oklahoma's fifth district. i looked at it. i saw a path to get there. i thought i don't want to look back on my life thinking that maybe i could have helped my country. and didn't try. i thought, win or lose, i'll try. people in oklahoma sent me here. it's been a real honor. >> you come from a long military tradition. the army in particular. talk about that and also why you decided to begin your career in the military. >> well, my ancestors go back all the way to the revolution serving in uniform, by sixth and seventh grandfathers were captured by the british, imprisoned in detroit until the treaty of paris, and they, you know, were eventually released, and then all of -- nearly every major war since that time on one

side of the family or the other, i always wanted to be a soldier. most of my family were not career soldiers, but they did serve.je ú(t&háhp &hc% my brother served eight years in the navy. my dad served in '53, and it was just something that, in our family, it was always an interest. it was always a topic of discussion with relatives, and so anyone that knew me as a child would not be surprised that i became a soldier. >> where did you grow up? how many in your family? where did you go to college? >> i grew up in dill city, @kjç÷ ascertain, i'm the only federally elected congressman ever to come from there. it's a small suburb of oklahoma city, and i have an older sister and then an older brother. he's in the middle of the three of us. and i had a four year army scholarship. rotc scholarship. got some good marks in high school allowing me to be able to afford to go to college. i went to university and got a degree in public speaking, and

debate, never thinking i woulding ever use it for a living, i just thought if they'll give you a degree for talking, sign me up. i was trying to get a commission in the united states army, and that was something i enjoyed. it turned out to be a good decision on many levels. i met my wife there, married 30 years this year, and embarked on a military career. >> what's the key to being a successful public speaker? what's your approach? >> i think a lot of times the most effective speakers are those that can relay with stories. we see that, you know, through so many examples. christ, sermon on the mount, or in parables, he told story and would connect to people. you would also see many in

history, the great orators, they don't do it on the fly. abraham lincoln, prepared remarks, winston churchill, looked like it was not, but he had prepared remarks. martin luther king, you know, prepared remarks. often times, if you go to the podium, meandering, it comes across as, well, meandering, and so i think that diligence behind it, the study, and then to make it appear natural and connect with stories so people can relate to that. >> how influential were your parents in your life growing up, and as you pursued your career? >> very influential. i nearly died several times from birth. i almost died at that time. i had the opposite blood type of my mother and the rh factor was different, and she had had a couple miscarriages prior to me, and i nearly died at birth, so

she's always told me that i was her little fighter, and, you know, that does something to a child that, you know, you're not going to quit. you're going to persevere and stay with something until you get it done, and then survived a bout of appendicitis. my appendix ruptured, and it was six or seven hours before i had medical attention to deal with that. i did not know what it was. felt better after it ruptured, and peritonitis set in, intensive care for weeks, two major surgeries, and my folks at that time, they thought they were going to lose me. >> you didn't know it ruptured? >> no, i didn't. i had a stomach ache, it hurt, and then it felt better, pressure was relieved, and i went outside and played. it was on a saturday. and then by that night, i was doubled over blinded by pain. i remember asking my mother

during that time, i asked, am i going to die? she was honest with me. she says, we don't know. she said, but we're praying, and we believe you're going to make it, and i appreciated that. and so it made me want to fight that much harder, and on the heels of that, prior to that, oklahoma, no stranger to tornados, i was in a devastating tornado at my grandparents, and it killed a neighborhood girl next door to them, and it just levelled the entire area. we crawled out from under ma tresses and a small tin building, and because the alternative was to be in trailers, not a good idea, so i've -- i have always felt that you know, we are pretty much immortal until god's done with us, and then at that point, it's

time, and so i'm not really given it a lot of thought. i approached it that way in combat. i think those childhood experiences conveyed that if there is some plan that i'm meant to fulfill and i'm diligent and then perhaps it can be done. if not, you know, then all of my efforts are not going to matter, and i certainly had that kind of faith when i was in combat. >> so you're not afraid of death? >> no. i'm really not. the act of it does not sound thrilling, but as far as what happens afterwards, i'm not. i know christ as my lord and savior, and i take that faith very seriously as most of our framers and founders of the great country have, and it should be no surprise, you know, to millions of americans who hold similar faith, and i great comfort in that, that were something to happen, i believe that i'll be eternally secure because he promised that if i would believe in him, that i would have eternal life.

