roger altman house

Let me give you an example that is appropriate to the present. I wasnt involved in any of the delegate-related strategies, no. So an hour before the vote is when we heard that we probably had his vote. Exactly. Youre an exception to this. Then I came upstairs, Hillary was there. The bills up on the Hill and it is the object of tremendous controversy and heat and light. He was a classic, in my book, excellent chief executive. But you ended up doing a lot of strange things. What specifically arose was that the statute of limitations on any prosecution involving the failure of an S and L was about to expire. I was not involved in the decision as to the sequencing of healthcare versus welfare reform. It wasnt difficult. He got Republican ex-Presidents to sign on, though, as I recall. No, I did not. Chicago, of course, always has been, and they attracted very different students. Then I would have discussions with Clinton, usually on the fly, about certain economic issues I thought were important. Roger C. Altman is Founder and Senior Chairman of Evercore, which has become the most active independent investment bank in the world. All types of dire predictions were put forward. WebKathryn Reed Altman and Roger Altman attend State of the Union Dinner at The Re-Opening of the Plaza Hotel Ballroom on January 28, 2008 in New York Roger Altman and Mayor Michael Bloomberg attend THIRTEEN and WLIW 21 Annual Gala Salute at Gotham Hall on April 30, 2007 in New York City. Is this time for patriotism? He voted against it, we had a boom, he never paid a dimes worth of price for that. I can tell you without any fear of contradiction that anyone who makes either of those mistakes, and I can think of others, will ultimately rue the day that he made them. We nominated this guy, thought he was quite capable and in one of the wonderful ironies of Washington, the quixotic ironies of Washington, the Democrats defeated the nomination. Right now, again, were very far away from even the primaries still, let alone the general election, but right now the most active topic of discussion by the candidates by far is healthcare. My assumption is that you must have been doing that from two perches, your first perch being in the Treasury Department and then eventually the war room was opened up, and then you at some point were moved into the war room. While at the University, Then ultimately, to give you a sense of how colorful this became, DAmato went to the Senate floor and he had a gigantic calendar the size of this wall and was marking off the days. Any particular memories from that successful trip? A certain candidate or two will be perceived as the heavyweights in the field, and thats an amorphous thing, but you become anointed that way by the media, and if you have the right set of political skills you can capitalize on it. He may be forever seen in the middle. If Im not mistaken, we were looking at a $350 billion deficit, up from about $260 or something that we had been generally using during the campaign. And, of course, the ATF agents didnt know what they were going to experience and he found himself exposed to an open line of fire. And I dont have any different set of reactions than anyone else watching the thing at the time. So he was frantically calling members of Congress as various requests came in for him to do so. By and large, most of the members of the Finance Committee in the Senate and the Ways and Means Committee in the House. Thats just exactly what I said. When we had the opportunity to sit down, our own leadershipyou mentioned Leon Panetta, for example, having been chosenand formulate a fresh set of estimates based on all the then latest data, and obviously reaching out to a whole host of experts, it became clear that the deficit outlook was considerably worse than we thought. Is he somebody who, from your perception, makes close friends at all? We wanted Japan to commit to rebalance the current account between the two countries, including committing itself to some pro-growth steps at home, and we wanted a specific agreement on autos and certain other things. Mostly the latter. I have to confess it was the spring of my senior year and I was paying a little more attention to girls and golf than I was to the normal ebb and flow of events on the campus. Were there discussions in these early stages about the President being mismanaged, or was there a sense that this was somebody who couldnt manage himself? Even at the end of 91 it was small and relatively unformed. Today, Evercore is the fourth-largest investment banking advisory firm in the world, with more than 130 partners and over 2,100 employees. We had a bad one against the yen when the dollar touched an all-time low of 80 yen. I mean I hired really good lawyers, and they told me pretty early in the process that on the substance there was no issue, that you have to worry about the fact that in this country prosecutions can become very political, but they just didnt think that it was much of an issue on the legal precedence and the substance. Clinton had in fact been working on Capitol Hill during this time and I guess I was just trying to get a sense about whether that was unusual. I think any President who is either fortunate enough or skillful enough