with regard to term limits, half of the united states house of representatives was elected since 2010. we have term limits, they are called elections, they were just fine. host: brad fitch with the congressional research foundation. thank you. we go to the house of representatives. >> the house is in order. the cheerleaders before the house, communications from the speaker. -- chair leaders from the house. >> the speaker from washington dc, october 27, 2015. i hereby appoint the honorable david g halladay of signs john a banner, speaker of the house of representatives. >> pursuant to the order of the house, 4015, we will now recognize the majority and minority leaders from our debate. witeach pty limited to one hour anchember otherhan ajority and minory ader and minority whip

no event shl dete connue in beyond 11:50 a.m. the chrecognizes t gentleman from alabam mr. rook for five minutes. . brooks: mr. speaker, ten 200 and 2014 in the of 0 to 65 age brack, although the american g eated 35.6 llion net w jobs, ameran born citize lost 7,000 bs. allob gains iamerica and more went people born i foreignountri. 2012, 51of household headed by immgrantselied on lfare compare to 30% of householdseed by someone born merica that's driving up ari's deficits and ivi dwn america's ability to pay for safyets for

ericans. weei vote on paul ry's bidor housepeaker. hile paulyan h communication skills, his charismatic, understands the economic risk of out-of-control deficit -- deficits and the like, paul ryan and i have a major disagreement onboarder security. last week on october 22, paul ryan, i, and others met about his candidacy. border security was discussed. thereafter i hand delivered to paul ryan on the house floor at roughly 4:00 p.m. a letter that ates, and i quote, paul, struggling american families have lost more than eight million job opportunities to illegal aliens. all lower and middle income american workers have suffered from suppressed wages caused by the surge in both illegal alien labor ul immigrant

supply. your past record and current stands on immigration conflicts with the values of the americans i represent and causes great concern to me and the americans i represent. yesterday, during discussions about the speaker's race, you made two representations about immigration that stood out. they are, number one, it is unwise or unproductive to bring up any immigration legislation so long as barack obama is president. number two, as speaker, you will not allow any immigration bill to reach the house floor for a vote unless the immigration bill is, quote, supported by a quarter of the majority, end quote, of republican house members. although you talk faster than i can write your words down, i believe the above statements properly reflect what you said. i send this letter to confirm that i accurately portray your remarks and i may rely on them when the house floor vote for speaker occurs next week. if my portrayal of your words

errs in any respect, please deliver to me before the g.o.p. conference meeting next week in which we are to conduct speaker elections a written communication correcting my errors. if i do not receive such a communication from you, then i will infer that you concur that my portrayal of your remarks is accurate and that i and the rest of the g.o.p. conference and the american people may rely on your words as i have written them. i need your assurance that you will not use the speaker's position to advance your immigration policies except when in accord with the two above statements. because there is a huge gap between your immigration position and the wishes of the american citizens i represent. our words yesterday constitute the needed assurance. if your assurances as i have portrayed them are accurate, then i'm much more comfortable voting for you for speaker on the house floor and will do so absent something startling coming to my attention between now and the election which i don't anticipate. if, however, you would use the

speaker's chair to advance an immigration belief system that is unacceptable to the americans i represent, it will be very difficult for me to vote for you for speaker on the house floor. to be clear, i intend to publicly share this letter and your responding letter, if any, to help explain to my constituents why i voted as i did on the house floor in the speaker's election. thank you for considering the contents of this letter. at roughly 5:20 p.m., paul ryan called me and stated that my letter accurately portrayed his immigration representations. paul ryan confirmed that he meant what he said and would keep his word. based on paul ryan's representations and my trust that paul ryan is a man of his word, i will vote for paul ryan for house speaker on the house floor if he is the republican nominee. mr. speaker, i submit this letter for the record to the house clerk and i yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. for the first time in over a dozen years an usual legislative procedure, a discharge petition, has been successfully mounted in the house. this is an extraordinary effort to allow the house to work its will. a mechanism that was part of a package of reform dating back over a century to deal with the iron rule of speaker joe cannon . the subject of the petition, the eximbank, was almost as obscure as the procedure that brought it to the house. this is an agency that for over 70 years provided financing for transactions similar to which all our competitor nations provide their exporting companies. in this case, american companies will have the credit tools that will enable them to

cost-effectively engage in international transaction that because other private institutions won't finance because of political or commercial risks. even if providing this service meant a modest exposure to the taxpayer, which might occasionally talks money, it was probably worth it to have the businesses support good-paying american jobs and to be able to compete with foreign companies. yes, it would be worth it. it's not just a low-risk proposition. the ex-im bank is a service that has made billions of dollars for the united states treasury. it turns a profit. about $2 million in the last two fiscal years. this is interesting. a service that all our competitor nations provide their companies, it hasn't cost the taxpayers any money, in fact, makes money for the treasury, why was it allowed to

expire? well, this is another example of where a minority of the house for ideological reasons decided they were going to take over the process. in this case they were going to kill the ex-im bank. they did so over the observations of the administration, of the business community, many members of congress, people in organized labor. it was hard to maintain decorum during last night's debate when the chair of the committee complained that somehow by approving the discharge petition and the procedural motions that followed we were stifling the will of the house. i smiled. as people lamented that they would not be able to offer amendments. members came to the floor saying they had amendments they wished they could offer and now they were being shut out. how ironic. his committee had no intention of allowing the house to participate in the give and take of legislation he was

lamenting was slipping away. his committee didn't allow this proposal to come to the floor. the committee did not amend and refine the ex-im bank. the committee killed it. by having the authorization expire. without giving the whole house a chance to be part of that decision. now, the people who were caught on the wrong side of the majority of the house with a losing argument and a minority position were suddenly concerned that the house was being shut out? they had been shutting out the house for the last two years. they had denied efforts at reform. only when their hand was forced they somehow resort to the most specious of arguments. this is like they say, the person who kills his parents and then pleads for mercy from court because he's an or

fan -- orphan. there's no reform because they didn't want reform. they were the ones who shut the out. now because of the courageous action by a bipartisan group led by our republican colleagues eloquently and bravely, the house will no longer be shut out. american business will be stronger. and the house has demonstrated that there sometimes will be ou. now opportunities for a bipartisan majority to have its interests represented. we can only hope that this sets a precedent for how we solve other problems from raising the debt ceiling, dealing with budgets, to rebuilding and renewing america. involve the entire house. solutions are possible. and america will be better erved. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from west virginia, mr. mooney, for five minutes. mr. mooney: thank you, mr. speaker. last thursday president obama

used his veto power for the fifth time since taking office. this time it was to reject the $612 billion defense authorization bill. h.r. 1735, the national defense authorization act. president obama vetoed the defense bill on the same day that an american was killed in iraq. with so much uncertainty and conflict around the world, i would have expected our president to understand the importance of supporting this bipartisan defense bill. this veto is inexcusable. not only is this a blatant show of disrespect for our troops, it's a disrespect for our nation. the national defense authorization act also contains key provisions that will greatly benefit my state of west virginia. the provisions include the drug interdiction and counter drug program.

the national guard state partnership program. and $3.the million in funding for the charleston, west virginia air national guard base. it is shortsighted and wrong that the president refused to sign this critical defense bill. the bill gives our troops essential resources, but president obama vetoed it because he wants concessions in other areas of government spending. it's time to stop playing politics with our military. i urge my colleagues in the house and senate to join together to override this veto. mr. speaker, earlier this year i stood on the floor of this chamber and shared the stories of my constituents who have family members in syria that are experiencing the political turmoil that is seen on the news daily. these stories paint a disturbing picture of what life is like in syria right now.

