those online and on c-span welcome this is going to be a riveting conversation and i say that as someone who's a historian so a couple minutes of comments before i turn over tomo my friend and colleagues who will be running the show tonight and that is in 1994 it was more

than a dream act the revolution that army would be the majority leader that phil gramm's economic expertise along with the leaders at least for a narrow window in the political history would be. while we have to be careful as historians not to dwell on the past we can as we are on the brink of a red wave and, i mean, that philosophically to know that isn't about party registration about one party being in charge instead of another. it's about the ideas that define us as a people namely freedom, flourishing. and this town andnd this government is spending less money than it does so it is a great privilege to have senator

phil gramm, one of my a politicl mentors who was thinking about running for a different office and was in louisiana. this is before there was a red wave in louisiana. would you adopt us as our third senator hehe said yes son just keep doing what you're doing so here we are years later. welcome back to heritage but without further ado it's also an equally great privilege to have steve back here at the heritage foundation to welcome him here as our distinguished fellow and turned the program over to him. [applause] thank you for the kind introduction. i'm loving this new era at heritage it's fantastic. we are going to have some fun

today, tonight and welcome to the c-span audience as well. a legend he's one of the few people in addition to phil gramm who came to the town to make the government smaller, not bigger. i just got this note from newt gingrich who is the speaker of the house and the one who engineered the revolution and 94 so i thought i would love to read the comment. it's really sweet.al he says army was invaluable as a creator dynamic member when we were in the minority and there is the key part of the contract of the majority and extraordinary force for good ideas and reforms and a leader that helped electit the house gp majority for the first time in 68 years and help to develop the

budget. pretty amazing. the book provides vivid insights into the legislative process in the house and institution. that's a nice tribute. i think the book should be read by every political science major in america should be reading this book. it's a great discussion of how washington works and how things get done and don't get done so we are going to have some fun telling our stories. there's a probably 15 or 20 peoe who work for you at one time or another and in addition to all of the great contributions you made directly to policy, one of the great contributions was the

incredible number of successful people you mentors including myself. i my story is i worked on the joint economic committee in 1993 and 94 and i remember when i was on the committee and i decided in 1994 that i was going to leave the committee if you were working for a minority member in sthe house democrats were so arrogant at that time it's like republicans weren't even there. i said i loved working for you but i just can't do this anymore. we are not having much of an impact and i will never forget he turned to me and said you cannot leave now. don't leave now because we are going to take the house in

november of 94 and you were part inof that revolution as well. whatever you're smoking i want to some of it because it seems incredible and people forget how improbable it seemed like 60 seats or something like that and it was obviously a tidal wave and in no small part when republicans stand for something fthey when. whenf they are the lesser of two evils they lose so that was an incredible period and the whole team from 95 through 2000 we did welfare reform and all these incredible things. for those of the younger people in the room the first inspiration for the flat tax

idea. one of the first inspirations for medical savings accounts. it's fantastic to have you here so i want to turn the podium over to senator brown who i met in this building back in 1984, 85 when phil gramm came up with this crazy idea. it was basically automatic spending cuts if we couldn't get the deficit down. although if washington had a heart palpitations over this but it's one of the few times we cut spending under the bill.

[applause] i will say a few things. president reagan once put his arm around me and said i want you to look me in the eye. he said cap weinberger tells me that it's more dangerous than the soviet. will you assure me that that is not the case and i said yes mr. president i will assure you llthat is not the case. well,, we were destined because we were both from texas and both economists and we both came to

washington because we wanted less government and more freedom. there's not a lot of people who come to government with the idea of the institutions the thing i always found was very interesting and i never lost all of it that he had this view like a spy in the union that had become a leader of the central committee and was one of the people running so when we got together it was sort of like i was there as an american handler and he was telling me what we were doing inside the belly of the beast and i never cease to

find that a fascinating. for a quarter of a century i dealt with a lot of people, but i can say without any fear of contradiction with the people i served with, army was less interested. giving credit the things he did and anybody i've ever dealt with in washington as far as i can tell is inspiration rather than saving america was owning a ford as 150 king ranch version.

he was from north dakota. he came from camden north dakota and became the first republican majority leader that was an indispensable leader changing america and implementing the final stones on the reagan revolution and then he retired and went back to being a plain citizen.

