Live Music
Archive
Librivox
Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland
Museum of Art
Internet
Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American
Libraries
TV News
Understanding
9/11tv Speaker Mike Johnson Presents Congressional Gold Medal CSPAN June 4, 2025 9:06am-10:01am EDT
9:06 am
together we bring you democracy unfiltered. >> in a nation divided, a rare moment of unity. this fall, c-span presents cease fire, where the shouting stops and the conversation begins in a town where partisan fighting prevails, one table, two leaders, one goal. to find common ground. this fall, cease fire on the network that does not take sides only on c-span. >> next, minnesota governor tim walz delivering the keynote address at the south carolina democratic party's 20 25 state party convention. governor walz touches on the need for the democratic party to develop a new strategy to win
9:07 am
national elections. this is just under 50 minutes. under 50 minutes. >> thank you for the kind introduction and commitment to making sure that our representatives are there to make sure they are improving lives of the people across this great state so thank you for that. boy i will tell you and i think some of you were here can jim clyburn put on a party. holy smokes. i got to tell you the fish is one thing but the sense of excitement down here is really something and i think for many
9:08 am
of you, paying tribute to the patron state of the palmetto state is something that was a privilege for me. when i first got to congress i did not know my ass from my elbow when i got there. it's a common affliction in house of representatives as you well know. democrats do something a little different. the cure was jim clyburn. he took me in so many colleagues when i got there and showed us how to be good public servants. servants, showed us how to be good members of congress, not just showing us how things work but showing us how you conduct yourself and i always remind this to people. as a brand-new congressman it was like learning music from beethoven. someone who had done it. someone who had the gravitas could teach it but someone who knew and demonstrated it.
9:09 am
his superpower is his moral compass and i will tell you this. it is wherever he goes is where our party should go. it is where his moral compass takes us is where we should end up. so again a huge thank you and i will never get the privilege of being able to serve in congress but the privilege of serving alongside someone like jim clyburn and there were days when i would have to think they were going to throw me out because i didn't belong there. i would sit between jim clyburn and john lewis and listen to them talk about how we got to where we got. that is pretty special. now the real vips to all the delegates here today thank you.
9:10 am
veterans here, thank you for the service you give and continue to give. union members, thank you standing up for the middle class. a special shout out to my fellow public school teachers, thank you. [applause] gov. walz: and to all the party leadership, you are the true leaders of the democratic party. when i get asked who's the leaders of the democratic party i am looking at them right here today and that is the way it is supposed to be so thank you you for all you do. honored to be with you all. all of you could be anywhere else. my god it is summer already. i was saying i don't know how to respond to this because it is still wintry in minnesota and i come down here and it is warm.
9:11 am
the midterms are in for 500 days. but you come here for the simple reason, you love this country. that's why you are here today, that is the reason. and that's the reason i am here. i just need to say this to you all, i could not have been prouder to have been on the ticket last fall with someone as talented and is accomplished as vice president kamala harris. [applause] gov. walz: we know it and america knows it that we'd be -- we are far better off because for grace, courage and patriotic leadership. and i would love to turn on the tv and see her instead of what we see every day. [applause] since that election i have been
9:12 am
doing a lot of thinking and travel. i spent a lot of time on the road. i was in wheeling, west virginia, youngstown ohio, fort bend texas, you are all thinking it those are strong democratic strongholds each and every one of them. but i went to those places because those are places with her and members of congress and states that voted for donald trump. i went there to listen to folks and i want to tell you they are really pistol off about what's going on in washington. recently it's been the talk about the big beautiful bill. i used two -- i used to teach fourth grade there was going to say it's also the fourth-grader came up with it but that would be insulting to fourth-graders. trump and republicans are trying to ram this monstrosity through congress for any of us figure out what is really in it.
