>>Good morning and welcome to Global Perspectives.

I'm David Dumke.

Today we are joined by two former members of Congress, both who represented Florida in the United States House of Representatives, Congressman Ted Yoho.

He served in the Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as the Agriculture Committee, represented a district in north central Florida >>District Three.

>>That included Gainesville.

>>Best District in Florida.

>>That would be contested by your colleague.

I didn't think we'd get into it this early, but that - Val Demings.

Orlando's own Val Demings, who represented the city and prior to entering Congress, was, of course the chief of police.

>>Represented everything in West Orlando.

And clearly everybody knows in the state of Florida that Congressional District Ten is by far the best district in Florida.

>>Well, we we intended this to be a bipartisan discussion that occasionally disagreed.

But we're going to have to leave it at that.

You're visiting the University of Central Florida this week as part of the Association of Former Members of Congress program called Congress to Campus.

Can you explain a little about that program?

>>Oh, it's a great program to be able to interact with the students that the next leaders of America, they're coming up.

And, you know, I look back when I was going through college, I had no interest in politics.

But then as I got older, I wanted to know more about it, you know?

So I started doing a lot of reading and I got engaged in and I got elected.

And I look back on those formative years.

And the thing I've been impressed with is the questions that they were asking and the engagement they had.

And so as Val mentioned yesterday, and I agree with her, these kids are sharp, you know, and our future is looking bright with these kind of young people coming up.

>>And I wasn't sure after leaving Congress if I wanted to get involved with the former members of Congress program.

But I realize the opportunity to participate in the Congress to Campus program has been so beneficial.

Of course, it's just great for me to be here at home in the Orlando area, but having an opportunity when we think about historically how we were able to build a great nation, there has never been one major movement in this country without this generation's involvement.

We have some big challenges here domestically, but there are some big challenges that we're involved in around the world.

And we want to make sure that the next round of leaders are prepared.

They have the knowledge and information that they need to make solid decisions.

And we have been so impressed with the caliber of the students here.

It makes me feel good about the future.

>>Well said.

>>Well, that is that is encouraging to hear, because 2024 is an election year.

>>It is.

>>It's a particularly contentious one.

>>And you'll be happy to know neither one of us are running.

>>Right.

So is-- >>Why is that by the way?

>>So my question is, there's there's a lot of cynicism because a lot of people are turned off by the negativity they see.

They see a lot of yelling.

You both served in the House of Representatives where you went through - you had an impeachment process that went through.

You had a lot of battles and you had a lot of the budget didn't you know, the appropriations process wasn't complete.

There was the perception of things not getting done.

So I guess my question for both of you, can things still happen in government?

Should these young people actually be encouraged to to become part of this process that they see is a mess?

>>Yes.

And yes.

Yes.

They should be encouraged by it.

You know, this system has been around for over 200 years, 240 plus years.

And and it will survive us.

You know, we're there for a short period of time.

And yes, they should be involved because they are inheriting what's been passed to us that we're passing on.

And it's just imperative that they get in there and do that.

What I saw when I ran and one of the things that made me run was our national debt was at 13.5 trillion.

And I really wanted to tackle that.

And, you know, I was a thorn in the Republican leadership side, and I challenged them on that.

When it came to raising the debt, they said it would cause a default.

And I said, no.

A default is when you don't pay your bills.

We're going to pay our bills.

And they you know, they attacked me.

And the news was after me saying I should stay behind the call.

You know, I had no business being in Congress.

And I look at the debt today, it's at $34 trillion.

It was 13 and a half when I wanted to intervene on it.

So who was the crazy one?

You know, how long do we let this go on?

And and I think what I saw was a lack of vision and leadership.

I asked the Speaker of the House back then, what's our long term vision?

And he goes, Yoho, what are you talking about?

This is 5 to 10 years down the road because that's a lifetime in Congress.

He goes, our long term vision and this was January was September.

I said, September what?

September?

He goes, We have to fund the government.

So their short term vision on the Republican side that they're looking nine months down the road, we should really be looking 25, 50 years down the road of where you want America to go.

And it's like you were saying about the founders, envision what it can be.

>>That's right.

>>And I think we need to have leaders up there.

