>> this weekend the democratic national committee decided to reduce the role of superdelegates. senior party officials who get to vote on the party's presidential nominee. under the new rules superdelegates will not be able to vote at the convention for the nominee unless the convention is deadlocked. under the new rules superdelegates will not be able to vote at thecurious some of tm the dnc this weekend. -- here is some of the debate from the dnc. >> good morning everybody. i know emotions have run high at this meeting. we democrats are passionate. we are passionate about our beliefs. i want to start off this morning by sharing some good news. a major victory, a major victory for working people. a federal court struck down the trump executive order attacking

the rights of public service workers in the federal government to organize and bargain collectively. that happened last night sisters and brothers. [applause] when we fight, we win together. it was a clean sweep that tears back a ruthless attack on the integrity of the career civil service and a victory for democracy itself. a victory for all of us. today'st down to business. work oute are here to our differences so we can march in unity together. 2018 and 2020 elections. and celebrate more victories for our democracy, celebrate more

victories. celebrate more victories for working families. there has been a lot of talk these past few days about disenfranchisement. i agree. is no question that it is something we should be talking about. we should be talking about that subject. these reforms that this body will vote on today, i believe they are not the problem. if you care about disenfranchisement look no further than what happened in november of 2016. when we lost the presidency and hundreds of other federal state and local offices across this country. each of us in this room plus our families and friends and our communities were disenfranchised by the outcome of that election. make no mistake about it. look at what is happening as a

result of our 2016 defeat. freedom to vote come our freedom to build collective power in a labor union, how did productive freedoms, and the freedom to love whom we love. on the the attacks freedom of our immigrant sisters and brothers to simply live together as families. it is on us. it is on us to fix this. responsibility, democrats, and it will be our fault if we don't act today. to make a change. the damage that has been done. we can't restore the freedom that has been taken away from us unless we can win elections. that means we must have a nominated front that succeeds.

in 2020 and beyond. we have the right ideas. we have the right values. which most americans share. people have confidence that we will protect working families over wealthy corporations, that we will fight every single day investlity health care, in education, defend social security, protect the environment and much more. that is who we are. that is why we breathe, why we fight every single day. don't have confidence in our presidential nominating process is fair and democratic. they feel alienated. they feel disconnected. these are not radical or revolutionary reforms. are saying is that

unpledged delegates would not automatically vote on the first presidential nominating ballot. is a change that i believe is modest and reasonable. it will go a long way towards restoring trust in our party. over the last year and a half there has been an incredible awakening around the country. a search of activism around progressive values. believe that we are living in a movement moment where people are organizing and mobilizing in unprecedented ways , communities of color rising up to fight racial and economic .ustice thousands have taken to the street to protest the separation of children from their parents at the border. a movement moment. there was a women's march, the

march for our lives, the teacher walkout in the reddest of states , a movement moment. when we have that moment we can win if we are together. [applause] and these aren't one-off events. they have grown into sustained movements of change. exactly the kind of change our party represents. , many of be honest these activists a don't see political parties as vehicles for change, vehicles for progress. , weeed to connect with them need to tap into their energy. we need to make sure they are seen and heard. we need to toss out the welcome mat and invite them into the house to walk with us. us,alk door-to-door with convincing them that our party is their natural home, all of us.

we can't do that with the status quo. as long as they believe that insiders pull the levers. in the democratic party. it with the current system of unpledged delegates. that as a superdelegate myself. as president of one of the largest unions in the american labor movement, we have to change very the rules and bylaws committee undertook a rigorous process and has come up with an evenhanded proposal. it does not disenfranchise anyone or dilute the diversity that has always been essential to our strength and vitality. if it did this i have to tell board withn't be on

these proposals because of who i am and where i came from. i support these proposals. what they do. what they do is make more people feel like they have a voice. the step towards empowering grassroots and promoting inclusion. widening a circle. to make political engagement easier for people especially those with disabilities, those that speak limited english, and working people who should not have to choose between job security and democratic participation. moment.our movement ourselveshard look at to make a change. sisters and brothers we cannot wait, no more delays or deliberations, we debated this

ad nausea. our job as the democratic party is to get democrats elected so let's start that right now. the total package of reforms and then we have to push it and support it. and it must leave chicago. and we do what we do best. mobilizerganize and all of our communities across this country. if not now when, let's get the job done. [applause]

>> thank you for your remarks and thank you for your leadership in the labor movement and thank you for your service on the rules and bylaws committee. the tireless efforts of that committee are some critically important. i want to thank our friend randi onngarten for her service the rules and bylaws committee as well. while we are thinking people, can we think you and i hear here local- unite one for the great work they have done at this hotel. thank you very much. in a tough stretch right now, negotiation. we are going to make sure that we are working with them.

ok. ok. ok. thank you for what you have been doing. we have had a productive week here. we have been doing great work. we have an talking about the fact that there are 73 days until the weekend. weking about the fact that have wind on our back and we have work to do. we have been talking about the fact that we have been investing in infrastructure and building infrastructure. organizing in every state and zip code. we are leaving today with a roadmap for success. that is the work you have been doing, we have been doing. that is because in 73 days we have the most important election of our lifetime. our health care is on the

ballot, our democracy is on the ballot. our environment is on the ballot. future is on the ballot. are are no guard rails in washington and there are too many states that have no guard rails. that is the work we have talked about over the course of the last few days. we haven't talking about i'm going toust handed over to the rules and bylaws committee. i want to make sure we talked yesterday, we talked at great length yesterday, but i want to make sure that i give don the floor. he has been a tireless member of the dnc. . want to make sure , this isrrectly said the time to vote. time to make history.