9:13 am
you know what is in it. a record setting shift of wealth to the rich from all the rest of us. if you are a young couple raising a child with a disability, getting your health care through medicaid, you could be one of 15 million that are going to lose their health care. if you are a single mom working relying on snap, this bill would kick you and your kids off and nearly 11 million of our fellow americans off this lifeline. if you are a young guy holding down a job making solar panels, your gig could be one of the 700,000 jobs this bill could kill alone. working people get the shaft, who benefits from this bill? we will see, if you make $4 million a year, if you make $4 million a year you get a $400,000 tax break. and if you and your spouse are
9:14 am
worth over $30 million, you get to pass that wealth down to your children tax-free. if you make less than $50,000 a year, the best you will get out of this is about $300. less than a decent set of tires to buy. but it is a little something i will give you that but it won't make up for what you will lose and having to pay to go to the doctor's office or grocery store. the rich are going to feast and the rest of us will be lucky if we get scraps. 13 million kids will be kicked off free school lunch. those kids get to go to school hungry and all but two republicans voted for this big beautiful pile of bullshit, all but two. you know when they voted for it, right before 3:00 a.m..
9:15 am
every highest needs the cover of darkness to get through as you all know. when trump and the republicans aren't sacrificing our livelihoods of the altar of massive tax cuts for the rich they are finding other ways to screw us over. i talked to my mom or roughly one in five south carolinians who rely on social security as their major retirement income, they are tired -- terrified. you have some 19-year-old doge d weeb mainlining for loco and messing everything up. if they flip a wrong switch, my mom, your relatives, people who depend on social security they do not get a paycheck which means they don't get to pay for the heat in their home or their groceries. i want to give elon a little bit of credit, i find it hard to believe but i am going to. somebody said you think he does anything right. this week he did, he finally quit. [applause]
9:16 am
gov. walz: isn't it funny they want to drug test snap recipients but not that dude? just saying. and i know this one will really depress you on a beautiful saturday morning, this shitshow has only been going on for four months. the story of trump's second term is already clear to all of us, everything this guy does has two motivations. it is either cruelty or corruption. very simple with this guy. he is not a complicated guy. ripping your health care away is the cruelty. cutting taxes for his billionaire buddies is the corruption. tariffs, blowing up our budgets and destroying small businesses is the cruelty. a free jet from qatar is the corruption.
9:17 am
disappearing people off the streets, that's the cruelty. selling white house access to crypto brose is the corruption. and those pastors can even get a decent steak out of that. i find my joy in small things. i find the joy in small things. don't forget for a minute and all of you know this he did not do it alone. all of those republicans in congress are fully complicit in this. every one of them. [applause] gov. walz: here is the thing that really gets me, the ones who tricked the press into calling them moderates. they get susan collins on tv saying she's a was deeply concerned about things. well do something then instead of being deeply concerned. there is nothing moderate about caving to donald trump every single time he asks. [applause] gov. walz: which brings us to
9:18 am
why you are here on a beautiful saturday morning giving of your time. you could be doing things for yourself, for your family, you could be thinking about your little park but you are not. you are not just thinking about yourself you are thinking about others, neighbors, you are thinking about people you don't even know and thinking about those who are less fortunate that cannot be here today because they are working three jobs to put food on their table for their kids. you know what the payoff at the end of this is we will make them pay, the midterms for everything they are doing. [applause] now look, this is the place where we have to be honest with ourselves. we are in this mess, we know who trump is. but we are in this mess because we lost our way. we lost our way a bit as a party. i get it.
