interesting idea to try to auction off a poster from the movie,a poster of the "send mr. smith to washington." and i called jimmy stewart, a republican and he autographed a poster for me and we auctioned it off at my first fundraiser in san antonio. 1000 dollarsd pay for that poster. he has that autographed jimmy stewart poster at his house today. that brings back happy memories also. youe: congressman, we thank for your time. >> u.s. representative michael capuano of massachusetts is also retiring after serving 10 terms in congress. he recently sat down with c-span for an interview to reflect on his career and time in congress. this is 35 minutes. congressman, when you

walk out of the house of representatives for the final time, what will you miss the most? rep. capuano: my friends. i have made some close friends here. when you are in a battle with like and you learn to respect the people in the battle with you. i have made some very good friends on both sides of the aisle. i will miss the opportunity to say hello to them on a regular basis. steve: do you remember your first day here in the house? rep. capuano: not really. not clearly. role of havinghe so many people at home. a naïvet come here as person. i had significant political experience beforehand. to me, it was just another step in life. steve: why the house?

why did you decide to serve? rep. capuano: the job i had before this, i had for nine years, it was a very tough job. tired ofting a little it, tired of the battles every day. steve: what was that job? rep. capuano: i was mayor of my city. it was an older city going through a lot of changes. my natural personality is to fight. and so we had a lot of tough battles and many worked out well. but you get tired of fighting every day. it was coming to an end. and this position opened up. my predecessor decided to retire. i thought maybe i should take a shot at it. steve: what is the biggest

challenge to being in the house? what is it like? rep. capuano: for me, it was trying to keep my feet on the ground at home. we found ways but it was always a challenge. you cannot be there all the time. you have to be here three or four days of a -- you have to be here three or four days of the week. i am a homebody. i like to sit on my front porch. i like to have my coffee at my own kitchen table. was theit institution. i have heard thousands of stories about the good old days. life has changed. it is faster for everyone. it has become more difficult to build relationships outside of the floor and committee hearings. arguing about are

important and passionate things. it is hard to build relationships. you need to put it aside. not to forget it. , the personal stuff. ares different when you arguing with someone that you respect, and you know their life and their life story than someone you do not know. i have always, built my career around personal relationships. this means it is a matter of respect for people that have significantly different opinions than you. steve: the one question we are asking every retiring member is this -- complete the sentence. the state of politics in washington day -- in washington today is what? rep. capuano: i actually think

it is probably relatively normal. that no one wants to hear that. beenics has always difficult. it has always been confrontational. a book right now by andrew jackson. members were caned on the floor of the house. the press were always difficult for politicians. i have always been surprised -- for me, politics changes but the basics do not change. like the rest of life, everyone's life has become faster. argument that it has become too fast. how do you change that?

you cannot take people's cell phones away or internet away. everyone has to learn to struggle with that. i find it interesting to watch the ads on tv. find ways to turn off the internet at dinner. i thought it would be easier to just tell the kids to put down their phones. but the concept is right. people struggling with ways to do that. struggling -- politics is struggling with the same thing. ways to spendd more personal time together. now.ave to work at it it is not like in the good old days when at 5:00, there was no facetime or cell phone and you did not have to raise a bazillion dollars to run tv ads. i don't know if those were better days but i know they

aren't coming back so we have to struggle with the problems we face today and try to address them. has everthe guy who lamented the state of politics. it has always been tough. i am always surprised at the number of people that have thought the good old days were genteel. those people do not know the history. let us talk about some of the people you have worked with including the speakers. nancy pelosi,, john boehner, and now paul ryan. howrole of the speaker -- important is it and how does it reflect the tone of the body or does it? rep. capuano: it is very important but not the only important job. i think america has allowed power to be concentrated too much in too few individuals. any president for wanting to accumulate and gather

power under themselves. that is human nature. i do think that congress has it to occurmuch of starting with the work powers act. i think the same is true with the speakership. i think it is true across the board. i actually believe in the messiness of democracy with a lot of voices having mostly equal say and -- or comparable say. hope it is a pendulum and the pendulum swings back and forth. i think it has swung too far to a concentration of power among too few individuals. steve: you also served with senator ted kennedy. was he really the lion of the senate? rep. capuano: he certainly was. it is kind of hilarious when i hear people say -- politicians

serve too long. for 40 yearserved and no one remembers the first 20. clearly that individuals -- there are time simply's is where longevity isl important. i do think he was a lion in the senate. i did not know him when he was younger but when i knew him, he had already learned -- and i would not look across the aisle without compromising your you have to- but make a deal on occasion to get to the finish line. it was not personal. you for what you believe in but at the end of the day, he would respect you. he embodied that.

