>> and a live look from the longworth house office building on clip. that's where the house ways and means committee is considering the republican tax proposal. we have live coverage right now on c-span3. we expect this to take several days this week and we'll bring all of it to you live on the c-span networks. also online c-span.org or anytime you like on the c-span radio app. tomorrow the ways and means committee will continue work on this bill at 9:00 a.m. eastern nd we'll be live on c-span3. >> tuesday is election day with key governors races in new jersey and virginia. watch live coverage of victory and concession speeches from both races on the c-span networks. candidates in new jersey are democrat phil murphy and republican lieutenant governor kim and in virginia it's ed northham. nd ralph sten live on the free c-span

radio app. >> today over at georgetown university a forum on the legacy of former president bill clinton. up next we hear from rahm emanuel who was a senior advisor to bill clinton. he's now the mayor of chicago. bruce was domestic policy director in the clinton and white house and other aides take part. this runs an hour and 10 minutes. >> good morning. welcome back. for those that weren't here earlier i'm the executive director of institute of policies and public service and couldn't be more excited to get today's conversations started. this morning we are going to begin with a discussion reflected on bill clinton's vision of america. the goal of his -- of this

symposium overall is to really drill down on the vision, the bring him to lped the campaign of -- and to office the and we couldn't be more excited about that this year. in order to think about that, though, it's important to look at the historical context of bill clinton's election, and what happened in the 25 years between his graduation from georgetown and his election. and so before we bring everyone up, i ask you all to sit back and enjoy as we reflect on what those 25 years were like. >> coming up out of arkansas in the postwar era, during civil

rights, a young caucasian boy who had deep and abiding sympathy to injustice. the fact that he got an opportunity to go to georgetown was the biggest thing that could happened to him. [applause] >> we hold these truths to be -- >> he aspired to be like king. he aspired to be like john f. kennedy. >> your country can do for you -- >> these were his heroes. was moved by his power of words. he got some scholarship money and made his way to georgetown. he fell under the tutelage of jay william full bright. fullbright was a powerful u.s. senator. not only was he a leader in education but he was a great talent scout and he saw in bill clinton the very best that arkansas had to offer. bill clinton was a natural at

politics and leadership. and while he was at georgetown he worked very hard to run for office, be involved in campus life. if you look at bill clinton's time at georgetown it coincides with lyndon johnson, a fellow southerner who pushed through the civil rights acts and voting rights act of 1964 and 1965. by 1968, the country was coming unglued. >> i shall not seek the nomination of my party for another term -- >> martin luther king was shot nd killed tonight. [gunshots] [police sirens] >> this was a tumultuous time to be coming out of georgetown but what fullbright and georgetown meant for bill clinton was the world at large. no longer was bill clinton a

provential boy from arkansas. he was now a young man with a global view. he emerges believing he does want to get fully involved with politics, that he does want to come back to arkansas. by 1972, george mcgovern gets the democratic nomination and bill clinton was a worker for the mcgovern campaign in places like texas. bill clinton made a deep impression on george mcgovern. anybody who encounters bill clinton post-georgetown recognized he was going to be a force of nature in american politics. he didn't just define himself as a liberal. fullbright democrat. he invented what he was himself. this invention comes about due to watergate, watching what happens when the mighty fall. it's kind of a six-year period where people are taking a time-out, thinking about what is civility. in bill clinton's case trying to get really engaged in arkansas politics on a local

level. but by the age of ronald reagan, the democratic party started finding themselves in trouble. bill clinton recognized he needed to unite that party, that you had to be a centrist democrat and you had to bring them all together if you wanted election victories in novembers. the important thing bill clinton did in 1992 when he ran was he ran. there are a lot of people thinking he was too young, that he needed a little more experience. that he should wait one more cycle and he went for it and he knocked down a who's who of leading democrats to procure the nomination. [applause] he was the policy wonk in the best sense of the word and he as also a blue collar, charismatic folk figure in many ways. there was a feeling he really true wanted to make your life

better. it was a tight 1992. bill clinton won. it's a major victory in 1992 because bush 41 wasn't that unpopular but there was something about bill clinton that was special in that people bet wanted to -- >> i, william jefferson clinton. >> people were very excited about his inauguration. there was a feeling of a new era in american politics. but we were also a divided country. i think the great thing about bill clinton's presidency and why i rank him very high as american presidents is from 1993 to 2001 he did a miracle. he balanced the budget and created a national surplus. he stayed out of major wars. he eventually did all the right things in places like bosnia

