Representative Brendan Boyle democrat of pennsylvania, tell us one thing that has surprised you the most since in washington. [laughter] not toole fortunately much surprised me. I was a state legislator before coming here. Procedures i have been familiar with through the lifestyle. Me has pleasantly surprised is that generally most members i find get along pretty well. I am going against the grain in saying that, but i have relationships on both sides of the aisle. Partisan. To be too generally i would say that people are more constructive than what appears on tv. As people solve more colleagues that coworkers. What translates out to the world is a worst of both sides. [laughter] you talk about the personalities. Into thee went to get capitol complex and get her early in the morning, your here all day. Early in there morning, you are here all day. There is a constant fastpaced and trying to squeeze everything in in a few days. I think that is one of the challenges im hearing in d. C. Had timeis i wish i back home. It is a challenge. Host how did you learn your way around this building on capitol hill . How did you do it . Rep. Boyle every once in a ime and still thinking turning left where i should be turning right. It is much larger than the state legislature. It is pretty remarkable to get to be here and serve, especially in certain areas. Host we read you are the son of an immigrant janitor. You are the first in the family to attend college. What did all of that mean to you . Tell us how you got here. Rep. Boyle it is a integral part of who i am. Normal is a relative term. I wouldnt know what it is like to grow up any other different way. For me it is the norm. I know most of us feel that way. My dad is an immigrant. Parents were immigrants. It worked hard to provide opportunities for my brother and me. Poor. R felt that we were there is always a roof over our heads. Standards ie modern didnt have growing up. Clearly not rich or middleclass. That said, the most important with has been upbringing the support of my parents and a firm believe that if you work hard and make sure you do your homework before you go out and play, you able to accomplish a lot in life. I grew up with that sort of optimism and belief that things are possible. In terms of the way that it affects me now as a legislator, i have to admit even subconsciously i probably see the fairness of certain issues and the justice of them through the lens of my dad, my mom, ordinary workers and hardworking folks who are attempting to do it right. I tend to look at issues through those eyes first then before another perspective. Host whered did your parents come from . Rep. Boyle ireland. Host where did interest in politics come from . Rep. Boyle as early as i could remember. I remember loving sports and politics. I remember being allowed to stay up late to watch a president ial election. I impress the teachers by reciting that electoral votes for different states. I have always been fascinated and loved politics. Wantedt mean i always to do this as a candidate and as a public servant. I kind of went backandforth. I have been very interested in it. Host you are interested in sports as well. Where is the comparison between sports and politics . Rep. Boyle the competition. The competitive drive. You either win or you lose. The election is more exciting than a super bowl. If a team loses the super bowl, the players are not necessarily over. They could come back next season. The difference is in politics who wins and loses in an election has real life consequences that determine to determine Public Policy. Sports doesnt have that. Take us back to the democratic primary in 2013. They had many more resources. You prevailed. How did you do it . Rep. Boyle i started in april of 2013. That was when the campaign kicked off. All three of the four of us were through. Started our first poll. I have good news and bad news. Had aod news is i have four candidates your second. Second. Re the number one choice happened to be related to the clintons. It was daunting. We had a legitimate shot to win. And worked incredibly hard put the right team together, i felt strong the message of who i am would be the message that best resonated with voters in my area. I went to work pounding the pavement. People think you just need money to run for office and win. Andent hours campaigning found that is not the case. Yes, we needed to raise the money. Without the Field Program doing doortodoor and doing Community Identified primary voters and taking every single question, without that, there is no question we would not have one. Host then you came here. What would you like to accomplish in your time here . Rep. Boyle i am on a committee. Im on the middle east subcommittee. Committee where the world is at peace so there are never issues. Its unfortunately quite the opposite. Knowing that the decision that one makes could have enormous consequences. In addition, im on the oversight and government reform committee. Partisan fight. I guess you not supposed to like one committee more than the other. Themselvesose issues arent less important, and it is just the way the committees are structured. It seems to be much more partisan approach and attempting to solve real problems whereas on the oversight reform, the best thing host what are you hearing from constituents . What concerns them the most . Recession. The great the economy and jobs. Take a step back. Put all of these into the same category of middleclass angst. I talked a moment ago of how i was brought up to believe if you work hard and play by the rules, you will be able to get ahead and be what you want to be in life. I think it reminds people of the hardworking american middle class that is questioning that right now. Polls show that people believe those children will have a worse outcome in life than they had. It is contrary to the American Dream and the american spirit. Which fairness. All of these issues all into the same category of a feeling that the american system that we all believe in is not working. That there is something broken about it that needs to be fixed. Rooms of the congressman in washington. How do you find the balance between those two . Rep. Boyle have to say if we this