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The Red and Blue state Governors preaching bipartisanship · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: The National Governors Association Summer Meeting begins today in Oklahoma City,
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  Speaker 1: bringing together state leaders from across the country to discuss
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  Speaker 1: a number of issues, including the economy, workforce development, state
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  Speaker 1: federal partnerships, and bipartisanship.
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  Speaker 2: Joining us now.
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  Speaker 1: National Governor's Association Chair Republican Governor of Oklahoma Kevin Stitt,
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  Speaker 1: and the association's vice chair, Democratic Governor of Maryland, Wes Moore.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, both, mister.
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  Speaker 1: Governors, for beings being with us this morning. Governor Stitt,
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  Speaker 1: we'll start with We'll start with you. You're the home
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  Speaker 1: team there in Oklahoma. The last thing I mentioned there, bipartisanship.
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  Speaker 1: It's just so rare in our polarized environment right now,
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  Speaker 1: but we do see it sometimes on the state level.
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  Speaker 1: Talk to us, if you will, about how important it
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  Speaker 1: is for governors to work together and reach across the aisle.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I think it's just super important.
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  Speaker 3: And like you said, I think Americans are craving this
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  Speaker 3: type of leadership that you can see a Republican and
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  Speaker 3: a Democrat governor that actually like each other and we're
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  Speaker 3: closer to our states.
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  Speaker 2: We believe in federalism.
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  Speaker 3: That he knows way more about Maryland than somebody Washington,
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  Speaker 3: d C does, or that I do. And I'm the
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  Speaker 3: governor of Oklahoma, and we don't have to sacrifice our beliefs.
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  Speaker 2: And or our values.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm always going to talk limited government, lower taxes,
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  Speaker 3: but we can do it in a positive way, in
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  Speaker 3: a constructive way.
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  Speaker 2: And I really like Wes Moore.
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  Speaker 3: We've got a great relationship and we agree on a
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  Speaker 3: lot of things. And so I think Americans love seeing
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  Speaker 3: seeing that at the state level because governors have a
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  Speaker 3: unique perspective. We have to get stuff done. We can't
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  Speaker 3: just be ideologues. We can't just play politics like it
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  Speaker 3: seems like Washington, d C.
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  Speaker 2: Does a lot.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's certainly refreshing to see govern more question to
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  Speaker 1: you now, I mean, certainly one of the other items
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  Speaker 1: of the agenda is the state federal partnerships.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: The Trump administration. I mean, let's be clear, at times
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  Speaker 1: he has played favorites. There's been a lot of reporting
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  Speaker 1: this week about disaster funding not being sent to democratic states,
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  Speaker 1: Blue states because the president so they didn't vote for him.
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  Speaker 1: So talk to us about the challenge there. What kind
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  Speaker 1: of progress can be made at something like this with
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  Speaker 1: your Republican brethren to try to improve those relationships with Washington.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think one thing that we all recognize is
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  Speaker 4: that progress is not partisan. In order for progress to happen,
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  Speaker 4: it means that you need to be able to reach
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  Speaker 4: not just across the aisle, but also reach out to
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  Speaker 4: people who might not even be politically engaged, because the
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  Speaker 4: truth is that people in this country, they are not
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  Speaker 4: playing the Washington parlor game.
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  Speaker 2: They just want to know who can help to deliver
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  Speaker 2: results from me and to my family.
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  Speaker 4: And there has been no doubt, and we've seen it
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  Speaker 4: that there has been a measure of politicization when it
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  Speaker 4: comes to the relationship between the states that I know,
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  Speaker 4: like for example, in my state where we have not
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  Speaker 4: received federal disasterly for historic storms that have happened in
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  Speaker 4: the state of Maryland. But I think one of the
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  Speaker 4: great things about governors is that we can show what
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  Speaker 4: does progress actually look like when you then turn around
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  Speaker 4: and protect your people. So when we're watching a tax
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  Speaker 4: on everything from food assistance to health insurance to what
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  Speaker 4: happened with flooding for example in the state of Maryland
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  Speaker 4: that happened in a part of our state that was
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  Speaker 4: a deeply Republican part of our state. And so what
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  Speaker 4: we end up doing we use state resources to be admission,
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  Speaker 4: to be able to make sure that we could rebuild
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  Speaker 4: the school, rebuild the library, dredge the creek, and ensure
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  Speaker 4: that those type of tragedies don't have to happen again.