And I'm hoping this group of students that we go around and engage in, FMC, the former members of Congress that we can inspire them.

>>Look, we definitely need young people to be involved and engage.

We need them to want to be public servants, to run for office or get involved in public policy.

We want people who are committed and dedicated and passionate about the issues.

Right.

Like we talked about yesterday, your "why."

Why do you want to get involved is so very important.

What's in your heart that motivates you?

And then you follow that passion and never really give up on who you are.

I think one of the challenges is right now is that because of social media and the role that it plays, there's just a snippet of information that young people are fed that 20 second soundbite that gives the impression that that spirited debate is all that occurs in Congress and there's nothing else getting done.

But what I know for a fact is that, yeah, we might we've had some spirited debates and discussions on the floor, but there is a tremendous amount of work that's going on in the committees, a tremendous amount of work that's going on behind the scenes to really get things done on behalf of the American people.

But that's also why it's important to realize who you send matters, right?

Who you vote for matters.

And we have to be involved and engaged and supporting those people who share our agenda.

>>Well, you know, you both kind of referred to your own background.

I want to bring that up because, you know, members of Congress come from all backgrounds.

So some some you neither of you planned on being a politician for for a career or part of a career.

So say a little about your background and why you got involved in this this mess, if you will.

>>I heard Val say yesterday after she retired from the police department that they she got recruited to run.

I can tell you, nobody recruited me to run.

And, you know, there was a story that was it was called From the Cow Pens to Congress because I was a large animal veterinarian, work worked on animals and just got frustrated with what the government wasn't doing and sometimes overdoing, you know, with regulations.

And I started asking clients, you know, are you happy with what's going on?

And they said no.

And I told them I was going to run.

And I ran against a 24 year incumbent in my own party who who I heard on the radio commercial one day saying he came to Congress 18 years ago to make America energy independent.

Well, heck, 18 years, you ought to be able to solve a problem.

If not, you need to move on.

And and I think the biggest thing is people said, well, you don't have the experience to run.

You don't have the knowledge or the wisdom.

And these people have the knowledge and wisdom after all the time there.

And I said, you know what?

You're right.

They do.

But it's these people with this knowledge and wisdom.

They've either led us to where we're at or they failed to prevent it.

And if you're happy where we're at as a nation, keep them there.

If not, send somebody different.

And I'm a little bit different than the ones you usually send up there.

And then I think the other thing we did is I didn't go up there for a job.

You know, we went up there for a cause.

I had a great career and I can fall back on that if I choose to.

But I see so many people up there and politicians, what I saw and we've talked about this, politicians worry more about their next election, statesman's worry more about their next generations.

And we need more statesmen up there than politicians.

>>And David, I was born and raised in Florida.

I'm the youngest of seven children.

My parents, my mother was a maid and my father was a janitor.

They both worked extremely hard.

I remember my dad used to go to work seven days a week to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.

But I've had a tremendous opportunity to reap kind of the benefits of of living and being born in this country.

And I made a decision a long time ago that I wanted to dedicate my life to public service, that the opportunities that I have had, that I want those to be extended to others who are willing to work hard and play by the rules.

As you know, I served as a police officer for 27 years, had the honor of serving as the chief of police.

In law enforcement, you are responsible for getting things done.

People expect you to help solve problems, right?

To keep the community safe, to help to make communities stronger.

And I was laser focused and the men and women at the Orlando Police Department were also laser focused on accomplishing our mission.

What I could not tell you, the political party of the overwhelming majority of men and women that I worked with, all I know is they worked hard.

They had a vision for what Orlando could be, and they accomplish the mission.

I took that same spirit and attitude to Congress because we were dealing with the just on an array of issues and challenges.

And I wanted to go and solve problems.

But I think Ted is absolutely correct.

There are lots of kind of different people in Congress, and it became quite evident there are a lot of people there who are committed to solving problems on behalf of people in their districts, but they're also the minority of people that sometimes the minority can be pretty loud who have no interest in governing, no interest in solving problems.

They're there to disrupt, to blow up the house and not really do anything meaningful on behalf of the people.

If we want to change that and we desperately need to, we've got to change the kind of people that we send.

