The congresswoman discusses her first term and the partisan nature of her job.

Q. I know this is your first term, but how much of this is reminiscent of your time spent in the Florida House of Representatives?

A. There are quite a few similarities between the rough-and-tumble nature of the Florida House of Representatives and the same rough-and-tumble nature in the U.S. House of Representatives. I feel back at home again. I don't mind mixing it up.

And quite honestly -- although I'd prefer to be in the majority -- in the minority, one of the things that's fun for me is to figure out how to get someone who normally shouldn't want to do what I'd like them to do and figure out how to get them to do it.

Q. So, can you accomplish anything in Congress?

A. After the election, I was actually fearful that being a freshman in the minority, and the seniority issue being so significant, that it would be very difficult for me to get anything done or to make an impact. I was pleasantly surprised, though. I've always believed that one person can make a difference. That's the approach I've always taken to legislating.

But there were a number of instances this year where I, as one individual member, even as a freshman in the minority, was able to make an impact. Whether it was the Terri Schiavo case or now with this FEMA bill -- I actually had an amendment to the Children's Safety Act last week on the floor where I worked with the Republican chair of the Judiciary Committee to deal with the issue of sexual predators and how we can keep them confined and away from our children. It's pretty rare for a freshman Democrat to have an amendment on the floor within the first 10 months of office.

Q. That's encouraging, given what we hear about the partisanship in Washington.

A. The partisanship is awful. Don't let me understate it. It is incredibly partisan. The way I compare it is in the [Florida] Legislature, House or Senate, you may have 10 to 12 issues a year that are knock-down, drag-out, fight-it-out-to-the-end issues, and everything else was pretty much unanimous. In the Congress, it's the opposite. It's really sad.

You may have 10 to 12 issues that everyone agrees on, and I'm talking substantive issues, not naming post offices. Everything else is partisan. There's no compromise, there's no wiggle room, there's no `let's sit down and work it out and everyone gives up something we'll have a good product.' It's `I'm going to win today anyway I can win.'

It's really sad, and I levy that criticism at both parties. The Democratic leadership at times is equally unwilling to compromise, although, from my perspective, they are much more willing to compromise than the Republicans.

Q. Is it true that the president said to you at your first meeting that `I hear you were the one that gave my little brother a hard time.'?

A. I was seated at his table during the Freshman Lunch at the White House. When I went to introduce myself, he said: `I know who you are. You're the one who gave my little brother a hard time down in Florida.' I said, `Maybe just a little bit, Mr. President.' I think he'd probably agree with that.

A couple of months later, we had the reception for our swearing in at the White House, and you can't assume that the president would remember me from even that introduction, but he said, `I still remember you.'

I guess one person can make a difference. I wear that as a badge of honor.

Q. Funny how Florida issues can rise to the national forefront. Did you expect the Terri Schiavo case to play out the way it did in Washington?

A. I was at a birthday party with my kids when all that began unfolding, the day after we went into the Spring Break recess, when I got the call that they were going to introduce a bill and call us back into session after everyone had dispersed and left town. To intervene in one family's tragedy, again, after the bill here in Florida had been thrown out for being unconstitutional, after 15 court reviews, it was just unbelievable that the behemoth U.S. Congress was going to bring the entire Congress back to focus on one angst-ridden, gut-wrenching tragedy of one family.

There was a lot of pressure. They were trying to get us to just agree to a unanimous consent, which means that no one objects. It's what we did to the Katrina funding measures. No one objects and you don't even have to come back and vote.

But there was just no way to stand by and just let that happen, knowing that they were lying, knowing that they were making up facts about the case that just weren't true.