rian dictator, al assad is inflicting a rain of terror on his own people that include the worst kinds of torture, repeated uses of chemical weapons, bombardments, and seize and starvation of innocent people. assad has killed more than 130,000 of his own people. and forced an additional three million to four million to flee the contry. these problems have been exacerbated by the failure of leadership from the united states of america. it's not just that obama has a bad plan for how to handle the crisis in syria. it's that he has no plan at all. edmund burk once said that, quote, all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. close quotes. that's exactly what the obama administration has done, nothing. and evil is triumphing because

of it. innocent people will continue to die if we do not act now. we must take the first step and establish a no-fly zone so that assad cannot continue to bomb his own people from the sky. so photos like these won't be commonplace in our news. this critical action will help, to do more. i call upon this administration to wake up to that fact. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. utierrez, for five minutes. mr. gutierrez: thank you, mr. speaker. over the last several weeks, i have visited six high schools in my district to meet with juniors and seniors, about 2,000 students in total. almost all are u.s. sit

certains, most are latinos, some have imgrant parent, some will soon be eligible to vote. all of them have one question for me, and the questions are about donald trump. is he going to be our next president? is he going to deport us? is he going to round us up and deport us all? it's very sad when the first question a congressman gets from american high school students are how much they should fear their own government. whether their own government is going to break up their families, if their own government is going to treat them not as citizens but as pariahs. when they hear trump is leading in the -- in the poll they feel that means he'll be the next president. when they see him on shows like jimmy fallon not to mention fox news, they feel he's a celebrity

we all admere. when they see him hosting "saturday night live," they get the impression that calling whole groups rapists and drug dealers bationed on their ethnicity is ok. the real question they have is, what are you going to do to defend us from donald trump this leads to an intense discussion about american politics and i ask them right back, what are you going to do to stand up for yourselves and your community? motivating 17 and 18-year-olds to do something is not always easy, including motivating to register to vote when thear old enough. when i ask these young americans whether they plan to get registered to vote, every hand goes up in the classroom. donald trump is spurring youth

voter motivation like i've never seen before. we know that 93% of latinos united age of 18 are states citizens. if they are half as motivated as the young people i'm talking to in chicago, donald trump could have a tremendous impact on the youth vote in the coming election. but let's be honest, do we civil want to motivate participation through fear of the portation? these are american teenagers growing up to distrust their government. trump wants to take us become to the good old days of race relations, which apparently means the 1950's, when president eisenhower evicted thousands of citizens from the united states and dr. carson who believes history son-in-law 5,000 years old, said of mass deportation

schemes, quote, i think it's worth to -- it's worth discussing. here in the house we were debated ways to deport children more quickly. i made the unfortunate but real suggestion that republicans were gravitating toward mass deportation policies which provoked a response if the chairman, mr. sessions he said, gutierrez, there's no one in responsible republican leadership that has said we should deport 13 million or 11 million people and i find it extremely distasteful, luis, that people would come here and suggest things we have not suggested. now that people are suggested mass deportation openly and are gaining in the public opinion polls in the republican party, i wonder why there's so much silence from the republican members of this body? but it's not just young latino voters in chicago that are being

motivated by republican attacks. when republicans attack planned renthood and block laws to guarantee equal pay for women that gets women to vote. when republicans celebrate people who won't issue marriage licenses to two men or two omen, a lot of lgbt citizens get motivated to vote. while they block sensible gun laws, a lot of middle class americans get registered to vote. together with the student us talked about at those high schools, we're forming a very, very powerful coalition. a coalition so powerful that thems even republicans will want to be part of it. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia, mr. west moreland, for five minutes.

mr. westmoreland: i rise today to bring awareness to the reckless acts of the environmental protection agency. on august 5, 2015, the e.p.a. triggered the release of millions of gallons of toxic waste into the river near durango, colorado, containing lead, arsenic and other pollutants. originally contaminated water was seeping into the gold king mine from another nearby mine. when the gold king mine owner refused to allow e.p.a. on his property they threatened to fine him up to $35,000 a day. let me repeat, $35,000 a day for a leak not coming from the owner's mine. it was only after these threats that he was forced to let the e.p.a. on his property. as recently as last week, investigators from the interior department concluded the

investigation into the august spill determined that the spill was preventable and occurred due to actions of the e.p.a. the best that e.p.a. administrator geena mccarthy could say is she was deep hi sorry and that the spill was a tragic an unfortunate accident. that's not all. no accountability, no reparations, nothing. how can the american people truths the government agency charged with protecting our environment with the same agency re-- when the same agency is responsible for cause manager damage. actions speak louder than words. this is more of the same from the e.p.a. they are another arm of the federal government looking to bully private citizens. this is nothing new from the e.p. a. almost a decade ago a gentleman from my district faced a costly, almost devastating battle with the e.p.a. mr. paul mcknight owned an old cotton warehouse in georgia.

ter a former deadbeat tenant could not afford to remove 2,000 barrels of toxic waste from this warehouse that mr. mcknight knew did not exist. the e.p.a. was called in to inspect the building by some anonymous caller who said that they could smell a leak. once the e.p.a. got there, their inspector said they couldn't smell a leak, there was no leak, but they did find 2,000 barrels containing toxic material. without mr. mcknight's knowledge, the e.p.a. declared this warehouse an imminent fire hazard and cleaned up the chemicals at a cost of $800,000. even though the previous tenant had a bid of $170,000. later at a public forum, an e.p.a. representative stated the

e.p.a. had the funds to clean up the warehouse only to bill mr. mcknight later for that overpriced cleanup. but not only did they bill him for the overpriced cleanup, but they sought over $1 million in cleanup fees and placed a lien on his real estate holdings including his farm and his home. i helped mr. mcknight get the case reconsidered. after eight years in court he was able to get it reduced down to $600,000. the e.p.a. shouldn't use legal loopholes and cower between exemptions. not only that, to charge somebody that had no knowledge of the barrels even being there, rather than the man who put the barrels there.

mr. mcknight was fined over $1 million. that's why i've introduced two bills targeting the e.p.a. h.r. 3531, the no exemption for fort p.a. and h.r. 3635, the e.p.a. pays out and h.r. 3639 the e.p.a. accountability act are aimed at holding the same standards and requirements. my bills removed the legal loopholes and forced them to repay the federal government for anywhere damages the e.p.a. causes. if i were to accidently cause the same disaster, do you think i would get off by just saying, i'm sorry, and i promise not to do it again? that's why we've introduced these three bills. i asked my colleagues to please,

join me in holding the e.p.a. accountable. in any future accidents by upporting h.r. 3531, 3655, and 3699. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield ack. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois, mr. quigley is recognized for five minutes. mr. quigley: he said, the risks to cost leads me to one conclusion. the senate must pass this legislation before congress adjourns. now we're one week away from defaulting on our debt for the first time in our nation's history. instead of making sure we prepreserve the full faith and credit of the united states as president reagan had done 18

times in his tenure, some want to hold our economy hostage to extract ideological wins. this is not the time for partisan bickering, not when it means delaying social security benefits. or postponing interest payments of government-issued bonds. we have a responsibility to live up to our only fwations no matter what. that's not politics, it's base exgoverning. but the longer we wait to meet our obligations and raise the debt ceil, the closer we get to another credit rating downgrade. a speak in interest rates and a severe slowdown in economic growth. this is not an overstatement. let's look back at what happened in 2013 during the last debt ceiling standoff. just the possibility of default caused rates on treasuries to rise by almost half a percentage point. that cost taxpayers as much as $70 million.

this time around if we actually default, market forecasters estimate that interest payments on treasuries would increase federal deficits by $10 million -- by $10 billion over the short-term and by $70 billion a year after that. that's money that wouldn't be going to critical investments in research and development, education and infrastructure. on top of that, higher interest rates on treasuries could lead to a one percentage reduction in g.d.p. that would mean the lots of almost 700,000 jobs and that's just a conservative estimate. make no mistake, everybody american would be impacted. middle class families looking to buy a home would face higher mortgage rates. a half a percentage point increase in mortgage rates would increase the lifetime costs of an average home loan by almost $19,000. small business owners would face difficulties trying to secure new loans as lending tightens up. students will have an even harder time trying to pay for

college as student loan rates skyrocket. we owe it to our constituents to move forward toward responsible governing and away from governing by crisis which has become all too common around here. the bipartisan budget package unveiled last night affirms the full faith and credit of the united states and represents real progress for hardworking american families who are tired of threats of default and partisan gridlock. now is the time for bipartisan compromise and finding a path forward. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. olson, for five minutes.

