>>Good morning an welcome to Global Perspectives.

I'm David Dumke.

Today we are joined in studio by Senator Tim Hutchinson, who represented Arkansas in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, as well as Orlando's own Val Demings who represented us in Congress and the House of Representatives.

Thank you for joining us today.

>>It's great to be with you.

>>So you are visiting University of Central Florida and participatin in a program of the Association of former Members of Congress called Congress to Campus.

Tell us a little about that program and why you two specifically are participating.

>>Well, it's great to be with you again.

And look, I served three terms in Congress.

It was quite an honor to be there.

I learned that in the histor of Congress, only about 13,000 people have ever served in that very important body.

And so I learned a lot, learned how to really kind of go a little deeper with a wide variety of constituents in terms of learning them and what they need and what they worry about every night.

So even after I left Congress I wanted to continue my service.

So I joine the Former Members of Congress.

This is a program, Congress to Campus that they do all the time.

It's expanding, which is a good thing.

And the primary purpose is to really introduce Congress to university students with the goal of hopefully encouraging them and motivating them and inspiring them to get engaged in public service.

>>Senator Hutchison, you served.

You've got family who have served in both the state legislature, in the U.S.

Congress, and in state offices.

Where did that public service come from?

From you.

And what do you want to pass along to students by participating in this program?

>>Yeah.

Well, the and the former member, it's a great organization.

And I really we want to be a part of that because it gave us a means to stay connected with a lot of our colleagues and to get to know them in a way we didn't know that when we were serving.

And this, I think, is the best program that the association doe because I have seen firsthand, how little civic education many young people have.

Many college students don' really have a full understanding of how Congress works or they have a misunderstanding.

And the image of what Congress is.

So this gives us an opportunity to, relate how Congress works, and to encourage civic involvement.

And I think we we certainly need that.

So it's a very it's a great program.

My family, my brother and I were the first ones to really get involved in the political process.

And it is gratifying when yo when you look back at your life and see well, this state senator got started in politics, working back in my campaign.

And that's how they got excited about the political process.

And I think that's true of our family as well.

I've got nephews and niece who are in the state legislature and have served in a variety of capacities.

Both my sons served in the state legislature.

One worked at the Department of Energy.

So it's a pretty, pretty, involved family on the political front.

And, that's that's gratifying.

And if I can pass that along to others along the pathway of life, that's that's important.

>>So there's so there's several challenges of, of of people considering public service.

You know, there's obviously the finances, the commitment to campaign and what the job entails.

But there's also the idea among a lot of young people, especially, that this is not a path that's viable for me.

I don't come from affluent family.

I come from a well-connected family.

Tell a littl about your two personal stories, because that's quite enlightening.

>>Well, I tell you what I wa born and raised in Jacksonville.

My mother was a maid and my father a janitor.

I'm the youngest of seven children.

And I can remember growing u that, you know, and being told that I probably wasn't going to be able to do muc because I didn't have the money.

I was a female.

And then a black female at that, and the opportunities would not be there.

But there were people who long along the way, reminded me of the greatness of this country and the opportunities that are suppose to be available in this country.

And they helped me and encouraged me to basically reach for the stars and believe that I could, if I was willing to work hard and play by the rules.

So I didn't come from a lot of money.

I didn't come from an affluent family.

But what I di have was a commitment to serve.

Started out as working for the state of Florida as a social worker.

Went on from there to the Orlando Police Department, had 27 great years there, rose as the chief of police.

And then when I made the decision to retire, I was recruited to run for Congress.

I didn't think that was possible.

It was a place I'd never bee before, didn't know much about.

I still didn't have a lot of money.

I had been a public servant up until that point, but living in Americ and reaching your full potential should not be determined by how much money you have.

And so what I encourage young people to do to number one, look at your why.

Be sure of your why.

Why is it that you want to be engage and involved in public service?

And if you feel you do, then get out and volunteer.

There are a lot of nonprofit organizations that could use your help.

Volunteer.

Attend some local counci meetings or commission meetings.

Get involved in th political process in some way.

