Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the new chairwoman of the Energy Committee, was at a reception in Hershey, Pennsylvania, last month when aides to Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the No. 2 Republican in the House, presented her with a party favor: a black windbreaker with the words “Chairman’s Table” on the back. There was just one problem: The windbreaker was for a man, and far too big for Murkowski. McCarthy’s aides say they simply ran out of women’s jackets in Murkowski’s size, but to her the episode reflects a new reality on Capitol Hill.
“His staff was, of course, very apologetic,” said Murkowski, who gave the windbreaker to her husband and said she took no offense. “But I did think that was somewhat telling. We are not thinking about the women.”
The November elections brought a record number of female lawmakers to Washington. With 20 in the Senate and 84 in the House, women for the first time in history hold more than 100 seats in Congress. But the Republican takeover of the Senate has also cost women powerful committee leadership posts and presented new challenges to their wielding of power.
Last year, when Democrats controlled the Senate, women led a record nine committees, including male bastions like the Appropriations Committee, which dispenses billions in federal dollars, and Intelligence, which oversees the government’s secret national security apparatus. Now there are only two female committee chairs: Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
As more women have come to the Senate, they have been credited with changing its dynamic and leading the way in cutting bipartisan deals. Collins, Murkowski and Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., bucked their party to push for an end to the 2013 budget shutdown. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., got a long-stalled farm bill passed when she ran the Agriculture Committee. As chairwoman of the Budget Committee last year, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., forged a bipartisan budget with Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, her House counterpart.
“As women were chairing these committees, you saw a lot of bipartisan agreements,” Murray said. “So if you just look at it from that perspective, I’m worried, going forward, that we will not have those same things that women bring to the table to help get agreements in a way that works for everybody.”
And as soon as the new Senate convened, the majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, expanded his leadership team to include four unelected counselors, two of them women: Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who has deep experience in Washington from 14 years in the House.
Via BendBulletin.com
