and then :00 eastern on c-span, c-span.org, our list and with the free c-span radio app. for background on each case, order your copy of the landmark cases companion book. it is available for $8.95 plus shipping and handling at c-span.org/landmark cases. there is a link on our website to the constitutional centers interactive constitution. wednesday morning, we are live in phoenix, arizona for the next up on the c-span bus 50 capitals four. michele reagan will be our guest during washington journal starting at 9:30 a.m. eastern. >> now a discussion with representative debbie d lowell, congressman john delaney of maryland and south carolina senator tim scott. hosted by georgetown university, this is just under one hour.

>> we are georgetown, the way you can tell you're in a catholic meeting is there no one is in the front row. and the audiovisuals never work. we will test that. thank you for coming, we are delighted that you are with us. my name is john and i am the director of the initiative on catholic social thought and public life at georgetown university. this. the host of we are very grateful to the chaplain's office for their help. karen, and our friends at the democracy fund who support our efforts of civil dialogue, the time now is more important than ever. we do a bunch of stuff, we do live dialogue in georgetown. i will mention a couple of those at the end.

probably the most important thing we do is reach out to young leaders here in washington. call like gatherings. it is my experience, i am old, very old, as i am told by my children all the time. my experience is, a lot of young leaders come to washington, many motivated by faith, and they get pulled into the wars. in great temptation washington is not corruption, i don't think, it is cynicism. now, especially, we wanted to hold up different visions and different kind of leadership. here we are, the day before the state of the union, which is as close as you get to american alert liturgy. .

they stand, they sit, they don't kneel, there is ritual clapping and sometimes buoying. it has gotten so bad, cool was it that said you lie to the president of the united states. chamberies of the house are not about state of the union. they are when pope francis was here a couple years ago. had the privilege of being in the chamber. i have never seen it that quiet and i have never seen people that happy. it seems like the only thing they could agree on was that they wanted to be with the pope. he had a different message. he said each son or daughter for has a mission,ry a personal and social responsibility. a memberonsibility as of congress, and also as people who work with congress, is to enable this country by legislative act to be to grow as a nation. to defend and

preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens, the tireless and demanding pursuit of common good. for this is the chief aim of all politics. that is not where we are today. today we gather for an hour to hear from three leaders and gather different visions. they are not your typical partisans. we have an african-american senator who is a republican, who challenge the republican president for his response to charlottesville and what you said about african nations. we have a member of the house who is running for president, to take on bipartisanship at a time of great partisanship, and we are happy to have the democrat louvre served all her life as an advocate for the auto industry and autoworkers, now from michigan. before she was in the house and after she was in the house, she

was a bridge builder. as you know, she comes from michigan in the 12th district, the buyout i read said shape by catholic education. she works for human dignity and for children and for women. she is a graduate of georgetown, two degrees. put this on the extra credit thing. one of the things, as i was thinking about the three members, for them, the personal is political and the political is personal. i think it was just recently, you as joe kennedy to your district to talk to high school students about drugs and the opioid crisis. differentn was a expert. to talk to buy her own family,

her father, her sister. she said i hope what happened to our family will not happen to your family and i identified with that. my brother wrote a book about addiction. read a monthng i about congresswoman dingell is that she offers an annual holiday greeting called the dingell jingle. two verses of this year's jingle. in the congress, we will keep on fighting. maybe we can find some common ground. how about funding daca before we take those planes out of town. matter, let's pursue. no matter if red or blue, let's keep taking a stand. let's work hand-in-hand. congresswoman dingell is hard-working. she is one of the most hard-working members of the house. she is a bridge building and apparently a rhyming member of

congress. we offer is a few thoughts. how can you put -- be both principal and civil and a time of great division? what are the behaviors and actions that help and hurt, and what advice did she have for young leaders who have been trying to practice politics as a vocation? thank you very much, congressman. [applause] i have a losing my voice for three months. we always make a joke and say republicans are happy. it is not the right thing to say is we're getting here today. i laugh when you talk about, father, it is good to be here. i always know when i am at

church because i am always in the last pew, and never go closer. it is good to be with all of you and talk about a subject that is passionate. i recommend to all of you, how many of you are graduates? a lot of you. i went back to georgetown in that 1990's and got my masters from the local studies program. i lobbied for the program in liberal studies, which is an excellent program for anybody that wants to keep learning and studying, someday i will get my doctorate from that program. we lobbied for that program for decades. it finally came in and i think that life should be a lifelong learning. --erestingly, my mattress master's degree was on civility in congress. 1990's --th -- in the this is all coming right from my heart because it has been a crazy day and i did not even look at the questions, which i should have.

