 Good evening. I'll mark up to grow of the director of the LBGA presidential library and on behalf of the Texas Tribune our Cosponsor for tonight's event. I want to welcome you Our capacity crowd here or the rain has I think prevented a few people from showing but I can tell you we turned down about 200 people to this event But that bears testament to the excitement around our guests tonight Joaquin and Julian Castro Rising stars in Texas politics, but theirs is a truly American story Born in San Antonio second-generation Mexican Americans Joaquin and Julian were raised on the city's west side and grew up beneficiaries of their parents tireless work and sacrifices for their future in Turn both the Castro brothers have shown a deep commitment to the American political process and to public service Joaquin Castro served five terms as a state representative from his home city and last year was elected to the United States Congress Where he serves on the House Armed Service Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee? Julian Castro serves as the mayor of San Antonio and at 38 is the youngest mayor of any major American city Last summer he became a national figure when President Obama tapped him to deliver the keynote address at a Democratic National Convention a spotlight. He shared with his brother Joaquin and Julian Castro have often be called been called the future of the Democratic Party But in so many ways they represent the future of our state and of our country at large Moderating tonight's discussion with the Castro brothers is the founder and CEO of the Texas Tribune The former editor of Texas Monthly and a good friend of the LBJ presidential library Evan Smith Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming Joaquin Castro Julian Castro and Evan Smith Mark, thank you very much. Good evening everybody gentlemen mayor congressman. Thank you very much for being here great to be here Since we are in president Johnson's house. It seems fitting that we talked about Medicaid first Absolutely, is that okay? We just get right into it. No, no dressing up. Let's just get started. I need some water for this You may you may So there you both were yesterday at a press event that was called Not so much a rebuttal, but maybe a parian thrust. Let's call it that with governor governor Perry Senator Cruz senator Cornyn they announced Last week that they would get together on Monday at the Capitol and redouble their Efforts to keep Texas from expanding Medicaid. You all decided to come to Austin and take the opposite position. Mr. Mayor Why why do that and explain please your position on this? Yeah, well, thanks for the question and thank you all very much for having us here It's great to be here at the LBJ library I felt compelled to do it because it's such an important issue to the health of Texas families and I felt as though they're needed to be as powerful a counterpoint to the argument that That Perry Cruz and Cornyn were making about not accepting a Medicaid expansion. I yesterday I talked about in San Antonio that we see This person after person who calls the ambulance Because the emergency room is their primary care physician because they don't have health insurance and they wait and they wait Until something catastrophic happens and then the taxpayers get stuck with the bill Because they don't pay their ambulance bill. They don't have the money So we literally have tens of millions of dollars in San Antonio like most cities do of unpaid ambulance fees, right? And and that's just from my local perspective I believe that this is such an important issue for the health of Texas families that Joaquin and I talked that day that That we saw that they were going to be having their press conference and said why not just counter what they And I think I think Evan it's the moral and economic right thing to do You know Morally, we've got to remember that these are human beings many of whom are suffering without health care Yeah, and as we on mentioned the only time they get to see the doctors when they go to the emergency room But but even if you're not soft-hearted so to speak even if it's just about dollars and cents That's the reason that the chambers of commerce The hospital association doctors have all come out to put pressure on the governor to accept Medicaid expansion Because the state if we don't do it first of all as as taxpayers that money is already going to Washington Yeah, the question is are we going to take it back or we're going to let it go to California or other states? And so we would be giving up somewhere close to a hundred billion dollars By not accepting this money right and so you know for those reasons and others we wanted to make that point in Austin Congress, but no one disputes the magnitude of the problem We're talking about at last count twenty eight point eight percent of the population in Texas is uninsured doesn't county under insured or the Underserved just the uninsured six point two million of our now twenty six and a half million Citizens have no insurance But what the governor and senators cruising Cornyn would say is yes It is our money and it should come back to Texas not with strings attached It should come back in a block grant It should allow the state of Texas which knows better on many subjects to assert that Knowledge we have a way we could fix this we don't need them to tell us what to do Give us our money back and we'll fix the problem congressman. Why not? Well? I would say a few things well first I think they understand that a block grant and a block grant would simply say that Instead of any guidelines from the federal government you would simply turn over a hundred billion dollars to Rick Perry And the Republican leadership and let them do what they want Yeah, I mean good luck with that, right? I mean the fact is If you look at what happened for those who have a memory of ten years ago That was my first legislative session in 2003 the legislature passed a bill called house bill 2292 where they essentially tried to privatize Different services related to health care including chip And that was a disaster and I think it ended up costing the state a hundred and fifty million dollars or somewhere around that total Being efforts were made in subsequent sessions congressman to put some of that money and some of those kids back into the system Oh, absolutely. No, you know as the budgets got better than they tried to remedy that right But there was a there was a an attempt of privatization of some of those functions essentially that went awry, right? And so on that score and on TANF some of the TANF issues The governor has not shown that he's the best steward of some of this money You know and not and then you've also got what's gone on with with Cyprit Not wanting something as basic as an audit about how money is being spent So there's real questions about simply turning that money over you worry whether we're capable of spending that money in a way That we oh sure with with these group of leaders. I am quite frankly and just look at the track record I mean, you know the governor Perry has been in office since 2000 and you have more uninsured Texans now than back then I believe you have a higher percentage of uninsured Of course you have more Texans back then in fairness mr. Mayor there was a problem in the Bush years as governor and even in the Richards years that we had a very high percentage of our citizens Uninsured, it's not a new problem. It's not a Rick Perry problem necessarily Yeah, but you know the issue is is justice Rehnquist used to say that you have to take the bitter with the sweet so the you know the narrative that that These folks spin out is of Texas as this shining star for economic development But don't want to own up to the fact that things have gotten worse or at least haven't gotten better on all of these indicators That will foretell how well Texas is going to compete in the 21st century global economy I want to come back to some of those other issues Let me stay on healthcare for a second and ask you about another Objection that governor Perry and the senators have raised and that is that this money is not forever There's going to be a time when this money will run out and the costs of ensuring those people will come back to the state It will be billions of dollars. We know that even in what we're told now are good times It's still a pretty austere budget low tax low service Do we really even have the money? To incorporate those people back onto our budget when the federal money runs out What about that well It's estimated that over the next ten years that the expenditure by the federal government would be about 90 billion and and by the state Government would be just over 15 billion That's over a 10-year period to give you a cent and I know that you know very well But to give folks a sense of that when we have what about 10 or 11 million city You got surplus somewhere between 8 and 10 billion dollars in the rainy day fund right now Right never mind what you might have in five years or so and then you've also got an 8 billion dollar surplus or so You know so you've got a surplus in a rainy day fund course We seem to have spent that money in the rainy day fund and the surplus about ten times since January 1st Right, I'm not sure that the money would be freely available, but I grant your point good economic time Sure ought to make