mr. olson: mr. speaker, this is the last week of national breast cancer awareness month. before it ends, i would tell the american people about two amazing women from sugarland, texas. two good friends of my family. two women who are here for a reason. two people who are touching others in need. two people who are making a difference. meet irma and sasha. stunning, aren't they? they're related. they look like sisters. but they're not. they are mother and daughter. the mom, irma, is on the left,

her baby girl, sasha, is on the right. irma and sasha are sisters in a cause. both have fought breast cancer and both have won. each year, over 200,000 american words, ar four crushing you have breast cancer. irma feared those words because she knew they may be coming. both of her sisters heard those four words. one died. rm -- irma beat her cancer but lived in fear. with the family's history of breast cancer, her daughter had a good chance of hearing those

four terrible words. ve years after irma beat breast cancer, sasha banged on her door crying without end. . she had aggressive breast cancer. irma was by sasha's side every second of her fight against cancer. mom watched her daughter lose each breast. mom catched her daughter -- watched her daughter go through 16 rounds of harsh chemotherapy. mom watched her daughter lose hair, her eyebrows,

her eyelashes. mom watched her daughter lose that smile. sasha hair, her thought that sh longer beautiful. her will to fight was decreasing. irma took charge. she told sasha that no matter how sick you feel, get up, shower, and put some lipstick on. you are beautiful. and then it hit both of them, and ere women of style grace. cancer took that away. lipstick is fine looked good on circus clowns, there is not a

beauty shop for women with breast cancer. a place where they are pampered. where they are beautiful. they were going to end that. dad had no choice. he gave sasha his life savings. wife and i my walked in to our friend's dream store, cure and company. on its opening day. cure and company gives women with cancer real wigs, real faces, and real beauty products. sasha and irma give their clients hope and love in the worst of wife and i times.

the greatest gifts of all. look one last time at irma and sasha. they are gorgeous, stunning, and beautiful. they have had breast cancer. oth of them have beaten breast cancer, and both of them will never leave the fight until breast cancer is cured forever. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. kaptur, for five minutes. ms. kaptur: thank you. mr. speaker, last week i came to the floor and recommended that the obama administration appoint a special envoy with a very broad portfolio dispatched to work on a diplomatic solution to the tragedy that is destroying syria and the greatest gifts unfolding in middle east and now having brought impact in greater

europe. i wanted to point out to those who are listening that the displacement crisis in the middle east centered in syria has consumed seven nations and propelled the largest refugee crisis europe has faced since world war ii. already in syria over a quarter of a million people have been killed, civilians, and that's probably a low number. with over 12 million people displaced, europe is being besieged by hundreds of thousands, legions of the dispossessed, and meanwhile it almost seems surreal that no effective diplomatic negotiation is under way that holds the prospect of leading to peace. i, again, ask the obama administration to dispatch a special enjoy with a broad

portfolio to work full-time on a diplomatic solution to the tragedy that is destroying syria. then yesterday in the "new york times" appeared an editorial, by the 39th president of the united states, jimmy carter, entitled a plan to end the syrian crisis. i served president carter during his years in the presidency and i well remember the incredible moment in 1979 when president carter stood with anwar sadat, the president of egypt, and the prime minister of israel, begin, and they signed that treaty in march of 1970. who would have ever thought that that moment would have been possible. yet, until today that treaty holds between egypt and israel and it has made a gigantic difference in the saving of lives in that extremely troubled region.

in his editorial to "the new york times," president carter references that the carter center, which he founded in his dead -- and dedicated his life to with his wife ever since his service as president, has been deeply involved in syria since the early 1980's. and who would know more than he. he recommends the only real chance of ending the conflict is to engage the united states, russia, iran, turkey, and saudi arabia it in preparing a protocol. ve peace he knows what that requires. he recommends a cease-fire, formation of unity government, constitutional reforms, and elections. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that i may place the editorial entitled "a plan toned the syrian crisis" in today's record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. kaptur: i say to my colleagues and to those who are listening, as we watch this

tragedy unfold, our nation is the most powerful nation in the world. surely we should have the wisdom and the will to take this latest tragedy, which we had no small part in pripping -- precipitating, and find the way to bring the parties to the table. what is happening in syria and the lack of a diplomatic solution, is now impacting europe in ways we have not seen since world war ii. it is very destabilizing. with what is happening in ukraine today, inside that country, due to russia's nvasion, with over 1.7 million displaced persons internally, if russia would happen to turn the tourniquet tighter in eastern ukraine and cause additional displacement across europe, imagine what the winter months would bring. i can't urge in strong enough terms that the obama

administration pay heed to president carter's very lucid editorial in yesterday's "new york times." i commend all members and citizens to read it. thank you very much. i yield back my remaining time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon today.

senate minority leader harry reid released a statement that says, while this agreement is not perfect, it addresses both investment in domestic priorities that benefit the middle class and defense spend, the time to do away with the devastating sequester cuts is now. now comments from earlier this morning. >> we put a little video

together inside conference and put this poster up in the fwang of seven. we're in the minority and he's the last man standing. but what was the gang of seven? the fwang of seven was the very beginning to change washington and clean it up. i wasn't around at the time, but there was a house bank and a ouse bank scandal. no one would ever have known about it if it wasn't for john boehner. he was a big part of republicans winning the house back. everybody stumbles but the character is how you handle it. john left leadership, never complained, came back as committee chairman in education.

just last week we passed a bill dealing with scholarships for low income. he's never forgotten why he ran and never stopped fighting for them. very few people in their career could ever say they fought to win two majorities, but john has. now, john has not given up. we've come to a bipartisan budget agreement, it probably wouldn't be the final agreement if we wrote it by ourselves. mr. mccarthy: we have strived in this majority within the first four months to wroit a budget, a budget that would put us on a new path and a lot of times people don't write about what we've been able to achieve. that first budget, people criticized us, said we went too far. if you take those budget numbers for our 2011 and where we are today work this budget agreement, we're below them. even been able to achee

with barack obama as president. we've dealt with what's happening around the world, with a foreign policy that's lack, with our military needs. we've got more than 100 members signing a letter. we've been able to fund the military in a stronger position that needs to when we look a where the world holds. but we've been able to do it in a fiscal manner to keep us under the limit we had in our original budget. that's an accomplishment. i think history will be kind to this man because he kept the word he's always said, continued to do what's right and that's what he's done. i want to thank the speaker for his service. ms. mcmor rest rogers: next week is the anniversary, the five-year anniversary of when the republicans took the majority. -- hen john boehner

mrs. mcmorris rodgers: you think about the path that we were on before he was speaker and the important reforms and legislation that he has led on for people all across this country, it's an impressive ecord. we passed the first 10-year house-senate balanced budget plan since 2001. and there's the opportunity scholarship, he's led on so many issues, it was under his leadership that earmarks were banned in the house and the senate. i'm proud of the work that we've accomplished together. i have been thankful for his leadership, not just for the house of representatives, but for america and for every person in this country. later this week we will be

lecting a new speaker. we'll continue to make the people's priorities our priorities. we're committed, determined to expand opportunities, empower innovators and make the american dream an attainable goal for very person in this country. mr. scalise: a week ago, president obama was insisting on a clean debt ceiling that would have been destruct i to our economy and this country. when you fast forward to today, what the speaker laid out is a plan that denies the president that clean debt ceiling increase but implements important reforms for our country and some of the things our conference has been fighting for for a long time. if you start with social security reforms, congress hasn't passed a reform to the social security program since ronald reagan was president. there's a reason it's taken over 30 years to get real reforms to

a program that's got real solvency problems. and the reforms in this program, especially as it relates to disability a program that's headed for direct bankruptcy, are very important to make sure that seniors are protected if the kind of cuts that could come from bankruptcy, as well as people with december abilities. that have been clamoring for reforms to prevent people from abusing that program, from the double dipping and the fraud involved in that program. so the fact that it's taken over 30 years to get those reforms to social security are very significant to strengthening the program for people who use it. and rely upon it. the other thing has been, there's been a big fight within our conference between fiscal hawks an defense hawks. to get budget numbers that work. but in a fiscally responsible way. some people said you couldn't accomplish both. in this budget agreement we saw that, in a way both fiscal

conservatives and defense hawks can come together an get an agrandmother that provides for a strong national defense that meets the channels our country is facing around the world. threlts from isis, threats from russia, threats in the middle east. finally getting the kind of defense numbers we need for a strong mill tear. in setting the stage to be able to get a real appropriations process done, both this year and next year as well. something, the kind of regular order our members have been asking for for a long time. i want to thank the speaker for his work in a big agroment look this, both sides of the negotiating table can find things they like an don't like. when you look at significant reforms, especially reforms to save social security from an immeant bankruptcy, something that hasn't happened for 30 years, that's quite significant. mr. boehner: this might be the ast time i get to do this. >> you are going to get some of helllorry and a lot of the