you are really getting this straight from he. in the 1990's i begin to worry about what we were witnessing. i think this is a real problems that people don't get to know each other. my husband is a great man. we have a merry for 38 years. it was a very different congress in a very different time. it was actually a headline that said i was going to work. i cap my career at general motors. members did not go home. the families moved here. people hats -- people had relationships. i watch things change. i was part of watching it

change. any member that did not go home will lose their election. i cannot remember what year this was. someone said, people keep telling me i have to move here. do i have to move your? i said, nobody can tell you what to do. every district is different, every marriage is different, every relationship is different. for years he said, you don't know how good you feel. awayake take the guilt from me for moving here. in the 1990's is when you begin that people didn't go to i lovethe early 2000's, newt gingrich, i do not agree with him much, though we were very close friends. contributed to what has been somewhat of a loss

of stability. republicans trusted me enough. we talked about a lot of issues back then. the lack of relationship was really -- everybody loved those weekends because they got to know people that they would never get to know. i have not taken it since i have been elected. i have nothing on my ethics report. i am doing is not the right thing to do. way that you traveled with people and you got to know people in developed relationships. what happened is that members fly in on monday.

i did not realize we did not vote on monday morning. i separate me on the 6:00 a.m. out on wednesday. we came in just in time for votes, we have fundraisers and i had eight receptions. tomorrow night a think there are 15 and i am at if you're on wednesday. that does not give you a lot of time. in the 1980's and 1990's we would go to dinner and said around the table. republicans, democrats and administration people. you talk about ideas. i had a really great conversation with the head of homeland security. nobody would have believed the discussion i have believed the discussion i had with a discussion of labor yesterday. those opportunities are there for people to sit and talk. of two that is one things. , but't know where you work get to know each other. the first bit of advice they say is lose electronics.

pickup the phone and talk to people. every talk a give to a high graduation speech, we do too much texting. i feel more comfortable on the republican side of the house than the democratic side. most people don't know this, but i was a republican when i married my husband. i was a teenage republican camp counselor. friends. have many abraham was my date from a high school prom. that tells you. i knew his twins when they were born. we had relationships that go way back. i say to people that i was a republican in you all are way

too young. he was a republican and a moderate. than probably more liberal many democrats i know. i am a dual democrat. they are both respected people, people reach across the aisle. some people came from a day were heward with everybody. just he worked with everybody. people thought his first name was dingle. remains to this day one of his best friends. fred upton is one of my best friends. we went to the state of the state last tuesday night. we were there with the governor. ond and i probably agree more than we disagree on. we were out there working immigration and trying to find a solution. we are both members of problem solvers.

i think what you have to do is talk to people. you got to go have a conversation. john mullen, another michigan member, his office is right across from mine, he's very conservative. but a christian and we do many of the prayer breakfast things together. he pulls me in and i go wherever he asks me to go. and we keep talking about health care.

come to michigan after this and i just got another flat tire because of the potholes. but the infrastructure is water. flint is far from the only city across this country and every community deserves to have access to broadband. actually i would put far more money into infrastructure. but my job was to represent the working men and women in my district. and they need us to be there. john delaney just walked in and i love john delaney and he is even more articulate than i am at some of these issues. but i said, i would work with him on any issues that benefit the people of my district. and if he does something that i

disagree with him, is morally wrong he will need a buzz saw , like one he's never seen. and he has. [laughter] i represent the largest group of muslims in this country. i'll tell you something, i'm a catholic girl. and i am very proud of my catholic roots. the nuns have put in me the backbone and values that, i went to boarding school in 5th great. -- fifth grade. catholic educated from preschool and all the way up to georgetown. i did not think that it is age, i would be defending freedom of religion, a fundamental pillar of our constitution. the president is just dead wrong. we put together in a day and a half, we shut down the detroit airport -- it was a young people that called me and said, we want to do a protest at the airport. and karen moss, head of the, another friend of mine that we work on everything together said sure, we'll help you guys. we had 20,000 people in a day and the airport cooperated with us. they actually let me get up in a baggage carrier and said will you talk to them and then when you are done, will you get them to go home so we can reopen the airport? we didn't have the scene that

