Getting to the Point with Congressman Joe Kennedy III

Good morning, I'm Vicki Kennedy and on behalf of our president, Dr. Mary Grant and the board of directors. I am pleased to welcome you to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. We're delighted you're all here for our first breakfast edition of our Getting to the Point series. It's fantastic I see so many new and old friends hello everyone in the audience this morning elected officials community leaders friends of the Kennedy Institute it's no secret that my husband, the late Senator Edward Kennedy loved the United States Senate, he often said that Serving the people of Massachusetts was elected by the people of Massachusetts was the greatest honor of his life.

I passionately believed that the United States Senate had the power to improve the lives of men and women not only in this country but around the world, so 15 years ago, when my husband first contemplated creating this Institute, he envisioned a place that would educate the public in a practical and experiential way about the important role of the United States Senate in our democracy, which is why he insisted on this replica of the Senate chamber. He wanted citizens, he wanted you. and for me to be able to walk on the ground to feel the amazement of feeling the majesty of this place and thinking of the people, the Giants who preceded us.

He wanted us to remember the hard work and dedication of men and women of good will. in both parties coming together to address the biggest challenges facing our nation, I wanted this place to highlight the need for civil discourse and engagement, I wanted to encourage active participation, and in the process I hoped to inspire a new generation of leaders who all we knew As we dove into planning this democracy lab, we understood that our mission and Teddy's vision were important, but neither of us realized how vital that mission and vision would be, so I thank you for being here this morning.

For being committed citizens and for supporting the work of this Institute, today we feel honored by the presence of one of the new generation of leaders that my husband had in mind when he first imagined this place, a man who was inspired and inspired by Ted Kennedy, our speaker this morning. is a man of extraordinary accomplishments and abilities, a public servant who speaks with moral clarity and the courage of his convictions, a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, a Peace Corps volunteer, a former aide to the district attorney, a husband and father of two beautiful children, our special Guest was elected in 2012 to the United States House of Representatives from the 4th district of Massachusetts.

He quickly distinguished himself on Capitol Hill as a workhorse rather than a show horse, earning the admiration of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle and for his passionate advocacy for decent health care and mental health treatment, reforms of common sense on guns, of an immigration policy worthy of the highest ideals of this nation and of equal rights for all Americans, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, physical or intellectual ability, to name a few keys. On these issues he also earned the respect and admiration of the people of his district and of this nation.

I will never forget his passionate response when the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives called the repeal of the Affordable Care Act an act of mercy with all due respect, the speaker said, and I must have read a scripture different. The one I read calls us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and comfort the sick. It reminds us that we are not judged by how we treat the powerful. But the way we care for the smallest among us there is no mercy for a system that makes health care a luxury, he continued, there is no mercy in a country that turns its back on those most in need of protection: the elderly, the poor, the sick and the suffering there is no mercy in treating the mentally ill coldly this is not an act of mercy it is an act of malice Wow, the video of his passionate comments went viral gaining more than 10 million views.

He couldn't be prouder or more. It is an honor to welcome him here this morning to this Institute that is named after his great-uncle, his great-uncle who adored him and knew as I did that he was going to make a huge difference in the world. Please join me now in welcoming Congressman for the Massachusetts 4th District Congressman Joseph P Kennedy, the third, and let's also welcome our moderator, the deputy Washington bureau chief at the Boston Globe , the award-winning journalist who covers politics and the White House, our own Matt Weiser, thank you for that introduction and it's exciting.

Being here I'm usually in that corner, so it's very exciting to be on the Senate floor here. I wanted to start with something quite current, Congressman, you have two children under three years old and on Father's Day we took a trip to the border where many children could not be with their parents. This story of what's happening at our border right now is capturing the nation's attention and I'm wondering if you can tell us a little bit first about what it brought. with you there and also a little bit about what you saw, what that trip was like, happy, thanks Matt, it's a pleasure to be with you and grateful for the opportunity to the Institute, thanks for inviting me, thanks for the opportunity to have a discussion. here, if you all heard why Viki is my favorite, thank you, grateful for everything and thank you for everything you have done to make this possible, thank you, thank you, please give her a big round of applause, it was not how I expected to spend it.

I think I, along with many of you and many Americans, have been following what has been happening at our southern border with a growing sense of outrage, sadness and disap

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ment, and it turns out that one of my closest friends in Congress represents part of that. community of El Paso and a good part of our border with Mexico and the overwork and he called me, so we have been having several conversations about what was going on and trying to eliminate a lot of the cloud of information that is out there. Out there, we've been talking a lot about it and then he came up Saturday morning mid-morning and said, "Hey, we're organizing a rally, we want to have you there at like ten or ten." or eleven o'clock on Saturday morning, which was great.

