>> up next here on c-span2, a conversation on voting rights without minority leader nancy

pelosi and three other democratic members of congress. john sarbanes of maryland, terri sewell and pramila jayapal. from the center on american progress, this is just over 90 minutes. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. my name is neera tanden and i am the president and ceo of the center for american progress action fund. welcome to this important event. over the past two years, it has been unmistakably clear that

even in the most divisive of times, the american people agree on at least one a thing. that they are fed up with the status quo here in washington. mrs. a system in which many special interests have placed a stranglehold that legislators a day after dayy we hear of the republican congress and the trump administration are cutting special deals over the needs of the american people. donald trump didn't drain the swamp. the swamp is now drowning our government. the american people understand that the corrupting influence of big money and our government needs to policy with shortchange interest of hard-working families with health care, tax laws or basic civil rights. in fact, a recent poll conduct and found a strong majority of voters from across the political

spectrum want lawmakers to reduce the role of money in politics. so it's time for leaders to fundamentally rewrite the rules that govern democracy. proud to support a series of growns breaking steps congressional democrats have politicalo ensure our system works on behalf of the people once again. inmate comingg democrats in both chambers of commerce came together to announce a bold set of proposals cause a better deal for our democracy. just a few weeks ago, democrats in the house introduced the by the people resolution which would transform reform into concrete legislative action. the better deal for our democracy is captured in the new resolution centered around three categories for strong and clear solutions creating a more responsive government. first, we repair our broken campaign finance system and stop wealthy donors from spending unlimited amounts of secret money in our election.

second, it would enact house ethics laws including measures that will limit the power of lobbyists and close revolving doors between capitol hill and third it would launch a sweeping plan for empoweringee american veteran from ending partisan gerrymandering tricks ending voting right all across our nation. we believe this legislation is critical to renewing the strength of our democracy. it is why we are thrilled to have this event today. i will lead a conversation with leader pelosi and my colleague, winnie sachelberg, will have a conversation with a few members of congress who have been leading this fight. we are all familiar with the many accomplishments of leader pelosi and all that she has achieved in her career. she is the first woman in history to serve as speaker of the house and she is in many ways the person in congress most

responsible for passing the affordable care act and the spending that now. [applause] leader pelosi has also fought tirelessly for many years to curb the influence of money in politics to expand voting rights and bring greater accountability to our government. i will just say i have witnessed her first-hand taking bold and courageous steps, step she knew what can be difficult in step she knew that would be unpopular with special interest because it was important for the american people. i am thrilled to welcome leader pelosi to the stage. [applause] >> thank you. [inaudible]

>> thank you so much for being here and for your leadership. [inaudible] -- some of the news that is happening. obviously, last friday -- [inaudible] the department of justice issued a series of indictments around what happen. as we think through voter integrity, we have a situation now in which the president is meeting -- [inaudible] the president of the united states is meeting with russian leader vladimir putin. several russian officials were just indicted and yet it seems the president did not mention

this. but people worry about election integrity, do you have any comment or reaction to the so-called summit happening right now? >> well, thank you very much for the invitation to be here. he gives me an y opportunity toe the tremendous intellectual resource you are to us in terms of research about what has happened in suggestion initiatives for the future. thank you so much for your leadership. [applause] the connection between the president sitting there speaking withh vladimir putin practically tolerating what he had to say or maybe not with anything very indicative. the president in my view was afraid to mention the subject at hand, told indictments against people connected to the intelligence community and

russia trying to disrupt our election. so from the standpoint of that conversation, i think the president was afraid to bring it up. we know he wasn't being diplomatic. it begs the question, what does vladimir putin, what did the russians have on donald trump personally, politically andru financially that he should behave in such a manner and in doing so, battling his way through, undermining our allies and really put the policy of the statements he's made, blame america first. we just don't like that policy. while i completely support leader is getting a measure of each other, finding common ground, that's always a good thing. but i just don't think it's legitimate if you're not going to face realities that are

there. the reality is that the russian government was a party to the disruption. those associated with the russian government of our government, of our democracy and our commitment is about people understanding that they vote and never eligible to vote will vote in their vote will be counted as cast and there should be no suppression ofd the vote by othr kinds of -- we know they are suppressing it enough on the republican side, but no suppression of the vote by tactics used by a foreign government. >> thank you. thank you so much. i want to return back to the better deal for our democracy. ask you broadly why the series of policies is important. >> we all know it's important because it's about our democracy and our democracy is about everybody believing that his or her vote count.