i once had a guy in china asked me where did you come from. people are always saying where are the reagan's and armies now that we need. them. i never despair because i know they are out there let me just say the contract, he wrote the contract for america. he gave it the name contract with america. i was the chairman of the republican senatorial committee.

we tried to copy it by having more in 94. i am not taking anything away from newt gingrich. m he grabbed it and ran with it veand made it famous and deservs all the credit he gives but he was the army of the contract with america. [applause] to close government facilities especially military bases so it was a totally new idea of his own creation he came up with the

idea of the commission and then straight up or down vote in congress to approve the closing of military bases so that it allowed the congress or senator to go to the military base to lie down on the ground telling the staff at the last moment rushed in and drag me out and i will be begging but pull me out and then it will be gone. that's exactly what happened. we closed a load of military bases. the most successful reform of a government program in american

history why we don't take that reform program and apply it to every entitlement program, i don't understand. [applause] they get over $45,000 a year in benefits and the federal government. is there any wonder you can't get people to work and we were able to implement a program in an area that would be most difficult when you've got an unmarried woman with children and senator warren would say it's impossible. guess what, when you reform the program and set time limits

within four years, 50% of the people that had been on the program were working. it's amazing though i'm very happy to be here today to give credit where not enough credit has been given or he lacks the skill. and a second to say it's a great privilege. one of the highlights of my career was getting together to get the report that he was running the system that came to washington to dramatically reform. so congratulations. [applause]

thank you senator those were terrific comments. one thing about the contract i remember talking to you after the republicans won the congress and i was kind of apologetic i said i didn't pay all that much attention to the contract of america because i never thought you would win and he said if people thought we wouldn't win whenthey never would have signei contract. incidentally remember the first hundred hours you passed more good legislation than the previous 25 years so it's an amazing revolution. by the way, i see a lot of new people. at some point inin your career f you worked for him could you please stand up. [applause] that's's amazing.

i will say it again, the legacy is the amazing people he's matured over the years. i wanted to call on kevin kramer. wet have another person from the north dakota, kevin kramer is a senator from the state of north dakota and is also what are the odds two of the most famous people in washington would come from can-do. thank you for being here. [applause] neither are the mostfa famous person from can-do. dave osborne one of the classmates for the vikings they areuc classmates. this is such an honor.

thanks for including me. my ten years in congress is the highlight. it really is. for the handful of you that read the whole book i am sure she proofread it many times. i might have been the first person to read the whole book. i was reading it on the airplane laughing so hard but to give you a little context if you didn't read the f book they lived acros the alley from one another and in the book, he tells a story about richard kramer the elder cast with teaching when he joined as a lineman for a summer job. i loved the fact he had to go to the union shop and work for the

co-op. that is the last time he did either of those things but more important than that, his brother who are the two stores of the book they have more ink than anyone else combined so his older brother and my dad were best men in each other's life, they stayed married to the same person, so to give you a little of that my dad did teach. he gave him one of his first economics lessons. maybe he didn't. [applause] richard kramer said for the price of a drink at the bar

downtown we could go to the liquor store and get a six pack. my dad retired and wrote the book on price theory. the best book l he's written is the memoirs i encourage everybody listening and watching to read it and we celebrate that for sure because not only is it a great documentation, it's a great historical moment but it has this lesson to all of us on how to govern and behave the ene two go hand in hand. people were concerned about me sitting on the plane but i'm going to give you a couple lessons i learned. first of all, one of the parts i left the hardest he is a

professor had written this piece the newspaper picked up that proved stay-at-home wives were overpaid. somethingt like that. paid for their productivity. of course he's doing this stuff but it reminded me shortly after he went to congress his alma mater wheret he got his masters he called me and said can you get me a hockey jersey. at that event where he received

the award the mc was the president of the alumni association and the state republican majority leader of the state legislature he gets uw and gives this wonderful speech starting about how important the system is because it not onlyha teaches our children but our children's children. that's where the good news ended and he pivoted because he's faculty governance so how about if it is and it's ruining the university system and he gets this wealthy ovation and he gets up and says one quick announcement it was going to be hosted by the faculty that's been canceled due to the lack or interest. most of his family still lives

