Handel who served the state of georgia in the sixth district. Thank you for talking with cspan. You have been in washington for a couple of weeks. What has it in like . Rep. Handel when an extra day or represent the people of the six district. Surprising the most thing coming into this position that you have picked up in the last two weeks . Too much wasnot surprising. It was fast pace. That is important. We have a lot that we need to get done. Making sure on the issue side and policy side that getting the team put in place as well. Issues, moste of representatives come in with a learning curve to learn issues, but we you but you are coming into the middle, how do you bring yourself up to speed in order to make the decisions you have to make . I am a fairly studious individual. I spend every single evening catching up on issues. And as many briefings as i can get to, i go to. Yesterday, we had a good budget briefing. We had eight tax reform briefing. Had a tax reform briefing. My colleagues, not just from the georgia delegation, but from across the entire caucus, have been helpful. And being willing to spend time with me, if it is before a set of votes in the committee, they will help me get up to speed and answer my questions. That has been really helpful. Do you have a mentor here, someone specific who is currently serving that you have been relying on . Rep. Handel doug collins has been terrific. He and i serve on judiciary. Congressman drew ferguson, he and i serve on education and workforce together. And several of the female members, we have a tightknit group. They have made sure that i know my way around. Some people, when they hear they are coming to congress, what kind of decisions do you have to make on the practical side to held at the staff and support system you need to do your job . Rep. Handel coming in the middle of the cycle, i had a short window. They were all very well versed in the health care issue. They all went with him to hhs. It is a good thing where i had a completely it to start over. We are getting there. I have a strong district director, chief of staff, and filling out the rest of the team. Tell us about the day to day. What is it like . Rep. Handel i am usually hereby 7 00, 7 30, make sure i catch up on the news. Look at the votes. Get briefed. Any Additional Reading i need to do. Then it is briefings, committee toward theotes midafternoon, late date. As far as thats briefing, you talked about people you are depending on, you mentioned secretary price who served in this position. Did they offer you advice coming into it . Rep. Handel i have extremely big shoes to fill. Price has been a longtime friend and mentor. Pni still try to carve out some time every he and i try to carve out some time every week to speak on the phone about the issues and the district and all of those things. He has been terrific. In georgia, serve georgia, but you grew up around washington d c . Rep. Handel ice i grew up in southern maryland. It is home for us. It is where we have spent all but eight months of our marriage. Is home. It is interesting to be back. Old friends are here and have been looking me up. That has been fun. What took you from this area to georgia . Rep. Handel my husbands job. When we got married, i was working in the bush administration. In 1992, we were not reelected. We knew that career path would take us somewhere else. Georgia was number one on our list to go to. It was maybe six months into it and he got a job promotion to go to atlanta. We said, lets check it out. As soon as we got there, i said, i love it here. I have already told my dad, but you have to tell your mama. [laughter] will he still remain in atlanta . Rep. Handel yes, we will stay. We will keep our home in atlanta. I will commute back and forth. I think one way to be able to keep my feet on the ground is to make sure i go home and i am doing my Grocery Shopping and going to church with the people i represent. It is important to me to keep a circle of friends who are not in the world of politics because they do not care about any of this. They will tell you what what do you hear from them . Rep. Handel nothing too much. I get an little bit of a path to get the office setup. My friends are not in the political world. They will be candid and straightforward with me. Groundingat is a very perspective that is needed. You said you worked in the administration, specifically marilyn quayle. I read that it was working for heard that you developed your mantra as far as how you define yourself, what is that and why is it important . Rep. Handel i think you are probably talking about the fact that she taught me that you do not ever let other people decide who you are, that you do find yourself through your convictions, your words, and your actions. To be really true to that to the fullest extent that i possibly can, she and i have stayed in touch and i have always appreciated the opportunity she not to a young girl, i do know anything about the world of politics. I did not have a college degree. She took a big chance on me. I am grateful for that. Not knowing about the world of politics, you ran for several positions. You were secretary of state at one time. What did you learn from those experiences, especially now in the position you hold . Rep. Handel to be true to myself and my convictions. And to always make sure that when i am looking at a particular issue, that i am looking at it through the lens of what is best and right for the people of the district, the people of my state, and the people of the country. And let the politics come afterward. Dont try to bind find a solution based on all it takes. With that in mind of a record you have, what made you decide to run for that decision, particularly against jon ossoff . Rep. Handel it was a special election. There were 18 of us to start with which was really incredible, that number of candidates for the seat. I had made the decision to be back in the private sector, but also, you look at opportunities, and i do not get to pick when opportunities come along. They present themselves. After soulsearching and contemplation for myself and with my husband, and a lot of conversation with people in the district, it seems like the right thing to do. Here i am. This is an extraordinary opportunity. It was not an automatic yes in your mind. You had to be convinced . Rep. Handel my husband and i, we had family in richmond. We always drive up for christmas. You have nine hours up, and nine hours back. 18 hours of chewing on an issue is a long time. We looked at it from every which way you can imagine. It is also a commitment for him. Was 100 to make sure he percent for it. I wanted to make sure i could contribute and i am not necessarily i am not a good political soundbite person. I am really more of a policy person. We really, ashere republicans, have to move from, what i will call vocal opposition, into a real era of governing, that is a good fit for me. That was a big deciding factor. The money spent must have been a impressive figure on both sides. What do you think about that in terms of money and talent and politics . Rep. Handel i think so. I guess it was an awful lot of money. Frankly, pretty obscene the mid the amount of money spent. From outside. Only history is going to be able to look back and make a determination on how we had gotten to a place of imbalance of money versus individual voices. Fine balance to achieve. What i will say is that in this race, one of the big success factors for me was the fact that i had such a long tenure in the district, almost 55 years. The people in the district, many of them i know, so they were personal relationships. That matter to people. It mattered across political lines. It was not a republican thing or democrat thing. It was a friendship thing. What committees do you serve on and as the junior member, how do you plan to make an impact . To. Handel i am privileged serve on judiciary and education and the workforce. Those are two great committees. I would like to think on judiciary, i am not a lawyer, so i can bring a different perspective to the table. We were talking yesterday about the opioid drug epidemic, and there was a lot of talk about the legal aspects of it. , at thehat i can bring end of the day, the moms and dads who are dealing with their children facing an addiction, or gosh for bid, they have lost a child, put a more human face on it than just the legal side. On education and workforce, coming out of the chambers, those labor issues and workforce issues are important to me. As someone who worked her way up, i understand how important a k12 education is a need to make sure our young people, when they graduate from high school, that they have the skills and education they need to do whatever comes next. Next might be going into the workplace, it might be to a technical college, it might be a fouryear college. We have an obligation to make sure they are ready for whatever path life takes them down. Handel,sentative karen she serves the sixth district of georgia, thank you very much. Rep. Handel thank you. Did a did in profile with Stephanie Murphy of florida. The first vietnamese woman to be a member of the u. S. House of representatives. Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy, tell us how you got into politics and why you did . Thismurphy i got into race for months before the november 2016 election. The reason i got into the campaign was, at heart, i am a public servant. , thet given the rhetoric hateful rhetoric that was going andn the 2016 campaign, this function of government that was causing so much angst in the citizenship