[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 10, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H696-H700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FUTURE FORUM
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from California (Mr. Swalwell) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, we are here for another
Future Forum discussion, and tonight our topic is restoring our
democracy, campaign finance, and voting rights.
Americans agree, our voting system and our political system is
broken, and the integrity of our democracy is at stake.
Future Forum is a House Democratic Caucus group consisting of 17 of
our youngest members who have gone across the country to 11 cities,
now, talking to young people about their democracy and what they care
about.
We were just in Dallas this past Friday, hosted in the Dallas/Fort
Worth area by Congressman Marc Veasey, as well as being joined by
Congressman Ruben Gallego of Phoenix.
Today we are following up on what we heard in Dallas and what we have
heard in many of the cities before it, which is, for all the issues
facing millennials, many of them understand that, at the root of the
problem is the influence of outside money in politics and access to the
ballot box.
Joining us tonight is one of the leaders in the House on the issue of
money and politics, Congressman John Sarbanes of Maryland. He is the
lead sponsor of the Government By the People Act.
Also we will be joined by Congressman Kilmer, from the Seattle area,
and Delegate Plaskett, from the Virgin Islands.
So I am going to first ask Congressman Sarbanes this question, which
we have heard from so many millennials across the country: What can we
do to restore their faith in their government?
I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes).
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me thank the gentleman,
Congressman Swalwell, of the Future Forum, for convening us around
issues here in the Chamber and out in the country that are particularly
important and critical for the next generation out there, and what we
can do to bring their interests in, bring them into the political town
square, if you will, and get the benefit of their voices.
The gentleman is absolutely right to point to the challenge, the
problem we have. Many young people, many Americans of all ages these
days feel that their voice really isn't accounted for here in
Washington. Their sense is that there is kind of an insider game being
played, that big money and special interests hold particular sway in
this place, and the voice of everyday Americans, average citizens, just
doesn't have a place.
That has led to cynicism, it has led to anger, it has led to
frustration, and it has led to a lot of people deciding to exit the
political arena.
It doesn't mean they are not passionate about things. That is clearly
the case. You see a lot of young people who are focused on climate
change, on the economy, on jobs, on issues that are important to them.
They have just kind of given up that maybe Washington and Congress are
the places where important decisions and progress can be made on those
issues.
So the challenge for us is: How do we bring people back? How do we
get them back into the conversation so we can benefit from what a
pluralistic democratic society is all about, which is, you get people
in there, you tussle
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around, you put your views out, you reach a compromise, and then you
move forward? That is what progress is all about.
I think one of the critical ways to address this is we have got to
look at revamping the way we fund campaigns in this country. So the
gentleman is right to call attention to that, and we have a lot of
leadership here in the House that is focused on what we can do to kind
of restore the voices of everyday Americans.
I appreciate your citing the Government By the People Act, which is
reform legislation that we have introduced in this Congress. We have
almost 160 cosponsors, including, I think, everybody who is going to
speak this evening as part of the Future Forum.
The idea there is just to basically go build a different way of
funding campaigns that puts everyday citizens back at the center, so
they are the linchpin, they are the driver, where small donations can
earn matching funds and help to power the campaign of Members of
Congress and candidates out there who want to run and become part of
this place. There will be a place for candidates to turn to support
their campaigns other than to the special interests and the big money
crowd.
We can build a system like that that is viable, that puts everyday
citizens at the center of it. And I think if we do that, young people
and people, frankly, of all ages and stripes are going to decide they
want to step back into the political space because they will feel
appreciated again, like their voice matters.
{time} 1800
So I look forward to the discussion tonight, and I want to thank you
for your work on the Future Forum and particularly calling attention
tonight to this issue of money and politics, how we address it, and how
we bring the voices of everyday citizens back into the mix into the
people's House.
Mr. SWALWELL. I want to again thank my colleague from the Baltimore
area in Maryland.
I want to ask Congressman Kilmer. The Future Forum went to Seattle.
