Guess the music doesn't work like it
Like it's was supposed to anyway
Ro Khanna will be coming in here within the next 10 minutes or so
I opened it a little bit early just so that we could get some people in here before
He showed up. I I hated how sometimes spaces start and it takes 10 minutes for the traffic to build
So so I opened it a little bit early
Today, we will be speaking with Democratic congressman Ro Khanna
Plan he has a political reform and anti-corruption plan
That he hopes will clean up corruption in Washington DC. It's
Bipartisan there's there's several people on both sides of the aisle who really
Agree that something needs to be done here
I know Matt Gaetz on the Republican side has been very vocal about this
and Ro Khanna of course on the Democratic side, but but I think this is something pretty much every American
Something that is hard to pass Congress because it's not benefiting those in Congress
Which is sad they're supposed to be working for us, but I think there's a lot of selfishness on both sides
You know like I think it's an issue that most Americans agree with too most Americans
Agree that Congress shouldn't be able to
trade stocks most Americans agree that there should probably be term limits and
The issue is that you got to get Congress to agree with this and
This would be a law that would
Negatively affect the members of Congress, so it's difficult to get them to vote against their own best interests
Yeah, and and I just want to say I know there's a lot of people raising their hands you speak
Right now I don't want to crowd overcrowd the stage
But as the night goes on I would like to bring some people up also
There's some possible other guests who may be coming so I need you to leave some space
But but yeah, I don't take any offense if I'm not bringing you up right now
The people who are up here were people that I kind of spoke to
Before and we we kind of agreed that they would be on stage and they were prepared with some questions
But but yeah, I do want to if we have time
Bring up audience members who can also ask questions as well
I'm pretty sure well, Kana is is fine with that as well because I spoke to him about it earlier
But anyway just just give me a couple minutes here
The congressman should be in here probably within the next five minutes or so
I just want to send him a sent him a link here and
And spaces have been pretty glitchy today all throughout the day
There's been issues with sound where if you're listening to a space you'd hear people speaking and then they cut out
We believe that X has taken care of this problem Brian actually spoke to one of the X employees earlier today
And they assured that the problem has been fixed. So hopefully all goes well
Of course, we're gonna have to wait and see but so far so good, I believe
Yeah, it was it was definitely an issue
I think probably for about 12 hours starting early this morning. There were a lot of issues with spaces and and then
Continuing up until I think probably maybe two hours ago things started to improve
But I was a little bit nervous. I held some private spaces just you test it out and it didn't go so well
so I'm glad that it's actually working right now and
We're gonna be able to have a good conversation is rugged for me. Is he doing that for you as well, Ed?
Hear Brian fine as well Sarah, maybe leave in. Yeah, you leave and come back close your app out first. Okay, sure
Good timing on that fix with the spaces that would have been awful
Yeah, I I was I was definitely concerned I was like frantically messaging people and saying hey, I
can't can you look into this and and finally
the individual I messaged did and kind of got taken care of quite quickly and and and I don't know if it was all me or
If they were looking into it before which I'm sure if they got plenty of complaints
We'll just pretend it was all for you today
I'm just telling myself that so I feel important
Yes, so so Rose should be here in a couple minutes
We had the opportunity to talk to him on our crafts and cast video cast a couple times actually and he's a great guy
He's somebody who you know, like I don't think he like necessarily
It's like just in a box when it comes to politics. He he just is kind of his own person. Of course, he's a Democrat
He's on the left, but he has a lot of opinions that are shared by a lot of Americans
So I think it I think he's an interesting individual
Yeah, I was reading a little bit more about him today and I really
Liked and appreciated the work that he has done over the years in anti-semitism
So I was interesting reading about that for sure, which I know we're not talking about that today
We're here to talk about term limits and stop trading in Congress, but he's been on the forefront
Battling anti-semitism for years
Yeah, and and he's like I'd say he's somebody that I think
Isn't afraid you stray from the party line, which I really like I think that's important
I think he takes dances that can be kind of bipartisan in nature and and things that
Maybe a typical Democrat might not support sometimes. He's not afraid to kind of go out of that box
So on the topic of term limits and stock trading those seem like
Non-partisan issues to me like as someone who's not politically, you know leaning either way
Generally, is that the way that you understand those issues as well, or is that not the case?
Yeah, well Roe is here so so we can get started. Hi congressman. It's nice to have you here
Looking forward to having a good discussion about your plan
Thank you for having me there
Yeah, yeah, so I was just like kind of warming the room up talking a little bit about about you you about
your anti-corruption plan that I'm really excited about hearing more of
But but yeah, I'm gonna quickly introduce
the plan and then let you kind of take things and introduce yourself as well as why you
Decided that this is such an important
Important thing that you want to kind of spearhead. So it's your political reform and anti-corruption
Plan to clean up corruption in Washington DC and it consists of five things and if if I mess any of this up
Feel free to jump in and correct me
The first thing is 12 a 12 year term limit for members of Congress
And this would include positive the possibility of grandfathering
Some of those in Congress in to some extent which we can get to it here in a little bit
A an 18 year term limit for Supreme Court justices a code of ethics for the Supreme Court
Which I think is very important
It would prohibit candidates from running for federal office from who are running for federal office from accepting
Donations from lobbyists or political action committees and finally one that I think everybody can absolutely
agree to is a banning of members of Congress from trading stocks while in office and
I assume this has some caveats and some exceptions where they could maybe invest in some funds, but
Introduce yourself and tell us why this is was such an important
Such an important thing you you have been pushing in the last few months
Well, I appreciate you're having me on of all the things I've done in my seven years of Congress
political reform plan I introduced
Has gotten more traction on both sides of the aisle than anything and I think it struck a nerve because people are just
Washington is working they
Understand that there are interest groups
That have more say than ordinary Americans a are frustrated that common-sense policies on
Gun violence on health care on immigration aren't getting done that compromise seems impossible
And that there are a lot of people who are putting their own
The public interest and even if they aren't doing it directly. There's certainly a perception of that
I mean, you don't have to look at the polls to know that being in Congress is not a
Occupation right now and people feel that this Congress that this system in Washington is broken
So I thought what are a few common sense ideas?
That both the left and right can rally around they give people confidence again in
In our democracy because if we don't have confidence in our democracy, how are we going to tackle?
The big issues the first thing in my view was getting money out of politics
I mean, we should not have the lobbyists giving money to politicians
Political action committees giving money to politicians the need for super packs
Where individual donors are giving millions of dollars and in campaigns. I've never taken pack money or or lobbyists money
And I think it is so important
The second thing is to ban the trading of stocks now people can continue to
Be in a diversified trust. They can where a third party is managing their stocks, but this idea of sitting there day-to-day
Trading stocks or having close family members trade them just creates a perception of
In propriety I actually don't think the vast vast majority of members of Congress are trading stocks with
Inside information or doing things to enrich themselves
I I don't but there's certainly a perception of that out there
and so why not address it why why not just ban members from
trading stocks day to day and
Put it in some trust that's managed by a third party
Understand that people that no one is profiting based on as stock trading
The third part is term limits. I mean you come here you do
12 years house Senate and then you go back and live under the rules you made
That was kind of the idea of American democracy people say well, why don't you?
Give voters a choice and if they if they won you out, they'll have you out but come on. That's not real realistic
I mean, I'm sitting on a nine million dollar war chest. I've got almost universal name ID in my district
You think it's a real fear competition with the person people who are challenging me
I mean, it's not and to pretend otherwise is
is not to be honest about democracy the economists said that the
US Congress has a lower turnover rate than European monarchies
And that's because it's really a rigged system with name ID and money
And so we need term limits to have new voices renewal new people having a chance and then members of Congress shouldn't become lobbyists
I mean, you know, I shouldn't be allowed to after my done in Congress go sit on
Raytheon's board or lobby for Raytheon when I've been a senior member in the armed services committee seems pretty obvious
But why allow me to then after a year out of Congress go lobby my former colleagues that doesn't seem right
And the Supreme Court should also have time limits 18 years and they can still be a judge for life
But they shouldn't be on the court and they should have to disclose the gifts they get just like any other federal officials. So
I think if you had up or down votes on this in Congress, you'd get large bipartisan majorities
But we need to focus on this and get a political movement around this reform
Thank you so much and I appreciate you being here
Where would you draw the line because we've seen in especially in today's headlines
we've seen where children such as a hunter Biden or the
children of former president Donald Trump have been accused of
Grifting off their parents political positions, right?