My wife had a plane. It was going to be my first Father's Day with our six-month-old son and we had some plans. I put it in the back of my mind and said, well, let it go. I see how the day goes before I post this one with Lauren and a little bit later when the plan started to come together, I mentioned it to her and just said, hey, this is coming together, what do you think? And look, we don't understand it. to spend many quiet weekends together, we can't particularly as a family right now, which is a two and a half year old into a six month old, so we are looking forward to what I think many Americans were going to pass that day and she said and I talked to my twin brother Matt, they both confirmed it this way and said if you're in this job, you're in it for a reason and If you're not going to fight for this, why are you going to fight for it? ?

So I was on a 5:00 a.m. flight. Sunday morning to Dallas and then El Paso made the El Paso run to Tornillo, where one of these detention centers was located. that one of the first ten cities coming up where a couple thousand people had driven overnight and from all over the southwest United States, Salt Lake City, Austin, from all over Texas, to gather at this rally and a march and demonstration and this literally then the authorities wouldn't let us in so we gathered outside a rock wall, a small piece of dirt and Matt, it was an incredible scene they had, they ended up putting speakers on top of a speaker so you could see above the crowd.

They were pretty packed and hearing some of the stories of the people who had come this far and the energy of the people who were there just saying, particularly on Father's Day, a celebration of family, this is clearly what the Democrats they don't love their Children do more than Republicans, this is not a partisan attack if there is a basic level of humanity that connects parents with children, which makes what we are doing even more incomprehensible and causes the administration to deny That's really who we are.

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even angrier because there is no doubt, contrary to what the president of the United States has said, contrary to what his Secretary of Homeland Security has said, that this is the United States policy of the American government and if there is any doubt about it, it's What the officials told me when I was there, they didn't let us in, a couple of them came out and lamented about the misinformation and said, "You know, the press is distorting this and members of Congress are distorting this, so I say, it's okay, it's okay." so tell me what's going on one person tells you one thing another person tells you another thing um okay with all due respect ma'am that's different than what the other guy just said how about you let us in and we just see , Yes Yes?

I can't do that, I love for you to come back at some

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, but I can't do it right now. Okay, I wouldn't want people showing up at my office demanding to turn on the light and see how I maintained my desk. What if I come back? in two hours yes, I can't do that, how much time do you need two weeks? Oh Paso it's a long way why we don't need two weeks we just need two weeks well who's in one person tell you one thing absolutely no unaccompanied minors allowed or absolutely no children who have been separated from their families , unaccompanied minors only, that's fine, but I understand that the government now considers it so that if a parent comes with a child and crosses illegally, they are subject to arrest and are now classifying the child. with those that are classified as unaccompanied is one of those children here all we have is unaccompanied minors well, are any of those children that are classified as unaccompanied minors here all we have is accompanying minors around and around if there is a positive side to this?

Which I'm not so sure there is, but if there is one it's that there's a sense of outrage building up across the country and again it's non-partisan when you start looking at Ted Cruz, that torx opponent, by the way, for the United States Senate. There's no stake in organizing a rally and suddenly Ted Cruz introduces a bill that says, "We should stop that practice if there was any doubt that this is a frustration that's building up across the political spectrum. I hope that this will grow soon." and that administration will change its policy which, by the way, if the president could use just one phone call and this policy doesn't seem to have a lot of support, I mean, two-thirds of Americans don't support this, which in your opinion should happen.

In the event that a parent comes with the child and is in the country illegally, what is the ideal scenario in that circumstance? So, let's start with the basics. There is no scenario. The correct response is to separate a parent or child. push the right to the point that our Republican colleagues are about to formulate one of their immigration bills that we could vote on later this week, although at least, from what I have seen, they have not yet published the text of one of those bills, which is a good trick, their solution has been to put them all in jail together.

I don't really think that's appropriate for a three year old either, so I think we can start with the base case of what is not appropriate and then we can get to a question of what is now this is the challenge this is an issue legitimately difficult this came to a head several years ago when the minor unaccompanied crisis reared its head under the Obama administration at that time I actually went down with several Republican colleagues and Democratic colleagues to Guatemala El Salvador and Honduras we visited the capitals there we went out to some from the parts we were able to access you heard what was happening at least one version of it and it is difficult in the highlands of Guatemala the level of instability and violence Human trafficking that is forcing a majority indigenous population to flee is not something that will necessarily be resolved with policies on the border between the United States and Mexico.