i am very proud of the work of john sarbanes-oxley's task force he has put together and you will hear more from him on that in the panel in the works that terry's soul has been doing to fight the voters suppression, which again if and when you leave anything then you go l to heaven and sierra founders, are you going to say i did everythingde i could to suppress the vote? because that is what they are doing. right, jerry? about policy policy implications at all about. here's here's the important thing about this. big money in politics, big dark money in politics. perhaps the biggest of the for the following reasons. this money comes in and suffocates the airwaves, nothing

to do with fact data tracer and a thing. not about policy they want to indicate that a mischaracterization that they want to present. so what happened? is is it is confusing a pox on both your houses and that is exactly what we have. we think it is important to take this to a different place to show the difference between democrats and republicans, but hopefully to bring republicans along overturning citizen and john severin for go into more detail. the role ofri money in politics that is underminingnk our democracy -- excuse me, by the republicans with their voter recession by foreign interventionon.

but again, this is important because that money in politics comes at the expense of the air our children breathe, the water they drink, the fairness in the work place but the collective bargaining safety, it better. it comes at the expense of a fairness again raising the minimum wage. it comes at the expense of climate, the whole idea, the fossil fuel industry controlling for decades what is happening in the biggest generational challenge to a generation which is to pass it on in a responsible way. did i say guns? the republicans in congress are totally inin the pocket of the national rifle association and other gun lobbyists. but that's her safety, fairness in our economy, the air and

water, would you name the subject, if you want me to go into the tax bill and budget, i will. >> i think the tax bill is a good example, you know, the last major piece of legislation that went through those houses. what is interesting about the tax bill is that is so out in the open. there so much reporting about how essentially their provisions passed in the bill and people didn't really know about, particularly people in favor of the bill they were put in at the request of one donor or another donor in the house ways and means committee's house, members. i think that's the sort of quintessential example of the issue we are talking about, which is at the heart of this

comment people feel a congress didn't represent their voices. it represents their donors voice says. if you have a sense of what happened with the tax till in how the legislation would ensure for a series of legislations would ensure that people's voices tromped donors voice says. >> well, it thank you for that because nothing has more clarity when i get to a subject than a budget. how we attract funds and how we spend funds. let me go back to your introduction where you gave me a lot of credit for passing the affordable care act. on behalf of my colleagues, democratic colleagues have the courage to take the boat, to help her at the bill and matt. in addition to that, and because of outside mobilization. and on the features of the

republican budget further attempts to overturn and repeal the affordable care act and in the tax bill are all on the affordable care act. the distinctive repeal there were 10,000 meetings with groups, lobbyists, and the group, you all were involved whether it's labor unions are patient groups with 10,000 meetings, press conferences, citizens, marches, you name it, one form or another. i wonder if this discussion, very, very hopeful that we can change the situation about money and politics. the groups that we work with say the argument against the tax bill that resonates in the people they get to call in and the rest is what it does to the budget. it's grossly unfair and let me just reference what you said,

chris collins said made donors are basically saying get it done but don't ever call me again. lindsey graham said the financial contributions will top the if the tax bill doesn't. she didn't say tax scam. i'm saying tax and sales. mulvaney has a hierarchy in my office. if you're lobbyists i don't talk to you. if you give us money i might talk to you. he made that in the speech of the 1300 bankers at the american bankers association conference. i just wanted to read it so you knew i was exactly quoting them. but what the grassroots said it really resonates with them and that's what we know is how it impacts the budget so that the president's budget comes out, republicans budget comes out cutting over a trillion dollars in medicaid.

half a trillion dollars in medicare, social security, disability, benefits, food stamps, nutrition programs, education. but especially in if you have voted a certain way, they're going after your medicare. they have said they would wither on the vine. now they have the perfect excuse. we have over $2 trillion deficit generated by the tax bill. how we going to reduce the national -- how are we going to mitigate for that? we will cut medicare, medicaid andha not. again, these are issues that strike to the security of america's working families and that is what we are hereli to ensure that we work for that. that is the unifying force in our democratic party. so right now, in the interest of the financial stability of america's working families, we

want to raise the minimum wage against that. we want to ensure people with preexisting medical conditions still maintained the benefit of money in politics in their tax bill, the elimination of that and that is in the courts now. so it is again if there were one thing this election could remedy, it would be to win theio house. it was not to get political, but the house and the senate and the governor's because what is at stake but the financial stability of america's families. the cost of prescription drugs, cuts in medicaid and medicare. medicaid pays a lot of the long-term health care for our seniors. an assault on medicare and elimination of the benefit of a preexisting condition, not being