9:19 am
this dude is the last guy want to tell us about we lost our way, you are the guy who lost. but i will tell you what, none of us, none of us can afford to shy away right now from asking the hard questions and doing the things we need to do to fix it so we win elections. when we lose elections people's lives are put at risk. this is not a game, this is people's lives at stake. [applause] gov. walz: so here is what i have come to terms with. the party, my party, the party that was there to lift my family up when my dad dies and my mom has two kids staying at home, the democratic party that was the party of the working class, we lost a big chunk of the working class in this last election. and the thing that bothers me to no end and drives me to do
9:20 am
something about it, we did not just lose the working class, we lost the working class to a billionaire. who gives tax cuts to other billionaires. this last election you could hear the primal scream of folks, working class folks were in pain yelling from the top of their lungs do something, the system is not fair. you cannot own a home, i cannot get health care i am worried about my kids, about gun violence. and for all of the boneheaded self serving despicable crap donald trump does, he knows how to sniff out a problem and puts on a show pretending he cares about people. i hear a version of this everywhere i go, you have heard this. well i don't really like trump and i don't know if he is right, i don't even know if he's doing will make a difference but he is
9:21 am
willing to shake things up and give it a try. you hear it. what about us then? how do they view us? democrats we have no shortage of good ideas, we talk about it all the time. you heard some of the things we did in minnesota but when we get into power we have not been able to get the stuff done. at least not the stuff people actually care about and feel in their lives. you know this is true. some of you here have knocked on doors and called people. it is terrible to pick up the phone to call somebody cold and sam calling from the democratic party. you've been there. you've done the work. but they do not see it transferring and you have to keep going back and asking folks. the other day i saw this i read about a democrat in georgia they ask this woman a simple question, describe the democratic party. this is a democrat, this woman
9:22 am
is a democrat and she said a deer in the headlights. she said it's like they see the car coming but they just stand there and get run over by the damn thing anyway. that is a review of our party by someone who likes us. it is a damming indictment but i think it is right on the money. the problem is not just an existential threat politically, this isn't just about winning elections, this is about what is demanded of us morally. we are fighting for working people, that is the dna of the democratic party working for working people. our party used to have the courage to do big and bold things. we are the people and the people who sat in these chairs before you who built social security from scratch. we are the people who secured personal freedoms. we are the people who rescue the
9:23 am
economy every time the republicans crash it. [applause] like two or three times we have had to do this. and you know we will have to do it again. look, we also used to to have the competency to get the basic stuff done like helping you find work, living in safe secure neighborhoods and sending your kids to good schools until somehow we strayed away from that. but right here, right now while trump and the republicans are showing the working class what they truly look like, we have an opportunity to be there champions again. i think it is pretty simple. we just have to show them we have the gusts to fight for them. that we truly believe it. that we will fight for the working class. all of you are saying we brought this guy all the way down here to tell us that, like no shit
9:24 am
that's what we have to do. but i will make the case, i think it has been missing at a national level. at a national level of who we are, what is our party brand, right now i think the governors have an opportunity as much as anyone to make a difference. and i would make the case -- that's why you need to elect one here by the way. [applause] gov. walz: you know there is a program with your tax dollars that you can feed hungry children in the summer with the summer nutrition program and you have governors like right here that say we do not want that money, we do not want to expand it. or medicaid, you can expand coverage, we don't want to expand medicaid coverage. in minnesota we have a different group playing. we talk about this a lot. in minnesota we are not the democratic party, we are the
9:25 am
democratic farmer labor party, two parties that came together. there is a reason for that. we know who we work for in minnesota and we know those are folks whether it is labor or ag or middle-class folks that you need to get the job done. i was just mentioning some of your senators this morning, you think of minnesota as being a blue sate -- state, oh my. we are a purple state. 1990 to 2010 we did not have a democratic governor. when i got elected in 2018 that was the first time in our state's history we ever had back-to-back democratic governors. we had never done it before. and when we took full power in 2022 where we had the house and the senate in the governor's office, we had a one seat majority. one seat in the senate.
9:26 am
and what i said when we all got together the day after the election was we don't win these elections to bank that political capital so we can run again and win again, we burn this s fast as we can to improve people's lives. every bit of it. [applause] and i said we get everything done we can go home and do something else and set up here and argue about politics because i don't know about you i enjoyed being here at i wouldn't mind mowing my yard or golfing or doing something else. but it requires us to be here so i said let's get to work and the first thing we did was created the nation's biggest child tax credit cutting childhood spot -- poverty by a third and making minnesota having the lowest childhood poverty rate in the country. [applause] gov. walz: in minnesota if you or someone in your family gets sick or you have a child when
9:27 am
you need something done you get 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave to be able to do that. and i taught school for a couple of decades and i will tell you what the saddest thing in the world was to see it to did put their number in the machine and say they have no money in their lunch account and turn them around. in minnesota we don't ask you to fill out any paperwork or say anything. every kid walks through the school gets free breakfast and lunch every day. [applause] and we are damn tired of corporations having the decisions about this so we extended the late destinations rate is expansion of labor rights and union organizing in the country. we invested in manufacturing, your home to the per capita home a fortune 500 companies and the longest longevity of new company startups of any place in the country.