This is too difficult and too complex. San Pedro Sula in Honduras has been one of those murder capitals. In the Western Hemisphere for years, you're not going to solve that on the US-Mexico border either. I think when we start to peel back the layers of this, you realize that there are reasons why people run away from you and there are reasons why they're coming here and we can actually start to dive into those issues. Two things I would point out about that is a foreign policy. Part of that solution is foreign policy. I don't think it helps when you alienate all allies. that we have and you do not fund or eliminate or staff the State Department for Elise, in myopinion, much of the instability that is being generated in these regions is the result of our estimates of the narcotics tree between the United States and Mexico.

For heroin alone the range is between 30 billion and almost double that a year ingesting heroin. The response even in our Obama administration was a plan that said we would spend a billion dollars in these three countries. Our forgiveness, in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador for a number of years with all due respect to the Obama administration, is not going to be close to being enough. If you want to address this, you need to build much stronger relationships with law enforcement, the military, and governance. civil society and we must control the way we think about a drug epidemic on our streets, we must rethink that, as a public health emergency, now is the last piece that I would say to this unsolvable mat here.

Cutting Medicaid is the largest payer of behavioral mental health and addiction services in this country are claiming 800 billion dollars, a solution that, by the way, they are also trying to do with all due respect to my Republican colleagues, you don't They are nowhere near a solution on this and are under no circumstances removing the frustration of our inability and unwillingness to resolve it into a response acceptable to a two-year-old child to the United States government, so let's start by looking at the challenges. , understand the complexities and then move on as I think people are waiting for the most powerful government.

Right now our country feels quite divided into different tribes. I realized that there are Fox viewers, there are MSNBC viewers and the lady. Kennedy alluded to this about his uncle, a great uncle, Senator Kennedy and his legacy of bipartisanship, civil discourse and compassion, and he had a reputation where he knows John McCain, Orrin Hatch, he knows so many senators who wouldn't be agree with him vehemently on political issues. great respect for him on an individual level and I'm curious to hear from you now that you've been in Congress for six years and haven't noticed any of that.

Do you have Republican colleagues you can legitimately work with? Are there any Trump supporters that you know we're in dialogue with so yeah I know some of my closest friends in Washington are Republicans we don't agree on a lot of policies they're still good decent people this is one of those jobs where yes, it becomes difficult because some of the policies and values ​​in the way we approach issues end up at odds and if they weren't passionate about these issues they wouldn't have risen to the challenge of running for office and if I wouldn't have had a passion for them, wouldn't it have had to create some kind of separation between the policy and the person, which again can be difficult to do and, in some issues, sometimes depending on the person, it just breaks down, but some of my closest friends?

There are Republicans and I value those relationships. It's important for me to be able to take the temperature of some of those people to understand how I view this issue, whether it's immigration or, in particular, mental health issues. Is that what you hear when I say it? How are you interpreting it as understanding that it doesn't matter what I feel about his own views? They are giving voice to establish the opinions of several hundred thousand Americans whose voices are simply as legitimate as mine, and even if I disagree with them, I believe that the voice of those Americans deserves to be heard and deserves to be counted, and they count. as much as my constituents do, so my job is to try to see if there is a way to close that gap and on several of these issues there may not be, but I believe that on several of them there is and if it could be eliminate some of the politics, much more progress could be made.

Here is such a small example. Over a year ago, I was at the gym in the morning, which is where any good bipartisan thing really happens, and here I am a high-ranking Republican talking to a newly elected Republican and he's talking about how we're in the middle of this health care problem. repeal effort and he's a high ranking Republican who's supposed to know something about healthcare so I'm holding my tongue while we all try or what are you doing? I'm going to leave out the details of this, but thanks. regardless, thanks, man, um, regardless of us, he begins to explain to the newly elected individual that what we need to do in our healthcare system is get out of a volume-based system where people are compensated, doctors and Providers are compensated for the number of procedures that are prescribed and moved. towards one that actually measures quality so we move on to the outcomes and try to make sure that you're