So would you say that spouses or immediate family members should also not be able to trade?
Stocks or is this solely for members of government? I certainly think you would include spouses
in again, the spouses could be in a diversified trust and they could be in
something that's managed independently, but I
Certainly think that the ban
Would apply to them is the trust act does and legislation that I've sponsored does now if a member of
on Wall Street or something if their profession itself was
Trading stock. I mean, maybe you could have
Some limited exceptions for people whose very profession was doing that prior to coming into Congress
But for the vast vast majority of people you shouldn't be
Day trading and having options or calls on stock and again, I don't think the vast majority of people are doing anything
Nefarious or unethical or illegal. I really don't but there is that perception and it's easy to have
In a diversified trust managed by a third party kids. I feel
Differently about I mean if you if you have children and in particular if they're adult children
I think that's a harder thing to tell them
You know, you you can't do something but I think if we could just get the
That would be a good start
Yeah, I I think that that's that's
There definitely need to be something to wash away
The fear that a lot of Americans had whether whether there are family members trading stocks on inside information that
Congressional members have or not. I think just the appearance that it could be is something that concerns Americans
Hey, I do have a question I did want to bring up that we're having a little bit of a
Issue and Catherine can't raise her hand and she has a question first. So I'd love to toss it to Catherine and then I'll ask mine
Oh, that's very kind of me and Miley. So my question is a pretty basic question, but I think an important question
So I think there's in terms of you know
The support of civilians in terms of wanting the the reform that you're advocating for and that you introduced in
CA-17 or sorry in your political reform resolution
It is something that you know, I think a lot of voters very much want but I'm curious to know from your perspective
What are the things what are the major roadblocks to getting something like this done?
And what kind of support would you need, you know, both externally and internally to you know, fundamentally
You're you know wanting to change the system to be less corrupt
But you know, the system doesn't like to change because it is corrupt
So what would it take and what are those major roadblocks and how would you address them?
I think the biggest thing it takes is to have a vote on these issues
Neither party when we were in charge
We didn't put these things up for a vote and the other side today the Republicans aren't putting it up for a vote and the
Reason they're not putting up for a vote is they know that if they forced a vote on these issues
Most members of Congress would probably vote. Yes, they don't want to go on record
saying that they're opposed to banning PAC money or lobbyists money or
opposed to members of Congress becoming lobbyists or opposed to banning stock trading
the leadership on both sides has managed to
Avoid having a vote and they avoid having a vote because they're behind the scenes get lobbied by
members of Congress or lobbyists and say don't just don't
Don't do it. Don't call for a vote. So I think it needs
Presidential leadership I've suggested that president Biden should run on some of these reform agenda plans
I think he should make it an issue in the state of the Union call for votes on this
People around the country saying to members of Congress
are you on these resolutions if you're not on the kind of one or you want some resolution calling for these kind of reforms and
Call on the speaker to have a vote on these issues so that people get an up or down
There just have not been a vote on it and that's our biggest barrier
What are the logistics that I would take to get it to a vote that you know?
And can can the population be involved in supporting that are there specific political figures that you know, you mentioned Biden
Which maybe maybe be more keen given that it's not like he's running, you know
There isn't another term and I think people would probably
Like if he had supported this so he's not as privy to
Kind of pressure from external forces since he only has one more term
But is is there what are the mechanisms that it would take to get to that vote? I
Do think it would take presidential leadership I've said to the the president's team that you don't want a
twice impeached four-time indicted
former president running as the outsider that the president should be running as a reformer of the system and
Championing a reform agenda like this would what would help and then maybe Trump would champion some of it as well
I know he's called for a ban of stock trading. He's been open to term limits
I mean, I'd love to see all the major parties nominees in or third-party candidates get behind this
This is something that I think left and right can can agree on
but beyond presidential leadership and of course the president gets to set a lot of a
conversation in the country in terms of the politics the
The speaker can can call for a vote and I think having
The citizenry call on the speaker to say we want to vote on this and it doesn't you know
My resolution which has a five-point plan points to very specific
Legislation that we should be having a vote on like on banning stock trading. It's Abigail Spanberger and chip Roy
I mean two different parties. They have great legislation on it. Let's have a vote
Let's have a vote like that on banning PAC money and lobbyists money
Let's have a vote on on term limits that the legislation is out there
And the speaker can decide what exactly which bill I'm not saying he has to put my bill up
But have a vote on these issues and have people go on record. And if there are people who have arguments about
some provision shouldn't be there let them go on the record and at least we have a
Yeah, so I know you're asking for political reform
You want to ban on members of congress from holding and trading stocks?
And I read in your resolution that 80 percent of americans across political parties agree with you
So what are you hearing from the 20 percent that must be vociferously disagreeing?
Well, look, I mean they would say
Correctly that the vast majority of members of congress
Engaged in nefarious behavior. I think the issue of PAC money and lobbyists money
corrupting decision-making is a lot more than members making decisions because of
Particular stock in their portfolio and they would say they want Americans
American life and in betting on American companies and even though only 50 percent of Americans
have equity in the stock market a lot do and
That's the argument that that they make that you don't want to have
So many barriers to public service that people just say, okay, i'm not going to run and maybe if you're very very wealthy
You can afford these kind of blind trusts and
But if you're not that wealthy and you're middle class and you have a few stocks, you know
You're really discouraging those folks are putting burdens on them from running. That's the
The the counter argument and the same thing with pack and lobbyists money people say, okay
If you come from rokana's district in silicon valley, where there are a lot of wealthy people who can write
Individual contributions, you know, you can get get by without taking packing lobbyists money, but if you come from a poorer district
How are you going to run your two million dollar campaign without packing lobbyists money?
so, you know, these issues are not
simple, but I I think if we had
Massive reform and and didn't have the packet lobbyists money and force people to go raise money online
You can now have people get five dollars ten dollars. There are other ways of
and there are probably ways of campaigning that don't require just massive broadcast television buys doing things like
The spaces conversation we're having today. So
reform will be a bigger priority
Uh in how people choose candidates
I I just wanted to say I just want to reset their room
So for anybody who just came in here, we're speaking with congressman rokana about his anti-corruption plan for congress
Go ahead sarah and then I have a question for ro
It sounds like you're wanting to you're wanting people that are running
their campaigns to do more of a grassroots route road rather than
Relying on donors. Is that where you see?
The future more grassroots more connecting with people one on one
Rather than going after that super PAC money
Obviously, you need a lot of money to to run and win these campaigns. I raised a lot of money
So I don't want to be seen as a hypocrite, but I raised all the money through individuals
But I had wealthy people who could write checks up to
3,300 dollars, but i'll tell you this the super PACs. I don't think work. I mean look at donald trump
He didn't he didn't have massive super PAC spending and nikki haley and desantis went around the country desantis like jeb bush
Raised 100 million some dollars in super PACs
I think the challenge is that it's much better to have a large army of grassroots donors now
If you're not famous if you haven't been on apprentice for 14 years or you're not bernie sanders or
It's harder to do to have that kind of grassroots fundraising base
so one of the things i propose with russ feingold is have democracy dollars make every
citizen of every voter a donor give them up to 100 bucks that they can contribute to
This way everyone can raise small dollar contributions
Uh, and it actually would be constitutional even under this supreme court because you're not
Uh restricting people's personal spending that was an idea of uh, andrew yang, right?
I remember talking to andrew yang years ago and he had this similar suggestion
I think yang, uh, I like andrew and I think
He may have gotten it from some of the idea that we had proposed and it wasn't my idea. It was a
A bruce ackerman a law professor russ feingold's idea that we introduced as a as a bill
But whether it's that idea or some other way of empowering grassroots
donors, I mean, I think that's really
Ultimate hope for our democracy that you're not going to have these consultants require broadcast television ads that you can do more campaigning on
online and and grassroots and that that that
Political power will be able to be built without a reliance on
On big money, but otherwise
Uh, it's very very hard to get the type of changes that we need
So so just like speaking to other members of congress
Do you get a sense that the majority of them would support this bill not just for the sake of doing it but?
Genuinely support it and if so, or if not
Do you feel that one party is more inclined to support it than one other party?
I think you have a generational divide. I think you have a lot of the younger members would be willing to support it
About that. I don't mean age younger, but the one members of congress have gotten in of the last few cycles
But I think you still have a lot of
institutional resistance from members who've been here a long time who say you know that we kind of
Resentment how dare you question our integrity both?
