By CNN Political Unit
(CNN) — President Barack Obama will host female U.S. senators at the White House on Tuesday night as he continues his personal outreach to push his second-term legislative agenda.
According to one of those lawmakers, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Obama invited all 20 women senators.
“Thank you Pres. Obama for inviting all the women Senators to the White House for dinner tomw night. Looking forward to it!” she wrote on Twitter.
Gillibrand added later that the meeting “is a good step toward bipartisan cooperation.”
Obama has made an effort in the first months of his second term to reach out to rank-and-file lawmakers. He’s held a series of dinners with House and Senate members from both parties.
Those asked to Tuesday’s dinner include key moderates, who will help determine the fate of key measures Obama is pushing. The lawmakers include Republican Susan Collins of Maine, and Democrats Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.
On one issue, gun control, Heitkamp voted against a measure backed by Obama – an ill-fated proposal to expand background checks on gun sales.
Landrieu, who had been on the fence on that proposal, voted in favor of it as did Collins. It fell short by eight votes.
Women make up one-fifth of the 100-member Senate.
They are: Gillibrand, Landrieu, Heitkamp, Collins; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; Dianne Feinstein, D-California; Barbara Boxer, D-California; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland; Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts; Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri; Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska; Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire; Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire; Kay Hagen, D-North Carolina; Patty Murray, D-Washington; Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin.