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  Speaker 4: And so we want to make sure that we have good,
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  Speaker 4: strong partnerships with our federal partners.
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  Speaker 2: As governors, I mean, it matters to us.
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  Speaker 4: And at the same time, though, we want to make
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  Speaker 4: sure that the people of our individual jurisdictions know that
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  Speaker 4: we are going to fight for everybody within our jurisdictions,
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  Speaker 4: no matter how they voted in the last election, because
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  Speaker 4: that is a pledge that we took, and that is
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  Speaker 4: a moral obligation that it's as governors that we take seriously.
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  Speaker 5: Governors, did I want to take this question to you
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  Speaker 5: Mark Wayne Mullen, the DHS Secretary, is coming to speak
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  Speaker 5: to the governors on Saturday, and you have put to
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  Speaker 5: other a working group of governors to discuss immigration reform
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  Speaker 5: and work permit reform. Where are all of you landing
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  Speaker 5: when it comes to a way to secure the border
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  Speaker 5: but to also have the workforce in America that local
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  Speaker 5: economies need to succeed.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, thank you, thank you for that question.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we're we're really excited to talk about that
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  Speaker 3: as governors because that's another area where Democrat governors Republican governors,
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  Speaker 3: there's broad agreement, and I think most people agree. Americans
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  Speaker 3: know that we need to have secure borders. We need
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  Speaker 3: to know who's coming in our country. And we believe
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  Speaker 3: that Trump won on that issue. It is a very
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  Speaker 3: important issue. Trump's done an amazing job of secure in
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  Speaker 3: the borders. But now what is the endgame? And we
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  Speaker 3: believe that the state should be more in control of
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  Speaker 3: workforce permits, workforce visas, and so that's something that we're
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  Speaker 3: pushing from the governor of Oklahoma and all over the state,
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  Speaker 3: Louisiana and Maryland and New York. And there's broad agreement
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  Speaker 3: that we're closer to our workforce, whether it's hospitality, agriculture, construction.
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  Speaker 3: And I think we're overthinking this issue that governor should
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  Speaker 3: be able to match employer with employee. And really, if
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  Speaker 3: you're going to be contributing chasing the American dream, contributing
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  Speaker 3: to the Oklahoma economy, that's who we want here, chasing
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  Speaker 3: the American dream. If you don't have a workforce permit,
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  Speaker 3: then yeah, you don't need to be in the country
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  Speaker 3: because we don't have the money or the resources to
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  Speaker 3: take care of the entire world with our healthcare system,
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  Speaker 3: with our safety net system that we have in place,
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  Speaker 3: and so I think that is a very important issue.
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  Speaker 3: It's a sticky subject. Congress doesn't want to deal with it.
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  Speaker 3: States can get this done, and that's why federalism is
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  Speaker 3: such an important aspect of our democracy.
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  Speaker 6: You know that theme, Governor, chasing the American Dream. I'm
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  Speaker 6: not entirely sure that a lot of Americans who work
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  Speaker 6: hard and have families have time to dream anymore. But
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  Speaker 6: I'd like to ask the both of you, beginning with
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  Speaker 6: Governor more in terms of your jobs. I mean, unlike
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  Speaker 6: people in Washington, you actually leave your office, you have
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  Speaker 6: to get out of the car several times a day.
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  Speaker 6: You have to meet ordinary citizens in Oklahoma and Maryland
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  Speaker 6: and talk to them and listen to them.
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  Speaker 2: What's your version of what is.