We're not doing anything wrong
And they don't get the anger. I think out there. They don't get the
the frustration out there
And they they think you know, let's continue
but I I think you have to start with that the congress is in most americans view but a failed institution that
Responding on the big issues the way we should be and people want to shake things up. They want fundamental change
And now look there are times where the congress is capable of acting. I think with covet by and large
We did a very good job in a bipartisan way. We
Ended up getting five trillion dollars out to the economy
We had massive investment in vaccines america led the world in the development of the vaccines and the distribution of the vaccines
Maybe some people think that we overspent and we can debate that and whether there should have been less or more spending
But certainly people would agree that we had to spend money to prevent massive unemployment
And so that shows sort of in a crisis the government is capable of action
But when it comes to action apps in a crisis, like what are we doing?
To deal with health care costs that are 700 premiums every month
What are we doing to have some common sense immigration reform on border security and treating immigrants humanely?
What are we doing about our education system and the cost of child care and the cost of college?
What are we doing not to be subsidizing?
Big oil those are issues. What are we doing on gun violence? Those are issues where people say well
There's just not able to act and there's something
That's preventing that and I think people are frustrated at the institutional forces that are preventing them
Yeah, so congressman, thank you for coming glad that you're
You know opening up on a forum like this where you you're going to get questions from both sides of the aisle here and
Clearly you're not afraid of that. So definitely appreciate you doing so I I do want to ask
This seems to be like something that should be bipartisan, right? I mean
You have to have some republican support right which republicans are are you teaming up with right now?
Well, like I said chip Roy has been supportive, uh, you know candle and maggates and
And and a number of other
tweeted out positively about it and
advocated for it that nancy mace
Is partisan and there's a group of people on both sides of the aisle who want reform
Want to vote on these issues and I I I think it's really a question more about
Reformers versus those who are more establishment than anything else
Hi congressman row, thanks ed brian sarah for hosting awesome space so far
Uh, I particularly appreciated your explanation of you know
What the opposing arguments might be for allowing stock trading in congress and although I don't agree that even
Ex-professionals should be allowed to it was cool to to hear that you're thinking of both sides
Alternative means like coming to spaces that don't require money in politics and I definitely share your opinion that money in politics is
Shouldn't should not mix i'm curious
As you thought about the term limits, what are the counter arguments to term limits?
How did you come up with the year numbers that you did, you know, are we like losing out potentially on?
Highly skilled lawmakers with these term limits what talk to me about the the opposing viewpoints on that topic
Well, one of the opposing viewpoints is exactly what you said
If there's some people who are highly skilled they get good at it
And then you're telling them they have to leave but you're not telling them they have to leave public service
They could go become senators. They could be in the cabinet. They could be in state government. There are a lot of ways to serve this country and
Just being if you're not in congress doesn't mean
In public service and effective the other counter argument is that
You're giving lobbyists too much power that if you don't have seasoned legislators, the lobbyists would take over
That's why you've got to stop the lobbyists and pack money and really
Diminish the influence of lobbyists and I I do think you want to give members of congress enough time
Their bearings and to be effective and that's why I said 12 years now in the current system 12 years won't won't work
Because it takes 12 years just to get to some committee chair
I think I was talking to one of the members of congress and she would count to congress in her 30s and she had
Calculated based on seniority that she'd have to be 70
by the time she became chair of
appropriations if it was seniority based
And I joked with someone that 70 is the is kind of table stakes until you're 70. You don't matter in washington
That's that's when they start taking you seriously, but the the reality is the system
It privileges longevity and and then so much of it is based on
Getting the votes of your colleagues. So if you've been around a long time
In congress, you also know a lot of the people, you know, it's kind of like think about it being in college and when you're a senior
When you're you have a lot more people, you know on college campus than the freshmen
So you're going to win a lot of the elections and have a lot of the power
Towards people who've been here a long time and that's why congress seems so out of touch
Because it's the people who are winning the current elections
They're the ones actually most in touch with the sentiment
They have the least power because they know the least amount of people in in congress
They're the most junior in committees term limits just levels that out and it gives you a shot to get in there
Get on the relevant committees have impact
Uh and not have to wait 20 30 years before
Uh, you really have a voice
I want to get you adrian, but I do want to ask you a quick question about the term limits and grandfathering
Uh members of congress in for the time being if if you were to use some kind of grandfathering clause for members of congress
Make the 12 years start at this point or the next election so that those who have kind of garnered that senior
Uh can actually keep it for the next 12 years
I would let them stay in but I would reset the clock on seniority because if you
Don't then you're you're you're not doing justice by members of congress who
Are coming in and having 12 years without the opportunity to become a committee chair
I mean, I understand people who want to stay longer if you've been here
12 14 years and you're finally going to become a committee chair. It's probably worth staying longer
But if you reset the clock for everyone everyone will have those
Opportunities, but I think grandfathering people in in terms of saying okay
The clock starts now is probably at least one way you can get people to vote for it
Oh, yeah, thanks for thanks for bringing me up
Uh, so so in in in your in your reform proposal, there are a few things, of course
You know, you have campaign finance lobbying restrictions term limits and you know supreme court
Code of ethics and of course, you know stock trading restrictions
What I would like to ask you is is what of the efficacy like at the risk of stating obvious?
How would you push for these reforms as as this is quite disruptive to those who are
Benefiting from the existing system. I would initially wish to stick to that system by any and all means and also
As part of fixing it wouldn't it be interesting if you could say for instance have funding restrictions in terms of
Location so say for instance if i'm running uh in some capacity
Locally, then I should be only locally funded. What are your thoughts on that?
On the ladder I I probably disagree with that because I think these races have become nationalized and so
Even though most of my funding comes from the bay area
if someone agrees with my views on
Reproductive rights or agrees with my view as a gun violence or on medicare for all
I think they probably should be allowed to support me from wherever around the country
That because i'm not i'm running for it to be a united states congressman. That's it. I think that
Ideally you would have people be able to make that decision by having these democracy dollars hundred dollars which they can then spread out over
Over federal candidates in terms of how do we get a vote on it?
Well, we've had votes on these things before we had the stock disclosure act where everyone has to disclose that
The stock trades that they they they make
You know, I followed it monthly in terms of
My wife is in a diversified trust and everything in that trust is disclosed monthly for seven years
Uh, no, I doubt members of congress wanted to vote for that when obama was there
But there was a scandal about stock trading and that's what got done
And I think that this the opportunity to do this really was in coven when you had those senators under scrutiny for dumping those stocks
So that was a scandal and we kind of missed the moment and we tend to
Against parochial interest when we're embarrassed when there's a scandal
And so I hope we don't have to wait for another
embarrassing scandal, but
Need to just emphasize that this is something
the american people care about
We should get a vote on it because it's exceedingly popular. It's good politics
But there's one thing I would still kind of like push back on and that is the funding itself and again
You know limiting limiting it to be regional because let's imagine for a second you're getting funding from somewhere else
Like sure it's a little bit nationalized and such
But the effect is still regional right?
so if the nation now decides what is to be done for the region that kind of
Defeats the purpose of having anything be regional in the first place, right?
And so I think limitations like that would be good given that say for instance
If i'm a really rich person from somewhere else and I wish to control the narrative in another region
I could just outbid everyone financially and run and run the campaign as such
So, I mean you I mean I get it. I get it obviously, but I think like what why not?
Well, that's why I would ban super PACs that I would ban
Uh pack and lobbyists money. So if you're a really rich person, you can't have an influence, but if you're giving
I don't feel strongly about the the local versus national the vast majority of members of congress
Again, most of their support in their uh regions
I feel more strongly about getting rid of the the lobbyists
and uh PAC money and the super PAC money
You know, I guess if they're activists that want to support Bernie Sanders around the country for his Vermont senator race or
Ted Cruz because they agree with his ideology and just picking up two sides
I'm not I guess I don't have that much of a problem with that as long as it's diluted what I have a problem with is
setting up these massive super PACs or
bundling PAC and lobbyists money, uh and and distorting
views of uh of representing his or her constituency
Yeah, sure. I mean that that does that does make sense
But still I mean that is something that also still has an attack vector
Right because I could just even if you have dilution
I could just organize it a different way
I mean we're going to see something similar happen to say with all the immigrants that are pouring over the border
We'll then actually do inverse control of the nation by voting locally, right?