it possible for us to pay this also which which gets to an underlying point here It's all about priorities. What do you make a priority of the state right and and basically? He has been Advertising investments that are important so that you can have healthy families in the state of Texas give me an example of a Priority that he has said we don't need to do this and that's in turn Exaction made the problem. Let me give you an example from our experience in San Antonio in San Antonio and in November The voters passed pre-k for SA a one-eighth cent sales tax initiative to ensure that we significantly expand High quality full-day pre-k. Well, there was a Republican legislator Diane Patrick Diane Patrick that in the 2009 session Got bipartisan support to significantly expand pre-kindergarten education in Texas and that was vetoed by the governor So basically you're telling the the school children of Texas these four-year-olds Those families know you're not important enough, but one comes suspending on prisons or whatever else he wants to spend on Then yeah, let's question priorities or just just to put a point on it the other day when he said After sequestration affected Small airfields so that they wouldn't have a full-time air traffic controller. He said, you know what? Let's let's step in and pay for that. So your argument is if he could find the money for that He should be finding the money sure for this congressman people will also say that the Medicaid system is broken Why would you put more people into a system that is not working? One in which doctors and hospitals are actually reluctant to take new Medicaid patients because the reimbursements aren't adequate People say that the thing needs to be blown up and rebuilt Not add people to a system that's already not working. What about that? Let me answer that directly in a second But first some context on in terms of why you would take the money Even the safest play the most conservative play would essentially to be to do what? Jan Brewer and Rick Scott and Chris Christie of Republican governors That's right Republican governors in other states. Yeah, which is say look this program is 100% paid for by the federal government Through 2016 we as a state don't start paying anything I think at that point they pay about five cents on the dollar that first year We don't pay anything until then so if the federal government Somehow backs out of its commitment during that time then we're gonna dump the program. Yeah, so that would be the easiest thing to do That's the safest play for this governor, but he's refusing to do even that right part of the reason He's refusing to do that is because of the argument that you bring up system about the system being broken Right a few things on that the first thing it's the states and not the federal government that manage Medicaid But very specifically into the heart of the debate They set the reimbursement rates for providers who decide either to join or not join in other words accept Medicaid patients were not accepted. Yeah, so they have essentially created their own self-fulfilling prophecy by lowering reimbursement rates Right not keeping them competitive with what private insurance and also lowering the eligibility rates in terms of percentage of income That you can have a federal poverty then they turn around and complain this is broken, but maybe they broke it sure absolutely I mean, and I wouldn't say that it's broken. I would say that it needs improvement But the other part of that is the money that we're gonna draw down from the federal government Right will then allow you to go increase those rates and also fix the system as it stands now So, you know, you see them do this not only with health care But also on issues like public education right where they start to starve the schools And then when the schools don't perform they say well look look how bad the schools are you need vouchers And so there's this this this shell game that they seem to play Let me go to public education, Mr. Mayor You brought up the initiative that passed on the ballot in November very brave These days especially in a state like Texas to be publicly in favor of a tax increase in fact Putting your personal and political capital behind raising taxes for but on the other hand You gave the voters of your community the opportunity to do thumbs up or thumbs down talk a little bit about that Yeah, well I mean the whole reason that that I got into politics in the first place was because I got excited when I went away from San Antonio about what San Antonio could be and I felt we both felt very blessed with the opportunities that we had in life and Recognized that more folks in San Antonio should have those opportunities. So when I became mayor and before I became mayor Tackling the issue of educational achievement, which I see as the primary issue to that city's advancement I had to do it, you know, I can be I couldn't be happy doing the potholes and you know, somebody's barking dog and all that stuff You know, I mean, that's part of the job that the Cory Booker, right? Seems to be more his thing anyway I mean, that's part of the job. Everything is part of the job, you know infrastructure all that but I wouldn't I wouldn't get the same Sort of satisfaction out of being mayor if I didn't get to tackle that so I put together a task force of Business leaders and education leaders who proposed that we use that one last eighth one eighth of a cent that produces about 31 million dollars a year That we put that into high quality full-day pre-k for our four-year-olds Because the research is very compelling that if you have a dollar to spend in education that dollar is best spent Early on with young people before they ever get behind in the first place when their mind is developing and so forth and we identified a gap of students who aren't getting that took that to the voters the voters approved it 53 and a half percent and It had support from the business community And and just folks across the city, of course anytime you want to raise taxes. That's controversial. It is But I was very upfront with folks. I said I am asking you for a tax increase Yeah, there's no way to sugarcoat. Well local control is also essentially a conservative idea We hear a lot about that from Republicans and legislature. We want less power at the state level. Let's give it to the communities That all of that help, right? I think so these are four-year-olds who are going to benefit from this and it's 22 What's the total number kids 22,400 four-year-olds over the next eight years over the next eight years will benefit from it from this increase Yeah, yeah Congressman another area in which Texas has declined to play with the federal government has been on education Remember a couple years ago race to the top sure talk a little bit about the now that you're in Washington, you're part of Congress you understand the federal piece of this little bit better talk about federal education policy as it does or Doesn't relate to some of the issues that mayor talk about sure Well, of course, you know President Obama thankfully has made pre kindergarten education one of the centerpieces of his education policy for the remainder of his term right and so that's great to see and you know It's great to see that San Antonio was even ahead of that career. Yeah, and so but in terms of our Texas's place In as it relates to other states in an education, you know I think race to the top of course was a program funded by the federal government Department of Education That was offering states significant money to essentially come up with best practices, right? That would then be spread out because you know scaled essentially to other places, right? There were two states it was our Texas and I believe Alaska that didn't participate There were only two states out of the fifty that declined to participate and you had to compete for this money, right? We had to compete, but you know We essentially gave up a chance at significant amounts of money probably the estimates were about eight hundred million dollars And so it was I think a missed opportunity to set national standards with the other states Yep to really come on to some innovative ideas in education policy, right? I think we could absolutely use them in Texas We still have a challenge in terms of our dropout rates I was vice chairman of the higher education committee And so you know I got a first-hand look at the fact that we've got a lot of our colleges that still have Higher dropout rates than our high schools our community colleges for example and even some of our state universities So there are a lot of challenges in Texas education Yeah, and there are a lot of things that we could be doing better And we're missing out on some of those things because we didn't participate The objection congressman though to the race to the top funding was similar to what we hurry here now on Medicaid It's short-term money. It's not going to be there forever and there were strings attached. Sure I know aren't those aren't the strings attached arguments, you know, don't you have some Sympathy for that argument. I mean there's strings attached in any relationship. You know, I have a girlfriend. There's strings attached to that You have a husband or wife there's strings attached to that, but no ring attached. Yeah I'm working. Yes. Wave your finger. No ring. He