ONLY ON KOLD: Rep. Kirkpatrick on divided Congress, what lies ahead

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Arizona lawmaker Ann Kirkpatrick said it’s time to leave D.C. and she’s ready to spend more time with her family.

“My family and I started talking about this around Thanksgiving,” she said.

Before she leaves, she said there is still a lot to do that impacts people across Arizona and the country.

She said accomplishing much at all with the divided House is anything but easy. She said it’s a far cry from what things were like when she got to Congress in 2008.

“Night and day” she said. “I usually look for colleagues across the aisle..recently now they won’t even talk to me. They say ‘Ann I can’t talk to you because (dormer President) Trump will find someone to run against us.’”

She said the divisiness is getting in the way of progress and it’s impacting several big Arizona issues. That includes topics like healthcare, immigration and even forming the Jan. 6 Commission.

On Friday, May 28, Senate Republicans blocked the creation of the panel. The Senate vote was 54-35 — six short of the 60 needed to take up a House-passed bill that would have formed a 10-member commission evenly split between the two parties. It came a day after emotional appeals from police who fought with the rioters, the family of an officer who died afterward and lawmakers in both parties who fled Capitol chambers as the rioters broke in.

“There isn’t debate, there used to be,” she said. “It’s been a breakdown in communication from my standpoint on partisan lines.”

While she won’t endorse a candidate in the race to replace her, Kirkpatrick said everyone in the House of Representatives when the next Congress convenes needs to work together.

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