So now we have that extrapolated backwards, right?
And so I think we're seeing the same thing in a financial setting because you can just make it appear a different way
Like transparency here is exceedingly limited which is why I mean, I don't necessarily
I'm not the type of person who would advocate for a say a flat-out banning of certain activities
But this would be one such case where essentially the inverse of that still leaves open various vectors of attack
Which shouldn't exist in the first place, but I mean still thank you though
I know it's a I certainly would ban it maybe for local races mayor oral races
You could say don't get money from outside your your your your jurisdiction
A senator a congressperson is a national representative from an area, but their job is to
To look at at the nation, but if you limit the individual contribution, unless people are doing things illegal
I'm giving money to other people to contribute with strong donors you I do think you can
Uh get at a lot of it, which is uh, not having a few people control
Yes, I I want to get to be diligent I know he had his hand raised for a while
But I I do have a question about the stock trading. Uh,
What would you propose would you still allow members of congress to trade stocks or maybe some sort of fund maybe an s&p 500 fund?
Something like that. I'm assuming you don't want to just cut off all their ability to invest, right?
No, I would have the same thing that you have to do as a the executive branch, which is
either you they can be in an index fund or they can be in a trust that is
uh diversified meaning that that trust has to be
Have a lot of different stocks in it. Not not just in a particular concentration of
Uh a few stocks or few industry and be independently managed and managed
Uh so that they're learning about it
When those trades are are disclosed and that's what we do with the executive branch
We have that office of congressional ethics that i'm an office of government ethics that does that
We could have the same requirements for members of congress. So
In fact, if there was something like that for members of congress that they'd probably take advantage of it is right now
It's so hard to do and set up because there is no equivalent
In congress, so whereas if you're appointed to the cabinet or if you're appointed, uh to the white house
You meet with the office of government ethics. So they tell you exactly how you avoid conflicts of interest
All right, go ahead diligent
Yeah, uh, thank you brian and ed for hosting this and thank you congressman row
Even though we don't agree on a lot of things politically. I do believe that this is a bipartisan effort, right?
We need to route the corruption out of our government. It doesn't matter what
Ideological side you fall on please go if you guys are listening go down in the bottom right corner repost this space
We need to get the audience numbers up get a lot more people hearing this and involved
but my question for you congressman row is
I know that lobbying is a big part of the corruption in congress
Many representatives are offered these cushy lobbying jobs after they get out
Is there any way that you guys are trying to address this through legislation?
Yes, one of my provisions is that members of congress and senior staff shouldn't be allowed to become lobbyists
There should be a lifetime ban. I mean think about it. I don't understand how this is legal
I've been on armed services for eight years. I'm spending time regulating
Uh the locket ratiot figuring out, uh what the defense budget should be
It is it is criminal that I could leave congress
Do anything for a year or do something different for a year and then join?
Uh ratiot or locket as a lobbyist. I think there should be a prohibition on
Joining in any advocacy capacity or senior capacity companies that you've been directly involved in
Regulating, uh in it overseeing because then I can go i've worked all these staff people who work for me
Uh and talk I could go talk to them about the interests of the company that i'm going to lobby for and this is so
Former members and chairs of these committees and who they go work for
It it used to be you know, the president of one
world war ii harry truman, uh when he was a former president
He was invited to speak by an association in washington d.c
And he wrote a letter saying i'm a bit embarrassed betty and I would love to come but we can't afford the trade fair
And would you be willing to pay for the trade fair?
It used to be that you didn't after politics you didn't cash out
I mean, this was the president truman of one world war ii and he died a poor man
Politicians sort of are becoming multi-gazillionaires after public service and I think that's what's rubbing people the wrong way
Thank you for that congressman row
Um, thank you for joining us as well congressman row, um
We're we're very happy to have you. We also have um in our space on our speaker panel. We have um, george santos
What you think about term limits and stock trading in congress?
Um, what are your thoughts on this issue?
Well, first of all row row
My former colleague row on the other side of the aisle who I have an immense amount of respect for
I just he hit all the nails on the head
Um, it's it's abhorrent the practices and uh, I really do hope that row since he's still there he can advance
Uh all these initiatives because they're honorable initiatives and they're initiatives that really put the priorities of the american people first and remove
the self-interest from politicians
Uh, and and the truman story is one that is so profound
When you think of the man who took us to victory in world war one
He couldn't afford a trade fair after he left his presidency
And fast forward to today. We have former presidents and former members of congress and former senators who are
Uh insanely enriching themselves and this is a bipartisan issue
This is this has no political affiliation both sides of the aisle commit this this type of behavior
And uh, I think that that's just to show and row just gave a great example. Um
Imagine being the chair of a committee
Leaving having a one-year ban and then going I mean the power in d.c
Very often people misunderstand where the power lies. The power does not lie in the member. It lies in the staff
30 40 years on the hill sometime members come and go it's very few exceptions that you have
Like congressman hale rogers steny hoyer and chris smith from new jersey that they're going to serve 40 42 years
Like these guys have been serving right?
So the power is really wielded by the committee staff and and the chiefs of staffs who go from one member to another
Takes a year break then he comes back
He's not going to need to go to his colleagues because his colleagues are just really putting names to bills
To the creativity of the legislative staff of the committee staff and all of that. They're the ones really wielding power
So that's where I think the congressman here is
Absolutely correct for a lifetime ban for everybody across the board because it's abhorrent and it's it's it's it's it's not fair because
no other person in the united states
Gets to trade with the same kind of information members and staffers do and no person in the united states gets to go
Inside baseball. Let's just put it that way that these people have so
This right here is a good public servant who is telling nothing but the truth with an issue that I went in as a priority. I
Got on bills that were to to prohibit stock
Stock trading for members of congress are severely limited to some things like row mentioned
So I think this is what we need to see more from congress and less of that rhetoric and vitriol of partisanship
So, uh, not not much to add other than to kind of echo what you just said
congressman conna if you don't mind me asking here and i'm not asking you to name names by any means but
Specific instances of possible insider trading that you've seen
from various congress people no matter what side of the aisle that
That should be investigated and
You know should somebody be calling for an investigation of those have you seen anything like that?
Well, first of all, let me uh, thank
You know, maybe we'll go viral now that he's commented on it
But the uh, I I think the extent that we have former members of congress of any party
Educate the american people of what goes on here and uh calling for reform
What my colleagues are doing in terms of the the trades they're making. I mean I
Didn't run to congress to to to to be the the whole monitor, but I will say that
There are people and and i've called them out before like unusual whales and quiver quantitative
have gotten detailed analysis of
Some of these trades and and in quiver quantitative case found
You know you have to be careful because sometimes these people who are trading are
You know harvard mba's are working at
Uh fancy wall street firms and they're about and they're just adept at beating the market or at uh at at uh
Being sophisticated in ways that unfortunately put ordinary americans at a disadvantage. So it may not be
Nefarious, but I think the broader point is that
People around the country feel that there is something fundamentally unfair. They don't trust congress
It's not like we're the congress that led this country to victory in world war two or that we're the congress that passed the civil rights act
I mean, you know, it's not like this congress these days have done something exceptional for the american public
And so we come in with a huge trust deficit
Solving this issue so that we can assure the american public. This isn't going on and won't go on
Uh is uh is worthwhile doing even if the vast majority may not be engaged in something nefarious
But I I I do think looking at quiver quantitative and unusual wells work
Uh is instructive because they've really dug into the reports of members
Uh, thank you so much congressman. We have katherine broadski that has a question for you. Go ahead kathryn
Thank you sarah. So my question is going back to the lobbyist side of things. So
There is a reason for lobbying to exist because it can give voice to certain organizations that can sort of unite together and and reach
politicians on the other hand
It's very clear that that has gone way way way behind what it should be and these lobbyists are very powerful
Right that there's it's it's literally its own industry and we know that once an industry sort of forms around something
It's very very difficult to dismantle it. So i'm wondering
You know, they're gonna fight to finale
So i'm wondering what are some strategies that you might suggest or might feel are appropriate for tackling that and
kind of disassembling that lobbying
Industry, so it's one thing to create sort of rules around for politicians
You know, you still have such a powerful
Group of people so curious to hear your thoughts on that
Well, I think taking away their money is a is a big
aspect of it, I mean if they can't
For politicians, I think that will diminish their
I I do think having more transparency on this bill writing process is important. I can't understand why we can't put
Bills online while they're being drafted
I mean, you know, you don't have to represent silicon valley as I do to have used google docs, right?
