>> the only thing that cuts through his information of value.

>> please welcome axios executive editor mike allen. >> good morning. happy early morning. welcome to the hometown tour. we had today are heartiest breakfast ever, one local thing. we had a cage free eggs that are from marilyn. we have melons and berries from maryland, and the chatter which was a part i liked best from virginia. welcome to the wells fargo home down to her which will raise awareness of issues affecting america's small businesses and communities. after this were off to savannah and denver. i'm so excited about this topic because if you think of all the mistakes, all the mistakes that the press made in 2016, the biggest mistake made in 2016 was that we didn't, what?

we didn't -- anybody. we didn't listen. one of the big reasons we misunderstood, overlooked some important sources in america was we didn't listen. that's one of the reasons i'm very excited about this hometown tour. axios make you smarter faster seek make better decisions. on our site axios.com use our smart brevity format at our events also written a smart brevity format. we had some exciting guests today all of whom have been in america's hometowns and had some great emphasis. love if you would tweet along at hashtag axios 360, hashtag axios 360. my first guest is now secretary but over the years has also been governor and has been senator and has been captain and has

also been doctored. i knew he had one more. doctor, governor, captain, center, pretty good but now from georgia, the 31st secretary of agriculture, the baskin-robbins secretary of agriculture secretary sonny perdue. secretary perdue, welcome to axios. thank you for coming. [applause] thank you very much. i'm running to all your titles, secretary, governor, captain, doctor, sedative which is it even those are not your best title. >> my favorite title is big buddy. my 14 grandchildren call me big buddy. >> fourteen? >> fourteen. i never had any idea i was married to such a prolific grandmother. >> that's all out of four kids? >> yes. >> i am one of forceful.

secretary perdue, you spent a lot of time out in hotels of america. from the northwest tour, oregon, washington, idaho, alaska. as you are up there what is on their mind we don't hear inside the beltway? >> good question at a think and what you said about the 16, think again getting outside of that weight is a good experience for me. obvious if that's where most of our constituents are. would have a lot of farmers of course in d.c. so it's good to get out and talk to people. i think again they are very proud of america. it's a great american valley. i think our agriculturalist and producers are some of the best examples of the spirit of america that grew this country, hard work ethics, risk-taking, entrepreneurship that good solid values of family and really wanted to pass those values and the property along. >> one of the things you always hear about you must quickly hear about his tray. i think you say that $.20 in

every dollar on the farm is related to trade. >> no question about it. there are really three issues that are here from north to south, east to west what i get out into town hall meetings with the farmers and the ranchers. it's really trade, typically comes up. it has always been there in the top three but obviously even more so now with the trade disruptions we are experiencing. legal workforce,. >> trade disruptions were expecting, , that sounds very passive pic in fact, it's your president, your administration disrupting trade. >> but i still described as trade disruptions were experiencing, and they understand that. the good news is that many of them understand some of the reasons that the president has taken this on. we just didn't get here recently with the calling of the question. china has not played by the rules for a long time. the nontariff barriers that with a sense i got into office here, secretary vilsack based.

he was farmers ranchers have faced over the years have been very troublesome. i applaud president trump for calling their hand. i mentioned to you earlier this morning, i've begun a weight loss program and little bit like a weight loss. it's going to be good to get there but it's a little bit painful in the meantime. >> so i offered secretary perdue one of the great breakfasts sandwiches here on the hometown tour, and when i handed you a breakfast sandwich or offered your breakfast sandwich, you said that you would put on, what? >> the freshmen 20 last year. >> what is your game plan for taking it off? >> lightening the load. i am up 25 pounds above my playing rate -- playing weight. racquetball is fun for me. >> one thing you told your

constituents, you were going to work on a plan so the farmers don't bear the brunt of these trade disruptions. you've given yourself a labor day deadline. i think the white house have started to socialize that plan a little bit. could you tell us about how you going about that and what you can accomplish with this plan which will see about slavery? >> from last fall even when we began talking about the trade issues and will be done about them, i think everyone recognized that agriculture has been and will be retaliated against. that's because we have trade surplus with agriculture. it's one of the things that we do very well in this country, and we feed the world in many ways. typically when you're you any f trade disagreement, agriculture is what is terrorist and retaliated against and that's what has happened. i think administration, the president, he actually gave me that quote that he would not expect farmers to bear the brunt

of these disruptions alone in that regard and we began, i begin being charged last year to do with the mitigation plan in case were not able to resolve these near-term. >> it's not going to make them whole and you think about the fact that 20% of agriculture relies on trade in some way, their profit margins are not 20% so there will be some bite. >> will be and that's a good point to make. just as any kind of situation where there's disruption, and auto accident, most of never feel achingly get the insurance check we are made whole. we just would like to get our car back. there will be some of that but again i think we need to recognize that our farmer producers, foresters and ranchers are bearing the brunt of much of this retaliation. we export about $140 billion, and about 20 of that is very vulnerable. >> last question, yes, it much

