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>> Enrique: Next on the delegation, the senator.
>> There is no play book for being a senator.
There is no handbook that you get to read.
>> Enrique: Senators patty Murray and maria cantwell are among the top leaders in Washington.
Up next, the challenges they face as women in the halls of the capitol.
>> When I first went into the Senate, there were only two women.
>> Our state is giving, you know, a face to what women governing is all about.
>> Enrique: The difficulty of getting things done when partisan bitterness is at an all time high.
>> In this environment of such animosity, you have to find the common ground and push it forward.
>> And I think there are people in congress today and have been who really don't want this country and this government to work well.
>> Enrique: And facing dismal approval ratings, why they're still passionate about the job.
>> I actually believe that my job is to make sure the people in Washington state have a seat at the table when it comes to federal issues.
>> Enrique: The senators, next on the delegation.
>> Local production and broadcast of the delegation was made possible in part by a generous grant from the Evans school of public affairs at the university of Washington.
Leading the field in public policy and management education, research, and service for over 50 years.
And by KCTS-9 members.
Become a member today by going to KCTS9.org.
Thank you.
>> From Washington state, to Washington D.C., they are the women and men you elected to represent us all in congress.
This is the delegation.
>> Enrique: Senators, welcome.
Thank you so much for being here.
We really appreciate it.
Well, let's begin with a comment from a former secretary of defense, someone that I'm sure both of you know, and that's Robert gates.
He said I truly believe that at this point, the single greatest danger to our national security and our economy resides in the two square miles that encompass Capitol Hill and the White House.
Here, I'm referring to the dysfunction that has gripped the U.S. political system in recent years, culminating in the government shutdown.
Pretty tough words.
Do you agree?
>> Well...
>> Can I jump in?
Because, you know what?
I really want to applaud senator Murray.
Because at a time when we had the biggest morasse in Washington D.C., and no one thought we could get anything done, patty Murray got something done with Paul Ryan.
And I like to say it was a giant step for bipartisanship because she showed the results.
I want patty to talk about this.
But you just wrote a description that patty went against the grain on.
And we owe her a great debt of gratitude.
>> Enrique: And that was a challenge to get that fun.
>> Well, thank you, maria.
And that's exactly, that frustration about wanting our democracy to work, really is what congressman Paul Ryan and I brought to the room to negotiate.
Both of us could have said no, both of us could have said we're going to fight our fights.
But both of us felt really strongly that our country wasn't working, and we needed to show the American people that a democracy can work.
And that really drove us to get a budget agreement done.
That's how it has to work.
>> Enrique: There still is this feeling in the country that Washington is broken, the other Washington, not this one.
>> Well, I think that, um, there have been a lot of examples of where people going into a corner, not talking to each other, making everything political, has really made our government not work well.
And I think there are people in congress today and have been who really don't want this country and this government to work well.
They want to go home and say, I fought that Washington D.C. and I kept it from doing something.
That attitude is, I think, really over time very, um, very damaging to our country.
We have to make this country work.
We have to find ways to agree and find common ground.
Certainly, there are political issues and certainly there are differences of opinion.
But at the end of the day, we have to make this country work.
>> And I think, you know, for me, and I think, you know, for patty, is that even with the animosity of the tea party pulling the republicans apart, saying don't even talk to the other side of the aisle, you have to find where you can find common ground.
For me, we focused on the farm bill and worked with senator Joe hansen and said all of us who believe in a strong agricultural economy want a farm bill.
We got 70 people to sign on to a bill.
Harry Reid made it a priority, we're close to getting that D it's taken a lot longer than I would have wanted.
But in this environment of animosity, you have to find the common ground and push it forward.
And again, patty found that when other people couldn't find it.
So it really is getting sharper in your focus.
And that's what we're trying to do.
>> Much has been said about the increased number of women in the U.S. Senate.
There are now 20.
For a number of years, I had a book on my desk that was called "nine and counting," if you remember.
>> Yes.
>> I want to know.
Do you think women really govern differently?
I'll start with you, senator Murray, because you had something to do with the increased number of women in the Senate.
>> Well, I think there's several ways to answer that.
I think women bring a very important perspective to governing.
I think women that I know in the Senate tend to find ways to solve problems and to find agreement, rather than being in the, you know, battle form all the time.
And I think that's good for how our country needs to work.
>> Let me turn that up a notch.
Do women govern better or do they focus on different kinds of issues?
What would you say?
>> Well, definitely, women are seen as agents of change, and a lot of people want Washington D.C. to change.
And I think patty described it best.
I think most of these women that we've worked with on both sides of the aisle go into a meeting thinking how can we get this done, how can we accomplish this?
They don't walk in necessarily with the big, you know, ego of, oh my gosh, how is this going to look for me?
They're more concerned about the bottom line.
And I think that's positive.
