[applause] good morning everyone. i am the president and ceo of the center for american progress action fund and i am thrilled to welcome all of you to this important event. over the past year it has been unmistakably clear that even in the most divisive of times the american people agree on at least one thing, that they are fed up with the status quo

here in washington. this status quo has been maintained by a system in which many special-interest have placed a stranglehold on our legislators. they are today we hear about how the republican congressman the trump administration are cutting special deals for their donors over the needs of the american people. donald trump didn't drain the swamp. his swamp is now drowning our government. the american people understand the corrupting influence of big money in our government and the shortchange of hard-working families when it comes to healthcare, tax laws and basic civil rights. a recent poll conducted by cap found that a strong majority of voters from across the political spectrum say it's time for our leaders to fundamentally rewrite the rules that govern our democracy. that's why cap action is proud

to support a series of groundbreaking steps congressional democrats have proposed to ensure that our political system works in behalf of the people once again. in may democrats in both chambers of congress came together to announce a bold set of proposals call the better deal for our democracy. in just a few weeks democrats in the house introduce the by the people resolution which would transform these reforms into concrete legislative action. the better deal for our democracy is captured in the new resolution and centers around three categories of strong and clear solutions for creating a more responsive and accountable government. first we prepare our broking campaign finance system and stop wealthy donors and special-interest from spending unlimited amounts of secret money in our election. second it would enact tough affect laws including measures that will limit the power of lobbies to close the revolving

door between capitol hill in wall street. it would thirdly launch a plan for american workers and expand voting rights all across our nation. : : .

difficult and would be unpopular with special interests because it was important for the american people so i am thrilled to welcome leader pelosi to the stage. [applause] [laughter] thank you so much for being here and for your leadership. to start off with some of the

news that is happening [inaudible] issued a series of indictments around. if we think through the voter integrity, we have a situation now where the president is meeting -- the president of the united states is meeting with russian leader vladimir putin. russia or several russian officials were indicted and yet it seems the president didn't mention it. as people worry about our integrity, do you have any comments or reactions to the so-called summit happening right

now? >> thank you for the invitation to be here. it gives me the opportunity to thank you for being a tremendous intellectual resource that you are to us what the research about what has happened in the initiatives for the future. so thank you so much for your leadership. [applause] the connection between the president sitting there and speaking with vladimir putin practically tolerating what he had to say or maybe not is very indicative. he was afraid to mention the subject at hand, 12 indictments against people connected to the intelligence committee in russia trying to disrupt our election. so from the standpoint of that conversation, the president was

afraid to bring it up and it begs the question what does russia have on donald trump personally, politically and financially that he should behave in such a manner and in doing so barreling his way through the undermining allies and with the policies and statements made blame america first. we just don't like the policy. that policy. while i completely support the leaders getting a measure of each other finding common ground, that's always a good thing. but i just don't think that it's legitimate if you are not going to face the realities that are there. the reality is the russian government was a party to the disruption, of our democracy and

our commitment is about people understanding that they vote and every one that is eligible to vote will vote and that it will be passed and that there should be no suppression of the vote by other kinds. it's depressing enough when the republicans say no suppression of the vote issued by the foreign government. >> i want to turn back to the better deal for the democracy and ask broadly why you think that the theory of policy is important. >> we all know that's important because it's about our democracy, in our democracy is about everybody believing that his or her vote counts. i'm very proud of the work of john sarbanes and his task force that he's put together. you will hear more from him on

that in the panel and the work that terry has been doing on the vote suppression. it's when when and if you leave this earth and when and if you go to heaven and see the founders were say i did everything i could to suppress the vote. to hear from the congresswoman about the policy implications of all that, here's the important thing about this. big money in politics, big dark money in politics is perhaps the biggest vote suppressor for the following reason. this money comes in and suffocate the airwaves with misrepresentation, nothing to do with the facts, data, truth or anything am and not without a policy that they want won't advocate, but they

mischaracterization. so, what happens? its confusing and that is exactly what we have is a pox on both housing. it's important to show the difference between democrats and republicans but hopefully to bring the republicans along and overturn citizens united and empower the small voters and john sarbanes will go into more detail about that. there is a cynicism that springs from the public thinks that is undermining our democracy that may have been exploited by the voter suppression by the foreign intervention and perhaps we can go more into that if you wish, but again this is important because the money in politics comes at the expense of the air

our children breathe, the water they drink in the collective bargaining safety etc. when it comes at the expense of the fairness raising the minimum wage. that's the whole idea controlling for decades. the biggest is to pass it on in a responsible way. any subject that you can name is effective. the republicans in congress are totally in the pocket of international rifle association and other gun lobbyists so there is safety, fairness and the economy, the air, the water our children breathe, if you want me to go into the tax bill and

budget -- >> that is a good example. it's the last piece of legislation that went through and i think what was interesting is that there was so much reporting about how essentially there were two versions passed into the bill that most people didn't really know about particularly those that voted in favor of the bill that would put him at the request of one donor or another to the house ways and means committee staff and staff members. so i think it is the sort of quintessential advance if you are talking about at the heart of this people like the congress doesn't represent their voices. it represents her donor's voices

if you have a sense of what happened with the tax bill and how the legislation would ensure the series of legislation to ensure that people's voices tromp the donors voices. >> when we get into the subject that relates relates to the budget how we attract funds and spend funds. let me go back to your introduction where you gave me a lot of credit for passing the affordable care act. i accept that on behalf of my colleagues. the colleagues had the courage to take the vote but in addition to that, the reason we were able to win is because of outside of mobilization. in their attempts attempt to overturn its repeal affordable care act in the tax bill are all assaults on the affordable care act. and in order to defeat the

repeal, there were 10,000 meetings held by groups, lobbyistscan you name them, involved whether it was labor unions were groups of people with pre-existing, there were 10,000 meetings and press conferences, marches, you name it, one form or another. so i won't us in this discussion to be very, very hopeful that people change the we will change the situation about money and politics. the groups that we work with say that it is the argument against the tax bill that asked me to the people that they get to call him and the rest. it's what it does to the budget. it is unfair. then we just reference what you said. the donors are basically saying get it done or don't ever call me again.

