short-term spending bill to over that government shutdown and debate a proposal by west virginia editor joe manchin streamlining the federal permitting process. watch live coverage of the house on c-span, the senate on c-span2 and what's on our free video app c-span now or online at c-span.org. >>. >> democratic caucus chair chief jeffries was the keynote speaker at the state

forum hosted by the polk county democrats of des moines iowa. he talked about president biden's legislative agenda and the urge urged attendees to support iowa democrats running for house and senate seats. >> thank you sandy, so much. good afternoon iowa. on the polk county democrats in the house right now. are you eeready to send cindy back to the house of representatives? are you ready to send a recipe and turningblue? are you ready to send dietrich to the statehouse here in des moines ? what an honor and a privilege . to be here. and iowa, thank you so much for extending the invitation and for your leadership at the polk county democrats.i thank all the volunteers and workers for the things that you do that make sure that we're moving the county and

the state and this country in the right direction. i'm so thankful for my friend and colleague cindy asked me. she is a tremendous representative on your behalf in the united states congress. she speaks up for you with power, and passion. and defends your interests every opportunity that she has. she's a good friend to me. and i use that phrase good friend. i know c-span may be here. i use that phrase good friend in the real sense of the word. not the congressional sense of the word. as you know from time to time you'll hear members of congress go to the floor and use the phrase my good friend , the distinguished gentleman from the great state of california or my good friend the distinguished gentle lady from the great state of florida.

most of the time i got to be honest with you, most of the time we use the phrase my good friend, we don't mean it. but with cindy ask me i absolutely mean it. she's a good friend to the caucus, the congress , the country, the constitution and the communities he represents. polk county and throughout iowa. we're thankful for her. and i look forward to serving with her and to you sending christina down to join her as part of the iowa allegation. to get work done on your behalf. during this incredibly difficult and e'challenging time that we have to here in america. two parties, two competing visions for the future of this country. you've got democrats who are going to continue to work hard to put people over politics.

and to lean in to getting things done with our for the people agenda. fighting for lower costs, better paying jobs and safer communities. and when we talk about working hard for the people, because we authentically mean it, and when democrats do, what you do, what cindy does, but we tried to do in washington dc under the great leadership of speaker nancy pelosi. and at our best, we wake up and we fight hard. to try to make life better for working families, middle-class folks, senior citizens. those inspired to be part of the middle class, the poor, the sick, the afflicted.

the left behind. veterans, young people,people in rural america. urban america, small-town america and appalachia. democrats at our best fight for the people. and so i thank you . thank you for the work. that regard.in and so the people of this country will have a clear choice. democrats who are putting people over politics and extreme maga republicans. somethingis very wrong with the republican party right now . they used to believe in fiscal responsibility and national security. but now they believe in space lasers, lawlessness, disorder , insurrection. and defunding the fbi. extreme maga republicans who gone from the tea party caucus to the cover-up caucus and now we've got the human on caucus you can't make itup . it's very unfortunate. no longer a party of bob

dole. no longer the party of john mccain. no longer the party of mitt romney. no longer r the party of john benard and paul ryan. i disagreed with them often but who knew i would miss john benard and paul ryan? and i say that because we could battle it out on issues and strongly disagree with them. be disappointed if we lost an election. fight it out in the legislative a droop arena, the political arena in america in a country like this in our great republic we should be able to lose an election without being concerned that you will lose your democracy. but that's what we confront right now. that's why thestakes are so high . here in iowa. someone asked me you go into

iowa what are you going therefore. i said i'm going there to make sure that we send in the actually backto congress . and i'm also going to polk county to help lift states from red to blue.so we appreciate polk county democrats, the work that you do. twocompeting visions for america . democrats putting people over politics and extreme maga republicans. we're fighting hard as democrats to move america forward. they want to turn back the clock. we're trying to bringpeople together. they are telling us apart. we fight for the people , they fight for the privileged few. we believe in family, freedom