And so diversity doesn't hurt.
And you know, all of that has been, so I look at it and say, well, it's patty and Paul Ryan who got the first budget, you know, bipartisan agreement, and then Barbara Mcculsky worked with her counter part.
So there's something to be said, we're about to get this farm bill.
So women have gone in focused on the legwork, and the details, and found that common ground and been positive.
>> Enrique: How was it when you first went into the Senate?
>> When I was first elected, there were only two women.
When I was elected, there were six.
And they looked at us, are you going to shake this up in a way that we don't like?
And we had to find ways to really accomplish things together.
And I think that women have really earned that respect in the Senate today, much more than when I first came in.
But I think the women themselves have really been a driving force because when I first came into the Senate, the six of us sat down and said, bipartisan, we're gonna figure out ways that we can know each other better and work together on issues that we care about.
And we continue that to today, where there's 20 of us in a bipartisan way and we talk to each other and respect each other.
>> We get together for dinner at least monthly.
But we've been having such a good time lately I think.
By that, I mean sharing ideas and working together.
I don't know, maybe it's a little more than monthly.
But the notion is, is that we get together and, you know, it's a private meeting, we can talk about anything.
And it's a way to really build that relationship, which a lot of people say is what's been missing in D.C.
The fact that people go home and don't stay in D.C., haven't built the kind of camaraderie that helps you work across the aisle.
>> Yeah.
And the key part of what maria just said, those meetings, when we have dinner together, we have an agreement that what is said in that room doesn't go outside of that room.
What Paul Ien and I said to each other in the room, we didn't take outside of it.
That allowing us to trust each other, not use whatever we said politically against us, has allowed us to work together.
>> But the dinners in the Senate, are they purely social, or in a quiet way, are they getting work done.
[LAUGHTER]
>> They are everything.
>> We definitely like to chit-chat about everything, you know, our home lives, the challenges of doing this job, family.
But it's always an ability to share ideas and really get a better idea of your colleague.
And that's what help builds the common ground.
You understand somebody, you understand their motives.
And so we really, you know, have a lot of fun sharing these ideas.
And it makes for collaboration.
>> Yeah.
>> Enrique: How about republicans, how many are democrats when you get together?
>> Ah, that's interesting, I'm not sure.
[LAUGHTER]
Which says something, doesn't it?
Is it 16 and 4 or 15 and 5, something like that.
>> Well, speaking of women, so it's partly a coincidence that one of the top women in the U.S. house is representative Cathy McMorris Rogers of eastern Washington, and you're in leadership from the western side of Washington.
It's a relatively small state.
What do folks back there say about the fact that these two women from Washington are always in the shots when the house and the Senate are talking?
>> I don't know what people say about it.
I think that, um, it's a tribute to our state that maria cantwell is going to be moving up with a retirement and a position of chairmanship on small business, which is really going to be great for our state.
Where Cathy and I both are in positions of leadership.
What that says is our state, that is hundreds and hundreds of miles away from the capitol, has an influence on what is done, what's discussed, and how we get things done.
>> I think it says a lot about Washington state.
Because you trust women to be in a leadership position.
And if you trust women and send them there, they have the fortitude to stay there, then they can help lead the country.
So patty's doing it on her side, and obviously Cathy's playing a big role on her side.
So basically, our state is giving a face to what women governing is all about.
>> Enrique: When you came to the Senate, what kind of mentoring did you get from senator Murray?
>> Well, I got the best.
[LAUGHTER]
First of all, patty sent over a key member from her staff to do the most basic things, like get our office set up.
It's almost like you show up in Washington D.C. and you're overwhelmed with everything, and here's this person that knows the ropes.
And they basically take you all around.
So it was like really being taken in under your wing.
And that was a key staff person for patty.
So the fact that that person was something patty was going to be missing for like two weeks says a lot about patty and her willingness to make sure that I got situated in Washington D.C.
>> Enrique: Did anybody do that for you when you came to Washington D.C.?
>> Actually, Barbara Mcculsky did.
>> Enrique: From Maryland.
>> From Maryland.
She was one of the two women in the Senate before me.
And when I was elected, she brought me in and said, what do you want to get done for your state?
Here's how you get on the committees you want.
There is no play book for being a senator.
There is no handbook that you get to read.
It really is jump off a cliff and learn really fast.
And it's great to have somebody there's that's a good mentor.
>> Enrique: Do you get frustrated with, and I'm sure you do, the whole process of trying to get something done in congress these days.
I would think, you know, there are times when you probably think this is driving me crazy, why am I here doing this?
Because we're not making progress on things that need to be made progress on.
>> You can't have anybody honestly answer that, that it's not frustrating at times.
But I think anybody who's elected to public office at a level where we are knows that part of your job is to go and educate and advocate and fight for what you believe in and make progress in ways that you can.