>> with any experiences in your life, has your faith been tested? >> it absolutely has. in battle, i think your faith plays a tremendous role. i had to do some terrible things. you know, processing that has been a long journey. you're not dealing with some electronics or a computer or working on a machine. as an infantryman, you're on the front lines carrying a rifle, bayonet, grenades, ammunition, water. basic implements. with those organizations, they are the ones who are designed to go find the enemy, not just react to the enemy, but to go find them. in my excursions, we certainly found a lot of different enemies, and i've had to watch friends, you know, get hit, and i've lost soldiers.

it's very, very tough to deal with. i had to take human life and fight my way out of ambushes, and those experiences are -- they stay with you your entire life. they are not insurmountable. i try to relay to people that if you were in a horrible car wreck or in a devastating storm or you were in something traumatic, it impacts your life and largely shapes it. it does not mean you don't function, but you take the experiences and they shape you for the future. that's the way my faith helped me to process my battle experiences. >> one of those enemies, saddam hussein, the book behind you, now in paperback, "we got him," what happened? >> i had the opportunity to test a soldier task force. we were there in 2003 to 2004.

we got involved largely due to geography. it was not something that we thought specifically we'd find saddam. we were an infantry battalion, a task force that was occupying his hometown, and it became readily apparent very quickly that saddam was probably being harbored there. we got incredible information and intelligence, and we began to work that. we worked that with a number of other teams, two special operations forces teams over a six month period. we worked very, very close with them and developed from the ground up a lot of our own intelligence. my commander, who works on the senate staff now, he was a marvelous warrior, the chief of staff in the united states army, he was our commander in the fourth infantry division. those were my two immediate commanders who gave me great latitude, and i'm very grateful

for not only their bravery, but also their trust, and we worked together as a team. my unit was not the only one involved, but it was one of about a half dozen, and it was very humbling to participate in that time to lead the raids. we nearly captured saddam in the summer of 2003. didn't get him, but we got personal effects and papers, $10 million in cash, and $2 million in jewelry, and turns out he was captured six months after the raid across the river. you could see the two places from one another and his home where i had soldiers using it as an outpost from all three mutually see one another. it was really interesting, and i count it a great privilege to have participated in that, and i give great credit to all

of the units involved. you know, my book, it has been noted for its vivid detail and a lot of the experiences we went through which was important to me coming home, was to tell our portion of it. it was not to make sure that it didn't get told, but not erased from history. >> through all of this. you and your wife raising five children. >> three adopted children from hungary, how did that come about? >> well, we had two children at the time, and we wanted more -- she was concerned about some flare-ups of some childhood arthritis, and with each pregnancy, there was a chance that could occur and we began to look at adoption. we were stationed in europe at the time, and i went to a men's conference in germany, and there

was an army doc there and he had adopted two boys from hungary worked in an orphanage there. one thing led to another, explored how he did the process, and then we used a facilitator, a molecular vels -- marvelous lady, and she and her husband, with their two very, very small children, the oldest was 18 months, and hungary revolt of '56, they fled and made it over the mountains to austria. nixon picked five families to be instant u.s. citizen, and they were one of five. a miracle story. she worked for the department of defense after that. when she retired, she worked to place orphan children in hungary with soldiers because she had such love for the military having worked around it, and one thing led to another, and we adopted a set of orphan siblings. they were 5, 6, and 8, and that was in the year 2000. >> and where are they all now?