a barrier to health care. the money weighs in on all of those things. taken a subject. the reform of dodd-frank. now they go after that everyday. after a drink every day they go to degrade the environment. pruitt, he was a disgrace with his ethical behavior. it was a bigger disgrace for what he was doing with the error children breathe and the water they drink. he was good at it. he wasnt very effective at beina violator of the obligation we have to our children. so lincoln, our great president said, despite -- nevermind, i won't get into that. lincoln said public sentiment is everything. with that you can accomplish almost anything. without it, practically nothing. and so, the public sentiment to

again, people have to know and people seem to know very clearly that there is a problem here. they have to know very clearly that there is as solution here and this is a tipping point. a longtime with a positive agenda that sarbanes-oxley present, the description of what isti happening is violating our civil rights and voting rights and the rest and how it impacts who we are in humanity. yesterday was very interesting to me. he talked about fairness and he said, he quoted the founder of the jesuits and said ignatius loyola cautioned against people

if you get money, then you get prideful and then you get more prideful and want more money than that is what this is. and so, there is a path that is about t getting money and pride and that his success. he said some of those same people, use the word which i would hesitate to use, but for enemies ofu our humanity, enemis of our humanity that he talked about people who are trying to raise their families, live their lives and all theha rest of that and have a sense of humility about what the possibilities are. that reminded me when he wrote about civilization, he said there are two things that can happen. you can have a government delete he called it a minority,it

governing minority, creative minority of these governing people, who would be the flowering of the society, that people would succeed and that would be what their vision was to society. and then there was the exploiting minority and if they have the governance, they were about power,ov special interest and money. when those two existed in the same society, caused a schism f the political soul of the country. does that sound familiar to you? ignatius, loyola and just one more, same address this. san agustin said 17 centuries ago, 1700 years ago any government that does not exist

to promote justice is just a bunch of these. benedict to put that went on to say, sometimes it's s very hard for everyone to agree on defining justice, but in doing so you must beware of the dazzling blindness of money for special interests and power. so here we are. this is neither democrats or republicans, anything like that. it is about fairness and justice and what our founders sacrificed everything for her. i'm so optimistic that as we go forward into the a elections, te ones that can pass bills that do what is being suggested, but also to change the full dynamic in the country so that republicans are on notice, that they havebl to support us, too.

[applause] >> thank you. do you some questions from social media i wouldt get to. one question on the topic today. utah about public sentiment and optimism about how people are engaged in health care and defending the affordable carrot, engaged in the fights we are having day-to-day. we issued a report in provo to assist in that increase voter participation in our elections. theoretically our election are about ensuring voters out. but this is ensuring people have access to the franchise, the critical element of hearing the proposals of the better deal. i just want for you to catch on perhaps the issue, which is that they travel the country i do find people worried aboutut votr suppression.

we have found with tactics that would expand the franchise than be participating. how essential is the issue of access to the vote in your sense of the series of bills that will improve people's conference and government itself. >> the vote is central to the democracy. i knowmo that terry will be talking about some of this in terms ofof voter rights of voter suppression and the rest of that. i do want to say again, reducing the role of money is really important in all of this. theree are also some legislation that we can imagine after all these years they still have not passed the votingr rights act that would correct some of what the supreme court did.

[applause] i want to get back to that point. what we have done, which i'm very, very proud of. we have an effort to win the house in the role of just supporting the candidates is something that is changing or support the candidates, support the committee with the point of the spear still this can happen. one of our initiatives as the national democratic redistricting committee headed by eric holder. that is a committee that terry mcauliffe and diane president obama put together and now he's taking the lead. now it is about initiatives on the ballot. itni is about ending suppression in many different ways by taking inventory and having solutions

and it's about doing so in a way that is attracting so many people to help, but the point is many lawyers from around the country and other people to be there, knowing their regions specifically to fight in this fight. it is very important because as you said, the talk about her visions, job, v pay for the future, health care, the sin not. i say what about the machines? that is a fear that people have. well, we have to address that and that is one of the things i'm disappointed that republicans did not join us when we wanted to send the letter after we realized this was all happening with the russians and the rest. i knew because they had done the deed triple c. i said that i know this.