on this. mr. boehner: i'm prepared for that. you're going to see bricks floying from those that don't like the fact that there's a bipartisan agreement. but there is. it's a solid agreement. i told my colleagues, there isn't any reason why any member should vote against this. >> speaker boehner, this is a fourth and 15 first degree it'd to end the game. mr. boehner: in your view it was a fourth and 15. ye of little faith over the last couple of weeks, i found rather interesting amongst all the skeptics in the room. i frankly never had any doubt that we'd get ton -- to an agreement. sometimes the clock works against you, sometimes the clock works in your favor. i made it clear a month ago when i announced i was leaving, i

wanted to do my best to clean the barn, edidn't want him to walk into a dirty barn full of you know what, so i did my best to clean it up. >> someone said the process stinks. r. boehner: i agree. >> can you defend this process? mr. boehner: i'm in full agreement, it stinks. this is not the way to run a railroad. but when you've got a situation we're dealing with today, it's -- there wasn't any choice. while it may, certainly it's not the possess i would want, remember what the alternative was. the alternative was a clean debt ceiling or default on our debt, it also means we got to december 11, facing another government shutdown. so when you look at the alternative, it starts to look a whole lot better. i would hope that the process in

the future would have a little more length to it and involve more members. >> so freedom caucus has caused you a lot of problems obviously here in your final act. can you describe the thought process? mr. boehner: i wouldn't describe it -- describe it that way. we have a bipartisan adwrement that makes sure the debt ceiling has increased, we make good on our debt and our debt service. it paves the way to fund the government this year and next. and the fact is that this will make it easier for the entire congress for the balance of this year and will make next year smoother for the congress as well. >> can you the scribe, since this ises may be the last time you're up here, can you descroib how you feel, kind of a couple of days left? mr. boehner: i don't feel any differently than i did last week, week before last or for

that matter two months ago. i get up every day, go to work, try to do my best. some days are harder than others. these last three or four days, trying to get this agreement together, certainly weren't easy. but when you sign up for the job, you have to take everything that comes at you. but i feel pretty good about where i am. i like the fact that i see light at the end of the tunnel. >> thinking about that light, i understand you got a gift today a golf cart? mr. boehner: the members gave me a golf cart and license plate, the ohio members gave me a golf bag and new set of golf clubs. obviously that's going to be part of it. >> back to the question about paul ryan, he is going to very soon have to make tough decisions like you had to make this week.

even if he is ultimately against this particular agreement, what does that say as the final mark on your speakership that he's against it? mr. boehner: listen, paul knows how to do this. you go back two years ago, we had the ryan-murray budget agreement. if you look at this, not a whole lot different than what he and senator murray put together two years ago. he know house to do this. he knows the players. and he has the respect of the players that make these decisions. so i don't see any problem at all. >> you don't think that, if he ultimately -- mr. boehner: it's going to pass with a bipartisan majority and i'll be really happy. you're making assumptions that you shouldn't make. >> you used the analogy of cleaning out the barn and you say you know what gets thrown around. one of your colleagues on his way out went further with that, he said he and his colleagues

are getting a lot of manure all over them. makes me wonder if on your way out -- mr. boehner: that was gohmert, by the way. may god bless him. >> others have wondered, is this conference leadable? mr. boehner: we'll know soon enough. >> what was your best day in the last five years? mr. boehner: best day in the last five years? probably last wednesday when we re-authorized the opportunity scholarshippers in kids here in d.c., and also happened to be the -- that evening, the annual boehner-feinstein-williams dinner raising money for another group of kids and a scholarship program. listen, i was meeting with the mayor of cleveland a couple of months ago. he was talking about his challenges and looked at the mayor and said, mr. mayor, if

you could find a way to educate all your kids, all your other problems would go away. and most of you know i get wound up talking about education. but when you only educate half of your kids, it's a disgrace. that's basically what america does. educate about half our kids. more than half get a diploma but they get a diplea ma but can't read. last wednesday was a big day. and i enjoyed it. and my friend lou holtz showed up at the dinner to surprise me and i was surprised. bye. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> are you ok? >> we'll be hearing from democrats also today. house minority leader nancy

pelosi will be speaking at george washington university about women in politics and what it takes to lead in congress. she may also talk about the budget agreement which she took part in behind closed doors with the white house. first, though more on the potential budget agreement, we spoke earlier this morning with a capitol hill reporter. is here. bolton could you tell us more about how you achieved this report? that: this is something john boehner, and mitch mcconnell, harry reid, and nancy pelosi -- their representatives negotiated it with the legislative liaison for the white house and shaun donovan. they did it quietly. there wasn't a lot of talk about a deal coming together. there wasn't much visibility of the principles in a room together. it was done quietly and, a lot

of people as a surprise when it came out yesterday. a pretty important deal. stent -- discretionary spending by $112 billion if you include the overseas contingency operations fund. on top of the $80 billion that you mentioned. it is a big boost to discretionary spending, and has reforms to entitlement programs. especially social security. move toward flat benefits. be tied tos would the federal poverty level and set of pre-disability earnings. host: as far as how it gets paid for, what has been the reaction specifically for those concerned about medicare and social security to help pay for the effort. guest: the democrats were not

yesterday.nd andsocial security, disability benefits reform, that was something that the heritage foundation was proposing and one of its think pieces. this morning, they are coming out to oppose the debt and budget deal. even though there is a social security reform, or something the advocated for, they say that it is still not good enough. heritage action is coming out opposed to the debt and budget deal. so is the club for growth. file republicans, i talked to some of the senators from yesterday. by and large they were ok with happy thatcain was

defense spending has been increased. he says it is not everything that he wanted. it was short of his ideal level, but he will take it. the republicans who were upset were the farm state republicans because there is a $3 billion offset that comes from cutting crop insurance and that is something that roberts was very upset about. the house side there was a meeting with the entire republican conference. it is in line with the heritage action. they criticize this deal. on the house side, could they cause issue once both take place? guest: yeah. i think very much so.

if you have heritage action club for growth, two important advocacy groups in the right coming out against it, it will peel some rep -- republican votes off. if you are going to be reforming medicare, extending the medicare sequester, you think you could lose some democratic votes. we are characterizing as a challenge to pass through the house. host: what is the timeline now that we have specifics? when could we see votes? guest: my understanding is the house was supposed to post this bill last night, which would allow them to vote on wednesday. that is when paul ryan becomes the new speaker. he becomes the new speaker on

thursday. i think the idea is for the house to get this done on wednesday. john boehner says that he wants to clean up the barn a little bit. the idea is to get this dirty business done before ryan comes in at the end of the week. host: >> that budget deal reached by congressional leaders and the white house. covering two years and increasing the debt ceiling through 2017. one congressman's reaction saying that he believes any candidates for speaker should be rejecting this two-year deal between congressional leaders and the white house. congressman mark meadows of north carolina released a statement, you can find it online. online read for yourself the agreement. we have it posted at c-span.org. going to take you live now to george washington university. house minority leader, nancy pelosi, talking about women in

politics and what it takes to lead in congress. we'll also see during this conference here if she talks about the budget deal that was reached with the white house. she was part of the negotiating team that met behind closed doors. watching live coverage here on c-span. expecting to hear momentarily from house minority leader nancy pelosi.

the speaker pro tempore: live coverage here on c-span. we are at george washington university in downtown washington, d.c. expecting to hear momentarily from house minority leader nancy pelosi. she's actually here to talk about women in politics and to talk about what it takes to lead in congress and also the media's role in all of that. we also might hear comments from her about the budget agreement. a two-year deal which she took part in behind closed doors as far as negotiation. "the washington post" reporting that the budget bargain faces its first test today with house republicans, speaker boehner and

president obama having reached that agreement this week, not a done deal. a two-year budget negotiated by the white house and congressional leaders, and today house republicans meeting to decide if they can support that deal or not. several coming out already making statements saying that they cannot support the deal. the deal would increase spending and boost the debt ceiling through march of 2017 in exchange for spending reforms, increasing federal spending by $80 billion. and having been reached behind closed doors, the house could be voting as early as tomorrow on that agreement. minority leader pelosi says 188 house democrats could provide some of the portion of the votes needed to get that budget passed in the house if she and minority whip steny hoyer can deliver those votes from most if not all democrats, speaker boehner would only have to get support from about 40 or 50 of his republicans. we'll be hearing very shortly here from nancy pelosi at george washington university.

>> ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome stephenman, the 16th president of the george washington university. -- stephen mapp, the 16th president of the george washington university. [applause] mr. mapp: it's great to welcome you to george washington university for a conversation with house minority leader with nancy pelosi on power, politics, and leadership. we are delighted to welcome leader pelosi back to the campus. she's been here a number of times much she has represented what is now california's 12th congressional district since 1987. her distinguished career reached

a high point when she was elected in twefpble as the first and so far the only woman in history to serve as the speaker of the house. we are glad she's hear to engage our students and university community on the critically important subjects of leadership, women in politics, and the role of the media in our democracy. today's event is part of the conversation series now in its eighth year one of the signature events hosted every year by our school of media and public affairs. the school is currently celebrating its silver anniversary marking 25 years of training the next generation of media and public affairs professionals. the school has more than 3,700 alumni and there are many more anniversary events planned for students highlighting issues important to the future of media nd politics. it's my pleasure to introduce the director of media and public affairs school and moderator. in addition to being our director, east the emmy award winning journalist who joined

george washington after 21 years at cnn where he served as white house correspondent anchor and washington bureau chief. he's interviewed five united states presidents, thousands of litical business and civic leaders, and here at the school of media and public affairs he leads a faculty of nearly two dozen world class professionals who engage in scholarship and teaching on journalism, political communication, strategic communications, and digital media. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the stage frank cesno. >> thank you foach for that warm introduction and leadership of george washington university. good morning, everybody. great. welcome to the school of media and public affairs. to our silver anniversary event, a conversation with nancy pelosi. and our timing is pretty good because leadership on the house arranged a budget deal just so we could have them here today.

our goal here at snpa is to train future journalists and political communicators with our b.a. and masters programs. as you know our conversation series is an effort to bring the real world in. and to engage people at an intellectual and practical level so we can see what you're studying and what we are researching how that actually plays on the national and global stage. i hope this conversation, i know this conversation will be illuminating and even inspiring to our students and others who join us today. another way that we help our students through the 25 years that we have been doing what we are doing, this is new, is something we called snpa can, the career access network. we have launched this to mark our silver anniversary as the president mentioned. we are celebrating these 25 years. we have 3,700 alumni now who drive innovation in media, journalism, and politics, and

advocacy, what snpa can is doing is help students afford to do unpaid or underpaid internships so they get that critical first rung on the ladder of career success. we are building this over the course of this next year and for those of you who are aware of it, help us do it. for those of you who don't, learn more about it because we are building something that's important. we are very pleased to have with us here today a couple of special guests who i'd like to shout out from our snpa national council, our impeccable share, -- chair, char. also one of our national council members, heather. thanks to you as well. our national council helps guide us, advise us, and helps support us fill lan dropically so event like this can take place. that is so important for all of us. now i'd also like to thank one other special friend who is here and that is is ed scott. ed, please say hi to everybody. ed supported us a few years ago,

inspired, and supported a project called face the facts u.s.a. for the 2012 election cycle where we had a group of under graduate and graduate students put out a fact a day, 100 facts leading up to the election. and it was a great success. ed, thanks again and thanks for being with us. now i'd like to introduce our guest, democratic leader of the house of representatives, 114th congress, from 2007 to 2011 first woman speaker of the house. first elected to congress in 1987, now representing the california's 12th district, which many of you may know at least largely as san francisco. a proud italian american. as act, we hatched the idea one person clapping in the room, that's the only italian american we have here? i don't think so. we hatched the idea for today's event last february when she was on campus for a screening of pbs' documentary on italian americans called "italian americans." in 2013, she was inducted into

the national women's hall of fame. she still has the disdings of being the highest -- disdings of being the highest ranking woman politician in american history. ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming nancy pelosi. [applause] i should say as well we are joined i think by some college democrats, is that right? college republicans may be here, too. i hope we'll hear from them. there is a mike here. we'll have questions later. thank you for coming in. for taking time out of your busy day, arranging budgets and ex-imbanks and things like that. ms. pelosi: so happened at 11:37 last night we finished the budget and took it to the rules committee.

. mr. sesno: i thought maybe we could start differently. could we start with a game? ms. pelosi: whatever you wish. mr. sesno: let's play word association game. i have 10 names or topics, i'll give you name or topic, you get a one-word response. ok. ms. pelosi: and then do i get the same chance at you? mr. sesno: absolutely. you can ask me grout great george washington university is. ready. budget deal. ms. pelosi: hooray. mr. sesno: debt ceiling? ms. pelosi: hooray. mr. sesno: john boehner? ms. pelosi: terrific. mr. sesno: freedom caucus? isn't free. mr. sesno: donald trump. ms. pelosi: performer. mr. sesno: ben carson. ms. pelosi: dangerous.

. mr. sesno: wow. climate change. ms. pelosi: absolute. . mr. sesno: russia. ms. pelosi: care full. mr. sesno: you were careful with that. taxes. not texas. taxes. ms. pelosi: indefinite. -- investments. we'll come back. mr. sesno: paul ryan. ms. pelosi: hopeful. mr. sesno: ok. let's start with that. is he hopeful or are you hopeful? ms. pelosi: we are all hopeful. first now that we have played your game. mr. sesno: wasn't that fun? ms. pelosi: i don't think some people will think so. nonetheless, it was fun. usually it's joe biden. that's -- every time somebody says let me ask you one thing. joe biden. wonderful. really it is an honor for me to be here at george washington and

in the presence of your very respected throughout the world, certainly in our country, president, president napp, thank you for your kind words. [applause] ms. pelosi: thank you. this school and you, i have known frank a very long time because i was involved in human rights in china around the time of tiananmen square. when frank was at cnn. i just watched where this happened here at the george washington center for media and public -- what's the exact title? public affairs. this is fabulous. congratulations on your silver anniversary. mr. sesno: thank you. we'll talk about just over 25 years. especially in media later on. let's talk about this budget deal for just a minute because i think this is a very big deal. it's a two-year deal. takes us to 2017. it gives paul ryan, who

presumably is going to be the new speaker, some running room. white house says, members of congress from both parties should support it. will democrats support it? you going to support it? ms. pelosi:. mr. sesno: you're telling them to support t ms. pelosi: i'm presenting the facts of it. i think that it will -- by removing the uncertainty of lifting the debt ceiling, honoring full faith and credit the united states of america, by honoring the principle that we have had all along which is whatever investments we make for the future it has to be equal between defense and domestic. in the bill we also present an increase in medicare part d payments for seniors. this is of importance to your families if not some of the young people here. as well as addressing the disabilities issue. extending the solvency of the disability insurance part of social security for a long time. and preventing a 20% cut in that. in terms of disability and

medicare, we have corrected something that was going to happen and now it won't. in terms of a debt ceiling, very important. in terms of the balance in the budget that we are not going to -- this has been a debate that we have had for a long time. that every time we want to lift the caps, that are constraining our investment, people say let's just spend it on defense. but our national security and our strength is measured in the education and well-being of our people. the innovation that springs from the classroom that puts us qualitatively ahead. in our research to keep america number one. and that means also in the defevens our country. and defense of courntry we take an oath to protect and defend. that's our oath of office. it's our first responsibility. but again the defense of it is not just military might, however important that is. but it's also the strength of our society. mr. sesno: this isn't exactly

the grand bargain that boehner was looking for some years ago. i think it was a publication i read today it is a big deal. does this change the politics and the dynamic on the hill because it takes some of these issues and resolves them for two years and there is going to be a bipartisan vote, or so it would seem, to get this thing passed? ms. pelosi: this is a budget. next we have to do the actual bill, the appropriations bill. more on the subject than you may want to in a moment but this is the blueprint for how we go to the next step which must be accomplished by december 11. mr. sesno: you think it changes the dynamic going to that next step? ms. pelosi: it establishes the framework, the 50-50, firewall that you can't take from domestic to spend more on defense. so it has pay-fors. the speaker, speaker boehner wanted to have the pay-fors first before we understood what we could invest in. so we did the pay-fors.