financial contributions .-full-stop if the tax bill, the tax scam -- find the same tax scam. and then mulvaney says if you are a lobbyist, you never gave us money. if you are a lobbyist that did, i might talk to you. he made a speech to 1300 officials of the american bankers association conference, so this wasn't -- to say that i was exactly quoting him. but with their grassroots groups said that really designates with them and it's what we know to be so is how it impacts the budget cutting half a trillion dollars in medicare, social security, disabilities benefits, food disability benefits, food stamps, nutrition programs,

education. the specialty if they seem to have voted in a certain way, they are going after your medicare. they said this and now they have the perfect excuse. we have over 2 trillion-dollar debt generated by the tax bill. how are we going to reduce the national, how are we going to mitigate that, we are going to cut medicare, medicaid and back. so, again, these issues that strike to the financial security of the working families, that is what we are here to ensure that we work for and that is the unifying force in the democratic party. so, right now in the interest of the financial stability of the working families, we want to raise the minimum wage. we want to make sure people

still maintain their benefit to the. if there were one thing that this election could remedy, it's not to get political, but for the governors and state, because what is at stake with the financial stability america's families, the cuts in medicaid and medicare. it pays for health care for our seniors and the assault on medicare and elimination of the benefits of a pre-existing condition not being a barrier to getting health care. so the money weighs in on all those things. so take any subject. the reform of dodd frank.

now they go after that every day. every day they go after to degrade the environment. so he was a disgrace with his behavior but a bigger disgrace to what he was doing to the air our children breathe and water they drink. he was blatant and good at it and very effective at being a violator of the obligation that we have to our children. so,, linking to lincoln, our great president, he said -- and display, well nevermind. i won't go into that. he said public sentiment is everything. but if you can accomplish almost anything and without it, practically nothing. so, that for the sentiments to weigh in, people have to know and people seem to know very clearly there is a problem here.

they have to know very clearly that there is a solution and this is a tipping point. this is the time where the positive agenda with the description of what is happening in violating the rights and how it impacts who we are as a humanity. he said he talked about fairness and he quoted the founder saying if they cautioned against people of phuket money you get prideful than then you want more money

and so there is a path that is about getting money and pride and success and he said some of the same people who he used this word i would hesitate to use, enemies of our humanity is a and he talked about people who are trying to raise their families, live their lives in all the and all the rest of that and have a sense of humility about what the possibilities are. there are two things that can happen, you can have a governing elite he called it the minority creative minority of the governing people created for the

flowering of the society that people would succeed and that is what their vision would be for the society. and then there was the exploiting. if they had the governments, they were about power, special interest and when those existed in the same society caused a schism of the political fold of the country. does that sound familiar to you? saint augustus said 17 centuries ago, any government that does not exist to promote justice is just a bunch of thieves and you put that in the first he went on

to say something that is hard for everybody to every but in doing so you must be aware of the does dazzling special interest so here we are it's about fairness and justice and what the founders sacrificed everything for. i am optimistic as we go forward to pass bills that do what is being suggested that also, to change the whole dynamic so that republicans are on notice that they have to support this. of moscow questions from social media i would ask one question on the topic today.

you talked about public sentiment and optimism, about how people are engaged in healthcare and defending the affordable care act and the fights that we are having from day-to-day. talk about your record on the systems that increase voter participation in our elections, theoretically they are about ensuring that the voters vote. but this is ensuring that people have access to the franchise and the critical element to. so i would like for you to touch on that issue because as i travel the country, i do find people worried about the voter suppression. and we have found that with a those that would expand the

franchise, more and more people will be participating. so, how central is the issue of the access to the vote in your same as the series of bills that will improve people's confidence in the government itself >> access is essential to democracy and i know. note. we'll be talking about this in terms of the voting rights into suppression, but i do want to say that the it is important in all of this. there's also some legislation that we could imagine after all these years they still haven't passed the voting rights act that would correct some of what the supreme court did. i want to get back to that point. what we found is we have an

effort to win the house and the role of just supporting the candidates is something that is changing, support the candidates and the committee with the point of this so we can make it happen. in addition to that, one of the initiatives is the national democratic redistricting committee headed by eric holder and that is a committee that was put together and now he's taking a lead and this is about litigation in the court courts of the initiatives on the ballot. it's about ending suppression in many different ways and it's about doing so in a way that has attracted so many people to help certainly financially, but it is in the point. the point is many of the leaders

around the country and other people from around the country to be there knowing their region specifically to fight in this fight. it's very important because as you say, better vision, better jobs, better pay and i would say what about the machines. that is a fear that people have. we have to address that and that is one of the things i am disappointed that the republicans didn't join us when we wanted to send the letter after we realized that this was happening. i anywhere near because they have done the d. triple c.. i know this, i'm not telling you anything i don't know. this is from our experience, the russians are disrupting.