about this plan so what you're saying is newsworthy. when you present your plan on labor day, that plan will be successful if, what? >> my time line is labor day and the reason for that is the major harvest of the heartland begins really after labor day, soybeans and corn and other things, but with other things like livestock. pork is been affected by this very negative as well, so there are vegetable crops and others but we hope to send to the farmers our plan so they can make decisions. these are business people. farmers love their lifestyle but they are business people. they have to make a a profit. i tell the president that they're some of the best patriots i believe in america,, but they can't pay the bills on patriotism and that's what we hope to cheer. >> now, mr. chairman, you were born on a farm in georgia. you corn, you had beans, wheat and you told me that you gave

yourself the labor day deadline because the way that you set it says how intent you are with hometown speak you said that's when the combines,. >> that's when they start rolling. it only takes the first farmer to get the combines out there and all the neighbors looking run and get the combines ready to go. >> there's going to be some bite. you're going to try to mitigate it and so when we talk in six months, what will you be able to say about the effect on american farmers, assuming that these trade measures also all proceed the way there headed out? >> farmers would run that trade rather than aid. it would much rather have a good crop at a fair price rather than any kind of government check at all. but when you make plans and planning as they have already and don't have, or disrupted by trade actions that did nothing to do with, we feel like it's only appropriate for mitigation. but i hope that we can have

really this resolved prior to six months, all the trade issues. it's really up to china. china needs to stop the practices that event at the competitive and protectionist for many years, at a think with a very close to getting agreement with mexico and canada. as you know canada has finally acknowledged they are keeping our dairy products out of canada is not a free trade effort like nafta. >> and so in the short term the president has major job harder. >> more challenging. >> you were just out in alabama, right? or, no, another upper caste we just had out in alabama but you have been traveling we mentioned the northwest, as you out there what you about tax reform? let's talk about the effect on small farms and on mega- farms. >> well again, i think are benefiting. anyone who pays taxes, and farmers as a center businesses that pay taxes pick the best

sustainability program is profitability and in time that profitability. the other thing they really like is obviously the expenditure and appreciation that they can write off this equipment. farm equipment and six costa farm has grown astronomically over the last many years, and it's a good habit to be able to depreciate that. the other thing obviously is the changes in the state rules. most farmers as i said that to think about the transgenerational of having children and grandchildren take over that farm, and the estate rules help them with that. >> whether any things and the tax bill they were afraid with kirsten that you had to talk to them about or do a little mitigation of your own? >> i saw some press, , about tht but i've not found anything in the tax bill that the small business owners, i.e. farmers and ranchers, don't feel like has been efficient. if there was a little snack on the 199 issues early on but that got resolved. that would've been disrupting

from a private sector rather than co-opt. >> you heard from some of speedy we heard a lot about that. that was really an unfortunate misstep in the tax bill but it got, everyone recognized it very quickly and it got corrected fairly quickly so. >> mr. secretary, basic all politics is local but also all economics is local. i produce a if the farms are thriving, local economies are thriving. it's been tough for farms in the last couple of years. >> and rural community spirit we know that many people don't recognize they are not associate with farming, farming is down 50% from 2013. that's quite a stretch there. it's a breakeven for many farms now, but the good ones survive and others find other things to do. that's the way our economy works, but it is very, very challenging. that's why the cumulative effect obvious he of the issues over

ethanol and the rfs issue is so important. that's why trade is on board and that's why the cumulative effect of even the farm bill anticipating the farm bill renewal as a safety net is all-important. >> mr. secretary, we are about to get the hook but i want to ask about world daily life. the population of our broken \30{l1}s{l0}\'30{l1}s{l0} is shrinking. >> it's troubling. what are the things were focused on usda for real development is broadband. we take it for granted in our urban areas but many people, many kids going up don't have the advantages, the socialization of rural broadband. it's more than that. precision agriculture depends on broadband to build the plant that seed right where it should be competent inputs there. and then telemedicine, e-commerce, those kinds of things and one of our big old is to make sure when we leave we've got a robust rural broadband network across the country.

>> and mr. secretary, as a second by in addition all those titles come up top you have one more. you are a pilot. >> that's right. both rotary and fixed wing. >> tell me what you fly and when and are you safe? >> i hope i'm sick. i've been flying since 68 and haven't had any problems so far, but about tinges ago wanted to get my rotary license and enjoy flying helicopters as well. as a matter fact, by sunday i had my biannual flight review and pass so we are doing great. >> last thing, your bucket list, your dream is to fly from where to where in what? >> well, i'm a single engine pilot and, therefore, i would love to take my single-engine airplane across, just went to alaska. i would love to fly back to alaska. >> single engine plane across alaska. thank you for great conversation. conversation. thank you so very much. [applause] >> thank you about making little news. we thank wells fargo for this

hometown tour and now we are going here a quick message from wells fargo. >> spent a lifetime fighting for that american dream and how it is been given to me. >> wells fargo gave my family and i a home and it opened up doors. they were slammed shut. >> wells fargo has donated over 350 homes, a value of $95 million to veterans and gold star families. >> feel appreciative for everything has done for our country. >> beautiful home. >> wells fargo to give us this home will not only set up our future, our debts will be paid off and my wife is about to have a child. >> 500 kids from military families are now at home because