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higher quality care that's actually being provided and he goes over some of the details about that and after about a three minute explanation I could just telling myself that I said that's the best endorsement of the Affordable Care Act that I've ever heard from a Republican and he said, well, that's why I would need to keep that part, it's like, dude, that's the part that that's what it does, maybe it's not perfect. but that's trying to make two observations about that, if you didn't call it ACA or Obamacare, there's actually quite a bit of support there too, there was a newly elected Republican who hated Obamacare and has no idea what it really is. and it's something I talked to a very well-respected Republican about right after the repeal vote failed in the House for the first time and then after the reconciliation instructions that mean the Republicans are trying to repeal the bill and in both chambers, in the Senate. with only a majority vote it failed in September, on September 30, so the same single week after both incidents and I said "look both times." I know this is not appropriate now, but if at some point you think we are really willing to change the situation. page and actually try to eliminate ways that you can make healthcare brands more affordable for your constituents to end mine, let me know your answer was the same, first we have to lose an election, They can't tell the American public that this is the worst bill ever passed by men doesn't, stand up and say, "Okay, we'll just protect it." I hope it comes in November in the same sense that you said earlier this year about President Trump to give him credit that he had his finger on the matter. pulse of something that most people didn't see or feel that the Democrats need to do that too and I wonder if the Democrats right now are seeing or feeling something that some of the energies feel like it's anti Trump, but is there something What are the Democrats seeing? and feel like it's a compelling argument not just in the midterms but in 2020, so I think about a couple of things, one of which I think, without a doubt, there is an anti-Trump energy and wave that is a powerful force in certain segments of our country and certainly in Massachusetts to some extent, although there are areas in Massachusetts where President Trump still has strong support.

President Trump got, I think it was a million more votes in our state than Charlie Baker and he is the most popular governor in the country, so for those in the room who might think that this is a phenomenon that is because at some point Elsewhere there is a base of support for President Trump, even here now it turns out that he is largely unpopular in this state, but there are still a lot of fellow Bay Staters who voted for me, so I think. Two things aside from that, I think, generally speaking, how this administration has tried to govern is antithetical to a lot of what many Americans believe and what the values ​​are that we have here in Massachusetts education, to which directs and is demanding.

Harvard University rolled back many protections through the Department of Education, and a number of efforts the Obama administration made on health care obviously attempted to repeal it. Immigration has been devastating in parts of our country and in communities particularly here in Massachusetts. means issue after issue after issue of LGBT equal rights everything that is said when so there is a there is a strong wave of anti-trump sentiment having said that I think it's important again that we recognize I'll give you one Well, it's important to recognize that there is a segment of our country that still believed strongly in the message that Donald Trump was presenting, as difficult as it may be for me to understand.

A friend of mine, a Republican friend from Arkansas, said yes. in the gym about a month ago he had done a poll again in his district, probably a month or six weeks ago and tested the favorability and unfavorability rating of President Trump in his district. I have an idea what the south was like, he's such a Republican representative from Arkansas. for Republican primary voters, I mean the conventional wisdom is still pretty high would be 80 percent 94 94 I've never heard of 94 anything in politics, so this isn't an index of political favorability, it's a visceral connection. which again is Republican primary voters in a Republican district in Arkansas are right, so that won't necessarily reflect the kind of middle American voter overall, but I think it's still valuable for us to keep in mind that there are other American citizens. that they believe wholeheartedly in a message that is coming out and that it is worth trying to understand what it is that they are hearing and seeing my own interpretation of that.

I think most Americans will want a government that has their back. says regardless of who you are language you speak Qatar where you come from color of your skin I got from your prayers gender of your spouse that we see you accounts we listen to you we look in the field we are by your side and look those are the civil rights protections that the Democrats they defend quite a bit and they are well known and if there is any criticism it is that we are too firm on that, but I think the Democrats are pretty good on that, the second piece that I think might have been lost in the washing a little is that if you can't keep your family, nothing else really matters and so with the dignity that comes with those civil rights, there is an economic dignity that also has to come with that and that means ensuring that every person in our country who wants should be whoever they want. a job you should be able to find one that keeps a roof over your head and food on your plate, you're kidding with a good school in a secure retirement and if we're not able to do that it's the most powerful nation in the world at a time when that unemployment is 3.5%.

If we can't do that now, then I think we'll have to think deeply about how the structures of our society are actually affecting individuals who are struggling to compete in a rapidly changing world. the changing global economic technological environment and the revolution that we are in the midst of your pretty close relationship with Nancy Pelosi and I did a poll in I think it's the fifth congressional district where Niki Tsongas now represents and there are about thirty-seven candidates. Regarding replacing it, there is a small way for you to announce it, but they probably intervene and caught my attention in that survey.

Eighty-eight percent disapprove of this among Democratic primary voters. Eighty-eight percent disapproved of a President Trump, but only twenty-seven percent said that. They would like to see Nancy Pelosi become speaker of the House of Representatives, which caught my attention given the politics of that district. Do you think I mean that within the Democratic Party, Nancy Pelosi will become the leader or will become the speaker of the House of Representatives if the Democrats win in November? What I gave the opportunity to pray, so look, I think I'm a firm believer in Leader Pelosi. I think there's like any leader in any public official, you have your strengths, we have our areas to improve, um, the reason why. when she was challenged a year and a half ago, she got more than two-thirds of the support of our caucus was that our caucus sees part of the way she handles the parts of the way she handles the responsibilities of that job that is not necessarily so open and she thinks she's still very good at it, and so I've been in rooms with Leader Pelosi where sometimes these topics and issues within our group and the kind of disputes between families can get quite heated.