And then if you're intereste in running for office, do that.

If you're interested in helping someone else that you believe in, run for office, do that.

But there are a lot of ways for people to come together and resources that will come together, that will help you if they believe in you.

So you just have to keep the faith, first of all.

>>And Senator, you were you were telling a story to to students.

Yesterday I heard that you were inspired by a candidate that got you involved the first time that eventually led to your own running.

But tell us a little about that.

>>Yeah I'm Val gave great advice there.

I grew up on a farm in the Ozarks, so you could imagine that's not a lot of wealth.

We we were we were pretty poor.

And, every campaign I was ever in, I was outspent a lot.

But from an early age, I loved politics.

I loved watching the news and, following current events.

And in junior high school, I was intrigued by, in 1964, the presidential race between Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson.

And I was intrigued by Goldwater because he was kind of an insurgent in the establishment Republican Party.

And as a young person, that really appealed to me.

But I remember vividly, wasn't too vivid because it was a black and white TV.

But I remember-- >>Fuzzily.

>>But I remember sitting there in front of that screen listening to Ronald Reagan who I'd seen on the GE theater, and he was known as a movie actor, but he gave a moving, moving speech entitled A Time for Choosing.

And as I listened to him, I thought, that's a that's what I believe.

This man is.

He's articulating what my convictions are, my political philosophy.

And I went I went into the Republica headquarters as just a teenager, didn't know anybody.

And I picked up a bunch of literature and a little can of Goldwater, carbonated drink.

And I went out door to door on my ow campaigning for Barry Goldwater.

It started later, started a teenage Republican club in our local high school.

And, that I harbored that that, political dream I didn't think I'd ever run.

But the opportunity opened and lo and behold, what a country I ended up in the US Senate.

>>So when you're when you're in the House and the Senate, you're you're with a collection of other people from all varieties, all corners of the United States, different motivations.

What's the biggest misperception you think people have about about members of Congress themselves?

>>Well, I think the biggest misconception is particularly the House of Representatives, that that there is thi image of it's a glamorous life.

They see movies about politicians and, and jetting around the country and all of that and the grind of serving, in public life.

Most have no, no, no real appreciation for because you're not only trying to do policy, run the government legislate, but you're also trying to get ready for a campaign.

You're trying to meet all the local demands of going to all the events back on the weekends.

And, and, it is, it is it's it's not too glamorous climbing on that airplane and being concerned that somebody might think you're going to ride in first class as you climb back in the, in the back of the plane, you all of that, it really it takes a toll.

It takes a toll on families.

It takes a toll on individuals in public life.

I think there' a lot of misunderstanding about how hard a lot of these people worked.

And.

Well, you know, some of this deserved some of it.

They do take some long breaks around different holidays, but they're usually working then.

And so there's a lot of misunderstanding, I think, around that.

It's easy to poke fun at and jab insults at politicians, even though most of them got into it for the right why and they love the country.

>>Do you have to have a thick skin to be in politics?

>>You better have a thick skin.

I remember when I was recruited to run and answered the call, if you will, and met with leadership.

And one of the things that then Leader Pelosi said is before she became speaker, she said it's not for the faint of heart.

And that's why you better be sure of your why.

What brings you here?

Do you want to improve th quality of life for all people?

Is your focus on education, or criminal justice reform, or immigration reform or health care reform?

You've got to be totally committed and focused to that, because when people criticize you just for showing up or call you names or make insulting, you know, remark or call your office all day long and traumatized your staf because of a vote, that you made you better be very focused on why you're there in the first place.

Kind of back to the question about the misconception.

You know, what I noticed a couple of things when I went to Congress.

I came from being a problem solver as a police chief, and I know that I would not have kept my job had I not solve some of Orlando's crime problems, especially.

When I went to Congress, I took that same kind of attitude there.

Let's solve some problems.

What I found, though, wa there were people on both sides of the aisle who had no interes in being there to solve problems they were interested for.

All in all the wrong things.

Just fighting the other side because they were on the other side not really getting things done.