of this program. >> congratulations on your new home. >> it's hard to talk about how it feels for someone to care enough to give you a mortgage free home. that's what wells fargo has done for us. >> our heroes have come together and paid off almost 18 on dollars in debt. >> words can't describe how grateful we are. it means a lot. >> thank you very much. we thank wells fargo for that message and for the hometown tour. thank all of you are tweeting along at #axios360, and now it's my honor to welcome to you to the stage someone who is in daily, hourly touch with the real, one of the real hometown of america. our next guest went away to stanford where he was an honors student, also honors at university of chicago law school where he met a couple of

interesting folks but you might know. we will talk about that, and returned to his hometown where he now is the mayor. it's an honor to welcome chattanooga mayor andy berke. mayor berke, welcome to axios. [applause] >> mr. mayor chattanooga is known as -- how come? >> we have the fastest, cheapest most pervasive internet in the world so axios upload tool to quickly. >> smarter faster. >> that's right, smarter faster. what we have is a fiber optic network that goes to all 600 square miles of the area and hooks up to every single business and every single in error. skips no one, no neighborhood no matter what you do know matter what you look like, no matter who you are. you have a fiber off for the network that provides up to ten gigabit per second. most connections might be something more like 25 and this is ten up and tend out.

>> that's not totally replicable. i spent four years in lexington virginia. i grew up in california not everybody can be gig city but what is your lesson from that? >> one of the biggest things that i tell everybody is take advantage of your assets. there are a few things that check, chattanooga started our renaissance with a river and going back to the river, finding that national competitive asset. one of the most beautiful places that you can ever find, we were voted by outdoor magazine best town ever. best town ever. when you kind of speedy very instagram like. >> when you focus on your asset, the things you do better you can really grow your community. >> and what was behind your successful, your trophy best city ever? >> i think it was really speedy

rome, athens? >> what do those places have? we have hiking and mountain climbing and rockclimbing and paddle boarding and pre-much every outdoor activity you can have. for us we see a lot of not just tourism but people move to our community because of quality of life. that julie our specialty. i'm sure d.c. has this incredible quality of life, but if you don't want the traffic, you don't want a heavy urban area but you what a good midsized city, a lot of people grew up in the kind of environment, chattanooga, that's what we offer and we don't want to be something other than what we are. we want to be a great midsized city. >> mr. mayor, you hear to take a bit of a victory lap. last thank you statement text and you said dcs trade was in disagreements, -- >> we get things done.

i just can't sometimes understand what goes on up here. i'll give an example. when is i know you're talking to secretary perdue about the tax bill. at least for us as mayors the idea of setting what income is before we know what our expenses are is crazy. and so what we do of course, i just finished our budget, and i'm a strong mayor what is called strong mayor system, so i am the ceo of the government as well. what we do is we figure out what it is that we have to do, make sure that we can do it and we set our income to do that. we invest in infrastructure. we get things done. chattanooga testing results. we've got one of highest wage gross in the country for a midsize city, record low an opponent, poverty dropping pixels the kinds of things that he think constituents respond to. at the d.c. level we see dysfunction, but even across

party lines in municipal government you find that we can get things done and generally people want to see their community move forward. >> mr. mayor, something to talk about is open and inclusive government. i was reading your state of the city address library library pt quite a few now and you said you are a city government. >> i think for us we understand in local government that we are close to people. one of the things that is amazing, you know, when you're the mayor of the city as i try to walk everywhere you got a go to the grocery store and i talk to people, and what people have a problem with a pottle, then they have a problem with the lights going out. when i was going to the door in my reelection campaign i did not realize how long is going to take because before, you would knock a people store, they can something if any. can you walk down and see the

drain that's right down the street from me? happy to see the dream. it really hard to go door to door as mayor. and that's just part of what we do. city government has to be open to people because this is what people see, trash, economic development, roads. everything that happens to them they feel like city government touches the lives. >> that's life in city kevin, i do drains, right? one of the prompt you often hear about from your constituencies that you cancel that you wish you could? >> i think for us one of the biggest issues that we face is people feeling left out by the economy. that's just the number one thing that we hear about, because as a said chattanooga has had one of the highest wage gross for midsize city. people just don't get a job. they need a job that can pay the

bills. a lot of people are finding that they're going to income and they still can't pay their bills. and for us in city government there is a lot that goes with that, some of that involves, as we see the pipe expanding how do we make sure more people have their fair share of that pie? but that is large, often large macroeconomic issues that we just don't have access to. >> you have gigs, poultry and vw. >> we do. if you want to help my city, and a know that, you will go out this afternoon and you will buy a volkswagen. where the all u.s. manufacturing company for vw. >> how have they been as a neighbor and what if you learned from that big infusion into your local ecosystem? >> first of all it's just been incredible having to deal with a german company and to spend so much time with them when i

recruited the atlas to chattanooga come spend so much time learning about what was happening in germany negotiating that deal was an extremely interesting and often difficult process. and we learn the importance of trade and things like that. we had previously been in the market for an audi car but those cars get exported more often than things like the atlas. and because of our trade rules at the time we really got knocked out fairly early from the audi process. because the additional cost of trying to export that to south america made it unfeasible to build in chattanooga. the amount, the attention they paid to every single talk to make sure that that vehicle is profitable is critical to making sure more cars are built. i'll just say this because i know you hear talk about tray. us it's pretty simple.