We visited college campuses in the Tacoma and Seattle area. We went to
a couple of the big businesses in your area with a millennial
workforce.
We heard in Tacoma the same thing that we heard when we went to the
Manchester, New Hampshire, area and the same thing that we heard in the
Dallas area, which is that millennials just think that the system is
rigged and there is no reason to participate. The numbers show that.
Roughly 22 percent of the eligible millennials showed up to vote in
2014.
What are you hearing in the Seattle area about this issue?
Mr. KILMER. I think that is pretty consistent with what we hear in
our neck of the woods. You saw in the last election season two-thirds
of Americans cast a no-confidence vote by not voting at all, and those
numbers are even worse when it comes to millennial voters.
I think as Mr. Sarbanes said, it is not that they don't care, there
are a lot of things that they care about. But it is, I think, out of a
fair belief that there is too much money, too many deep pockets, and
too many special interests that are driving our democracy.
This week Politico came out with a report that the 100 biggest donors
of the 2016 cycle have spent $195 million. That is more than the
combined total of 2 million small donors. So I think it is fair to say
that millennial voters see that dynamic and believe that their voice is
getting drowned out in the process.
Mr. SWALWELL. If you look at this chart here, 158 families gave
nearly 50 percent of the early 2016 donations. How does that make you
feel?
If you are a part of the largest generation America has ever known,
80 million people, the most diverse generation America has ever known,
how does it make you feel when 158 families are contributing over 50
percent?
Mr. KILMER. I think it drives the importance of some of the change
that we are talking about here tonight. Certainly, the Government By
the People Act is a key part of that, trying to get the deep pockets
and special interest influence away and actually empower the everyday
American and millennial voters.
There are other things we have to do as well. You see this problem
exacerbated by the Citizens United decision. Many of us are cosponsors
of a constitutional amendment to undo that Supreme Court decision.
You have seen efforts focused on trying to at least shine a bright
light on where some of this dark money is coming from. There is a bill
called the DISCLOSE Act that at least tries to focus on that issue.
Then the other thing that I have worked on is trying to put the teeth
back into the watchdog of our campaign finance system. So, after
Watergate, you saw the Federal Election Commission established. That
was really meant to be the watchdog to make sure people weren't
violating campaign finance law and that they were playing by the rules.
Unfortunately, as time has passed, the Federal Election Commission
has almost become as dysfunctional as the United States Congress. The
consequence of that is people are playing fast and loose with the
rules.
You see the rise of super-PACs and this whole question of
coordination, particularly in the Presidential campaigns, and it is a
real problem. So we put forward a bill that is called the Restoring
Integrity to America's Elections Act. Very simply, it tries to put
teeth back into the Federal Election Commission.
So there are all sorts of things that we have got to do on this front
to try to reduce the role of money in our politics and to try to
restore the people's power back.
Because, if you look at some the extraordinary things that have
happened in this country, whether it be the civil rights movement or
advances made in environmental protection or any number of things, they
have happened when everyday Americans, citizens, are able to take hold
of their government and to actually make a difference in their
government.
I think each of us is trying to do that, certainly from a policy
standpoint. Next week I am doing seven townhall meetings in my district
to try to make sure that everyday Americans have a voice in their
democracy.
But you look at charts like that and I think it makes it very hard
for people to feel any sense of impact and efficacy and feel like their
voice is being heard. I think it is an important conversation for us to
be having because we need to change that.
Mr. SWALWELL. Your proposals to have reforms with more teeth are
quite popular across the country. I don't know if you knew this, but it
has strong support across a cross-section of the electorate.
For example, majorities of Democratic voters, 72 percent women and 84
percent men, support small donor reforms. Independent voters, 60
percent of the women polled and 66 percent of the men polled supported
it. Among Republican voters, 57 percent of the women supported it, and
53 percent of the men have supported small donor reforms.