But one of the things I als realized, too, a lot of people believe that Congress does absolutely nothing.

We used to pas hundreds of bills every session, but they're the ones.

The majority of those are the ones nobody's interested in because it's those kind of hot button issue bill that get all of the attention, and people have a tendency to focus on just that.

But Congress really does get things done every day.

And the one thing about it is that you realize quickly you can't get any of your legislation done unless you have about 217 other people who agree with you and support you.

So relationships if people who are newly elected would just spend time building relationships where they can and then doing what they can, where they can, it'd be a much easier life.

>>So when you look in the political history, in recent history, you see some of the landmark pieces of legislation in pre-2000 always, almos always had bipartisan support.

Even the civil right legislation you mentioned Lyndon Johnson would passed but was passed with the Republican leadership support.

And Congress helped get that through as well.

Are those kind of compromises possible in a hyper polarized political climat that we're living in right now?

>>Well, we're not seeing it.

Is it possible?

I think it's possible, but not without a lot of systemic changes in the way we operate.

And and there's bee a lot of things contributed to, to the kind of dysfunction and the hyper polarization that we se in Congress and in the country.

But yeah human beings is still possible.

And if you can get to know, you can look beyond, the political and look beyond, the animosity of the parties in our country and see people as human beings who still love this country and find common ground.

It's possibl for that kind of a bipartisan.

But we're not seeing it.

We're sure not seeing it right now.

I've talked to a lot of member and former members of Congress who are pretty discouraged about the prospects of, of of coming to that kind of, willingness to work across the aisle that we saw back in that earlier era.

But that's, that's that's part of why I think this program is important.

I think it's politicians still respond to people and and people right now are rewarding anger.

They're rewarding the wrong kind of behavior.

By encouraging that with electing people.

And I think that if they if we'll see the American people demand and then reward bipartisanship, a willingness not to forsake your principles, not to abandon what you believe, but to find areas that you can work together to get something done.

It's still possible to do that.

>>Yeah.

You know, when you talked about those landmark pieces of legislation like women's rights and voting rights, civil rights, you're absolutely correct.

That was those were bipartisan efforts and legislation that truly helped to change America.

We were hoping forever or for the better, bu it would not have been possible unless Democrats and Republicans came together to get it done.

We are facing similar issues right now.

Health care comes to mind.

Public education comes to mind.

We'r dealing with some big problems, and the people are expecting their elected representatives to solve those problems.

But Tim is right.

We will not get the big things done any more.

If all we do is just point out what you don't support as opposed to what's good for the country.

We talked yesterday about gerrymandering and the role that it plays.

If people have the ability to select their voters as opposed to the voters having the abilit to elect their representatives, then we're in trouble and it will be difficult to change the current environment that we're seeing.

>>I was recently talking with, I won't say who he was, but he's a current senator, and I said, what what what keeps you up at night?

What do you worry abou for the future of our country?

And he said, the national debt.

And I think that's one of the big issues when we talk about some of the big issues that we've faced in the past.

But this is a bipartisan threat, and it's going to take Republicans and Democrats working together to reach the grand bargain that it's going to take to address this very, I think, existential threat to the future of the country.

>>We can put Social Security on that list.

>>Well.

>>These are these are essential programs.

>>Essential program that we really need to overhaul to make sure that they are there for future generations.

Those are the kind of thing that the American people need.

Republicans and Democrats and independents to come together and get done.

>>Some of the forces you're talking about are kind of a constant campaign.

Instead of campaigning is one thing, governance is another.

Do we spend enough time?

How can we encourage more focus on the governance side?

Instead of the constant campaign?

>>I wis I knew the answer that I could.

I can recall where-- >>We we're waiting to hear this.

[UNINTELLIGIBLE] >>Where I'd be working with a Democrat on an issue, and I'd have colleagues come to me, he says.

He's up for reelection this year.

You don't want to.

You don't want to, co-sponsor a bill with him.

But you don't want to help him.

Don't give him a victory.

And, I thought, well, people are always up for reelection.