>> they are all in the oklahoma city metro area. my oldest daughter, she's graduated from college, and runs a business, and my oldest son, he works for hitachi. they are all doing pretty good, you know, trying to find their way, and i got them all to 18 without incident or crime, so, you know, i'm thankful for that, and now it's on them to make a good life of their own. i'm very proud of them. >> what about your life here in washington as a member of congress? what do you want to achieve? what's your objective? >> i think the main thing is we need to get back to basics of life, liberty, and property. the government has a federal role. abraham lincoln put it well when he said those things that we can do ourselves, the government ought not to interfere, but those things collectively that

we cannot accomplish, the government may have a role, and i think that we ought to keep it in that perspective. it's tempting for the government to want to take over every aspect of our lives, but that's not something we need to do. the american people are resilient. they largely want to be left alone. they want to have fruit of their labor. they are willing to pay some taxes for roads, schools, things we all collectively need, law enforcement, but they do not want a government that tells them what to eat, what to drink, how to be clothed, you know, how much they can do this, that, or the other. the american innovative spirit defied that, and it still does today, and i hope to bring that reminder as we go back and look at the framing documents right here in the town, magnificent to see them, they remind us that we can pursue that happiness, that we have life, liberty, and property. and the government has to

protect those things, and also promote good policy to protect those things. not take away and encroach upon them. >> can you carry on with those principles and yet also compromise with democrats? >> sure. i think the framing of the constitution was a huge compromise. you had states that wanted autonomy. you had a need for road, communication, and defense system that they could not really provide, and so they were willing to ditch the articles of confederation for the constitution, and they labored over it. john jay and james madison, alexander hamilton, many others, they debated, studied, looked at past democracies and wondered why they failed and determined we needed a representative republic with checks and balances so one side could not usurp the other and divide it

further among the branches, and so when we hear complaints we can't get anything done in washington, it was designed that way. it was literally designed so that there would be competing interests, and i think when you come to overlapping circles of need, that's where you can find the compromise. that's where you can find the things that most americans can get behind and you can do. already seeing it, already beginning to do some of it, my dad was a democrat. my mom, a republican. i grew up in a house divided. i think it's important to listen to both sides. no person is the font of all knowledge. i learned something from everybody i talked to, and i think it's important that we keep that perspective. at a minimum, we'll be more solid i fieed in defending our believes that they were correct,

but an alternative, we may be persuaded to another view, but you can't do that if you don't build relationships, reach across, and talk to one another. that is a problem. we have to work on that more. >> how long do you intend to serve? >> i have not thought about that. i find it amazing i'm here, and i'm very humbled and honored, and i think as long as i'm -- the people of oklahoma feel i'm representing this well, here -- i wouldn't say i like the work, that's a strong word, but enjoying it, i do enjoy the work. i'm equipped for it with my life experiences as a businessman, soldier, author, speaker, i bring a lot to the table. i've worked with teams my entire life, building them, leading them, solving tremendous problems, and so i feel equipped to be here, and i hope to be useful to the country for as

long as is practical. >> which is the final question, not on the policy side, but on the personal side. what's the biggest challenge of being a member of congress? >> your time is completely consumed by handlers and others, and i think having time for my faith and for my family. i'm fortunate that cindy and i, with our kids being all grown, we travel back and forth together. now, the government does not pay for us to keep an apartment here or her travel to come up. there's a cost associated with that, and there's a cost if you don't, and we're still rather fond of each other after all these years, so we have determined that we want to do that, and she's been a great support to me, and i think that building those types of margins in your life so that you can take a step back with the fresh look, and then as a warrior, i tried to keep fit my whole life

it allows me to have a clear head and good energy, and so trying to find the time for that has been a challenge, but it's doable. >> congressman steve russell of oklahoma, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> our congressional freshman profile series continues with democrat brad ashford, he narrowly defeated terry. he previously served in the nebraska state legislature, which is a nonpartisan governing body. congressman brad ashford, you did something quite unusual in 2014. you defeated a republican member of the house. how did you do that? >> well, that's an interesting question. i think i've spent many years in

the nebraska unit i cammer ral legislature representing a primarily republican district. i was a republican for 40 years so i had a natural constituency in the center and we were able to -- we were able to par lay that really into the congressional race. to reach out to moderate republicans and democrats, and it helped having represented those areas in the legislature. >> why have you switch parties so often? >> it wasn't really so often. i was republican -- >> you were republican and independent and then democrat. >> i started out -- yes. i started out as -- it was republican for most of my life. i suppose generally i got to the end. my -- we have term limits in nebraska, and i spent 16 years in the legislature. i was really term-limited a few years ago. i really ran -- i ran for mayor of omaha as an independent