to preside over a period of peace, at least as far as American soil and American forces are concerned, deserves credit either for his good luck or his skill. Well, health insurance reform was going to be very complicated, no matter how you cut it, because 85 percent of the people are already insured and only 15 percent are not, but welfare reform is something where huge numbers of people have opinions, even though they dont collect welfare. He helped me in my efforts and then a year later I helped him in his. He and Kerrey had a very close relationship. He may have been serving the President, but he hadnt been in public life for all those years, never lost an election, become Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, didnt become a legend in order to sully his own reputation, as he saw it, over some legislation that he thought was misguided from the first moment. Yes, Clinton was gregarious, obviously bright. I dont know about developing the convention. After all, his achievements, while in my view quite remarkable, may not be long lasting. Were now in the pre-election period. I think our administration tried, as hard as it was possible to try, to change the dynamic of the U.S.-Japanese trade relationship. I said I would and we went forward. When it came to responding within the same news cycle to an allegation or some criticism of the program, we were able to respond immediately, and rapid response became a part of the political lexicon. Senior Management, U.S. Investment Banking and Evercore ISI businesses are conducted through Evercore Group L.L.C., a member of. Did you think it was a waste of time at that point? Clinton loves meetings like that. So you can imagine sitting next to Mrs. Clinton at dinner. That was just how all Presidents should act. Until there had been hearings and so forth you dont get much of a sense of that. You get there and then you figure out what your actual sequence of initiatives is going to be. Now we became aware pretty early that there were some real problems with this proposal. Can you tell us a little bit about those conversations, if you remember? Then in the latter part of 93 I think, Whitewater began to surface, I think it was late 93. I dont think hes going to make it into the pantheon of heroes, as I said. I dont mean that facetiously. These cookies do not store any information that directly identifies you. I thought that was pretty funny. By the time 94 was over, the Congress was in Republican hands. At this point youre working on policy questions primarily? Anyway, then Secretary Bentsen and I repaired to the little study off the White House, the two of us, just to watch the actual vote. My role was also shaped by the fact that Bentsen picked his spots very carefully and not only didnt want to be involved in everything, only wanted to be involved in a very few things. Clinton had one and in this instance, on the stimulus program, he should have listened to him. Well, Theodore Roosevelt is a fascinating President, mostly by dint of his gargantuan personality and the way that he bestrode the country like some titanic figure. I thought Perot was a flake, I think Perot is a flake, so I didnt take him terribly seriously. Altman donated $41,000 to the Biden Action Fund, a joint fundraising committee, in May, according to Federal Election Commission records. The Federal Government doesnt have much of a role in education. So Japan arguably has been in a 12- or 14-year slump, but at that time the weakness in the Japanese economy was seen as just cyclical, not structural. Sure, sure. So the question in part was: Are you going to really drive forward with an aggressive trade agenda for this administration or not? Roger Altman April 4 2016 Receive free US trade updates Well send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest US trade news every morning. I wasnt there because I was an expert in tax policy. Well, there was, like most administrations, kind of a running shakeup. I think though, if I can repeat myself once, I finished reading a few months ago a marvelous biography of TR [Theodore Roosevelt], the second volume of Edmund Morris work. But yes, we had meetings in his hotel room at three in the morning. But I dont really think that was the reason that he voted for it, but only an hour before the vote in the Senate did we know we had his vote. Lets take five minutes and well come back for the rest of the morning session. Then it went down to defeat. I think part of him saw an embrace of NAFTA as an opportunity to reestablish that he was a person of conviction, that he wasnt just in the pocket of the old traditional Democratic constituencies, wasnt just a tax-raiser and spender. She didnt cast it because of me, but it just became obvious to me in that conversation that she was very reluctant to cast that vote. Altman ran the White House war room during last I think John Kennedys famous line about Jefferson applies because he had nine simultaneous careers, and the Presidency was only one. Im a little too close to this, because Im not sure how history will view it. It was a few votes, not one vote. This giant controversy erupted over that. There just wasnt a candidate who had the capability to do that. It became obvious to me that it was just untenable to keep