I mean any other workplace you're working on a document. Most people have access to it while it's going through revisions
It's only in the united states congress that the congress people don't get to see this stuff
24 hours or 48 hours before voting on it and suddenly you've had all these lobbyists behind doors talking to these staffers getting different
provisions put into these massive bills put that bill
While it's being drafted online and let the american people see what's coming in and out
Disclose every any lobbyist that has a conversation
With a staff member in the legislative process should have to be disclosing immediately
if they're if they're talking
legislation, so I would have a lot more
Transparency and I would take away
the lobbyists ability to to
To to contribute and I think that would
Open the process. I think those are really you know, I think that's
Definitely a good thing to do is to have that more transparency disclosure
That I found myself that was sort of for example a bill that really surprised me with the no-knock
And what had surprised me when I started talking to conservatives who seemed to have been voting it down or republicans who've been voting it down
Is that they were saying well, we're not opposed to it
It's just that gets bundled in with a whole bunch of other things that we don't agree with so
It made me kind of look a little bit more into this whole idea of bundled bills
And what i'm seeing is that there's a lot of times where?
These bills get bundled together on purpose and then they don't like really good bills don't end up passing any thoughts on that
I I think this is one of the biggest
Corrupt practices in washington and I I wish you know, and I don't mean this as a partisan comment for the republicans
Listening. I hope they'll take this
With the right right spirit and maybe get reform. I wish that the people were
Pushing who ousted mccarthy and saying let's have votes on single issue bills
Were true about that like let's look at the current
Debate on the funding on ukraine and the border and israel
Whatever you think of the border, right? I probably the republicans have a very different view on some of the border issues that I do
Uh fine, let's have a debate on that and voted it
But why are we linking that to ukraine funding like I support ukraine funding people who don't support it
They should make the argument don't support it and just have a vote
Up or down and let people who are opposed to it make the argument that you know conna is wasting taxpayer dollars
And let me make the argument why we need to stand up to putin and why it's effective and have a vote
To the immigration debate and then have a vote on the border issues force me to vote on
The border wall force me to vote on things that I may disagree with
But we vote too little in this town and we link everything in these big things
I rather we go on record on key issues with up or down votes and not have all this linkage
And then let people know exactly where folks stand
yeah, I think it makes I think it makes sense to
Have congress vote and then we vote them out if we don't like how they vote, right?
Congressman I had a quick question and then I know there's some other people that want to comment
It looks like your full resolution was brought online back in november 29th of 2023
So do you feel like enthusiasm for this has picked up or is it slowing down?
Where are you at with this today?
There was a lot of enthusiasm when we introduced it much more than I thought candidly
I mean, I I just said let's do this let's
Package this together and and I want to give credit to a lot of other people in congress who worked on this
I mean they've like I said abigail spandberg or chiproy on both sides of the aisle jody errington on term of his brian transpatrick
On both sides and I did I just sort of
Brought it together and said here are the few four or five points we could all agree on and it somehow touched a nerve
And got shared with a lot of people, but we're building momentum. I mean david traum for example today
Maryland congressperson person said he wants to make this a key part of his
Senate campaign and he wants to endorse it. I just think one at a time
Hopefully we get more and more people joining on to this and you know if they agree with four out of the five
Provisions fine. I mean they can you know, they can still sign on and put out a statement
That they don't agree with one of the provisions
But the point is we've got to get a momentum around this idea of reform. I I think there's got it
Democrat or republican which obviously has a big difference in world view
We should have a reformer or not reformer
distinction in congress and
And and ask them some basic questions. Would you sign on to a
Bill banning stock trading. Would you sign on to a bill banning pack money?
Would you sign on to members of congress not becoming lobbyists?
It should be shocked how many members still wouldn't sign on to those things and
And and force some of these people to take stances
But I I think this country is fundamentally in a direction of reform. We've been what we've been voting for reform
Is since and changed candidates since as long as I can remember it my adult life
We keep voting for reform. We don't necessarily like the reform candidate we get but people want change
Go ahead george. I know you started speaking before uh ed cut you up
Oh, that's fine. I was just gonna uh piggyback something there on not what roe was saying
Um in conference, so the gop has our conference dems have their caucus in conference
Myself and many others would scream until we were blue in the face
Ukraine funding has nothing to do with the u.s. Border or the u.s. Border has nothing to do with israel
Israel has nothing to do with the debt limit and so on and so forth. The problem is is that
Drunk and I don't care who's the chair. I don't care who's in the chair if it's republicans or democrats
everybody across the board is equally guilty of taking advantage of distracting the american people from
From allowing members of congress to take and have accountability to the votes they take
They don't like voting things straight up or down
But they'll vote up or down on stuff when it's all packaged
In some crazy thing and it has a beautiful name on it and then whatever bill you want to call it, right?
So if it's a 2017 tax cut or if it's the build back better or whatever the case is
It is all theater because nobody's willing to go vote on these independently and individually
The one thing that roe just said that I will agree with him again
And this is the very rare moment that I agree so often with a democrat
Um, but it's not hard to agree or throw on a lot because he's a normal human being he's a good democrat
Um, the the other thing that we fail to do in congress and being there for
11 months I can say this we didn't vote enough
We would go into town sometimes
We'd vote at 6 30 on fly-in days and then the next day we would vote again
And then we would adjourn debate some bills and then not even go back and vote in the evening
Voting is is almost non-existent specifically the 118th congress, but in general, I can't speak for past congresses
We don't vote enough. We we're barely in dc
You know, the schedule is so weird
It's like it's almost like if it's not part of a members of congress's job and that that's something that just has to change
Voting on reform as roe just said is is what congress has been all about but I think that reform on on this
Behavioral pattern needs to really be you know addressed so that that's that's something that not a lot of people
Are have the courage to go out there and say
Did you have something you respond there? Well, or should I go to one of the questions? Well, I appreciate that. I I agree
Completely there. I mean I appreciate that he and others were
uh working on getting a single issue vote and to me that would be a
A huge reform. I also think that I I don't understand why people sometimes they get to congress that they become
Deferential and I I said this recently I criticized
President boston whose reelection I support but I criticized his strikes in yemen and I said they were
Unconstitutional and he should have come to congress before and and and I believe i'm correct on the war powers resolution interpretation
People may have a good faith argument that president has that power
But I remember the president was asked at a clip and and he said what do you think of these members of congress are?
Saying you're wrong and he said
They're wrong and I was asked about it on television
I said well the president is wrong and one of my colleagues came up to me and said
How could you say that the president of the united states for our party is wrong?
And I said the last I checked as a member of congress. I don't work for the president
You're elected to be independent. You're elected to have your view on the constitution
And so these people they run these tough campaigns. They spent their whole life to get to congress
And then there's this just sense of hierarchy that we're just going to do what the party tells us to do
And that's what the american people hate
We're a country that fought a revolution for independence. We want independent minded people
We want people who are going to vote their conscience right or wrong
And then if we get thrown out you get thrown out you let the chips fall where they may
But I I think that there's this sense of people that the people are just going along with things in
In washington and and the american people are tired of it
Yeah, I was kind of gonna piggyback off of the single item bills that are kind of like concise like how exactly
Propose that this is being done
So I think you know for instance if we have one of these big bills
Well, like basically condense it down into just basically a concept
And then to have that be a proposal that people can actually sink their teeth into
And then later vote on and then expand upon as opposed to just drafting up these five thousand page bills
That then just confuse everybody right like how would you uh, would you have something there because I think it kind of cuts into
Aligning proposals in this reform to public opinion, right? So do you have something in that regard or?
Yeah, look I would say they'd have to be germane to a particular subject
And obviously there's going to be debate about that right now. Do you define what constitutes climate? How do you define what constitutes?
How do you constitute what constitutes health care and people will always try to uh to to to to say what's germane and not germane
germane and you could have a rules committee determine if that's the case or not, but some of it is pretty obvious as uh, you know, uh
Sad, I mean it's it's it's not rockin sides that the debate on immigration and the border has very little to do with ukraine
I mean, I get the republican argument you you how can you care about ukraine's border and not our borders?
But that's rhetorical. I mean have I have no problem with republicans bashing me on my immigration policy
But don't link that to ukraine. I mean just
you know have people vote on
different issues on common sense and
Uh, those are the there's so much of how washington is operating that it defies
Uh a common sense and I and I think the american people intuitively get that
Why do you think that we're not seeing more single issue
Bills coming out. Why do you think there is always a bundle?
