Interview with Representative Allyson Schwartz

At BlogHer '08, both the McCain and Obama campaigns sent top-level surrogates to speak with BlogHer attendees on behalf of the presidential candidates. Pennsylvania Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, for the Obama campaign, and RNC Director of Online Communications Director Liz Mair, for the McCain campaign, spoke to women bloggers about health care, the economy, and national security in a special session where both campaign representatives took questions from the audience.

After returning home from BlogHer, Congresswoman Schwartz gave me a call to chat about women bloggers, women in politics, her role in this year's historic presidential campaign, and two issues that are very important to her, both as a lawmaker and as a mother: health care, and education.

JAELITHE: What was it like to speak to an audience of women bloggers at BlogHer '08?

CONGRESSWOMAN ALLYSON SCHWARTZ: Well, I very much appreciated the opportunity to represent Senator Obama to a group of women who have tremendous reach to women across this country. And I think it was very clear that the questions were thoughtful, and the people were very, very engaged , and interested in broad perspectives and specifics.

And they were speaking form their own experience, and the experiences they hear every day from women who communicate with them over their blogs.

It was a great opportunity for me to hear and learn more for me about what women bloggers are talking about and doing, and I think, to see the energy and excitement for the thousand women who were at that convention was great.

And  I really very much appreciated, again, their very insightful and interesting questions, and the wonderful reception I got.

JAELITHE: Well, we were very glad to see you there, and the MOMocrats were very happy to meet you.  Do you think the presidential campaigns are doing enough to reach out to women?

SCHWARTZ: Women are always such an important part of the voters in this country. You may well know that women tend to vote in higher numbers than men, and certainly the fact that the invitation suggested the degree to which the BlogHers really understood how much politics, who we elect, of course as President of the United States, but who we elect more broadly really do, does, impact their lives, and I very much appreciated that.

I think presidential campaigns are always attentive to women voters because they are such an important voting bloc, but I think particularly this year, because of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and the fact that so many women were engaged and excited about the presidential campaign, it’s something that I think will really require, and should, presidential candidates really reaching out to women and speaking to women’s concerns.

As a matter of fact, I think I said when I was at the convention that women’s concerns are in fact both very broad ones— the major concerns that all Americans have in terms of the economy, and health care, and energy, and the security of our nation, security of our communities is really very important.

And of course there are very specific concerns that women have as moms, certainly, in concerns that we have about our families and the recognition of some of the tough economic times, but also the care that we have, and the attention that we have toward our kids and their future. I think as moms we both look very immediately to what’s going on, and also look at the future, and there’s a uniqueness about that. Once a mom always a mom, you know? Your kids get much older, and certainly there’s the issue of grandchildren as well.

So I think our attention to families and our concerns about the economy and about our kids certainly creates a certain uniqueness, as well as women’s concerns about our place in the workplace. And I’m talking about discrimination, gender discrimination and I’m also talking about pay equity as well—equal pay. And then of course, there are unique reproductive rights concerns that we have as women also.

And I think we got a chance to talk about a little bit of all of those things. Although I was very interested that many of the questions that I took were really related to those broader concerns, and not so much the specifics for women.

JAELITHE:  You endorsed Hillary Clinton for the presidency, and you worked really hard to promote her candidacy in your home state of Pennsylvania before Barack Obama won the nomination. What was the transition to representing the Obama campaign like for you, and what would you say to some Hillary Clinton supporters who are still on the fence about whom to vote for in November, now that their favored candidate is out of the race?

SCHWARTZ: Well, the primary’s over, and we will have our nominee in just a few weeks. Senator Obama will be nominated at the Democratic Convention at the end of August.

And what I’d say that is, any of us who have been in tough primaries, that, certainly as a very committed Democrat, I’ve said all along, as did Senator Clinton say all along: that she would support the nominee. She hoped, and worked hard, to see that she would be the nominee, as did I, and did so many women and men across this country. And she got close. It was a very close election, and an exciting one, but the fact is that she—Senator Clinton has done this, and so have I—very quickly moved on to support Senator Obama.