therem and saw some of them but his preference for the free markets supersedes the populism of north dakota. he had a hard time getting elected there but he was the guy that would give the speech when we had no celebrities and we had assurances he wouldn't talk about the farm bill or farm programs and wouldn't give his opinion about ethanol until he came to cut the ribbon on the republican senator in bismarckne it just so happened the same day my colleague in the senate was to give the keynote address at the council but he got sick so they scrambled in the morning

andd said can you get him to fil in and i said i think i can. as we were in the parking lot i said this is your chance to say whatever you want about ethanol in north dakota. he gets up in front of all of these oilmen and said kramer's that i can say anything i want about ethanol. it was such a dumb idea even the russians didn't try it. and he got a standing ovation and didn't have to say another word. [applause] i did try to do my case on theit farm bill. you've got to admit free markets don't work in every situation because it is subsidized by all of our competitors. we are just trying to have a fair market or level the playing field a little bit to which he

said without thinking about it or worrying about my feelings he said i've never met an american whod. decided to become a farmer because somebody put a gun to their head and i said let's talk aboutor something else. anyway, i know there's a 39 page index on the book. i that i have twice that many pages i've written. i will always be able to go back to the t things because he took the axioms and turned them into a parable. historical as it is it taught us a lot of things. .. he was a junior member.

that should be encouragement for everybody that aspires to do big things. the rest of the leader proved regular order works. regular order works. been a congressman. your book proves it regular order works when you respect every member. when you power every committee and you honor the chairman. i like to see that returned her to think they would get back to a lot of those principles if in fact we just took care. perhaps the greatest economics lesson that you taught us in your book is god's grace is in high demand and high supply. and it is still free. [cheering] [applause] >> on the most important lessons i take from this book is going home on weekends make you better member of congress.

that's gonna hurt some people. but it is true. you inspired me too be a senator as well, and you know that. you knowbl that. the way he did it come don't worry it will not be as blunt as you put it. was because i asked him in 1993 senator graham of such a celebrity from texas as he is would ever run for the open seat vacant by loida benton for which she said i'm not a big enough to be a senator but you have the potential. [laughter] >> really, phil gramm and you have always had high expectations for me. if you work long hours you get time and a half. and then professor became congressman and leader and he is

an entire team many whom you've seen tonight and there are many others. proved if you work long hours at their job, you don't make an extra penny. but just like my dad who earned time and a half, benefited his family dick and his team and their hard work and benefited all of our families but you can live with that assurance, dick. you are a man to quote your own but i'md about you going to quote it back to you but a man of great stature as well as a man of great status. there two men in my life i would never be a united states senator. they are botho. named richard ad i love you both. [applause] [cheering] x thank you so much senator

print that was fabulous. by the way i apologize i forgot to mention the most important person in this book, susan armey thank you. [cheering] [applause] so, i asked a few people would you like to say something about your husband? [laughter] alright, i cannot wait to hear what you have to say. ladies and gentlemen susan armey. [applause] i wasn't sure about supposed to come up or not but here i am. let me think about this. my husband and i have been married for almost 42 years.t [applause] and i have got to say it has never been boring. [laughter] i remember when he first came to me, we'd only been married about two and a half years. and he said you know honey, i've been thinking about i really think i could do a lot of goodd

and do some good work if iran for congress. and i said what? [laughter] i am cooking dinner. we have children here, what are you talking about? anyway very quickly have read a few articles from political families and how tough their lives to work. and i said if you do this honey, i'm going to have to think seriously about her divorce. and so i left he said really? i said i don't know it's talk about it. so we did. he really had deep felt feelings but he had a plan and he knew who he was. who was an economist and had been watching c-span. talk to me about this and say you know, there are so many good things that we could do. really didn't want him to do it. but he did and i encouraged him to do what he wanted when his dream was. and he ran against all odds you one. and then he said you know i will

never be in leadership those guys have to work all the time but i'm going to be a regular member, just do my work person good great we can get back normal life. before i know it is running for leadership and he wins. and of course he was right he wasn't home for eight years. i look back now that we are out of it so much better i can look back. and he did so much. i mean he and his team, they did so much. he had the best team in d.c. they did wonderful work together.ng i look back it is been 20 years the team has been out of congress. i'm amazed i got older but my husband and his team did. it was worth it, it was worth it. [applause] books before we hear from armey