Yeah, you're always in cycle or close to being in cycle.

And if you if you take that approach, then there's not much opportunity to find the kind of across the aisle agreement to, to move forward.

So we have to have more people looking more at what's good for the country and not what's going to help m and my party in the next cycle.

>>Yeah, yeah.

You know, I have despite all of this going on because it is a very divided time for the United States of America.

I have hope about the future, that we will get it right, because I've seen us get it right in the past.

We're not talking about coming togethe and getting the big things done on behalf of the American people, and it's something we've never seen before.

We have done it before, but we have to demand it from our elected officials.

I don't care what your politics are Republican, Democrat, independent.

When you see your elected official not doing what you need them to do, which is for the betterment of the people to improve the conditions on the ground, then you have to hold them accountable with no thought of political party.

>>So I want to ask you a little about your own legislative records.

You know, what are one or two accomplishments that you are most proud of?

Maybe that were the most popular with your constituents.

But but things that you knew that we got that done.

>>Who wants to start on that one?

Well, when I went to Congress, I didn't have a a legislative agenda that I was going to push for.

I thought, well, I'm going to come up, I'm going to fight tax against tax increases.

And I was a traditional Republican, a strong national security.

And I, I knew those things.

I would never have predicted that the the two big legislative efforts that I got involved in that that consumed a lot of my time and energy and that I'm proudest of was first of all, the $500 per child tax credit, which, changed the the way it used to be done, which was a child deduction.

And was of minimal tax benefit into something that was very meaningful to working families, with children.

The other thing was welfare reform that, I worked with Senator later, Senator, but he at the time was Congressman Jim Talent from Missouri.

And, he had a different kind of approach.

And he educated be on what w needed to do on welfare reform.

We ended up with a battle with our own party.

And then after we kind of won that battle, we we had to, of course, negotiate with President Clinton.

And it was a long, long process.

But ultimately, after he vetoed it twice, he eventually signed that bill into law.

And I think that was probably one of the very few times that Congress has made major changes in entitled an entitlement program.

>>And it benefited millions and millions of families because welfare had become more like, a swamp that trapped people as opposed to a trampoline that could lift them, give them a boost out of out of that, trap.

>>And for me, having serve in law enforcement for 27 years.

And I know for a fac that no great society can exist without public safety, a lot of times we take them for granted because they're always there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, just doing their job.

But we've also seen times in our country where law enforcement did not do the right thing.

So I went to Congress with an agenda to really work on criminal justice reform, and to make sure that police officers really hav all of the tools that they need to be able to do the best jo on behalf of their communities.

I was there during the time of George Floyd's death.

We know a lot of things went wrong there, but we always work hard to make sure officers have the best equipment, the best technology, all of the physical things to be able to do the job.

One of the pieces of legislation that I was proud to work on was Law Enforcement Health and Wellness Act that not only dealt with the physical person, not just their physical wounds and their physical equipment, but also their invisible wounds, too.

And it's focused on mental health.

It was a peer counselin kind of program where you train law enforcement officers who in the system understand the system, who the police officers would trust so that they would be able to work with officers who had gon through traumatic, situations.

And so proud of the work that we were able to do to really try to address criminal justice reform.

>>I just want to ask a littl about your constituent service.

That's something every member of Congress, Republican or Democrat, has to do.

People need benefits, whether they're veterans, whether they're students.

All these things.

How empowering is i to know that you or your staff, has, has done this and helped someone that actually made a difference in their life?

>>Well, I think it's the most gratifying part of public service is to know that you helped a veteran to get the health care they needed, and deserved, or to help somebody who was having difficulty with their visa or, I mean, a whole host of issues that you that you would have flood the office, that having good staff and I and I had the best I was so, fortunate-- >>No I had the best, I had the best.

>>But but and you would hear that you would hear the end result, of how you were able to give help and or be out on the out on the trail during the weekend and have somebody walk up and say, thank you so much, because I don't know where I'd be if you hadn't helped me.

It's it' one of the very rewarding parts of public servic I think Val would agree with-- >>That's the part of the job that people never really the masses of people never really see.