has no ring yet. That's right. You know, yeah There there's to some extent there are strings attached when local governments get state money, right? So but that's become a formulaic response Yeah on that the governor's used to decline not only race to the top funds and of course the Medicaid funds But also unemployment insurance. We turn the state turned out Session session a few sessions ago Right in the middle of the economic crisis turned out $550 million in unemployment insurance and again strings attached was the right the same mantra And so, you know, I mean it's just become I think a knee-jerk reaction That's more rooted in the governor's politics than it is really in any kind of Sound fiscal or economic or social decisions. Let's say mr. Mayor Let's stipulate that the governor is not alone in pushing back against the idea that the federal government should be doing our business for us We have the most Active lawsuits against the federal government of any state that may not be a distinction people are necessarily proud of but there it is We have demonstrated on matters like immigration environmental protection Healthcare that we're very quick to push back against our government. You're both native Texans Isn't there a theory that if you come from Texas you don't want other people messing in your stuff Hasn't that been the state's history for so long the governor and the other people because there are many other people to see The world the way the governor does don't those people have a point historically that this is consistent with the Texas We've always known. Oh, there's no question that Texas has always had this this strong independent streak I mean we were our own nation at one time, right? Maybe again Let's hope not However, what you see is the difference between Governors in states like Florida now with Rick Scott or Jan Brewer who are saying, okay Well, let's work or Arkansas is another good example who have a productive relationship with the federal government constructive relationship with their versus really Political grandstanding on the part of Governor Perry. Do you think he's a grandstander? I'm just gonna let that sit there Let me ask about immigration, you know time is gonna go by quickly We're gonna try to cover a lot of ground. Let me ask you about immigration We live now in a state that will soon be Hispanic majority right now We're a minority majority percentage of Anglos is below 50% of the total population in so many ways, Texas and specifically San Antonio is going to model for the rest of the country what the near future looks like the Opportunities and the challenges a lot of discussion now post-election about comprehensive immigration reform There seems to be a group of bipartisan senators moving towards some Solution if not on path to citizenship then on a guest worker program the business community and labor have said to come together On this would you each talk mr. Mayor first about where you think we will end up and where in a perfect world We should end up on this issue Well, I believe that there will be comprehensive immigration reform this this of all of the issues out there Seems to be the one where the parties are getting closer and closer together right and there's there's daylight It's not the usual back-and-forth and blame game and so forth I believe that we'll have something consistent with the framework that has been set out by that that gang of eight the bipartisan group Probably a little bit more stringent so there will be a pathway to citizenship Yeah, but they're gonna be some hoops. I would imagine that folks have to jump through that perhaps The the Democrats especially the liberal Democrats won't be fond of that I wouldn't put in there necessarily if I were crafting legislation myself That's where I think the compromises probably gonna go. Yeah, yeah Congressmen you remember that when President Bush was in office There was a move towards some moderate immigration reform that Conservatives folks to the right of President Bush Help to derail What has changed from then to now that we're suddenly on the verge on the lip of being able to agree on something Yeah, well, I mean I think the November 6 election happened I think that you know what what's been remarkable with the Republican Party post election is that there at least seems to be a Crew of folks who really are trying to move the party in a more You know more responsive direction. Are they doing it out of concern for the future of the country? Or is it politics or is it both? Well, I mean, you know, I think that You want to believe that people do the right thing because they believe it's the right thing to do Yeah happening in this case, but I think that you know, I think it's directly. It's it's primarily political Had governor Romney won the election. Would we be having this conversation? That's a good question Probably not probably not although I can see a scenario where where you would have where it would have been a Nixon Maybe on their terms. I think instead of you know, you we unanswered the question about what would happen I think that we will end up with an earned path to citizenship I think if president if there were a president Romney in office right now You would still see the issue addressed, but you certainly wouldn't be talking about a path to citizenship You might be more conservative version. Yeah, you would have a more a guest worker program Yeah, do you see in the Republican Party whether it's a senator Rubio? Senator Graham senator McCain any of the people who've been participating in this conversation Do you see ideas that you guys can get behind in terms of where we're headed on this issue mayor on immigration reform? Well, sure. I'm you know, I think what what the Republican Party has pushed out has been the necessity to Continue to enhance border security and and I agree with enhancing border security to the extent that means using technology for instance yeah, and Sometimes personnel where it makes sense and we already doubled the number of border Patrol agents on the Southwestern border since 2004 so there are more folks down there than ever Of course senator cornered a governor Perry when when asked about this issue almost always say first the problem is the federal government has failed to Secure our border. That's what has to happen before we do anything else on immigration. Yeah, I believe that's a red herring You're never gonna have zero people coming across any border, right? I mean you don't have zero people Staying in prison, you know, you have jail breaks. So right you're never gonna get it down to absolute zero, right? But also I think we've got to bear in mind that That this president more than any other president of the United States has put dedicated border resources to the border Than ever in American history. There's six hundred and fifty two miles of border barrier Essentially including fencing right along the border and in fact deportations are up in the Obama years over the Bush years significantly Deportations are up and crossings are significantly down, right? They're at a 40 year low and part of that I think it's a combination of things number one. You've got more border security Second of course the American economy has not been as strong as it's been in the past less of an incentive to cross Right then say that let's say the late 1990s, right? But then the other thing is that you've got a Mexican economy that is absolutely booming right now Their GDP is off the charts and so because of all of those factors and probably others You've just got less folks that are maybe they should be concerned about Texans crossing over into Mexico Well, then the number the name The net migration number right now is zero right essentially Yeah, and so if this is the moment for because because of where we are in terms of the crossings And because of the politics this is the moment that we should do comprehensive So on this question of demographic change and the fact that we will be whether it's five years ten years 15 years Hispanic majority state you both grew up in what is now and I suspect has been for some time a Hispanic majority city Tell us what it tell us what we have to look forward to in terms of opportunities and challenges when the state becomes Hispanic majority When the population finally turns what you know, I've seen Steve Murdoch's numbers that in 2000 the five and under population in Texas was 44% Latino 40% Anglo by 2040 it's going to be 70% Latino 17% Anglo five and under's in Texas. Yeah population is changing fast. What do we have to look forward to a Replenishment of exactly what has made America great, you know community with a great work ethic very patriotic you know folks of faith I Think what we have to look forward to is just an America that is positioned to excel in the 21st century the way they excelled in the in the 18th 19th and 20th century if we get the issue of Educational achievement right right now. That's a big issue. Yeah, I mean the spandex community is undereducated Generally right now and so if you don't do that then it's good It could be more of an all but Albatross Steve Murdoch talks about you know different scenarios And that if things continued and we didn't improve Educational achievement that in 25 years we could actually have a higher percentage of Texans without a high school diploma Then we have right now Which