discussion 15 years ago, i would have under appreciated the importance of the constituent service side. What i do here in the capital and the legislature, that is important. And helpingdistrict a constituent with a critical issue, that is not the first place they went to. A lot of the times it is a last resort. When i seems bogged it seems bogged down turns out they were incorrectly crying. Nd broke down momentse the feelgood that i dont have the necessarily every day on the legislative side. Do you think of that Campaign Finance system as it is now . Campaign system is insane. A patchwork of postwatergate reforms that worked for a certain period of time and then were the way. Most recently, citizens united. Deuce ended in raise too much money for office did get to spend so much time doing it. Taxpayers pay. Whether they are the most conservative or liberal member and not having to spend so much time to raise money to run for office, but the system we have in the u. S. That doesnt have and i wasctions referencing the system makes no sense. Which thatystem in individual who is running for office is tapped in terms of the amount of contributions they can receive from one individual. There were some out side groups outside groups that spend millions of dollars. They spend a huge amount of money. Weut a creative a situation have the worst of both worlds and have achieved nothing. I am interested in hearing the finance reform. It. El more strongly about host tell us about your family here at when you go home, who do you go home to . Rep. Boyle my wife and i have been married for 10 years. We have a beautiful, gorgeous daughter who is 18 months. Already has a defined personality. Us. Ad is still with i spend a lot of time with him. Icm quite a bit. My brother is also in politics and was an enormous help. We really campaigned every single day. When a formerlly congressman was getting a lot of i like to state i have the most important elected official in my district supporting me. Between adifferences federal officeholder versus a state, is it more challenging than the other . Rep. Boyle there are both more similar than dissimilar. A couple of key differences would be around of Foreign Affairs. Sometimes he will have a dispute. Generally we have been ok for the last couple of centuries. There is no analogy at the state level. I love being a state legislator and have worked hard to get there. These moments that happen here are hard to compete with. Addressing congress are meeting at the white house there was an important meeting at the white house. Moment whereare you do have to kind of stop and really look back. The classified briefing against isis and iraq. Hours there was nothing in and of it self that i learned. Were talking about the gravity. It is unlike anything else i have done. Host you mentioned the Foreign Affairs several times. How do you keep up . How do you keep up on things and try to lead in the area of own affairs . Rep. Boyle i have been to israel recently. I went to dubai. We will be going to the middle east again shortly. That is important. Is something i have always been very interested in. Im a voracious reader. Im very interested in politics and following the politics of other countries and international relations. Fortunately im doing something that i really love. It doesnt seem like work because of what i tend to do in my spare time anyway. That really helps. Host the schedule could get complicated. Things are getting added and with drawn. Had you keep up on what youre supposed to be voting on . Rep. Boyle that is the biggest challenge. Sometimes curveballs are thrown in terms of the voting schedule. Im supposed to meet with constituents. That was a real challenge. It ended up being debated on the house floor. I called my wife. I will get on the road. I will be at home tonight. Are you watching . I watching cspan . Are you watching tv . That is a challenge. We were on the floor a lot. , six years im young in the state house my first year be it is one of those aspects of the job i expected. You are to plan things back in the district. They know there is this aspect of the job. I know that was the case when i was a state legislator. I was loved what we were talking. Bout a four it is a very hands on approach. It is something i feel strongly about. In a world of thousands of tv channels and billions of websites, it is easy for people to feel disconnected from their democracy. It is easy for people to feel like they dont matter. My voice isnt heard. I know when im showing of to an event or at a school when im speaking to a group, their im as inublic space there i am a public space. If people come into a constituent office to meet with me, they will feel better about their government. Call we get single in this office. That is important. I cannot stress that enough. You see people believe in democracy more. The government can tackle big problems. Is there one thing in this office you want to point to that has special value to you . See ioyle as you can have a sparsely decorated office. I was a diehard notre dame fan. That is from a picture i took. I have inspired enough to extend the camera a little bit further. And the family photos. And picking up my daughter, abby. There are special events. Feel while it is not exactly the most decorated by by as i made fun classmates, the things i do i does es feel i will say saying something that is quite unpopular. I believe in Public Service. I made the transition early on and doing something the private sector to wanting to study Public Policy should i looked at this as a profession. People can come to that from many different walks of life. Media,s, law, farming, mayr it may become it be difficultvery statutory issues. Theres real value in having people listed in this and know what you are talking about. Way or anotherme i do know that has been office or elected office, i want to be in the Public Service my entire life. I believe it is a noble profession. Folks in office do their best to do it in a way that doesnt shine in the best light. I believe it is the best form of government except for all the others that have been tried. At the end of the day, i want to be someone who contributed positively in negatively. Host