So I want to ask Congressman Sarbanes--and then I see we are now
joined by Congressman Veasey as well--how has money and politics also
worked to disenfranchise voters? Because Congressman Veasey and I heard
in the Dallas/Fort Worth area about how voting laws that have been put
in place have made it actually quite hard to show up and vote. We heard
about the purging of people from the voter rolls.
What is the connection there when you have outside interests drowning
out voices, putting in who they want as policymakers, and then the
effect on the rules that go into place as far as how we govern our
election?
Mr. SARBANES. You can talk about the effect on the rules. You can
just also talk about the effect on the enthusiasm for voting, period.
If people are convinced that money calls the shots, then they are
going to look at voting as just being asked to come out on election day
and decide which of two people to send to Washington to work for
somebody else.
Look at the issue of access to the ballot box and protecting access
to the ballot box. Last year I had the opportunity with many Members of
Congress to go down to Selma with John Lewis and remember the foot
soldiers from 50 years ago who fought for the right to vote.
We talked about protecting access to the ballot box. But just as
important is
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protecting the ballot box' opportunity to get to Washington without
being hijacked along the way.
Because that undermines the franchise, too. People bleed and sweat to
get to the ballot box. You have to make sure that ballot box is
preserved on its way to Washington.
So on one side of the coin, you have the right to vote, which is
sacrosanct in our country. On the other side of the coin, you have the
right to have your vote mean something. That is where we have to
address the undue influence that money has.
Two other real quick points before I yield back.
One is--and this is important, I think, to millennials, young people,
and the next generation--this question about what we do with money in
politics. It is not just about putting rules in place. Rules are
important.
You have got to have disclosure and transparency. You have to have
non-coordination rules so the super-PACs can't talk to the candidates.
You want to try and get a constitutional amendment to put limits on
what the big money players can do. But rules are putting a referee on
the field of the democracy to blow the whistle when the big money crowd
gets out of hand.
We need the rules, but we also need power. We need to figure out a
way to get Americans out of the bleachers and onto the field of their
own democracy. That is what small donor matching systems of public
financing are all about.
So it is about rules, but it is also about power. I think young
people are leaving a lot of power on the table that they can take back
to give themselves a voice in their democracy again, and they will be
at the center of that kind of reform. So that is why it is so critical
to push forward with all of these different measures.
Then the last thing I just wanted to point out is one of the things
that happens is young people want to run for office. They want to get
into the game. They want to enter politics. They want to come into the
political arena.
But, unfortunately, there is something called the money primary or
the green primary where, if you can't find a lot of people that can
raise a lot of money for you, then you have no way to be viable as a
candidate. So then you don't even put your hat into the ring.
One of the things that will happen if we can create systems of small
donor public financing across the country--and we are starting to see
that in places like Seattle, Maine, Arizona, Connecticut, New York
City, and so forth--is that people who before could never imagine
running because they couldn't raise the money because there is a system
that can lift them up, they will put their hat in the ring, they will
run, they will compete, they will win, and they will serve.
It will change the composition not just of Congress, but of State
legislatures all across the country. That is the promise of small donor
reform. Then we can bring young people in here. Then we can get the
benefit of their wisdom not just as donors and not just as small
donors, but as candidates and public servants.
Mr. SWALWELL. Thank you again, Congressman Sarbanes, for your work.
I want to empower young people across America right now,
#FutureForum. There is a poll right now: Do you believe Congress should
vote to update campaign finance rules? We have had over 100 responses
since just posting it. Ninety percent of the people say yes.
Congressman Veasey, we were in Dallas on Friday. We talked to
hundreds of young people about what issues they care about, especially
access to the ballot box.
What did you hear in Dallas?
Mr. VEASEY. Absolutely, Representative Swalwell. I appreciate you
taking your time to come out to Dallas/Fort Worth.
All the kids that were there, the college campus, the young
professionals that we spoke to, the business leaders that we spoke to,
really appreciated the fact that you and others in Congress are leading
the effort to engage young people and to engage millennials.
