Students at Skidmore College had the chance to meet with former U.S. House representatives Thursday as part of a program that brings Congress to campus.
A program of the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress, Congress to Campus allows officials who have finished their time in Washington to travel the country visiting students at colleges and universities to share their experiences in government.
Republican Bill Flores represented parts of Texas in D.C. from 2011 to 2021 and is now on his second tour under the program.
“And I think it helps take today's students and give them a real world view about how the political process works, how the federal government works, how the Constitution was designed to work, and it helps them have, I think, a wider aperture of views as to as to how Congress works,” said Flores.
Democrat Bill Enyart, who represented Illinois from 2013 to 2014, is on his 15th campus tour. The pair want to dispel some of the myths of what happens inside the beltway.
“Congress is sometimes not portrayed entirely accurately in the media. And so we get an opportunity on a one on one basis to share our experiences, both in Congress and in, in our non-elected life,” said Enyart.
Seated at a first-year government class, the former officials relayed their jam-packed day-to-day schedules and the challenges of balancing their four lives – official, political, fundraising, and family – as well as how their past lives informed their time in Congress.
Flores, a former oil and gas executive, said he focused his legislative career on education, immigration, and technology issues. Enyart, a retired two-star U.S. Army general, was interested in agricultural, energy, and military issues.
In a relaxed classroom discussion, the colleagues from opposing parties wanted to showcase their differences in opinion, and ways of finding common ground.
Flores said the tight schedules of Congressional life make such discussions a rarity.
“Our last class we just had was 80 minutes long. When I was in Congress, that would have been four meetings. And so, ‘Let's come in, introductions, talk about the facts and then go outside take a picture in front of the office.’ And that's the way it worked. And so you didn't really have a chance to, to really drill into details like Bill and I did in the class today,” said Flores.
Enyart recalled stories of voting against the party line.
“When you're Congress, it's talking point, talking about. Nobody's listening to the other guy. We were listening, and we have whole differing viewpoints. But we didn't yell, we didn't scream, we didn't point fingers at each other,” said Enyart.
“Or tweet about each other,” said Flores.
“Yeah. So you know, these are legitimate policy concerns that need to be considered,” said Enyart.
The classroom conversation wasn’t exactly what freshman Josh Maxwell expected.
“It was a lot more civil than I expected, actually,” said Maxwell.
Maxwell received answers from both officials as to why they opposed same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court ruled in favor in 2015. Flores explained, at the time, for him, it was a “moral” issue, but he respects the new law of the land. Enyart said he didn’t support legalizing gay marriage when in Congress because of a lack of study on the economic impacts on government programs like Social Security.
“Coming here today, it was not a political opportunity. For them, it was just a talk about their beliefs and their experiences. So it was definitely a new experience for me, and it was very refreshing,” said Maxwell.
Skidmore College Professor Bob Turner said he wanted to accomplish two main goals…
“First, we talk about congressional committees, we talk about term limits, we talk about elections and gerrymandering in my class. But to hear those the members of Congress talk about how they experienced those things, as a real level just brings that material alive,” said Turner.
And the second goal, said Turner, is to show how officials of opposing parties can discuss the merits of any given issue.
“I thought it was really helpful for them to hear a conservative Republican make the argument for the Trump tax cuts, and how it benefited these people. And he's like, ‘I want people to get a job and for them to become sort of self-reliant.’ And for the students to hear to hear that, that, you know, maybe they didn't hear in their home with their mom watching MSNBC and Rachel Maddow in the background is, I think, a really eye opening experience,” said Turner.
The pair also offered their thoughts on the current state of affairs in Washington. WAMC asked Flores about January’s protracted election of Republican Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker.
“Both parties in the House have an issue with the fringes on each end of the spectrum, that are that are framing the narrative. So if you look at Kevin McCarthy, it was the Freedom Caucus that was causing the disruptions in his ability to be elected. If you'd look at when Nancy Pelosi was speaker, she had trouble with the far left branch, trying to frame the conversation. And so at the end of the day, most Americans don't live in those ends of the ideological spectrum, they live somewhere closer to the middle. And so I don't think that we are well served in the House by having the fringe elements control the narrative for either party. And so I'm hoping that somehow, we as Americans can begin to figure out that those people are not doing us any favors on the fringes and we can start to elect people that reflect broader views in the House, and the Senate as well,” said Flores.
Enyart agrees.
“The media maxim is if it bleeds, it leads, so we see too much on Fox News or CNN or whatever…pick up pick your particular poison…of people who are throwing the slings and arrows at the other side. And we need less of that and we need a little more serious policy discussion and, and serious attempts to not just message but to resolve some of these policy issues,” said Enyart.
