By Stephanie Huss and Ellen Stein

How would you like to stand on Capitol Hill and speak frankly with your U.S. senator, congressman and members of the president’s Cabinet?

Deborah Gangloff, Lana Chaddic, Sherri Dugdale, Stephanie Huss and Ellen Stein were offered that opportunity as five of the 100 Coloradans chosen statewide to attend the Colorado Capital Conference, co-sponsored by Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Mesa State College, held June 15-17 in Washington, D.C.

The conference gave us an up-close and personal look at the federal legislative process. It was a unique opportunity to interact with decision-makers and issue experts in Washington and determine what, if anything, our leaders are doing about this nation’s very real problems.

Colorado’s congressional delegation hosted Wednesday evening’s reception at the U.S. Capitol. Stein thanked Udall for his support of the Native American tuition waiver, continued federal funding for public broadcasting and his efforts to review provisions of the Patriot Act.

“It was refreshing to be reminded that amidst the political rancor, that substantive work is still getting done,” she said.

Huss spoke with Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, about the Environmental Protection Agency and air quality in the Four Corners and invited him to a League of Women Voters “Congressional Lowdown” in Durango as his schedule allows.

Udall opened the conference Thursday morning by saying: “When you watch cable news, you think all we do is fight here, and that really isn’t the case. There is a lot that happens that doesn’t draw attention because it is not exciting. It’s not conflict.”

He added that the conferences, which resulted from a partnership between Udall and Mesa State College President Tim Foster, former state House majority leader, who is a Republican, is a great example of the collegiality and bipartisanship that Colorado and the Western states demonstrate better than other regions “the spirit of ‘let’s work together.’”

Conference speakers embraced this tone throughout the morning as Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mark Begich, D-Alaska, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., addressed our group about reducing the $14 trillion budget deficit, passing a national energy plan and restoring civil dialogue to politics. Bennet spoke passionately about “searching for a political conversation worthy of our kids and grandkids.”

The conference exposed participants to the incredible architecture and history of the Capitol complex. Thursday’s lunch location was the elegant Library of Congress, in the Members of Congress Room. Our speaker, political analyst Charlie Cook, author of The Cook Political Report, mused humorously about politics and the field of Republican presidential candidate hopefuls.

Thursday afternoon was filled with Four Corners legislators, including Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who is rumored to be vying for Sen. Orrin Hatch’s seat, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

The congressmen challenged one another, suggesting that we must get serious about controlling spending and not yield by raising the debt ceiling. Proponents expressed grave concern about the impact on financial markets and our international credit rating if the debt ceiling is not raised.

Friday morning sessions kicked off with a visit from Tipton, Secretary Steven Chu from the Department of Energy and Dr. Alice Rivlin from The Brookings Institution. Huss discussed entitlements with Rivlin, who is a member of President Obama’s Debt Commission. Stein asked Chu about progress made toward establishing a national energy policy.

Chu energized the group with his presentation about the work his agency’s is doing to put the U.S. back in the clean energy research and development game.

He described the race to gain market share, in what he estimated to be a $2.3 trillion global market, as similar to the race to put a man on the moon. Chu said that most of the great ideas being developed now are American-born, and he expressed excitement about electric vehicle potential and batteries that go farther at half the size and at a third of the cost.

He thinks prices for photovoltaics could be reduced 50 percent to 75 percent in the next decade, making them competitive with fossil fuels, satisfy energy demand and transform world geopolitics.

His comments were heartening for Durangoans, where a handful of solar companies are contributing to the clean energy economy and helping make Colorado No. 1 in harvesting energy from the sun.

We left Washington exhausted but invigorated and informed about the issues, challenges and opportunities our country faces.

We learned that Colorado is well served by its congressional delegation, and that real change is actually happening on Capitol Hill. We are thankful to have been a part of the conference – a great program revived in 2011 with the help of Foster and MSU, and urge other Coloradans to apply for the opportunity to get an intimate look inside Capitol Hill.

To see live video and pictures from the 2011 Colorado Capital Conference, visit http://markudall.senate.gov/ or www.mesastate.edu/capitalconference.

Stephanie Huss is past president and current voter service chairwoman of the League of Women Voters of La Plata County. Ellen Stein is development director at KDUR Community Radio, a public service of Fort Lewis College. They both live in La Plata County.