you saw at other airports. people came together because i called the head of the airport and said these kids want to organize this. what happened spontaneously, was that there were people from all walks of life -- you could not believe this crowd. it was people from all over the state and it was people from all walks of life because we did it in a way that respected each other. so, i know what my values are. and when the president is wrong, i tell them to his face but if area it something that will help working men and women, families that need a helping hand up, not a hand out, then i'm going to work with everybody and anybody. i'm working with him on the opoid drug problem. i went to the white house. we had a crisis in this country. so i guess, i'm going to let john delaney take over with his wisdom, but i would say get to know people. don't be afraid of a conversation. find common ground. respect each other. and lose the electronics. thanks very much. [applause]

>> those nuns taught you well. john delaney as you know is congressman from maryland. you may not know he comes from a blue collar family in new jersey. he went to school on a scholarship from his dad's union and the lions club, rotary club, i think. he represents one of the most gerrymandered districts in the country. he is not your typical politician. he is working against gerrymandering. he has authored a piece of legislation to open up our elections. and something surprising about john, it is not that he is the first democrat to announce for president this time around. it is not that he would be the first member of the house to serve as president in a long time. it is that he is the only ceo of

a publicly held company that serves in the house of representatives. he is a democrat who is a successful businessman. entrepreneur of the year according to ernst and young. one of the 50 world's greatest leaders, according to fortune. they must have really good scouts. he went to georgetown university. for all of you, he and his wife, april, have reinvested back in georgetown university in public service. education and internships and experience there. he has been a member of the board of georgetown, one of the lessons here is you ought to go to georgetown, but -- [laughter] but he's active in his parish, little flower. supporter of catholic charities. he is most known i suppose for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. a lot of people talk about

infrastructure. john actually did something. but two things struck me as i've had a chance to meet and have a people with john. but one, people make fun of the fact that he has announced for president. one of the headlines was what is john delaney thinking. and he answered very directly in the pages of the washington post. the american people are far greater than the sum of our political parties. it is time for us to rise among our broken politics and renew the spirit that enabled us to achieve the impossible. that is why i am writing. the other thing that i read, i don't know how i came across it, but was a statement about his father after his father's death. and it was a long wonderful tribute about this electrician and his pickup truck and two kids and his mom and his grandchildren. at the very end, he said as i look back at my life, i realize that my dad taught me something

utterly invaluable. he taught me to work hard, to never back down, to stand up for your friends, and most importantly to take care, protect and love your family. in his world is how you judge yourself. that is not a bad message for us, for a member of the house or even for a president. for a member of the house, or even a president. so, i am delighted that john delaney is with us. [applause] john: it is really great to be with you. that was very moving, thank you very much. it is nice to see everyone, and i do concur that one of the best things, certainly in my life, was going to georgetown because i met my wife there. and it's been an amazing community. i went to the law school, i didn't go to undergrad. i graduated from the law school in 1988, a long time ago, before some of you were born.

for 30 years, it has been an amazing community, and i have learned a lot. not only from my education in georgetown, but also my engagement with the community. one of the things that i did not appreciate fully even when i was in law school that i came to appreciate more with my involvement in the university, is a great jesuit motto, that we should be women and men, for each other's. it is a pretty straightforward way to live our lives. and i've tried to do that as best i can with my life and certainly with my time in service in the congress of the united states which is an amazing privilege.

i do think as we look to the future the central question facing this nation, more so than any particular piece of policy, is how do we begin to unify a terribly divided and fractured nation which is what we find ourselves living in right now. and what has happened to politics across the last several decades, we've always had partisan politics. and that leads to a revery healthy debate. as george washington discussed in his farewell address where i he warned about the dangers of hyper partisan politics. he acknowledged the importance of hyper partisan politics. but where we have evolved to, to this kind of hard edged party before country-- it is, in my judgment, just terribly destructive. and it really puts into question one of the great assets of this nation which is our resiliency,

our ability to respond and unify as a people, to respond to great challenges and opportunities. one of the things that i think, marveled about is this ability to snap back really quickly, even if we make a missed take. i think that is really in question right now because of how divided the country is. it is tearing communities apart, even tearing families apart. how many of you know families? that stopped talking because of what happened last election. people are just marrying people in the same political party. maybe the most or biggest problem with it is it has prevented us from doing anything. for decades we have failed as a country to respond to tremendous change that has occurred. economically, socially, culturally, demographically, from a national security perspective -- the cost of doing nothing, is not nothing.

