Ep. 51: Service, with Former Congressman Henry Waxman

“Explain things in a credible way so that the public understands why they're being asked to do things. You can't force people – especially Americans – to do things they refuse to do.”

When he retired from the U.S. House of Representatives after four decades of service, Henry Waxman was considered one of the most influential and effective legislators of his era. He championed such issues as the environment, clean energy, and government oversight, sponsoring 48 bills that made it into law. The congressman chaired the first hearing on HIV/AIDS in 1982, as well the tobacco industry hearings 12 years later, demonstrating a commitment to public health that continues to this day. 

“We need to change our public health system,” he tells Mike. “We need to make sure that everybody's covered. We need to do contact tracing. … We tackled other pandemics in the United States much more successfully and we've got to be able to have a public health system that will allow us to do that.”