when it became further brought to the attention of the leadership of the congress by the director of national director of national intelligence, the cia, the secretary of homeland security etc. and others that this was happening, this was late summer, we proposed a letter to the frequent secretaries of state, sometimes a different entity saying these are the sources and intellectual property that are available to you to help protect , but we also want to add that we want to be clear the system as the critical infrastructure. it's very important not only with the republicans won't going

along with that to send the letter because we felt we had to alert the entities in the state this is not to be interpreted as declaring the electoral system critical infrastructure. i mean that maybe one of the may be one of the things that it was very, very important. >> it's very important because they have a resistive against what the republicans were doing not to mention i think the other day they had their first meeting on the subject in the year and a half since it was officially declared as a consensus of the intelligence community that this has happened to you and you will see the statements i don't have them here with me that they were

very strong about what the russians have done and are doing. >> we have time for a question on social media on facebook, kathy stressed the importance of talking about restoring our democracy. we know that many younger americans feel powerless to change the culture of corruption and that their voices are not heard. we are also seeing things being led by young people like the march for our lives. what are some ways we should talk about the issues especially when linking to the democracy to the issues that they care about? >> the question is how we would talk to them and how we have dealt with this is how we are listening to them. we have our future forum led by many of our millennialism congress and we will get many

more. they've gone to maybe 56 or 60 venues around the country whether it is inner-city areas, college campus, wherever young people are to listen to what their concerns are. you know some of them might be about the cost of jobs, climate change, politics, those kind of things. but to hear it from them they see clearly and we share with them the thought that there was a direct connection of money and politics to the policies that come forth in the congress to do so we have to make it clear to them that we are on a different page. they say paint us all with the same brush that we are in a different place. but the future belongs to young people coming and they all have

a responsibility. i see that as a mother and grandmother. responsibility to take charge of it and be a everything is a conversation unless it is tied to the vote. so while we never are satisfied, we were always dissatisfied, there was nothing congress could do, it wasn't good enough for us because we were the vips, the volunteers and politics, but the fact is you have to weigh in in order to make the difference and i think in this like no other and the mobilization is something so powerful, so driven from the outside to see the same thing about the women that marched and now they are running, the young people marching for their lives and registering voters, people are translating it into the political solutions and that is

about the vote. so, vote, when, engage in the discussion about what the priority is our. we have a saying printed on our shirts and everything else, we don't agonize, we organize. just organize around a politics issue that must have been and will have been but young people will be dispositive about how it turns out. seniors will vote in every poll that we see a young people will make the difference in all of this think you know and you know what, because they see what it means to their future. so it's not about telling them anything, it than anything, it is about listening and sharing how they think we can reach out for the vote and that goes for

any manifestations whether it is millennialism of color, if people are concerned about climate, whatever their passion is. they know their purpose and they know why they are running. they know their subject. whether it's climate, voting rights, whatever their purpose is they know how to get something done in terms of attracting people to their point of view. but most importantly, they know that they must listen to their constituent. it's about their economic security. if they have that confidence that their candidate is in sync

with that authentically this is what i believe, this is why i am running, this is why i deserve your vote. tell me how you see things. but this is a pivotal moment that hasn't less to do with democrats and republicans can to do with honoring our founders and what they fought for with the sacrifice of the men and women in uniform but they fight for in any aspirations of the people aspire to and with aspirations they have. our founders, going into july. visit their edition and the rest but they gave a set of guidance that is the reason. they couldn't imagine how many he would be we would be or how different from each other but

they knew we knew that we have to be one. if we go forward with this we want to be unified in our country. and if there's one thing that would unify the country it would be to reduce the role of money in politics and have the debate on the subject without that leverage and increasing the confidence that they have in the system so that they will speak out and they will vote. [applause] >> i can't think of a better end. thank you so very much. i want to start by thanking the leader pelosi for her in sight and all that you do for so many. [applause]

i am the executive vice president of external affairs center for american progress action fund, and i am pleased to moderate a discussion with three distinguished members of congress who are playing key roles in this powerful democracy reform movement. representative john sarbanes representative john sarbanes represents the third district and is the chairman of the house democrats democracy reform task force. he played a big part in formulating the deal for the democracy that we will talk a little bit about in just a moment. he's also he is also the lead sponsor of the house resolution brings this reform package to the legislative life. since being elected he thought for democracy solutions that as a pillar of the better deal package and is also working on another piece of legislation that supports the ban on lobbyist fundraising. thank you congressman for being

here today. representative of alabama's seventh district is a trailblazer who's who has been fighting to strengthen our democracy throughout her career. since joining the house in 2011, the representative has become a leading voice on the importance of protecting voting rights. in fact, the better deal reform package includes a major piece of legislation from the representative. we heard about it from the leader just a moment ago. the voting rights advancement act that would take the critical step towards fully restoring the voting rights act. she has said that if we want to build a stronger democracy we have to engage and empower all american voters. thank you for being here and i'm thrilled to introduce the representative who represents washington state seventh district and serves as the vice

chair of the democracy reform task force. while the congresswoman is still in her freshman term, she's already made her presence known in a big way. she's been one of the most outspoken and eloquent leaders against president trumps inhumane practice of separating children from their parents. as a member of the senate she was a champion of automatic voter registration, and i am proud to say now working with the congresswoman on legislation to ban members of congress from receiving campaign donations from organizations that do committees oversee. you heard the leader talk about the congresswoman and i are proud classmate. please join me in welcoming these three wonderful members of congress to the stage. [applause]

i'm going to start with you. thank you so much for being here. you have been a leader for many years on the democracy reform generally and spearheading much of the work that the leader talked about on a better deal for our democracy. he leads the task force and have promoted these issues with your colleagues. i would love for you to talk about what is in the package, and more importantly, with conversations with your colleagues have been around these issues and do you think that sort of time is right for finally taking the step to move towards these important policies? >> can you all hear me back there? how about now?