i'm not telling you anything i know from classified information. this is from marx aarons. the russians are disrupting our elections. when it became further brought to the attention of leadership of the congress by the director of national intelligence, director of the cia, the secretary of homeland security, et cetera and others, that this wass happening. this was say of late summer. harry reid and i proposed a letter to those who run the secretaries of state, sometimes a different entity in the state saying these are the resources and intellectualer politicals tt are available to you to help protect. we wanted to also add that we wanted to declare the electoral

system critical infrastructure. this is very important. not only would thehe republican not go along with that, in order to send the letter because we thought we had to alert the entities in the state. they made a say in the letter, this is not to be interpreted as declaring the system, critical infrastructure. it was very, very important. because they had resisted. the republicans in congress had resist to the very inoculation against what the republicans were doing that we could have done. not to mention the other day they had their first meeting, which was really insufficient with the first hearing on the subject and a year and a half since it was officially declared as a consensus of the

intelligenceof community and you see the dni statement and i don't have them here with me, but they were very, very strong about what the russians have done and are doing in our election. >> thank you. time for one question from social media. unfazed, kathy schermerhorn expressed the importance of restoring our democracy. many younger americans feel they are powerless to changek the culture of corruption as their voices are heard. rios is a powerful movements beingb led by march for our lives. what are some ways we talk about democracy reform issued for young americans especially when linking democracy to reform policy issues just as you've done that they care about. >> well, thank you or the question is about how we would talk to them. the question how we have dealt with this is how we are listening toh them. we have our future forum led by

eric swalwell. we have many in congress and we get many more in this election. they've gone and over 60 than around the country whether it's in a city, college campus, wherever young people a, to listen, to listen to what their concerns are. you know what some of them might be about the cost of college. are they going to get a job, climate change, wall street money wall street money in politics, those kinds of things. to hear from nets neutrality, to hear from them and they see clearly that we share with them the thought that there was a directa connection of money in politics to the policies that come forth in the congress. we have to make it clear to them thatwe we are on a different pa.

they say pentothal at the same brush, but we are in a different place. the future belongs to young people and they all have a responsibility. i say that as a mother and a grandmother. a responsibility to take charge of it. everything is a conversation unless it is tied to the vote. so, while we never satisfied, i was an advocate before i was in congress. we were alwaysd dissatisfied, persist it, but that list, nothing congress can do. not good enough for us because we were vips, volunteers in politics, the most important people. the fact is you have to win in order to make the difference. i think in this election like no other, mobilization is something so powerful, so driven from the outside and i say the same thing about the women who marched. they marched and now they are

running. young people marching for their lives and register voters. people are transferring into positive solutions and that is about the vote. so vote and then engage in discussion about what the priorities are. we have a saying. in fact, we have it printed on our shirts and everything else. we don't agonize. wewe organize. just organize around that money in politics issue is a very powerful issue. it must have been. it will happen. but young people will be dispositive of how the election turns out. seniors will vote. never pull the feed, young people will make the difference in all of this. you know what, they see what it means to their future.

again, it not about telling them anything. it's about listening to them and sharing how they think we can reach out for the vote and that goes for manifestations whether it women of color, people concerned, whatever their passionn is. my thrill of it all is the candidate are so great. many millennial and many not. they know their purpose. they know why they are running. they know their subject. whether it's voting rights, whatever it is, whatever their purposes, they know about it. they know how to get something done in terms of the track in people to their point of view. most importantly, they know they must listen to their

constituents about their economic security. if they had the confidence that the candidate is in sync with that authentically, this is what i believe. this is why i'm running. this is what i think iin deserve your vote. tell me how you see things. listen, listen, listen. this is a pivotal moment in the country that has less to do with democrats and republicans than to do with honoring the valves of our founders. honoring the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform in honoring the aspirations of our young people, what they aspire to and what apprehensions they have. our founders, this month of july we'll revisit their sacrifice, their vision and they give us onethe set of items that is vey

simple. from anyone, they couldn't possibly imagine how many we would be or how different we would be from each other, but they had to be one. if we go forward with this, we want to be unified in our country. one thing that would unify and our country would be to reduce the role of money in politics and have the debate on the subject without the leverage waiting then, but increased leverage for america's working families and the confidence they have in the system so they will speak out and they will vote. [applause] >> i can't think of ae better ad to our session. thank you so very much. [applause] >> thank you so much. on much. i want to start off by thanking

