you do not have the power to do it. you cannot win elections if one extreme is responding to the other extreme. if you did win the election and were able to govern, you would not be able to get anything done if you cannot find common sense solutions to problems. nothing seems to be working there seems to be moving. i'm not in expert on congress. i don't think many people are. but i would venture to say the public doesn't understand how congress does not work.

i bet that if on monday speaker ryan put an immigration bill on the floor of the house and suspended a rule and let 435 elected members have an all-out debate, with everybody offering amendments, by the end of the week the mill will of the american people would be done. if the next week he did infrastructure i think we come up with an infrastructure package. because of institutional rules right now the american people don't even get what they're entitled to which is a full and open debate. cities do not work that way. states don't work that way. james can tell you that we don't have the luxury of talking about things for too long. there's a reason for it. the incentive is to talk less and do more. the reason that's real is because we live in the communities we work. the decisions we make it the

ground right away. and if we did not get our jobs done, the lights were gone, the police would show up, and you would get thrown out of office in a heartbeat. the incentives that exist right now seem to be upside down. that is why washington, d.c. is frustrating the rest of the country. the other message is that we live in different worlds. if the reflection on cnn, fox and msnbc are accurate about the way washington thinks about itself and how divided everybody is into red, blue, urban, and rolled and we live in different worlds. in the cities we govern that is not our experience.

it is not our experience that people are not talking to each other. in the world that we live in, there are people who are seeking and finding common ground because they depend on each other. they know one connected to without the other. so without being simplistic, you know this to be true, if you see common ground, if you want a solution to the problem and the incentive is to make something work as opposed to win or be the leader or do whatever folks do, that is what will happen. right now i believe the president is taking the country in the wrong direction. he is not the cause of this, although he is exacerbating it. he is simply and certainly a symptom of this notion that stay divided we will be better. or if you win, and ordered to do that i have to lose.

that's not our experience. if everybody's at the table then we win. the reason is simple. none of us have everything we need to get everything done. you actually have to reach out to other people. as a mayor when i listen to the washington, d.c. theory of life that in order to win as a democrat you have to be antibusiness or you have to be anti- energy or in a certain way about infrastructure than i listen to the other side and say you have to be all for it. the thing that helped us rebuild the city of new orleans, besides the wonderful gratitude of the people of this country was making sure everybody was at the table talking about ways they

can take responsibility and realize opportunity. the second was that there is no ideological way to what were trying to do. we want to be informed by good values and common sense. the order of the day was to find an answer to the problem. mary will talk about this later, generally speaking in louisiana we had a school system that was not working. it had to be fixed. in new orleans we had to find a new way of educating our children. the debate was not at the time about should we be prounion, antiunion. the answer was what is the best model that kids can learn. what is the answer that surrounds that given the circumstances when were dealing with the criminal justice system. the issue wasn't whether you're soft or hard on crime.

the issue was how do you keep the community safe and can you be tough and smart at the same time. isn't it wise to make sure people who are in jail for moderate offenses would it be better if you found a pathway back to the city and retrained and put them in jobs, how do you break down the barriers, if mayors were left to deal with immigration reform, you can contradict this if you want, but if you gave us the job of coming up with a package of immigration reform that is 65% of the country would support based on the polling data, i think we can put mayors in the room and within a short time we can come up with a solution that if tested 65% of the people would support. because we understand give-and-take in figuring out you have to be tough and smart at the same time. in new orleans on this is true

in oklahoma city is true in arizona run by democratic and republican owners that there's leaders being creative i'm ways to solve old problems. if you view the world through the and think of what matter, safety and security moment education matter having systems all matter, you're also dealing with innovation and automation and how we have to completely redesign our city to be able to receive what's coming our way in terms of vehicles when they won't have drivers in them. there's all things that were thinking about going forward. essentially the only way we can be successful is to reach out to

people and asked them to be involved in it. and secondly because we don't have enough resources to make sure everybody is putting into the pot. as a political matter, i happen to agree with the gentleman that spoke a minute before, you cannot be somebody with nobody, you can't read a message, with no message at all. i am here to testify to what i have seen as the secret sauce of success across america in the cities. that is strong leaders, not only in the government sector but in the not-for-profit sector, give everybody a big tent everybody has a place at the table, nobody gets excommunicated, everybody is invited in and then lock the doors kids we are not leaving until we figure out the answer.