when you go decades without the action needed by the leadership, that was needed by the federal government in our country, you would pay a very high price. and i worry it will happen again because the world is about to change even faster. technology, automatic make, machine learning, these things are having profound effect on society, on the future of work, on our demographics, environment. on our security risks. so we need to really rise above this and return to our core mission, which is really, serving the people and working for the common good of the citizens. and that is where in many ways this kind of social justice mission that is so important to the catholic church, so important to georgetown, so important to the jesuits.

it's really what should animate our lives. working for the common good of the citizens, trying to shape a world and future that is more just, that is more fair, that is consistent with our values of free market, entrepreneurial kind of rule of law based society, but where we're constantly making progress to improve the lives of our citizens, here and around the world. one of the reasons i've been such a big admirer of our pope, who i think right now is probably the most popular person in the world, is that he speaks so eloquently on these issues, he reminds those of us who are catholic, what we love most about our church. the commitment to the poor. that commitment to shape the world that is more just, for our citizens. that is what i think has been so exciting about our leadership in the church. and i think our leadership, you know, his leadership style could rub off on some people in government and i think we'd all

be better off for it. but the good news is we can fix all these problems. the good news is i believe that resiliency is still there. if it may be a little below the surface, but it is still there. all of the issues that we failed to con on frontfront we in fact can confront. if you think about what has happened across the last 50 years, when i was born 50 years ago, about 75% of the world lived in poverty, and about 25% of the world was interconnected. so, we largely lived in isolated communities. and the poverty rate around the world, was staggering. today, 50 years later, the world is entirely interconnected. i think the global interconnection rate is about 90%.

the world has become smaller. and the extreme poverty straight about 10%. so that means that billions of people have been lifted out of poverty because of progress, because of economic progress, because of technological advances, because of people being committed despite government inaction to make the world a better place. if that is not the hand of god, i don't know what is. so i think what we have to do and i think institutions like georgetown really are showing the way, we have to recommit ourselves back to our core mission which is serving the common good of our citizens. we have to start acting like half of the country is not entirely wrong about everything they believe, which is what the political parties would lead us to believe. we have on to stop listening to people who are just not honest. for decades we've listened to the parties basically tell the american people that everyone in government is either an idiot or a sellout, which they are not. and we have to get back to a more civil discourse where we restore respect to the profession of public service. and we come together with confidence, we work together for the common good which is something that i'm committed to do and a lot of the lessons i've

learned in my life, i learned at georgetown either in that law school building, well, i didn't learn quite as much, but in my two decades being engaged in the university. it is something that i'm most proud of to have done in my life. so it is great to be here about -- it is also great to be here. >> you have also provided an example. you're teaching the rest of us, could you take a few questions on the topic? you talked about the polarizing political situation. >> recently you have a case in a d.c. court, a defamation case over the issue of project meritas -- d.c. court, defamation case over the issue of project meritos and the reporter going in undercover supposedly providing a report where people are on tape saying that they were either paying or encouraging people to go to trump rallies and incite violence. certainly the other side is contesting that, that is why it is in court.

but assuming that was true and that is determined that there were groups that were paying people to go to trump rallies and cause physical violence, it seems like we've crossed a line. what should be done in that case? >> i think it comes down to leadership. to some extent it is pretty simple. as long as we elect leaders on both sides of the aisle who talk about half the country as if they are entirely wrong about everything that they believe, right? we are going to continue to perpetuate this brand of hyper partisan politics, which is a said, is tearing us apart on everything. so i think at the end of the day, it really does come down to leadership. but the american people get the leaders they deserve. so i just think the next generation of americans, because my generation hasn't handled this as well have to think differently about what kind of qualities we want in our leaders. we want them to be honest, we want them to conduct themselves with integrity and show respect.