because it was a nonpartisan race and i wanted to send a message that omaha's problem, omaha is a big city really in a relative sense and their problems are not partisan problems. i chose to become a democrat primarily because of some of the social issues that i've been engaged in for many years. gay rights, issues i worked on, immigration issues. issues that i felt the democratic party had a more positive policy response to, and so i didn't change parties with any idea of running again for anything. it just -- i felt more comfortable ending what i thought would be ending my career in that regard. >> your first year here in congress, finish this sentence, the state of congress today in the house of representatives specifically is what? >> sad. i'm very sad about it. i came from a nonpartisan sort

of place by constitution and so it's surprising to see all the dysfunction that's built around partisan politics. maybe i expected that, but sort of the inability to deal with the great issues of our time. in nebraska, we've dealt with immigration. as best we could. you know, we've dealt with some of the social issues that even the health care issues and other things that can't be accomplished here, so i think i'm just sad about it. i worked here as a young person in the late 60s, early 70s. it was a much more idealistic time. maybe i was seeing it through roes-colored glasses, i don't think so. there was a sense of base governance. it's sad to see what's happened -- like immigration,

trade, some of these things seem to linger. in nebraska, we need an immigration solution. we've needed it for 12 years, we've needed it for longer than that. i thought coming here, we could grapple with some of those and maybe we will, but the sort of gotcha politics, the sort of building up a book of votes in order to either gain campaign contributions or gain favor with the party or disfavor with the other party is just sad. and it makes me ill to think about. again, i come from a different place, from the 1930s, onward, nebraska has a unique governance system. i think it's too bad. i see so many young people here that remind me of me in those years doing all sorts of great things here. they are very ysk idealistic.

i think that's sad. >> when you ran, you said you wanted to bring a part of the legislature of nebraska to congress. first of all, have you been able to do any of that and if not, how can you do that? >> i think -- i hope so. i certainly don't. i could care less what any party anybody is. i tried to reach out to create relationships with anybody i could find no matter what party they are. what's ironic about it is that people i work with are fabulous, the individual members, the -- they come from varied backgrounds. many of them are very exceptional people. it's the system that sort of directs them into these weird places. i've tried to reach out to them. i've signed on to a number of bills with republicans and democrats equally. we're an ag state, we're a pro business state.

i've been attracted to the pro business initiatives that help ag, trade being one of the big he have ones probably and trying to find relationships like i would in the unicam. >> you said you wanted to make friends with 25 members. >> i think i've exceeded that, i think. i've been here half a year now. and i've made some good friends. i haven't met anybody i didn't like. i tried not to not like people. i certainly don't think about someone's -- you know, steve king from iowa, for example, is a -- on the immigration issue, there's nobody further probably than me on that issue. we've struck up a relationship and talked about issues that were of interest to both of us. to legislate, you have to pick your battles, find your alliances. it didn't really matter what they think or don't think about some other issue.

because you take each -- and then once you pass something hopefully and move on to the next thing, you put that to bed and then you move on to the next issue, and that's something t t that, it's critical to legislation. i don't see that here. individuals may move on, but the parties, neither of them, let go of those things, and so it becomes -- it's almost a dysfunction is almost favored in some sense. dysfunction, conflict, use that to raise money. use that to make ads for races. it's just -- it's -- it's -- it's not going to get us to a place where we're going to be really great, i don't think. it's going to take -- it's going to take some exceptional leadership going forward over the next several years to get us out of this mess that we're in. >> i'm curious with your schedule. you are running a congressional office. you are back in your district.

you are researching votes, writing or co-sponsoring legislation. how do you find time to make friends and how do you do it in congress? >> actually i've focused -- i've always legislated through relationships, not parties. i focus really on that. i focus on -- i'm a member of the new dems coalition which is a group of pro business, pro trade democrats who are very similar to my colleagues in lincoln in unicameral. one of the blue dogs. i spend a lot of my time thinking about policy by talking to people. maybe if i was to say something over the years and i've always done it, it gets me in the most trouble, i tend to think outloud, so in order to do that, i need to find people to talk to. so i spend time doing that. >> on fiscal issues, how would you define your ideology.