there's one person in this room that played a huge, huge role in dick armey becoming a member of congress but also majority leader was with dick for many, many years but literally the very start on that scary, where are you? can you come up and say a few words first campaigns question at the r stories of those campan and dick really rolled the dice and put everything on the line it was amazing. thank you for everythingo y youd to make dick armey the success he was. [applause] >> i will tribe are still trying to figure out if susan actually voted for dick in the first election. [laughter] well, we have heard tonight from others one. how much of a difference he made. it is true it is a phenomenal difference he made in his

career. got what made them different. i've bought a few things. one, he truly is fearless. he chose to run for congress when everybody said you be a fool to try that there's no way is going to win against a guy who is incumbent who have been married for 26 years appeared who had millions of dollars. but he did anyway. he said i'm going to win my own way.sc knocked on 10,000 doors he made thousands of phone calls. he scratched his way, he got it done pres honest with me when he interviewed me, he and susan interviewed me too be his campaign manager. after two things i don't have any money and i don't know anybody who does. [laughter] and he was correct on that. [laughter] you took on all the fights when he got up to d.c. the basic closing bill who's literally a junior member and

his second term. not on the armed services committee read one-time centigram came back that can't be t done at some possibly set i tried it one time. dick said it makes me want to try that much more. with brent gunderson and others on the team after three or four good years of getting it done it got through and continue for many, many rounds and save billions and billions of dollars. but there's lots of others he took on school choice in the first bush f administration was appose in the gulf first goal was to get a majority of republicans. public orthodox. the public housingch at all the others in that day. egg subsidies which you heard about people thought you could never touch, protecting the homeschoolers which i think to 'this day probably shut down congress more than any other project i have ever seen. he just had remarkable success across a variety of issues.

i was trying to think of other house members or senators who left a legacy. who left behind such a big body of work per think ted kennedy on thert other side. they beat phil gramm, it's very, very short list. you can be proud what you left behind. other difference he truly did not give a hoot what anybody thought about him. that gave him remarkable freedom. he did what he thought was right and what his conscience told him to do. and he couldn't be bent. lobbyist could not bend him, his donors in his district could not bend him and he lost several of them because they tried and he refused. he told constituents what he believed. one famous encounter town hall meeting a guy kept badgering him over something over and over again. dick set i have had enough of you meet me outside after this and i'll kick your butt. [laughter] he may not have set but.

i h was kind of who he was. he's not just a fighter, he is a thinker. that's another thing that sets him apart. he really doesn't spend time actually thinking. i think thought time today is a pretty rare commodity. my kids, you've got empty time think don't just go to your phone and look at something. dick would be in the shower, he'd be out fishing, go for a run or whatever and he would just think. a lot of times on monday morning sue called me in his office and say i have been thinking, and i knew something was up at that point. we have some idea even back at the university he came up with his invisible foot of government will hand in the market. it up it's really well done. he would come up with an idea and congress we would analyze for days, turn it into some project and many of them would change america. he would take the time to think.

today we're just reacting to stuff that we see on the news on people are pushing. he would actually take time and think about it. whether it's a power pole in north dakota thinking whether he should go back to college. or thinking about the flat tax or other economic concept. he also analyzed people. and he could unlock people because hes would study them and understand them. and to this day, newt gingrich is a great guy, love o the guy. spent thousands of hours in meetings with him and the rest of the leadership. i think dick probably analyze newt probably better than anyone else's written or talked to let you read the book to see his analysis but i think it is spot on. he read widely and he remembered what he read from all theso classic economist adam smith, george gilder was a great friend of his, milton freedman, some of the classics, and he read, studied them and remembered them.

i learned how to apply them in different situations. and he could articulate the concepts whether that leadership meeting or a town hall or in a tv interview. he could explain it better than anybody else i think i know. many leadership meetings to be a big battle about something dick would launch into this soliloquy bringing in several famous economists of the passengers shut the whole thing down. they would there was a i can't argue with that. and later when he became a believer in christ years into his career he learned to live out his faith in everything heha did. that gave him a tremendous piece. particularly towards the end when used unfairly maligned by a lot of people should have been his friend. he had to go s through a lot and he did it with the peaceful heart. not many of us could have walked there with the way he did i think. but he also developed true friendships with people that you would not expect.