pals back. there we go. i want to thank thank you first of all for for posting this but more importantly for the sustained support for a broad package of the reforms that we are here to talk about today. i think that the leader really punctuated all the reasons why we need this and all the ways in which we can achieve it. i do think this is a moment we have the opportunity. we believe and many of us in the house democratic caucus believe if we can get the gavel back, we can put forth a broad set of democracy reforms and 80 achieve reforms the likes of which we haven't seen in terms of how robust they are and meaningful sense right after watergate. that is the kind of moment we are in right now because the public is so angry and so disillusioned they are convinced

their voices not heard in washington and congress and government that they are desperate for some set of solutions to restore their voice. and when people feel powerless, they can sometimes reach for pretty disruptive solutions to their hurt. i think we saw that in 2016. the democrats want to put forth a constructive set of reforms to channel that anger towards something more meaningful and positive and restorative of the democracy. so what we do together we believe represents a better deal for the democracy is a broad comprehensive framework for the reform so that it has been alluded to. it folds into three baskets and you can look at 975 by people because that is where it exists right now. we introduced a couple of weeks ago with 106 e. two cosponsors in the democratic caucus, so a

powerful declaration of what we want to see. but it folds into three very clear baskets of reform. one has to do with empowerment and making sure people feel like they are respected so that is where you get to the redistricting reform and strengthening the voting rights act, automatic voter registration, all these things that can make it easier, not harder to exercise the franchise. that is the demonstration whether you are committed to democracy. and i'm very pleased to be here with two colleagues. has been here a little bit longer but they are fighting on these issues for a long time and immediately upon arriving arriving took a leadership role. they represent what our colleagues across the caucus are doing which is coming forth with ideas, not their own ideas but these are just made up, the

ideas they formulated based on listening very carefully to their constituents, so the way people feel and that is what the leader talked about. i think democrats are listening. i think this package of reform shows that we get it and represents the efforts to achieve something meaningful. so the voter empowerment, voting rights, lifting up the american voter, protecting the franchise, that is a critical piece of the reform package. second the second is ethics and accountability. how do you promote and translate peoples expectation when the lawmakers get to washington that they will behave. that is essentially what it is about. we want you to go there and represent us. donald donald donald is sort of turn things into the lobbyist lobbyist who don't violate ethical norms don't ignore the precept of the office of ethics which is fair to make there to

make sure that connect properly. some of the second basket is a whole set of proposals, and behind each of these things in the resolution i can for you there are meaningful pieces that have been introduced but these are the proposals that say behave, the ethical, be transparent, be accountable. so that is the second basket of the reform contained. and third, and my favorite is the campaign finance reform basket. this is where this is tough because the cynicism is so deep and corrosive but if you get the gavel and have to do something and you don't make it real in the public may say we traded it in one party that is bought and sold for another party. they want to see that we are going to make a difference.

so this is a disclosure of where the big money comes from. it's strengthening the commission so that it can do its job to enforce the rules. these are things that matter to people out there it's a constitutional amendment to try to address the tragedy of the citizens united case and it is a way of campaigning financing based on small donors and matching funds. before i sort of close comments i just want to say to that piece is nothing more that will address people's sense of powerlessness than to create a system that puts the average person, everyday citizen right at the center of the solutions. we can have all of the rules and

lobbyists and we should, but if we are going to get people out of the bleachers of this democracy and onto the field, where they feel like they have power and they matter, we have to give them a way of saying we undermine the campaign and you go after us so you don't have to go to the lobbyist. you don't have to go to the corporations. rollback your campaigns into the bargain is good to washington and represent our interests, not the special interest. so voter empowerment, ethics and accountability, campaign finance reform, 975 by the people resolution that is where we make the declaration of principles on this and that is going to be a northstar if we get the gavel and move quickly as a first order of business to get a meaningful set of reforms on the house floor.

>> it is probably no surprise that the first bucket you've been a leader on the spiraling congress and before. it's really thrilling to have you here. just to say that last week the center for american progress released a new report that advanced a pro- voter agenda to increase voter participation in making voting more convenient which is one of the problems to the voter empowerment. so can you talk about why protecting and expanding the right to vote is so critical to ensure strengthening our democracy? >> it is an honor to be here with my colleagues. i represent the district that includes my hometown of selma alabama. you can't grow up in my district

and not understand the power of the vote. more importantly, the sacrifices that are made for the right to vote. i can't understand how, you know, just 11 years ago we reauthorized as a voting rights act of 1965 for 25 years, that was in 2006, suitable for years ago, and overwhelmingly passed both houses of congress. voting rights should be nonpartisan. [applause] looking to suppress peoples rights to vote we should be making it easier to vote, not harder. the cornerstone of our democracy is the right to vote. all of us know the decision in some ways was assuming it gave

us the voting rights act of 65 and shelby county alabama gave us the decision that took the enforceability away but it's important to notice that the voting rights act is still constitutional. it's just what the members said his congress must come up with a modern-day formula that we will actually discriminate against the states like alabama for what they did back in the 50s and 60s and surely things have changed. i am just honored that that piece of legislation is a part of the voter empowerment arm of a better democracy and it puts the teeth back into section five by giving a formula. we are looking at 1990 going forward and if there are four or more statewide violations of