>> i'm pretty conservative. nebraskans are pretty conservative. we need to find a way to balance the budget in a responsible way. i think we're -- and because i think then -- i think if we do that effectively, we are going to be able to start planning for the future. you know, i support -- i know we have one-year budgets, i support two-year budget cycles so you can plan. we don't have the kind of planning in our budget process that we should have. i know those are structural things. i'm conservative on business issues. i would like to keep taxes that are at a responsible level and not overspend and try to be more efficient in how government operates. clearly that's my history. that's something that i gravitate to. i don't think that's bad. i don't think that's bad or not progressive to try to -- to try to think about ways where you can -- it's actually quite challenging and fun to work with others to think about -- we have 85 social programs. we don't need 85 social programs.

we need many fewer than that that work better. so i think that whole budgeting process and getting to zero, getting to a balanced budget is really a great challenge and something we should keep working on. >> and yet with you talk about gay rights. what about social issues? where do you put yourself ideologically? >> well, i support gray -- gay marriage, i always have. i support gay rights. i support rowe versus wade. i support a woman's right to choose. i support a bathway to citizenship. i think that's good business but it can be labeled as progressive or socially progressive. the chamber of commerce agrees with me. >> as the bells go off again, the sign of votes on the house floor. walk me through your schedule when you are in washington and when you go to your district.

>> everything pivots around when when i jog. when i was in the unicameral i would all jog through and no lobbyist would join me. it sounds simple. that's an important part of my day, and i kind of do things around that. i try to get my jog in, and -- we have a nebraska breakfast here that's been going on for 73 years, literally every week, we have 100, 150 people every wednesday for our breakfast. i certainly go to that. one of things i try not to do is fund raise when i'm working, and that means -- the big thing here of course is calling people on the phone for money all the time. it's a terrible distraction, and not only does it get your mind off what you are doing, to something that's not why you are here, so i try to, in fact, it's

an ironclad rule, i won't avoid or miss a hearing or anything to go raise money. you know, i try to do that. i try to keep up with the demands of fundraising, but doing it outside the normal course, that's our -- it's what i absolutely believe in. so it doesn't make me better than anybody else. it's just what makes me comfortable. i'm here to go to those committee hearings and i'm on armed service and ag, those are both committees that have a direct nexus with my district, so i need to be there as much as i can. >> let's talk about your roots in nebraska. a long history. >> yeah. >> where were you born and raised? >> i was born in omaha. my family -- half my -- my parents, my father's family is irish. they came in 1856 to nebraska and my mother's family is swedish. they came in the 1870s. our familiar was in business in

nebraska for many generations in the retail clothing business. i've been a lawyer most of my career, practiced law a lot of it. i've own businesses. i've owned a clothing store, and i've done quite a few other civic things. i've had a very fulfilling career really doing varied things, but the 16 years in the unicameral was probably the most fulfilling of my life. i mean, to be able to work in such an incredibly -- in my view -- unique institution of government has really been something. >> were your parents political types? >> not really. they were -- my mother -- my grandfather, actually, was very active. he started the national conference of christians and jews organization in omaha in the 30s to combat discrimination against jews in omaha.