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  Speaker 6: Going on out there in your state with regard to
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  Speaker 6: people who get up every day, think about their families,
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  Speaker 6: pay their taxes, and don't have time to dream because
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  Speaker 6: they're worried about their kids' education. What's your version of
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  Speaker 6: the American dream?
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  Speaker 4: Wes Moore, Well, I think our version of the American
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  Speaker 4: dream is just simply giving people a pathway to work
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  Speaker 4: wages and wealth, a pathway to own more than they owe,
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  Speaker 4: a pathway to pass something off to their children besides debt,
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  Speaker 4: and a pathway for them to have the kind of
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  Speaker 4: journey that I've been able to benefit from. You know
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  Speaker 4: that I'm a kid who watched my dad die in
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  Speaker 4: front of me when I was three years old because
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  Speaker 4: he didn't get to health care he needed that. I
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  Speaker 4: had handcuffs my risk by the time I was eleven,
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  Speaker 4: that I joined the army. When I was seventeen years old,
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  Speaker 4: I graduated from a two year college, and now I'm
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  Speaker 4: the sixty third governor of my state. Because there were
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  Speaker 4: people who were willing to help me to see that
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  Speaker 4: the world is bigger than what was just directly in
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  Speaker 4: front of me. And I think that's all everyone is
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  Speaker 4: asking that In Washington, oftentimes politics is like, you know,
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  Speaker 4: people are talking political science one on one, when in
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  Speaker 4: our communities we're just talking economics one on one. We
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  Speaker 4: just want to have an opportunity to be part of
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  Speaker 4: something bigger than ourselves. And it's why I think about
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  Speaker 4: the focus that you know we'll also have with the
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  Speaker 4: National Government Association during our time is going to be
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  Speaker 4: Service United, because I know service can save us, because
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  Speaker 4: service saved me, and we want to make sure that
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  Speaker 4: that spirit of service is something that's built out in
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  Speaker 4: this larger conversation about what does the next phase of
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  Speaker 4: the American journey look like?
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  Speaker 2: Governessed it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, from my initiative this year as chairman of
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  Speaker 3: the National Governor Association is reigniting the American Dream. So
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  Speaker 3: we've talked a lot about it. We're going to be
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  Speaker 3: rolling out a full fledged documentary talking about the American
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  Speaker 3: dream and the stories of Wes Moore being raised by
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  Speaker 3: a single mother immigrant to this country. We've interviewed governors,
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  Speaker 3: We've interviewed Mark Cuban and the founder of Ritz Carlton
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  Speaker 3: and the mayor of this city that came here as
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  Speaker 3: an immigrant to people that grew up middle class on
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  Speaker 3: a good day, that have achieved amazing things. People all
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  Speaker 3: around the world look at America and the opportunity that
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  Speaker 3: we have because of our free markets, because of the
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  Speaker 3: opportunities that we have. It doesn't matter the circumstances of
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  Speaker 3: your birth in our country or who you're born to.
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  Speaker 3: It only matters what you're willing to work hard for.
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  Speaker 3: And we can't lose that. I don't believe we teach
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  Speaker 3: our children that there's such things as equal outcomes, but
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  Speaker 3: we want equal opportunities for everyone. And get government out
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  Speaker 3: of the way and let the American people go chase
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  Speaker 3: their American dreams. Because you're right, they're taking their kids
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  Speaker 3: to soccer practice, piano lessons, uh, you know, going to work, uh,
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  Speaker 3: trying to get a better life for their kids, and
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  Speaker 3: uh and and that's what it's all about. And so
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  Speaker 3: when government comes in and tries to put their thumb
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  Speaker 3: on the scales and and and and and change things,
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  Speaker 3: I think that's where, uh, that's where we're where we
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  Speaker 3: need to unleash the innovation of the American people to
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  Speaker 3: go achieve their American dream.
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  Speaker 1: National Governors Association Chair Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and vice chair,
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  Speaker 1: Governor Wes Moore of Maryland are thanks to you both.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.