no more going on vacation and getting paid of the lights are not coming on. i see my wonderful friend, david who has worked with me as lieutenant governor. thinking about new ways to innovate, even for those of us who agree in government, i believe it has a massive and important act to play. all things being considered, we prefer the federal government to be involved if the government is not going to show up we would much prefer for there to be a relationship between the government to solve problems that need to be solved. that's true whether you're talking about agriculture, housing, or whatever. if you're not going to show up we want you to get stuff done. be that as it may, even those of us if you believe in government, government has to work well. the nuts and bolts that have to

be efficient and effective, you have to cut out waste, fraud, abuse, you have to reduce regulations that don't make sense and that are obsolete, you need to make sure you're keeping the ones that are protecting the health and safety of the country. should never say i'm against reducing regulation without thinking really hard about what that really means. when i became mayor i became a city that was on the verge of bank and crip seat. i could've taken it into bankruptcy i was advised not to. they said it's really easy to get in and it's hard to get out. that resonated with me because i knew i had a hard job i cut 22% hard dollars, bone and muscle and marrow out of our government. think about that number on the federal level, i don't think there's ever been a cut that's ever been that much less not a cutting growth. in an effort to do that people

said you believe in -- but i also believed in balance budgets and long-term fizzles security. i also had a big fight with the union about her firefighters pension fund that was going to bankrupt the city after we got out of this and people said you're crazy, wire are you fading. i said i represent everybody in the city. if the city is not financially sound that the next mayor in the next city council will not have the opportunity to make choices between good and better options. that's a terrible place to be. democrats have lost the reputation of being people who really think about the pocketbooks. people want to feel like they have an opportunity, they want to make sure they are not going to get hurt and at the same time, they are open to the

issues that the democratic party pushes on social issues. they know that the country that discriminates against people based on race, creed, color and country of origin is not who we are, they know that. and not all the people who support donald trump fall into the category of being racist. the people who are in the middle, notwithstanding the fact that they don't like that and also we understand pocketbook issues, they don't think that we sue them. some candidates actually do not go to see them, mary landrieu 14 terms in the united states senate, a democrat in a very red state. one of the reason she ran is because she went to every parish in the state, even the one she knew were gonna show up one way,

i won because i went to every parish. the calculation is not don't go there because you cannot leave the calculation is if you go there you might get 35%. if you don't go there you're going to get 20, that 15% differential was the difference between winning and losing plus a little bit. in some instances we forget in the politics of it that there are people who live all over the place, all are different, all have a of you an opinion, they all want to be seen and heard. one of the lessons of the last election and many years before which i'm not sure we completely understand, is that people notwithstanding the fact that we are militarily secure, although we have contagions across the world, even though the stock market is high and on employment

as low people are still feeling alienated their grievances that exist. our challenge is to make people feel included but you have to see them first and acknowledge them. then you have to recognize that irrespective they are all really smart. there's good folks that never went to high school that have good common sense that will out judge those of us who went to ivy league schools. that sense of entitlement and permeates them. so without trying to give a dissertation about trying to get elected, i think president clinton was correct, addition is better than subtraction if you

don't show up and ask, they're going to tell you know, the second thing is we have to be able to win by not being extreme. i would resist the urge for the democratic party to tilt heavily to the left. sometimes we been to the right and left, sometimes we lose her mind, and have a moment which is what were having now, i think that we have to recognize that were in a dangerous and dark place. i recognize that president trump, why he may be contributing to this, he is a symptoms as much as a cause, we have to ask how we got into a place where we made the decision we made. people made that because they were hurting and they didn't have a way out. whether they would make the same choice again or not is up in the air. i can only tell you that his view of america it's dark, it is not correct. it is not the one i experience every day as mayor of the city of new orleans. the people of louisiana are wonderful, they show up at