They make up such a large portion of our population. They are going
to continue to make up a very large portion of our population. We need
to engage them to find out what it is they are thinking.
One of the things that we heard when we were in the metroplex, as we
like to call Dallas/Fort Worth, is that young people feel like voting
is not necessarily easy, that some of the barriers that have been put
up recently in place have made it a lot harder for young people to
exercise their right to vote.
One of the young people that we met talked about the fact that they
had missed one election cycle, they went to go and vote, and they found
out that they had been suspended from the voter file, that they had
been actually purged.
Mr. SWALWELL. I remember that woman. How does she feel about that?
Mr. VEASEY. It was very discouraging for her. It makes it seem as if
the system is rigged against her, and she didn't understand why that
happened. That was really unfortunate.
One of the other things that I am aware of--because I am actually a
plaintiff in a lawsuit to roll back the Texas voter ID law--is a lot of
our young people, when they go to college, get IDs from their
university. At a lot of our State universities, they will get IDs.
These IDs are good if they need to identify themselves to a campus
police officer. If they need to be able to use the ID to get on a plane
or anything like that, these kids can use these college IDs.
But under the Texas voter ID law, a lot of our young people, if they
go back home to vote in their home counties and they show their student
ID card--a student ID card, again, that is issued by the State of
Texas--they cannot vote. They will be given a provisional ballot. It
won't count.
When young people hear things like that, it really discourages them
from voting. So we need to do everything we can to engage young people.
One of the things that I hear, Representative Swalwell, from a lot of
young people is that--for instance, the young lady that we met that was
purged from the voter roll--if there were same-day registration--
actually, same-day registration actually encourages young people to
participate in voting.
But a lot of States, like the one that I live in, won't do things
like that. They won't take that initiative. They won't take that extra
effort to engage young people.
It is no wonder that so many of our young people feel like the system
is really rigged against them, that, if they vote, their vote really
won't count. It is really, really unfortunate.
I would really think that, in the wake of the 50th anniversary of the
Voting Rights Act, there is really no better time to assure young
voters that they can play a pivotal role in our democracy and to
continue to urge them, despite what a lot of States like mine are
doing, to really discourage them from voting and discriminate against
them, that they will continue to take part in help shaping America. The
best way how you can do that is by voting.
Mr. SWALWELL. We talked to a lot of innovative young people in
Dallas. If I have learned anything about young people--and I remember
being up in Manhattan with Congressman Israel and Congresswoman Grace
Meng.
We were at a district co-workspace. The complaint we often heard
there was just about how darn hard it is to get to the polls and why is
it on a Tuesday. Why is it so inconvenient.
I want to have Delegate Plaskett speak to us on voting rights as
well, but in a moment I'm going to have Steve Israel talk to us about
weekend elections because people on Twitter right now are asking: Why
can't we have votes on the weekend?
Delegate Plaskett, can you talk to us a little bit just about voting
rights with respect to the Virgin Islands, but also what you are
hearing among young people.
Ms. PLASKETT. Thank you so much for putting this together for us to
be able to speak to the American people and speak to this body about
voting rights, its importance, and the difficulties, that many groups
are feeling disenfranchised from the voting system.
The Voting Rights Act is probably one of the most important pieces of
legislation that this Congress has put forward. It was passed in 1965
to prohibit discrimination in voting.
According to the Department of Justice, the Voting Rights Act itself
has
[[Page H699]]
been called the single most effective piece of civil rights
legislation. That was back in 2009 when they said that.
The Department of Justice has had a history of blocking racial
gerrymandering, which was covered in section 4 of the act. In 2006, the
Voting Rights Act was reaffirmed by an act of this Congress.
The Senate voted for it 98-0, and the House voted 390-33 in favor of
the Voting Rights Act, which lets us know that this is a fundamental
right that most Americans believe.