later plosive for her insights. thank you for all you do for so many. [applause] my name is winnie sachelberg in an executive president of external affairse here for american progress action fund and i'm pleaser to moderate a discussion with three distinguished members of congress who are playing key roles in this powerful democracy reform movement. representative john sarbanes-oxley since maryland's third district. he is chairman of the house democrats democracy reform task force. congressman serving laid a big part in formulating the better deal for our democracy, which we will talk about in a moment. he's also lead sponsor of the house resolution that brings the reform package to legislative life. since being elected in 2006, represent a serving has fought for solutions such as small donor financing, which is a central pillar of the bettero

deal package and is also working on another piece of legislation that capped supports come a ban on fundraising. thank you for being here today. representatives terri sewell who represents alabama seven district is a trailblazer who's been fighting to strengthen our democracy throughout her career. since joining the house in 2011, representative sewall has becomd a leading voice on the importance of protecting voting rights. in fact, the better deal reform package includes the major piece of legislation from representative sewell could the voting rights advanced than i could take a critical step towards fully restoring the voting rights act. congresswoman sewell i said if we want to build a stronger democracy, we have to engage and empower all american voters.

thank you for being here, representative sewell. i am pleased to introduce pramila jayapal who serves as vice chair of the democracy reform task force. while still in her freshman term, shoes are the major presence known in a big way. she's been one of a the most outspoken and eloquent leaders against president trump's inhumane as a separating immigrant children from their parents. as a member of washington state tonight, she was a champion of automatic voter registration and i am proud to say now working with the congresswoman on legislation toe ban members of congress from receiving campaign donation from organizations that their committees oversee. you've heard later plosive talk about saint ignatius loyola. the congresswoman deny our proud classmates. please join me in welcoming these three wonderful numbers of

congress to the floor. [applause] >> i am going to start with you. thank you so much for being here. you have been a leader for many, many years on democracy reform generally in spearheading much of the work that leader pelosi talked about on a better deal for democracy. you lead the task force and have promoted these issues with your colleagues. talk a little bit about what is in the package importantly with the conversations with her colleagues have been around democracy reform issues andb you think the time is ripe for finally taking this up to move some of these important policies forward. >> thank you. can you all hear me back there?

how about now? how is that? there you go. i want to thank first of all for hosting this, but more importantly sustained support for the broad packages we are here to talk about t today. i think that leader pelosi really punctuated all of the reasons we need this in alla the ways in which we can achieve it. i do think as i think the leader alluded to that this is a moment. we have the opportunity we believe many of us in the house democratic caucus believe if we can get theo gavel back, we can put forward a broad set of democracy reforms and maybe achieve reforms the likes of which we haven't been in terms of how robust right out of

watergate. that is the moment we are in rightt now because the public is so angry. so disillusioned. they so are convinced their voices not heard in washington and congress and government, that they are desperate for some set of solutions that will restore their voice. when people feel powerless, they can sometimes reach were pretty disruptive solution for their anger. i think we saw that in 2016. democrats put forward an affirmative constructive set of democracy were firms that channel the anger towards something meaningful and positive and restorative of the democracy. what we put together, which we believe represents a better deal for our democracy is a broad, comprehensive framework of democracy reform that's beenth alluded to involved in the three baskets and you can google

because that's where it exists now. we introduced it a couplee weeks ago with 162 original cosponsors within the democratic caucus. a very powerful declaration of what we want to see. but it falls into three very clear baskets of reform. one has to do with voter empowerment in making sure that people feel like they were acted as voters. that is where you get the redistricting reform, strengthening the voting rightss act. automatic voter registration. all the things that make it easier, not harderer to vote and exercise the franchise. that is whether you are committed the democracy. i am pleased to be here with two colleagues who have really been here a little bit longer, but they both come from backgrounds whereng they've been fighting on these issues for a long time and immediately took a leadership role.

they represent what our colleagues across the caucus are doing, which is coming forward with their ideas. not their own ideas that they just made up, but ideas they formulated based on listening very carefully to constituents, to the way people feel out there. that's a leader pelosi talked about. i think we get it. the package of reform shows we get it and represents our efforts to achieve something meaningful. voter empowerment, voting rights, lifting up the american voter, protectingt the franchise is a critical, critical piece of the reform package. second basket is ethics and accountability. how do you promote and translate people's expert patient open lawmakers get to washington they will behave. that's essentially what that is about. we have a lack to do. we want you to go there and represent us.