and the flag. they believe that a violent lawless insurrection was legitimate political discourse. we believe in social security and medicare, they want to end those things in five years. we believe in climate crisis and need to address the climate crisis with the fierce urgency of now. they continue to bury their heads in the sand. we believe that roe versus wade was wrongly decided by an out-of-control supreme court. and they want to criminalize abortion care and impose a nationwide ban. but here's a newsflash straight out congress. democrats are going to keep

fighting until the women of america have the freedom to make your own reproductive health care decisions period,.. that's for the women of the united states of america. two competing visions. for this great country. but we can articulate and clear away what we stand for as democrats. we believe in a country that provides for the poor, makes sense for the middleclass and stands up for senior citizens . democrats, we believe in a country that innovates suburban communities and revitalizes rural america. we believe in a country that liberty andjustice are all equal protection under the law, government by the people and for the people. and democrats , we believe that and in america if you

work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to provide for a comfortable living for yourself and for your family. purchase a home, educate your children and retire with grace and dignity. that's the americandream we as democrats believe in, that we fight for each and every day . but we also understand that dream is under assault. the middle class is struggling. rural america struggling. those who aspire to be part of the middle class struggling. many parts of f the heartland struggling. but here's some good news in my view. anytime america has found itself in a tough spot, going all the way back to 100 years, the democratic party has risen to the occasion to

try to turn things around. make life better for everyday americans. canwe set the record for a moment . can we check the record for a moment. the electrificationof rural america . social security, medicare, medicaid, headstart, the civil rights act, the voting rights act, the fair housing act. the elementary and secondary school act i. the higher education act, the affordable care act. the infrastructure and investment in jobs act. the tmamerican rescue plan that chips and science act, the inflation reduction act all brought to you by your friendly neighborhood product party to make life better for every day americans, democrats have always risen to the occasion. whenever america has faced a tough spot.

and certainly we find ourselves in that situation right now. but that's why i'm so thankful for the leadership of president joe biden. who's done a very good job and incredibly difficult circumstances. and in partnership with democrats in the house and senate, great leadership from cindy and so many others. we've been getting big things done at this moment in time. the american rescue plan saved the economy. prevented us from collapsing into arecession if not worse . money in pockets, kids back in school. the infrastructure investment andjobs act . millions of good paying jobs will be created to fix crumbling bridges, roads,

tunnels, water and sewer systems, clean water for every community . making sure there's high-speedinternet access all throughout america . and then we passed gun safety legislation for the first time in 30 years to make america safer. it will save lives. but of course we didn't stop there. we stood up for veterans and the past act. we should be there for them. and we got it done. and then of course we passed the kids and science act to bring domestic manufacturing jobs back to the united states of america as opposed to our tijobs being shipped in the other direction and we finished off this run of legislative success by passing the inflation reduction act to confront the climate crisis in a serious

and decisive way. set our planet forward on a ensustainable trajectory, lowered energy costs, the , affordable care act, drove down the high price of life-saving prescription drugs for millions upon millions of americans. democrats rise to the occasion to get big things done and improve the well-being of every day americans and i'm confident with leaders like cindy and the others that you will send to the house and the senate that we here in america, if we continue to lean into this idea of putting people over politics, fighting for lower cost, better paying jobs and safer communities that the best is yet to come. we also of course as i prepare to conclude my remarks have to defend our

fragile democracy. a democracy that we know is under intense assault. the framers of the constitution they weren't perfect individuals. like all human beings . but they did set us on a path towards a more perfect union. and the story is often told, they understood that democracy was not a self-executing proposition and it didn't run on autopilot. it's not simply a spectator sport. you've got to get to the arena. the story was once told, often told of that time in 1787 when the framers had just completed their work at the convention hall in philadelphia. and they emerge from the convention hall and doctor