But it really is the most rewarding because you see the immediate immediate fruits of your labor.

When a veteran calls and say they didn't get the service that they felt the should have gotten from the VA, or someone calls and say the Social Security benefits are messed up and they need some help, or even people who would cal that needed emergency shelter, if they were having passports.

I remember during Covid there were people who were stuck in places all over the world because travel had been severely limited and they were trying to get home and needed our services and our assistance.

Immediate gratification.

The caseworkers in our offices did that every day, all day, and they don't really get enough credit for the work that they do.

But the work was so really gratifying.

Constituent services is really the heart of any congressional office.

>>You obviously have have have done the Congress to Campus program to engage students.

You you you talk politics still, you encourage civic involvement.

So tell us a couple little projects you're doing.

And I I'm looking at you you, Representative Demings first.

And I do want to hear a little about about the senator who was a who was a podcast sta as well as as a former senator.

>>Yeah.

Well, I'm on the board of the Former Members of Congress.

So I stay pretty busy with tha and really trying to encourage, recently retired members to become a part of our organization because we are doing great work, not just throughout the country, but all over the world.

So I travel quite a bit with that.

I'm also part of a speaker's bureau, and I travel throughout the United States and, and other place around the world and talk about our form of government here, a system of democracy and why it is the best for people around the world, and really how we ca bring our allies and our nation even closer so that we can get even greater things done.

I'm also, on a board with the National Archives.

It's called the Public Interest Declassification Board.

We recently released the 9/11 files, which was it's unbelievable that it has been 25 years since that very tragic tragic event that really changed safety in America, air trave and other travel in our nation.

We've just release a few months ago the JFK files.

It took 63 years to do that, but it's really, very interesting being a part of that, because these are MLK files were also recently released, but being a part of how those files are released to the public in a very thorough but also a very respectful way.

I'm certainly enjoying that work.

Jerry and I - he teases me that I have like 3 or 4 jobs now.

I went from one to 3 or 4 but I'm really involved in the, civic engagement and political and social activities that I'm involved in.

All right.

>>I'm exhausted listening to that schedule.

>>So tell us a little abou the podcast you're working on.

>>Well, I saw a need because, well, first of all, I'm technologically challenged, and my children like to say I'm the oldest podcaster in America.

I should not be doing this because I it really is a challenge.

The technology and the fact that I wasn't really on site didn't have a presence on social media.

But all the podcast I saw, they were all edgy and they were all angry and they were all very hyper partisan on one side or the other.

And and that seemed to be where the demand was.

And I thought, well, there's not really a niche for what I want to talk about, which is, is, is how we ought to be working together, but we're doing it and, it's grown and it's got an audience and it's got people who are bipartisan.

We'll have a Democrat on weekend, a Republican next week.

And and it surprised me that even what you think of is very partisan people.

If you really get a chance to talk to them you can get stories about how they had they found success in being bipartisan.

I was probably Barry Goldwater was is I've mentioned him he's he's he's kind of a he exemplifies traditional conservatism.

I interviewed his son, Barry Goldwater Jr, served many years in the US House of Representatives and most known for his work on the Privacy Act and, and I and he said, now Tim, He said, you people don't usually know that my Democratic co-sponsor was Ed Koch.

Now, some of our listeners may not remember Ed Koch, but he's from New York, and he was very liberal, very progressive.

And here you had an arch conservative and a progressive working together to get legislation passed.

And I've heard stories like that over and over again and the American people I think need to hear that too.

And where can where can people find this?

>>CigarCaucusHub.com >>Excellent.

>>Cigar speaks of friendship and camaraderie.

And that's what we're trying to build.

>>So it's a symbolic cigar.

>>It is.

Cigars are.

Cigars are optional.

>>But we want to thank you both for your your public service as well as for encouraging, civil engagement, especially during these polarized times.

And thank you for joining us today.

>>Thank you.

>>Thank you, David.

>>An thank you for joining us today.

We'll see you again next week on another episode of Global Perspectives.