and haiti and these hot spots around the globe. and he ended up being the change that the country was looking for. >> ok. one piece of housekeeping that i have to do, georgetown university is committed to standards promoting speech and expression that foster the exchange of ideas and opinions. [laughter] >> while it is recognized that not everyone may share the same views as the speakers, it is expected that everyone in attendance at this event expect the right of the speakers and the organizing group to share their perspectives and ideas by not causing -- there will be a question and answer session during which you may ask questions and engage in dialogue. please be sure to phrase your comments in the form of a

question. in the interest of time we ask each person be concise and ask one question. so let's get to it and have a conversation about how bill clinton viewed american meark. to introduce our panel i am thrilled to introduce rua a first-year student at the mccourt school of public policy from georgia. rua. [applause] >> good morning, everyone, and thank you so much for joining us today. my name is rua roman and i am a first-year student at the mccourt school of public policy. i also serve as a member of the student strategy team for congressman patrick murphy, a geopolitics fellow. for me my interest in all things geopolitics started during orientation when mo spoke about geopolitics. he had my hooked the moment he said, public service is a good thing. politics can be too. i firmly believe we all have a role to play in making it a

good thing and it's why i am so excited and honored to introduce our speakers today to talk about bill clinton's vision of america and the domestic agenda it inspired. first was chief domestic policy advisor to president clinton and more recently served assistant to president obama and chief of staff to vice president joe biden. he's currently c.e.o. and co-founder of civic, a bipartisan policy ideas company. reed has been a contributor to slate, the atlantic and the new republic and co-authored the plan, big ideas for change in america, with mayor rahm emanuel. mayor rahm emanuel was senior advisor for policy and strategy to president clinton. he also served as a white house chief of staff in president barack obama's administration. most recently he was elected the 55th mayor of the city of chicago in 2011 and was elected to a second term in 2015. he has overseen several comprehensive initiatives for

revitalizing the city. mignon moore was director of affairs for president clinton. he served part of the democratic national committee. she's considered one of the nation's top strategic thinkers in corporate affairs and public policy. minon heads the state and local affairs and multicultural strategies practice. maria was former white house deputy chief of staff for president clinton. she's currently a senior fellow at the u.c. berkeley center for latin american studies. she worked as a public policy consultant, lecturer, senior white house official, longtime community leader and attorney. her current work focuses immigration, labor rights and education. last but not least, dean bailey is the interim dean of the mccourt school of public policy at georgetown university, my school, and the law professor

of american government in the department of government. dean bailey teaches and conducts research on politics and american economy. his work covers trade, congress, election law and the supreme court, methodology and interstate policy competition. whoa. and those were actually summaries. one last thing, we hope you'll keep your phones out and post about today's discussion on social media with the #clinton25, and tagging geopolitics. so without further ado, i now turn it to dean bailey. [applause] dean: ok. thank you, everyone. those who knows georgetown this is like candy for us to be able to get a good crew to talk

about politics and clinton 25 years ago. first thing i want to do is we're going to start off first two questions. i want to go a little bit to the video and just set the stage of a little bit more. in 1991, in the fall of 1991, president bush had a 64% approval rating. something you have to imagine a president with a high approval rating. and bill clinton was a young governor of a small state. he obviously had clear presidential ambitions. so he comes to georgetown. he comes just around the corner, right, and he lays out in a series of three new covenant speeches he lays out his vision. if we could go to our first clip and get -- see what he was saying. president clinton: we hold to ourselves to each other and to our country. it's been 30 years since a democrat ran for president and i ask something of all the american people. i intend to challenge you all to do more and to do better. we simply have to go beyond the competing ideas of the old

political establishment. beyond every man for himself on one hand and something for nothing on the other. e need a new covenant will challenge all of our steps that will be responsible, that will say, first -- mike: so i want to start with bruce. bruce, he worked with president clinton, democratic leadership council, d.l.c., and formed kind of this idea of opportunity, responsibility and community. so walk us through, tell us what was new about this and where that came from and some of the challenges and opportunities you saw. bruce: well shall let me tell you about that speech, for starters. all the current students will be delighted to hear that bill clinton prepared for that georgetown speech the way he had prepared for every speech georgetown assignment which he did absolutely nothing until the night before. stayed up all night. [laughter]

mike: that's not a recommendation to you. [laughter] bruce: it was an 11:00 a.m. speech so it was slow going. i guess let me put -- give some of the context of the speech because i know for the students, the 1990's are something of a distant memory. i was reminded of this when i was working in the obama white house for joe biden and young obama speech writer said, you worked on the brady bill in the 1990's? that's so west wing! [laughter] but the political context is really interesting because when bill clinton came to georgetown in october of 1991, the country was in rough shape. the middle class was angry. they had been working hard, making less money. they were afraid america was falling behind. that the american dream was slipping away. we just come off an ugly