That that then becomes so debatable and then after a while nobody wants it
Because it's so hard I think to get things through sometimes congress that they say okay
the the the the we will only get ukraine funding, uh, if we
Give on immigration and we got to make this big deal to get the votes and the numbers
Make the case make the case to jade evance who's
More questioning it and it make the case that you know, we should fund it even if we have to ultimately have negotiation
You know what if you if you don't have the votes, you don't have the votes then we move on
That's politics, but don't try to link it with four other deals to try to get these things done. I I just
I I don't think that's the
That's transparent and I think the the the the the the the temptation is always
Okay, we're we're gonna try to get
everything we possibly can
Uh into uh a deal and have some grand deal to get the votes, but it ends up
Uh, it really creating confusion and frustration
Well, I think that it creates confusion and frustration for the american people as well
We see it every day on this platform people talking about like the hidden pork that's hidden in these bills
And that is frustrating to people that want to see more single issue items being brought
That is part of the frustration, especially what we see every day in spaces. We
There are spaces that are hosted every day
We have spaces hosts on this stage that are talking about single issues and that want it to be
Just that a single issue and I think I as a voter would love to see
less fat and pork added to a bill and more
About the the essence of what people really want single issues
Um, if you want to talk about immigration
Have an immigration bill if you want funding for ukraine
Have a bill that solely for the funding of ukraine. I know that that is sort of a pipe dream
That is i'm a person that's not that's not in the government. I know that that's a bit of a pipe dream
But do you think that we could ever get to that point where we are more about single issues instead of rolling?
Sort of an all for one into a bill
I think at the very least we should start with some very big picture issues. I which is
Don't link foreign policy judgments of the united states with domestic issues, right?
I mean, okay, even if we can't
Have single issue at all the budget and I I agree there's a value in having as much single bill
Votes and and not tying them together
Can we at least agree that israel and ukraine are separate issues from immigration or domestic spending and have the upper-down votes?
I I guess I don't understand
People are hesitant to do that
If you're a republican who is opposed to ukraine funding have the confidence of your convictions and go
Have a debate on on the house floor and with the american people and say
Your views and let the votes fall where they are
And if you're a democrat to have the confidence in your positions and support the president's funding and let that let that happen
I mean have your views that run this spectrum of whether we should have
Unconditional aid whether we should have aid that is conditional whether we shouldn't have aid
Have that debate and then and then vote on it
And I I think part of it is that members of congress are scared that they don't want to be taking a lot of difficult votes
And they don't want to fit it and this is the irony. I mean they win 98 percent of the time as incumbents
So so really you think a controversial vote is going to make your re-election prospects 90 percent. I mean are you that
Insecure just just have people take tough votes. That's why you run for the united states congress
Hi, sorry, I had to swipe through to my microphone. Um, I just wanted to let anyone know in the audience that um,
Congressman ro did introduce this on the floor. There's a youtube video on his website
I can post into the comments if you'd like to view it for more clarity
I don't think we need to play it here. But my question for you is um based on some of the comments
I'm seeing in different group chats and based on some of the comments in this
Um thing we call the purple pill at the bottom, which is a a text chat, I guess comment chat
Um, what inspired you initially to put this resolution out there? Like what was so what was like that one moment that you were like
You know, I had introduced the pack and no pack act before I had uh
I had uh introduced or co-sponsored some of the the banned stock trading
But i'll tell you what what inspired and say I I really believe in this country and i'm i'm still
Optimistic and hopeful about it people often say why what is it like to to to to to be in congress?
And I say, you know, look my grandfather spent four years in jail
Alongside gandhi fighting for india's independence. My parents were immigrants to this country
My parents couldn't have gotten a meeting with a staff member to a member of congress
I was born in this country's bicentenary and every time I walk into the capital
I pinch myself that I am part of
Congressional body and have a say in this country
And i'm so hopeful for this country for all that it's given me for the chances that it's given so many people and it pains me
That our congress is in such disrepute. It's something that I dreamed of
Doing uh as a young man being in the united states congress. I read three times to get here
It's it's an incredible honor and people kind of laugh at us. I said, what has happened to our country?
How how has this become the country of madison and jefferson and lincoln?
You're the greatest political thinkers in the history of humanity and and this is where we are
We've got to find ways to restore
Faith in our democracy to restore faith in our country to stop calling each other names, you know, magga
Republicans this democrat extreme leftist to talk about being american again and a common sense of purpose
And I thought maybe this political reform
Could be a vehicle for that. It's ultimately it's not just about banning stock or banning pack body
It's trying to find a way for us to talk to each other again as citizens to renew our spirit of
Democracy where we respect each other where we try to build something positive about this country
There have been so many people who have sacrificed so much for america and we've we're kind of the inheritor generation
we're the generation that has inherited a lot of a lot of things that institutions and
I I want to make our mark on the country
And and so I I view this as something that I thought maybe it can help bring people together
And I that was the most exciting thing to me
You know people, you know
Call me an extreme leftist sometimes and criticize me suddenly suddenly they're like, all right, bro
Even a clock can be right twice a day and they're like, well, we agree with kind on this
I was like great. Maybe maybe we could find a way to have a common conversation in this country
All right, go ahead aisha
I hope I pronounced that right. I know I get it wrong. No time. It's aucia
Go ahead aucia. Thanks. Sarah. I'm brian. Thanks for the space. Uh, congressman roe
Uh, I had a quick question for you
Do you think that the pushback on funding in ukraine could possibly be tied to?
The decline in the standard of living that we used to enjoy specifically access to affordable housing and education
Sure, this is why i'm saying this is the white house all the time you can't preach that it's mourning in america. I mean it's not
Talk to folks. Yeah, they saw a video on tiktok the other day and this nurse was talking about her health care premium having doubled
And her auto insurance having doubled you can't afford rent not just in my district around the country
So many people can't afford rent in this country. They can't dream of buying a house. They're drowning in college debt
Child care is over ten thousand dollars a day
Incomes are basically stagnated since 1953
To 1979 income growth was real income was growing at two percent now. It's growing at about one percent
We haven't had a growth in productivity
The large parts of this country have had economic decline
And you've got ten trillion dollars of market value in silica valley in my district and people are saying where do I fit in?
So and then they see that the country is engaged in these overseas wars and you know
We're the richest country of the world and most powerful bombing one of the poorest countries with yemen
I'm not in any way defending utis
They're terrible at what they're doing but it's just kind of people are saying okay
We're spending all this money trillion dollars on defense where now we're going to give money to
To other countries and what about us? What about the the american dream?
And I I think we first have to understand people's anger and frustration
And sense that they've been left out
And and address that and and and and acknowledge that so I absolutely agree with you that uh
Now i'm supportive of ukraine funding
I'll make the case that I do think is very important to stand up to putin and stand up for
territorial integrity, but I understand why people are
Uh upset about us ignoring sort of domestic needs
Sarah I I think you have some audience questions that you want to ask karo
I do there are people that are asking more about um single issue
Bills do you think that that is something that will ever be on the table or do we always have to do a bundle?
Gates and all led the reform of get toppling mccarthy. I thought they got this as one of their concessions
So I thought johnson was going to go for that
I'd support that I I if if I would ask for that reform if we're in
In charge and and i'm hopeful that we could get there now. I
I think it should start out with maybe the simple thing like let's
Not have foreign policy to be voted with domestic policy. Let's not have economic policy be voted with
Uh, you know policy that is uh defense. I mean, let's just start with some really high level
single votes, but you know to to to to to to george santa's support earlier
We just need to vote more and and and be open to taking
Controversial votes that that's why people come here
Uh, thank you. We have adrian with a question and then miley go ahead adrian
Oh i'll pass quickly to miley
Someone just texted me i'm happy to keep going
It's been about an hour or maybe we can uh wrap up by 10 hour and a half
Would that get most people's questions if if we do that or?
That would be great ten o'clock as your as your limit sounds good to me. I got any sleep suits
Yeah, so my question for you congressman is if you were able to push this through
What would you do with your like?
I don't even know if you have a personal portfolio of stocks
But what would happen to them if this were to be pushed through?
