One of the biggest issues in this country right now is division, he added.
 
“Everybody's incredibly divided on everything. I don't care what it is. … The truth is that if you want to stop the division, make it so people can work together and you can't work together as long as you’ve got this amount of money coming into these campaigns.”
 
This matters, he said, because all this money “makes you think twice whether you're going to take up an issue that's controversial. And yet during my 18 years, it's caused a real paralysis here.”
 
Sinema sees a lack of willingness to compromise.
 
“I think that elected officials are breaking [Congress],” she said. “The institution is just us. … It's how we behave, how we show up to work, how we engage with each other.”
 
When asked what it means when she and others, like McHenry, are leaving Congress, Sinema said, “I think this place is not as interested in getting things done as it used to be.”
 
When asked why, she said, “One of the reasons is that there is low tolerance in the community writ large for people who are willing to compromise and do hard work and settle for part, but not all of what you want.”

McHenry believes the next Congress could improve things, but that members need more personal interaction.

“We're at a low ebb of functionality and I think we're on the edge of really active legislating next Congress,” he told us. “I think the reform we need is to once again allow members of the House to be here in D.C. with their families. The best relationships I have from across the aisle are because of my kids and because of my wife and those normal interactions we have.”
 
What does the Democratic Party stand for?
 
Tester argues the party has gotten stuck in an insular bubble.
 
“We've got a communication problem within the party. … We don't spend enough time getting out to people outside of our bubble,” he said. “What I think killed Democrats this cycle [was] immigration, the economy, cost of goods and the border.” 
 
The truth, he added, is that the Democratic Party “needed to focus on the meat and potatoes issues a lot more. We didn't.”

Sinema declined to answer the question.
 
“I've left the Democratic Party, so I don't think that I'm qualified to have that conversation,” she said.
 
McHenry said Democrats have some reflecting to do and that the country needs them to do it.
 
“I think that is a point of soul searching for them. They didn't really have to go through this process, this election cycle. And that is a disservice to a competitive, great party, he said. “But what I'll say is this: We need two great parties to stand up in. Competition will get better results as Americans will get better results in terms of policy. We'll have a better economy.”
 
What does the Republican Party stand for?
 
Tester sees a historic shift — Republicans gaining with traditional Democratic groups. 
 
“Maybe the parties are flipping places. I mean, Trump's really going after the working man in a big way and he's getting them. And young people and Hispanics,” he said. “I think part of it is the message and part of that is getting that message out.”
 
“We’ve really got to focus on things that are important to people. Not the fringe stuff,” he added.

Sinema again declined to comment, and said she speaks for what she stands for, not what defines the political parties.

McHenry said the Republican Party right now stands for “a strong economy and traditional American ways of life. And is there a tinge of populism that's in part of the stew? Yes, that's the case.”
 
Other thoughts that stood out
 
Tester sees elected members who are not serious about legislating.
 
“I'm not supposed to judge, but there's a lot of people in here that I don't know why they're here. They're really not serious policymakers. And so my question is: Why are you here?”
 
He continued: “Is it just because you hate government and you want to stop government from working? Because that's really a bad idea. Because government has its role. So there's that.”
 
I asked Sinema what she thinks about the press.
 
“The press is highly reductive. Yeah, highly reductive. And I get it because it's the world that we live in,” she told us.
 
“But asking someone to talk about other people or what's happening in negotiations all the time – I know it's incredibly frustrating, when during negotiations I would never say things and everyone else would. But I got the deals done, right?”
 
She added: “But what I will say is that that pressure, which many people find difficult to avoid, it hurts the work.”
 
McHenry was blunt about the lack of women chairing House committees next Congress, but did not answer when asked how that came to be.
 
“For us to have no women chairs of committees is a huge mistake and really an unfortunate thing because we have powerful, smart, capable, tenacious Republican women that are capable of leading big committees and doing major things.”
 
“So what’s going on here?” I asked him.
 
“It's an unfortunate set of things, set of circumstances.” He pauses and then adds, “I'm leaving Congress.”

You can watch the full exchange here.