divided presidential campaign. washington was stuck in gridlock. nothing was getting done. the most popular book that year was "why americans hate politics." in other words, it's pretty much like today. and it was a particular challenge for democrats because as the video alluded, republicans were great at winning elections but terrible at solving problems. democrats were terrible at winning elections and had lost the confidence of the country to solve problems. it got so bad at one point colorado congressman named pat schroeder, said democrats just need to do three things to win back the white house. unfortunately nobody knows what they are. [laughter] bruce: so bill clinton came here because he thought what he

knew those three things were. the three speeches he gave on social policy, on economic policy and on national security policy were all designed to address the three biggest doubts that americans had about democrats' ability to lead. for the country thought we wouldn't follow their values, put their values to work in our programs at home, that we wouldn't stand up for american interests abroad and we wouldn't fight for their economic interests. so the new covenant speech was the first one, was in the clip, was designed to take on kind of the basic problem that americans had with our governing philosophy. clinton laid out a philosophy he worked out in part here at georgetown and at watching his heroes of the day. in the clip he alluded to john kennedy and bobby kennedy as coming -- as believing that

what a leader needed to do was challenge the country, not just make promises. and that's what the new covenant speech was about. he laid out a series of challenges to everybody. he challenged c.e.o.'s to pay their workers more. not just themselves. he challenged congress to give up its perks and not to raise its own pay unless the american people's pay was going up. he challenged the current occupant of the white house to stop running up debt and giving tax breaks to people who didn't need them. and he challenged ordinary people, too. he called most famously for an end to welfare as we know it and asked people who could work to go to work. and double the earned income tax credit so they'd make more money when they did and so that nobody who worked full time with a family at home would

have to raise that family in poverty. and he also challenged the students. he laid out what he called -- tic g.i. bill that was that set up a -- mike: first time bruce has ever spoken to music. bruce: this is impressive. [laughter] inaudible] bruce: was that you ought to be able to borrow the money you need for college. by giving two years to your country in the form of service. that's what became americorps and i think of the many things he was proud of from that this -- that campaign was americorps

because in the 25 years since, young people across america have kept that promise. one million students -- young people have helped pay their way through college by serving in americorps, put in 1 1/2 billion hours of service, coming to the rescue in flooded communities and teaching inner city. and i think he demonstrated you could get more done by challenging people, to unite together and solve the country's problems. mike: great, great. so another big part of the clinton vision was related to civil rights. so if we could go to our second lip from the gaston hall speech, please. president clinton: refuse to let a civil rights bill pass. because he knows that the people he's dependent on for his electoral majority, white working class men and women, mostly men, have had their

incomes decline in the 1980's and they may return to their natural home. someone who offers them real economic opportunity. and so he is regioning up the same old tactic that the employed in my part of the country in the south since i was a child. whenever everything gets hype and you think you will lose those people, you find the most economically insecure white people and you scare the living daylights out of them. that is wrong. mike: so, maria, i want to turn to you. you were deputy chief of staff in the white house and you worked a lot of civil rights, immigration, other issues. so kind of situate civil rights and race issues within the context of clinton's vision? maria: well, i want to pick up on words that bruce said. people often complain we don't know what democrats stand for. and i happen to be very fond of

this frame and really believe opportunity, responsibility and community. if we can -- those are three very important concepts that can sum up what democrats, i believe, stand for. unfortunately, there is a part of the left that hates the word responsibility. and you saw that come into play in the debate around welfare reform. and there is plenty to criticize about that bill. and yet it's evidence of clinton's firm believe, deeply held believe that people, when given a chance to get the tools they need, they want to work, they want to succeed, they want to provide for their families. in fact, having had the good fortune of traveling around this country on many a campaign, i have come to see t's an enormously wonderful,

interestingly, diverse country. yet, everybody wants the same things for their families, for their communities, for themselves and it's mind-boggling to me that if we want good schools, all the things we work so hard on, why it's so hard to reach that compromise. so that's the other pieces. it's quite easy to promise everything in a speech if you have no idea about how to deliver it. and i'm sick and tired of so many folks out there who diminish or dismiss pragmatism and compromise and, trust me, governing was not easy. i mean, the welfare reform bill, the -- we were also in e context of politics, 1994, had proposition 187 out of

california. hugely anti-immigrant. proposition 209 against affirmative action. so inside the white house -- and i was not in the white house in the first term. but in the second. but nonetheless, it was close enough to some of these issues see how the president together his team to look at the issue of affirmative action. and there were real fears in the civil rights community and minority communities as to what was this d.l.c. guy going to do. while i was not at those meetings, i happened to be married to the person who oversaw the affirmative action so i know about some of those hard fought battles. that the end i think clinton's belief in what -- it sounds corny but his belief that so many of us share,