when vw cells were atlases and more passat, chattanooga has more jobs. it's very easy for. >> what can you tell other hometowns about how to work with, what to learn from, how to benefit from massive employer that suddenly is on your doorstep? >> i think for us it's been really a change in our environment to try to pick up how do we work with someone who carries a pretty big stick now employing several thousand people. one line just to give you an idea when we did the atlas, the anticipation was there would be 10,000 total jobs, not all that vw. roughly 20,002,000 jobs created at vw and another 8000 related jobs including suppliers and everything else. so for us we have to listen to them. why the same token, at least for me, chattanooga needs a diverse economy. the city i grew up was dying. it was a steal and how to count that it be, overly reliant on

those issues. you have to honor the big dog but that can't be only animal. you need speedy that is a tweet for axios. >> so you need a whole bunch of people in your backyard, and for us i think a lot of what we've seen over the last several years is we need vw and we need to keep that growing, we can't put all of our eggs in the basket. >> how is tax reform affecting our constituents? >> for some of our biggest business, businesses, they seem some additional income, but i think for most people that i find and talk to, they don't see tax reform as something that's affected their lives. again, i know that there were some businesses who that some additional profits, and i certainly heard from business leaders were happy about it, but for every person like that, and i know that there's a lot of

money that comes into our community from those individuals, there are a whole bunch of people who said i don't understand what i was supposed to get out of this. >> mr. mayor, if you don't get into passat you will get me into a lease. chattanooga is one of the first electric vehicle ridesharing programs. >> yeah, so we're trying to be a sustainable community. in 1969 walter cronkite who was almost as trustworthy as you, mike, what walter cronkite and call the most trusted man in america get a one hour special on chattanooga and called it the dirtiest city in america. and so for us what we found is as we've cleaned up our environment, that's what helped lead to this best town ever, and so we need to be sustainable. when you get that kind of five mental focus if you want to continue that kind of branding. >> mayor berke, at the beginning i give a little bit of a spoiler. when you at a good of the youth and interesting neighbors. >> yet, so when i was in college

i to professor named condi rice. when i was a university of chicago, my first day, , my firt professor was elena kagan. and when i was a bear the next year, skinny black guy named barack obama came to visit chicago. so i like to say i'm one of the only people and no future secretary of state, future supreme court justice and a future president and really did nothing with those connections. [laughing] >> and if i were going to play tennis i would probably play with rachel or a.j. if you played tennis, who shows up? >> a long time ago when i was younger i was a decent tennis player, and so i lost to some of the best players in the world. john mcenroe, andre agassi, some people like that. and so i've been known to lose a good tennis match. >> if you beaten you to have story. you do twitter our stick i think anybody in this room does. what's the worst thing that's

ever happened to you during a twitter our? >> when you're the mayor people say all kinds of things you on twitter. when you said earlier you were city government, that's part of it, is to find every kind of platform that you have to interact with your constituents. >> and what's a twitter survival tips? >> my twitter survival tip is to have a sense of humor. if you can't have a sense of humor don't get on twitter. because particularly when people know you, you want to see the personality and not just the politician, and hopefully my best tweets are always the ones where i show all a bit of mysel myself. >> and mayor berke, thank you very much for a great conversation. thank you. mayor of chattanooga. we thank wells fargo for the hometown to and will have a quick message. >> all the water use comes out

of your sink in d.c., , edinburh the virginia and maryland a comes from the potomac river. >> we had a group of environmental science students from the school without walls. >> the valley over here comes together. it's called the shenandoah rive river. >> all the connections to the chesapeake bay. >> do you guys think the water looks the same color? >> they tested nutrient levels in the water. >> i'm five minutes for the reaction to take place. >> how cloudy or murky the water is. >> the last thing we did was do a survey of what's living in the water. >> singh look on the kids faces when would bring fish and other species on board, i think that something you can only do what you were out in the field experiencing it. wells fargo's bennet fantastic supporter. >> wells fargo has provided over $150,000 to support the d.c.

program. >> it really matters our commitment to k-12 education as well as an environmental stewardship. >> we turned the risk of the water. >> i've learned about the chesapeake bay watershed. >> we live in this area and would benefit from the watershed. watershed. it's been polluted for many years and it starts with us to help clean it up. >> thank you very much for that message. we appreciate it very much. our next guest is mr. chairman and has been mr. chairman of a number of great committees including the thankless job thing chairman of the ethics committee.

now chairman of the house agriculture community. it's an honor to welcome chairman mike conaway of texas. mr. chairman, welcome to axios. [applause] >> really appreciate it. so as we look beyond the beltway, you just spent some time in alabama, and what did you learn in alabama that we are not going to learn inside the beltway? >> while a couple things. one, agriculture suffered as your sonny perdue earlier, , 50% drop in net farm income the last five years. bankruptcies are up 39%. hard times. folks are struggling with it. no real prospect, commodity prices getting any better in the neutral and that's with a live and die on is commodity prices. i've got this snap requirement that a snap issue with that going with the farm bill and the cornerstone of that is this idea that you spend 20 hours a week working, volunteering or treating to get one of his good paying jobs that the mere mention of a second ago.

