Idaho lawmakers tugged on the heartstrings of social media users this spring in a video where 11 Republican representatives shaved their heads in solidarity with one Democratic colleague diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time.
“We were all just devastated for her,” state Rep. Josh Wheeler said. “When she gave us the news last year, [we were] further devastated when we found out this year that she needed to undergo a more aggressive chemotherapy, which is where the bald heads came from, standing in solidarity with her.”
These Gem State community leaders felt it was important to “go beyond party lines” to support their colleague, state Rep. Brooke Green.
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Cross-party cooperation was pushed one step further when the “most diverse group of co-sponsors” banded together in bipartisan support of House Bill No. 134. The bill, mandating that select health benefit plans in the state provide yearly coverage of supplemental breast cancer screening for at-risk individuals, is key in “early detection [that] will save lives.”
Green, who credits enhanced screening for detecting her second bout of cancer on time, spoke about the change she hopes the bill will have.
“It’s [about] where we can find good bills that are really about bipartisanship and working together, and I think the public wants to see that honestly. I honestly believe that the public wants to see us actually get along,” she added. “That’s what made the bill so special.”
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in the United States, with about one in eight women at risk of developing it in their lifetime. According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the second-most common cause of death from cancer for women in America.
“My wife was a breast cancer survivor five years ago. She’ll be five years [clean] this May… So it’s just to support Brooke and all the women out there,” state Rep. Mike Pohanka revealed about his personal motivation rallying behind Green’s breast cancer battle.
“I can confess that my own family, we lost a ten-year-old boy to a brain tumor six years ago,” Wheeler said. “And the way that your community, you know, rallies around you in response is one of the greatest things about the state of Idaho. It’s one of the ways in which we see Americans be their strongest, is when they band together to support each other in those really tough moments.”
When asked about the probability of continued bipartisanship during these next four years under the Trump administration, Wheeler said he “absolutely” believes common ground can continue to be found.
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“When [President Trump] came on the scene in the United States, I think he inspired a lot of people on both sides of the philosophical aisle to participate, right? To be engaged. And the more of us are engaged, the more opportunity there is for us to again, disagree and, you know, call each other out when we need to… there’s just way more opportunity for us to find common ground and find ways that we can build together,” he added.
State Rep. Stephanie Mickelson, who recorded and photographed her colleagues shaving their heads, added, “We’ve become so much more divisive, and so everybody tries to hang on to their corner or their sides so tightly that they forget that we have people that get lost in the middle of this.”
Mickelson told Fox News Digital, “My hope would be that we could look at the problems, take the partisanship out of it, and come to good resolutions for the people.”