voter discrimination, then you would be considered a covered jurisdiction and therefore any changes would have to be cleared up by the justice department. if you look at 1990 going forward, 13 states have had the violation, states like alabama, mississippi, louisiana, also states that arizona and new york we have a problem even today of the voter discrimination and voter suppression that has made it harder for folks to vote. no longer do we have to count how many jelly beans are in a jar or recite how many counties are in the state of alabama to be able to vote. people think somehow we have won a big victory, and we have, but the reality is the modern-day forms of suppression that are just as bad as those private

taxis. every think that it is innocuous. you have to have a photo id to get a passport, okay, there are people in my district that have never been on a plane. i have a lot of people in my district that were born in rural parts of alabama and don't have a birth certificate. we should be making the voting easier, not harder. the reality is the modern-day forms of the voter suppression while they are not as overt, they are no less suppressive and discriminatory. i think about my father who recently passed, but for 14 years, my dad had a massive stroke and was wheelchair dependent. my dad no longer had a valid

issue driver's license because he was wheelchair bound. but he was determined to go and vote and it isn't surprising that 33 states after the shelby versus holder decision came holder decision came about and took away the enforceability started having these suppressive voting tactics. alabama was one of them, they passed in 2011 and held onto it. then they implemented it. so this was the first time in alabama but you have to have a photo id in order to go and vote and if you didn't have a driver's license, then you had to get a special photo id. and my father, having a little bit more motivation to vote wanted to make sure he got it. i just think about how arduous it was for my parents who were

highly motivated in this famous town, that courthouse had been grandfathered in and no longer had to have a ramp. let me repeat this it was grandfathered in as the old courthouse, it didn't have a ramp to get up there. so here's my mom and dad, dad got out early, think god we have hotels and we saved money to stroll them in the transport but a lot of folks don't have the same kind of amenities and those are the folks that are being left behind. they are the voices that are not being included. we've got to do something. we should be like oregon. alabama we have the primary runoff tomorrow. 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and god forbid

we would awake at 7 a.m.. it happens. what defined you find is the voting rights act is effective as ginsberg likes to say in her dissent in the shelby decision, but the reality is that since the decision decision we have seen long lines in places like maricopa county arizona. why was that? prior to the voting rights act being stripped of the invitations had to be cleared. you couldn't do this without giving notice or approval. there were 800 polling stations in 2012 now you are down to something like 70. people don't know where to vote. when that happens, if any one person is denied the opportunity to vote that had the right, it

affects the integrity of the system and we should be outraged by that. young folks should understand the power of the vote is how you affect public policy. and i know that they know that because we see activism on the grassroots level that we have never seen before which goes back to what the reader was saying. my optimism is the same that a young john lewis and the student nonviolent coordinating committee to organize and get people fired up about voting equality a quality is the same thing i hope will excite young folks to want to care about the modern-day voter suppression and what we can do to make sure that everyone has a seat at the table. campaign-finance reform is the way to affect money in politics but if you don't have access to the ballot box, the states like alabama could impose voter id

laws and then all of a sudden close down 31 offices. what is the most popular form of the voter id? a driver's license. and of those closures are mostly in my district where the people were already in these underserved communities. it is unfair and it's not right and it goes to the heart of our democracy. we should all be upset about it. they should be enraged and motivated to make sure this is the first priority. [applause] over things i want to come back to his conversations that you have had your constituents, with people in your district and people in the states you've traveled around that you've traveled around with it with your colleagues both on the the democrat against republican side of the i/o can the aisle have the same fundamental on these issues that i love to hear more about. but i want to ask you a question

you have been for a long tiny figure speaking out against the inhumane policy of separating immigrant children and their families. you were arrested at a protest i believe in the senate. today we released a paper that has released the private prison industry that talks a lot and goes to what the leader was talking about earlier with campaign cash. the two top companies give massive amounts of campaign cash typically favoring republicans that spend prolifically. you all duties do these as well several of these to help reduce this kind of dynamic. one of the policy solutions is

to mr. van committee members from receiving contributions from interests under their jurisdiction of the committee. it's a policy that seems to make a lot of sense but yet is a policy that is yet to be enacted. can you share your thoughts on the current situation in the committee contribution specifically in how this sort of progressive effect of the money and policies and the engagement goes to the heart of what we are talking about today? >> it is great to be back. we are so fortunate to have leaders like john and terry. i had a chance to go on and i can tell you that in alabama and soma is absolutely beloved because of her deep commitment and work to these issues and we just couldn't be more fortunate to have you on this.

john has been a champion of making sure that we really take this on in a serious way in any way that distinguishes democrats from republicans and that we put it at the top of the agenda. it's not just a better deal, it is the only deal that works for our democracy so i want to thank you for that. and also to say before they get to the committee contributions piece that i come from a mail-in ballot state, watching and state and i do think actually that there is work to be done around how we use that form of democracy across the country. there are challenges with it but it does allow us to get away from some of the other problems if we have seen from over the years in washington when we move we have some initial problems, but we are starting to get through a lot of those and i think that colorado has some of the best models around how to do this framework that allows you to do the mailing that also allows you to have a place where

people can get support. i got into voting issues because when i was an advocate in washington state i felt like nobody was listening to us. i couldn't get elected official's attention and i realized the only way to do that was to either have money or have those. i ended up leaving the largest voter registration drive in the history of the state, 23,000 new citizens were registered to vote. and as a result of that, washington had some of the best policies around immigration, but also around a host of other things. and so, i continued that work with the automatic voter registration though the favorite for washington. it was complicated because we were also one of the only three states in the country that allows drivers licenses for everybody regardless of citizenship, so we had to work through some things that was