Well, I don't have a personal portfolio and I never have traded. I grew up middle class and uh,
Uh, i'm not wealthy, but I married someone who is wealthy. I married
a a daughter of a immigrant
Entrepreneur who created an auto transmission business in ohio and uh as a result she's
done very well and uh her funding is in a
diversified trust that is independently managed and most of the bills that
Spanberger others the trust act allow for that and require that so
I I think that when people look at the details of these bills, they'll find that they're actually very reasonable. They're not
Either the member or the spouse to do dramatically different things
They're just saying don't sit there either as a member spouse engaging day trading engaging in uh trading stocks yourself
Yeah, uh kind of to finish off with uh, this kind of question
I want to piggyback to say funding basings with you know for other countries and say the standard of living
Xi Jinping's visit to san francisco, uh, they cleaned up the city
With existing funds and when that happened, I was like wait a minute
What if this similar effect exists elsewhere kind of alluding to a problem where it's not an issue of how much funds we have
But how they are allocated being used that there may be some sort of
Efficiency in that and I can only imagine where else this would be the case
Would you have anything particular in mind to say for instance?
Search for these other kinds of places where efficiencies may be at and how would you resolve them?
I'm, not sure I fully understand the question
But I I certainly heard a lot of people in san francisco say well if they could do that with gg pings visiting
All year round and I I still haven't gotten an answer to my question. Yeah
What was it about it was about the funding it's like hey, we've done all this we have done all this with existing funding
That was kind of like the prime key here. Um, that's not necessarily money. That is the issue
It is how it is being used as the issue, right?
Yeah, look I I I I think we could do a lot more with existing funding in ways that are accountable
And there's no doubt in my mind that you have a lot of money that gets
Misallocated or isn't allocated properly and those are things as a progressive democrat who wants to spend more money, right?
I'm the democrat who wants to build new steel industry in america clean steel and i'm a democrat who wants to provide
Medicare for all I think one of the biggest barriers to doing that is
To have a view that government isn't efficient or government money isn't being well spent. We've got a
burden to show that we can efficiently spend money and
Anything that does that uh, i'm for and if there's more ways of having transparency or whatever we can do to
Uh to make sure existing resources are being effectively utilized. I think is important
So I I know katherine was raising her hand. I think it's just not showing katherine. Go ahead. Thank you
So, um, I wanted to ask like one thing that I noticed is that you know in the second to last election
I just i'm a little bit it's a full disclosure. There's an element of an outsiderness to me
I am canadian who's also lived in the us
So for me watching, you know, I don't vote for republicans or democrats
But one thing that I noted was that when um trump won
There was this kind of vilification of his demographic
But there wasn't this sense of like listening and thinking okay
This is what people are unhappy with because a lot of people who
Changed torses I guess so to speak were actual democrats
And I was wondering you know
All these years later, you know and and with biden and power as well
Has you know the things that you say I think a lot of people on all sides of the spectrum
You know, uh, I think tend to agree with
But how open are the conversations with your colleagues and how much how many of them are expressing this kind of
Um way of thinking and this kind of way of of advocating for listening to to people just to regular civilians
I'd love to hear just kind of an inside look into what it is for you in that context day today
I think we have to start with respecting all voters again
And i've said this in the democratic party. I I have I've opposed donald trump
vociferously I voted for his impeachment twice, but I have family members who voted for him and
sometimes I think we come off as
disagreeing vehemently with trump, but but but
Not respecting the people who vote in this country and if they're voting for trump, they're still
american citizens and they're worthy of being listened to and heard and we have to understand where
Their frustration may be coming from and what we need to be doing to
Find common voice a lot of people who I know voted for trump
Thought that we hollowed out our industry in this country
That we let our manufacturing base erode that we gave too many of our jobs to china and let steel and aluminum and uh
in factories just disappear
And that no one cared about those communities
We should argue with in my sense of why we'd have a better vision for
Bringing new steel or new industry to those communities
Insulting them and just reflexively saying that you know that they're calling them names
So I think we've got to start to go into these communities both
republicans and democrats into each other's communities and
And acting like like we're americans and listening with respect and being able to understand the humility to say no one has a monopoly on the truth
I don't think that's going to be 2024, but I got to tell you at some point. I think
people are going to want folks who are
Want to bring this country together?
You know, I hope i'm part of a generation that that will do that
Are your colleagues thinking along these lines as well?
Or is this still something that's uh, you know somewhat controversial to talk about because I know that you know
I I come from spaces that where uh, you know people very much hate trump and all of that but
Um, and and there is this very emotional rooting to it
But at the same time like everything that you said, I think is is quite critical, but i'm curious to know
Are are people sort of waking up to that?
Like, you know, it seems like you have I have um, so i'm wondering if that is something that that is happening
In in a in a greater quantity or not
You know, I I I think that there there's got to be a greater humility
in in my view on on the democratic party about why we lost certain voters and
why people are still supporting trump and
Instead of blaming them. We need to look at what we need to do better. You know, imagine you're a company that you're selling the iphone and
The iphone product is being rejected and you're in some company meetings that you don't want those those customers
They're really stupid. They didn't they didn't understand all the great features we put on the iphone
I mean who does business like that? They'd be like, well, what did we do wrong?
Why is our product not selling? What are the customers trying to tell us? I I I have so much faith
Ultimately in the american people, you know, I after I lost my election for congress twice
Uh went in different times at first I was like, uh, you know, uh
And then the first time I ran against the iraq war and I was like, what was I crazy?
I would never put myself at 27 to be in congress from that district the american people the people were right
And the second time they were probably right too. I needed a little more roots in the community. So when i've lost or won
People have a lot of wisdom doesn't mean every election they get it
Right, but over the long run I I rather trust
The instincts of the american people than any singular individual
and I think if the american people are telling us that they don't feel heard or that we've got to do better than the
Party needs to go and listen and and try to address it and then offer our vision of how we can solve those issues
How are we going to improve their lives? How are we going to improve their economic prospects? How are we going to bring new industry?
How are we going to win their trust?
And I I the times I have gone to talk to trump voters and others i've found as an indian american guy
From california from the bay area of hindu say they treat me with respect. They there's an open conversation
You got to get out of the bubble
You got to this is still the most open greatest country in the world and you've got to I think instinctively have a respect for
For people and if we do that, I think we'll win a lot of people back
So congress might have a question for you about one of the things you said earlier
You were talking about like medicare prolong and such and that uh, it sounded like what you're saying
Correct me if i'm wrong. It sounded like you said that the u.s. Government should be spending more money
Ever be able to trust that the u.s. Government can spend any money
Can I can have faith in my government that they're spending money efficiently when I can't even trust them to deliver my mail properly at this point
What what would be your argument for that?
Because most people trust medicare they uh, medicare is much more efficient than the
The private sector insurance. I mean we spent four trillion dollars in this country on health care
It's a total disaster with the private health insurance companies and uh private
Uh pharmaceutical companies fleecing the american people bipartisan by the way donald trump talked about having a single pair system in one of his
Early books and talked about how the pharma companies were fleecing
The american public. I mean we have 20 almost over gdp on this. It's a huge disadvantage for small businesses
People can't get a new job. I have never met. I mean, maybe i'm wrong. Correct me if you you have
I have met a lot of people who want to keep their doctor
I met a lot of people who want to keep their nurses
I met a lot of people who want to be able to go to their hospital
I've never been met someone who's like I really need my united health care card
Uh, you know, I I have one of these insurances and they deny half of my not half. That's an exaggeration
They've denied some of my prescriptions when I go to cbs of walgreens
So medicare would make every doctor in network. It would make every hospital in network. It would reduce the administrative costs
And and I I think it's a much more
Uh efficient way of running a health care system
But so why was that promise made under obama?
Why did barack obama say that if you like your doctor
You can keep your doctor if you like your plan you can keep your plan when that ended up not being the case
How would you have done that differently to the point where that would have actually been a true statement?
I mean, I think even the left-wing media was counting. That is one of the biggest lies of his administration
Well, look I I don't want to re litigate all of that
I I certainly was a supporter of the affordable care act, but I think that the simplest way is to expand medicare
People like medicare by large they're happy with medicare
I would expand medicare and have medicare cover everyone and it's a system that
Uh that that ultimately would work and I that's I think the the place where uh, we can
Uh win people over uh, at least that's that's that's my view
Um, so so I I wanted to get to the final hands here before I let you go. I appreciate it's been almost 90 minutes
Uh, I I love how you come into these spaces, uh, not knowing who's going to ask what question and and just
Having answers, uh, so I really appreciate that. Uh, let's go to myley and then uh diligent
Let's start with myley and see if we have time because
Um congressman I have an anonymous, uh
Um, they wanted to know and i'm just reading this this isn't my question. So I can't give you any additional transparency about it
They said they wanted to know about your proposal regarding transparency and reporting income campaign funds, etc. How to make that
How can we make what people report more transparent and visible and also enforcement who is going to enforce?