ceremonies, they go to church together, we sometimes have 500,000 strong, the entire community is there and everybody is enjoying themselves. you know americans are brought around a common ground. given an opportunity the better angels among us. that is what will happen. you have to invite them in and recognize there there. then you have to remind them that on the ground where they know each other great things are getting done, they'll improve educational opportunities, though fix run-of-the-mill problems, and they will make them feel safe and secure. at the end of the day, if they feel like they have an investment to make it and you asked them to assume responsibility, more often than

not they generally show up as has been done in the history of the country. i do agree that you will find an answer to a lot of the nations problems in the cities and towns run by strong leaders who know how to bring people together. that is the prescription for a future. thank you for having me. [applause] >> thank you. that was terrific. we will move along and start drilling down on the economic question, how can this party really command the heights of the bread-and-butter issues and start to speak to people in the midwest and elsewhere that we haven't reached on this. i cannot think of anything better to kick this off then congressman tim ryan. tim represents the faith district of ohio, that is northeastern ohio, that is a ground center and the story of

job loss and in the story of working-class voters ship and coming to this president, unfortunately i think he is thinking hard about trying to get our party and how to be the party of jobs in progress and hope again. and not just the party of class resentment and telling people there's nothing they can do because the economy is rigged. without further a do, thank you. >> thank you. i have the mayor left but i wanted to thank him for his comments on leadership. it's over at any gave one of the best speeches. we cannot really solve any of

these problems unless fully understand where we were and where we want to go. as will said, i represented district in northeast ohio that includes youngstown. we have a day we remember in our communities, september 19, 1977. we refer to that day is black monday. that was the day that the operation was immediately closed down. 5000 jobs immediately went away. over the course of the few years' 40000 manufacturing jobs, 400 and economic investment, it hollowed out our community. we remember the stories, when i talked to my mother-in-law about

the story in this particular day, i remember bringing it up and she said, i'll never forget that day, i'll never forget bobby, my father alone, and ho home, dirty, dusty and lunchpail in hand, they had just borrowed $4000 from my father-in-law's parents to get a new house. they had two little girls, he kept saying to himself and to his wife, i have no idea what we're going to do, and the issue were talking about today is that what happened on that day was 30 years ago, that has happened over and over again in communities all across the united states.

we have yet to solve this problem. that's why this conference in conversation is so important about what we're going to do to solve these major economic problems that we have in the country. the context that we have to talk about his democrats it is what is the global landscape like. we have two that was stated in the latest national defense strategy, we have 2p competitors, we have russia and china, russia has a weaker hand but they plant well, they're messing with us all the time, we hear about them messing with us every single day, we have china who is a more direct economic competitor, what we are seeing from china is an effort,

military, economic and political on how to overtake the economy in the military and the politics of the united states. it is part of government their building bases in the south china sea. they said they would not militarize them and they are. their building bases in africa, they're ready to build another one, they are locking in long-term raw material contracts in africa getting poor countries on the hook controlling those countries, so they can supply their industrial machines back at home. they have us strategy called one belt, one road will there will make a very aggressive pitch throughout asia, they have a

maiden china 2025 program in which they are continuing to build out the manufacturing base in china, they have a five-year plan, they have a 15 year plan, they have a fifty-year plan and hundred year plan. and the united states is operating in a 24 hour news cycle. twenty-four hour plan. day-to-day, tactical. no big strategy, meanwhile, what happened to bob at u.s. sheet and tube and other families 40 years ago, our systems had continued to erode and collapse. the systems are broken and not serving the people anymore. we can go through an economic system that has gross inequali