would be a step backward in a 21st century global economy that depends so much on brainpower and that has that has been alarming because if you look at the goals that were set by Texas in 2001 the closing the gaps goals the only group of all the categories of folks Where the state of Texas has not hit its target on college enrollment is with Hispanics And that is your fastest growing group right and so it's it's something that we're gonna have to solve Over the next in the coming year. There are people who are concerned about higher ed public ed public health Infrastructure the places growing the fastest the Valley El Paso are places where we have historically invested the least in roads And bridges and sewers and broadband well and you've heard me talk about what my philosophy about an infrastructure of opportunity Right and essentially, you know, I believe that just as there's an infrastructure of streets and roads and highways That helps everybody get to where they want to go on the road that in America What has made us successful is that we have built up an infrastructure of opportunity That allows everybody to get to where they want to go in life Yeah, so great public schools and universities a strong health care system and an economy that's built around well-paying jobs But there's a few pieces to that infrastructure of opportunity and one of them is literally a physical piece So for example in the Texas Valley where you have a million and a half residents mostly Hispanic not until Yeah, not until probably the late 1990s could you get a doctoral degree still in down in that area? They're only about 20 doctoral programs. Yeah in San Antonio. You couldn't get a doctoral degree till about 1988 And so literally there's still no medical school anywhere south of San Antonio one is coming It's coming online. There's not a law school Although a lot of people don't want more lawyers And there's a lack of professional schools Yeah, I was to say that that it is great that the Valley's gonna get a medical school, but I mean what about a law school What about engineering programs? Yeah counting programs just a whole series of investments. I have to backfill a lot of things Oh, they're in the rest and also in a resource environment that is different from yesteryear indeed in a resource environment When they're asking the community to put up a significant amount of the revenue if they want to get the medical school Or the other right program that didn't used to be the case Well, and I've always used to write the check That's sure and I've always thought that one of the things that hamstrings the Valley for example Because you don't have a concentration of wealth there the way you do in other places take Dallas for example When North Texas, I believe it was North Texas made a play for a law school And they were putting up a building that was worth. I'm going on memory now But I think it was worth somewhere between 10 and 14 million dollars But that was their buy-in that was their investment which made sense You don't have the same harder in the right. It's harder to come by down much much Let me toggle over to guns if you don't mind an issue that is of interest in Texas and of interest nationally Congressman the president said in his State of the Union because of Tucson because of Aurora, Colorado because of You know Newtown, Connecticut We're gonna talk about an assault weapons ban. We're gonna talk about a ban on high-capacity magazines We're gonna talk about Universal background checks. Let's have an up-or-down vote doesn't look like Maybe on universal background checks there may be an up-or-down vote doesn't even look like there's gonna be an up-or-down vote on the Assault weapons ban or the high-capacity magazine ban. What's what's going on on this issue at the national level? well You know if you ask me where I think it's gonna end up I think we're gonna end up with some kind of build doing universal background checks And we should because 90% of Americans are already there and agree with that well in fact the public by a majority of In each of those issues the public is for ban on assault weapons ban on high-capacity magazines and Overwhelmingly on the on the you're right and and quite frankly it looks like at least within the US Senate because I think Folks widely acknowledged that if something's gonna pass it's gonna start in the Senate first Yeah, because of the politics. Yeah, because you have a democratic majority there in the Senate The momentum has waned In terms of doing Limitations on high-capacity magazines and on an assault weapons ban Yeah, leader Reed seems not inclined to even put it before the full Senate. No, that's right He said that he thought it couldn't get 40 votes and so you know It wasn't gonna be part of why is the democratic strategy not to put that to a full vote and let people be publicly On the record voting against, you know, honestly Evan on that one. I think that I think we should take a vote on it There were things that I served in the Legislature for ten years and there were times when you know And it's it's a very freewheeling process in the Texas Legislature You can add amendments to just about anything. Yeah, there were times we had amendments and people said well Yeah, don't put that up because we really don't want to take a vote on that, right? You know, but there are certain issues where the country needs to know where people stand right and they deserve to know Where people you don't want to take a vote don't run for office. Yeah, isn't that right? Mr. Mr. Mayor, I mentioned to you before we came up here that I had the opportunity to interview Kaseem Reid your colleague mayor of Atlanta Georgia great guy interesting guy and I asked him about why he supports the assault weapons ban and the high-capacity magazine Band he said I'm worried about my police force in the city of Atlanta Encountering these guys with these weapons of war. I want to protect my police when they walk into a situation I want to be sure that they're not going to be jumped by the people who have weapons They don't have any business having he made it about law enforcement What when you make the argument for these things? What is the what is your reference point? Well as a mayor it certainly is that and the police chiefs across the country have have been supportive of Gun control measures. So it's that but it's also, you know I just take a look physically at the situations that you encounter and I think the problem with the allowing for instance some of These high-capacity magazines is the element of surprise and let's go back to the the Tucson shooting Representative Giffords How many people is somebody going to be able to take out basically? Before someone can even if they have a gun can do something about it To me that's the question is that you're never going to be able to prevent right somebody from getting getting off at least a shot You're always that person's always going to have the element of surprise with them Then the question is how quickly can they actually injure? How many people before somebody can do something even accepting the argument that they did that the other side makes About this theoretical good guy who's there ready willing and able to effectively take out that person Yeah, and and I think that that these guns and these magazines that that together allow for somebody to get off A certain number of shots like that in that in that context is not good public policy. You're both Texans What do you have against the Second Amendment? Nothing in fact, I'll give you a concrete example from my end You know about a month and a half ago. I got an email that the subject matter line was I'll kill you and then the person Described how he was going to kill me and my and my wife and my child, you know, I mean that was the email and you know that evening There was a police officer outside of our house. The first thing I wanted to do was have a gun In case that person actually did come into my house and I wouldn't be grudge people I don't begrudge folks for having for owning their guns and in certain situations. Yeah. Yeah, you know I mean I completely understand that but however there are other situations And in which I do think that reasonable restrictions should be put in place Yeah, not that you take away everybody's guns or don't allow them to have them But but I do think that there are reasonable restrictions that can be put in place You understand when Texans say it's part of our culture. We have this right We don't want the government to infringe upon our second. Oh sure You know and you know, we did an interview sometime back and I told a story about About being on the road to Marfa in 2000. I think it was 2010 I took my mom for her birthday to the Marfa Film Festival that year and we drove from San Antonio it's about six hour drive and You know, it was nearing sunset and off in the distance. I saw this house all by itself almost like a farmhouse and I thought you know, if you live in that house and you don't own a gun You've got to be crazy Because if something happens or people break in or You're gonna have to defend yourself by yourself. You're by yourself. Police aren't gonna get there anytime soon So for a lot of different reasons like that because our state has such a rural history And because we have such a sporting history It's natural that that's very deep into the culture, but