And, you know, that's part of the job that's just tough right now because this country is so divided.
But you know, progress is interesting.
Because just because you don't get something passed doesn't mean that changes aren't happening.
Immigration reform is something that I feel very strongly needs to be passed in a comprehensive way, not piecemeal and not done wrong.
We have worked on this for so long and our state understands this at every level, whether you're talking to our high tech industry or our Ag workers or our families that are impacted by that.
And every one of them has to be so frustrated that we go back to the nation's capitol and can't get this done.
But what we have to do brings a lot of people along to understand where we are today.
And that work is part of what we do all the time.
>> Well, do either of you think that immigration reform could happen this year?
I mean there's been some backtracking on expectations on that?
>> Well, we were just at the White House.
Our whole caucus with the president last Wednesday night.
And the president said I think we can get immigration done.
And I was, so to me, that was a big signal that the president plans to push on it for 2014.
And I think it's wise to keep moving ahead.
Because we know that these current laws don't serve us well, that we know more clarity and we've passed a Senate bill now twice that is really a very comprehensive approach.
>> Bipartisan.
>> Right, 70-some votes.
And so I think that we at least in the Senate will keep putting the heat on to show that it's a very important issue for us in this country.
>> And an interesting part of that is I really believe that if the Senate bill, which is comprehensive and is an agreement, and is a compromise, were to be brought up in the house, it would pass.
It has the votes.
So part of the last part of this frustration is to get the house leadership to allow it to come to the floor for a vote.
>> Enrique: How do the two of you see, as this was shifting, about marijuana and legalization in the country.
First in Colorado, then Washington state.
As all of this was evolving and then we have a vote here, and also a bit of, you know, a conflict between the federal level and the state level.
How did you see the shift?
What did you think was going on there and how this state was going to handle it versus the federal government?
>> Well, I think that all of us were watching carefully what the vote was, the will of the people is what all of us are obligated to enforce and to follow.
And I think from our perspective, once the state passed, changed the law, really, what is the federal government doing to inhibit that or to allow it and what the role is.
And I think senator cantwell described very clearly what some of the things are that we need to look at.
>> And again, being a pioneer like Washington state is on so many issues, you have to look at what we've been discussing for so many years.
How do we get the focus on methamphetamine, and the problems in our state.
And we talked to a lot of people who said, we spent a lot of money on marijuana and not enough on ***, and we'd have to get an initiative passed every year by congress which says don't leave us without the resources to deal with this scourge that's being caused by methamphetamine.
So we kind of knew that this was a focus of people wanting the resources we do have to go to higher prioritized problems.
But the interesting thing I think for me is that this passed in 23 counties in our state.
This wasn't, okay, King County, and a few other places had something to say.
When you see something passed in 23 counties, it's a pretty big directive by the people in your state that they want to see the prioritization of other things, or at least they're comfortable with us continuing to move forward on this, you know, big shift.
>> Sorts sort of a mechanical question.
Does the whole delegation, including the senators, get together like they used to?
They used to have these breakfasts back in D.C.
>> Many years ago when I first started, we did.
But the time constraints have been really challenging.
And I wish we could.
The house is on a different schedule than the Senate, getting everybody in the same room at the same time is challenging.
But we do talk to each other about different issues that we're working on.
>> And I think when we've, um, resorted to, which has been, you know, very focused on tackling an issue, so we had this Howard Hanson dam issue, and whether we were going to get the basically the army Corps of engineers and everybody to get a plan that we wanted.
And so we literally brought all of those people, including then Governor Gregoire back to D.C., everybody showed up from the delegation, sat in a room with all of these individual policy officials from all different organizations, and for hours, hammered out what we thought was going to be the solution for Howard Hanson dam.
So while we might not have a weekly or bi-weekly, or even monthly meeting, we are very focused on jumping on those issues that need attention and working together to solve them.
>> And we often fly on the same flights.
I can't tell you, that's for sure.
>> That's for sure.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> That's a long flight, right?
>> Enrique: How do you work across the aisle with the members of the delegation that are on the republican side?
>> Well, you know, it's, there's issues you just agree we're not going to agree on.
There's no sense the two of us sitting down, or the five of us sitting down to talk about an issue that we know is politically divisive.
But on the wilderness bill with congressman Reichert, we actually were just talking on the flight about how we're going to get that across the line in the house that has been blocking it.
Cathy McMorris Rogers and I worked very closely on veterans issues.
There are some key issues in eastern Washington that she and I have been working closely on.
It's, you know, on the issues that are important for your state, we take the time to really work with each other.
You have to get it out of both houses.
>> So the partisanship hasn't divided the delegation too much?
You still can do what you need to do?
>> No.
I don't sense that at all.
>> No.
You got to pick up the phone.
There's no substitute for picking up the phone and calling your colleague and saying here's what happened over here.