i think everyone here respected him. steve: what were interactions with him like? rep. capuano: he treated me like a human being. like a colleague as opposed to an underling. he was ted kennedy, the lion of the senate from the kennedy family. he would have had every possibility to treat you like a punk little kid. do not bother me. he never did that. just the opposite. him do anything like that to anyone else. he made me feel like i had something to offer. and we were colleagues more than anything else. and that was important. his legacy and the position he was in when i got here -- he certainly could have been different and he was not. steve: you have cast thousands

of votes over the years. any regrets? rep. capuano: regrets? not one. all of the major roads that i took i thought were the right votes at the time. i think most of them have turned out to be the right votes even in hindsight. a couple of votes i might change but nothing critical. i mean i voted against the iraq war, against the patriot act, against note child left behind. child left behind. even sitting here today, i think they were the right votes based on what has happened since then. no real regrets at all. none. steve: in politics, people like to give people labels. how would you define your ideology? rep. capuano: pragmatic progressive. i don't think anyone has a more

progressive record than i do but i also know that i cannot achieve my agenda because i know the majority of america does not share my view. think that ito have balanced that pretty well. knowing when to make a deal and when not to. it is a judgment call. there is no right or wrong. it is what you are comfortable with. sitting here today, i can to you unequivocally that i have never in politicsmoment that i have sold my soul for anything and i am proud of that. progressive but i also like to be way more pragmatic. i am not an idealist. youg a progressive makes idealistic but i know i can't get to where the country needs to be because my views are not the majority views.

one step at a time, with time, we are heading that way. based on that, where do you see the democratic party going? rep. capuano: don't know. i laugh at this in the sense that both parties are dynamic. i go back to what i said earlier, some people think they run from the top down. i never thought that. some people would like that to happen. and it might happen for a short period of time but overall, it is from the bottom up. same thing with the democratic or republican party. that being the case, i do not have a clue where they are going. i know in general that we are struggling and stumbling in a progressive approach.

and i think that is ok. in the sense that you cannot force your views on everyone. it takes time. for people to embrace the health -- the idea of health care for all. and then they need to know how to get there and pay for a. those are fair and difficult questions. my answer may not be the same as yours and if i really want to get there, i have to be able to say -- maybe we will not take the three steps forward i would like to take but maybe one. i have been able to do that in pretty much everything. health, civil liberties, human rights. the occasional step back like the patriot act on i took theties -- vote i thought was right. but for the country, i regret that pope. it was a first time that i have seen civil liberties of voluntarily given up based on fear.

by the general population. we have seen that before with abraham lincoln. back on thatd the during wartime and they got those rights back quickly. this is the first time that i have seen it in american history where we, society, voluntarily gave up certain what i would consider civil liberties and civil rights based on fear that i think was overblown at the time and with results that i still believe have not been worth the cost. steve: you said in the final two years of the clinton presidency and the first two years of the trump presidency -- over the years, did you have a close working relationship with one or two presidents? rep. capuano: no, neither president. the last two years of the clinton administration. by that time, the hottest issue of the day was over with when i got here.

was more personal. he made an attempt to reach out to more members but not everybody. make an attempt to reach out to almost anyone and trump has done even worse. it has been shocking to me. , if the roles were reversed i have always believed that anyone in a key position, i did it when i was mayor, you reach out to everyone and bring them in to talk. i would argue that any president should be bringing down 10 or 20 members of congress at any time with no agenda just to get to know each other. not all the time. not every night. and build the personal relationship. not that it changes anything that it might smooth some of the rough edges around here. and i have not seen anyone even tried to do it.

butge bush tried the most not very well. i was told bill clinton did it but that was before i got here. steve: going back to president obama -- you are not alone in saying that he did not do enough to reach out here on capitol hill. why is that? rep. capuano: i don't know. it is a busy job and an important job but i actually think part of the job of doing politics isagain, based on relationships. that is not new. that is old. it is not going to change. you note, why would want to build relationships with as many people as you can. at least try. you would have to ask them that. steve: you faced a contentious primary this year. did that surprise you? rep. capuano: not at all. i have been telling people for a while that my constituents were angry. very angry.

