The government shut down is over, the debt ceiling bill has been approved with $2 billion in pork added. We can all take a deep breath and wait for the next big fight in February.
While negotiations were going on, the work of one group was largely ignored. If it weren't for a column by Laura Bassett for the Huffington Post, I would never have know about the women who did so much to end the stalemate: the twenty women Senators.
Susan Collins, the Republican Senator from Maine, started discussions with her female colleagues: Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota). They worked together to craft a budget without all the testosterone slights and barbs of the male Senators. John McCain (R-Arizona) said that they provided the leadership that was needed.
The twenty women have found themselves at the head of important committees. Barbara Mikulski is the head of Appropriations. Patty Murray is the head of the Budget Committee. These are powerful women, but they use their positions to work well with others.
I bring this up because the mainstream media seldom talk about how women are changing politics in D.C. Instead, the pundits and reporters look for sound bites from the likes of Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter, women who are good at saying startling and crazy things but never actually do anything productive. They create the impression that political women are incapable of sane and logical discourse. Death Panels? End Times? Women like that may make for interesting television, but it is women like the twenty senators who worked quietly and compromised to make good legislation who should be the real story.
Senator Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) said, "The truth is, women in the Senate is a good thing. We're all just glad they allowed us to tag along so we could see how it's done."
Let's elect more like politicians like them.
While negotiations were going on, the work of one group was largely ignored. If it weren't for a column by Laura Bassett for the Huffington Post, I would never have know about the women who did so much to end the stalemate: the twenty women Senators.
Susan Collins, the Republican Senator from Maine, started discussions with her female colleagues: Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota), Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota). They worked together to craft a budget without all the testosterone slights and barbs of the male Senators. John McCain (R-Arizona) said that they provided the leadership that was needed.
The twenty women have found themselves at the head of important committees. Barbara Mikulski is the head of Appropriations. Patty Murray is the head of the Budget Committee. These are powerful women, but they use their positions to work well with others.
I bring this up because the mainstream media seldom talk about how women are changing politics in D.C. Instead, the pundits and reporters look for sound bites from the likes of Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter, women who are good at saying startling and crazy things but never actually do anything productive. They create the impression that political women are incapable of sane and logical discourse. Death Panels? End Times? Women like that may make for interesting television, but it is women like the twenty senators who worked quietly and compromised to make good legislation who should be the real story.
Senator Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas) said, "The truth is, women in the Senate is a good thing. We're all just glad they allowed us to tag along so we could see how it's done."
Let's elect more like politicians like them.
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