{time} 1815
But there are still these barriers that many groups feel. I know,
Congressman Swalwell, you have gone around the country. You have heard
from young people, you have heard from poor people, you have heard from
those who live in rural areas, the difficulty they have in exercising
this fundamental right.
In the Virgin Islands, we are facing an even greater constitutional
issue that we are bringing court cases to the United States about. Many
years ago, Congress decided that the right to vote was not a
fundamental right for people that were living in the territories.
Under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act, if you
live in the United States in any of the 50 States, if you decide to
move to Paris, if you decide to move to Timbuktu, you can still vote.
But if you decide that you are going to live in one of the United
States territories, you have given up that right to vote for your
President in your Federal election. In places like Guam, American
Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, we have the highest veteran rate
per capita in the United States. In the Virgin Islands, we have the
highest casualty rate per capita of people who have volunteered to
serve this country, but cannot vote for their Commander in Chief.
We are bringing case law--and I am part of an effort--to ensure that
people who decide to live in the Virgin Islands, who are from the
Virgin Islands, can retain that right to exercise their voice in our
Federal elections and not something that we are fighting for right now.
This goes along with many of the other what we believe to be historic
discrimination that has gone on. There is an enormous amount of racial
gerrymandering that is happening in this country. The great Mr. John
Lewis, our colleague, has issued H.R. 12, I believe it is, which is a
bill to expand voting rights and the ability for people to vote.
I know that as you go around this country and you speak with people,
Representative Swalwell, you will hear about the difficulties,
particularly those people who are discriminated against in many ways,
from their ability to vote.
One of the things that I recall writing about when I was in law
school was individuals who have been incarcerated and the ability that
they no longer have to vote. We know that in the Black community there
is a disproportionate amount of our young men and women who are
incarcerated and then have lost their right to vote. The difficulties
they have reinstating that right and that ability to vote absolutely
excludes not only their dignity and their ability to voice their
opinions, but they are feeling part of the American Dream, feeling
included in this American mission. What message are we saying to them
when they need to be reintegrated back into this country and to be
productive citizens that they can work, we want them to work, we want
them to do everything that they are supposed to do, but they cannot
have that fundamental right to vote.
These are the things that I am glad you are speaking about tonight
and that you are making the American public available to. I don't know
what the Twitter feed is working on right now, but I am hoping that
people will tweet about this and will get this word out and will really
create an echo chamber of young people, and even those who are not
young, who are concerned about millennials and concerned about the next
generation being able to be a part of the American process.
Mr. SWALWELL of California. I thank Delegate Plaskett. That was so
eloquently said.
On Twitter right now under the #futureforum, people are speaking
about their democracy and their right to access the polls. Anna Little-
Sana tweeted: Election day should be a Federal holiday! Kel tweeted:
Elections on Saturdays sounds like the easiest and least controversial
solution.
Congressman Israel, what if someone introduced the Weekend Voting
Act? Wait, someone has, and he is here.
Mr. ISRAEL. What a coincidence.
Mr. SWALWELL of California. Tell us about that.
Mr. ISRAEL. What a coincidence this is.
I want to thank my friend from California for his leadership in the
Future Forum, traveling the country, engaging young people and
millennials on the critical issue of participating in government. I
don't qualify as a millennial.
Mr. SWALWELL of California. It is a mind-set.
Mr. ISRAEL. I am slightly older than most of the audiences that you
engage. But I used to be a millennial. I used to be a young person. I
grew up in Levittown, New York, on Long Island. I remember going to
public school at Gardiners Avenue Elementary School and being taught
civics, being taught what it takes to be a good citizen, and what our
responsibilities and obligations were.
The principal responsibility and the principal obligation of a good
citizen was voting. You could vote to the left, you could vote to the
right, but vote. Now we are falling further and further behind on
voting because it has become harder and harder.
There is a particular Republican candidate who talks about how we
have to make America great again. Do you know what we are not so great
at? We are not so great at voting. In fact, we are falling further and
further behind the rest of the industrialized world. We are falling
further and further behind most democracies in our voting
participation.