And that's why it's so important for young people, the young people at UCF and others around the community and around the nation to get involved in public service.

>>So let me ask you a question based on your talking about different kinds of members in terms of style.

Some some are up there throwing bombs, some are just get to work.

You rarely read about them, but they get get things done.

So my question is, you representing your districts and we're still open debate as to which ones districts better, but I can't do that.

I live in yours.

>>Some things are self-evident.

>>But to what extent were the were you a representative of the people in terms of it's their agenda, not yours, as opposed to issues that you feel are important, that may not be important to your constituents or they may not realize it's important.

So to what extent is the is the agenda that you work on given by your constituents or do you make it?

>>The bottom line is we are a representative system of government and the people of Congressional District Ten elected me to go and work on their behalf.

It is not and should never have been, the Val Demings show and the Ted Yoho Show.

>>Right.

>>We represent almost a million people.

We represented when we were in office.

I spent a lot of time working on Veteran Affairs for members who were in our district, who had served in the military, didn't have to be a member of the military to support that.

And I believe the majority of the people in congressional District Ten supported that.

We know that there was an affordable housing crisis that we're having to deal with.

Many people are concerned if Social Security and Medicare will be around, especially for the generation that we're spending time with now.

So we have to do everything that we can or should to support programs like that.

Then there are some instances where America may be involved in conflict or trying to promote stability around the world.

I think that a lot of people within the district, they want us to kind of do their worrying for them and be responsible for making the best decisions that are on and on their behalf.

And so, you know, number one, we should always remember we are representing the people and what they want matters, right?

But there are some issues that they may not directly be involved with, but they expect their representatives to handle in a very responsible and accountable way.

>>Right.

And, you know, when you get elected, my numbers, I think, were 57 to 67% every time I got elected except the first time.

So that means there's that many people that didn't vote for me.

And so their views are probably different than mine.

And so you go in there, you run on a platform that you're going to do that people say, you know what, I like what he's doing.

And then even doing that when I did what I said I was going to do, I had people mad at me.

I the people wanted the Speaker of the House to go and they didn't want me to support them.

So when I did that, I had people calling me up, I can't believe you did that.

I said, Well, I told you I was going to.

Well, I didn't think you'd really do it.

And so you've got this juggling act and then you have the people that are a different political ideology of yours, and you would have discussion.

And we opened our office to them and both in the district and the DC, and we just allayed their concerns to rest and just said, you know, I understand what you're saying.

This is where I'm coming from.

I'm not here to hurt anybody.

I'm here to make this process better.

And, you know, I think a lot of times on the local level, there's probably more things that that they should focus on the state, on the federal level.

You know, when you look at what the role of the federal government is, the number one task is national security.

And then you look at the other things.

What makes national security?

Well, you've got to have a strong economy and we've got a mess right now, you know, $34 trillion in debt.

We've got strong adversaries out there.

So we should be focusing on the majors at the federal level, supporting the state level, you know, and what we can do.

And and this all wraps together.

And so sometimes you get removed from the local levels, but the national levels are really they're going to take care of the local levels if we get the national levels correct.

It's a balancing act of what you try to do and you're going to always have somebody mad at you.

And I had people that supported me, get mad at me, wouldn't support me, and I had people that didn't support me.

All of the sudden would support me.

So it's it's a it's a flux.

And, you know, you do the best you can.

>>And some day you can have someone be your friend.

>>Yeah, that's right.

And you can't be threatened or intimidated by that.

Right.

But Ted makes such a good point about representing, you know, once you are elected, you've represent everybody who lives in that district.

And there may be a significant sometimes a significant group of people who are in the other party who have a different political viewpoint.

But you're their representative, too.

And and I think I benefited our office did, and I benefited from making sure that our doors were just like I did as a police chief, making sure that our doors were always open to the people who wanted to petition their government about an issue that they were unhappy about or worried about.

And so when you run for office, you know, it's you've got to let it be like a you've got, as I said yesterday, something that John Lewis used to say, keep your eyes on the prize of why you're there in the first place.

And it is that's to serve the people you're there to meet with, interact, discuss issues no matter how tough they may be with everybody who you represent.

