Bipartisan congressional spouses tackle cancer prevention, and leave politics out

There's an exclusive club in Washington, where politics is left at the door.

Congressional spouses from across the ideological spectrum are teaming up to prevent cancer.

Patti Garamendi, president of the bipartisan congressional spouses club, told NPR at a reception for the cause, that she advises all new spouses to join the effort. "There's one organization you need to involve yourself in and it's the prevent cancer organization."

Garamendi's husband is California Democrat John Garamendi. But the club's long tradition is to avoid partisanship. "We just don't go near that — ever," she said.

Lisa McGovern, wife of Massachusetts Democrat Jim McGovern, is the executive director of the Prevent Cancer Foundation's Congressional Families Program. The program was created by Doris Matsui, then spouse of Rep. Bob Matsui, D-Calif. He succumbed to cancer in 2005, and she succeeded him in Congress. The bipartisan project keeps bringing new spouses from both parties together, and works to provide resources to projects across the country to highlight awareness, prevention, .

President Biden signed a proclamation recently that dubbed April "National Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Month," and First Lady Jill Biden recently spoke at an event for the congressional spouses club,

Lifestyles of spouses bond the group

McGovern says spouses have found it easy to develop bonds through the club. "The truth is, our lifestyles are so unique and so similar that we understand each other better than our own families understand."

She says all spouses have a couple things in common: "We have a love of family and emphasis on health."

Three weeks after her husband was sworn in in 1997 McGovern's mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died 3