to turn things over to the lobbyist. don't violate ethical norms. don't ignoree the precepts of te office of government ethics which is there to make sure you act properly. the second basket is a whole set of proposals and behind each of these things in the resolution, i can tell you very meaningful pieces of legislation that have been introduced. these are the proposals that are ethical, transparent, accountable. that is the second basket of democracy reforms. the third, my favorite is the campaign finance reform basket. this is tough because this is where the cynicism is so deep so corrosive in the public that you have to lean into it in a real way. you have to show you are going to do something real. if you're a democrat and you get the gavel and you don't make it

real, the public may say we've traded in one party that spotted sold for another party. they want to see that we are going to make a difference. this is disclosure for the big money comes from, so people know what kind of money is pouring into their democracy. it is strengthening the fec, federal elections commission to do its job and enforce the rules. these are all things that matter out to people out there. it's a constitutional amendment to address the tragedy of the citizens united case and fundamentally creating a new way of financing campaigns in america based on small donors in matching funds. before i close this comment, i just want to say that piece, i think there is nothing that will do more to address people's sons of powerlessness and create a

system of campaign that puts the average person, everyday citizen right at the center of the solution. we can have all the rules of the world about police in the conduct and behavior, big-money players and lobbyists andes we should. but if we are going to get people out of the bleachers of their democracy and onto the field where they feel like they have power, they say you know what i will underwrite these campaigns and you work for us so you don't have to go hat in hand to the lobbyist. so you don't have to go to the corporation. rollback your campaign in the bargain is to go to washington andd represent our interests, t special interests. ethics and accountability, h. rose 975 of the people resolution. that is the remake or declaration of principles on this. that is ourat north's daughter. we can get the gavel and move

quickly is the first order of business to get a meaningful set of reforms on the house floor. [applause] >> it is probably no surprise that the first bucket is the voter empowerment in talking about a leader on these issues while in congress and before. it is really thrilling to have you r here. i want you to talk a little bit more about that set of issues. just to say last week the center for american progress released a new port that advanced a pro voter agenda to increase participation in making voting more convenient. one of the problems to voter empowerment. can you talk about why protecting and expanding the right to vote is really so critical to ensuring and strengthening our democracy. >> absolutely. first i want to thank at for this program.

it's an honor to be here with me colleagues. i represent alabama southern district which includes my hometown of selma, alabama. you can't grow up in my district did not understand the power of the vote. more importantly, sacrifices that were made for the right to vote. i can't understand how just 11 years ago we reauthorize that the voting rights act of 1965, for 25 years, that was in 2006. so 12 years ago. overwhelmingly passed both houses of congress. voting rights should be nonpartisan. we shouldn't be in elective office in suppressing peoples right to vote. as elected officials, we should make it easier to vote, not harder to vote. the rock bed, the cornerstone of our democracy is the right to

vote. all of us know that the shelby versus holder decision i think in some ways is befitting that selma, alabama gave us the voting rights act of 1965 in shelby county, alabama gave us the decision that the enforceability away. it is important to note that the voting rights act is still constitutional. with the members said is that congress must come up with a modern-day formula so we will actually discriminate across alabama for what they did in the 50s and 60s. surely things have changed. with the voting rights advancement act and i'm honored that piece of legislation is a similar piece of legislation is the voting empowerment arm of democracy. what it does is put that back in the section by giving a formula, a modern-day formula. we will not look back to what

happened in the past 54 years ago. we will look at 1990 going forward. four or more statewide violations of voter discrimination, then you will be considered a covereded jurisdiction in any changes to voting laws would have to be precleared by the justice department. if you lookc at 1990 going forward, 13 states. 13 states have had for more statewide violations. alabama, mississippi, louisiana, arizona and newr york. so it's not just the deep south. but we have a problem even today a voterv discrimination and votr 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 in order toco vote.

somehow we wanted it to terry and we have. the reality is there a modern-day forms of the questions that are just as bad. think about the fact that photo ids. everyone thinks photo ids are innocuous. you have to have a photo i.d. to get on a plane, to get a passport. okay, the people in my district that has never been on a plane. i have a lot of people in my district who were born at home in the rural parts of alabama and who don't have a gift certificate. there are folks who literally find it harder to go to the polls because they are disabled or senior citizens. we should be making voting easier and not harder. the reality is modern-day forms of voting suppression, while they are not as overt as past, they are no less oppressive and no less discriminatory.

