I'm in the groove, and vacation is right around the corner.
The alarm goes off, 30 minutes from getting up to out the door (unless it's sunny enough for an early-morning bike ride and I wasn't too lazy to sleep in a little more - these late night reading indulgences make for harder early mornings). Three-block walk to the Metro, 8 stops until Capitol South, jostle with the younger staff crossing the street, and my four favorite blocks to work. The Library of Congress on my right (now with its water fountains turned on), the Capitol on my left, then the Supreme Court on my right, and then Dirksen (the shortest line into a Senate building).
The sites are equally familiar - the gaggle of school kids blocking the sidewalk, the protestors in front of the Supreme Court, the brightly colored advocates hitting the Hill on their advocacy day (red, pink and green seem to be the favored colors of tee-shirts and sashes), and the staffers in their flip flops (at least until they get to their offices). Tourists wear the madras shorts and carry the cameras, lobbyists get out of the taxis, and staff finger away on their blackberries, even while they walk (unless they have their iPods playing).
While there's no typical day, the weeks are starting to fall into a rhythm, depending on the senate schedule. Mondays and Fridays typically have no votes, so it's more catch-up time - correspondence, reading (some online newspapers have 3 issues - A DAY!). How much could Senator Kennedy's condition or Senator Obama's superdelegate count change in three hours? Talk about having a looming deadline on your job!
First thing in the morning, I check email (except today, when I locked myself out of my computer for trying my password too many times without remember to capitalize a key letter; oy vay!). Check for any meetings planned or requests made since the night before, check any preparation needed for meetings or deadlines or speeches, follow-up on any issues requiring responses, and look for opportunities.
Looking for opportunities is my favorite part of this position. What policies could I recommend that the Senator consider? What bills could be introduced, speeches made, useful contacts or partnerships created? Who do I know who would be useful for the Senator to meet? Much of public health happens at a local or state level, so I'm looking for any leverage federally to apply pressure to a problem. Are there regulatory or fiscal incentives or disincentives that could be applied? Is there funding or oversight to recommend? Are there enough data and research to draw needed conclusions? And who would know that could help? It's creative, analytic and collaborative all at the same time.
I slipped over to the House today to hear the APHA briefing on the Built Environment, especially since it addressed the connection to health disparities. Walked through all of the subway tunnels rather than wait for a subway car, and lost any accumulated time at the elevators in the Capitol. Not only that, but I forgot that room "369" in the Rayburn building was the basement (and room 2469 is the 4th floor - how would you know that?). I'll only make that mistake once. And the briefing was worth it.
Life outside of work is fun as well. The Phillips Collection is showing "The Migration Series," all 60 works of Jacob Lawrence's paintings about the African American movement from the south to the north, and it's amazing. I plan to go back several times to enjoy it.
A friend came up for a few days and asked for the grand tour. We started with a foot tour of the monuments at night. Marble basking in the glow of lights, and unexpected mobs of tourists! We still made it to the Vietnam Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and FDR Memorial (still my favorite), and had to wave to the more distant Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial (too far, too tired, too late on a work night). Continued the foot tour later the next day through the Smithsonian's Indian and Air/Space Museums, an early dinner at Zengo, past the White House, and past as many historic markers and historic buildings as our tired feet could carry us.
The Textile Museum also has a fascinating exhibit called "Indigo," all about the color blue. Fascinating! This past weekend seemed to be graduation for many of the area universities, so lots of pomp and circumstance, mortarboards, and restaurants filled with parents recalculating what they'll do with money no longer going toward tuition bills. Nary an empty parking spot in the city.
The legendary Senate softball league has started. We had our first game today. What a wonderful moment, getting to know the staff in a more relaxed atmosphere, on the national mall, with the Capitol to my right and the Washington Monument to my left. I batted 1:3, and almost made an amazing catch in right center field. At least I lived to play another day, an accomplishment considering these staffers are less than half my age!
Question: How many days will it take to completely fill up that darned email inbox while I'm away before those annoying messages start popping up?