There's no one better, there's no one tougher than her when she needs to put razor blades on her knuckles and she knows how to throw a punch and, man, I'll tell you a story when I first got to Congress. I went around and stopped and visited with a bunch of Democrats and Republicans who had been around a long time to go introduce myself and kiss the ring a little bit and get their advice, so I sat down with her, a Republican who's been there a long time. time. She's not in leadership, but she's been there for a long time and we're about to go vote, soHe has the television in his room with the plenary session of the House so that we can see when the votes are called and when the votes are about to be called.

Leader Pelosi speaking at the podium and in the middle of a conversation about something else, this gentleman stops and says that the leader of our party is not half the leader she is. I'm sorry and he said, listen, I don't agree with leader Polanski. and almost everything, but she acquires political power to do what she believes is right, our party acquires political power to maintain it. I can't think of a better summary of the current dynamics of politics in Washington today than that, and it came from a Republican. I'm going to resist making a lipstick joke.

I think it's too late, but you gave the answer to the State of the Union address, which is something that has probably derailed more political careers than it has helped launch Marco Rubio. Steve Beshear with this kind of awkward environment of stone-faced people, what can you tell us a little bit about the bar for that speech and, in particular, given your family history and you know the reputation for oratory and the bar is not low and that's not it either, so how did he do it? Get ready for that, what was that speech like? Did you immediately agree to do it?

Yeah, if you just remembered that my family told me to be careful with lipstick, it would have been a little easier, but hey, it's kind of a funny story, um, I guess so. I understood these details more or less well a week before, eight or nine days before that speech, we were held for a weekend in Washington for a possible vote on the shutdown and we were in a caucus meeting. I think it was Sunday morning and in the basement. from the Capitol and Leader Pelosi says hey I need to talk to you about something I said okay what's up and she said not here we'll talk later okay what happens from time to time but not very often often, and we were in the room voting that night and I saw her, I said, hey, do you need to ask me something?, and she said yes, but not here, and I said, okay, I follow her out of the room the House of Representatives to the cloakroom and to a kind of reception area that there is one for the Republicans and one for the Democrats right next to the floor and I stopped a cheetah, not here and she comes out the back door, which goes directly towards her , it's a bit A long walk to his office and at that moment I make eye contact with a couple of members and worry about what I did.

I called the principal's office and they just shrugged and didn't make small talk with Pleasant Therese while we were there. Let's continue this walk that seems like an eternity and we enter her office and she has a couple of waiting rooms in the leadership office, she turned sharply to the right and entered this room where there is already a glass of water on the table and she kicks to all. from her staff and now I'm right so we're still voting so I know it's going to be a long conversation but I don't know what's coming next and she said I'd like to ask you. something that I think is an extraordinary honor and of course the answer will be yes, of course, and she asks me if I would be willing to give the speech and of course I said yes, absolutely it would be an honor, I know. the story of that speech as well as yours and the first thought that crossed my mind was that my career was over, oh, but of course I said yes absolutely.

I would be delighted, so I was great and you know, we got to work on a couple of things, but great, and that's Sunday for the speech the following Tuesday, so it's about ten days away, so I thank you . I am very grateful for this honor. They know I'll do my best and everything else and we touch base. to make sure that you're finally comfortable with us and everything else and that was going to happen, I think later that night the next morning I could go back to the cloakroom and text the senior members of my staff, I say.

We need to talk and he jumped on the phone anyway so this is what happened and I said yeah you guys need to figure this out so they jumped on it pretty quickly and in a matter of two or three days to a day. or two after the speech met that then the invitation was extended, what Leader Pelosi did, which was very helpful to me, was say that many of these were not governors, obviously, but others had traditionally been made as a individual speaking directly to a cameraman four, seven, eight, nine minutes, which, unless you're Robert DeNiro, is a very difficult thing to do and I knew quite frankly that that wasn't going to be the case.

I can't do that, so we wanted to do it when she said, "hey, you can't." You don't have to do this in Washington, right? You can do it in another place that gave us the ability to try to look at this a little differently and understand that it doesn't matter who the president is, it doesn't matter what level of oratory skill he has. You will never be able to recreate the atmosphere of a president speaking to the nation from the House of Representatives in a packed chamber. You just can't do it so don't try, just come out differently and that was kind. of the thought that entered the stage and then the speech itself.