time to make clear statement for .eople who share our values we are going to take some bold measures to earn our trust that you will join our party and join our fight to take back our democracy. we took a unanimous vote at the 2016 convention to reform our party. the charge from the convention was to take steps to open up our andy, reform our primary caucus, and reduce the influence of superdelegates. that was the charge. the unity reform commission under the leadership of my good friend larry cohen and jan o'malley dillon took their charges very seriously, deliberating for months. of importantes recommendations designed to make it easier for people to participate in our primary and caucus process. i want to give a special thanks to everyone on that committee.

especially jim roosevelt and lorraine miller. debated for months and produced a package of proposed reforms that we will vote on shortly. this process has been inclusive throughout. rbc happened vigilant to ensure everyone possibly was heard. becausen important time we want to make sure everybody possible is was heard. there is a consensus on a significant portion of the package of reforms. we are going to -- the rbc proposal states that superdelegates retain all their powers except that they will not vote on the first to ballot unless the outcome has already

been decided by the grassroots voters. that is what it is. we have two votes we have to take, the votes of significance. number one, does the change require a charter amendment and number two, do you want to vote for reform? these are the issues. we stood here for four hours yesterday, those are the basic two issues i heard. once we resolve these issues we can move to the final package and that is exactly what we are doing. my recommendation to you is let's pass the entire package. the only way we can make meaningful, comp rents of, and historic change today is if we pass this full package of reforms. not half, not two thirds. to use my friend lee's point we have a movement moment, a movement moment. when it comes to building a stronger future for our people, for our party, for our nation.

join part of the way i don't think is enough. , being a yesterday hockey fan that i am, supporting is not skating where the puck is it is skating where the puck is going. that is what this package is about, the entire package. it is helping us to skate our party to where the puck of politics is going. it has not always been about the future it has been -- that is why we are going to turn shortly to lorraine miller and jim roosevelt but i want to give my friend don faller an opportunity to speak. i know don reflects a different view. [applause] >> hello democrats.

in 2020?ing to win more importantly are we going to win in 2018? this party is responsible for the progress of america for 200 years. , we must movenow on to victory and reinstate the the rightman beings, for people to ask, do, and be themselves and who they love and the right to be freely engaged in our political operations. that is what we all want to do here, today in this meeting. i have four or five quick points i would make with respect to this proposal that is before you. first is disenfranchising. 200 african-americans will be

eliminated from the vote on the latinos,lot, 100 dozens of people from the lgbt community, and dozens of people who suffer physical or other disabilities, those will all be eliminated because they are youained in these people, and me and the elected officials across america. those will be eliminated on the first ballot. the democratic party has been the engine for conveying the vote to african-americans, to women, lgbt people, and all other americans. we have been the engine to spread democracy and now we are going to turn around and take democracy away from these folks, it is not right and it is not fit for the democratic party to do that.

secondly, this organizational structure is unique. and i mean that literally. you look at any membership organization anywhere in the united states, or for that matter the rest of the world, there is not a membership organization that systematically possibly leadership from the most sacred decisions of those organizations. union, not a religious organization, not a patriotic organization, you can't find an organization that will -- that the literally cuts off the leadership from the most important business that it already has. that is what this proposal would do if it was adopted. it is confusing. many of you have heard me talk

about this before. eight hours to figure how you calculate a majority for the nomination. when there was an adoption of this proposal there was a telephone call to boost support. the question was asked, how do you calculate a majority? of answer was, it is 50% the pledged and unpledged delegates but only the pledged delegates vote. that is a return to something more than the majority required to nominate. that is 56 or 57%. it just happens that is not what the rbc chose to offer. hurry up trying to get that straightened out.

when they published the call to the convention is had both of those standards in there. with all this confusion and uncertainty within the confines of people who shape these matters and sell them to the public, how is it going to be when you try to explain that to people in union halls and church basements and schoolhouses. it is going to be very difficult. make is point i want to that this is a fundamental change, a fundamental change in the way we nominate our presidents. some of you remember from the early 80's there was a hunt commission that stood in for the delegate selection process. they recommended the creation of these unpledged delegates.

they were put into the charter. into the charter, not the bylaws, the charter. they have been there ever since. what this proposal alleges to do out of thethat right charter without them ending the charter. this makes no sense whatsoever. it is clear that the right to and goes into the charter tomotes party leadership vote on the ballot of every nominating procedure. this attempt to take voting rights away from people whose voting rights are assured and a charter by simply ignoring the charter is not good government,

it will not convey confidence and strength to the american people. it will be confusion, it will take the leadership out of the presidential nominating process which it has served very well for decades. no on thiso vote proposal when we get to its debate. thank you. from there the dnc held a procedural vote before moving on to further debate and a final vote that was in favor of changing the presidential process.n this next portion is just under an hour and a half. >> take a seat, i apologize for the delay. againted to make sure that we had properly looked at all of the proxies, that they were properly instructed