.. alabama was one of them. they passed it in 2011. they held onto it, and time 2013 in that voting, the shall be decision was decided, the invalidity. 2014 was the first time in alabama you had to have photo id to go and vote. if you did not have a drivers license and youou had to get a special photo id. my father, obviously highly motivated to vote for his daughter in theva 2014 election,

wanted to make sure he got it. i think about how arduous it was for my parents, my parents who were highly motivated. my mom and a small town but a very famous town, that courthouse had been grandfathered in the ada law. no one had to have a ramp. let me repeat this. it was grandfathered in. it was an old courthouse, been around for a long time. didn't have a ramp to get up there. so here's my mom and dad. dad got up early, that god we have hometh help. resaved it might get one of those bands that kneels down so big it's told him in so we could make the transport easy. a lot of folks don't have those same kind of amenities. and those of the folks are being left behind. they are the voices that are not being included. it's unfortunate that we've got to do something to put teeth back into it. we should be like oregon. mail in ballots.

why can't we mail in ballots? alabama, we have a primary runoff tomorrow. it's 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and god forbid that the machines are broken at 7 a.m. it happens. what you found is the voting rights act was effective, to effect best ginsberg likes to say in her dissent in the shelby decision. the reality is since without the shelby decision we've seen in long lines and plays like maricopa county arizona in in e 2016 election. why was that? prior to the voting rights act being stripped, any changes in polling stations have to be precluded -- >> we will leave this to go live to s-uppercase-letter that leaders are addressing the media following their party lunches.

>> tom petty said weighting is the hardest. >> waiting for everybody to get queued up. good afternoon, everyone. we will confirm to more circuit judges this week, bring our total to 24 of the last year and a half, and continue apace on circuit judge nominations. judge kavanaugh is making visits to senators offices who requested his appearance. it seems to be going smoothly. for myself let me just say to our european friends. we value the nato treaty. it's been the most significant military alliance in world history. we believe the european union countries are our friends, and

the russians are not. they have demonstrated that and all the obvious ways over the last few years, the annexation of crimea, the invasion of eastern ukraine. not to mention the indisputable evidence that they tried to impact the 2016 election. so make no mistake about it. i i would say to our friends in europe, we understand the russian threat, and i think that is the widespread view here in the united states senate among members of both parties. >> one of the 24 circuit court judges that we will confirm is andy oldham who will be the 23rd judge who is from texas and will be on the fifth circuit

court of appeals, the third, fifth circuit nominee to be confirmed by the senate since president trump became president. on judge kavanaugh, we have been discussing among the judiciary committee members the schedule, and we feel strongly that judge kavanaugh's hearing needs to occur at such a time that will allow him to assume the bench at the beginning of the october term of the supreme court, the first monday in october. which means that if you look at what judge gorsuch is hearing schedule was, roughly 66 days from nomination to confirmation, that took in roughly, that will take you roughly in the middle of september. but we've only begun to hear rumblings from our democratic colleagues that they're going to want to see every scrap of paper that ever came across brett kavanaugh desk, and my suggestion would be a focus on

his 12 years on the d.c. circuit court of appeals. and in 2006 when he was confirmed to the d.c. circuit court of appeals, the second-highest federal court in the nation. they have made no requests for the records that came across his desk when he served as staff secretary at the bush white house. basically managing the paper flow for the administration. so expect to see a lot of requests for documents. expect to see requests for delays, but we are determined to make sure that supporting chairman grassley, this is a fair and full hearing. but we are not going to sit idly by and allow our democratic colleagues to draw this out by making an resettable document demands which would delay this hearing until well past the election.

>> and the more that people see of judge kavanaugh, the more they like him. which has prompted the media to point out that democrats are really struggling for a message. in fact, they have got quite desperate in their attacks. the "new york times", the "washington post" have both pointed out that many of the statements that a been made by democrats are over-the-top, hyperbolic, and, in fact, one graded a four finocchio from the "washington post." democrats are really struggling. reason they are struggling is this is a mainstream pic who has the right temperament to be on the supreme court, is well respected in the legal community and highly qualified. and as he makes a a stop threat cohesive sitting a lot of our members up here, anybody wants to has an opportunity to sit down with him. he's impressing. on a daily basis. we look forward to continuing the process as senator cornyn pointed out. if you follow what judges,