And we do so because we recognize the stark contrast between Senator Obama and the Democrats with John McCain and the Republicans.

And I’ve seen the damage done by George Bush over the last eight years to our economy. The failure to really move ahead on renewable energy sources, and conservation and energy efficiency, the failure to make health care more affordable for all Americans, the failure to provide opportunity for higher education, and the opportunity for new jobs, and to make America stronger and safer.

There’s just no question in my mind that I’m a supporter of Senator Obama, and will work very hard to help him become the next president of the United States. Because our future, and our country’s safety and security, depends on it.

JAELITHE:  I’d like to move on now to some questions about issues that a lot of people are concerned with in the United States right now. You were a staunch and early supporter of SCHIP legislation—that’s the State Children’s Health Program legislation—to provide children from working families who can’t afford health insurance, and maybe their employers don’t offer health insurance—to get those children access to medical care. In October of 2007, President Bush vetoed a 35 billion dollar expansion of that program that was intended to bring more uninsured children into the program. And the House fell nine votes short of an override.
   
What do you think it will take to get all of America’s children access to quality health insurance?

SCHWARTZ: A new president! Senator Obama. We need it, you know. Really. There was bipartisan support for, not just continuing the children’s health insurance program, which provides, helps make sure that 6.6 million children in this country have health insurance coverage, through the very different state programs that exist all over this country. To be able to ensure that not only do we continue the great access to health insurance coverage for those 6.6 million children, but we want to extend it to the other 4 million children who are eligible but just weren’t able to have access to this public/private partnership, because of the President’s veto.

And while we, we could not convince—that’s really astounding when you think about it, that because of nine Republican votes, we were not able to do that, but that’s really what it came down to—there were enough votes to override in the Senate. But the fact is that I am deeply committed to ensuring that every child in America has access to health insurance. Just absolutely no question about that.

I was known in Pennsylvania, I still am a bit, as the mother of CHIP, in Pennsylvania.  I was one of the architects, the architect, of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in Pennsylvania, which is five years older than the federal initiative.

I actually came to Washington to testify on the CHIP program, and it was passed in 1997, and became law in 1997. So I am very deeply committed to continuing the CHIP program. But also to making sure that every child in this country has access to health coverage.

And we should do that. We can do that. We know we can. And this is really about making sure that health insurance for our kids is affordable and available to all families in our country.  We should do that.

I know that Senator Obama is committed to doing it as well, and I look forward to working with him as a member of Congress, and working with his new administration to get that done.

And people who will be reading this blog should know that John McCain is in a very different place. He voted against that CHIP extension. He’s one of the Republicans that we were not able to convince. Of course he was in the Senate and not the House, but let me make it clear that he was not in the right place on that.

And so really, the issue is, if we’re going to really tackle health coverage for children, and really health coverage for all Americans, that Senator McCain is just in the wrong place on that. He would do exactly the opposite.  He would actually throw all Americans off of their employer coverage and put them all in the individual marketplace.

And let me just also say that I just got called to vote, so I have about five minutes!

JAELITHE: Okay, well, let’s be fast then! I listened to your podcast on making higher education more affordable, where you suggested lowering interest rates on student loans, and offering more scholarships to disadvantaged students. But will this be enough? Many parents in my generation are still struggling to pay off their own students loans, while trying to save for their children’s future college education. Aside from providing affordable loans, what more can we do as a nation to address the spiraling costs of higher education?

SCHWARTZ: Well, access to higher education is enormously important to each of us individually, but also, as a nation, to our economic competitiveness in a global marketplace. We need a highly educated workforce, and we are competing with other countries that are now moving ahead in terms of creating more access to higher education.

So we have already, as a Democratic Congress— and that’s what I was referring to [in the podcast] you heard— we’ve reduced the costs of student loans, really, working to reverse what President Bush has done in terms of making access to loans more difficult. Also, we have moved to make the Pell Grants and federal grants that are available, to make them bigger, I mean in the sense of being more valuable to individuals, and also more available to more individuals.

