Hello friends, always delighted that you're joining me and today I have a fantastic

conversation that you are not going to want to miss. I have two members of

Congress with me today, one Republican and one Democrat and we're going to talk

about matters that divide us and what we can do about them. So let's dive in.

I'm Sharon McBan and welcome to the Sharon Says So Podcast.

Thank you both so much for being here. This is absolutely delightful. I'm joined

today by Representative Dean Phillips and Representative Brian Fitzpatrick.

Thank you. Great to be here Sharon. Thanks for having us.

Yes. So Dean, I'd love to start with you. Tell everybody where you're from and

how you ended up in Congress. It's a lot easier to tell you where I'm from than how

I ended up in Congress. But I'm a lifelong Minnesota and a born in St. Paul.

I lost my birth father, already pepper in the Vietnam War when I was six months

old and was adopted a couple years later into a remarkable family, the Phillips

family. I've lived on both sides of advantage which very much illuminates my

work in Congress and I was watching the 2016 campaign, the presidential campaign

watched election night with my daughters and it was an epiphany that night.

Not just the results of the election for me personally but the tender and

tone of the campaign, how we've devolved into such rank or

division and disrespect. And I thought rather than be a complainer, I taught

my daughters to be participants and I decided I would try to do something.

I promised them the next morning that I would try to do something.

That became a run for Congress and I was successful. And now I get to work

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