those of you have been around for a while, he and dick were great buddies break did not agree on hardly anything but their great friends. jim writes, they became great friends. joe mobley, rosa delauro really surprise neighbor they became friends related homeland security committee. chuck schumer they text farm subsidies work with chuck schumer in the day. jack brooks who was the crusty sky in the world but dick is the only guy who could joke with him and get away with it. even barney frank they were actually friends but people don't believe that what they were. his good nature allowed them to say things that most people could not get away with grade one of my favorite stories in the book is you showing up at one of the office buildings. as he was going through, maxine waters happened to show up. she was with some of her colleagues those who note maxine waters might appreciate this. dennis out maxine i'm so glad to see. she said why didn't question that we can call up the witchhunt.

[laughter] and she just laughed. enter callnn us it maxine you can't take that? she said oh come on that was pretty funny. she had a good sense of humor about it too. he often said he was good at being his seat people didn't always like it when he passed on them. [laughter] i have recently come back to the hill after a 20 year absence. and as i look at the hill today it's a very, very different place. today's political entrepreneurs as opposed to policy entrepreneurs. to date what typically passes as a campaign is to make an incendiary comment or tweet something that is outrageous. go on their favorite tv network, yell at somebody on the floor, make a spectacle than go send out millions of e-mails and text and try to raise money on it and go back to the same thing. that is pretty much what a large

part of our movement has turned into it which is unfortunate. we desperately need people who approach their job like dick did.d. it is hard to find an entrepreneurial congressman partly because it shut the rules out and members do not have an opportunity to be effective on their committee or offer amendments on the floor like he did for so long. but i hope for republicans when they take the majority that they will reopen this and let members show they can be a legislator and knocks on the floor. we need the substance when the political changes that can be made. for anyone who wants to understand the wayay congress worke' during armey and grams error read his book. it is a classic book that people can learn from. ii agree, should send a copy to all new freshmen when they come in. it would t be well worth their time to read it. they need to learn they need to replicate it.

we need more leaders who can change america the way he did. he did come to d.c. he used to write retina pickup truck in 1984 campaign preset i want to go to washington and save america. he did, he did. but we need people to do it every generation. we have a whole new crop i think and do what he did. i am terribly proud to have known you. proud to have worked with you and get to knowm susan for all these years and all the members of our team that are here tonight it was a wonderful group. thank you for letting me be a part of it. [applause] >> onery other quick dick armey story. by the way that name of the book as leader by richard k armey. it's a wonderful read. one fun story i was reminded of tracy and he's here in the front

row. he worked diligently helping put together the flat tax id at the armey flat tax pretty may remember the story, andy, but we had called in a bunch of prominent economists to have a conversation with dick about that plan. so we brought in part (i think it was steve forbes. i think jack kemp was there or someone. the three ofy' them were huddled on this couch in armey's arm at the front office. we are sitting across from him and dick armey's first statement is gentlemen, he said there is not been this much brainpower oc that couch since i slept there alone. [laughter] classic dick armey britton oberg are going to hear from armey one the greatest majority leaders in the history of the house of representatives, dick armey.

[applause] [cheering] [applause] >> thank you. quick thank you all. i just really want to make two points. the first is about the house of representatives. i came to know and understand this is the most unique institution in the cause of liberty and representative democracy in the history of thei world. and i was so privileged to be a part of it. i learned to love the institution. i learned to love the people that love the institution. one of the people whose recurrence in my book in one of the few people with whom i served whose approval i coveted senator byrd from west virginia. people think that such a strange

choice. but i loved l senator byrd by te way he love the institution. and i wanted him to remember me as a person that did honor to the institution. i like to believe i succeeded. when i came there, the institution was run by regular order. the democrats were evil, we knew that. but they ran a good ship. and as a young entrepreneur elite minded member of congress, i could innovate legislation because i knew of the rules were, thanks largely to david hobbs who taught me the ropes. if you know the institutional structure and the procedure on the protocols and you dare to believe they will be counted on you can exceed in your individual initiative.