somehow that's a terrible thing to be doing and the folks in the real world outside the beltline don't understand why that's a problem inside the beltline. why we can't get that done and particularly the folks in the senator markey that shouldn't be a part of the farm bill at all. hard times. trade is a big deal. the term of whether it's renegotiating nafta, trying to force china to agree to abide by the agreement of it got. the opening markets in europe, deal with tpp and bilateral deals we have to get done. all of that has got them unsettled. >> so mr. chairman, in axios that we give the state of play on the farm bill. so past the house on my birthday, thank you, june 21. her nickname around the house is landslide. >> absolutely. >> because it passed 213-211. >> here's the rational. i'm a cpa so we work with numbers all the time. it takes one vote or the other guys get to pass. and i got double the number,

double the number of votes necessary to pass my farm bill. >> chairman landslide. the senate passed 86-11, a little more cushing. you made a reference to the biggest difference between the senate and house bill and that is the work requirements for food stamps, supplemental nutrition assistance program, the requirement you look at starts at 20 weeks of work or training, goes up to 25. speaker policy said this was cruel and destructive. why? >> i have no idea. you need to talk to her. that's a bit blunt but i don't know. it makes no sense. when a good talk to farmers and ranchers at a talk about a 20 hour work week to look at me go we get the dent in the first two days of the week, or that our second or third job we are trying to maintain in order to try to keep this farm at, stay in business. and so i'm not sure why the big --

>> budget in the objections to it. what is the hardest objection to to answer. what is the objection to it that is hardest for you to explain? >> i can't put my, i can't get myself into their head into think thinking that's cruel and horrible ideologically strict or whatever all forward to the use. a dozen the guinea sense to me that we don't cut a snap. we talk about work capable individuals 18-59 for not a caregiver of a child under six, not physical or mental disabled. folks you'd expect to be workers. with 10 million americans who are on step a report any earned income. in this in private this economy that just does make a lot of sense quite frankly. we got a booming economy by most accounts. jobs being created. at the numbers we got get 60.7 million jobs that are open. with 6.4 million and unemployed ranks that are still trying to look for a job. it seems to me this is a perfect

time to come to grips with this issue in a more meaningful way. hunger is a symptom. homelessness is a symptom. the root cause of that person's life is what we need to get at. yet we can't kind house them ad them but part of our peace would be we will take the money that doesn't get spent on people who should be on s.n.a.p. and we apply that back into state run state-based education and workforce programs, case management and supervisory job search such as apprenticeships, volunteerism. each state will come up with the money that you have, federal taxpayer dollars to address these issues to get at the root causes to get the people the skills they need or the tools they need in order to get on the ladder of success quite frankly and that's were trying to do. i don't understand the harsh push back and getting from that. the 20 hour work week is already law. we are going to do some waiver issued another things and say

people have to work if the equit public assistance. >> tuple black the chemical of it on farm bills and you are involved in the farm bill of 2008 and 2014, and i was asking you what you're going to do this summer, you said you're going to pass the farm bill. the farm focus back to 1933, the great depression, the dust bowl years, and glenn thrush of the new times, he said the farm bill despite its pastoral name is one of those politically sensitive bills there is and he is a great phrase, he says this year's bill has been something of an mri in to the soul of the republican party. you are going to start your conference project, process this week or next. what is the outlook for getting the farm bill done before the expiration? >> i grew up in west texas. the desert. you typically are optimistic when you live in a desert. i'm optimistic. the right thing to do and the

right time to get done. the president wants to get it done on time. i mentioned earlier all the trouble going on in production agriculture with it answered about the farm bill, trade, commodity prices. the one thing that congress can do on behalf of america's get the farm bill done on time. we have difficult decisions to make it with new priorities to set. none of us will be any smarter in october than we are now. and so there is no reason, we are adults. there's no reason not to get this done on time. go ahead and make those hard decisions because there's an elegance, people in production agriculture doing what the next five years taking it looks like his prices, and want to get that done on their behalf. i can't on royal the waters on trade but i can get this farm bill done and that will take just a little bit of the pressure off of these hard-working men and women that produce the safest most abundant and affordable food and fiber

supply in the world. that's what we need the safety net. 2014 farm bill is all different. commodity prices were good. we had a couple good years of yield at the folks said we really need a safety net fast four to 22, 50% income drop. bankruptcies are up. there's no question that we need the safety net to keep our producers in business because you and i come everyone us to eat everyday, most of us, we get a a deal. we get a bargain. every time ago to the grocery store, every time we eat in a restaurant. we don't know we're where getta deal and we don't know why. part of my job is to tell you next time you go eat someplace you cut a a deal that you didnt know about. it's because hard-working men and women across this country spent an incredible hours getting to work every single day, take incredible risk against mother nature and governments around the world, all those kinds of things going on so you and i as consumers can enjoy that affordable food and fiber supply. here's why i supported. the top 20% of the economic food

chain in the world, in america, spends more on food in the bottom 20% makes in disposable income. i'm not too worried about that top group. they will spend with the going to spend. go get it, prosper because they are buying from some good farmers. i'm worried about the bottom half of the food chain. the paycheck to paycheck family. if something unexpected comes up during the month, it comes out of the budget. i do want to make that mom or dad struggle to keep the home together, job are working harder. arbitrarily raising the cost of the because having able to get the farm bill done or doing something for the sake it whether this crop insurance or title insurance to make sure farmers and stay in the fight that would raise the cost of food. >> for our guests and people cover this process quite -- nobody has touched any of them.

