john sarbanes of maryland, terri sewell and pramila jayapal. from the center on american progress, this is just over 90 minutes. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. my name is neera tanden and i am the president and ceo of the center for american progress action fund. welcome to this important event. over the past two years, it has been unmistakably clear that even in the most divisive of times, the american people agree on at least one a thing. that they are fed up with the status quo here in washington. mrs. a system in which many special interests have placed a stranglehold that legislators a day after dayy we hear of the republican congress and the trump administration are cutting special deals over the needs of the american people. donald trump didn't drain the swamp. the swamp is now drowning our government. the american people understand that the corrupting influence of big money and our government needs to policy with shortchange interest of hard-working families with health care, tax laws or basic civil rights. in fact, a recent poll

representative terry sewell, who represents alabama's seventh district, is a trail blazer who's been fighting to strengthen our democracy throughout her career. since joining the house in 2011, representative sewell has become a leading voice on the importance of protecting voting rights. in fact, the better deal reform package includes a major piece of legislation from representative sewell. we heard about it from leader pelosi a moment ago. the voting rights advancement act, which would take the critical step towards fully restoring the voting rights act. congresswoman sewell has said that if we want to build a stronger democracy, we have to engage and empower all american voters. thank you for being here, representative sewell. and finally, i'm thrilled to introduce representative jayapal, who serves as vice chair of the democracy reform task force. while congresswoman jayapal is still in her freshman term, she's already made her presence known in a big way. she's been one of the most outspoken and eloquent leaders against president trump's inhumane practice of separating immigran

ng reporter: ade republican legislators mike ogers and shelley capito democratic congresswoman terri sewell and democratic senators doug jones and cory booker have introduced bipartisan bills in the house and senate that if passed will offer federal assistance to households for sanitation systems. how does that make alabamians feel that the united nations felt they needed to send somebody who they usually send to third world countries to this state? >> well, you know, look, it doesn't real matter how they el. what we've got to do is take that report and say, "look, this is problem. don't shoot the messenger." that's what we say down here in the south. juster don't shoot the messe let's take the message and try or build on it and work on it. >> rr: what would you say to people who would argue that our tax dollars should be spent on improving our own and our children's lives instead of people who haven't been able to sort their own situation out? >> well, i think what any community does is to acknowledge that there are losers in life or people who have gone through disasters. it can happen to

congresswoman terry sewell from the seventh -- terri sewell from the seventh district of alabama. i yield to her to comment. ms. sewell: mr. speaker, i want to first commend the gentleman from pennsylvania for his leadership on tonight's topic. i also want to associate myself with his comments, as well as the comments of delegate eleanor holmes norton. congresswoman norton has been a steward on the issue of traditional appointments in the united states congress for many decaded and it's -- decades and it's an honor to follow her tonight in her leadership against the trump administration attempt to stack the courts with extreme right-wing political allies. just as president trump has attacked our nation's free press, just as he has attacked our intelligence agency, this president is now targeting our nation's third branch of government, our treasured court system. we cannot let president trump destroy yet another institution of american democracy. the importance of a fair and nonpartisan court system cannot be overestimated. it is our supreme court, after all, that decided brown vs.

i would like to introduce terri sewell, who i served with on the intelligence committee. >> thank you all for joining us today. i am honored to stand with former and current numbers of the intelligence community. as a representative of selma, alabama, there is nothing more heartbreaking to me than a president who refuses to stand up for our democracy in the face of overwhelming evidence that our elections were under attack. two years after we first learned of russia's hack of the dnc, we know more about the full breath of russia attack. -- the full breadth of the russia attack. we know russia targeted our election infrastructure itself and hacked computer networks containing voter information. we know russia's actors posted more than 3000 advertisements on this book in an attempt -- on facebook. they were so bold as to sponsor pages named "black activist" and pay for it in no less than rubles. their sole purpose was to sow seeds of discord throughout our nation. we have to guess that they did so because they knew having a covert influence campaign would have in effect on our -- have a

we also hear from three other democratic members of congress, john sarbanes of maryland, terri sewell of alabama, and paramilla jayapal of washington state, on election fairness. this program is just over an hour and a half. >> good morning, everyone. i'm president and c.e.o. of the center for american progress action fund and i'm thrilled to welcome all of you to this important, important event. over the past year it has been unmistakably clear that even in the most divisive of times, the american people agree on at least one thing. that they are fed up with the status quo here in washington. this status quo is maintain bird a system in which many special interests have placed a stranglehold on our legislators. day after day, we hear about how this republican congress and the trump administration are cutting special deals were their donors over the needs of the american people. donald trump didn't drain the swamp. his swamp is now drowning our government. the american people understand that the corrupting influence of big money in our government leads to policies which shortchange th

we also hear from three other democratic members of congress, john sarbanes of maryland, terri sewellbama, and paramilla

so much so that the congressperson from selma is an african-american woman named terri sewell who grew up in selma at brown chapel church. and he spoke -- senator kennedy spoke to us teenagers because our parents kind of identified with president kennedy. but even though senator kennedy wasn't that much younger than president kennedy, we identified with him because he spoke in a different way. he spoke directly and genuinely and sincerely to us across every line you could imagine and we said, we like that guy. and that was somebody that can inspire us for a long time, and he did inspire me. i got to go with kerry and the family to south africa to celebrate the ripples of hope speech. was that two years ago, kerry? a great trip. what a great honor to be there for that, and i just got to tell you, even though i slipped away to the other party, that doesn't mean that i don't carry in my heart the things that senator kennedy said and meant to so many of us. the speech i remember the most is the one on the tragic night that martin luther king was killed. and you all know this very well, but

hastings' amendment together with initiatives championed by my committee colleagues, representatives terri sewell and andre carson, will ensure the director of national intelligence increases geographic outreach in i.c. regrumet efforts. as coordinator of the i.c., the d.n.i. and his team are well postured to consolidate the separate renumet activities into a comprehensive recruitment campaign that reaches every corner of our nation, especially underserved regions that have little interaction with the intelligence community. with the d.n.i.'s leadership, smart division of labor among the agencies and use of virtual communication vehicles, i'm confident that a comprehensive recruitment campaign can offer the nation more effectively and attract a work force that is more representative of america. once again i want to thank my colleague, mr. hastings, as well as my hpsci colleagues for their commitment to enhancing diversity. i urge my colleagues to support the amendment. with that i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from california. mr. nunes: thank you. i strongly str