Monday, May 19, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
One week to go before next recess
Today we had “a suspicious package” in the first floor ladies restroom. Capitol police were repeatedly broadcasting caution and directions to avoid that area. It certainly made for a distraction while researching and writing notes for a speech for the Senator. We all received a message that said:
“From: Senate Alerts
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:00 PM
To: Senators_OfficeAlerts@saa.senate.gov
Subject: Suspicious Package
Importance: High
The US Capitol Police are responding to a suspicious package outside of room SH-141 of the Hart Senate Office Building. All staff and other personnel are directed to avoid this area until further notice.”
This is just another reminder that “I'm not in Kansas anymore.”
At 4:45pm we were informed that the amendment we were working on finally received support from the needed Senate leaders, and that we had 5 minutes to make 50 copies (the number of Senators of the supportive party plus the original, with original signature) and deliver them to the Senate committee room (which closes at 5pm). Of course I didn’t know that for the copy machine to collate a 9-page amendment, you press the “sort” button. Good thing for interns!
We delivered the first half as soon as they were ready (literally hot off the press), with our lame excuse that the machine was slow to copy. I soon followed with the rest, only to learn that 7 other Senate offices’ staff came in after us with their amendments, too. We’re all there in the committee office hand writing the sequential number of our amendment on all of the copies (ours was #69, so you can imagine the workload of the committee mark-up meeting the next day).
Today was spent preparing talking points for the Senator for three of his many appearances this weekend. Background notes are also prepared so he has the benefit of staff research with which to prepare his speeches and appearances.
I’m close to agreement with that House office on exact language for our bill, which I hope to “drop” this week. I’ve also been meeting with constituents, as always, coming to talk about research for NIH for diseases, about debt forgiveness for medical students and other incentives for primary care practitioners, for improvements in the Medicare and Medicaid program (rules, reimbursements, etc.), and many other issues. The Senate schedule included a briefing on CLIA lab testing standards, but having worked in a health center for over two decades, I found myself very familiar with the info being presented.
The Shakespeare Folger Library is a branch of the Library of Congress. http://www.folger.edu/
One of their many activities is a poetry series, which hosted Lucille Clifton last night.
http://www.folger.edu/woSummary.cfm?wotypeid=4&season=c&woid=410
I went with two colleagues to hear her read her own poetry, and those from poets who influenced her. It was very entertaining, and had special meaning, since I selected one of her poems to represent my marriage – “Salt.”* I was hoping she would read it last night, but no requests were taken.
Senate softball starts next week, and I feel like a puffball now. I need some practice! This week is Bike To Work Week, but it still feels unsafe, with traffic having little interest in sharing the road with two-wheeled vehicles. I decided to just take the Metro in the mornings, walk home from work in the early evenings (weather permitting), and save my bike riding for before work. It just feels safest that way.
I am, however, wearing the pedometer the Senate wellness group was distributing, and after two days have logged 18,000 steps (about 5 miles?). The winning office gets a donation made in their name to the Special Olympics, so I’ve noticed my office getting to the Senate gym treadmills more often this week. Who says Senate staff aren’t competitive?
Question: How much longer will these delicious strawberries last at the local farmer’s markets?
* Salt - By Lucille Clifton
He is as salt
To her,
A strange sweet
Peculiar money
Precious and valuable
Only to her tribe,
And she is salt to him
Something that rubs raw
That leaves a tearful taste
But what he will
Strain the ocean for
And what he needs.
“From: Senate Alerts
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:00 PM
To: Senators_OfficeAlerts@saa.senate.gov
Subject: Suspicious Package
Importance: High
The US Capitol Police are responding to a suspicious package outside of room SH-141 of the Hart Senate Office Building. All staff and other personnel are directed to avoid this area until further notice.”
This is just another reminder that “I'm not in Kansas anymore.”
