At a time when political scandals are dominating the headlines and partisan attacks are leading the news, The Ripon Society and Franklin Center for Global Policy Exchange held a breakfast discussion yesterday morning with two Members of Congress who are leading an effort to restore a sense of civility and decency to the debate. The Members are Joyce Beatty and Mike Carey. Beatty is a fifth-term Democrat who represents the 3rd District of Ohio in the U.S. House. Carey is a Republican who represents the neighboring 15th District of the Buckeye State and was elected to the House in a special election in 2021. Both serve as Co-Chairs of the Congressional Civility and Respect Caucus, a bipartisan group of nearly four dozen lawmakers which was officially launched on Capitol Hill last month. Beatty kicked off the discussion by talking about her friendship with Carey and the reason they are leading this effort. “We have a lot in common,” the Democratic Congresswoman began. “But we also have a lot of differences. I think the best thing that we decided early on was that we could disagree without being disagreeable. But we have a secret weapon — we actually like each other, and that makes a huge difference. We have a friendship beyond the House floor.
“We’ve also figured out how to have a friendship on the House floor – which, unfortunately in today’s times, might seem kind of rare. But we have decided to go with it and to be very visible with it, and that’s why we decided to be Chairs of the Civility and Respect Caucus.”