Olympia Snowe

Often saying she's been a minority within a minority within a minority as a moderate Republican woman who's served in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, Senator Olympia Snowe recounts how she has been no stranger to challenges in life, both political and personal. She speaks of how, having lost both her parents before the age of 10, she realized early in life that there are two choices: either become overwhelmed by tragedies, or view them as temporary and not permanent. It's a lesson that re-emerged in her mid-20's when her first husband, who was serving in the Maine Legislature at the time, was killed in a car accident and she came to the conclusion that she would run to fill his seat. And she relates how her loss also brought home the importance of women's issues as she asked herself, "What do other women do, especially women with children?"

Drawing on a remarkable 34 years of experience in Washington, Senator Snowe offers audiences a rare glimpse into how she and other women in the House and Senate have been able to combine forces regardless of their party labels, to overcome hurdles and make a difference for women across America. She brings a unique perspective on how women can succeed and contribute even in one of the most exclusive, male-dominated institutions and how their contributions and collaborations in Congress actually offer a template for making government work again. At the same time, her entire life's story is an incredible and inspiring testament to the fact that any obstacle in any sphere of life can be overcome and truly anything is possible.

Long respected internationally as a voice of reason and thoughtful, pragmatic legislating, Senator Olympia Snowe stunned political observers when she announced she wasn't running for a fourth term in the Senate. The reaction was seismic and virtually universal, since few voluntarily relinquish one of just 100 seats in the United States Senate. Yet, she was giving up her life's work, because the excessive political polarization in Washington was preventing solutions at a time of monumental challenges for our nation. Her statement that she no longer believed that government could be changed from the inside affirmed the feeling of millions of Americans that the system has gone seriously awry and is at a tipping point for the very future of our country.

Having witnessed government's greatest potential as well as its capacity for dysfunction, no one is more adept at explaining what's gone wrong and illustrating why it doesn't have to be this way. As a key participant in every major issue of the past decade and beyond, few can speak with greater firsthand knowledge as to how policy-making has virtually been abandoned as a matter of practice in our government, and has now devolved into a series of gotcha votes for political leverage. But as Senator Snowe made clear, she was not leaving the Senate because she ceased believing in its power, or because she no longer loved the institution -- but precisely because she does. Her powerful message, delivered now as an outsider with insider knowledge, centers on how we reached this point and why we do not have to accept polarized partisanship as the "new norm" by offering concrete ideas on how we can return the Congress to its past ability to reach consensus.

In spite of the Congress being in session through the first day of 2013, all of the major issues facing America have remained unresolved. From overhauling the tax code to health care and entitlement reforms, to spending cuts and the debt reduction, to immigration and gun control, the new Congress will be grappling with monumental and wide-ranging policy challenges in 2013. Meanwhile, American families and businesses continue to confront uncertainty resulting from Washingtons unwillingness to work together to solve major problems. With more than three decades of policy experience and knowing how Washington does and doesn't work, Senator Olympia Snowe has keen and contemporary insights on what Congressional initiatives to look for in the coming year.

Senator Snowe is prepared to discuss the impending debt ceiling debate and lack of permanency and predictability on key issues. She can describe how the Congress is likely to continue lurching from deadline to deadline unless the Senate decides in the next nine months that it will change course from the hyper-partisan lame duck session and return to fulfilling its promise as the institution best positioned to rise to meet our greatest challenges to creating an economic revival.