passed recently when we took over the senate, democrats took over the senate. i will be in the majority one of these days. [laughter] then we will talk about this later but we also launched a democracy voucher program that has been incredibly successful. we have some learning around that as well. for me, the issue i kept hearing when i decided to run for office as politicians don't listen to us. it's everything that you have heard right here and it is unfortunate that is the perspective but it's there for some legitimate reasons and so one of the big connections bloggers making their mind is why you vote for something that is clearly bad when you know it's bad, and you see that in the way that the boots contract money. so the way that this has been released has been incredibly

important because the family separation issue has shed any light on a lot of things that are wrong with immigration enforcement and the way in which we started to treat immigrants over the last ten years, but now a force that is being utilized by donald trump. if you look at the numbers under that, what you see is a beast to prism companies, and i hope everybody will read this carefully, those companies contributed $10 million to primarily republicans in order to move agenda of appropriation dollars for the ever expanding mass incarceration system for immigrants. that's what it is. don't be fooled by the detention. these are private for-profit companies that put millions of immigrants into prison, and in

fact using the prisons and county jails and other facilities. ..

there is also the question that until we are publicly financed, how do we make sure, if you're on the committee you don't take money from those interests. were excited about that and grateful to work with them on the bill. you can look at industry after industry in seeing the deep connection between who gets money and that side. we have a real opportunity.

all of the reforms were talking about, whether it's the voting rights or whether the money gets funded for elections, that this is about people's belief in the integrity of our democracy. that's really what were talking about. are you responsible back to us. it's very exciting, and i think think," answered the democracy voucher piece in case we don't get a chance for second round. we instituted the democracy program in 2017 and basically, you had to go out and everyone gets a $25 voucher that you can put toward the candidate. you have to collect a certain amount of vouchers and that requires perfec

person-to-person vouchers and the top two vote getters were also people who were funded through the democracy dodgers for the people who utilize those tend to be lower income, folks of color, young people, those are the people who finally felt like i have some skin in the game. you need my voucher, that means you to talk to me and you know that i financed your campaign. for excited about continuing to expand it. we made a few changes and tweaks based on how it works possibly around and one of them is just getting vouchers out a little bit later. they were going out to early and people want declaring so we move the timeline. we had to do a lot of work with a limited english proficient population to make sure they understood how to

use the vouchers, but this is really the future of our country, getting to the public financing system where everyone feel like they've got skin in the game and if there's money that has to be put out for campaigns is publicly financed and we all get to have a piece of a. [applause] >> i just wanted to follow on a couple things there. one is the democracy voucher program in seattle is really groundbreaking and exciting because, as you pointed out, the candidates want to confine this person that they didn't really need before when it came to financing their campaign. all across the country, to punctuate the idea that were not chasing a unicorn with this idea of small donor matching systems and solutions, states, cities, counties are implementing the systems. over 20 candidates, this is a

critical piece because there's a lot of terrific candidates that if you had public financing campaigns would step into the campaign but they can't do that if lobbyists and corporations and big-money folks are the only people they can get money from because they don't know those people. it democratizes the base and the candidate pool and that's why it's incredibly viable. i did want to tell a story that puts a fine point on the issue and how communities operate and how it flows to members of those committees. back in 1982 there was a senator who was head of the armed service committee. this is a story in the book called too damn much money. according to kaiser they were facing a competitive election.

he had never raised more than a hundred thousand dollars before the senator. you may remember haley barbour, governor of mississippi who had other roles within the republican party and some lobbyists and consultants came to him and said you have to raise a lot of money here. it's the only way to be able to be back this challenge and they said were we talking about. they set a couple million dollars. chum chains compared to the cost of the senate campaign but it's a huge sum of money. there's a lot of corporations and others that are defending industry that your committee has jurisdiction over. you ought to talk to the people who represent them and see if they would be willing to contribute to your

campaign. according to the account, he was sitting behind his desk and got sort of deflated and he sat there for 45 seconds, just kind of deep in thought and then he looked up to the fella and he said would that be proper. we've gone now in a 30 year stretch from a time where the culture was such that the proposition that you would do that would be viewed as improper to a time where it's actually expected. it's part of the way the system works. what they were articulating is what the average person would say is a no-brainer. how do you not act with a conflict of interest if you are putting yourself and us as the people who support you in that kind of position.

that's why all these different ways, they basically say lobbyist can't bundle up thousands and thousands of dollars and drop them on the ground in front of you if you're a member of congress and said by the way i need to talk to about this provision and that provision. want to talk? sure, yeah. they can't do that. they have to register based on one contact. they have to have a michael : loophole c can offer strategic advice but if you're doing it on how to access the government and influence can, that has to cause you to be registered. again, the public, they are way ahead of this and they're kind of out there saying if you can't do this stuff, why on earth would we trust that you have our interest at heart. this is a test of us. i think we have a set of

solutions that will say powerfully to the public we get it. are we going to accomplish everything overnight? no. the democrats have heard you. they understand why you are angry and people are so cynical, maybe we can get them back but we have to try. i think if we deliver something real we have a chance at doing that. [applause] >> i also think we cannot allow the cynicism that exists to affect the voter participation in our democracy. in order to get a seat at the table, we are all affected by politics and government. whether it's a local state or federal government. if i could leave you all with one thought, look, if we can elect a democrat in the state of alabama for senate in a red