>>So, Congressman, you you were on the Foreign Affairs Committee as well as the Agriculture Committee in your district is lot of rural areas.

So the Agriculture Committee made sense for you on the economic side and you worked around that in your your career as a veterinarian for large animals.

Foreign affairs.

Did did your constituents say why are you spending time on China?

You represent us, not... >>Foreign affairs is something that's always fascinated me.

You know, I grew up during the oil embargo, a manmade oil embargo in 1974.

And I'm thinking, how can a country, Iran, which I didn't even really know where Iran was, how can they influence my gas price here and double it?

And then we get rationed ten gallons a week and you could only buy it on certain days.

And it intrigued me because there's a policy that made us be vulnerable to that and it's foreign policy.

And so I read more.

I was very well read on foreign policy when I went in there.

I read a book called The Clash of Civilizations by Samuel Huntington that talks about what's going on in different parts of the world today.

So I wanted to be on foreign affairs.

And it just it came easy to me and I became very passionate about it.

And my and I really believe and I hope you feel this about your committees that Foreign Affairs is the most important committee in Congress, because if you have strong foreign policy, it ties in with good domestic policies and it has strong trade policies.

And those things together create strong national security.

And you're building these relationships around the world not to be the policeman of the world, which I think we're doing wrong, but I think we should work to create stable governments that we can trade with and help build economies so that those people in those countries can build.

One of the things I ran for Congress is the American dream.

I think that's what America stands for.

But I want those countries to have their dream.

The Honduran dream, the El Salvador dream, you know, modeled after the American dream.

And it all comes from opportunity and having a form of government that's enshrined in something like our Constitution doesn't have to be ours, but have those ideologies in there because that's what people want.

>>So for for you, Congresswoman, you were assigned most prominently to the to be a manager of the impeachment inquiry.

I - we don't need to get into that whole debate.

>>Oh come on, David.

>>But I want to ask about I want to ask more about the effect on you as a representative having that very prominent role, because you have other objectives that doesn't help your veterans.

It doesn't help crime in Orlando.

So did your constituents ask you at any point, why are you out there in the headlines on this issue when we have day to day problems?

>>Yeah, some constituents did, but it was very partizan when they did and many of them would were focused more on negative comments about me than why are we impeaching the president of the United States?

My committees, whether Judiciary or Homeland Security or even the Intelligence Committee, I think were just ideal committees for me in the background that I brought to the table.

I didn't ask to be an impeachment manager.

And I think about some cases that I had to investigate as a police detective.

I didn't ask for those either.

When I was chosen to serve as an impeachment manager, I agreed to do so, and I did so to the best of my ability representing the US House of Representatives and really the people around the nation who deserve to know whether there had been any wrongdoing on behalf of the President of the United States.

I know there were a lot of people who watched us, the managers, and and thought that, oh my gosh, they are just this is just a great moment for them.

It was one of the most stressful times.

And I served in law enforcement.

>>I bet it was.

>>It was one of the most stressful times.

And let me just say this, just like I never like seeing our country look weak or divided at home or certainly on a world stage.

It was so traumatic for the world to see the United States impeaching the president of the United States.

But we had a duty to do and it did matter to me if the president had been a Republican president or a Democratic president.

We had a job to do.

The House of Representatives has the power to impeach, the Senate has the ability to acquit or not.

And the system ran its course.

And I was honored to be a part of that process.

>>So you you just mentioned about, you know, kind of threats abroad and and at home.

And we've been talking this whole time about, you know, first of all, you're here together.

So it's it's a message, a positi Do we have an ability at this point to tackle some of the big issues that are that are facing us today and are and are on the horizon?

We were talking a little before the show started about China.

>>Yeah.

>>We used to have it seems and again, this is my my commentary, if you will, but it used to seem we we had different means of addressing challenges, but the same understanding of challenges, whether you're a Republican, Democrat, do we still have the unity of purpose?

>>Yeah, I think we do, but I think we've lost focus on that.

It needs to be brought back into focus.

And again, you know, you look at the major task of the federal government is national security.

And I think I shared with you the story.

I met with some senior legislators in Japan.

I get invited to talk on U.S. foreign policy and with the senior legislator we got talking about the election coming up.