9:28 am
we made the largest investments in our public schools and we are at a 30 year low of driving down violent crime across our state. [applause] so you get a tax credit, your kids can go to school in a good school with teachers being paid a fair wage and eat a fair meal. you can get health care coverage if you get sick you get paid family and medical leave. your kids don't get shot dead in the classroom as they shouldn't and all of those things happen because we went from being in the minority to being in the majority by one vote and we had a governor who was willing to sign those through law and guess what happened? people saw their lives improve, the middle class being in charge and labor unions expanded. [applause] those were things that the working class cared about. and guess what, if you do those things they will vote for you the next time. they will come back and do the
9:29 am
work. so every day we are proving what's possible instead of trump's cruelty and corruption, we focus on courage and competency pray to have the courage to vote for those things. the courage to stand up and do what is right. have the courage to not worry about if you get reelected did as long as it improves someone's life and get the things done. [applause] embrace the big things, sweat the little things and we are not afraid. i am not afraid to reach across and work with republicans what i am not afraid to stand up and say there is no way in hell we are compromising on basic human rights and personal freedoms. [applause] so now, we are one of the friendliest states to start a business in so you can stand up for working people, for labor unions, you can stand up for
9:30 am
fair wage, the idea health care is a human right but you can also be because all of those things make businesses healthier , make the economy healthier, make businesses grow, we are the party of business, we are the party of the economy, the party that grows personal wealth. we are also one of the freest states in the country where you make your decision. we are not the nanny state that tells you what to read and who you sleep with, those are your decisions. [applause] and in the surveys that come out there are two that i am proud of. we were recently ranked the best place to have a child in the country on health care to the things we have. and i tell you what, we dropped to second in this category and we have a little more work to do and i think it matters.
9:31 am
when they rate the 50 states, minnesota ranks second in happiness. we have the second happiest state. and it is cold as hell too and we are still happy. no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing. the reason i will settle for second is hawaii is first, so there you go. look i left a public school classroom at age 41 to run for public office for the very simple reason here to fight for working families like my own. there are those who doubted us but i will tell you what, i ran in a district, i'm glad i did not know this, there had only been one other democrat since 1892 in that district. you know how it goes. we can put money in south carolina that the red state and i said last night it doesn't look very red to me, it looks pretty blue. [applause] said we could not win because
9:32 am
nobody with experience. we have people come up here and say i don't know but i am running for office and they will tell you their name and they will do it, support them, help them out. you've never seen these races where we don't even run anybody. look, we've got them in minnesota trust me. we have these people who i don't know how they get elected but i don't know south carolina, it's really something. just think about it, at 500 days we work hard and get somebody up here, she has an answer for the damage she's done -- she has to answer for the damage she's done to people. and then you won't see her on tv anymore again and you will see someone else. and to the teachers out here i will encourage you this, you have to listen to people tell you you are overpaid nine months out of the year.
9:33 am
one of the reasons i ran for office i was tired of people beating up on public servants. and like our teachers and nurses. none of us expected us to get those jobs but we did not take adman oath of poverty so you pay them and when you do that you get really good people who can afford to buy a house and raise their family and they serve the rest of us. i'm speaking to you public school teachers, one thing i learned when they told us to do this, don't ever estimate a public school teacher they are pretty damn tough folks. it is a bit old school in this and i am doing some soul searching. i was there during this last one but i am convinced there is an appetite for this style of governing. this idea of competency, of compassion, of being able to get things done.