inequality, criminal justice system expenses, we have a health care system this prince two and half times the money and we get the worst results. we have an agricultural system that puts algae blooms in the great lakes, and we have warnings that come and say you can only eat one or two fish per month out of the streams and rivers and i'm not the sharpest knife but if you tell me not see whether one or two fish out of a river, i'm not sure why i want efficient in that river, we have a food system that is broken, we have half the country now has either diabetes or prediabetes. these systems are broke, obviously the immigration system

is broken so, we have an obligation here, today to put an agenda together that will rebuild the united states, i think we have got to get out of this, who's left, his right, who center, the global economy and technology has blown away any preconceived labels that we think we have. i think that is part of the reason we cannot solve these problems, were trying to put them in boxes that don't exist anymore, we need all hands on deck, we need a strong, robust and efficient noble government that is willing to make the bold investment that needs to be made. we need an efficient, compassionate and smart private sector that will work with these public-private partnerships that

the mayor said, every deal we make where were locating a business, it's the port authority comments using new market tax credit and state government, sometimes federal government its workforce training in the community college and local college, is people coming together to make this happen. we can do it but we have got to create the next reiteration of the american economy. i'll tell you one story, we did a tour, we called it the comeback cities tour a few months back, we got 13 venture capitalists on a bus from silicon valley, and we took him to five towns, we took him to

youngstown ohio, we took them to detroit, michigan, flint michigan, and south bend indiana. the whole idea is that 80% of venture capital goes to three states, you know what they are, california, massachusetts and new york, nine persons goes to women and only 1% goes to african-americans. so, we wanted to close the divide, nobody on the bus was saying who's a democrat and republican in libertarian, as we have some libertarians in silicon valley. and it was about connecting capital to communities to those who need private investment, they need roads and bridges and schools that are affordable, but they also need private investment.

private companies who hire are people, so, we have to come together and figure out what the strategy is. this panel and conferences critically important. one less story, periodically as you know we will do random visits in our congressional district. a few weeks ago i was in youngstown. i had a local councilman taking me around and i just drive through the neighborhood and see what's going on, he took me to woman's house, it was in the worst neighborhood in youngstown, he took me to a woman's house her name was mrs. duke, mrs. duke did not know we are common, she comes around the back of the house and she has a spray bottle in her

hand. she was spraying for ants in her home. we are in the worst neighborhood and their dilapidated homes, there's crime, opiate problems, and mrs. duke is spraying for ants, her house is meticulous, the grass is cut, her son comes from around the corner and he has paint on his arm, he was on back pain in the door. he had white pain on his arm. we go to her house and sit there and it's the middle of summer, hot but the house was impeccable on the inside, old marble fireplace, mantel and we talked and she was talking about how she was trying to get the neighborhood fixed up and it was in heaven the success she wanted, so she thought about moving and she had her son go out and look for her to sell her

house. to know how much she could give for her house? $4000. all the smart people say move to where the jobs are. for in her sign going to move to silicon valley with $4000 in their pocket? she is trapped. there are people in our country that are trapped. i will tell you, you can have the philosophical discussions and all the rest we have in washington, but if we don't figure out a way how to help the mrs. duke's of the world of her son to have opportunity, jobs, investment, and economic security and healthcare, this country is not going anywhere. that is our responsibility. that is our job.

to figure that out. and to put the preconceived notions of the past behind us. but elevate the conversation. let's find some common ground so we can get to higher ground. there is a mountain right there. we need to climb it. we need to join hands, find out what we agree on, recognize it is going to be capitalism in a strong progressive government that will make this happen. we can do it. but, we have got to be together. or, we are not getting up the mountain. i have been using this lately because i think it makes me feel good. someone said to mohammed ali, hey champ, i saw you and i saw the fight where you got knocked down. mohammed ali said, i have never been knocked down. never once. he said i'm either up or i'm getting up.

and america, is getting up. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you congressman. now we want to go to the challenges set before us. how will we job new job creation? new investment to the places that are distressed and left behind. . .