But I know that Senator Obama is looking to make sure that every American who can get in to college should be able to go. And looking at being able to—I think it’s $4,000— to make $4,000 available to every student, that would help them be able to go, say, to a community college, or to be able to contribute that to other kinds of loans and scholarships that might be available in the private system.

So, there is much we have to do to both help those young people who are going to college, and then also we’re very interested in those who are returning for more education as well, possibly mid-career or later on. So this will take a very concerted effort of the next President, and the political will to do it, but it’s incredibly important to making sure that all of our workforce is skilled and has the kind of post-secondary education that’s extremely important.

JAELITHE: As a successful woman politician, what advice would you offer young women considering careers in politics?

SCHWARTZ: Get involved! Do it! You know, I think that this is—I come to politics, as do many women who run for office, with a deep commitment around and issue that compelled me. I worked in health care for almost 20 years. And before I ran for office, my commitment to assuring quality health care, and affordable health care, and healthcare that is responsive, certainly to women and to children, and meets our needs and concerns, is really very important to me.  It’s one of the reasons that I ran for office in the State Senate.

Not everyone has to run for the highest office in the land first, you know.

My first advice would be to get involved politically. And that may mean going to a candidate’s forum. It might mean working for a candidate as a volunteer, some candidate you really believe in. I think that can be helpful. It may mean opening your home to an elected official to speak to your neighbors. There are a whole variety of ways to use your networks, whether it’s your internet networks, or whether it’s your neighbors physically, to really talk about politics and why you care about that.

And, if it’s the right fit, if it’s the right moment, to consider running for office. There are a lot of ways to be involved, and I would encourage, as I do all Americans, but certainly encourage women, to get involved.
We still are in Congress—about 20 percent of Congress are female.  And in state legislatures, it’s very variable across the country. It’s as low as, I believe, ten or 15 percent in some states, and it’s as high as 40 percent in some other states. So it’s a really huge variable. And we need good people to be engaged on school boards and township levels, to be on commissions, to be appointed, to be involved.

So I encourage all—not just young women—I encourage women of all ages to get involved politically, and to care, and to think about who to vote for, and then try and talk to other women about it. Women do listen to other women. And so it’s a hugely important and powerful force that women could be, and should be, in this country.

JAELITHE:  Okay, well thank you so much! I’m not going to ask you any more questions because I know you have to leave, and I’m sure we need you on the floor more than we need you on the website.

SCHWARTZ: No, it’s both! And thank you so much for talking with me. And also, congratulate MOMocrats for really putting forward a health care platform and putting forth their thoughts as well. As we move forward, we’re looking for that kind of engagement.

Would you like to listen to this interview? AUDIO HERE:

Download allyson_schwartz_interview_final.mp3

A special note: I would like to thank fellow MOMocrat Joanne, who has family in the Congresswoman's home state of Pennsylvania, for helping me prepare for this interview while she was on vacation. PunditMom never takes off her Superwoman cape.

Photo by MOMocrats friend Karoli.

When not interviewing politicians from her kitchen table, Jaelithe also writes at The State of Discontent.

Comments

[lildb]

great interview, Jae. you asked some good, thought-provoking questions. and it was really great of the Congresswoman to participate.

you're brave. :)

[Myrna the Minx]

Nice to hear more from Schwartz. I was able to accost her in the most friendliest of ways after the session to make a case for DCCC sponsorship of a Nevada candidate Jill Derby. I told her about the possible all woman delegation Nevada could send to the House if Derby could get some help. Two weeks later, Derby appeared on the Red to Blue DCCC funding program. It could be a coincidence, but I was inspired by the friendly way in which Schwartz listened to my proposition--she was very responsive. I even caught myself thinking about running for office later that day. I love the fact that she started the LEAD DCCC program to try and bring more women to Washington.

[cynematic]

Great interview, Jaelithe! I'm glad to hear more about Congresswoman Schwarz's long history with SCHIP, especially in her home state of Pennsylvania. It was clear from hearing her talk at Blogher that the issue of affordable universal health insurance coverage is near and dear to her heart, and it's one of the planks of the Democratic Party platform that she's ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work on in an Obama administration.