And I asked her, who do you want to see win?

He goes, doesn't matter me.

He goes, but what matters is you guys used to be known as the United States of America.

It's the United States of America that makes you strong.

And he shook his head.

He goes, You're no longer seen that way.

You're seen as the divided states of America.

And if you're divided, you're weakened.

And if you're weakened, we're in jeopardy.

And so what really matters, whoever wins that, you become the United States of America.

And I think you're seeing that, you know, with Putin going into Ukraine, you know, the saber rattling of Iran, again, you know, you saw what happened with Israel and Palestine and Kim Jong Un, you know, his gotten rid of the reunification wall.

There's a lot of geopolitical stress out there right now.

America was the one that kept that world peace after World War Two.

So there's a tectonic shift in world peace.

And you you know, I just believe in those old adages.

Walk softly, carry a big stick, peace through strength.

I think those things are very important because if you have adversaries out there, whether you want them or not, there's always somebody that's going to want to challenge the king of the hill.

And China is that one that's speaking up.

And so I think our biggest threats right now is our economy, our debt with China and our border situation.

And then we can go down the list, you know, look at health care, education, things like that.

>>Recently, the FBI director, Christopher Wray, said that the biggest threat facing America is China, with a period behind it.

But your question about do we still have the ability to solve some of the nation's greatest problems?

I certainly know for a fact that we have the ability.

The question is, do we have the political desire to do it?

And it goes back to the those who are in Congress to solve problems and those who are in Congress to do nothing constructive, but just to disrupt, impede, blow up the House of Representatives.

If you look at America and you think things are very bad, just travel around the world a bit, right?

It'll help you put it into perspective.

But I don't believe there is any challenge that America or any problem that America cannot solve.

One of the things I also learned as I traveled was that people really depend on America.

>>They sure do.

>>Whether they are our friends and allies or they're adversaries.

When America is out of order.

There's a shift in the world and the world is out of order.

And so we have a major role to play in peace and stability around the world.

Ted talked about stable governments.

People look to us to help them find their way there.

And so we just need to shake it off, whatever is dividing us and pulling us apart and get back to work and make sure that we are the America that we were created to be.

>>One final question.

We're running out of time is on civility.

Did you see enough of it on the Hill when you were there?

And what's just one thing you can think off top your head that would help encourage more discussion?

So, you know, Ted and Val can have a discussion.

They can disagree on points, but can actually reach a common objective.

>>I saw civility up there, but I saw a lot of division.

And I think the one thing if people focused on don't focus on a party, you know, if you look at our founding principles, you know that our rights come from a creator, not from government, our core values, we're all created equal.

That's encompassed in the constitution.

Those are neither Republican or Democratic ideals.

Those are American ideologies.

And I think if we start thinking of all of us collectively as Americans instead of a Republican or a conservative Republican or real right wing Republican, and the same on the Democratic side, and we say we are Americans, we're on the same team.

Let's let's solve these problems.

If we do that with the right leadership and the right vision of where this nation is and paint a picture where we're going to be 25, 50 years out from now and have an American agenda, I think we'll do just fine.

>>Ted and I are here now.

We served in the House of Representatives together, but I know a lot more about him personally.

A couple of weeks after I was elected to Congress, I wanted to participate in a prayer group or a Bible study group.

And so some members told me about this group that meets on Thursday mornings.

And so I couldn't wait to Thursday morning, rolled around, went to the meeting, and the majority of the people in that room were Republicans.

For a split second, I was like, I don't know if we're but but I remember why I was there in the first place.

I wanted to participate in a prayer group and a Bible study group.

It became one of the greatest experiences for me of the week of experiences.

But what it also did, it helped me to get to know my colleagues on a personal level.

And so when there was legislation that I needed or they needed, we would go to come to each other to try to work together to get things done.

Let's take off the political shields and let's get to see the individual who's there and what motivates him or her to be there.

We'll get a lot more done, I think, that way.

>>Ted Yoho, Val Demings, thank you both for your service and thank you for being on the show.

>>Thank you for having us.

>>Thank you.

>>And it's been an honor to be here and talking with the students.

Thank you.

>>And thank you for joining us.

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