there's nothing wrong with america that can't be fixed with what's right in america. but the other thing also is, he was coming from the south. he had a deep experience with african-american, with black-white relations. as his national latino coordinator in the 1992 campaign, part of my job was trying to campaign to the southwest and to the new york and other places, puerto ricans, mexican americans, who is this guy and is he going to care about you, does he understand that those experiences are different than what you've experienced and so i'll close with one story about how he was always thinking about all of us was when i got to the white house, first job there was running the office of public liaison. now public engagement. and the economy was definitely going up, jobs being created but there was a story in "the

new york times" about those rising wages was not -- latinos were not feeling it. and so he -- they were not experiencing it. and so he got a copy of the paper and sent a note to me and gene like, what's going on here, what's the reason? and that led to a process of ooking at educational level, young generation and some decisions in terms of budget, trying to increase what came to be known as the hispanic education action plan. where can you put the money that makes sense so that in fact the rising tide does lift more votes. mike: and you were the head of political affairs in the white house and also public liaison i think as well. tell us about your experience of, you know, communicating with the public this, you know, complicated and new vision? well, it's certainly -- bruce

laid out a perfectly beautiful vision. [laughter] that had to be implemented. and i must tell you on some days it was really, really tough. i think the premise by which i -- when i looked at the video i kept thinking to myself, why is it that i love this president so much? and it wasn't because he didn't take on the tough issues. he did take on the tough issues but he didn't -- he didn't see me as a black person taking on the issues. he saw america and he kept thinking to myself, what can i do to help america be better, be greater? so when we were talking to civil rights leaders, when we were talking to the kind of the left base -- you have to understand i came from the rainbow coalition. so me and bruce -- [laughter] [inaudible] minyon: the dirty little secret

was i was probably closer to bruce's philosophy because i am just very moderate by nature, and so i was able to at least say, c'mon, people, let's all get to the table. and that was one thing i really enjoyed about our white house. we didn't mind bringing in the opposition. we sat with the opposition. we talked to the opposition. and we made adjustments. when things were just so horribly off, i mean, we made adjustments. i was talking to the leftist about the welfare reform bill about a monday ago and she was talking about how everybody -- we were making hey about the welfare reform bill but we also put jobs in the welfare reform bill that labor actually implemented new policies because of the welfare reform bill. so my -- so selling it was tough. just try selling it to reverend -- lori. everend lohr

they all respected him. hen they got before him -- mike: mayor emanuel, you were senior advisor in the clinton white house. tell us how you thought about that and how that worked, take this vision and -- mayor emanuel: if i told you i'd have to kill you. mike: can i pull back for one second? it was said by professor brinkley that he was a centrist. i actually think one of the biggest -- two points i would make. one is president clinton redefined the debate not about right versus -- going forward versus going backwards and you have to go back to the context of 1992, three republican presidents in a row, what was happening or not happening in washington. president clinton's biggest contribution, he took a lot of ideas from different parts of the political, quote-unquote" spectrum. it was not he was a centrist. he redefined going forward or

going back. and you come to the beginning of the 21st century, it's a perfect political organizing metaphor to making sure everybody is going to go over the bridge into the 21st century. and so he reframed the brain dead policies of both parties. big deal. second, you have to understand magic of bill clinton, in my view at least, here's a son of a single mother who was incredibly comfortable with race relations and discussion of race in class. so to the base of the democratic party he had an individual identity that was really unique. you couldn't have a democrat today talk about how republicans were using race to divide the country in a comfortable way like that. you just could not. he was unchallenged given his own background, where he was from, where he grew up and how he grew up that democratic constituencies felt a unique identity with his story. on the other hand, his language

of welfare -- his policies on welfare reform, national service, moving the economy, both making the american economy not only global but everybody to compete in the global economy, maybing sure to, quote-unquote, suburban, moderate, whatever category you want to use, was comfortable. he had a new base. at the end of the day, if you believe in progressive politics, regardless of -- to beonest at this platform you have a lot of different stripes and we had a lot of battles inside the party. would be less -- we had battles. good battles. the fact of the matter is on that effort the president built i think a coalition that was able to at the end of the day when you look at post-1996 polling, people once again believed government could do something. they had affirmative viewers. bill clinton used to say we're