9:34 am
when you pull people they love our policies but they cannot love those policies if we do not enact them. and if we don't elect democrats we don't get a chance to do them. this is not a chicken and egg type of thing, you need to elect people who want to improve people's lives and build the coalition behind them with a strong party unity, strong county units, strong infrastructure to get those folks and the thing we have to do is we have to get past this thing. i saw her recently apparently the democrats got together and hired a bunch of people and they went into the hotel to discuss how we could best message to people. how we can come up with and calibrate our words that we use. that is how we got into this damn mess. because we are really cautious.
9:35 am
i know all of you in here, we say stuff like -- because we believe it. and we are kind people, compassionate. we have to fight food insecurity you are right but just say we have to fight kids going hungry in the richest country in the world. tell people where they are at. and don't be afraid and stay away from the pole tested things that are out there because will republicans understood was they identified the problem with people. they got people thinking they were with them like donald trump. what the hell does he know about somebody in south carolina trying to make ends meet. but people believe that because what i have to think about is we've got to let people know we are listening to them and actually hearing what they are saying. it seems so simple, we have to show the gusts we are willing to
9:36 am
feel like there are folks that are not willing to say the things necessary because they might be worried they might not get reelected if they say them. i am not going to say that. i don't think any of us can. i am getting called out on this because i called donald trump a wannabe dictator. it's because he is. [applause] gov. walz: the governor is being mean and the governor is speaking out on that. maybe it's time for us to be a little meaner. maybe it's time to be more fierce. [applause] gov. walz: because we have to ferociously push back on this. i will speak to my teacher colleagues in here. the thing that bothers a teacher more than anything is to watch a bully. and when it is a child, you talk to them and you tell them why bullying is wrong when it's an adult you bully the shit out of him back, you push back and make
9:37 am
sure they know it's not there because at heart, this is a weak , cruel man who takes it out and punches down on people. what they don't want to do is stand toe to go and punch back with someone calling them out for what they do and for democrats here is what we need to know, you need to embrace this. we win hearts and minds. we win the issues heard if you ask people if they want children to eat they will say yes. if you ask if they want smart things to make sure our children aren't shot in schools print they say yes. if they want to pay a decent wage to public servants they say yes. we win hearts and minds, they win power. and when they take power they move with it and exercise it. we have got to have and understand an unshakable responsibility we have to make sure that come hell or high
9:38 am
water everyone in this country can afford a decent life, enjoy a secure and dignified retirement. women can still get reproductive care and no one -- and [applause] gov. walz: no one regardless of their status goes without due process and the rights of the rule of law. [applause] gov. walz: for those who tell us , for those who tell us we get distracted with these issues. i've seen politicians, democratic politicians say we can get distracted with this issue of those stupid folks sending them to el salvador. can we not do two things at once? can we not stand on basic rule of law and human dignity and the foundations of this country and also say tariffs are stupid as
9:39 am
hell and are hurting us? we can do that. we can educate our children and invest in good schools and talk about they shouldn't be shot dead in those schools. we can do that. and i do not care if you are in south carolina or new york city, you cannot be supportive of kids being shot dead in schools. that is a unified position. so look we have allowed ourselves and i think it is fine because we are defined as anti-trump, you damn right, we are anti-trump. but we also have to spend the time and people know what we stand for. and once we stand for those things if they truly stand for them then you actually have to get it done. you have to build government with a bold vision that's actually delivering on these policies. i'm guessing in here it would be pretty popular if you said, if
9:40 am
you put it to the ballot and asked south carolinians do you think we should have paid family medical leave in south carolina i think they would say yes. i think they would say yes. you know when they would really say yes? when someone in their family got cancer and they could care for them, then they would say yes. when they don't have to choose between taking care of a sick child and losing their job or the pay that keeps the roof over their heads. when you do those things guess what happens the economy grows. and people find them selves more secure in life and we have a better, more equal, more just country. the side effect is people no longer wonder with the democratic party stands for, the democratic party stands for taking care of my family, the democratic party stands for doing things that improve people's lives. all of a sudden and i will say this, they have a whole bunch of young people, my son is one of