and if we start rewarding those things in our elections, people here will change real quick. host: we are going to move along. good luck on your campaign trip. [applause] >> john, as you leave, i have a story -- he says that the pope seems more popular with his message, then congress seems with theirs. shortly after the pope came, i met with some senators, and we talked about daca, the budget and all that. at the end, i said, how come you folks never talk about politics? there was little talk about work for everybody. finally one of the member said, you know what, we do not think it is that popular.

we do not think it is politically attractive. and i said, well, let me give you a point of view. on a good day, the united states breaks into the teens, in terms of its popularity. on a bad day, the pope falls into the 80's. and all he does, is talk about the poor. maybe you ought to try it. and they sort of nodded and said, this is a senator who does not shy about talking about poverty. he is a republican from south carolina, a member of the senate finance committee, health, education, labor, banking, housing and urban affairs -- his story is more awful than any political biography. raised by a single mom, meant toward a powerful figure that taught him that everyone deserves an opportunity, and that every opportunity ought to be seized.

i have read over the weekend that you were at a town hall down in south carolina, senator lindsey graham was there, and he said, tim is the smartest guy in washington. that is not saying much -- [applause] but he is the smartest guy in washington. my experience was senator scott, -- you will not remember this, but a couple of years ago, we had a meeting, as senator scott was one of the few leaders who agree to come. the other leader who agree to come was president trump. and when president trump agreed to come, it was the time that we had given to senator scott. we called him up and said, would you be willing to move around a little so that we could have the president he on the panel.

>> ever member saying, no, you are moving! >> so we had the president, we had a full saying, c-span, cnn -- following that, was senator scott. not surprisingly, some of the folks left. some of the camera shut down. and you can imagine what most senators would do in that situation. senator scott could not have been more gracious. he said, i have a message. we had several hundred people who listen to him. i learned then something about humility, something about the importance of message of a personality. it was a very gracious thing to do. the other thing that i remembered was when our country was very divided by the killings of these black men, and people were saying this and that. it was a very tough time. senator scott took to the floor,

and i would read what he said -- he talked of his own experience of "anger, frustration, sadness, and humiliation from being targeted for nothing more than being yourself. recognize that just because you do not feel the pain and anguish of another, it does not mean that it does not exist. to ignore our struggles, to make them disappear, it simply lives you a blind american, very vulnerable. we must come together, to fulfill what we all know is possible here, while understanding fairness." he is working, as an example of the bipartisanship. we are asking you to talk about how we can bring some stability to this internet. how we can bring some bipartisanship. what advice you have for young leaders. this is humble public leader,

who actually practices what he preaches. thank you, senator. [applause] >> thank you for that very kind introduction. and i will say that for me, the issue of poverty is not a sexy issue, not a popular issue, it is an issue that i lived through. and if you live through something, hopefully you have i guess the insight as well as the foresight to let that continue to germinate in you so you can help. if you could talk about the importance of civility and how you work across the aisle. >> sure. civility is just not important at all. how is that?

keep going? so listen, i think we -- anybody ever gone to high school? this is good. want to know my audience. college? georgetown, maybe? good job. so here is what i learned in high school and the lessons don't really change that much from high school from my perspective. typically people find themselves in groups. and it starts probably before high school, but in high school it crystallizes. you're a jock, a pothead, the academic which i never was. as a matter of fact when cory booker and i work on legislation together, i saw he graduated in cum laude and i graduated thank you laudi. reality is if you remember which group you were in, perhaps the groups that you wanted to be in, the groups that you felt a isolated from, you start understanding and appreciating this whole political world that we're living in today.

with one addition. today it is now in vogue to speak about those not in your group in the most salacious and vicious ways. and you are rewarded by doing so by the friends you have within your group. that is the breakdown of the american experiment of a melting pot. we have a responsibility not as elected officials, but as you human beings as those of us who are part of the american tapestry to reinforce the values that make us great. one of the reasons why i think finding civility in the senate is so important, i want to make sure that i'm a part of those examples who are leading in the right direction. so when i'm working with cory booker on legislation, or when we are actually going out to him speak to schools, it sends a message not when we start talking, but before we start

talking. it says maybe there are folks, he calls us the bald black men caucus. that's what he calls us. i'm just glad he allows republicans in that caucus. they don't always do that. i thought y'all would get that later, too. so it's just, it allows us -- the seed to germinate and for something to spring above the soil that can be instructive and constructive. there are anumber of examples of legislative victories that have happened because i worked in a bipartisan fashion and frankly, on some of the legislation that we have seen some real success behind, i didn't go to him, he came to me. so it works both ways. i think our future's incredibly bright as long as we remember that we aresingle american -- that we are single american family, and every time that we find ourselves at odds, which typically in families, you do that, you find yourselves at odds, come to the table.