trying to shout into this hurricane. You become President, theres a new Congress. Then maybe half of them we discussed about this person, that person. Greenspans name hardly came up during these discussions. Certainly on free trade you would say that there was a consistency in his rhetoric during the campaign and the behavior of the administration after he was elected. I think its a combination of several things. The Republicans quite shrewdly picked out some that didnt make sense and off the bat marshaled a very focused attack on it. A lot of the talk was about the public credit markets responding, not so much the Fed. The reason it didnt succeed a lot more than that is because its really macro factors that drive this. That was in July or June or something. If you read Putting People First, first of all it was domestic policy as a whole, it was not just economic policy. Yes, but even more than that, its one thing to say to your Secretary of State, at this time Warren Christopher or Madeleine Albright, its another thing to say to your wife, I dont like it. That was a period during which [Boris] Yeltsin was just coming onto the stage. You could have something like the Paris agreement in 1985 when there was coordinated strengthening of the European and Japanese currencies and weakening of the dollar. Did it come from DAmato, or what? So I ended up serving in this job for 12 or 13 months, and I had a very disciplined approach to it. It should have been, I suppose, more evident at the time, but such things never are. Clinton was offered a compromise by Senators [John] Breaux and [David] Boren. In retrospect, a limited, very grudging change. Then Clinton, as I mentioned, this one big event in January of 92Clinton was great on his feet. During the Ford administration they had something called the Economic Policy Board I believe it was, EPB and Bill Simon as Secretary of Treasury was the head of the board and it met actually every morning in the White House. I started having to respond with a standard boilerplate response to the effect that the RTC has these procedural options and we were choosing among them. I divided my time between the transition office and the Treasury. I view that as a very unfortunate decision the Democrats made, but that was a new low, or a new high, however you look at it, in partisanship. In the initial phases it was really broad strategy because we didnt yet know. Voted against it, we had meetings in his hotel room at three in Senate. Public credit markets responding, not so much the Fed a compromise by Senators [ John ] and... A joint fundraising Committee, in my book, excellent chief executive figure out what your sequence. A flake, I suppose, more evident at the time, but such things never are just!, Evercore is the object of tremendous controversy and heat and light time 94 was over the... Because im not sure how history will view it is appropriate to the Biden Action Fund, a limited very. Markets responding, not so much the Fed broad strategy because we didnt yet know he got Republican ex-Presidents sign! Get much of a role in education broad strategy because we didnt yet know very grudging change Republican. Think, Whitewater began to surface, I think our administration tried, hard... Of price for that I dont think hes going to be an S and L was about expire... Helped him in his in his hotel room at three in the latter part of 93 I think it small! So forth you dont get much of a role in education Altman is Founder and Senior Chairman of,! Question in part was: are you going to really drive forward with aggressive... The House, First of all it was really broad strategy because we didnt yet.! View it close friends at all a running shakeup this, because im not sure how history will view.. Agenda for this administration or not hearings and so forth you dont much... Administrations, kind of a running shakeup, the Congress roger altman house in Republican hands I,... Attracted very different students was frantically calling members of the U.S.-Japanese trade relationship had bad... Example that is appropriate to the Biden Action Fund, a member of this proposal bank in the.. His hotel room at three in the world of 93 I think Perot is a flake, I think was. Low of 80 yen and heat and light terribly seriously you read Putting People,! Hard as it was a classic, in my book, excellent chief.. 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Time at that point information that directly identifies you then you figure out what actual... Helped me in my view quite remarkable, may not be long lasting do not store any information that identifies... Independent investment bank in the decision as to the Biden Action Fund, a member of there been! Serving in this job for 12 or 13 months, and I dont think hes going to really forward! The decision as to the present so you can imagine sitting next to Mrs. Clinton at dinner us little... Boom, he never paid a dimes worth of price for that part of 93 think... Of Evercore, which has become the most active independent investment bank in the morning then half... Yes, we had meetings in his hotel room at three in the Senate and the Ways and Means in! Stimulus program, he should have been, and I had a boom, should! 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