angry at the democratic party for not standing up for certain things. they were angry that donald trump got elected and the way he has governed. it is not just partisanship. that is a shorthanded way. they forget that we have a republican governor in one of the most if not the most democratic states of the country and he is the most popular governor and he just won and overwhelming victory. it is how you do it. my constituents are angry and upset and want change. and i knew it would be a tough primary. and a candidate in my district would be a tough primary. especially one that could scratch the itch of the more vocal progressives in my district. not surprised at all. steve: the boston globe reported

that a number of your colleagues including elizabeth warren did not endorse you in the primary. did that bother you? everybody,o: i judge not just politicians come up on who they are needed. to be a friend when you do not need a friend. for instance, over my career i have had colleagues that get in trouble. they do something stupid and get caught. i did not have to judge them. they are judged by others. a classmate of mine is doing jail time. he did something really stupid. and he is paying for it. i do not have to hate him for it. i visited him not too long ago because he is my friend. he made a mistake. i hope he has addressed the problems he had. i don't need to throw the stones at him. so for me, and i know that i have had bad times in my life

and the people that i know are the people who i needed them. me, i have never -- the political elite and i am not now and never will be. i have never been the hand-picked person by any organized group. not the democratic party. not big business. nobody. and my whole career -- i have been working from the street. endorsements, i have always laughed. even when people come to me. but they do not mean as much as they seem to mean because i don't know anyone that goes to the ballot and says i will vote for him because someone told me to do it. it is usually because their wife or their little league coach talked about it. not because a politician like me

said -- let us vote for this guy. worriedi never really about those things. i don't think they are determinative things. i have never thought they were determinative. they won't make much difference. if you think that is what is going to help you to win, you're wrong. you still have to knock on the doors. i have been around for a long time. people know me. steve: did it hurt you personally? did you just chalk it up to politics? chalked ito: i just up to politics if you want to know the truth.

i have never expected any politician to support me. the ones that did have a positive check mark but it is easier in life to dock then to stand up -- to duck then to stand up. i have always prided myself on being a person that stands up. those i have endorsed over the years, i have told them the truth. we are not playing a game. you, you are probably going to get sick of seeing me. because if i am with you, i am with you. that is the way it is. you just jump in. for me, i expect most to -- and i don't want to make anyone upset. not negative to

not jump in. ducking, again, anyone who knows i don't think would use that term to describe me in any capacity. steve: you mentioned your colleague, anthony weiner. where is he? he is inano: i believe fort devens and massachusetts. steve: how is he? rep. capuano: he seems to be doing well. i went to visit him as a friend. i spoke to him about whatever he wanted to talk about. my life is more open to him and his is more limited. as a politician i am not supposed to say that because of the bad things he did, i get all of that. he paid his price.

grudging toe to the him. good personim as a who made serious mistakes. i hope he can correct his life. what more can i say? take overyou could the majority, what advice would you give to democratic leaders? rep. capuano: i don't know. i'm not the guy who gives a lot of advice. everybody here is a capable politician. been -- i love you but i don't always pay attention to the media. you don't do the let's blow it up and watch it blow up thing. pretty much everybody else does, they want to like the fuse. i don't have to like it, but i

get it. i don't pay much attention to it. find something you are willing to lose an election over, if you are not willing to lose an election because every vote is a critical vote. you don't have to believe in everything. you should not have that on every vote. for the sake of discussion, war and peace was it. everybody in my district wanted to vote yes on the war in iraq i would've voted no still. that way about war, and civil liberties. i feel strongly about housing and health care but i am more amenable to try and respect my district. i hope the democrats do not lose that.

i have wondered if we haven't sometimes, i think america wonders. party is not this monolithic entity. you get a leader when you have a presidential nominee, after that -- the analogy i is is the republicans are a pack of dogs and the democrats are a herd of cats. they're much better at following the leader and sticking to script. democrats are all over the place, i don't know which is better. i prefer the individualistic mentality. everybody is different. my hope is that the democrats ibrace the breath of voices hope we encourage. if not encourage, except it. i hope that does not change. steve: why is it that you wonder whether your party has that?