so bad nobody trusts us to run a one-car parade. but people, the belief in government had risen to a higher level since the 1960's. if you're a progressive, you can't achieve progressive politics if people have a negative view of government. and both through national service and all hiss policies -- i don't want to identify all of them, but all of it, people thought government was a force for good and affirmative force. that at the end of the day -- politics, i want to end up where minyon left off. the policy was right but it made the politics and navigating people who was scared about giving something up and also the people that thought they were going to get something scared about sitting at the same table they thought were opponents. and our collective jobs under his -- worth his rhetoric was to matcht policy goals to a political agenda that built support in congress from both parties to get something done. when you look at the major

accomplishments, assault weapon ban, brady bill, crime bill, welfare reform, balanced budget, etc., not the first budget but the one -- the key piece in the second term, they're all bipartisan. and at the end of the day, his rhetoric, his vision took from different parts, where it was rhetorically or policy-wise and reframed it. i, because of all the discussions about welfare reform, he vetoed two welfare bills to get to what he wanted. people forget, they talk about welfare -- they had two republican welfare reforms. he vetoed them. they had to come back on his terms what he would accept. work being at the heart of it. responsibility. which is not -- we are going to put out data that's significant about reduction on teen pregnancy. big piece about welfare reform was responsibility and helping put in place the policies that

you are now seeing the tail end of as it relates to teen pregnancy which was about kids trying to get away from their home, kids starting their own family just to get a welfare check. it was a driver. you can't underestimate his ability to drive i think social policy that has tremendously benefited but it was hard building political coalitions that never sat a dinner table unless they were family members arguing the way they did. then under that rubric, which was not left and right, but forward versus backwards. mike: yeah, great. so now we want to turn to questions. so -- and do we have a mike that's going to be floating around? in the questions, the best kind of question is something you care deeply about and you express concisely. wonderful -- rahm: i like the answers. mike: we'll do our part to do the same. so, yeah, here in the second

row, please. >> good morning. i'm joseph. freshman here at the college in georgetown. i'm from queens, new york. my question is, the democratic national committee recently put out their platform in 2016 stating that they look for decreasing regulations on financial institutions and banks, getting rid of free trade agreements -- getting rid of free trade agreements. not getting rid of them but making work that will benefit the average working class such as nafta and making sure that the level of wealth and the quality -- president clinton has faced criticism on all three of those fronts because of nafta, as i stated, because of not raising the income taxes on the rich to the levels that

they were before ronald reagan. and to glass-steagall which deregulated the banking industry. so my question is, that was a long way of me asking, is president clinton a democrat by today's standards? >> absolutely. >> absolutely. >> to take those criticisms one by one, first thing he did was raise taxes on the wealthy, impose a brand new high bracket of 39.6%. bruce: and over the course of the 1990's it's the one decade we had in recent memory where incomes went up for everybody. every quintile. we would not have the kind of turmoil we have now if over the and middle s poor class incomes had been going up he way they did in the 1990's.

look, i afta, the -- think that was one of the hardest decisions he had to make in his campaign. if you had been to that speech it was like a ping-pong match. it was back and forth over the course of this speech. no look, i think that one knew where the t going to -- the ball was going to stop. because it was a really hard -- trade is an incredibly hard problem because we have to open the markets overseas in order to expand opportunities here at home. we have to do everything we can to keep -- to look out for the folks who are going to get left behind. and he tried everything he could. expanded still -- expanded skills. cut taxes for working, middle class people. there's always more to do. but i think on balance he made the right call. you know, glass-steagall, i , you know, that

you could make a good argument that that was a bad idea. [laughter] minyon: it was a mistake and we should own some of these. bruce: i think the important thing with all of this, the fight is never over. you know, if bill clinton had been president after september 11, he would not have divided the country. if he had been president in the runup to the crisis, he would have -- subprime lending. maria: you talk about the tax issues. these things come over and over. like, that is 2000, 2001 is, we left the surplus. d it did -- we were having

great discussions, hey, can we create individual accounts for people to really help build and give -- and tax cuts dissipated. deficits -- right now you are going to see a battle over tax cuts. and if people aren't paying attention, if your generation -- it's your generation that's going to pay the price if we don't defeat this tax bill. rahm: do you want to go minyon: do you want to go? it's not whether you raise taxes on the wealthy if it defines you as a democrats. it's the resource and he would change the question. it's not whether we will have trade or not. trade is going to happen. who would succeed? he would take the criticism -- don't forget this. people said he wasn't a democrat. it's not just it happened after the fact. a lot of people.

he would say that the question actually doesn't scratch at what is it we are trying to do. it's not about how high our taxes are or where they are. it's what government does with those resources to make sure that other people are part of the winning circle, not the losing side. he would reframe the question, which is the brilliance of what he would do. not just from a tactical standpoint because i think the question is a barometer of whether he is a democrat is a wrong question. i would still give you an a in class. [laughter] mike: next question. >> i'm a member of the class of 1968. on a personal note, could you share anything about bill clinton, sort of personal tories that could be shared.

