随着国家准备纪念美国500周年纪念今年独立日，美国两党参议员提出了跨越政治通道工作的理由，并有勇气做对国家最有利的事情，即使在政治上不方便的时候。
“作为一名参议员，你必须采取你知道对国家来说是正确的立场，以积极的方式推动我们前进，但在政治上可能对你和你的职业生涯有害，”民主党参议员马克·凯利，一名退休的海军上校和前美国国家航空航天局宇航员，告诉美国广播公司新闻的“本周”联合主播乔纳森·卡尔。“这对一些人来说很难。”
曾在美国海军陆战队服役的共和党参议员托德·杨(Todd Young)表示，要求美国武装部队拿出的勇气类似于要求民选官员拿出的勇气。
"那项服务如何通知你在这里做什么?"卡尔问道。“这是一种非常不同的勇气。”
“的确是。在某些方面，这种勇气是很多人不太熟悉的。在困难的问题上，被你尊敬和喜爱的人误解是一种勇气，你和他们有共同的价值观。杨说:“做不受欢迎的事情并承担责任是一种勇气。“但我觉得这种在军队服役中被强调的勇气是必要的，以便在分裂的时代为公共利益服务。”
杨补充道:“人们不是把我们送到这里成为有影响力的人。...他们把我们送到这里，与那些看待世界的方式与我们不同的人一起解决难题。”
杨和凯利分别代表印第安纳州和亚利桑那州，他们都是10名当选官员中的一员——九名退伍军人和一名前美国联邦调查局特工——这在作家莱·巴科特的新书《勇气可以拯救我们》中有所描述。巴科特是With Honor的联合创始人兼首席执行官，这是一个招募两党退伍军人竞选公职的组织。
“荣誉”帮助支持了100多名退伍军人。目前大约有50个在国会，”巴科特告诉卡尔。“他们承诺以诚信、礼貌和勇气服务，包括跨越党派界限工作的勇气，不一定同意每一项政策，但要保持这种信任，以解决对国家真正重要的问题。”
凯利和杨联手努力通过立法来振兴美国的造船业和商业海运业，以对抗中国在海上的主导地位。但作为对立党派的成员，不相关的问题可能会颠覆其他方面的进展。
对于凯利和杨来说，这是特朗普政府针对凯利的一个担忧他和其他民主党人录制的视频他们告诉美国军人，“我们的法律是明确的。可以拒绝不合法的命令。”司法部未能获得起诉对于六名立法者，一名法官阻止了国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯试图降低凯利的军衔和他的军队退休金。
杨说，他早上给凯利发短信说唐纳德·特朗普总统指控民主党人和其他人煽动叛乱因为他们在视频里说的话。
“我们有一个来回的交流，一个我会保密的交流，关于我应该做什么，我应该如何回应，这导致了什么，等等，”杨说。“因此，这证明了在团结互助中培养同事间的信任非常重要，即使在我所知的马克的困难时期。我认为，因为我们发展了这种伙伴关系，这将导致在造船等问题上的建设性行动。”
很抱歉，这段文本暂时无法提供译文
“哦，这确实引出了一个更大的问题，那就是，我为什么在这里，乔纳森?每当我对言论甚至行动感到担忧时，我是在这里发表意见，但却无法代表我的选民在这个国家开展对我的选民很重要的更广泛的倡议，还是在这里叙述一个总统任期?”杨说。
这位印第安纳州参议员补充说，“这是非常困难的工作，导航的浅滩和评估，你知道，道德演算的时刻，评估什么时候你应该去墙，可以这么说。”
但即使总统在攻击凯利，杨说，白宫向他保证，他们在造船立法方面的合作不是问题，应该继续下去。
“嗯，你得把事情划分清楚，”凯利告诉卡尔。“我们都是成年人。我们了解我们个人政治的复杂性，当然也知道它有多复杂，尤其是对本届政府的共和党人来说。我想说，在这种情况下，成为少数派更容易。”
虽然凯利说，他认为共和党人对抗这位总统“比以前的总统更难”，但杨说，他“不会责怪总统利用他所拥有的杠杆影响他当选实施的议程。”
“他是社交媒体的大师。他的忠实政治追随者比我在政治生活中遇到的都多。他已经利用了这些，”杨说。“那么，这是否需要一种更复杂、更灵活的公共领导呢?我想是的。但这绝不意味着我或我的任何同事，无论是共和党人还是民主党人，都可以脱离我们的机构。当我们觉得可以通过个人牺牲来推进公共利益时，我们仍然需要做出牺牲。”
随着美国250周年纪念日的临近，凯利承认美国人“显然非常分裂”，并表示在他看来，特朗普“不把每一个机会视为团结国家的机会，而是进一步分裂我们。”
凯利说:“即使是这次250周年庆典，这也是一个思考我们国家的历史以及我们所做的所有伟大事情和所有创新的机会。”。“但是7月4日会发生什么呢?我们要举行一次集会。”
然而，杨认为，透视“让我们的国家有点太容易了。”他说，美国人民需要对他们的领导人提出更多要求。
“这是一个实验。这是一个脆弱的实验，只有美国人民掌握了这个国家，如果他们对我们被领导的方式有异议，那么就让能够做得更好的人执政，”他说。
Bipartisan Senate duo makes case for working across aisle as divided nation marks 250th anniversary
As the nation prepares to markAmerica's semiquincentennialthis Independence Day, a bipartisan duo of U.S. senators made the case for working across the political aisle and having the courage to do what's best for the country, even when politically inconvenient.