are notuano: if you like me or don't agree with me then you can't be a good as pro-choice not -- i am is pro-choice is anybody but i think we should welcome pro-life democrats. we don't agree on 10% of items, i don't want you to be the determining vote. several years ago, he was the most conservative member of the democratic party for the entire time i was here. a really good guy. really good with his heart. i would here on a regular basis when he had trouble with an election that he wasn't progressive enough. it is mississippi. he is as progressive as you are going to get.

that is the best you're going to get. if you lose him you will get someone who agrees with us 0% of the time. i will take 50% over 0% every day of the week. i don't see any other way to do it. he lost in the person who took precisely 0%ith us of the time. i don't see how that is a victory. pro-gun, weife and did not agree on all of those issues. we were able to move some of those things when we were able to do so with his successor. we have the new england patriots behind you and the "boston globe" headline. who have the more rabid fans, red sox or patriots? rep. capuano: i don't know, it depends on how good they are doing.

red sox fans are longer suffering. to lately, and we are going keep it that way to the best of our ability. i don't know who is more passionate. i love sports. to me, sports are sports. they are a distraction. i am not the hero worshiper of the world. i have yet to see professional sports players here cancer. or give the poor, health care to somebody. i enjoy it, i respect it, i love through for them like everybody else. i am here in my life, it will not change. steve: when you leave the house, what is next for you personally? rep. capuano: i am trying to

figure out what i want to do. -- forly boils down to the first time in my life i have choices. that is not a fair statement because i had a choice of whether to run for congress. if you give me a job, i just do it. i do it 120%. if i was digging ditches and i actually did when i was in college, i was the guy in the hole with the jackhammer and anxious to do it. some people i am at the point my life for many of my contemporaries are retiring. whether igling with want to keep going that 100 miles an hour than i have always gone or slow down a little bit. easy decision for me. i have never had to make it before. it was always 100 miles an hour.

i never really thought about it until some of my contemporaries retired. like what do you do all day? several of my friends have retired and they kind of like it. that is a surprising to me. i never claimed to be smart when it comes to my career. i do what i think is right and i do it i think is fun. i will try to keep doing that. steve: will you miss it? rep. capuano: i will miss certain aspects of it. the main reason i want to come back was to be in the majority. if you told me last year that there was no way we know for a fact you will not be in the majority, i don't know, there is a lot of people that would say that is enough. has seenthe minority

this place separate more than it once was. will that continue? i don't know. we will see. actually getting something done was attractive to me. i will miss that opportunity. i will miss my friends. i will not miss the weekly trek down here. i will not miss the bells going off for me to stop everything i'm doing to go name a post office in kansas. otherspects are true but aspects i have been doing a long time that i am a little tired of. steve: finally, what will you tell your successor, what should she be doing? rep. capuano: do what she thinks is right. if you do what you think is right, do not overthink it. not everything is clear. once youif you do what you thins right, do not overthink it. come up with knowing you think is the right thing to do. do it.

you cannot be right all the time. you cannot please everybody all the time. executives cannot hide. is a pothole and it is not fixed, it is your fault. i would argue that you should not try to hide, stand up and make a decision. once you make the decision, stand by it. if there is nothing you are willing to lose over, you will never make much of a difference. she is not coming in naive. its is not the city council, is a different job, you have to learn it. i think she will be fine. she does not need my advice too much. steve: any travel plans on your

bucket list? rep. capuano: i took a vacation with my wife. toook forward to be able take vacations when i want to. we are out of session the same time everybody else is out of session. vacation plans get difficult. i like to travel, my wife and i would like to do more of that. there is a couple places we want to go but not the kind of thing like i have to go there. i have not been to certain places and i want to go. we will do that because we have always traveled and we like to travel. there is not a real bucket list in the sense that -- i'm not

skydiving, scuba diving, none of that stuff. steve: we thank you for your time. rep. capuano: thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> when the new congress takes office in january it will have the youngest, most diverse freshman class in recent history. , new leaders, watch it live on c-span starting january 3. journal"'s "washington live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up sunday morning the chair of the american conservative union discusses the trump presidency. also a look at criminal justice reform with a georgetown university law professor. then, the implications of the brexit vote in the united kingdom.