he actually raised money to get jews out of europe into sweden right before world war ii. so he spent a great deal of his life as -- in the clothing business totally, but being very active and social issues. my father flew a bomber, b-26 bomber on d-day, a plane that was actually built-in my congressional district. b-26 martin rodder bomber, he flew on d-day, flew 60 missions. he was a business guy. my mother was, you know, just a wonderful -- they are both gone, they have been gone for some while, but they are -- they were a lot of fun, and they were very active in the community, instilled a lot of values of community involvement to me, and so -- and i have a brother who is a judge. another brother who is -- has a bookstore and has had for 30, 40

years. >> why did you first decide to run for the state legislature? >> you know, that's a great question, and you know, i really -- i enjoy policy, i enjoy politics very much. i got involved in bob carrie's, he's still a great friend of mine, his gubernatorial campaign in nebraska. my mother always told me i was too nice to be in politics. i never really thought i would run for politics. i think it was 1986. i think it was really my parents, my and grandparents involvement in the community and i saw an opportunity to give back or to really contribute. i mean, everybody talks about giving back and most everybody in omaha does this, but i thought maybe government, governance, being involved in unicameral was what i could do to give back in a similar fashion to what my family had done as long as we had been in nebraska.

so -- that's what really has carried me on. i don't think i would have run again for anything last time. there was no one running on the democrat side. i thought about it and -- fear is the wrong word but the apprehension of not being able to serve anymore because i'm term-limited and i'm really a legislatu legislature. i think i'm a legislator and not an administrator, i think it all worked out. what is different about the state legislature in nebraska versus washington, d.c.? why does it work here and not here? >> there are no caucuses. i had never been to a party caucus before, and i -- listening to the sort of -- it's sort of like a pre-game -- sort of a pre-game pep talk, let's go out and get the other side, that kind of stuff is totally foreign

to me, and so that was very different. also, even though there are many more republicans and democrats in our legislature, it is nonpartisan. the committee chairs just by tradition tend to be equally divided. we don't, you know, the governor is elected by party, but the unicameral isn't. you know, the nebraska repealed the death penalty this year and nebraska raised the gas tax, and nebraska, you know, did some things that are fairly progressive. one would -- would call progressive. it's sort of like a budge -- 49 of us getting together, working things out, coming up with a solution, putting partisan politics literally down the line of importance, and there's a pride in that. so when the governor vetoes something as he did this time, the legislature just can over --

just overrode the governor on each one of these tough issues and we've done a significant amount of prison reform. i was chair of the judiciary committee for a long time, involved in issues. i think we made some progress there. we can take on an issue and solve it fairly adeptly and quickly. there are some things i wish with we could have done and haven't done. but we're pretty much -- we work together and we come up with solutions. nebraskans are conservative on fiscal issues. but there is still that populist tradition that exists in nebraska. >> so as the campaign begins to unfold, do you sense the republicans are moving to the right and your party moving to the left? >> i don't know if republicans are moving to the right particularly. i think the democrats need to be careful. and they have already lost a great swath in the middle of the

country by not really appealing to people in nebraska, for example. when bob kerry ran for the united states senate years ago and for governor, the number of democrats, handful of 200,000 was john boehner is not a far right conservative republican. he's a pragmatist. to me, anyway -- i really admired his father. he is a very appealing candidate. and i think if the democrats need to be bringing themselves back into the center of the voting population, like bill clinton did. i think bill clinton was a master at it. he did some pro business things that are meaningful to the country.

yeah. i do think the democrats are in -- you know, there's some fear -- we're not going to get immigration reform done by pitting the far right against the far left. immigration reform, which is critical to our country, is going to be resolved in the center. and george 43 was -- had a shot at it. so i think the republicans -- there are far right republican candidates. and there are far left democratic candidates. but i sense that secretary clinton seems to be charting somewhat of a left of center course. the country is kind of a right of center country right now. and the sort of we're never going to get ourselves out. in order to have good jobs, good paying jobs, the private sector needs to be robust. the way to make it robust, in my

view, the government needs to get out of the way in many ways. where it can make a difference is on trade. so the more we can expand our markets the more we can have a robust business sector and the more good jobs are going to be created. that's what we believe in nebraska. i think that's what john kennedy talked about when he ran in 1960 and bill clinton as well. i think we're a centerist to a right of center country very similar to england. so i think that's where we have to be -- the democrats have to be cautious. >> but you're in a democrat in a republican state. do you happen the last time nebraska has voted for a democrat in the white house? >> yes. yes. actually, it's a good story. we actually have an electoral college vote. i think it was 1991 ben nelson