state because we were able to articulate what's at stake and people actually went out and voted the numbers that made a difference so your vote does count. it doesn't matter. at the end of the day, campaign financing is a huge part of the lack of integrity, but the other part is people feel like their vote doesn't matter and we have got to figure out away to address the fact that voter turnout doesn't ignore public policy. it just means fewer people are deciding who gets to sit at the table. and directly related to all of this is the fact that special interest, not only do they get a seat at the table, they seem to be getting all the seats at the table in special interest. some are going to have to figure out a way that people can feel empowered, and that's what the voting empowerment section is about, but it's more than just voting rights

and breaking down barriers, it's also the fact that we have always been one supreme court justice away from eroding so much progress and the fact that we had the shelby decision and we've seen a succession of other decisions including the voter purging, since when is voting aright you can lose? just because you don't write an op-ed or protest on the streets or get arrested doesn't mean that you don't have the fundamental right to protest government. that's a fundamental constitutional right. just because you miss church or don't go to temple doesn't mean you don't have the freedom of religion. just because you don't vote in every election doesn't mean you should be able to take away someone's right to vote. [applause] you have to wake up to the fact that the baseline is voter participation. that is what makes our democracy healthy, and the reality is that some of our

colleagues are losing elections by 5% of the people to a whole congressional seat. that's unheard of but that's what happened. the reality is voter participation is where that and we have to figure out a way to empower voters to realize their vote does matter and when i think about the fact that people were so cynical about alabama and for electing a democrat and it doesn't matter who our candidates are, clearly that matters, and having credibility in communities already was a running start for doug jones, but the reality is for us to have african-american turnout at the level of obama in oh eight and surpassing african-american turnout in 2012 in the state of alabama meant that a lot of people went to the ballot box and it made a difference. >> and have each of you

provide a concluding comment, these are topics that we at cap, with the three of you could talk about for a long time. i thank you for being here. i want to thank the democracy team and alex for incredible work in partnering with members of congress and elected officials all around the country. the innovation we see at the state and municipal level is incredible and we want to raise that up. thanks to all of you for being here. as you provide a last comment to our audience, and you talk a little bit about how the cynicism of voters, we talked a little bit about the distrust, the lack of confidence in government, the pro-democracy and values reform you're talking about, how does that all intersect? should candidates be talking

about health care and the economy, should they be talking about democracy and voting, is there a blend of everything, you seem to be connected to constituents in a way that is incredible and i hope is not unique but is something you can share with your colleagues as we look ahead to november. if you can conclude comments about the issues and what's at stake for our democracy. >> thanks for having us and i'll just go back to what leader pelosi said. i don't want to go on too long about it but she made those connections. she made the point that it's not either health or talking about democracy reform, it's the fact that they go together. the reality is the reason pharmaceutical industry has so much influence in washington, the reason we can't get medicare to negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry is because they have an army of lobbyists, they contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to campaign, they found super packs and they lean on the policymaking machinery and ensure that we can't get that result. the oil and gas industry stands in the way of real

progress on climate change because they've got the lobbyists and the money to lean in and get the attention of lawmakers in ways that the average person and folks that care about the environment cannot do. when the economy, wall street wrote that tax bill. it was a payment on delivery exercise. you look at who sent in and how much money they sent in to paul ryan in these other crafters of the bill when that tax bill got delivered. talk about fueling people cynicism, that was payment on delivery and leader pelosi read you the quotes where they feel perfectly comfortable just talking about it. how can you blame the person sitting there and in the kitchen watching this play out

saying i'm walking away from this because it doesn't respect me. i have no voice, people don't care about who i am and they go up into the hills and the hunker down and all close by saying this, a lot of them, we talked to them and a lot of them are saying we will come back into the political town square, will come back into the democracy if you unring it, if you fix it, we will come back and what were saying is we need you to come back to help us fix it. this is a partnership. we will put forward something real and meaningful, but we need the public to stand up and say yes, this is what we want, go get this done democrats, that's what the better deal for our democracy is, that's what the by the people resolution is. this is a moment, i think we

can seize it and make this happen. >> you know, i think it's an exciting time for us. we have to deliver but it's an exciting time and there's a lot of opportunity. when i ran in 2016, mine was the most expensive non- swing district race in the country. we have a top to primary system. was a 7 million-dollar race. i said at the very beginning i was not going to take corporate pack contributions and i had 82000 people across the country who supported the campaign and the average contribution was $23 so we eat bernie sanders. the thing that was exciting to me is it all boils down to trust. everything were talking about, even the voter reforms we are talking about, the voting rights act is a core issue of

trust between who makes democracy real. it's like how do we make democracy real. we have to give people the access and the ability to vote. we can't just say you have a right to vote if you don't have access or ability. the same thing is true of the reforms were talking about. we are saying to people we want you to trust us and if you trust us we can be accountable. part of that is about the money in politics and now you see people understanding what happens when they don't vote and is good reasons, some of its access, some of it is deep cynicism for good reason. we can't ignore that fact. i do think we have this incredible opportunity where people are seeing the small dollar contribution starting with obama and going on to bernie sanders. today i saw 60% of our red and blue candidates don't accept corporate pack contributions.