there are also urban scenarios And you know and so these these changes can be made in a way that respects the Second Amendment You know, I support concealed carry. I voted for the castle doctrine in the legislature And so it's not like I've got a grudge against the Second Amendment Right I respect the Second Amendment But also realize that there need to be reasonable restrictions on on the kind of weapon and how much Ammunition you can fire out and you know, can a politician in Texas succeed running statewide being four restrictions on guns Who you support? Well, we may test that we'll talk about that shortly Could you could you go out to the pop to the full population of the state to voters all across the state Not just in liberal enclaves, but across the entire state and say I support background checks I support assault weapons bands. I support a band on high capacity magazines vote for me Can you do that in this Texas today? In the Texas of today, I don't know. It's a good question To the extent that people vote on one issue. No for the extent that people vote on a series of issues Then maybe so you might be able to yeah, I Think as long as you don't open your speeches with that Yeah That's been tried in the past and hasn't gone so well I would also say that yeah that that when people oppose you on an issue unless they're absolutely Fanatical and people are fanatical on different issues including this one If you're upfront with them, you're honest with them about what your position is and why and you don't try to hide that from them You explain it to them Then if folks believe that they can trust you in terms of that you have a reasonable thought process Yep, and that you're not going to lie to them Then most folks can disagree with you on some issues and still support you I recognize there are some folks that if you're not with them on one hundred percent right. Yeah, yeah, right? And also yeah, and I think if they understand that you respect what they believe also Yeah, and you can see why they believe what they believe right? But ultimately I think Evan I think you just have to stand up for what you believe yeah, and whatever happens happens That's it Let's let's spend some time We're gonna go to questions in a bit We have some more time and I want to use the time we have now to talk about the Democratic Party in Texas and the two of you Your thoughts about the party and your thoughts about where you may find yourselves in it in a couple years I asked you backstage how old were you when the last? Democrat was elected statewide in Texas and you said well in 94 I was I was 20 years old you were both 20 years old the last time a Democrat was elected statewide in Texas What happened to your party? You are both proud Democrats? You don't shy from that the mayoralty is non-partisan in San Antonio, but nobody mistakes you for a Republican mayor You've made clear where your sympathies are congressman. You're a proud Democrat. We're here right and now are in Congress What happened to your party in your lifetime that and the legislature Democrats are nearly an endangered species You could argue Democrats are the third party in a two-party state right? What what happened congressman what happened to the Democratic Party well I mean if you look at generally what happened with the South, you know It slowly went from you know, of course when when President Johnson was in office and even through the 70s and the 80s And even into the 90s it went from From Democratic control to Republican control and you know in some ways It has been and I saw this and I'm quoting somebody and so I want to give somebody else credit Oh, I think it was Paul Stechler I read an article about him and he made the point that it really was more of a partisan change and less an ideological change in that the state was always fairly conservative and So you had more of a change of parties rather than so people who call themselves these call themselves ours But fundamentally what they believe wasn't all that different I think Anne Richards said that I may be wrong But yeah, I've seen it attributed to Anne Richards that the conservative was always there It was so you don't think you all lost an argument There was no argument that took place about what the priorities of the state should be or how to address the problems of the state and Once upon a time Democrats had the answers they won the argument But at a certain point everything changed and Republicans won the argument. You don't think that's the issue No, I think that's some of it. I do believe that that In the late 70s and particularly after the election of Reagan that there's generally been a posture in Texas And a lot of America that government is somehow bad that it's wasteful that when people think about government They think of an oppressive hand and they think of waste. Yeah, sure. Yeah, I mean in that generally we've gone in that direction So philosophically the Republicans who have been in power for these years have believed in smaller government less of that Hand or that boot heel on your neck, right? We want to get government out of people's lives That's why it should be so worrisome that that the numbers the percentages that this younger generation is voting for Democrats in That that should send a strong message because those folks weren't around for the great society. Yeah, they weren't around for Ronald They're making decisions independent of any you can learn they can learn the lessons of the past Yeah, and ensure that that that they make public policy even better than prior generations but they don't have to assume that just because you do something like Medicaid or or You know invest in education that that's going to be wasted, right? That's not somehow bad Yeah, right congressman How do you persuade people to come back to the Democratic Party if people went from being these to ours? And it wasn't as much an argument that they lost really as it was just well We were always conservative and that's the fashion right now How do you get them back and did the Democratic Party do anything wrong in the last 20 years to lose those people? Well, I guess a few things on that first. I think the the state Republican leadership including the senators are helping our cause a lot By what they're doing you think they're helping to push the pendulum Oh, sure. Yeah, sure and and and I think the reason you see that is because they've gotten very spoiled We are now the state that has gone the longest of any state in the nation without electing a Democrat statewide It's been since 1994 Which is remarkable when you think of some of the very conservative places in this country. Yeah, but when you see You know for example senator Ted Cruz and the positions that he's taken You know in a press conference yesterday the one that they did I heard him say that That in many in some instances people with no health care insurance in no health care insurance at all Are better treated than people with Medicaid? How does that make sense, you know But but very kind of extremist rhetoric and positions like that that are really helping or voting against the violence against women Right or voting against the violence against women act voting against a multiple sclerosis Resolution on the Senate floor Because you don't like the way something now This is the stuff that they can get away with right now because all they got to do is play to their primary base That is what's changing right but what you're describing mayor congressman are things that the Republicans are doing that would cause People to come back to the party, but affirmatively what should the Democrats have done? What should the Democrats be doing should you all just basically wait everything out? No, no, no not at all. I mean I think what you see your efforts like Battleground, Texas It's just starting to take off yeah in terms of engaging folks that have historically not participated We also have one of the worst in the bottom three in terms of voter participation rates in the nation right a few years ago I think we were dead last or 49th And so part of it is also getting folks to participate who have not participated in the past Yeah, and I really do believe that if we had more voter participation that this state would already be a purple state If not a blue state mayor, you know the what's often said is that if Latinos would turn out to vote as a percentage of the eligible Population in numbers equivalent to where the Anglo population turns out in fact to the congressman's point that these elections might be more Competitive so why haven't Latinos turned out and what do the Democrats have to do to get Latinos to turn out in greater numbers? Well, I mean to begin with all of Texas turnout is lower than almost every other state But yes the Latino community turns out at an even lower rate. So why haven't they turned out? I think a lot of that has to do with their income status. They're generally lower income. They're younger younger You know as a profile generally less educated. Yeah, so those things Certainly play into it What does the Democratic Party have to do or what do folks have to do to get them out? It's a combination of things what battleground Texas is doing applying the new model of voter out outreach the new technologies Right get people out there some of the same data mining operations Yeah, the Obama campaign in the last cycle