was then tkpofgovernor. we had a reverse order vote. it went from z to a basically. i was 25th vote to vote for the electoral college system we have now, which is -- and that electoral vote in my district went for obama. before that statewide was lyndon johnson. >> you have three children. what are their ages, and that do they think of their dad in congress? >> 35, 28, and 17. i think -- it's a great question. i think they're proud that i'm in congress. i think they're proud of me, which is quite something. you always would love to have your children be proud of you. they know that we worked hard and we have kind of toiled in the vineyard in the nebraska legislature. we make $12,000 a year in the unicameral. so i had a huge pay increase.

but that's not why they're proud. i think the fact that we picked up -- we picked up the campaign from scratch with about nine months to go and were able to win. i don't think people say, well, he had been there 16 years, my opponent. people wanted to see -- wanted to change and all this sort of stuff. i don't really know if people think about things exactly that way. i think hopefully they thought we offered something. my opponent i have known my entire adult life. he's a good guy. maybe we were just more optimistic. maybe we were just telling the story that we can -- by working together, we can get things done. i think they're proud of that. and i think my children are proud of how i have been committed to tough issues like gay rights, which to me is extremely important. i grew up in the clothing

business. and the gay community was to me was very -- well, an important part of the certainly the women's business. my mother was in the women's business. so i grew up seeing the discrimination against days in unemployment as even a young child in new york. and my grandfather's commitment to those issues at nccj, national conference of christians and jews. that we have -- we have stuck with those issues. so hopefully they're proud of that. >> where did you go to college? >> colgate. >> and you studied? >> history. everything has to have a historical context. you know, it's interesting. for example, on the trade issue people say why were you soed adamant about trade? a lot of reasons. but one of them is is you look back at the tariffs in the 1880s and 1890s that caused the great

depression. really hurt us in nebraska. devastated nebraska's agricultureal sector. as a result of high tariffs. i think history is important to know where you have been and what lessons can you learn from history. i try to think about where we are today in the congress. and i don't know if there is such a parallel. as there is today. the how you line up your voting record in order to withstand television. it was funny, there was a vote on trade. and it had to do with medicare. and it was part of the trade adjustment act. even though the trade adjustment act was fixed so you wouldn't be voting against medicare, the argument for voting against the trade adjustment act which would help the bill go forward,

someone was going to run an ad against you saying that you wanted to take medicare away from seniors. and you hear that over and over again. when i ran for congress just a few months ago, the ad was about how i was -- it was a willie horton ad. i was chair of the judiciary committee. we did prison reform. while we were doing that, she got out of prison and killed four people. so that was the ad. and we won. so i think if you're going to worry about that stuff, then you shouldn't be here. but that's the folk of a lot of this. i admire bernie sanders. he reminds me a lot of the governor. he reminds me more of the governor. he reminds me a lot of gene mccarthy. this sort of accepsense of beine

to say it as you will. and everybody is different. everybody looks at policy differently. i admire people on either side of the aisle that are willing to be forth right in their reviews. >> final question. you just arrived here in washington. think thought how you would like to stay? >> it seems a lot longer than that. it was a lot longer than that. i'll stay -- as far as i can tell, i'll stay as long as the voters want to send me back here. i want to be myself. i don't want to be a partisan person. i want to be myself. i want to vote in that way, in a way i have been brought up in the unicameral tradition of our state. i am not voting a party line. i will vote for democrat measures and republican measures as i see fit.

hopefully the voters see that. and if they do, then hopefully we can come back and continue to govern of the. >> second congressional district, which includes omaha. congressman, thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. it's delightful. coming up next, several law professors explore the origins of the magna carta and the influence of the british document on the creation of the american bill of rights. the professor spoke at the library of congress where a 1215 copy of the magna car a ta is temporarily on display. king john originally signed the document under pressure in england. american revolutionaries looked to the rights guaranteed by the magna carta as they rebelled against the english crown. this is 90 minutes. >> today's lecture will be on the magna carta as we called it into this year. a