9:41 am
them. i am really proud of this, it feels like my greatest compliment, my son gus is graduating on tuesday. [applause] that is my proudest moment. but, but gus tells me a lot of young men, you might've seen this, a lot of young white men did not vote for this ticket and my son says dad most of them don't know about the policies and stuff and if they do they probably agree with you. they just think the other side is cooler to belong to this. they just think it sounds tough to belong to this or they feel like you are at least going to them and talking to them instead of having people they do not know up there with you. and so this idea and i have said this along -- a lot of the time, people want to belong something they want to be with other people. most of us print sometimes other people bugged us and they want to be alone. but i know this is a teacher i
9:42 am
was involved in coaching sports, but i was also involved with helping with the musicals and the speech program and i did those things that i like them, but providing a place for a young person to feel like they are part of is really important. and i would argue that is true in a society where we have become more divided, less personal, people look down at their phones and texts. i think it has made us more isolated, i think it is made people lonelier. that's especially true with a lot of men. they want to belong to something. donald trump knows that. it may not be a football team but he provides them a uniform, that damn red cap. he provides them a common language they talk about, something that they belong. now we know in healthy organizations we don't need to demonize someone else, but since he is only offering anger and
9:43 am
animosity and belittling others, he still offers something. we as a democratic party have to offer a place that is welcoming, but i cannot imagine -- people don't go to his rallies to listen to the stuff he is saying. i don't believe that, i think they go to be next to people who think like them. to feel like they are part of something. i bet you they go to those rallies to talk about their kids to one another and talk about what's going on in their lives. and in a society that seems more divisive, that political movement he has, i would argue a compassionate kind place where everybody is involved is a place they should be, but damnit we should be able to have some fun and be joyful and gather in these places. we should make them feel like they matter.
9:44 am
we have the gusts and we need to have it to push back on the bullies and greed and punch them on what needs to be done, our policies are better, they improve your lives. and what you are doing is cruel and corrupt and it cannot stand. we need to bust down systems and again this is my take on this. what donald trump has taught me is i have been in this elected office for 20 years and there are issues that i have worked on for 20 years. and they are like it takes a little time to get this done. people have been born and gotten old and yes i am proud in 2010 i voted for the aca to improve health care to everyone, i voted for obama care. and i went in front of town halls and defended that vote and i heard people tell me you are going to lose your job over that vote and i said sounds pretty good to me if people are going
9:45 am
to get health care i will go back to teaching school and coaching football because that is worth it. donald trump figured out was it shouldn't take 20 years. so i'm cautioning everybody when we win, and we will, we will win the virginia governor's race this november. we are going to win new jersey. we are going to take back the house of representatives, but i will tell you what. and the people in this room are probably the most inpatient. when we get back and win that election in 28, we damn sure better not say i think we will tweak some of these things around health care and make it easier for you to talk to your insurance companies paid you think you better maybe deal with that, you think maybe we better be bold, we better make real changes in people's lives. because here is the deal. i think it is unconstitutional and courts will determine if it is illegal, but when trump
9:46 am
learned to this term is if you say you're going to get things done and do it, even if it is not the right thing, people still give you credit for getting something done. they give you credit for doing it. it's destructive on their side but think how powerful a tool that would be if we moved at the same speed he is moving to give everybody health care. to improve our education system, to address the climate crisis. to defend, to defend human rights here and abroad. imagine how powerful that is. here is the time. here is the time for all of us. donald trump is the existential threat we knew was coming. it is going to be -- i will not whistle past the graveyard, it will be a challenging few years but it starts this november, it starts this saturday as us starting to organize. donald trump ran for president
9:47 am