I had already given half of that speech before and I would give the second half before and what I wanted to try to do was put those pieces together and understand that. The president would most likely put the context of his first year in office and try to explain what he had accomplished, how he had accomplished what his vision was for the future and say that's great and that's the opportunity. of the. I think there's another narrative here that tells a very different story, so let's put that context for the other narrative. Did you listen to President Trump before or after that speech?

Have you ever heard of him? None of you no no no dialogue no no no Do you follow him on Twitter? No, no, he doesn't have a nickname yet and, I mean, do you feel like watching politics and participating in politics that you feel like people react to him differently? Are there things that members of Congress do to get attention differently than they would have? under President Obama through Twitter through insults, I mean, how does politics change on a day-to-day basis? I think sincere in my role is different, everyone is different, most Democrats are different, right?

I have always been in the minority in the House of Representatives and therefore if I want a bill to pass, I need Republicans to not only support it but help defend it so that I can buy time to pass a bill and By the way, I hope one of my bills passes by voice vote later this afternoon, so from here to DC to manage the floor to pass a bill so they can We still do this, there are opportunities for it and If we put together the right bill and I think we're willing to hear how Republicans should think about it, see you criticize it, there are ways to do some of this in smaller pieces of legislation right now.

However, the reality during my early years was that there was still a Democratic president, so the Republicans would pass these messaging bills that I didn't agree with, it didn't matter because they knew President Obama wouldn't approve them. to sign, that has changed. and so we can't just sit there and say "hey, cool, you want to repeal the Affordable Care Act for the 60th time." Donuts, it's not going anywhere and there are many things they can do through the agency process and executive branch that can undermine the integrity of the law and yet, because we don't have the legislative branch other than a filibuster in the Senate, our tool is essentially a microphone and that microphone is not as powerful as the White House press office and the president of the United States and again recognizing that the media face and dynamics have changed, use Twitter in a way extremely effective in conveying her views to the American public extremely effectively.

I don't agree with almost everything he says in it, but he is in a constant conversation about the points he makes and he chooses with his followers and the media who choose to amplify his message in a way that doesn't have to answer questions. No one else's; It's a one-way communication ticket that is enormously powerful and it's tremendously difficult to compete with and so we have to try to find a way to do it and I think part of the issues that I'm trying with everyone else is to say how can you deal with it? that without becoming without What you degrade the position is the integrity of the job or the honor of the position you hold by simply resorting to insults and ad hominem attacks which I think are quite easy to fall into, but might make you feel better at the moment , but it doesn't change anything in the long run and in fact just sours the discourse and look, sometimes it's hard to find that line between making harsh and legitimate criticism because of choices like going to the border and calling that inhumane. and degrading, horrible and a contradiction of American values ​​without going one step further and crossing that line.

I make an ad hominem attack. It can be difficult and tempting, but I think we should try to find a way to stick with it. Phil Johnston The former chairman of the Democratic Party in Massachusetts, a friend of the Kennedy family, said in 2015 that young Joe is currently the protector of the legacy and I wonder if you think about your last name and what that means in politics in general. For much of your early years you know him as a workhorse and not a show horse. I wouldn't necessarily call you a show horse now, but you seem to be finding your moments around the time Paul Ryan goes to the border. take on a more public role, can you talk a little bit about that evolution for you and the set of issues that seem to drive it?

Like I said, I think the role has changed a little bit. I would say that if President Obama tried to take on a more public role, healthcare for 30 million people or try to separate the families of his children from his parents. He would have criticized it; It turns out that he tried to do the opposite and I agree with him, so you know, the observation that there is a situation more public role absolutely I think is the only tool we have left in the toolbox to try to reject policies and values I don't agree with, so part of that is, I think, just the nature of the times, so I think the role and the opportunities in Congress have changed and the way I've done some of the work has changed That being said, I passed a bill on the first day of the Trump administration that was passed by the House of Representatives by voice vote.

Hopefully today we'll have a bill again that we'll hopefully pass by voice vote, working on a couple of other bills with Republican colleagues and one of them, I think, will pass a non-controversial suspension for help people. gain access to federal government benefits through the use of technology Senator Warren passed a bill to try to make hearing aids more affordable about a year ago, I was the Democratic sponsor and the House on that bill we worked with Marsha Blackburn, so there it is. There are ways that this can be done on the legislative side to try to resolve this logjam in this frustration that I think the American public feels regarding the legacy issue with all due respect. to Phil, no, no, I'm not writing, I didn't, no one, no person defends that legacy.