>> and to see them ranging in age from 25 or 60 to go back and study with algebra two is the big separator. they knew they could do better but they need somebody to help them give a hand. you are absolutely right the government working with the academic hector certainly the private sector so thank you for starting us off. we have a great panel and what we will do is go around and start with the representative if you could keep your comments brief we are trying to create a conversation and

great to see you again. >> it is great to be here and also to be with my colleagues. i am a congressman from the city of philadelphia and also the philadelphia suburbs in montgomery county. philadelphia is emblematic of what is happening nationwide. it is the best of times and the worst of times. speaking nationally with unemployment at a remarkable low some economists believe full employment but to be in the 90 or the same thing with

the economy coming out of the deepest recession since the 30s in and eight or 90 or in a strong economic expansion so by all those measures people should be quite happy and they are doing well but at the same time for other pockets of my city and state and other pockets in the country the fact of the matter is things were better 30 and 50 years ago. so the question is especially for democrat and the centerleft party worldwide, what do we do in this new economy creating this debt so if we have a higher education or certain skills maybe not members of congress but to have opportunities today or than ever before with higher pay that yet for those like my

parents of a high school education, no college there are fewer job opportunities for less pay in parts of philadelphia or youngstown ohio and in parts of this country. to me that is the key challenge for us and with the democratic party because just to end it with this, if we as democrats don't come up with positive solutions, there will be other voices as we saw in 2016 to come up with other explanations of people to blame to solve these complicated questions to blame the immigrants or the others. so i believe we cannot do this ground we must lead the way to solve this problem to make sure those who live in the area that have been left

behind can fully participate. thank you. [applause] so a quick follow-up, what is the single idea you hear being discussed? been there is several and i feel this is the low hanging fruit i am still so surprised the trump administration has not pursued and that is a real infrastructure plan. i don't mean something that says 1.5 trillion really it is $200 million with unreasonable leverage assumption but if you were to take democrats and mainstream suburban republicans and come together on a real infrastructure plan that we need according to the american international council

we are rated between a c- and a d with the state of infrastructure roads and bridges and rail but also in terms of the water lines that most of those were from the 19th century and it would put an incredibly high number of people back to work. so i feel that is the low hanging fruit that could immediately help people but in terms of longer-term and in part of the blue-collar caucus talking to folks from amazon about the ways in which the jobs they are creating today actually to create blue-collar workers and how we bring that to those pockets left behind. that is a little bit longer-term but this is in the policy area.

>> so to work on infrastructure think the grade of a d+ at least we are passing. so you also pointed out a few things in terms of where i wanted to start off since i covered the u.s. economy it is a little better we are seeing jobs going up on average now over the last 12 months people are spending a bit more. but to take a step back to put that into perspective where we are right now. first when we talk about 3% growth rate in part that is with that fiscal stimulus tied to the bipartisan budget agreement. that is still rather low

talking about the year after the recession would end and over recovery of the period that you see from 4% so it is still rather low. and while we do expect to see improvement from fiscal spending but where we see that productivity generation and the growth. what we are worried about and what we see for growth we are looking at growth slowing down at the potential growth rate of one or 2% in just a few years that is one percentage point lower than 15 years ago. now when we talk about jobs the labor participation rate is at or near a 40 year low. that is in part tied to retirees about three quarters

of that is retirees in the workforce but even those that are still just starting at this but they are not coming back that is a long process. but there are other factors as well that you mentioned unemployment rates frequently 8% but that hides the fact that there are so many people leaving not just retirees but people who have given up looking. and we actually see that even at 3.8% unemployment rate we think that hides the flak in the market labor participation is out of 40 year low but we expect to see the unemployment rate could drop even further. because we see so many people leaving the workforce and there is one other worry that we have for this group as we talk about this basically

people of age that are no longer working. look at men between the ages of 25 and 54, they have dropped out a few of them are coming back. as the economy get stronger but compared to check the numbers to stay closer to 95% in the workforce that has dropped significantly since then. and what are the reasons why? trade, globalization, automatio automation, technological change and also we see this that they were entering the workforce at a rapid pace from the 70s through the '90s and see them moving as well and what are the concerns there with the time off penalties?