and they bore fruit right in Florida in Ohio in Colorado in Virginia in North Carolina. Yeah, there's a lot of low-hanging fruit by the way And then also you need great candidates you need people that can excite that community Right. I have said before that if if Henry Cisneros had run for governor in 1990 That that would have been the first time that a mainstream main line very popular Hispanic had run for governor That would have changed the dynamic of Texas policy. You wouldn't you wouldn't be essentially starting from zero now You'd be really moving you would be in the 20th or 25th year of this Comfort level with people electing. I mean it's not the same, but yeah when he ran 1981 for mayor of San Antonio the Hispanic participation more than doubled right just by virtue of his case Yeah, so on the subject of candidates a hem Are you gonna run for governor in 2018 2018 I'm very deliberate in the year that I chose you've already declined to run in 2014. You're running for mayor again in 2013 You have two more terms as mayor Respectively should you win this time and the next time you'd be term-limited out in 2017 may of 2017 I would observe an interesting moment to launch a gubernatorial race for 2018 So are you gonna run I'll get to you in a second Are you gonna run for governor in 2018? I have no idea. That's my honest answer I have no idea. You know the headline will be Castro declines to say he won't run for governor That's an accurate headline. I mean I've told folks in San Antonio. Yeah very Frankly that that if I do a great job as mayor of San Antonio that I'm gonna look around after my ten years over and see what the Landscape is in 2017 going into 2018. Yeah, so it's possible that I would run or I may not it just depends on how things are going But you are considering. Yeah. Yeah, I'll consider that after I'm done as mayor I'll consider that and anything else that's out there congressman will you run against Ted Cruz for the Senate in 2018? So that's right. Yeah, somebody No, I mean I'm folk I just got to Congress wait did you say did you say no as in no you're not gonna do it or no You wish I hadn't answered this question No, I mean first of all, I don't know what I'll be doing in six years But you know, I'm focused right now in serving San Antonio. I just got there. This is my third month But I will say Evan that I'm very disappointed with How Ted not only has conducted himself because that's style But with the substance of his votes in the Senate I really do think that he could be a leader on so many issues Including the immigration issue and has refused to do that And we've run into each other a few times and I want to say that he's always been nice to me Yeah, he's never been rude never been discourteous And you know and we do you we've intended to sit down and talk Right, you know, and I'm not saying anything that I wouldn't tell him and I sure disagrees with me But you know over the next six years. I think that Whoever runs against him. I think that the Democrats will put up a strong candidate mostly based on the substance Because those positions that he's taking are badly out of step with not only where Texas is now Yeah, but certainly where it will be in 2018 Let me take your humility and your coiness and all that sincerely And then let me end this portion of the program by asking you each to take yourselves out of the conversation about The time when Democrats come back into power. Each of you tell me one Democrat in Texas Not the other, right? Yeah Each of you tell me one Democrat in Texas. You would be paying attention to were you us In terms of when Should the party come back it will be in part on the backs of this person Each of you tell me one Democrat. Yeah, there's several people. Give me one. Just give me one. Why don't you give me multiple? I mean on Cheehan Davis. You're talking about Raphael and she a state representative from Dallas Wendy Davis state senator from Fort Worth. You like those two. Yeah congressman. Yeah. Well, he was supposed to be one Yeah, no, I'm sure this is the first time he's messed with you I hope that Wendy runs I hope that Raphael runs At this point, I think like most folks, I just want a Democrat to win statewide Now, I really don't care who it is You know, I we just need to break through this This, you know republican dominance that has taken the state so far to the right But there are a lot of talented folks. I mean, I think trey martinez fisher Uh is in the legislature. I mean he gives them hell And you need somebody like that, uh, especially because these guys have gotten so far out there Uh, and might be at y'all has a lot of potential in the future So there there's a there's a good bench Of democrats who are ready to run for office. I think the task for all of us not only the elected officials But everybody is just to lay the infrastructure to make winning possible. Okay We're going to stop our portion of this here. Let's please give the mayor and the congressman a big hand Lights up We have microphones on either aisle. I'd ask you to line up respectfully Of one another behind the microphones ask questions. Don't make speeches. I will bust you if you make a speech, please I suspect we'll have enough questions to go about the 15 minutes We have remaining and we appreciate your participation a lot of stuff we didn't cover Let me ask before you do that. You told me that your dad's here That's right. Please ask him to stand up. Where is he? There he is. Here's our dad So Our dad graduated from UT He is an alumnus of this university, right? 1963, right? UT welcome. Well, welcome back Good to have you back. We'll start over here. Yes. Uh, well, uh, I'm michael laborkin And my my question is I'm very concerned about the future of democracy in our country because of the problem with jerrymandering And the problem of well the electoral college, how would you address that? Yeah on the redistricting question first We had maybe more ross more than 200 elections on the ballot in november There weren't but 10 that were competitive. We've stopped having competitive elections Many people blame mayor redistricting. Is that right? No, I agree with that and uh, you know, it'll be interesting as analyses Come forward of the california model now a commission model and perhaps other states go to that There needs to be a better way that we can get to a system where these districts are not so Polarized either way because the the end result of that is in congress Then, you know, you have the republicans just voting extreme to the right and democrats Although they haven't I think they haven't been as far to the left as they used to be still if they have a very safe seat They can safely no no motivation to move the middle and work To to move to the middle You remember congressman when you were in the legislature democrats when they were in power used to draw the maps in their favor Republicans draw the maps in their favor now. It's been ever thus Although republicans did it twice in a decade when I was there and To do well I got there in 2003 and my first session I went to oklahoma to try to stop tom delay On that re redistricting But I do I agree if the commission model works some kind of bipartisan group I think that we should do it that way and I would certainly support that And to give you an example of the effect of redistricting Right now in the congress republicans hold about I think about 234 235 seats to democrats 200 201 Democrats won in 2012 a million more votes In house of representative races across the country and still in total and are still behind By all those number of seats because the votes were not distributed in ways where they could pick up because the districts are drawn In such a way what about the electoral college question? You know it used to be that this was no disrespect to the questioner It used to be this was the kind of question you kind of roll your eyes and go Oh, well, that'll never actually be but you know lately There's really a discussion about whether the electoral college is working and there are a lot of rick Hertzberg at the new yorkers among those You know kind of regular guy good guy thinks no we ought to get rid of this knows a lot We ought to get rid of electoral college What about that? You know I think the discussion is definitely worth having at this point I would say we should keep it the way it is what would be the argument against it I mean a questioner didn't get a chance to explain, but what would be the argument you think for looking at it again Well, I mean, I think the argument is a popular vote argument that You know gore and a couple of other folks would have been president if you went by the popular vote Yeah, um Maybe the smaller states shouldn't have the same power as the larger I guess maybe if I started to unravel it it would be that you already have the mechanisms of representative democracy Embedded in the senate because each state has two senators and right in other ways That here you would have one moment for the highest office in the land where it would be it would be direct democracy straight up Yeah, okay. Yes I'm mayor castro I'm wondering if you can talk briefly about what you've done to build community colleges Especially some of their green energy programs and how you did it and what motivated you Yeah, thank you very much for the question What we've done is that we've actually embraced an