help yourself. what in the conference process will happen this week or next and what's going to take for you to resolve those differences with the senate by september 30? >> nextstep, senate passed h.r. two, a stripped of all olympic and stuck the language of. next up is the house to say no, we disagree, we want to go to conference. that was scheduled for this week. had a schedule issue. it will either be tomorrow night or next monday the house will do that. i'm told the senate will be pretty attractive and very quick to turn around and create the conference committee will be begin to put this together. quite frankly just unabashedly, i need senate democrats in this world of work requirements are proper thing in the 90% of republican senate will do think work, work requirements are proper thing to tell their senator, 33 of them are up for reelection by lecompte other folks, work requirements thing makes a lot of sense.

may not make a lot of sense to you know click and send it with what makes a lot of sense out here where we live. i need the message to get to them so they can tell their senator or house member you don't really want to be the person to go home in october and try to campaign on i stop the farm bill, i stopped that issue because i felt work was too terrible thing for someone to be asked to do to get public assistance. >> in all the times we've been doing this you are the first person is ever used the word send it and click the same sentence. >> i gotcha. it's because it doesn't happen well. i think it will be quick to turn around the conference i get that done. we will appoint conferees, touch gloves and begin the process. >> what's the chance you are done by september 30? >> i'm a cpa. percentages are based on

whatever, we will get it done. >> fifty-one? >> we will get it done. if i have my phone with you i will show you. i have a countdown calendar. there are 75 days left. it's running on my phone. i should've brought it out to show you. but i'm driven to get this done. it's just too important not to. >> mr. chairman, the rural hometowns of america are hurting. hurting. what can you do about that? >> you know, the folks who are directly involved in agriculture, , they are bankers, implement dealers, straightforward stuff in that regard. you can't have a vibrant world economy without a really strong agricultural economy. they go hand in glove, they are together. from my personal opinion those values of which this country space has created and sustained for 242 years are in safekeeping in rural america because that's what part of this country really

resides, and so it's important we should make that happen. you heard the secretary mentioned broadband. innovation and farming has a lot to do with big data, being able to have precision farming. precision farming, one way to think about it is, they put underground tape under the ground to irrigate with so you don't waste the water with evaporation. you need to know where the tape is pick you need to plant light across the top of the tape every single time. and so having the gps satellite set up and having broadband to be able to do that is really important. the single biggest infrastructure issue for rural america would be broadband. the other thing, you're not going to get kids to go home to small-town america if they don't have connectivity. they're just not going to do it. that's all they have built all their lives and they go away to college, this they got it, thee not going home to not be able to do the comfort things you want to do if they don't have broadband. that's the of the big thing. >> what about to get the hook.

an penultimate question. back in texas you started a business with president george w. bush 43. what did you learn from president bush about running a business? >> it's hard. we were in the oil business together i wish i had been part to working with a baseball team. i would've made more money. it's hard. he and i felt i was chief financial officer and he was a president and ceo and we responsible we make payroll and we. he and i knew we had to casual the deal, make sure the money was in the bank on payday that anybody everybody got paid and all those good things. starting a business and being successful at it is hard. stunningly rewarding to be able to have done that. just t-bill to say i have got a good friend, his name is george w. bush. the badge of honor as well. >> did you know he was a secret painter? >> no, didn't. after he got out of the white

house, don evans, another good friend of his said our friend has taken a a painting. i said, painting? is laura making him paint the house? no, no, fine art. you've got to be kidding me. churchill did that. >> and mr. chairman, last question one time you your kind in your office and on your wall you had a photo of the odessa texas high school class of 1966. you were on that state champs chip football team and that is given you a story to tell us. it's weird. it's been a zillion years since then. that's the team the front deck lights the book and movie and the tv show, 30 year run really great football in west texas and texas altogether come at a started 65 with the actual state championship. i graduate in 66 but with the first state championship team and they had a 30 year run.