because that is the lion share of family care and another thing i want to point to is what is happening with business job coordination and business starts? in those firms that bring employment and job creation and what we see so far from the government data is we have seen no business formation recover those numbers do not show that's what we have seen it fell and was cut in half from the high-end 2005 and 2004 and 2004 to the low of 2009. though the figures are annualized to about 70000. by 2017 and to be slightly

recovered i would love to have that conversation if banks are tightening lending so young for numbers cannot get the loan or are they squeezed by student loans? is there question of the bigger firms getting bigger and bigger? is that a chokehold on the economic activity going forward? these are the questions i would have going forward and i will stop there. >> i will keep it brief. talk about the economy and the question first of all my background is not political. i am a researcher strategist so that is my perspective not to confuse me with a policy expert but there is an overlap between politically the right

path as democrats or legislative path for the country. first of all what is the problem we are trying to solve? there is a lot of anxiety and good things taking place in consumer confidence is very high. but there is still a lot of anxiety because you have technological change and competition that keeps people on egg shells but also there are real problems if you scratch the surface almost no american will tell you who have an administration that is basically putting the healthcare system under assault and that creates a great deal of anxiety. that really has been one of the most impressive accomplishments of the trump administration the obama administration could not sell the public and could not get geordie support but the trump administration send a clear message they intend to take it

away then support finally flips now more in favor than opposed. that goes to how people make decisions in a political context that people will weigh what they might lose more than what they might gain. the initial healthcare is pure politics but the consequences of threatening people's healthcare healthcare is front and center. pensions are one talk about planning for their own funeral that they have to deal with this issue but nobody wants to talk about it that is how pensions work it is pushed to the surface so are we prepared to have that conversation because very few people are ready to. so what's our goal? that we would alleviate anxiety and to keep people in the state of anxiety we don't ever win the debate over who

can create a scarier picture of the future. how do we alleviate anxiety? talking about black monday because corporations have left the community jobs have left. one thing that should be easy but is hard for us to do is to recognize that picture is a negative picture it is the opposite positive picture where companies move. also doing research in places like ohio that success looks like having big employers in our community. why is that? if that is what people wanted you would say have a guaranteed income we are one of the only countries if you ask people tell me about yourself they will say what they do because that is central to our identity as americans. we work hard with the system if you work hard you will see

the benefits that has been under assault if you look at the polling confidence has come down even within the democratic party it is 61% they still believe if you work hard you can get ahead it is a central component of the economy when you try to solve the problem do it in a way that rewards hard work because that is so essential to who we are that leads to companies coming in and places an emphasis on good jobs with people skills that them do what they are good at and then have people sitting on the sidelines who used to be able to do good things with their skills and now feel the skills have gone away i'm on the sidelines but i don't have an opportunity. so finally we all know that we struggle with the idea what is the republican message everybody would tell me a variation lower taxes and lower regulation get out of the way.

so the last part which is just get out of the way you are tapping into something which is what makes our economy successful if you get out of the way we have a system that emphasizes freedom freedom of money and thought and ideas for the next great thing. if we don't spoil that system the next great thing will happen here. last night i did research that was before a lot of companies like under armour even became online there are better examples of people literally starting something in their garage. that is a key ingredient to success. but the other is with low taxes and low regulation they say get out of the way, democrats have a better argument we refuse to articulate and i don't understand why the better argument which is the real key to the economy is our people

and our skilled workers and quality of the workforce. if we emphasize making sure people have training and if you make sure if you want to go to college you can do that to. those are two different things with two different segments of the economy for a long time we only talked about one and not the other but to say quality of the workforce is our key strength is a much more powerful idea than to say the key strength is low taxes and low regulation. ultimately politics is a choice if you offer that choice we have a better hand but for whatever reason we don't usually articulate that we throw training in a speech like an afterthought like lincoln said the poor idea in a smaller ideas i'd -- emanate so it the poor idea is there are people are the key strength to this economy if we have that debate it also gives