At 4:45pm we were informed that the amendment we were working on finally received support from the needed Senate leaders, and that we had 5 minutes to make 50 copies (the number of Senators of the supportive party plus the original, with original signature) and deliver them to the Senate committee room (which closes at 5pm). Of course I didn’t know that for the copy machine to collate a 9-page amendment, you press the “sort” button. Good thing for interns!
We delivered the first half as soon as they were ready (literally hot off the press), with our lame excuse that the machine was slow to copy. I soon followed with the rest, only to learn that 7 other Senate offices’ staff came in after us with their amendments, too. We’re all there in the committee office hand writing the sequential number of our amendment on all of the copies (ours was #69, so you can imagine the workload of the committee mark-up meeting the next day).
Today was spent preparing talking points for the Senator for three of his many appearances this weekend. Background notes are also prepared so he has the benefit of staff research with which to prepare his speeches and appearances.
I’m close to agreement with that House office on exact language for our bill, which I hope to “drop” this week. I’ve also been meeting with constituents, as always, coming to talk about research for NIH for diseases, about debt forgiveness for medical students and other incentives for primary care practitioners, for improvements in the Medicare and Medicaid program (rules, reimbursements, etc.), and many other issues. The Senate schedule included a briefing on CLIA lab testing standards, but having worked in a health center for over two decades, I found myself very familiar with the info being presented.
The Shakespeare Folger Library is a branch of the Library of Congress. http://www.folger.edu/
One of their many activities is a poetry series, which hosted Lucille Clifton last night.
http://www.folger.edu/woSummary.cfm?wotypeid=4&season=c&woid=410
I went with two colleagues to hear her read her own poetry, and those from poets who influenced her. It was very entertaining, and had special meaning, since I selected one of her poems to represent my marriage – “Salt.”* I was hoping she would read it last night, but no requests were taken.
Senate softball starts next week, and I feel like a puffball now. I need some practice! This week is Bike To Work Week, but it still feels unsafe, with traffic having little interest in sharing the road with two-wheeled vehicles. I decided to just take the Metro in the mornings, walk home from work in the early evenings (weather permitting), and save my bike riding for before work. It just feels safest that way.
I am, however, wearing the pedometer the Senate wellness group was distributing, and after two days have logged 18,000 steps (about 5 miles?). The winning office gets a donation made in their name to the Special Olympics, so I’ve noticed my office getting to the Senate gym treadmills more often this week. Who says Senate staff aren’t competitive?
Question: How much longer will these delicious strawberries last at the local farmer’s markets?
* Salt - By Lucille Clifton
He is as salt
To her,
A strange sweet
Peculiar money
Precious and valuable
Only to her tribe,
And she is salt to him
Something that rubs raw
That leaves a tearful taste
But what he will
Strain the ocean for
And what he needs.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Making Progress
The press conference went well, the bill was "dropped," and we're working on two other primary issues and many secondary ones (not to mention all of the issues besides health). I sit next to an environmental science fellow, and we find many commonalities in our philosophy and issues. I push him on agriculture issues, and he pushes me on environmental health. I'm hoping to make some progress policy-wise on health impact assessments, green building incentives, and healthy community planning and design.
With the Senate in session, and considering aviation, nominations, and many other issues, we often hear the legislative bell system. Visitors are frequently startled hearing these bells while in the conference rooms meeting with staff, as you think it might be a fire drill. But this system tells the Senators and staff what is happening on the floor, and the sounds are the summons for quorum calls, recorded votes, etc:
One long ring signals the Members to convene, and as long as the Senate remains in session, a red light remains lit on our clocks.
1 ring - start of a roll call vote - yea and nay.
2 rings - a quorum call.
3 rings - a call of the absent Senators.
4 rings - adjournment or recess at the end of the day.
5 rings - recess.
12 rings - a civil defense warning.
I haven't heard 12 bells yet (and hope never to), although we have been cautioned about demonstrators, small aircraft infiltrating protected space overhead, and last week someone was arrested in the building. A little more excitement than desired.