you can't in a world that does not have thathe structure. i look at the congress today and i feel bad. i remember the people i served. i remember the democrats who were in charge of everything. but each and every one of those grumpy old men at the served this nation and the service of their defense for the new the sacrifice of that service. they understood the cause of liberty that they had paid for. and they treated liberty with the very, very gentle touch. and they deserve to be respected and they were. now itodi have watch the house o fall into a different direction. i have seen republicans,

speakers who have fallen by the wayside. i could say i believe it's for one simple reason only. they left the structure behind spread they got ahead of the body. they failed to respect each and every member on the right to participate. and then they would come to the floor with a product that had not been seen and worked on by members at large and tried to bully it into passage. it was a heartbreaking thing to watch. i believe that if the states of this country preserve their integrity is granted in the constitution to administer their elections. and if the elections are administered fairly and honestly the republicans will gain majority of the house.

i believe that they do in extraordinarily good job of administering honest elections, republicans will gain a majority in the senate. and i have a wish and a prayer for these new majorities, run the organization and compliant with those rules, its protocols and its wonderful traditions. allow each member to be honored and appreciated an active and doing what it is they do so well on every committee. your people devoted a lifetime career. a historical knowledge that should be respected. and if you do that mr. new speaker, you will retain your speakership because she will have an honest, happy, and productive institution and it will be to your credit. that will mean you will have to stand up to an administration

that wants to go to the dry room together, just a few of us will work it out an' bring it back. you will have to say no we do not do things like that in our body. we do things in an all-inclusive and respectful fashion together we are in institution. and by the way, of all the things i admired about newt gingrich, the one thing i admired the most he understood congress was a separate and equal body of this government. its prerogatives and its obligations needed to be protected and they needed to be administered. and thank you, newt for that great lesson. that is what we do. become her to serve the nation, should do so to gather in aner

inclusive fashion that is respectful of all of our members. allid of our members even the nitwits on the other side of the aisle should be respected. remember joe cap because he could not throw a perfect spiral. i am a starting quarterback in the nfl, i apologize to no one. i was elected by my citizen friends back home. i apologized to know it in on their behalf by demand to bee respected. we just a personal note. i wrote this book, people think it's about me. it's not about me especially those years in congress. it is about us, we did it together. i was never able to talk about my staff. weck were a team, we were together, we stuck up for each other was struck by each other.

i compose at the typewriter, i found myself typing these words, we loved each other for what we loved together. a safe, a prosperous and a happy america. we did that and we did it so well with such success of loyalty and loving affection through a system that i call respectful division of labor. we became known as armey guys and i love that. i thought it was fitting. [laughter] you could've called the jury not guys. you could have called them the less please if you liked good whiskey. but we were armey guys. and michelle davis was the first to enlighten us guys that the term armey guys is a

gender-neutral term. [laughter] we are all armey guys and we discovered, did we not before we all broke up there were people not of our staff but not in our shops. there are other members of congress. there were even a handful of particularly in light and senators a who called themselves so if you ares armey guy it is because you love one another for what you love together. a safe, prosperous, and happy america. that is why we work. this is the price by which we toil. so may i ask you if you are a armey guy? will you stand and give yourself a hand? [applause]

[applause] ex of all, dick armey it's fantastic have you back in washington. i think this 21st trips back with and she left town amazing you're able to come here. at the great book ishi called leader. truly this a great, great but part of the great read about how washington works and it doesn't work. federal felt cramped thank you so much for coming from texas prayers fascinating having you. we'll have drinks after words the army guys and gals will be having dinner after thank you dick armey and for all you did for our country are great, great patriot. a buckle system that is your unfiltered view of government. funded by these television companies and more including charter communication. is a force for an empowerment

charter has invested billions building infrastructure, upgrading technology, empowering opportunity in communities big and small. charter is connecting separate cracks charter communications support c-span as a public service log at these other television providers giving a front row seat to democracy. well hello everyone, welcome. i am liz neeley i am absolutely delighted to be moderating today's session. this is underwater, climate change and me. if you are not interested in hearing about oceans and coral reefs, first i'm sorry for you.m [laughter] we are going to be diving into 45 minutes of conversation about our ocean spirit will start and sun drenched in shallow waters