And what penalties will be handled down self enforcement hasn't been very effective in congress or with the supreme court end quote
Well, it's a great question
If a lobbyist comes and meets me
I don't have to report it if a lobbyist comes and meets a staff member on legislation. They don't have to report it
Requiring reporting any time a lobbyist is taking a meeting
And uh the purpose of that meeting and having it be online now
the the the enforcement of that would be
A stronger ethics committee in in the house, but a lot of it will be people online monitoring these things
I mean I the enforcement on a lot of the stock trading have been the social media accounts embarrassing people and journalists
So I I think if we move to greater
Uh, the the american people are very active and they they will
Understand what's what's going on?
uh, but we just have to get these things out of the the the back room and
Uh, let people know who's who's driving a lot of these decisions
So, uh, thank you ad and brian, uh row congressman row, uh, you said that there is bipartisan support
I know I think matt gates might have cosponsored your bill
Uh, how much support is there in within your own party?
For this legislation. Can you without saying any names? Is there a lot of pushback against it within your own party?
There is some pushback. There's there's a
I'd say 50 60 people whether they co-sponsored it or not support the general principles term limits for whatever reason has always been
More controversial in my party. So that's something that is a harder sell, but all the other things there's been
A fair amount of uh, uh support but but still i'd say
A minority of the caucus and we've got a we've got work to do in my my party and and and work to do on the other party
And I I think the biggest divide on these issues is the amount of years people have been in congress the newer members
Tend to be more on the reform side and some of the people who've been here a long time
Think things are working fine
Uh asia and then that will be the final question. Uh, thanks again, bro. It's asha. Oh, it's
Asiya i'm so terrible. Yeah. Thank you. Go ahead. I'll say
I know how you feel. Trust me
Thank you. I appreciate you and I saw that you're an alum of the university of chicago
I'm born raised. So I love that wonderful
Uh, I wanted to ask you so I know you're a big proponent of bringing manufacturing and innovation back to the states
Is there a certain category of manufacturing where you think that that's feasible?
A lot of it I I I look I um
I don't understand what we were thinking as a country to go from the biggest exporter of steel to the biggest importer of steel
To have nine out of the 15 top steel companies today now in china
To have lost all of our aluminum production lost all our paper production where we're now
Importing it from italy instead of doing it here
production on semiconductors
production on so much textiles
industry after industry hollowed out
Yeah, we would never have done that if someone said well, we don't need wall street
Let's just do let let london do all the finance
Or or we don't need tack let the netherlands do all the tack
Or we don't need hollywood let bollywood make all the movies. I mean we'd kind of laugh
But manufacturing somehow didn't didn't matter because we were addicted to cheap labor because we were addicted to
Lowering the bottom line and we're paying the price
We're paying the price because a lot of people in these communities that were de-industrialized are upset and they're justifiably upset
And they're saying I want change now. I don't think we can promise them
The factories of the 50s and 60s and 70s, but we don't have to we can say we can we can do the modern factories here
And that's the great opportunity. We can do the hydrogen powered steel and direct reduction steel
Here which will have lower carbon footprint, but also good paying jobs. We can do the next
Biomanufacturing here to make generic drugs, which is
Possible we can do the next
Semiconductor industry here. We can do clean aluminum here. We can
hollowed out places with modern technology in ways that are going to be better for workers and cleaner and I
I have a bill with marco rubio on creating a national economic development council
My view is if we had an economic vision, I call it a new economic patriotism
You can call it whatever you want of rebuilding the economy of this country in every congressional district
and reforming the the congress and and some of the things that are
So frustrating that those are ways that we can start to bring this this country together and ultimately that's
deepest aspiration I I want this country to to continue to be
the extraordinary place that my parents immigrated to and and a place that
Inspired me to go into politics that inspired me to go to town all meetings that
Inspired me to really believe in this democracy and it pains me that people are
Losing hope in our democracy in our country
And I don't think that has to be the case. So
You know, I I've really enjoyed this conversation
I've enjoyed it because usually you go on these things that you get
You know 50 percent or gotcha questions. I don't mind the gotcha questions
But i'm glad that people are talking about the issues for the country and I guess my request would be to help me
Uh, and if you like some of the things I said tonight, maybe
Point people to the the space and we can get more engagement more conversation
We need to do more of this in the in in this country and I appreciate really
You you're providing me the forum
Yeah, no, I I really appreciate you spending the time here
I I know elon was planning on coming and he had a product or a view meeting
I guess that hopefully means that we're going to get some new features on x pretty soon. Uh, but thanks for sticking around
You guys did one of the first uh
The x conversations and I I really appreciate your voice and I appreciate that you keep it bipartisan and you have people from a
Across the political spectrum and you're an independent voice and I think you're in many ways where a lot of people are
Yeah, um congressmen, I understand that you have to go i'm not sure if um brian and I didn't see my hand
But if um, if you do have i'm happy to take one more question
I appreciate brian and of course monitoring this but you have one final question. I
I'll uh, i'll do it before I have to go
I'll do the dishes or go back
Be a gotcha question because you know, you said you didn't get one of those yet. So
Happy to stay for a gotcha question, whatever you want
These are non censored forums
Okay, the pressure is on well, I appreciate it. Um, so my question is um kind of twofold
So I understand with the time wise but you know
The single issue bills in theory sound really good to me
But with the republican obstructionism and their refusal to even fund the government. I just wonder how
Achievable this is time wise and especially if trump wins reelection god forbid or whoever you believe in
Um, and they are able to implement project 2025 and dismantle all government agencies
So I just you know wonder if you could speak to that and um, of course that could be much
broader conversation and I also just want to say that I really really appreciate you, um having uh talking with us in this forum
And I would love it if um more of our representatives would come and have conversations like this with us
So thanks again for your time
well, thank you for that and uh
Appreciate that and like I said if people like this conversation, maybe you could
Tweet something out and and put something out about it because that can inspire other people to part participate. So I
Appreciate you're saying that look. I i'm very concerned about the hollowing out of of civil servants in government
and this is part of the the the the the conversation that we have to change people have lost faith in congress, but they've also
Sort of demonized government and then you look at what government does in terms of keeping airlines
safe and keeping our medicine safe and keeping water water clean and uh,
We have some understanding of the world and uh, the extraordinary service of our men and women in uniform
I mean, it's it's remarkable
I feel privileged every time I meet them and meet people who serve there are a lot of people in this country
We're doing good work serving our government and we need to stop demonizing them and we need to stop
Decisions that politicians have made to hollow out the american dream that the problem isn't the federal civil servants. It was
money corrupting an intellectual interest corrupting
Economic decision-making that privileged the short-term profit-making over the well-being of a lot of american people. So I
Hear you about a concern of the hollowing out of these agencies
And I would I would say though that doesn't mean that we can't have single-issue bills
I mean if they if they want to hollow out the agencies don't just have massive cuts across the board
worst them to have votes on okay, you want to hollow out the
Fda you want to hollow out the nih you want to hollow out the nsf. Let's look at what these agencies do
I would be very willing to defend
uh what they do and and and have that
Conversation and I I think if we focus on single-issue bills largely that we would be able to get
Funded because people would realize that there are a lot of things that these agencies do that are are very valuable
And there are a lot of very honorable people who
Choose to go into public service who could be making a lot more money doing a lot of other things and they're not going in
Uh to to the civil service to get their names in the paper
They're patriots many of them are patriots
uh, and it's uh concerning to me that the demonization of the federal civilian workforce
So with that, you know, I i've enjoyed uh, very much the conversation brian and ed i'm happy to do this again
At any point and i'm uh, i'm grateful for you giving me the opportunity
Absolutely. Thanks for being here and and like the congressman said feel free to share his plan
The more people that hear about it the better. Uh, thanks to all the speakers. Uh, you've been great great questions
I definitely couldn't have done it without you guys. I think I would have ran out of things to ask probably 45 minutes ago
Uh, but yeah anytime anytime you want to come back and do something like this again, uh, i'd love it
Thanks again, and everybody have a great night