You would think that everybody understands, but they don't.
You're busy in your own chamber and you have to get a game plan for things that are important to Washington state.
So we've worked with, whether it's doc on energy policy that we think is important, or Cathy on peas and Lentils, I know, things that are important for her area.
[LAUGHTER]
>> Everybody laughs.
>> Sounds like soup.
>> Enrique: But it's important actually?
>> It is actually.
But we've made a great step in the farm bill to get healthy lunches that include peas and Lentil crops as a protein source.
So we're very excited that Washington state is implementing this but more importantly that we could have a program at the federal level.
>> The Seattle times wrote recently that in the new spending bill, that there was patty Murray's hand on some of the items that we'll be spending money for sound transit's university link, you're going to be able to avert lay-offs at Hanford, money for Puget Sound.
So in the old days, did we call those earmarks?
Your office issued a press release calling them wins.
What's the difference?
>> You know, earmarks is a word that has a very bad connotation but the fact is that every member of congress goes back to represent a district or a state to make sure that their state has what they need to grow the economy, to make sure people have what they need.
Certainly transportation, research for NIH grants for the university of Washington, head start programs.
The investments on Puget Sound cleanup and salmon.
Those are all things that I fight for.
And I make sure that the language that is written in the bills that I'm part of reflects the needs of my state.
If I didn't, I wouldn't be doing my job.
>> So no apologies there, just be careful about the wording.
>> It's my state.
I absolutely believe that my job is to make sure the people in Washington state have a seat at the table when it comes to federal issues.
>> Enrique: If you had three wishes, and you could use those three wishes to change congress, what would you do?
How would you use them?
>> Hmm.
Boy, that is a challenging thought.
Um, I think one would be that we had more of an opportunity to be able to trust each other, that what I said to a republican wouldn't be a headline tomorrow smashing me.
Because, you know, really, legislation is about sharing thoughts.
But today and today's media intense focused world, people are afraid to say things or afraid to put a compromise out because somebody will use it against them.
And you can't get things done without that.
So it's not changing things a lot.
It's more culturally trusting each other.
>> Well, first of all, I definitely would get our sales tax deduction and make it permanent.
I'm always fighting to make our sales tax.
We have a different economy here, we have a different tax structure, and we get penalized for it.
So we have to constantly fight for it.
Secondly, I would make sure that the people we have in congress outside the beltway, or outside the east corridor, I always call it the Edgar Martinez effect.
Should Edgar Martinez get into the hall of fame?
And you get into this designated hitter debate.
And I asked, if Pedro Martinez should get into the hall of fame, and they say, of course, because he has the notoriety.
Well, a lot of the policies, whether it's health care reform or a better reimbursement for Medicare, we're so ahead of the curve that constantly, congress hears from just the round D.C. or just the northeast corridor.
So consequently, you've had major change happen out in the west, and they don't even know it or understand it.
And the bureaucracy becomes entrenched on these views.
So really changing our health care system and making it more cost affordable is something that the northwest has led in.
But we are having a challenge getting the rest of the country to see how beneficial that's going to be for all of us to move closer to what we have.
>> Now, I would add one other thing that I think is a growing frustration and challenge that I don't know how to change, but I wish it could.
And that is the tremendous influence of outside organizations in elections.
It has impacted a lot of what we see happening in congress because people's fear of $25 million coming into the state from unknown sources to tell people something, i'm related to that issue but influencing people's opinion is really challenging.
We're seeing the republican party torn apart right now by the divisions that some of the huge money that's coming into a lot of their primaries.
And that's makes it hard to advocate when people are concerned about the large money that's coming into these elections.
>> Enrique: Thank you very much.
>> Thank you.
>> Enrique: While it's hard work, senators Murray and cantwell say there are some lighters moments, like when the Seahawks made their run to the Super Bowl, giving us some bragging rights in the U.S. capitol.
>> Next time on the delegation, we're talking with the freshmen.
>> Enrique: Suze Del Bene, Denny Heck, and Derek Kilmer tell us what they expected to find in Washington and what they really found.
>> Frankly, I haven't been too terribly surprised by much.
We knew it was dysfunctional, and boy oh boy.
>> It is an organization that as you've seen in recent polls is held in lower regard than colonoscopies.
>> Part of the problem is we need leadership to allow us to work together and allow us to work in a bipartisan way and allow us to vote on issues.
>> Enrique: The freshmen, next time on the delegation.
I'm Enrique Cerna.
>> I'm Joni balter.
Thanks for joining us.
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>> Local production and broadcast of the delegation was made possible in part by a generous grant from the Evans school of public affairs at the university of Washington.
Leading the field in public policy and management education, research, and service for over 50 years.
And by KCTS-9 members.
Become a member today by going to KCTS9.org.
Thank you. 00:26:41.792,