What is happening in the Chambers? This seems typical of many legislative issues:
"Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., spoke earlier about another potentially doomed effort in this Congress: revamping U.S. immigration laws. She said she believed the effort will not succeed in the near-term because it has become "one of the great political footballs" on Capitol Hill and a prominent talking point on the presidential campaign trail. Eshoo, whose district is in the heart of Silicon Valley, wants to lift the cap on H-1B visas for foreign workers."
As one Hill newspaper reported:
"Republicans today blocked Democrats from limiting debate on FAA legislation, potentially deflating the bill's chances of moving forward this year. Democrats fell short, 49-42, of the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on a bill aimed at advancing the transformation from a ground-based to a satellite-based air traffic control system and providing consumer confidence amid rising concern over airline safety and congestion. While there is more widespread agreement on modernizing FAA policies and funding, Republican leaders have protested a move by Majority Leader Reid to limit amendments and include highway trust fund reimbursements and other non-aviation language.
"Minority Leader McConnell said Democrats "bogged [the bill] down with extraneous provisions that do nothing to improve airline safety and that don't belong on this bill." The Finance Committee, with bipartisan backing, included a $5 billion reimbursement of the highway trust fund; a doubling of the 5-cent-per-barrel oil spill tax; tax-credit bonds for rail infrastructure; $2 billion to New York City for transportation infrastructure projects; and an offset shutting down the ability of a U.S. company to incorporate in a tax haven to minimize U.S. tax on its U.S. operations. McConnell criticized Reid for "a procedure that used to be rare, to block amendments and improvements to the bill." Reid moved last week to "fill the amendment tree" to keep off non-FAA-related amendments, but he also offered to allow McConnell to help sign off on an amendment list. The vote today was the first since the Senate agreed on April 28 to limit debate on proceeding to the bill. Floor debate was stalled much of last week because of disagreements over both policy and procedure. "Last week was the most frustrating week I've spent in the Senate in my 24years here," said Senate Commerce Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
"Meanwhile, Commerce Aviation Subcommittee ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, accused Reid today of "blocking amendments, preventing debate, forcing a cloture vote and hoping the Republicans vote against it." She called the current bill an "omnibus tax and special projects package" and has offered a bill that would bring back up the initial Finance-Commerce bill that began floor debate last week without "unrelated and extraneous tax provisions" and Finance-backed pension language. The question now is how long Congress will temporarily extend FAA funding and taxes, which will signal whether lawmakers believe a compromise can still be reached this year. There did not appear to be an agreement reached this morning on the next extension. "I'm willing to come back on this bill at a moment's notice," Rockefeller said. Lawmakers have extended FAA funding and taxes four times since they first expired at the end of September, and the current extension runs through June.
"A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Whip Durbin said before the vote that the bill would be indefinitely pulled from the floor if the cloture vote were unsuccessful. "I haven't heard of any plans to bring it back," the spokeswoman said. Senate GOP aides are saying Congress will eventually extend FAA funding and taxes until September 2009, but there did not appear to be a bipartisan agreement to do that before the cloture vote."
So you can see the politics behind every issue.
Spring here in the district continues to be delicious. Warm weather brings out the joggers and restaurant patrons dining outdoors. I’m getting in an early morning bicycle ride and my hour-long walk home from the office, so at least I get some fresh air. I read the headlines from around the world in front of the Newseum, admire the architecture, notice all of the tourists taking photos in front of the White House, and think about all of the attractions I still want to see.
We have a new legislative correspondent on our team, who’s working out very well. With briefings, a constituent breakfast, hearings and a respiratory virus going around the office, it's a typical week.
With the Senate in session, and considering aviation, nominations, and many other issues, we often hear the legislative bell system. Visitors are frequently startled hearing these bells while in the conference rooms meeting with staff, as you think it might be a fire drill. But this system tells the Senators and staff what is happening on the floor, and the sounds are the summons for quorum calls, recorded votes, etc:
One long ring signals the Members to convene, and as long as the Senate remains in session, a red light remains lit on our clocks.
1 ring - start of a roll call vote - yea and nay.
2 rings - a quorum call.