Why is that well? One reason is because we reserve one day of the
year to vote in Federal elections, and that is Tuesday. I don't know if
my friend knows--here is a little history quiz, a little pop quiz, to
put him on the spot: Why do we vote on that Tuesday? Do you have any
idea why we vote on that Tuesday?
Mr. SWALWELL of California. I don't have the slightest clue, no. Why
do we?
Mr. ISRAEL. Here is the answer. In 1845, Congress decided that voting
day would be on Tuesday in November. Why? Because at the time we were
living in a mostly agrarian society, we were a farm economy, and Sunday
was the Lord's day. The polling places were usually in the county seat,
so Monday was the day that you traveled to the county seat. You got to
your county seat on Tuesday, you cast your vote, you returned on
Wednesday, and you farmed on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. That may
have made sense in 1845, but it doesn't make the same sense in 2016.
As a result of reserving this one Tuesday as voting day, most
Americans report that they didn't vote because they just couldn't vote
on Tuesday. Some people have two jobs, three jobs, and they are raising
families. As important as it is to be a good citizen and to cast their
vote, they are finding it harder and harder.
The solution is very simple. I am going to make another quick
comment. The solution is very simple. Allow people to vote on weekends.
Designate Saturday and Sunday for voting. You can do it on a Saturday;
you can do it on a Sunday. But we ought to designate weekend voting.
There are other democracies in the world, other nations in the world,
that have weekend voting, and their voting participation is much higher
than ours.
If there is one thing the government should do to make it more
convenient for middle class citizens and working families, it is make
it more convenient to vote, and we can do that on weekends.
Let me make one other point if I could. I made a decision that I
would not run for reelection. My decision was based on a broad range of
personal issues and personal considerations, personal desires, to do
other things. I have been here for 16 years. It is time to pass the
torch.
But I will tell you what. One of the factors was that I could not
stand to
[[Page H700]]
spend one more day asking one more donor for one more dollar.
We have a system that used to be dysfunctional. Now it is not
dysfunctional. It is just beyond broken. It is a system that tells
people around the country that their voices are drowned out. There is a
sense--particularly among the young people that you have engaged across
this country--that the only way you get heard in this place is if you
have a super-PAC or a registered lobbyist with you. Most middle class
families and most young people can't afford a super-PAC or a registered
lobbyist.
I am concerned that we have a majority right now that has made
Congress a gated community. We need to bring down those gates. The way
to bring down those gates is to pass campaign finance reform; it is to
pass the DISCLOSE Act, which Democrats passed when we had the majority,
requiring that people know who are funding elections; that we pass
weekend voting so it is easier for people to cast their votes and
choose their democracy, so that their democracy is not chosen by
literally a few hundred families, by passing something that our
colleague, John Sarbanes, talked about earlier: citizen-funded
elections.
If you want a stake in democracy and if you want to own democracy,
you should have a share in that democracy. We ought to be encouraging
citizen-funded elections, which are being done in States across the
country--Republican states, Democratic States. They are embracing
citizen-funded elections. We should be doing the same thing.
Mr. SWALWELL of California. You wrote a New York Times op-ed on this
that was very frank, very passionate, and I think, for a lot of people,
very disturbing to hear how much time Members of Congress have to spend
fundraising.
I just want to ask you as you start your parting tour, which I am
very sad to see, but have you met a single colleague in this Chamber on
either side--left or right--who told you that they came here because
they enjoyed raising money, or that that is the most enjoyable part, or
anywhere close to the most enjoyable part of their job?
Mr. ISRAEL. No. In fact, I did write a piece in the New York Times
that went viral. I received responses on both sides of this aisle--on
both sides--people saying: You are right, we spend too much time in
call time. Instead of thinking about issues, instead of thinking about
a robust foreign policy that is going to defeat our enemies, we spend
too much time trying to figure out a robust fundraising policy to get
reelected. Both sides of the aisle said that.
