Americans see Washington, D.C. as a "mirror to the country" divisions, rather than seeing lawmakers who disagree and need to find a way to work out their differences, Sen. James Lankford said Sunday.
"I really don't think of this as bipartisan work," the Oklahoma Republican told NBC News' "Meet the Press." "This is just American work. Most people don't think of themselves first as Republican, Democrat, or independent. They think of them first as just human beings, and neighbors, people at work, and families.
"So really what we're talking about is how do people who disagree sit down and figure it out? That's where we are."
Lankford appeared on the program with Rep. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. The two lawmakers are the only ordained ministers serving in Congress.
Lankford said that when he hears people saying that "those crazy people yell at each other" in Washington, he's reminded of how families argue with each other.
"What happens is family members get together … they see their differences, and they have arguments," he said. "Well, that's D.C."
Lawmakers though, are supposed to figure out how to solve problems, and they "have got to be able to sit down and be grownups and say, Let's talk this out. Let's figure it out,'" Lankford said.
Warnock added that bipartisan work is "as basic as the American covenant, E Pluribus Unum, out of many, one. And so we have differences of opinion, but the issue is our humanity and trying to build and strengthen the American family."
But Lankford acknowledged that many people have lost hope that divisions will work out.
"I think that's the emotion of the country, is they want it to be fixed, but they can't figure out how it's going to actually happen," he said. "The latest poll I saw was over 70% of people in the country don't like the direction of the country. That's not a political statement. It's an emotional statement."
He added that there are differences across the country even among members of the same party, so the key is to "be able to work it out."
"That doesn't mean we give away our values," he said. "We don't have to give away values on it. I'm always looking for where we have common ground.
"Compromise is a word that a lot of people throw around … the worst thing we can do is do nothing. If I can make this simple statement, every single issue that we face we can either do nothing, something, or everything. Now, problems are so bad. Debt is so big. We're so out of control. Immigration's so out of control. Everybody in my party says, 'Let's do everything. We've got to fix it all and we've got to fix it all right now.'"