"[As a senator,] you have to take stands that you know are the right thing for the nation that moves us forward in a positive way, but could be politically harmful to you and your career," Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain and former NASA astronaut, told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl. "That's hard for some folks."
Republican Sen. Todd Young, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, said that the courage asked of America's armed forces is similar to the courage asked of elected officials.
"How does that service inform what you do here?" Karl asked. "This is a very different kind of courage."
"It is. This sort of courage, in some respects, is one that's less familiar to many people. It's, it's the courage to be misunderstood by people you respect and love and whose values you share on, on difficult issues. It's courage to do unpopular things and to be held to account," Young said. "But I feel like that sort of courage, which is emphasized in military service, is necessary in order to serve the common good in divided times."
Young added: "People don't send us here to be influencers. ... They send us here to solve hard problems working with people who don't always see the world the same way we do."
Both Young and Kelly, who represent Indiana and Arizona, respectively, are among the 10 elected officials -- nine military veterans and one former FBI agent -- profiled in the new book "Courage Can Save US" by author Rye Barcott. Barcott is the co-founder and CEO of With Honor, an organization that recruits bipartisan veterans to run for office.
"With Honor has helped support over 100 veterans. There are about 50 that are currently in Congress," Barcott told Karl. "And they take a pledge to serve with integrity, civility and courage, including the courage to work across party lines, not necessarily agree with every policy, but to maintain that trust to address matters that really are important to the country."
Kelly and Young have teamed up in an effort to pass legislation to revitalize the U.S.'s shipbuilding and commercial maritime industries to counter China's dominance at sea. But as members of opposing parties, unrelated issues threaten to upend progress elsewhere.
For Kelly and Young, that was a concern when the Trump administration targeted Kelly over avideo he and other Democrats recordedin which they told U.S. service members, "Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders." The Justice Departmentfailed to secure indictmentsfor the six lawmakers, and a judge blocked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's attempt to reduce Kelly's rank and his military retirement pay.
Young said that he texted Kelly the morning President Donald Trumpaccused the Democrat and the others of seditionover what they said in the video.
"We had an exchange back and forth, an exchange which I will keep private about what I should do, how I should respond, where this led, and so forth," Young said. "And so it demonstrates that it's really important to develop trust among your colleagues in solidarity, even during what I know was a difficult time for Mark. And I like to think, because we've developed that partnership, it leads to constructive action on things like shipbuilding."
Karl pressed Young on the fact that few Republicans spoke out publicly to criticize the president's accusation: "There wasn't much of an outcry among Republicans in Congress over that."
"Oh, it does lead to a larger question, which is, why am I here, Jonathan? Am I here to hold forth every time I have a concern about utterances or even actions, but render myself unable then to work on broader initiatives that are important to my constituents on behalf of my constituents in the country, or am I here to narrate a presidency?" Young said.
The Indiana senator added, "It's very difficult, this job, to navigate the shoals and assess, you know, the moral calculus of the moment and assess when you should go to the wall, so to speak."
But even as the president was attacking Kelly, Young said the White House assured him that their work together on the shipbuilding legislation wasn't a problem and should continue.
"Well, you got to compartmentalize things," Kelly told Karl. "We're all adults. We understand the complexities of our own individual politics and certainly how complex it is, especially for Republicans with this administration in particular. I'd say in this situation, it's easier to be in the minority."
While Kelly said he thinks "it's harder" for Republicans to stand up to this president than previous ones, Young said he "doesn't fault the president for using the leverage he has to affect the agenda he was elected to implement."
"He is a master of social media. He has more loyal political followers than I've ever encountered in political life. And he's used those," Young said. "And so does it require a more sophisticated, more nimble sort of public leadership? I think it does, yes. But that in no way absolves myself or any of my colleagues, Republican or Democrat, from the agency we have. We still need to sacrifice when we feel like the common good can be advanced through personal sacrifice."
With the nation's 250th anniversary approaching, Kelly acknowledged that Americans are "clearly very divided," and said that in his view, Trump "looks at every opportunity not as an opportunity to bring the country together but to further divide us."
"Even this 250th celebration, this is really an opportunity to think about the history of our country and all the great things we've done, all the innovation," Kelly said. "But what's going to happen on July 4th? We're going to have a rally."
Young, however, argued that perspective "lets our country off a little too easy." He said the American people need to demand more of their leaders.
"This is an experiment. It is a fragile experiment and it only exists if the American people take command of this country, and if they have challenges with the way we're being led, then put people in office that can do a better job," he said.