entrepreneurial model of economic development through our local utility san antonio owns CPS energy so cps has partnered up with the alamo colleges and they do training for For Companies that san that that cps has contracted with to provide solar power For example, we signed a deal with oci solar They're going to provide us up to 400 megawatts of solar power on a power purchase agreement But they've also agreed to invest In a manufacturing facility in san antonio and all told oci solar and their suppliers are going to provide 805 jobs For san antonians That's going to be run a lot of the training will happen in the alamo colleges We also have the alamo academies which high schools work with the alamo colleges to craft These this apprenticeship model so students can both finish high school get college credit and have employable skills They can go and work at places like bowing or Lockheed martin and also if they want continue their education at one of our alamo colleges Yes, thank you guys for coming out tonight I'm a student here at the lbj school of public affairs and first off. I want to ask you either one of you Are you guys hiring for the summer? Are they hiring? I thought he asked you if either of you was high Yeah, I don't even drink Of course my thought maybe there were some ron paul supporters No, my question is for the congressman. Um, what was the biggest challenge for you? Transitioning from a state representative to being a us representative. That's a that's a great question It really has been a whirlwind these last three months. The pace Is so very is very quick It feels to me each week feels to me up there Like the last few weeks of the texas legislative session, which you know are very frenzy, right? So the pace is has been, you know I've been fine But it takes a lot of dedication each week to keep up with it Some of that is how much you put on your own schedule Because you know The floor time that we spend on the on the floor of the house there is a lot less than it is here But certainly the pace and then it is more partisan up there, right? I got there for orientation There's a table for democrats and a table for republicans You do separate workshops and all that stuff So it right away it feels different and you are president of the freshman class I'm one of them. Yeah one how many how many are there? We have four. So what does that mean? What what special powers do you have to bestow on people our president? Probably just the title is that's it No, it's it's you know, we put together events We did our first one a bipartisan one with a republican freshman And we invited bill gates and so bill gates came and spoke talked to everybody And we've got a second one coming up very soon. So joe strauss or john bainer Oh, joe. Yeah, I prefer joe over john bainer. Yeah, that's easy The leadership style of the texas speaker is preferable to you. Absolutely in terms of institutionally Which one is preferable? I think it's a mixed bag The reason is you know, the good thing about washington is that your own party leaders Determine your committee assignments. Yeah in austin The speaker who of course is republican gives everybody their committee assignments. Yeah, and so what happens is There's a reluctance sometimes to speak out when you disagree with something because you don't want you don't want your bill to fail you don't want your A bad assignment, etc. Yeah in the last session you served in at the capitol here in austin It was 149 republicans the democrats the democrats are much closer to parity with the republicans Does it feel that way as a democrat in washington in congress that you have more of a place at the table or more of a way to Effect the outcome of these votes. It does. It does. Okay drink more water if you need to ask him something. Okay We both get allergies. He has them worse than I do does he the whole twin thing. It's uh, it's uh, I have no doubt We'd haven't talked about that sir Um, i'm hispanic. Uh, my mother's from san antonio. My father's from mexico They couldn't wait to get out of their little town and they went to san francisco Where they were very progressive And they were both very involved with the chicano movement of the 70s. My father was a Comptroller at mall def of the mexican-american legal defense and education fund, which I believe still has an office on the riverwalk And they always kind of beat it into me Stay away from these kind of organizations because they're very conservative that hispanics are actually very conservative And I wonder about that still are hispanics conservative if you know, the state will one day be Majority hispanics and they actually vote will this just be a republican state again Um, could you speak to what your experiences were and could the castro brothers just as easily be republican? It's it's it's an interesting question. You know governor bush used to get routinely 40 44 percent of the vote running in texas right and there's some assumption that If the democrats simply wait for hispanics to be in the majority all will be well But of course there's no guarantee that hispanics will monolithically vote democratic any more than any other group will vote Yeah, I mean I would say that a couple of things are true first It's it's accurate to say that that probably hispanics in texas are a little bit more conservative than hispanics In other places in the nation certainly in california Um But not by much. I mean I would say probably the middle to low single digits I don't think it's a double digit difference. Sometimes you get a spike, but generally it's not that far off To answer your question I don't fundamentally believe and I don't think the numbers bear out that hispanics are conservative Certainly not republican Because generally over 60 percent of hispanics vote democratic To the question of can there ever can could there be a republican majority and and a hispanic majority? That's possible But only if the republicans get an extreme makeover in terms of their policies So if they change their policies Then then I think that that would be possible. I think it could happen But if it happened it would be a very different republican party than what you have now right So can the republican party of or let's say Right now, you know capture a majority of hispanics. No simply running a republican hispanic candidate statewide Ted Cruz only got 35 of the hispanic vote because it's not about fundamentally. It's not about the personalities It's about the policies right now here. You had a mall deaf baby You all are raza unita babies, right? Was it was your mother not involved with raza unita? She was yeah the year that we were born. She was the uh the bear county chair of the party She and our father had been involved in the gigano movement in the late 60s and in early 70s And of course the politics are very different today from what they were But they're different and I think in part because of the activism of that time And because just americans, you know america has been america It's gotten better and better and and afforded this these new generations more opportunity Right to live out the american dream and and so we've been blessed by that opportunity and we we Have the chance to to govern for everyone right and not have to be concerned about only pitching for You know one ethnic real concern, right? Got it. Yeah, okay We seem not to have a question or over there. So we'll stay over here. Please Hi, this is on the subject of the latino vote You mentioned some of the barriers that latinos in texas have to coming out and voting Do you believe that it's more crucial for politicians to engage latino community by removing these barriers and working to remove them? Or do you think it's more important for the latino community to engage in politics to kind of get some of issues affecting our community On the table in politics Well, I mean, I think certainly the community shouldn't wait to be asked I think the community needs to engage At the same time, you know, I do find disturbing Things like voter id So I think it's a combination of those two Yeah, I would say that It has to be both of those things the community itself There's nothing more powerful than when folks themselves are motivated enough to participate in the democratic process That's that's the most important thing, but it also takes both of the political parties and institutionally The government reaching out to folks who haven't been participating making it easier for them to vote Yeah, making it more convenient and so forth Are you susceptible either of you to the argument that some have made that voter id legislation in past still in limbo legally in texas Was a deliberate attempt on the part of republicans to Diminish the turnout among hispanics by creating barriers to participation I don't know if it was only I don't think that it was necessarily only targeted at hispanics I believe that it was targeted at groups that that are more likely to vote democratic. So You know whether that's young people hispanics african-american So you think there was some funny business going on here in terms of yeah, I don't think that you see a wave all of a sudden Before the presidential election you see a wave of these laws coming forward in republican dominated state legislators legislatures For no reason. I mean there's a reason to that. Yeah. Now. I will say that Whatever happens with that