My family means many things to many different people and for many of them I am extremely proud of the contribution they have made. to our country, but if you try to compare yourself to President Kennedy or Robert Kennedy or Ted Kennedy or Joe Kennedy my namesake or Eunice Kennedy Shriver or many others, Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith who helped with the peace process in Northern Ireland, that is Everything, it's difficult, they set the bar quite high, so I think what I interpreted that message was that everyone, everyone, as a way to contribute, is a great country, but that country is the sum of those contributions. its people make it so we can all find a way to make our country a little better and your responsibility is to do the best you can to do that and look my life right now is pretty full we have a six month old and a toddler two and a half-year-old and a six-month-old have decided that 2 a.m.

It's a good time to wake up because, hey, why not? Because no one else is, no one else is awake, just go back to bed, huh, and half my time in Washington. Half the time I spend here life is busy, but I throw myself into this with everything I have because I believe that if you want the job, it's your responsibility to do it and fight for the values ​​that you value and health care and immigration. and Medicaid and mental health and the general kind of umbrella that says, "Look, our country is supposed to give every person here an opportunity and it turns out that if you're rich and you have access to power, you still like to have your opportunity, But they can do it largely on their own, many people who are struggling with mental illness orpoverty or systemic racism and injustice that are ingrained in our system and that's where our government should be devoting most of its work because we have the power to change it to try that grade, we'll open it up for questions and answers so if you have any question, raise your hand and we'll give you a microphone.

Thank you very much, Senator Kennedy, for all the wonderful work you do. It has been a true experience. It is a pleasure to hear you talk about so many important topics. I wrote one that is very dear to my heart. Could you please speak to your concerns about climate change and the threat to our natural resources, particularly from the Trump administration and the EPA? Can't. even mention the name of the person responsible, thank you, so we will start with something that is not heard in Congress, that climate change is often a real science, it really exists and we should believe in that science now that it is actually a Three controversial phrases from a large number of my Republican colleagues, which has been amazing.

I sent my first term to the science committee and there were people on that committee who, frankly, don't believe in science, so that's the context of the legislative process. We're in, I don't think, I don't think there's a greater systemic threat to our prosperity as a nation and as a planet than climate change, but as a country we have to lead the way on this and one of the big challenges of the big mistakes. , I suppose, of the Trump administration was to withdraw from Paris. We are in a very small and select group of countries that have not verified or validated these Agreements and one of them was because they were not fulfilled. far enough away that there will be headlines, as you see in the Boston Globe at least once a week, about how our communities here are unprepared for the impacts of sea level rise or systemic flooding or these storms that we can Expect them to come as impacts of our local economies on fish migration, lobsters, all the rest are issues that we are going to have to struggle with if we don't do anything about it, so it is a major systemic challenge.

Republicans have indicated they will do so. nothing, nothing to address this concern while they are in power, so I don't want to make this too political, but if this matters to you, this is one of the reasons we have to win them over, the last thing I would say. of the areas where I think we have fallen short as Democrats and then as a country we are in a In this time of economic upheaval we continue to frame global climate change as a global problem, which it obviously is, but it is not framed as a local problem, so when people say "hey, that's cool," the ice caps may be melting, but I can.

I can't afford food on my plate for my family, the ice caps we can fix later. I have to feed them. The way we need to reframe that issue is by recognizing that in Fall River, Massachusetts, they are going to spend millions and millions of dollars to pay. for inlet infrastructure improvements due to combined sewage overflow and sewage runoff to meet EPA mandates because that will be conveyed to its residents in an assessment syntax because not because Fall River has done anything wrong but because our government is not adapting to the impacts of climate change, so when they get that assessment, when they get that tax bill, when they realize they're going to have to pay millions of dollars in fines and fees and they sit there and they say, hey, this is the fault of Fall River, a city of median household income of $34,000 a year, that's not Fall River's fault, that's the inability of the United States government to adapt and change and adapt to the challenges of change. climate flood rates the same problem but frames those problems as local ones such as climate change as a ramification or impact of climate change and it is a completely different discussion, instead of trying to reinforce some neoliberal world order of 192 nations and a pact in Paris, this is as granular and pocket-sized a question as it gets, so let's reframe the discussion about what an area is.

It's my colleague David Abel who wrote it ironically it's not prepared for climate changes mar-a-lago it's right on the ocean we'll go to the next question up there is someone write your way for the microphone you're putting excuse me putting food in the requirements from the table for snap, but well, listening to you, you were talking about messages and message bills. One of the stories I read yesterday about what was happening at the border was a 16 year old girl who had been teaching fellow detainees these girls that she is being jailed for how to change diapers because the staff can't change diapers Now as I was reading this and I actually posted it on a message board, so I'm going to ask you about the messages on my mind. this girl who has been separated from her parents and is changing diapers and is the father of a six month to two and a half year old child I think you know a little about changing diapers I think it's probably more she's doing something for the people around her and all that and they're probably more deserving of citizenship than some of those people who, say, were born on third base and think they had a triple and one of the paths to citizenship is an act of Congress and I would do it.