that created the top line of what the investments will be. and that is the framework that is handed to the appropriations committee to write the appropriations bill and pass it by december 11. mr. sesno: what does it mean -- ms. pelosi: this makes us hopeful about how that will proceed. mr. sesno: i'm curious what you think this means. we hear people talking about gridlock in congress. about how nasty things have gotten. the freedom caucus, there are plenty of people who criticized this process already. actually including paul ryan himself. he said he's not going to do business in secret and it's got to be open. does this change the dynamic? or is it just a gift from and to john boehner? ms. pelosi: well, in terms -- you have to understand where we are. within the past few weeks our speaker said he was going to step aside because there were elements in his own caucus which said, unless you shut down vernment because the

continuing resolution contained funding for planned parenthood, unless you shut down government, we are taking the gavel. he didn't let them do that. he walked away himself. this is historic. this is a very big deal. you cannot let 10% of the congress, 40 members or something, but they have -- enough to create the two-way team the speaker needs to be elected to say unless you shut down government you're no longer speaker. this is stunning. it's harmful to the institution. because he did the right thing by keeping government opened he knew that meant that he had to -- they would vacate the chair over an over again. we had it back of course because of the institution you don't want a speaker being overturned by 40 people. mr. sesno: you had his back?

ms. pelosi: had the institution's back. this isn't good for the institution. so we'll see how they proceed from here. but we have to be hopeful. you always have to be hopeful and optimistic. and to paul ryan's credit, he knows the issues and he knows the rules. that makes it easier to negotiate. mr. sesno: as i mentioned, freedom caucus has criticized the this budget deal, action today was calling boehner a rogue agent in doing this whole thing and there's some discussion this could actually hurt ryan coming in. do you see this deal hurting ryan in in way? ms. pelosi: no, i don't. but i'm sure there will be those who will say that. just the language, rogue agent, tells you something about the lack of civility that is going on in their caucus. e all come beautiful president for whom your university is named, the patriarch of our

country. how great he was. when he left office he was suspicious of political parties. one of the things he cautioned against as he left office was to be aware of political parties that were add war with their own government. -- that were at war with their own government. i think we have come as close to that as ever with certain elements of the republican party. all of us come to try to find common ground, to stand our ground when we can. that's what we do. you try to find common ground. but to come and think that you have every idea that you have is the only good idea, well, maybe monarchy or something like that might be better for you, but not respect anybody's opinion and be condescending of even those within your own party to the tune of using language like what was it -- mr. sesno: rogue agent. ms. pelosi: you said it. mr. sesno: i didn't say t i just quoted it. let me ask you about -- you have what you just talked about, the

dynamic in john boehner leaving. and all the tumult over the next house speaker that followed. we have donald trump and ben carson on the campaign trail galloping away with the party. bernie sanders who is definitely an uncandidate in many ways, democratic socialists with serious numbers on the democratic side. you have been in politics for -- what the heck is happening here? is america mad? confused? alienated? are you guys just getting terribly mucked up? ms. pelosi: i think elections are always about the future. so whatever it is that somebody might be unhappy about, they want to see what is -- there is absolutely no question that as we look to the future we have to see a path to take this to ending a lot of the inequality in our system. mr. sesno: is that what this is about? anger over inequality? ms. pelosi: i think it's anger over the fact that paychecks have not increased for decades.

the purchasing power of middle class paychecks has not increased. the aspirations, hopes people have for their children, their education, their families, the pension security of parents so they are freer to invest in their children, the security of retirement security of seniors so that parents can look to their kids rather than having to take care -- all connected. let me just say this. in 2008 america's middle class was deeply scarred by what happened then. what happened because of the greed -- don't paint all on wall street with this brush, but what happened there severely, severely hurt the economic stability of america's working families. their homes in some cases were under water. their pensions were in doubt. they are were living off their savings. their jobs were uncertainty. the ability to send their children to school was in doubt.

and it was terrible. and it was wall street hurting main street. that's just the way it is. i'll go more if you wish, but just to fast forward to now, all of these good things happened when president obama took office to correct that. so much happened. when president obama stood on the steps and took that oath of office, so many things were worse than they are now. the deficit was $1.4 trillion. it's now like almost $1 trillion. that's a $1 trillion reduction in it. a 70% reduction in the deficit. unemployment was around 10%. it's now around 5%. stock market was flirting with six, seven, now it's flirting with 17. 10,000 points more. the auto industry was on its heels with the investments that the democratic congress and president made. and opposed by many on the other

side, if i may be allowed a partisan moment, now the auto industry is blossoming because of that and other engines. enthusiasm and entrepreneurship in the private sector. this is almost the 70th straight month of private sector job creation. some of it springing from public initiatives, incentives. some of it just the private sector which is a strong engine in our economy. but what is -- and the list goes on. a 17 million more americans having access to quality, affordable health care. and, one more thing. what hasn't happened is the middle income paycheck has not increased. and the consumer lack of confidence still prevails. we are consumer economy. we have to have consumer confidence for people to spend, to inject demand into the economy, to create jobs. the lack of that has, in my

view, contributed to some of the, shall we say, -- unrest. mr. sesno: the list is -- those numbers speak for themselves. if things are so great, you're saying people feel so lousy simply because paychecks haven't changed? ms. pelosi: yeah. mr. sesno: but there is another historic tradition this country has that george washington knew about, too, which is distrust of government. ms. pelosi: that's a healthy thing. mr. sesno: ok. but a lot of the distrust of government that we hear around the country and on the campaign trail also reflects distrust of big government and regulation and interference. so it's not all and only about paychecks. some of the anger that's directed at washington is directed at what people view fairly or unfairly, but certainly view as interference. isn't that right? ms. pelosi: if i just may you sound like the ideological talking points of the heritage foundation. mr. sesno: no, no. i was in colorado once and i

introduced myself. where are you from? washington, washington d.c. they looked at me -- don't blame me. i just live there. ms. pelosi: the fact is that is what are we talking about when we talk about regulation? clean air? clean water? what are we talking about? mr. sesno: businesses having to do more paperwork. ms. pelosi: you know what? a lot of that is state. in other words, we should subject everything we do, an investment in terms of dollars, whether it's a tax initiative. whether it's a regulation -- subject it to the harshest scrutenifment have common sense prevail. this whole thing of anti-government, the debate about the amount of government is as old as our country. older. and that's a legitimate debate. that's where people come down on the spectrum. more or less government, how much national, how much state, how much local. i think you read this new book on madison where he -- it's very

interesting how he thought that the central government was really important to keeping our country together. so there is a role for all of it. d there is also a role for having suspicion. is it working? are we getting our money's worth? is it doing what it needs to do for us? you can capture that and say it's all about government regulation and that's why the people are out there for trump and for bernie, but it really, most of the time, relates to how it affects them. as tip o'neill said, all politics is local. it's all personal. how does this affect me? my family? my financial stability and the rest? other people hijack that with something about regulations. if we have regulations we shouldn't have, get rid of them. that includes a lot of things that other people think almost every day when we are getting doing away with regulations that relate to the air you breathe,

water you drink, what's in the food that you eat, and i don't think that that's really what the uprising is out there about about clean air, clean water, and food safety. mr. sesno: let's talk about the uprising. when we were playing word association game and said trump, you said performer. interesting thing to see in the polls now ben carson has exceed the trump the last two polls. you called him dangerous. first, is trump fading? what do you think is happening? ms. pelosi: i don't know. i come to talk about the democrats. you know what? mr. sesno: i won't let you off that easey. ms. pelosi: i don't usually get involved in democratic presidential politics. let it play out. but as far as the republicans are concerned, let them figure it out for themselves and then when something happens, we'll be prepared and i'll be happy to relinquish my title of highest ranking woman in politics in america. [applause]

mr. sesno: are you making a prediction? ms. pelosi: i suspect that that will happen? [applause] mr. sesno: i see. ms. pelosi: don't you? mr. sesno: i think there's a good chance that we will see a woman candidate from the democratic party. how is that? let's talk about her for a minute. at the time when america seems to want a nonpolitician, right? clintons have been around in national politics since the 1990's, what's new about hillary clinton? ms. pelosi: first of all do i not buy into your stipulation that america want as nonpolitician for president of the united states. i think it's really important to say that americans are open to whoever comes forward who can be the best person to lead our country. there are sizable number of americans who know that you can have your fun in the dominate neathing process, but at the end of the day somebody has to get

he job done. and hillary clinton when she walks into the oval office, moment, ume just for a that she walks into the oval office, she will be one of the best prepared people to walk into that office in terms of her service, leadership in the senate of the united states, secretary of state. being involved in the white house in the years that she was there. she's extraordinarily talented. she knows the issues. you always make a judgment, say this to the young people here who are future presidents of the united states, what is your vision? what is your purpose? why would you want to be president? or speaker or anything else? what is your vision? what do you know about it? so if you decide you want to go into politics, what drives your engine? is it about climate change? is it about equality? what is your -- what drives your