voter id what the democrats and legislatures should be doing is going on the offense in other words Empowering for instance principles in high schools to create voter volts So that every senior who turns 18 during that school year They would automatically be registered to vote and not wait for them to go and get registered to vote If they didn't do so when they got their driver's license Election day registration is another example, right? You know these guys sometimes you know men and women in the legislature Sometimes I feel like they have to think and I used to tell him all the time when he was in the state You know don't be so passive. I mean you can do it in a constructive way But you have to you have to go after putting the infrastructure of course as you well know congressman There are 55 democrats in the house the democrats themselves cannot do anything and cannot prevent anything in order for them to pass The kind of legislation that the mayor is talking about they'd have to find republicans who joined them in this effort Yeah, certainly now and there's actually there's a law in the book that books that allows Schools to essentially do that to offer these voter registration cards To high school seniors, but no you're right You know democrats are still in a tough position In 2010 the 2010 election you recall We had worked our way back up to 74 democrats in the House of Representatives 76 republicans That was supposed to be our year to take back the house and then the tsunami hit right we got hit by that big wave Yeah, but we'll we'll make our way back get back sir Why does it seem so difficult to hold a lot of elected officials responsible for how they're stalling obama's medic healthcare plan Jobs for returning soldiers or even some of the things such as what happened yesterday with rick perry Ted Cruz and john cornyn, but not only that but also with the tactics that I forgot representatives named from tennessee Ron paul's son Or even senator paul from kentucky, right? Yes, or even the governor from arizona Why is it so difficult for even those who vote republicans to see that These guys are not looking out for everybody's rights and freedoms and well-being Well, I believe that that that the american public the american voting public Does get a general impression of parties? They do believe that democrats stand for certain things and republicans stand for certain things But when you start to to get down to individual Votes or or legislation or maneuvers You know one of the one of the most damaging things in politics and for our democracy right now is that people's attention span I think is shorter than it ever has been their public attention span Just think about something that was hot in the news, you know month ago Six months ago. I mean it just comes and goes like that now That is probably not good. That's good for the politician that gets in trouble and wants to climb back And then something I mean look we have mark sanford, right running well if if that guy wins That will be the ultimate. We'll know in a few hours and I'd probably venture a guest that he will win Yeah, I mean that's a perfect example. Yeah, you know, so So that lack of attention span That's that's one of the reasons the other one is things are so cacophonous today You have all of the media mark the the media options when they're so divided between It's not Walter Cronkite saying and that's the way it is on whatever whatever day, you know People people are watching whatever they're watching and so their attention is divided And and the attention span is so much shorter all of that adds up on both sides of the aisle for whatever they do Not just the republicans for the democrats too You know people just forget. Yeah Let me ask that. Oh, do we have a question? Oh good Yeah, just have one question about whether there are things as cities at san Antonio and austin we can do to better leverage the collective strength of texas I've had the pleasure of working with mike berg and cps energy on your new energy economy things But often as a district we it says we compete like five road islands and not one texas You know, it's a lot easier if you're 31 colleagues and congress are Able to go and ask for a federal research center on solar so we could get not just the jobs in san antonio But more jobs in austin right and work together. What can we do to Build the corridors and build those relationships I think that it starts with as as the mayor i'll say that it starts with reaching out And so mayor laughing well for instance, you know, he and i have gotten together on several occasions particularly About energy and about transportation and about the future of the lone star rail corridor for instance And so it starts with creating relationships Among those elected officials identifying movable initiatives that that have some chance of actually coming to fruition and I believe that on energy and and on Transportation at least in the corridor between san antonio and austin that there's real opportunity to work together and we're we're going to do that Mark am I okay to take these last two? Okay, ma'am, and then come over here. Yes. Oh as a parent I am very interested in how your parents were able to raise two extremely successful Hispanic men To be as well educated and well spoken as you are No, thank you. Would you like to brag on yourselves? Yeah All that Joaquin go for the father. Yeah So what was the secret sauce? Well, no, I mean I think that you know one of the things about our our parents Was that both of them were fairly lenient You know you might think you always hear about parents and obvious many of y'all our parents in this room and grandparents I'm a parent myself That that you have to be on them and you know make sure that they're That they're always doing what you want them to do I mean we kind of regulated ourselves after a while and we were given a good foundation and then we sort of They didn't have to get after us get on us about things Well, and I think the competition between the two of us really drove us to is that right? Yeah, that's true That's true. The cliché the cliché is that but I suppose like all clichés. There's a germ of truth in right? That's oh, yeah Well, we shared a group. I mean we shared a room growing up for 17 years right And then went to Stanford together and then went to harvard law school but by that time I refused a room with it Was that right you wouldn't do it? Anybody but hulean that's that one But you know what's interesting is it that competition? I think Can go in a in a productive direction or it can go in a negative direction and fortunately for us It went in a positive direction. I hope politics and law. I don't know Yeah, but okay last question sir. This is for the both of you Oh, what was that one moment when you guys Were starting to come involved in politics that made you decide to run for that specific seat and who was the first person You told and what was the response you got from your family? When did when did this all come into flower? Well, you know, we grew up or I grew up at least I think Joaquin would agree with me not liking politics because especially My mother had dragged us to a whole bunch of different political events And so he just didn't you know didn't like it. It was boring. Yeah, we've been at this since we were three We're a little tired and then and then it was when I went away when we went away to stanford and We decided to run In the spring of 1995 for the student senate and remember what had happened in november of 1994 Was of course bush had gotten elected over here contract with america Also, they had run on television at television ads in california on prop 187 Anyway And I had been a white house intern in the summer of 1994 So for me, so I saw that the student elections were coming up in the spring of 1995 And I went I went to Joaquin and said, oh, you know, we should really run For the ASSU this stanford student senate and people will like it There were twins and you know, we can go campaign together And and then I think that was the first time that we thought about actually or I thought about actually running for something And you both ran. Yeah. Yeah, we both won. We tied for first place out of 43 candidates. Is that right? We got 811 votes. Is that it? I think the computer just didn't know there were two j cast But we tied this whole thing is a big mistake. Yeah Exactly right all those years later But but underlined that was that it was the first time that we were away from our hometown And we got to see what was great about the city and also what needed a real improvement Over there in the bay area, you had a higher education level higher income level. It was more innovative San Antonio was lower income less education And so forth But san Antonio also I felt had more of a sense of community to it I think a stronger place to raise a family just because it's a more cohesive big city And in comparing those two I got excited about well What could you do if you came back one day and tried to be a part of making it better Kind of kind of combining the best of the both worlds of the bay area and and san Antonio Good Well, we'll close it there. We're very fortunate. We've had time with the mayor and the congressman. Please give them a hand Thank you all for coming. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thanks to the library. We appreciate it