ben franklin was there and a woman named elizabeth powell approached ben franklin. she was a prominent civic activist. at the time a close friend of george and martha washington, the first lady of the city of philadelphia. she approaches doctor franklin and said sir, what have you gentlemen just done? have you created a republic or a monarchy? and doctor franklin paused for a moment and said mrs. powell, we've created a republic if you can keep it. i thought about that a lot. why would doctor franklin express such skepticism about the future of the republic? at the moment of great triumph? i think it's because in the

convention hall when they constructed the constitution, all of the ideas, all the values, all the institutions, checks and balances, separate and co-equal branches of government , the independent judiciary, free and fair elections. ythe preeminence of the rule of law over the rule of men. all those ideas, all those values, all those institutions had never before been put together in one form ofgovernment . and so i think that perhaps doctor franklin was skeptical as to whether we could keep that democracy thing going. but as your presence here represents, the power of american exceptionalism as in part then that year after year, decade after decade, century after century, we kept this democracy thing going.

but now perhaps for the first time, since the civil war all those values, all of those ideas, all of those institutions are under assault. not from without but from within. mrs. powell, we've created a republic if you can keep it. that's the moment that we confront right now. i was on the floor during the january 6 insurrection. a day that all of us will never forget. and as cindy mentioned i have the honor of serving as chair of the house democraticcaucus . that puts me at number five in the leadership and so i was seated in the leadership section close to steny hoyer

and jim clyburn. my friend is off campus that day. we were debating the objections to the state of arizona and all of a sudden i saw the sergeant at arms approached the microphone. i'd never seen this before and say the mob has breached the capital. there on the second floor a few steps outside of the house chamber. so be prepared to hit the ground and secure the gas masks underneath your seeds. and i've got to be honest, i've been in congress at that point for 4 terms and i had no idea there were gas masks under each and every seat. i knew this was a different kind of situation and then i did see speaker pelosi aggressively and almost violently removed from the rostrum. by her security team.

and then of course sitting next to steny and jim i saw steny's team come up to him and remove him. and then the security team of jim clyburn, the great jim clyburn seated right next to me said sir, you have to leave now. still remember it as if it were yesterday. so i'm sitting there as the chair of the house democratic caucus i see speaker nancy pelosiaggressively removed from the rostrum , she's number one. i see the majority leader steny hoyer removed from the floor of the house, he's number two. i saw the great jim clyburn removed, he's number three, our majority with. assistant speaker catherine clark was number four, she was off campus. i got to be honest with you. i'm sitting there as chair of

the house democratic caucus, number five democrat in the house. i was waiting for somebody to come get me.g but as cindy knows they never came. so i thought to myself well, it's a good thing i'm from brooklyn. because we just didn't know what we were going to have to do to defend ourselves and defend our democracy. and finally after some time, some commotion they were able to find a safe passageway to a secure location where we remained for several hours. but i tell you this story in conclusion not because the most important thing that happened that day was that we were run off the floor of the house of representatives by a violent mob of insurrectionist.

number the number one thing that happened that day was an example of americanresilience . it's that we came back to the capital. we completed our work. we certify the election and we made sure joe biden would become the 46th president of the united states of america. that's what democracy is all about. that's what american resilience is all about. let's go out there and win the day. when the week, when the month, when the election. hold the house, hold the senate and continue our long necessary and majestic march towards a more perfect union. god bless iowa, godbless the united states of america . >> with congress facing a september 30 government funding deadline both the house and senate are expected to work on a short-term spending bill to over to federal shutdown. the house returns wednesday

at noon eastern and members will vote later in the week on veterans affairs and bank legislation. the senate returns at three and will vote on whether to proceed to a short-term pending bill to over government shutdown and will delete a proposal by joe manchin on streamlining the federal permitting process for energy . watch live coverage. you can also watch on our video app c-span now or at c-span.org. >> next review of the supreme court's most recent term which included decisions on state gun laws, prescription drugs and abortion. this is from the cato institute's constitution day symposium in washington. >> please reconvene. ... okay. we're back