engine? what do you know about it? so that people can trust your judgment. you're making speeches about what do you know and do they trust your judgment? do you have a plan to try to get some of this done? do you think strategicically? do you have a vision? do you have judgment and knowledge? do you think strategicically? when you articulate that, you will attract support. and so many times we have excellent people who are of the intelligent they have the vision, knowledge, judgment, strategically, and they don't make the emotional connection. i think she does all of the above. mr. sesno: you spend time with her. what's her vision? ms. pelosi: you know what? you can invite her here and she'll talk to you about it. mr. sesno: you can help us with that. ms. pelosi: myself, my purpose is that i have five children and nine grandchildren, but when i was raising my five children, it just -- i couldn't handle the idea that they had so much

opportunity, so much attention -- i'm not even talking about economic, i'm talking about everything, and that one in five children in america goes to sleep hungry at night. lives in poverty in america. the greatest country ever on the face of the earth. when people say why do you do this? it's the one in five. it's the one in five because this is such a under utilization of humanity not to invest in our children. how do you explain that? then if you put that aroundhe whole world, the whole world, children around the world, so that's what -- i pray for them at night. the next morning i get up. i don the suit of armor, eat nails for breakfast and get ready. one in five. so sometimes when people say, why is this so important and that so important just looking at the particular issue or the

particular or congresswoman? it all comes back to the one in five. mr. sesno: leader pelosi, we are a school of media and public affairs. we are looking at our 25th anniversary. if we think about what's changed in media in 25 years, it's pretty breathtaking. just in the last 10 with iphones and social media and twitter and facebook and google and all that. ms. pelosi: talking about my district. mr. sesno: good. from your perspective and from governance, from trying to get the job done, how have these changes in media, this greater role for citizens, this much more rapid transmittal of -- instantaneous, right? 11:37 you had a budget deal. at 11:37.10 the world knew about

it. how has that changed? complicated? messed up? eased your job? ms. pelosi: i think it's -- you may not agree with what i have to say i think it harkens right back to our founders. in those days people knew what was going on. they really did. mr. sesno: even though it took a letter three months? ms. pelosi: they got it out there. and the democrat sti ---democratcy. imagine what they d imagine what they did. this group of people, this band of brothers, they decided they were going to declare their independence from the biggest military force in the world. the biggest navy, the british. they would declare their independence and their declaration would be founded on the -- that all people are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. this had never happened in the history of the world.

word got out. mr. sesno: they didn't have twitter. ms. pelosi: the word got out because people were paying attention. and they put it out there. and then they wrote the founding documents. thank god they made them amendable so that they could be amended to having a more perfect union. this was remarkable. you think of common sense, thomas paine, you go up to lincoln's speeches. lincoln's speeches, his fabulous speeches. the word got out because people paid attention. they wanted to know. they were interested. look at teddy roosevelt and all that he did. although he used muckrakers as a negative term, it was a positive term as it turns out. all that he did because people paid attention. after world war ii, all kinds of things, people weren't

paying much attention. civics used to be a mandated subject and it became an elective. nobody even knew -- most people didn't take it. and it became just some people who were paying attention to all this. so it takes us back to the same alertness that the people had at the beginning of our country. they wanted to know what was happening because they knew it affected them. so i'm thrilled with the real time communication. sometimes it isn't, shall we say, vetted for truth or fact or something like that, but that's ok. so then you have to deal with that. but you wouldn't throw it away because of that. mr. sesno: it's -- we talk about this a lot here. it's a much more democratic media now. citizens have access to one another. citizens have access to you in ways that they haven't had before. ms. pelosi: it's all positive i think. mr. sesno: you think that's a positive thing.

ms. pelosi: even his holiness, pope francis, when he came, in his speech in congress he talked about transparent -- he didn't say transparency, he said openness. transparency and openness are so vital to a thriving democracy. now, there will be differences of opinion and there will be misrepresentations either because of lack of knowledge or because of intent to misrepresent, but the fact is you just -- the public -- our bosses, they have access to the information, they follow the things that they are interested in. and i just find it to be so exhilarating, so wonderful. i think our founders would be very proud of the democratizing. in some way it leapfrogs over the traditional press. mr. sesno: totally leapfrogs over the traditional press. that's the point. maybe ben franklin would have

been tweeting from the constitutional convention. that would have been interesting. ms. pelosi: i think you need the investigative reporting. you need the substance of -- that you provide because that's what's -- mr. sesno: that's the challenge in some of the displacement because we have lost some of that. the new models for getting that back to. ms. pelosi: that's why you're media and public affairs -- mr. sesno: this is why we are doing what we are doing. exactly. let's go to some issues here. i'd like to talk to you about climate change. you mentioned the pope when he came to congress he called for action. he called for courageous and responsible efforts to take action. the paris climate talks coming up next month. you led the way with cap and trade which passed the house but failed in the senate. what's next? ms. pelosi: the next is paris. today i don't know that you saw the catholic bishops, cardinals, put out a call to action for paris to produce real decisions that have the force of law.

not just nice things to say. it was a very, very strong statement. i guess connect that to you're mentioning, we passed a bill, when we passed our bill it was a wonderful thing. we had hoped the senate could do something, but 60 votes is a little difference of opinion on the science between the democrats and republicans on climate change. but here's the thing. we had at the table groups of people who really weren't used to sitting across the table, scientists and evangelicals, labor and the environmentalists, and the business community. every different side of issues. and evangelical, some very conservative, but not all evangelicals were at the table, those who were, they had their own papers that were written up about this that this planet is

god's creation, and i agree with them, and we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of god's creation. and in doing so we must be careful not to hurt the poor. that's exactly what the catholic bishops said today. the poor bear the biggest part of climate change affects them. there is environmental injustice. and they have done the least to contribute to the climate crisis. they are talking about worldwide. it is -- it's so urgent. if you travel the world, if you go to the north poll and -- north pole and you see the melting of the polar cap and you see the acidfication of the ocean and you see what's happening to the flora and fauna there, you go to china you see the encroachment of the gobey desert. you see -- gobi desert. you know they don't share any part of the polar cap.

they affect it and it affects them. whether it's the air people breathe. everybody is affected. this is so urgent. when we passed our bill in 2009, we had been told by the -- secretary-general of the u.n. at that time, if you don't do this now, by 2012 some of this will be too late. mr. sesno: what do you hope comes out of paris? ms. pelosi: here's the change. i was -- i went my first one in rio in 1992. he earth summit there. get my amendment into that. when i became speaker i established a select committee on climate and energy independence. we did fabulous things for two terms, including making the capitol an example to the world .f green technologies

and it was all reversed when we lost the majority. not to go there. over a period of time say 1992, was in copenhagen the last summit, but those meetings you developed countries and developing contritchts the developed countries should be doing this, this, this and this. and developing countries not shall could be expected from them because they are developing countries. that whole attitude is changed now for paris. every country should do what it can to save the planet. mr. sesno: these are some of the things we have been hearing from china and india for example. ms. pelosi: china has come a long way. and they have really -- they have done remarkable things. you know, frank, as well as anyone, my opposition to china and tibet, hong kong democracy, autonomy, i fight with them all

the time on that subject. but i work with them on the climate issue. and i had a speaker of climate visit to china. they have done remarkable things. their development is such they are still a net emitter. they had to take more action. and now they have the president, i give president obama such credit for the patience and the attention that he gave this with the president of china, who was ust here a couple weeks ago, i congratulated him on china's commitment not only for what they were doing but the contribution to the fund to help developing countries do theirs. it's no longer developing, you use so much -- each one of your americans produce so much carbon 100 years ago, that's much more than our poor people do today. there's no use going there. we have a situation. we have to deal with it. we have to -- we have to do much more by way of conservation, by the way, in our own contry, and

we have to help developing countries to reach their potential. one of the bishops was from new guinea, but representing both countries, but the rising sea levels are detrimental. if you study this issue for a long time, first of all, in alaska, decades ago, the elders were saying, like 40 years ago, the elders were saying we see changes in the flora and the fauna of our area. and they would report it to the scientists and the scientists at the time said -- there was resistance. as you know there's always resistance right now. said it was anecdotally interesting but not scientifically significant. then of course it just accelerated. mr. sesno: the one thing that pretty much everybody agrees on wherever they are on the side of the debate is, if you were to ave a carbon tax, that would