break some bread and make something good happen. so happy to answer some questions if you have them, too. how about in the back. >> how do we bring people together here in d.c. to focus on human rights internationally? i think that's slipping through the cracks right now. >> i think there's a group, thinking about the middle east, are you guys familiar at all with apac? it's a group of americans for basically a strong israel in the middle east, but they have done a fabulous job of bringing republicans and democrats to the table with a single-minded approach. one of the ways that we bridge that gap is not trying to figure out whether we agree on economic policy. whether we agree on bank reform. find an area where folks who disagree with one another on many other topics, find the area where there's common ground. focus on that. when we do that, we do that very well.

i think one of the ways we do that throughout the world is finding the common bond that draws us together, and whatever that issue is for the two folks or the two groups that come together, it makes all things possible. >> you spoke out courageously when the president was quoted about africa. have you done a lot of work on africa. how do we get people to see the common ground we have with people half a world away? >> we first have to start with every single human being on earth has intrinsic value. i don't have to agree with who you are. i don't have to agree with what you think. i don't have to agree with anything. but if i start there, it allows me to continue the conversation on the right track. i can have very strong disagreements with my friends, but i never question their intentions or their motivations. when i start questioning your intentions, your motivations, i'm saying something about who

you are and not what you're fighting about. very different positions to be in. >> ten years ago, there was this idea that the digital revolution was going to create a renaissance in democracy and democratic institutions and today, it looks like it's putting them in increasing peril and fragility. my question for you is, how are you using technology and data to sort of fill the civic gaps, or to improve the deliberative and knowledge-seeking functions of the senate, especially, and what would you like to see? are you experimenting? i know cory booker is really great on this stuff. >> he has a million likes. i have like 12. i'm experimenting, yes. >> is the community helping you back home?

that's the other thing. it's a two-way street. >> i think in the senate, we are probably, number one, cory and a few others who either run for president or are thinking about running for president are top five. i'm in the top ten in the use of technology, maybe six or seven. i'm not quite sure exactly where i am. the fact of the matter is that technology is another vehicle or conduit for the message. the question that we should start with is what is your message and who is your audience, and what do you want to communicate. my message is hope and opportunity. my agenda is called the opportunity agenda. we focus on educational choice, we focus on work skills, we focus on tax reform, we focus on one other issue that i feel like i'm up here -- what did i say?

so frankly, the reality of it is as i look for ways to communicate those issues, technology becomes a primary driver of my communication. good news for me is i have a very diverse audience that i'm communicating to. my comments from a racial perspective draws some folks in that like me. other folks that hate me. my stand on political and especially economic issues draws the exact opposite from both sides. my twitter is just a freak show. but it also allows me to communicate the core message of hope and opportunity to my audience. so it brings me into a realworld -- into a real world where i'm fascinated, sometimes frustrated, but typically fascinated by the comments of folks. but i also find people signing up to have a conversation about a topic that we would never have been in the same room because we are so different, but that one common bond that we talked about earlier allows me to address

some of the issues across the board. >> i heard you speak earlier, you spoke in the white house in december about the piece of legislation you and cory booker worked on and i was wondering if you could speak to that at length now that the bill has passed. >> absolutely. after the charlottesville incident, the president and i were on two very different pages. he invited me to the white house to perhaps talk through some of the challenges i had with his comments that i found indefensible and disgusting. and so i went to the white house. >> was there a tape? >> listen, he was -- i think he was very interested to hear, to listen, which i thought was wonderful. as i have said several times since then, he's 70 something

years old. i have never seen someone change their mind in single conversation but i'm not trying to change your destination, just your direction at times. so one thing that he asked me, how can i be helpful from a legislative standpoint. i said my legislation investing in opportunity act, is the way that you can help distressed communities live a better life, see more opportunities, and basically, with the investing in opportunity act, it diverse your capital gains tax for up to seven years. you still have to pay it but we defer it so you can make a long-term investment in a distressed community, where 50 million americans live. he thought that was a pretty good idea, and very quickly after the meeting, started taking a very positive stand on the legislation and postured himself as someone who would be