democrats a strong platform. >> thank you. senator comes representative ryan they all mentioned manufacturing and that is not a surprise in fact the collapse of manufacturing is still wound and most of the country people complain about their share of income but it turns out most of that is because of the manufacturing jobs and wages. the number of factories that have closed since 2035% are not there anymore. it is a visible symbol of neglect and pain that people

see everyday. so we believe manufacturing is a key component of prosperity. and as will said earlier we are talking about resurrecting ring --dash the economy but a systematic plan with local advanced manufacturing startups to create 1 million jobs around the country include outside the largest cities to build a democratic majority with these ideas and counterintuitively, what we believe is digitization is not a way to destroy jobs but create jobs including jobs for people without a college education. this is not doing the old stuff but creating and making

custom clothing or custom furniture but does not have to be shipped 10,000 miles. there there is no reason why we should be doing this except we haven't actually invested in the next wave of advanced manufacturing. so we talk about a program of investment with a different to create online manufacturing platform to provide services small startups and manufacturing startups across the country to address your question, rnd, not just in tech and bioscience but to create new material to help bolster manufacturing. lowering the entry fee for new entrepreneurs. how do you start a company?

what asset do you have to the newest technology? we are in the unfortunate position trump has started a trade war that no one really wants and it will hurt everyone but it creates an opportunity with the creation of a whole new wave of manufacturing startups that can drive us into the 21st century to create jobs around the country. thanks. >> and we have someone who is actually out employing people. >> i am very proud to be here. i think i am the only entrepreneur on the panel giving a talk today. and in our own modest way we are an extension or an example of the entrepreneurship talking about a few moments ago my garage was a storm room

new haven i focused on education and technology businesses and within 16 years he had 350,000 students go from college to graduate school and helped another 20000 in the last three years and also in kansas city missouri we have 1000 preschoolers we have helped thousands of kids in kansas city missouri get that headstart to help them through their path. but as pat -- #of our accomplishments with a couple thousand people it is only a small part of the solution we need to come up with. we are helping those that are already on the good side of

that economic spectrum to improve their lives. so more than half make six figures per here and that is intestate that does not address the problems we have in rural missouri where my mom is from or those in the distressed part of the areas where i grew up kansas city missouri school district. so i am proud but that will not get us there with the solutions but i hope what we talk about today of what is scalable to those left behind to echo what we have heard so now tripled the number of working age men's of all races who are not working. in 2011i had a chance to spend a few minutes with former president clinton and he said something at the time was extraordinary but we are here

grappling with it still the only demographic group in this country that doesn't believe that future will be better than the present he said as white males without a college degree and at that moment that kid from hope arkansas we were surrounded by hollywood elite and said and he the he said i don't think they appreciate that the way you and i do. i am not sure sec. clinton appreciated that as much as she should have as well to be frank but we still have not totally address that. infrastructure is a pathway there but i don't know if we can transition a truck driver into coding jobs as much as i would like that but i still

think there are opportunities. i don't want to eat up any more of my time but if we dig into this i do have more ideas to help create scalable job creation for those who don't at higher level of education. >> list of those real quick. >> great. geographic job creation programs for the government can be helpful have been proven to work i encourage you to look at what howard university has done targeting poor geographic areas and continue to pour money into healthcare. some of the problems we have with people out of work with a high suicide rate and in the south leads to a health crisis that is an opportunity to create jobs for mental health professionals and with infrastructure we mentioned that but we did not mention it helps a broad swath.

there will be tens or hundreds of thousands of construction workers with middle-class jobs like innovators like henry ford those that spend their time in california to change the landscape. and finally training programs that really do work to help people get that education that allows them to get jobs one of the largest employers in the kansas city area there is currently a disconnection between community college what they are teaching to help their graduates immediately get jobs. they would love to hire locally they have to go these broad expensive searches on a superhigh growth trajectory that seems like an easy fix.