that is a seachange and that reflects a little bit of catching up to the voters. they are way ahead of us spread they want to know this trust is real. goes to candidate authenticity and integrity and how do we make sure we will get a democracy where everybody has a seat at the table and are the people that are listen to when we say we represent people and not corporations. we represent 750,000 individuals in our district. >> i think this is an incredible opportunity. i think we've seen the ball moves so dramatically along, thanks in part to colleagues in the house who have put together this package, but thanks to the american people for making the connection between what happened in 2016, what's happening today, the fact that were one vote away in the supreme court from taking back so much progress

on summary level, and recognizing that they are willing to do their part but we have to do ours. that's incredible opportunity in front of us and it's exciting and i'm really excited to win in november and put those forward as the first area we need to be working on as a democratic party. [applause] >> i think in order to get a better deal for our democracy we have to take back the house. we have to be the people setting the agenda and the priorities and that means we need people to go vote. it's just that simple. i believe in homework so i've been telling folks, yes it's important to expand the tent and register more people but the critical thing you have to do is take people to the polls. we've got to get folks to vote

and be assured that their vote is counted and we don't have by mail. we don't have any of that in alabama which means, from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., however many people can get to the polls and vote, that's how you make a difference and so all of our efforts are for not if were not setting the agenda, and for not sitting at the table making those priorities. my advice, my last closing, is just to remember the power that lies within all of us to vote and is not enough that we vote only in presidential elections. every election is an opportunity to make a difference and every election is important. i've been asking all of my constituents who see the intersection between

healthcare and medicare, all of the things that are bread-and-butter issues that affect their day in and day out life, they understand those are public policy issues, but it's hard sometimes when you are working three and for jobs and trying to make sure that you actually make that translate to every chance to get out and vote. we had to make that easier. i just want to say in closing, what motivates me each and every day is just the thought of those folks bludgeon on a bridge for the right to vote. people who were ordinary americans saw an injustice and decided to work together in a nonviolent way, stand together and achieve extraordinary social change, and they did

that, not in the halls of congress, they did that on the bridge in selma. don't tell me that we today can make a difference. bloom where you are planted. you don't have to be a member of congress in order to go out and fight for restoration of voting rights or to make a difference. you don't. collectively working together we can make a difference and i do believe that collectively working together we can go to the ballot box and take back the house of representatives in november. [applause] >> , take one or two questions from our audience, i think we've just got a minute or two so a quick question right here on aisle, we will start right here. i'm sorry, we're just waiting for microphone. thank you. >> so talking about democracy, today, trump is meeting with vladimir putin in a private

meeting and he met with russian officials in may of 2017 and a private meeting at the white house with no u.s. press involved, these are nice ideals, but i feel like a lot of americans like our democracy is being sold out to the russians and i'd like you to address your republican colleagues who seem to be aiding and abetting by not exercising their oversight responsibilities of the so-called president. >> i'm on judiciary committee and i'll tell you, every day i am so saddened, i'm furious, i'm a lot of things but at the core i'm deeply sad about what that committee has evolved to pay. because we should be exercising that oversight. we have a very specific role, we have asked for hearings, we have done political theater,

but most of judiciary committee is political theater. we had an eight or nine hour, 11 hour hearing the other day with peter struck an oversight government reform and judiciary, after he had been deposed for 11 hours behind closed doors, all about hillary clinton's e-mail but fundamentally to undermine anything that robert muller comes out with and his investigation, and when we have asked over and over again to address the very real concerns that the intelligence committee has put out because of their findings, not just one or two but 19 intelligence agencies that have said this is a real threat, russian interference, foreign government interference in our election, and yet we been able to do nothing. i asked jeff sessions when he was in front of the committee, he actually said this is a critical issue we need to work on and we will start working on it but what they did was

cut the money from the budget. the tiny bit of money which is not a lot of money. it was significantly smaller amount of money for election security work and we've given for many years. even that was cut. i don't know what to tell you except to terry's point that taking back the house in november is absolutely critical on every letter because it's not just trump. it's the complicity of my republican colleagues who might say different things to each of us behind closed doors, but publicly they don't say anything. in fact, many of them go along had in hand to strip everything they possibly can. >> i think we have time for one question and that will be

our last. >> and curious about the youth vote and empowering young voters and there's been a lot of discussion about lowering the voting age to 16. i was wondering what you thought about policy since when it has been lowered in town the 16 and 17-year-old have had huge turnouts and driven more adults out as well. >> it's an intriguing proposal. i haven't studied it a lot. don't have the data you may have at your fingertips so i guess i'd circled back to the notion that the percentage of young people in that company cohort is very low compared to some of the other cohorts

within the other electric. even as we are looking at opportunities to bring younger voters into the universe of who can show up at the polls, we still have a lot of work to do to mobilize the pool of young voters authority in a position where they can register and go out and vote and hopefully the set of proposals in combination with others will be something that motivates young people. i give the parkland students a lot of credit because within 24 hours they went to the vote as the solution. it was amazing leadership on their part. they connected it took showing up at the ballot box i think that effort will mobilize a lot of young people in his other that can do it as well but let's back maximize the power we already have in terms of the young people who can step on the field. this is the most powerful

voting block that exists in america it would be upon to the field and exercise that right to vote. a lot about being left on the table. you and others can make sure that doesn't happen and that we can get the gavel back and put the oversight in. >> we did in 2016, there's other ways to bring people in and we have tons of youth work that is as young as 12 years old going door knocking and how powerful is that when they say i can't vote but your voting for my future. we found young people have been incredibly instrumental in moving their parents and that's another really important strategy as well as starting with the preregister people are ready when we get to 18. >> please join me and thinking

our incredible panel. >> thank you. >> let's take a group shot. [inaudible conversations]

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