supportive of it being included in the tax reform package. so when it got to the nitty-gritty, having the president of the united states on board for that legislation, it was very helpful for me to keep it as a part of the final tax reform act that passed. so now all over the country, governors are working on, within their states, areas that they can now designate as an opportunity zone so that they, because control leaves washington and goes to the states which is wonderful, those states will now be empowered to figure out where they want to invest some of these private sector resources into these areas, and my understanding is that there will be opportunities perhaps on a federal level but specifically on the state level, to take grants, private sector dollars, and do really interesting work and fascinating work in investments in these communities. i think the future is going to be brighter for the kids that grew up in the communities where i did, and that's my mission, to make sure we tackle this issue

and we don't quit until we die. so it doesn't matter what role you play as long as your mission stays the same. thank you all. [applause] >> well, we have had three very different, midwest, midatlantic, southern perspectives, republican, democrat, different backgrounds, all making a plea for principled civility. civility is not softness. it can be an expression of strength. we can be political but not be completely blinded by politics, by partisanship. these are real issues of life and death, war and peace, of who moves ahead, who gets left behind.

so there will be a lot of conflict. i don't think the three members we've had agree on everything, or even a majority, but their point is that we are better served when we engage and persuade each other rather than stand back and condemn each other. i want to thank you for coming. i want to thank our partners at the democracy fund. i want to thank our friends in the chaplain office, karen and father conroy. i want to thank angela miller who pulled this together. i want to invite you to make sure you left your name and your email to be part of these. we do a number of these -- a few of these are on the hill. the next one is going to be at georgetown law center on the 26th of february. criminal justice, gangs and rehabilitation. if you have never heard father greg boyle, it is an amazing experience. we do larger dialogue, not restricted to young people and we have to coming up.

a week from today, at georgetown, in our chapel, we are going to have cardinal told in just cardinal tobin -- cardinal tobin. you may have seen the picture of him lifting weights and cutoffs. -- in cutoffs. he was the archbishop that stood up when governor pence in indiana said we are not going to have any more refugees. people facing deportation, he is going to talk about the moral, the human faith dimensions. welcoming the stranger. we are going to hear from a daca student. then on the 13th, we are up against and looking forward to the fifth anniversary of pope francis's election and we have a remarkable evening on the 13th at first down. we have father antonio who is one of the pope's closest

confidants. the pope coming to talk about his global vision and we have christian powers of cnn and then an amazing none who works on the border between the u.s. and mexico. we will talk about what has been the message, what has been the impact, what is incomplete about pope francis'leadership and so we hope you will join us. we think my sense is what we are offering together is a different vision. deadlifts people up from the bottom. it is a vision that says we can move forward together, that we

can be principled and civil. we can argue and come to an agreement. that is why we are working with the democracy fund. we are pleased to have these members of congress join us and that is why we are pleased that you have joined us this afternoon. there are lots more to eat and drink. up yourself and make sure you leave your name and your email and add the names and emails of those you think might also be interested in something like this. thank you very much. [applause] >> c-span's washington journal live every day. coming up this morning. dr. johnson met sold the tax -- discusses mental health and gun violence. mona sharon talks about conservatives in the trump presidency.

earl anthony wayne, former ambassador to mexico and current feather -- fellow at the wilson institute talks about the state of u.s. mexico relations amid disputes over immigration and trade. he sure to watch washington journal in sunday for our special series on 1968, america in turmoil, starting march 18. we will look back 50 years a turbulent time including the vietnam war and a fractious presidential election. today, a debate in the special election in pennsylvania's 18th special district. to our running to fill the seat. you can watch it at 6:30 p.m. eastern. tonight, politico magazine

conjuring editor josh was on its talks about his book. it's about the members of president johnson's staff who helped create and implement his great society program. >> how it administration within the space of four and a half years built all of these after they passed congress and signed them into law, how they billed medicare and medicaid from the ground up and how they create the first programs like head start in food stamps. how did they do this while desegregating one third of the country? and also, fighting a war in vietnam. tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span.