for four years after he got beat in 2020. the republican party ran for four years. their school board members ran for four years. all of those things were happening and what i know about our party is we know how to work. we are people with greater resilience. we know how to get things done, we are used to being on the short end of things, it is who we are. but when we do that and when we know what we have, this is a moment. this is a moment not just to win an election, this is a moment to transform back to the democratic party. when i was growing up, many of you if you are my gray hairs, you know this, my family was not overly political. we were in a small town. but there was no question for me as a 17 or 18-year-old if i got asked what's the democratic party, that's the unions and the
9:48 am
folks who work for working people, that's who they are. who are the republicans, of the country club and rich people. and that's pretty clear. and then you started to figure out this social security thing is a good idea who came up with that, democrats. this g.i. bill and pell grant's to make college affordable, who came up with that? democrats. this idea you should trust women to make their own health care decisions, who came up with that? democrats. you knew that. this is our opportunity with the leadership in this room let's define who we are. let's define it with a fierce defense of those who cannot defend themselves against a bully. let's fiercely push back everywhere we can. [applause] gov. walz: and then let's decide we are not retreating from that
9:49 am
fight, we won't retreat from that fight would we can simultaneously decide to let people know the issues we were told not to touch because they are too big and bold, it was those big bold things that solidify democratic control for decades. it was those big bold ideas that let us win elections but that was the means to an end. it was a big bold ideas that were enacted by the democratic party that improve the lives of millions of americans. it was those big bold ideas that gained a reputation around the world that the u.s. was the good guys who stood with people who are less fortunate. it was the united states who stood up to places like russia, like north korea instead of voting with them. that is our opportunity. this is an opportunity to do the things we need to do. some of you are saying oh my god we have been through this, we ran election spread losing an election is an opportunity to
9:50 am
reflect. but it damn sure better be an opportunity to fight harder the next time i would say. i will cop to this i am an eternal optimist. i came about it legitimately. i supervised the lunch room for almost two decades. you do not survive that dig a few are not an optimist. but i know and i think it is perfect as i see this, some of you heard me talk about this a lot. i think the most powerful word in the universe is hope. and the motto of this great state, while i breathe, i hope. i will take that one step further, hope is the energy that gets us believing in a better tomorrow. [applause] as my wife gwen says though, she
9:51 am
says that hope is not a plan. we cannot hope that donald trump quick's -- quits acting like he does. we cannot hope that we win in election, we cannot hope that these people aren't as cruel as we think they are paid we cannot hope that people get the health care they so desperately need. we have to plan for it. and that's what brings you here today. your giving of your time, your treasure and talent to build what is necessary. those things we accomplished in minnesota would not have happened without restructuring our entire democratic party putting the power back in the county units, the state units. and it would not have happened without some soul-searching because i will end with this. i don't want you to believe oh my god everything is like heaven in minnesota. no. because last weekend was a five-year anniversary of the murder of george floyd on the
9:52 am
streets of minneapolis. we always like to think of ourselves that we are on the right side of that civil war. they want to be clear with this i had a woman a few years ago talking about racism, intolerance, structural barriers that were put in place to hold people back and this woman was in minnesota as far north as you get on lake superior, she came from arkansas and said yeah arkansas is racist and in minnesota the racism is quieter but it is meaner. and i think the acknowledgment of it we know we have work to do. that's why we are a group of people who believes it is important to teach our history, our true history to everyone of our children. [applause] and a great state, and a great country can acknowledge what we've gotten wrong. but once we start to do that and in the five years since george
9:53 am
floyd whether it was getting rid of some of the techniques in policing, or coming to the grips are police cannot be asked to solve the problems in the middle of a crisis, we brag a lot that minnesota has some of the highest graduation rates in achievements it starts to look different when you disaggregate that data and see the gap between black-and-white students is as big as any place in the country. we took those things off. we did not -- we tackled it and these couple of weeks ago we announced we have closed that graduation rate to the greatest amount we had between black-and-white students in state history. [applause] gov. walz: now, i tell you this for all of you in here, i don't believe you get patted on the back for doing what you are supposed to do. i know there's who will say you focus too much on this diversity equity and inclusion. we focus on it because it is foundational to everything we