Not one of our colleagues enjoy fundraising. But, in my view, there
is only one party who is willing to do something about it. Pass the
DISCLOSE Act, support campaign finance reform, demand transparency.
The only way we are going to take this government back and make
America great again is to engage voters across the spectrum by lowering
the barriers that exist in this place. That is going to require the
DISCLOSE Act, citizen-funded elections, greater transparency, and
weekend voting.
Mr. SWALWELL of California. That is right. Both sides from my
experience acknowledge this problem, but only the majority has the
ability to bring this up for a vote on these reforms.
I always have the sense that we can all smell the burning and the
smoke in this House, but the fire alarm is on this side of the Chamber.
Until our colleagues are willing to pull it and bring these issues to
this floor, we are going to see millennials continue to think that the
system is rigged. It is not going to be any surprise when they show up
again at 20 to 25 percent at the polls.
In your district in Long Island, young people, what do they think
when they see all this money in politics, that they are the largest
generation in America, yet 158 families contributed over 50 percent so
far in the 2016 Presidential cycle? What do you hear from them as far
as whether that makes them want to engage or participate?
Mr. ISRAEL. I am very fortunate because I represent a district in New
York that is blessed with universities and colleges. We have a
wonderful infrastructure of university and college campuses, and I
toured those campuses and heard what you have heard: Congressman, my
voice doesn't count. Congressman, why should I vote when it makes no
difference? Congressman, why should I get involved in a campaign when
my $20 contribution, or my $3 contribution, gets drowned out by one
billionaire who is writing checks for millions of dollars for the
candidate that he supports?
I have said to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, it is bad
for all of us when an entire generation gives up on us. That is just
bad for democracy. That is bad for trying to accomplish anything.
I have also said--and people understand this, I believe,
intuitively--no matter what issue is important to you, no matter what
it is--more investments in education or infrastructure or national
security or your paycheck or the environment--no matter what it is, it
is all rooted in a system that doesn't allow progress on those issues
because it is rigged against progress on those issues.
People say: Well, what can we do? What is the one thing we can do to
get our voice back? Get this Congress to pass fundamental and
meaningful campaign reform and we will make progress on every other
issue.
Mr. SWALWELL of California. I will never forget at one of our
townhalls when we were in the Boston area. The students were listing
their concerns from climate change and the inaction they have seen
there, to student loan debt and how it has them in financial quicksand.
To my surprise--and then I ended up seeing this on every campus we
visited--this particular student said: But, yeah, you are not going to
solve any of that because the system is rigged. As long as that is the
perception, which we experience as our own reality, we won't see
progress on those issues.
We owe it to that generation. It is sad for you to acknowledge that a
whole generation is about to give up on us until we change the way that
we not only have rules for money and politics, but the way that we
govern and represent our constituents, not outside corporate interests.
We have a Future Forum event coming up in Denver. It is going to be
in April, hosted by Congresswoman DeGette and Congressman Polis.
I will give you, Congressman Israel, the last word on this evening's
Future Forum focusing on voting rights and campaign financial reform.
{time} 1830
Mr. ISRAEL. Again, I thank the gentleman so much for his leadership.
If you would allow an aging 57-year-old to attend the Future Forum
meetings, I would be happy to do so. I will bring my crutch, my cane,
and all of the other things that I need.
On a serious note, I really do want to commend you for the work that
you are doing, for the engagement. Through this engagement, you are
giving people hope. You are letting people know that there are people
who are listening to them. You go to those events without a super-PAC.
You go to those events without billionaire donors. You are representing
the best that the grassroots has to offer. I want to thank you for
that.
Leave people with a sense of hope. For as long as we are talking on
this floor about these issues, there is hope that something will be
done on this floor on these issues, and the middle class and young
people and millennials will make progress again.
Mr. SWALWELL of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of
my time.
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