of course the book and the movie and the tv show help keep all that a lot. >> and what would you say is the spirit, the secret sauce of the high school and a championship run? >> jean mayfield started that. he came in after junior year. new coach came in. you never quit. you be the best prepared team out there. you do everything could possibly do to get ready to go fight. you just know that you're going to get knocked down. that's not the essence of whether not your success of the essence is whether or not you get up, get back and go find the guy on the next banker knocking down. you give effort every single play and you just be better prepared anybody else. >> thanks for great conversation with axios. appreciate it very much. [applause] good luck with your countdown clock. i will see september 30. our next guest was mayor of dallas and was the u.s. trade

representative come first african-american to hold either of those office, now senior counsel at gibson dunn. this is going to be fun. he's got 1 million stories are welcome to axios, ambassador ron kirk. [applause] >> he is shaking hands, i know you. >> why are you wearing a tie? they told me -- >> i'm not. ambassador kirk and what the biggest thing about talking texan then d.c.? >> you can swear. no, look, everybody believes that their vernacular home is more honest, more different. i do think that being in the middle of the country does get, it's like being the middle child. you do get to see both perspectives, and i'm a good strong democrat but i love,

remind my friends in new york and california, if the democratic party is going to have resurgence, it isn't going to be because of new york and california. it's going to be what happens in places like texas and missouri, unit, the western states and others. i do find it interesting for this conversation, you've had current mayor from tennessee, a former mayor from texas, a governor, now congressman. we're all south, southwestern. but i think we bring an earnestness, a no-nonsense, please try to bring a no nonsense approach. i will speak for everybody. >> we will have some fun and that come have a serious subject here up top and that's the effect of tears on the agriculture community. as net representative for prez obama you were very involved in this issue picking of this community. what are you hearing about the effects so far of the current tariff plan? >> well, , you've heard from the

secretary of agriculture, the chairman and whether we like it or not, the good news is we are ridiculously the most proficient agricultural economy in the world. and i tell people if you want to understand all you want to know about agriculture, just go grow something in your backyard. because anybody thinks they want to be hometown farmer. go grow some tomatoes. when you finally get them to do something, then you spent the rest of your time going down the street knocking on closer doors and kurds because your neighbors are going here comes mike with those tomatoes again. because you so many tomatoes and you can consume. so the rally is agriculture can use agriculture, is the most dependent for the markets. because we are just so efficient at it. and so you hear from all of us, depending on the crop, 1/3 to one 12:45 half of all reproduce we sell to the world. that's a good thing.

the downside. the downside, it makes agriculture the tip of the spear in these tariff wars, because the medical the country, whether it was china or brazil, they tend to retaliate against agriculture and farmers. so i really feel for our farmers because they paid a price for this tariff foolishness. >> mr. ambassador, wife alleges? >> tariffs are, and i want to be clear. i'm proud to say before as of the first u.s. trade representative under the obama administration always remind people, i was appointed trade rep by admin who is elected president and to go back to the 2008 primary to pledge to redo nafta, the same within secretary clinton did. trade is a tough issue for a lot of us, but speedy you call dallas the capital city of nafta. >> i did. i was elected mayor in 95 right

after nafta had gone into effect. i was secretary of state we believe in nafta, but i thought as mayor we have to be -- dallas of one of the cities that for years sort of lamented the fact, we didn't have natural resources and i love my city. you should all come to dallas but i would welcome people, nobody moves here to be near the mountains and the oceans. you can keep looking, you ain't going to see them. but we a great place to live. we have this incredible asset called dfw airport, and by my rough, you know, non-mathematically question, that put us in the epicenter of the largest free trade zone in the world. from dfw airport you are three and half hours from every commercial center in north america. >> sounds like you're getting amazon. >> well, i would like for us to. and whether we get them or not, my approach as mayor is anytime somebody else is credentialing dallas as a place you want to be, if you are a global business, that's better than

hearing that from the mayor. we would love to have it. it would make sense for them but a lot of times when we talk with these tech companies i'll be honest, mike, they don't want to be in the place they have to compete with texas instruments and eds and parole systems for jobs. frankly, it wouldn't surprise if they go somewhere like, no disrespect, go to a state with great public education, not a lot of jobs. so it wouldn't surprise me if they don't end up in kansas or tennessee or somewhere that they can harvest all the talent and not have to compete with the other companies. >> when we are thinking about agriculture and a farmers in our hometowns, a little quiz for you. 95% of the world is, , what. >> was 95% of the world, consumers can live outside of the united states. >> and so the lesson for our produces go off farmers our hometowns is what?

>> that selling people food that they never worry about the safety of their children consuming is a huge plus for us. i would say, people ask me what i learned as ustr, and hope it doesn't sound too hometown-ish, but the words made in america really are the greatest brand in the world, and so if people have access -- >> that's a good tweet for axios 360, the words made in america. >> it is biggest of the greatest brand in the world, consumers around the world who have looked at as with envy and kind of want to live a lifestyle like we do never, no mother, no father ever worries about putting food on the table if it's been raised by our stay because they believe we have some standards for health and safety and cleanliness. and so that's a huge value added proposition for in exporter. ..