9:54 am
do. we focus closing that gap is not only morally the right thing to do, our future depends on us closing that gap. our future depends on that. the leadership in this country. in minnesota alone 80% of our workforce will come from committees of color in the next 75 years even if you have no moral courage if you want to see us survive economically you damn sure better start investing in black communities and making sure they are healthy. [applause] gov. walz: so to all of you, of the work is in front of us. it is not going to be easy. we are facing a pretty unprecedented time in our history. what comes with that is the privilege, we get to be part of that fight. when the story is written of what happened during this time period they will scarcely believe that this country told
9:55 am
-- chose donald trump over kamala harris, but they did. the real story is how do we respond after that election. how did we respond to the challenges. and it starts with an individual and it gets bigger and bigger. so here we are in one of the reddest states according to that stupid map that you will find, with a room full of people who care about their neighbors. a roomful of people who are willing to take the good, the bad and the ugly and the highest achievements as a country and recognize this towards a more perfect union is still going on. each and every one of us can get a chance to do something about it. on behalf of my family and my children and my future grandchildren, let's hope. thank you all. thank you for caring enough about this country, thank you for taking your time and i will leave you with this.
9:56 am
in states that are either purple or blue, nothing inspires us more than to see progressive democrats of fighting in the reddest counties, in the place that are most read. [applause] because that takes courage, that is where change happens and where south carolina will make a difference. thank you all for having me. keep up the fight, we will see you soon. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] >> i happened to listen to him, he was on c-span1, that is a big upgrade right? >> i've read about it in the history books, i have seen the c-span footage. >> if it is a really good idea, presented in public view on c-span.
9:57 am
>> every single time i tuned in on tiktok or c-span or youtube they were tens if not hundreds of thousands of people watching. >> i went home after the speech and i turned on c-span. >> i was on c-span just this week. >> to the american people is the time to tune into c-span. >> they had something to $.50 an hour on television a while ago in between my watching my great friends on c-span. >> c-span is televising this now live so we are not just speaking to los angeles we are speaking to the country. >> looking to contact your members of congress? c-span is making it easy for you with our 20 congressional directory. essential contact information for government officials all in one place. this compact guide contains bio
9:58 am
and contact information for every house and senate member of the 119th congress. contact information on congressional committees, the president's cabinet, federal agencies and state governors. it cost $32.95 plus shipping and handling and every purchase helps c-span's nonprofit operations. scan the code or go to c-spanshop.org to order your copy. >> mr. president, no doubt about it this is historic in many ways. >> the proceedings of the united states senate are being broadcast to the nation on television for the first time. >> we mark the 39th anniversary of the u.s. senate's first live television broadcast on c-span 2 . join us as senators join us in this landmark moment of american democracy. >> thanks to c-span2, this
9:59 am
allows our constituents to see the swearing in of newly elected members watching all night sessions and tune in to history being made. >> that's why on its 39th birthday, senator grassley and i wanted to highlight how important it is for all television providers including major streaming services like youtube tv owned by google and hulu plus live tv owned by disney to provide the american public with c-span and the opportunity to see their government work on the senate floor. >> c-span does not receive one penny of taxpayer dollars, is funded primarily from satellite and cable providers. >> a lot of people are seeing their news this way so we need
10:00 am
to expand it and make sure we are on all of those platforms as well as the ones we already are on. so thank you again to senator grassley for working with me to highlight c-span's critical role and thanks to everyone who has had a hand in c-span's success. happy birthday. >> c-span 2, 30 nine years of bringing the u.s. senate live into homes across the country thanks to the support of our cable partners. together together we bring you democracy unfiltered. >> c-span3 is live for a hearing with chris rocheleau, the acting administer of the federal aviation administration. he's testifying on the president's 2026budget request for the f.a.a. >> i know that runs a bit counter to some of the other
57 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
CSPAN3
Television Archive
Television Archive News Search Service
Uploaded by TV Archive on
