Today's rigid divisions in Congress reflect the polarization of our democracy.

A lot of important issues are decided by party line votes.

Politicians increasingly run nationalised campaigns, not ones that focus on local concerns,

and they often demonise the other side.

This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Ashley Melntite.

And I'm Richard Davies.

In this episode, we look at ways to find common ground among lawmakers and those who work on

Capitol Hill, two experienced Washington insiders join us, and they're also good friends.

Betsy Wright Hawking served as chief of staff for four Republican members of Congress over 25

years and helped build bipartisan coalitions on a range of issues.

She's now managing partner of Article I advisors, a consulting firm that gives

organizations strategic advice on how Congress functions.

And Tamera Lutzato served as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's Chief of Staff

in the U.S. Senate from 2001 to 2009. Before that, she was on the staff of Democratic Senator

J. Rockefeller for 15 years. Today, she is Senior Vice President of Government Relations

at Pew Charitable Trusts. Ashley, first question goes to you.

Is Congress today much more divided than it was two or three decades ago, do you think?

I would say by almost any metric, Congress is more divided. We do know that many, many decades

ago through the civil rights movement and post-reconstruction that there was even violence

on the floor of the Congress, not from invaders, but by members themselves.

So I think we can measure that by the lack of major legislation being enacted

by great deal of polarization, by very few things making it across the finish line called

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