actually substantially change behavior emissions and all the rest. that's apart from whether you approve of the carbon tax or not. is there any chance that a carbon tax would happen in this country? ms. pelosi: you have to put a price on carbon. what we did in our bill, we did the cap and trade. mr. sesno: could you go back to that now? ms. pelosi: i don't know we could go back. i think the carbon tax is more understandable to people. mr. sesno: is that down the line? ms. pelosi: you have to look -- mr. sesno: or not even a good idea. ms. pelosi: many of the multinational corporations in europe, because europe was way ahead of us on all of this in the early part of the century, and they basically said the businesses, the multinational, they basically said just give us a figure and we'll work with t just don't keep changing it. -- work with it. just don't keep changing it. that would have been for the cap and trade. you have to somehow or other --

pope in it the pope's encyclical on climate, god's creation, talks about respecting the needs of the poor in there. he's not a big fan of cap and trade. he thinks you have to go another root. you have to go the route that is sustainable policy wise as well as sustainable global, planet wise. there are different scoofls thought on it but we are going to have to come under way to price carbon. mr. sesno: i want to turn to the audience now and envite some -- invite some folks, if you have a question for the leader there is a mike in the middle. i'd ask you to not give a speech. make your questions sussing sinth. while you're working your way up, be -- succinct, while you're working your way up, tell us who you are. ready for questions? ms. pelosi: i am. if you wish, in order to facilitate, maybe put three questions up and then respond.

otherwise we are not going to get -- mr. sesno: i'll jot that done as best i can. keep your questions straightforward and off we go. >> my name is reed from sacramento, california. near you. and my question's about california politics specifically. there is going to be a lot of change upcoming in our congressional delegation. barbara boxer is stepping down and many suspect senator feinstein will do the same. so what do you see in store for the future of california politics on the state level and also our congressional delegation? mr. sesno: question one is future of california politics. i know you. >> i'm nicki professor here at the school. great to have you here. i have a question, there's been a lot of discussion and marie slaughter has written on this how women can't have it all. but you have kind of had it all. you have five kids. eight grandkids. ms. pelosi: nine. >> nine grandkids. and you are the -- you have been

speaker of the house. so can you share some of your secrets with us? mr. sesno: she asks as a new young parent i should say. there's a little self-interest here. go ahead. >> hi, i'm name's dante, actually from san francisco. i wanted to thank you for all your service. big fan of your daughter, alexandria's work. you spoke about in the beginning about the duty of america to provide funding for education and also for defense. and seeing as we spend more collectively on defense than the next nine countries combined, and also we have been lagging behind in test scores in high school graduation rates recently, do you think we found the right balance in the budget for that funding? if not, what would you suggest to improve it? thank you? mr. sesno: three good ones. future of california politics. start with that. ms. pelosi: first of all, do not assume that dianne feinstein is not running.

put that aside. last week we honored senator boxer in san francisco. it was the best ever event that anybody ever went to because she is so spectacular. hard act to follow. great legislator. i had the privilege of serving with her in the house and then to enjoy and benefit our state benefit from her, indeed the whole country from her leadership in the senate. that's what elections are about. you never really know. look at this presidential. who would have thunk it? this collection. right? mr. sesno: that's huge. -- pelosi: it's always about let me just say this and applies to the other states as well. if we want more women, more minorities, more young people to take the risk of running -- this is a tough thing. we have to reduce the role of money in politics.

we have to increase the level of civility. and we just have to do it. and when we do, many more people will come forward with their ideas. you run, you could win or not, but you want to win personally, that is to say you want your ideas -- you want to advance your beliefs and your ideas. you want that to work. you don't want to sign up to run where some outside group of dark money that nobody ever heard of comes in and describes you as something from i would say outer space, but that might not be so bad. so people say to me, i don't know how you can take the criticism and the -- it's worth it. it's what goes with the public service. i hope that many of you will continue -- we have many new members in our california delegation as it is. mr. sesno: do you see a rising name? a rising star? ms. pelosi: do you think i would tell you that?

will say this, we have the head of our future forum, which is a group of young members, all older than in their 30's, going around to the campuses and that's headed by eric swalwell from california. we are very proud of him. the whole delegation brings a lot to the table. as my constituents may say, having some seniority brings a lot to the district. mr. sesno: nicki asked about can women have it all? i might throw into that question, by the way, paul ryan's thoughts that he's a dad, he's got a family, he's not going to work on weekends. he's going to spend it with his kids and his wife. good luck. i hope he succeeds with that. ms. pelosi: i do, too. that's important. i would hope that some of us who have our beautiful values about our families would translate that to public policy that enables other people to be able to have time with their families. for example somebody in their family is sick, be it a child, spouse, or parent. so we hope that this will be an

omen of change from voting against sick leave to enabling families to have sick leave. and this takes us to your question. if we want to unleash the power of women and family oriented people in the political arena, any place, though, in the workplace, in the academic world, in the military, corporate america, any place, small businesses and the rest, if that's someone's interest, that's an important trrks what you have to do is you have to, for women, you have to value their work. equal pay for equal work. mr. sesno: do you have any secrets to share with nicki? how did you it? ms. pelosi: howdy it, i had absolutely no intention of running for political office. very shy. and i was chair of the california democratic party. i was always promoting other people and i loved doing that because i really cared. again the one in five driving my engine. and then this opportunity came

along to run for congress. i went -- four of my kids were in college. see my issue was sequential. it's a whole different world now. i'm from another era. it was sequential. i raised my kids. i had five children the day i had my fifth child, our oldest turned six. that week. oldest turned six. so five and six years. i didn't go out the door. except to take them to the park as soon as possible in the morning. but the -- so i never had this on my mind or anything like that except then i volunteered in and r in politics and became the chair of the party. my advice to you is, i never thought this would happen, but just be ready. and as you go along, whatever it is you are doing, take inventory. and get recognition for what you

do. because there may be something that just happened that there's an opportunity, people come to you, or you'll be motivated yourself, to do something, don't let anybody say, well, you did less because you were also being a mom. put that as a gold star next to your -- that you had -- it's the hardest work in the world. right? to be a mom and balance work and home. to be a dad. i don't mean to say mom. but for women especially who are the primary caregivers, we have to have public policy that recognizes the value of work. that recognizes the caregiver role that we largely play. and have sick leave and have quality affordable childcare. mr. sesno: dante asked you about the balance between education and the military. ms. pelosi: it's the same. some of the scholarship programs that emerged after world war ii

were about -- they were national security -- national defense scholarships because the direct relationship between the education of our people and the talent of our military. so i think that it's important to have education of itself. it's essential to our democracy. ur founders wanted an informed electorate. so education is so essential. but it's also essential to our national security. and, by the way, nothing reduces the deficit more, nothing than the education of the american people. there is no initiative, no tax credit, tax this, tax that, tax cut, nothing brings more money, early childhood education, k through 12 higher education, postgraduate, lifetime learning brings more money to the treasury and reduces the deficit. so when they say to you we have to cut pell grants or can't do

this or that because we need to reduce the deficit, no. it's a false economy. mr. sesno: we only have a few minutes so let's take a few quick questions. >> hi, i'm a student here. i just wanted to say thank you so much for coming and the work that you do. i've noticed that the sentiment -- prevailing sentiment from the democratic party seems to be that hillary clinton is the nominee is a foregone conclusion. even though sanders has risen in the polls and has gained more donations. do you think that this anti-establishment sentiment may stem from the very fact that bernie sanders seems to not be taken as seriously as any other candidate would be? also do you wonder if electing such a -- extremely qualified but very, very establishment candidate as hillary clinton would do more to exacerbate the

unrest in the electorate right now than it would to solve it? mr. sesno: thanks. let's have another one. >> my name is edward, i'm from sacramento, california. thank you for your service. so many people have commended. my question is pretty short. when it comes to politics, what is your greatest disappointment and what is your proudest accomplishment? mr. sesno: nice. ok. >> my name is peter, from davis, california. i have a quick question. >> we do have to leave this now. take you live at the house. watch minority leader's comments online video library, c-span.org. in the house today work on re-authorization of the export-import bank which was brought to the floor using a special procedure. also working today on temporary funding for highway projects and putting standards in place for investment advisors who manage people's retirement savings. live now to the floor of the house here on c-span.

the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by the chaplain, father conroy. the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. prior to the great compromise, benjamin franklin addressed