>> you know how you build these coalitions and really try to get people on your side and i remember when we were going through the crime bill debate, one of our civil rights leaders had wanted the president to come to atlanta and wanted him to celebrate the opening of some big center. you have to understand, when you pick up air force one for one event, you want to be at that event. the president said i have to be there, he has been good to me. i want to be there. i don't know why this sticks in my mind, when we got back, we were at the height of the crime bill, the very person he went to sell bait was the very person in the paper saying i will not support this crime bill under any circumstances. so i get this article that was put on my desk where he had good d where he said no

deed goes unpunished. that's the kind of life we had. >> the assault weapons ban in the house was like on a tuesday. nd we all -- everyone us had this experience and it was a sunday night. and the white house call comes in, the operator. is this rahm? the president would like to speak to you. 10:00 a.m. in the middle of the conversation, we are going over votes and i'm giving him a list of people to call. in the middle of the call, amy goes to sleep. 2:00 a.m., 2:30, another call comes, white house operator, mr. emmanuel? yes. the president would like to talk

to you. you once again sit up and amy ng and amy rolls over, i who are you talking to, said the president. thinking it was the same phone call. she said you two need to get a life, go to bed. and he had just finished reporting in what we were supposed to do on monday morning. and he wasn't done. that was at 2:30. i want to close on a personal note that i will always thank him for. he had made the trip in 1994 to israel and i was supposed to stay behind and do something on a legislative item. and he said, i want you to come on the trip to israel and he had known it would be a big deal for me.

and you know, when you get off the plane, all staff goes in the back. and i'm lined with everybody else and just going on the trip was cool enough given my personal history and he said i want to come out the front of the plane with me. . e guy had a remarkable heart and i'll northwesterly forget it. t meant a lot. >> i remember tremendous memories. >> another question. >> i'm a junior. right now we are in a polarized time and you guys have talked about the importance of bipartisanship.

how do you see it getting back to a place where people are coming to the table and to move forward. >> i think it starts with really forcing yourself to talk to people who don't agree with you. and you might not know they agree with you, but i watch this with my kids because i'm not a social media person and definitely not with your generation, not on twitter, not on facebook, but there are are some self-segregation going on what people listen to and who they are connected to. d -- when we did new markets initiative which was an effort to invest in parts of america that weren't seeing economics, you realize that everybody wants the same things but you needed to talk to people who didn't

look like you and different experiences but wanted that opportunity. i say like in this current debate on immigration, it sounds racist if you are a superintendent of a smool school district in georgia or nebraska and all of a sudden, 40% of your kids are english learners and you ask how did this happen, 's easy for people to say, they are immigrants. why is that meat processing plant intentionally hiring people at these lower wages from outside the country through guest worker or undocumented that when those jobs were unionized, they were hard jobs, but they did provide a living to a community. so really understanding what is driving people what is the source of anxiety and starting

to recognize as clinton in the clip we saw, the way race is used to divide people so people don't see what is responsible and who's responsible for the fact that their future isn't looking as bright. that's what we have to work on and only happens by talking to people who are different from us and coming from different experiences. >> i agree with all of that, but i think it starts at the top. it starts with the president. it is called a bully pulpit for a reason. he can use it not to be a bully but raise the tone of this country and bring us together. i was under -- when i worked at the white house, john was probably -- we saw when john ame on, he looked mild and meek, john po december ta never allowed president clinton to say

some of the things. nor would bruce, nor would rahm or i. there is a reason why a person does what he does. and that white house is the most ausepasheous place you can work and to lower it or raise it is a choice and it starts with the man in charge or the woman in charge, the woman that could be in charge. [applause] >> just to give you some hope so you don't have to think our entire future rests on the current heart of the bully in the pulpit. the mistake that we make is we look at our leaders and look at washington and see these politicians who are divisive and assume we are deeply divided as a country.

we have white supremacists. o we are hopelessly divided. i'm from idaho and maybe you could make a case. [laughter] >> what clinton was able to do was show people in the suburbs and cities that they had the same concerns. they were worried about the quality of schools, they were worried about crime and lack of opportunity and about people not carrying their part of the load. and when you speak to people like that, then these partisan labels don't matter as much. and if you -- if you recognize that your side doesn't have a monopoly on truth and you listen to the other side and try to pick up on the best parts of their argument and incorporate that into your way of thinking, that's the way the system is supposed to work and that's the way most americans are.