3 rings - a call of the absent Senators.
4 rings - adjournment or recess at the end of the day.
5 rings - recess.
12 rings - a civil defense warning.
I haven't heard 12 bells yet (and hope never to), although we have been cautioned about demonstrators, small aircraft infiltrating protected space overhead, and last week someone was arrested in the building. A little more excitement than desired.
What is happening in the Chambers? This seems typical of many legislative issues:
"Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., spoke earlier about another potentially doomed effort in this Congress: revamping U.S. immigration laws. She said she believed the effort will not succeed in the near-term because it has become "one of the great political footballs" on Capitol Hill and a prominent talking point on the presidential campaign trail. Eshoo, whose district is in the heart of Silicon Valley, wants to lift the cap on H-1B visas for foreign workers."
As one Hill newspaper reported:
"Republicans today blocked Democrats from limiting debate on FAA legislation, potentially deflating the bill's chances of moving forward this year. Democrats fell short, 49-42, of the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture on a bill aimed at advancing the transformation from a ground-based to a satellite-based air traffic control system and providing consumer confidence amid rising concern over airline safety and congestion. While there is more widespread agreement on modernizing FAA policies and funding, Republican leaders have protested a move by Majority Leader Reid to limit amendments and include highway trust fund reimbursements and other non-aviation language.
"Minority Leader McConnell said Democrats "bogged [the bill] down with extraneous provisions that do nothing to improve airline safety and that don't belong on this bill." The Finance Committee, with bipartisan backing, included a $5 billion reimbursement of the highway trust fund; a doubling of the 5-cent-per-barrel oil spill tax; tax-credit bonds for rail infrastructure; $2 billion to New York City for transportation infrastructure projects; and an offset shutting down the ability of a U.S. company to incorporate in a tax haven to minimize U.S. tax on its U.S. operations. McConnell criticized Reid for "a procedure that used to be rare, to block amendments and improvements to the bill." Reid moved last week to "fill the amendment tree" to keep off non-FAA-related amendments, but he also offered to allow McConnell to help sign off on an amendment list. The vote today was the first since the Senate agreed on April 28 to limit debate on proceeding to the bill. Floor debate was stalled much of last week because of disagreements over both policy and procedure. "Last week was the most frustrating week I've spent in the Senate in my 24years here," said Senate Commerce Aviation Subcommittee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
"Meanwhile, Commerce Aviation Subcommittee ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, accused Reid today of "blocking amendments, preventing debate, forcing a cloture vote and hoping the Republicans vote against it." She called the current bill an "omnibus tax and special projects package" and has offered a bill that would bring back up the initial Finance-Commerce bill that began floor debate last week without "unrelated and extraneous tax provisions" and Finance-backed pension language. The question now is how long Congress will temporarily extend FAA funding and taxes, which will signal whether lawmakers believe a compromise can still be reached this year. There did not appear to be an agreement reached this morning on the next extension. "I'm willing to come back on this bill at a moment's notice," Rockefeller said. Lawmakers have extended FAA funding and taxes four times since they first expired at the end of September, and the current extension runs through June.
"A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Whip Durbin said before the vote that the bill would be indefinitely pulled from the floor if the cloture vote were unsuccessful. "I haven't heard of any plans to bring it back," the spokeswoman said. Senate GOP aides are saying Congress will eventually extend FAA funding and taxes until September 2009, but there did not appear to be a bipartisan agreement to do that before the cloture vote."
So you can see the politics behind every issue.
Spring here in the district continues to be delicious. Warm weather brings out the joggers and restaurant patrons dining outdoors. I’m getting in an early morning bicycle ride and my hour-long walk home from the office, so at least I get some fresh air. I read the headlines from around the world in front of the Newseum, admire the architecture, notice all of the tourists taking photos in front of the White House, and think about all of the attractions I still want to see.
We have a new legislative correspondent on our team, who’s working out very well. With briefings, a constituent breakfast, hearings and a respiratory virus going around the office, it's a typical week.
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