In fact, I'd like to suggest that you don't have to respond to this, but I thought I'd take the opportunity. This sixteen year old girl probably deserves citizenship for being a good American. I see the most important point I have. What you think you do is that, broadly speaking, our nation is fighting for the right, which is a question these days of what do we really have, Oh H, other, what responsibilities from citizen to citizen and government , from citizen and citizen to government, and which I think frames. The tensions and partisanship that we see across the country like that is starting to put a lot more of these debates and these are already pretty divisive in our politics in a context where a Trump administration has answered that question very clearly: "You don't know to nobody". anything and if we remove the shackles of citizenship from the responsibilities of citizenship, you will be successful and I totally disagree that with this country, the greatest in the world, comes the responsibilities of citizenship because you will have the blessings of being a citizen. of the United States of America and if you are an individual who finds yourself in the middle of detention somewhere who should never be doing something you should never have done, you still find a way to recognize the humanity of people you have never met. a pretty powerful statement about what I really think gets to the heart of almost all Americans' values ​​and I don't think what's surprising about that part is that it's not a partisan critique.

I don't think many of my Republican colleagues would actually agree that the question we have is the responsibility that I have is how to bring these discussions and debates and the framework of these discussions to that level of values ​​and not policies that we have seen even with something so divisive. their immigration policy, which for Republicans is arguably even more difficult to address in the area of ​​health care, we have seen that when I came, when it comes to separating children from their parents, even they say it can't be done that, so there is a value that we have. even though they haven't done anything about it yet, there is a value that we have there, we have a fight and we have time for one more question, unfortunately I don't have time for more, there is a guy in the box over there.

Thank you Representative Kennedy for this program. I watched his Father's Day speech commiserating with immigrants who have been separated from their children. You were clearly passionate about this topic and I am impressed with your fluency in Spanish. In addition, you should know that since 2010 thousand. Palestinian children have been detained by Israeli forces. Children between the ages of 11 and 15 have been abused and suffered separated from their parents for months. The McCallum bill introduced in November 2017 prohibits US aid to Israel from being used to support military detention and ill-treatment. of Palestinian children 27 representatives have signed so far, why haven't you signed?

Thanks for the question, sir. I was not aware of the bill, so I appreciate you bringing it to my attention. I'll definitely take a look at it, as you know. There are thousands of bills that are introduced in Congress every year and our staff, our team, tries to stay up to date as best we can. A lot of times it takes someone to point to a bill to just say, "Hey, this bill is out there," take a look at the policy and see if it's something we can support, so look at child detention in terms. general.

I find it hard to believe that it is the appropriate political response to basically anything. I am very happy to take a look at the bill. I laugh a lot for our team as I get to work. Washington oh and we'll take a look at the text. I appreciate you marking it for me. Thank you. Well, I want to thank Congressman Kennedy for being here and it's been an honor to be here too and I want to turn it around. quickly to dr. Grant for some final comments, but thanks again, my pleasure, thanks for a round of applause for Matt Visor for the excellent discussion of his.

Matt, thank you for being Vickey, as always, thank you for helping make the vision of the Kennedy Institute a reality in your leadership here, Congressman. you for reminding us that we can all make a difference when this institute was launched you were a part of it, many of you in this room helped shape it, that is the purpose of the Kennedy Institute, one of the many purposes of remember that we can come together, We can focus on what holds us together about humanity, which is not a Republican or Democrat issue, it's about what's best for our nation, our country and our people, Congressman, thank you for doing that, for reminding us.

Us for being here with us and for being not only an inspiring leader but a wonderful father which you clearly are. I invite you all to keep coming back for a membership and join us in this work. We are delighted to have you here. with us this morning, noon at night on the weekends, you helped make this happen and together, when we work on the things that matter, the things that bring us together instead of separating us, we can make the biggest difference, there is a responsibility that It comes with citizenship. and that means we can begin that responsibility by having conversations today and every day when you leave here, so take this good energy and remember that each of us can make a difference in the problems that separate us by coming together.

Thank you for coming soon I wish you all a wonderful, beautiful summer day, Congressman, thank you for your leadership and good luck with the Onshore Act. We hope it is a great success for you today, thank you for guiding us so well. Have a great day everyone.