the way that washington behaves now is unnatural and members of congress will tell you that. i ran a bipartisan commission where the members from both doors me behind closed and say don't make us do anything in public. it's the natural condition for people to work together to solve problems. it's been america's way of doing things for all these years and there's nothing that twitter and facebook and cable news can do to stop people who want to make progress. >> one anecdote which answers your question and the prior question is when the crime bill actually failed on the rule, the first thing was a lot of people thought we had to rip the assault weapon ban out and bill clinton said. we put 12 republicans and the

other person was john kasich. 10 days later, some point, two weeks we assembled to pass the rule and had the rule. but a lot of people wanted to strip out what was the most divisive which was the assault ban. it was listening to the other side and find a coalition and build the political pressure to get a crime bill done that had an assault weapon ban and community policing. it's not incumbent upon elected leaders but citizens to get engaged and listen to other people and not talk amongst themselves with an agreed audience. > other question right here. >> i wanted to ask two questions

, one there's been a lot of news coverage over the d.n.c. -- >> you noticed. >> there was an agreement between the hillary clinton campaign and d.n.c. to provide the d.n.c. with the requirement that for senior personnel decisions and communication decisions, they had to seek approval from the clinton campaign, pre-approval before moving forward during the democratic primary. i want to ask whether the folks on the stage thinks that type of decision was appropriate, whether it violated neutrality. and second d.n.c. chief tom perez recently appointed and reappointed a number of at-large people -- >> that would be me. >> several of these individuals

work as corporate lobbyists, lobbyists for big banks or corporate interests or government affair firms that do similar type of work. is that appropriate? should the d.n.c. have this as part of its leadership? >> as a former lobbyists, there e good lobbyists and i recommend a book that bill clinton told me called "who will tell the people?" and it is a good analysis that bruce was talking about, inside, outside, how you make change and the fact that policy making is complicated and even whether you are the sierra club, they have lobbyists. just take an issue. that's about americans. we are the most organization prone people. if there's an issue, someone has organized a group around it.

so this litmus test if you are a lobbyist, yeah, we need to get money out of politics. he would be looking for a candidate in 2020 who looks to change our campaign finance because we need to do something about that. beyond that, in terms of the d.n.c., i think we have a lot to learn, but i will simply say, having not looked at the agreement, but this notion that the hill ari campaign controlled the d.n.c. and therefore rigid the election -- the selection process is nonsense. the schedules were set by the parties, state parties, elections were run by the states. at the end of the day, she won the primary. one who you are the writes about me all the time.

and i have never been a lobbyist and if i was, i would own up to the reason why i'm a lobbyist. but i actually help corporations probably get closer to where your values are and making sure they understand the american people when they give money from them or if they are consumer. these type of agreements are always done with presidential candidates, whether they're done early or whether they're done late, they are always done. and they are done specifically because the d.n.c. is always considered the stepchild. and we want candidates to help build the party. if you know anything about the history of bill and hillary clinton, they have all been party people. i was there in 1992 and 1996. the investments that president clinton made in the party. hillary clinton had that same

passion. so when she came into this, they all had the same information that the party was broke and needed to raise money. the whole purpose of the d.n.c. is to prepare for a presidential candidate. and in doing that, she did not know she was going to have to prepare the d.n.c. our chairman is sitting right here. we had to raise money for her at the campaign and had to raise money for the d.n.c. >> i love you. it is totally irrelevant. you have a president of the united states who is championing the most aggressive tax policy, undermining america's leadership around the world and undermining as a country of rule of law and arguing about an agreement on an election that none of us wanted as a result as the bush family is arguing about the result. nobody is happy with the result.

that you can conclude from this weekend. but my view is, let's focus not 20.y to win 2018 and 20 please as a mayor of a big city, give me something to fight for and something to believe in that bring people together that have a bigger vision. [applause] >> one more question from a student please. >> i'm a second year student at the school of public policy and want to leach on that policy issue. looking at the clip, the more things that changed during your time, the more has come back around, tax cuts. setting aside taxes and racial divide that mr. trump is leaning

towards what is one thing that could be an issue that could bring this country together and move us forward? >> faster service. [laughter] >> we did a lot of book tours and an idea we had in there back in 2005 and i think not only national service. if you do believe but i don't that we are coming apart but accept that as a premise, you need to find experience and a place that people are together with all walks of life can serve a higher thing called america. and the most important thing we can do as a country, people in cities and rural america agree on is serving a place we want

our children to inherit. i'm 100% national service. give five months of your life to something called america. >> i want to endorse that. and i remember having a conversation with al gore as he was preparing to run in 2000 and his experience having served in the military and this is when you talk to people who have served in the military, when we have the draft and everybody was going to serve, it brought people and it created a friendship and something bigger, america. and when the military became an all volunteer, part of i believe why we are in the wars we in and now the longest war, the suffering and the sacrifice is not shared equally among all of