justice sotomayor and justice gorsuch had in terms of a process time, it was 66 days which would put it in the middle of september. and the democrats will no doubt try to delay and obstruct and clearly there trying to discredit this a judge, but as the media themselves have pointed out, desperately grasping to come up with the message because they just don't have a very good one because this judges so well-qualified. >> well, president trump when he visited with the nato was very strong and firm with relationship to the issue of dependence of our nato allies on russia for energy and specifically natural gas here it is time to try to end that dependency. rush is tried to develop a pipeline called nord stream to which of make germany even more dependent on russia for natural gas. when vladimir putin thinks about natural gas he thinks about politics and power and money, and it's time for our nato

allies to divest themselves, diversify their energy opportunities because energy is called not the best resource for a reason. our country's, are a con ed's, it is an intimate of power and the more your dependent upon someone else for that energy, the more beholden to them they would become. i'm going to be introducing legislation tomorrow to make it easier for our nato allies to work with us with the abundance of natural gas that we have that they can buy from us. i want to do two things with the legislation. one is mandatory sanctions against those involved with the nord stream ii pipeline relayed to russia, and then make it easier for nato and the united states to work together on a transatlantic energy alliance, specifically to make sure that they can become more connected to the united states for their energy needs and less dependent on vladimir putin and russia.

>> well, on the topic of russian interference, the senate intel committee that i serve on his reached the same conclusions that the director of national intelligence, dan coats, has reached, that the cia director who staff the secretary of state reached, that clearly the russians tried to interfere in our elections. i think if you look at the indictment that came out a few days ago, that's unlikely path that they used to do that which makes it even more clear that the russian government was involved in that effort, and that that effort was directed and financed by the government, no matter what mr. putin says. i'd also point out that the senate, the rules committee is looking into what we can do to share information better with local officials that conduct elections. there is no reason to believe that the election process itself was impacted anyway, but there's every reason to believe that

that is critical infrastructure. and we are to be more defensive of that system in the future knowing of all the ways into systems by lots of people, and so we are going to continue to work on those topics. we're going to continue to do that based on the belief that russian interference was a real, that they have no interest in helping us do anything, and we have to be alert and vigilant where not only russians are involved anybody else is involved that could in any way cast about about the people's elections and the way to cast their votes and the way those votes are counted. >> four years ago today nearly 400 people killed when a russian missile system was used over eastern ukraine to shoot down a malaysia airlines flight. russia has totally down to the commercial airliner, it invaded his neighbors georgia and ukraine, supports the murders

assad regime and her enemies in afghanistan. engage in warfare against what democracies including meddling in the united states elections 2016 and elsewhere. earlier this dishes across yet another one when the poisoned to individuals on our light soils in a chemical agent attack. i think it is legislature or the state department to consider within the next '90s was not russia should be listed as a state sponsor of terror at a hope that legislation will be heard soon. >> leader mcconnell? leader mcconnell, what does it say about the state of our government that you need to stand her and reassure europe that we are their friends? >> well, i think it's a port of our friends to hear from their friends. [inaudible] >> well i mean, i think it's important for the europeans to know how the senate republican majority feels about the structures that were painstakingly set up over decades that have worked to maintain world peace and to have

some process by which we can enter in trade agreements and other things. i just think was important for our friends and allies to hear from us. [inaudible] >> are you concerned about that? [inaudible] how would you handle it? >> i'm not going to address hypothetically that. i think it's pretty far-fetched, and probably not worthy of comment period. >> do you feel like there's trust between you and with republican conference without the president's approach to europe, how we approach to russia? >> look, i'm not here to critique anyone else. i'm here to speak for myself, and you heard from others this morning you are standing behind me about our views about our

friends and allies. and i wanted them to understand that in this country there are a lot of people in both parties who believe that these alliances, painstakingly built in the wake of the end of world war ii, are important and we want to maintain them. >> leader mcconnell, is or anything that congress can or will do to push back on russia, other than just offering -- [inaudible] >> there is some possibility senator rubio has got a bill that targets the 2018th election, the cycle we are right in now. with as i understand it potential penalties if the russians do it again. so yeah, there is a possibility that we may well take up legislation related to this. in the meantime, i think the

russians need to know that there are a lot of us who fully understand what happened in 2016, and it really better not happen again in 2018. >> leader mcconnell, on trade -- [inaudible conversations] >> still waiting for remarks from the senate democrat leaders but at this point we'll go live now to the floor of the senate for more debate on executive nominations. families out of their hard-earned savings, that monetary policy helps workers find and keep a job that keeps a living wage. during his time -- during his time with the