>> thank you. we have six minutes i want to open this up. i've promised i'm committed to turn this over to representative at 1140. please. feedback i am from georgetown i want to pick up exactly his focus on jobs and skills and i want to focus exactly with a few comments. two thirds of the americans don't get the four-year college degree. we need a skill creation system for them but at the same time focusing on the employer's and the jobs and the quality of the jobs we cannot pretend all employers are creating good jobs and some of them are minimizing the labor cost and some can compete so the job of the

democratic party to offer a set of policies to improve the quality of workers and skills and from what they are creating. i know time short but a few ideas how to do that it isn't job creating the community college are those institutions that create that ladder into the four-year birthday need to be more responsive to the job market right now they are short on incentives. they are not rewarded for that so i have proposed a race to the top for community colleges to provide more resources to strengthen the incentives of these institutions to create more partnerships like healthcare and advanced manufacturing and parts of the service sector so on the employer side with low road

employment it is for a higher jobs fun to work with employers and reward them for investing in career labs to create apprenticeships i imagine will hear about that later and engage in profit sharing. some of this is financial incentives and tax credits sun's technical assistance a lot of that is the bully pulpit i think the democratic party mayors and governors and representatives in congress need to embrace employment and there is a lot of ways to do that but you need to talk seriously about lifelong learning. and to have a system of lifelong learning prepared for that. certainly people in the underserved regions to subsidize jobs to lower the

barriers they have whether criminal or addictions even those that lacked the family leave it doesn't help people with paid family leave so there is a long agenda of labor markets. >> can i just add really quick we need to talk about all of this in the context of competition to strengthen our economy. we get and the itemized list for free college but whatever we come up with, this all fees into the worker and the skilled workforce and will enhance startups because

people will start up they don't have healthcare or student debt. so we need to talk about this in the context of growing the economy and competing with china and come together with a checklist. >> to close out the question. i cannot tell you how many times i have heard the version of the story that chad told about the employer wants to hire locally but somehow the high schools and community colleges are not producing what they want. why are they talking to those institutions and working with them? what is wrong there? >> in places with good governors they are. it is a very serious question. and literally. i could give you a bunch of examples delaware is not known

as aircraft space but we have about 1000 jobs repairing airplane parts so literally we sat down with the employers in the community college and local schools to say what will it take the state put up a little money the community colleges we still need to do more but that conversation has to take place with all parties. one more item on the table as an issue that goes to what was talked about regarding the anxiety of the worker we did not talk about what is a threat or opportunity of artificial intelligence as it penetrates more deeply into the economy? it is a huge issue and finally , you will hear a lot about the move away from hiring based on college degrees but

based on skill. i think employers are seeing the need for that and a lot of american families say it doesn't make any sense to pay $60000 per year for a college education that does not lead to anything. so i really do believe in that movement now moving away from the degree and what is based on skill so now thank you to our panelist. [applause] >> i am hopeful employers will turn to skill rather than college degree. but i have not seen that yet and that is the number one concern we have that those certificates or other skills

are not being awarded in the business sector so i really do hope. >> to make a comment and so talk about turnout with workforce participation among the demographic groups which are part of the electorate as the congressman is aware of overall turnout, and that overall turnout and with the subgroup of that with the republican electorate.

then to provide a narrative with african-americans so in this survey 50% of african-americans in columbus didn't think there was a difference between the democratic president or the republican president. they voted but we are not communicating to our constituencies to a plan that will make a difference in their life that lead to diminished turnout as one example and we have to put a

realistic agenda together and then go communicate we have to go to west virginia and kentucky. if we want to really represent everybody to provide opportunity to everybody then show up in youngstown ohio and care and drive everything else. >> i think there is a realignment coming after the debacle we are in right now but we better be prepared and ready to be cared about those who were left behind that bill clinton talked about the white men and the black families who are caught up in the criminal justice system that have a much more negative experience there is only 330 million

people in united states they can lose hundreds of millions of potential