us. and i don't want us to go to war and national service where all of us had to serve in one way or another would bring us together, because we would see each other as americans and not as boxes. [applause] >> these questions are great. i would like to turn the attention from the past to the future. and so president franklin roosevelt said all great presidents are thought leaders and able to answer some questions that need clarifying. a lot of us in the room republican and democrat, independents, different versions of this and there's a lot of about where we are going and how

are we going to capture 1992 or 2008. i don't think you can answer that too big of a question. but how some advice especially for a young person who is thinking in these terms, he or she himself wants to advise that kind of new vision or find someone to work for that has that vision. what would be your advice? >> jump in. i was a lawyer working in new york, perfectly fine. but i came from a farm worker family. and i know getting an education was the most critical important thing that changed my life. and i wanted to work for someone who believed in those things. yeah, this was, oh, guy isn't going anywhere. i went with howard dean in 2004,

that didn't work out. you know, take a chance and find something you believe in. it's about passion, find something that you believe and want to work and get involved. citizenship needs to be active and not just on election day, but year round, holding our institutions accountable. and pick the ones that gets you fired up. i think the thing about politics is to get something done. whether you are interested in politics or some other walk of life, think about how you can actually make a difference and make that your north star. because it's really to get lost in everything else. when we worked in the clinton white house, i had a yellow

sticker with a list of clinton's campaign promises on my wall and i thought every day, what could i do to pound away with that. bill clinton had so many things come at him. there were all kinds of scandals in the 1992 campaign and i remember being with him in the paulampshire primaries and who was here last night telling him to panic. [laughter] wrote aeorge and begala stupid statement aimed at the washington press corps. and all clinton wanted to talk about was what can i do to help these poor homeowners in new hampshire who are at risk of losing their homes because the banks were pulling the credit out from under them. that is why he was in the race.

and he ignored the rest of us and just stuck to that and was rewarded for it. life is not about what other people of what you are doing but what you can do for others. >> i would say for the young people and particularly young women, you have to have the courage of your convictions. when i started, i actually started working for a young mayor called mayor harold washington. he didn't have a youth director, so me and a group of my friends came down to his campaign and we decided to do it. you live in a particular time where you can use your voice. when a younger woman asked about . e divide, you can use your you have to have the courage to

seek when things are not comfortable. if you have that type of will, i think you can help take our country forward. that's the advice i would give you. >> look at every juncture in american history, a leader does come about and not that the leaders aren't here but thinking about the next election, short-term in the next 10 years. i think that person will be bute and what are you doing help him or her from a policy standpoint. we were talking about responsibility and opportunity to community and that philosophy as mayor guided me. i created this call chicago

college scholar, if you get a b and that is open to dreamers in america. you earn through a b average the free community college in the sense this that there is opportunity if you take responsibility. it's not open to everybody. 72% of the ones who take it are the first ones in their family to go to college. and that philosophy that bill clinton is relevant as how as mayor are going to do. and i will say one other thing and maybe this may not be the note you want to end on. >> we're done, sorry. [laughter] > a lot of times we have a vision that the presidents are filled with great ideas or this person is just political. you probably would go see a movie about lyndon johnson.

my view of leadership is you have to be principled enough to know what you are doing and ruthless enough to get it done. if you look at successful presidents, lyndon johnson, clinton, lincoln, roosevelt, they have both qualities and don't think back on politics as being idealist without the ability to get something done and don't try to get something done without a north star. and they go together. and one moment to guide young kids not just politics, but service, policy, is to remember you have to combine both a certain vision of that future with the capacity to move that vision forward. at the end of the day why bill clinton was always called the natural because he the intellectual mind and physical capacity and language to talk to america about america.

>> that's a great note to end on. , i think will say here we are engaging in the substance and the nuts and bolts of policy, but really that is one of the things we understand here is that politics matter. please join me in thanking our panel. [applause] i want to thank mo and hanna. this has been a wonderful day and the day is only beginning. 115 -- tell you at 11:15 the vision of the world. . 12:45, vision of leadership

nd at 4:00 president clinton will give a key note. thank you for a great session and enjoy the rest of the day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org

>> and we are about to go live now to the u.s. house. members will debate five bills relating to veterans' issues. you can see the flag at half staff. to under clause 6 of rule 20. the house will resume proceedings on the postponed questions at a later time. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. roe: i rise today in support of h.r. 3562. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3562, a bill to amend title 38, united states code, to authorize the seet