>> in 2008, and americans have always been a little anxious about trade. and part of trade's problems, the benefits are too good. every one of you in here benefits from trade so much you don't think about it. you never even think about the fact that when you go on-line and want a new personal device or new food that it's cheaper, more innovative because government has gotten out of the way between you and what you want to buy. that's the good thing about trade. the bad thing, the pain is very upfront. my bride is from detroit and all of her in-laws, not some, all of my in-laws are either retired auto workers or steel workers. there is no world that i can convince them that all those closed factories aren't the fact of nafta, even though most of them closed well before nafta went into effect.

so, one of my challenges was to get my staff, which are as talented and committed -- there's only 250 people in ustr to give up on convincing free trade is good. >> it's been demonized. >> it's like the affordable care act, you tell me what if we had a trade agreement that forced korea to buy cars and force them to buy our cars like we buy theirs. people go, yeah. what if our partners open up markets as freely as we have opened other and protect our intellectual property so they can stop pyirating our songs and books and if we wrote the rules. if we tell people that and they're going to play by the rules and counter intuitive as it is, one way we create the jobs. i love you had the mayor on. the jobs, sell more of our stuff around the world and

people embrace that and the team would get off sort of our intellectual commitment to trade and understand we still have to make a case that made sense to the american public. >> and mr. mayor, mr. ambassador, what is the biggest mistake that hometowns make in order to bring prosperity to the main streets of america? >> i think that hometowns think-- forgive me, i was kidding with the mayor of chattanooga and my wife says i'm still suffering from acute mayoritis. he think our cities get more rights than washington do. you have to play to your strength. if you're in the middle of the country you can't decide we are going to be the next bio tech center. you've got to have a place like, i hate to say it, mit on -- look at what you have and make sure you have a work force and functioning city, make your

tax structures are appropriate and then you have to sell and build on that particular strength. >> one of the most colorful political figures of my lifetime, any party, any governor, ann richards. you were appointed secretary of state and for zack and other people who weren't born, then ann richards is the person who used to refer to president george w. bush as "poor george". she would say poor george was born with a silver foot in his mouth. what was one of the lessons you learned about life and politics from governor ann richards? >> i met ann richards when i was 14 years old and she was chief of staff to a young-- i'm speaking to the young people here about how you can make a change. she was chief of staff to a young lawyer, state legislature named sara weddington at 28 years old argued a case before

the supreme court on behalf of a woman named norma roe. changed the life of everybody in this room. and i was an intern and she drug me into politics. i have two daughters, every day -- my daughters were three and one and a half when i became secretary of state. and she said no matter what, never forget, girls get self-esteem from their fathers, and tell them you love them every day. but then she'd also say wildly funny stuff and we'd fuss about tax cuts and this and that and the one of her favorite sayings, mike, the rich ain't like us. so, i learned everything from ann, but mostly, if you're privileged to serve in public office, bring your passion, bring your energy, and don't assume this is a lifetime appointment. make change positive every day that you can. >> host: and you give us good life lesson about your

daughters. what's a practical lesson about politics that you learned from governor richards? how to get it done? >> lead. i know it sounds crazy, you become mayor, they'll fuss and complain what you did. you started a company, but you're there to lead. if you're not there to make a difference, then why are you there? and she would tell us, and you can-- you've got to believe that a woman elected governor in texas, 1990 had the most diverse cabinet ever. she would bring us together every three months and sit us in a room and make everybody stand up and say, one, she wanted us to know one another, but she beat on us and beat on us and beat on us. if you won't make the change, who is going to do it? and she told us. it wasn't just enough to rearrange the chairs and the complexion and the gender of the people around the table, that if you don't bring your skill and your passion, you're failing those people we serve. >> mr. ambassador, you said lead. i thought you said leak.

what's your secret to getting along with press? >> they're not going anywhere. be honest. always-- for somebody's who's as comfortable talking as i am, for you young people, never presume you know what the press wants to talk about. the first thing to always do is ask what do you want to talk about and when is your deadline? because when your deadline is will tell you more about their motive than anything. so, just be honest and i had a wonderful press secretary who came out of the ann richards vernacular, who reminded me every day, if you'd stop saying stupid stuff, they won't have anything to print. [laughter] >> that's what we can tweet and that governor richards would be proud of. we'd like to thank c-span for covering us this morning. we'd like to thank wells fargo for the hometown tour and we'll see you in savannah and denver. we'd like to thank the amazing axios events staff which had

the fantastic local resource breakfast for you. i hope you got some of that fancy breakfast, if not, we've got some back stage for you. we'd like to thank you for coming out so early and ron kirk for a great conversation on axios.com. and mr. ambassador, thank you. >> thank you. >> and my wife's watching this morning, i promised i'd behave. >> host: fussin' and cussin', that could be your book. ♪ [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> c-span, where history unfolds daily.

in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. and today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress. the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. . >> tuesday, on the c-span networks. the house convenes for morning live on c-span. at noon they'll take up a number of bills under suspension of the rules and making changes to the 2010 dodd-frank regulation law. on c-span2, the senate continues work on judicial and executive nominations scheduled for the week. and on c-span 3, federal reserve chair jerome powell testifies before the senate banking economy about monetary policy and the economy. that's live at 10 a.m. eastern.

you can find all of it streaming on-line on c-span.org and on the free c-span radio app. >> major league baseball commissioner rob manfred spoke at the national press club yesterday. he's in the nation's capital for tonight's all-star game being held at nationals park. [inaudible conversations] >> good afternoon. welcome to the national press club where news happens. my name is michael friedman. i'm a member of the national press club's board of governors and executive producer of the report, public broadcasting series. very pleased to welcome today's headliner guest, commissioner of major league baseball. rob manfred. before we begin our