Lucas' (b)Log

A few more thoughts...

2007-05-20T07:53:00.000-06:00

I finished my laundry last night, and I should be able to figure out sometime tomorrow what I need to ship home. I made the mistake of bringing more to D.C. than I brought home during my trips back and forth, so I will have to pay some dues to the US Postal Service.

I had a few more thoughts that I think are really important to know about Washington, here the come:

If you want a job in Washington, D.C., you can get one. This is not a place of great competition. If Washington, D.C. were an island and you were stranded, you could probably find something to do for some office or organization. However, many entry-level positions are without pay (i.e. my internship). Because the entry-level jobs can be done by almost anyone, they don't need to spend the money to keep people around. Many internships start out with the salary of $0. I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship from the Renewable Fuels Association, which helped tremendously. When I figured out my pay in terms of the scholarship, I was making about $6.17 an hour, and that was being generous. Extended to a year, that would be about $15,000, and staff assistants can typically put three zeros on the end of their age. Because of this, I see a big problem, we have a low percentage of low-income staffers on the hill. It is not that a wealthy staff would do a worse job, but in a place where we are trying to solve problems, we have many great minds shy away from the city because the financial risk is too great. Those who do come either have their stay subsidized by their parents who want them to be successful, or work jobs on the weekends and after work. So that is the down-side, however one nice benefit most people do not realize is the educational loan repayment program available to staff. The rate is around $500 a month, so $6,000 a year. This can turn the $22,000 salary into about $28,000, making it a bit more manageable. This is still an expensive city. Rent for a live-able apartment (unlike mine) can be anywhere between $800 and $1,200, depending on where you are, how close you are to the Metro, and of course the regular housing/renting factors. With your $22,000 salary then, you have $16,500 after 25% is taken out for taxes. You can then take home about $1,375 for month, and put about $1,000 of that towards housing and travel, giving you about $3-400 to live on each month. With a few big bar tabs, I can see where people go into debt for a while. That is a pessimistic view, but with a few good years in D.C., salary rises quickly and staff swing to the other then of the financial pendulum. I'm just saying, the first couple of years can be rough.

I think my final lecture will be about cars. Parking is ridiculous, and because the city wants less people on its streets, the parking police are horrible. I did not have a car, so this is a second-hand account. Rush hour is horrible. Between the stoplights and millions of people trying to get places, including workers, tourists and Presidential motorcades, D.C. rush hour is stop-and-go within about 60 miles of the metro area. People that do not live on the Hill, can then spend much over 50% of their day away from home. Even Metro riders will have to get on the Metro by 8:00 to get to work by 9:00, and not return home until 7:00 (on a normal day). Commuters can leave at 6:00 or 6:30 and return home by 8:00 (on a normal day), but extended hours can be much worse. At least you can park in the Office Building parking lots for free as a staffer, but you need to pop your trunk and have a police officer look in your back window before you do. If you live on the Hill with a car, it doesn't get much better. An off-street parking spot is the solution to many problems. One of our staff members has had his car stolen twice, and been bumped and nicked enough times that no one would want to steal his car anymore. The reason for the bumps is the way people parallel park. I have always been a proud member of the parallel parkers at my fraternity in St. Paul, AGR. Normal residents park an average of 6 vehicles in the same space we can park 7. I think residents of D.C. could up us with a total of 8. It is much easier to parallel park in D.C. though, you know exactly when to stop. Everyone simply backs up until they see the car behind their coveted spot moves, because their car just tapped it. Then when a driver turns the cars wheels and heads forward, the stopping point is when that car moves. What you end up with is a sidewalk lined with neatly parked cars, simply inches from each other. If a staffer plans on staying in D.C. for just a year or two, they may not bother to change their license plate. The fee is something like 6% of your cars value. So just getting a street permit for parking on the street takes about 8 hours after you find out what your cars exact value is, get in the four-hour line to get the okay for a D.C. license plate, and finally are able to pick it up. If you do not go through this process, and are parked on the street, you start getting tickets. It starts at around $100, then increases quickly each day that the parking ticketers notice your non-D.C. plates. The Metro in D.C. is very helpful, but it doesn't get you everywhere. Cars are definitely advantageous at times, but I wouldn't buy it.

One last thing I didn't realize until a few weeks ago; Washington, D.C. is on the East Coast. I went to New York and Baltimore with little money and planning, and was able to spend a short amount of time traveling. I wish I would have headed south for Twins Spring Training, but there is always next time.

Also, this means vacations to the Bahamas and the Caribbean are much more inexpensive and less time-consuming than they would be from the MN area.

I'm going to head to the Nationals game, and then tonight I'm going to have supper with our next intern who I met when he was out to visit earlier this Spring. Tomorrow I am shipping out and packing up, and seeing the last couple of sights. Then early Tuesday I leave for Dulles so I can make it back to the great state of MN for the afternoon. That's all for now. We'll see if I have anything else to reflect about as my life goes on...

It's Over

2007-05-18T21:33:00.000-06:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, that's it. I finished my 10 page paper. It was a lot of fun.

My final day of being a Congressional intern was also today. It was my last day to roam free through the Capitol, skip the the front of the line, and give people advice with credentials to back me up. Now, I'm worthless, just another citizen. I do not know what this has done to me yet. I feel so disconnected knowing I am not in the middle of everything I want to learn about. It gives me shivers just thinking about it. Wait, no, that's just my drafty $550 apartment (which is open if anyone wants a room that is 8 x 16 with smelly water and a worse smelling bathroom). Okay, so I haven't complained much about my apartment until now, well I am going to. I feel like I want to spill my guts about everything just so the next person who thinks they might want to skip school for the betterment of the nation has more to go off than I did. I don't mean this to be a sob story, but more of a, I'm glad it's over, glad I did it the way I did it, but I wouldn't advise it and will never do it again.

First of all, I want to let everyone know that I was definitely not the typical intern. The biggest barrier was not being 21. Okay, so it does not really matter for Congressional work, and I would not drink that much if I was legally able to anyways (I'm kind of tight with my money. Kind of, because I just don't like spending it on alcohol, but I can always have more food. I also don't like spending it on clothing, but new athletic shoes or a hat are always a good buy.). But I was held out of two receptions that were very entertaining from what I heard. I also missed out on the D.C. nightlife, which is basically all there is to do out here between the hours of whenever you get off work and 9 am. Sure, there is tons to see as a tourist, but after my first month, I was no longer a tourist. Monuments and museums can only do so much for me. My only other outlet besides my homework was softball. Thank god for softball.

That brings my to my second point that makes me atypical, I was still a student. Between not wanting to get behind on credits and possibly losing out on umpteen thousand dollars of scholarship money (kind of, more like $4,000) I decided to take a total of 19 credits (with 15 being average) while I was out here. I am happy I did, as my only other option would have been a $80 fake I.D. While much cheaper, I think I taught myself a lot more about studying. Anyway, I have one scholarship that expires after 4 years of school, so missing a semester full-time would have been confusing, and full-time is only 13 credits.
My original class was my 13 credit political science class, which is the main reason I'm writing this blog, as well as the reason I have analyzed and learned more about this internship than I possibly could have on my own. I had a great professor for this class based on email who seemed to know a lot about agriculture, so that was totally worth the money.
But then I had to take 16, because I had signed up for 15 credits before I knew I had the internship. This resulted in either me shelling out a few hundred dollars, or taking another class (at least 2 credits to bring me to 15). All online classes were at least 3 credits, and the one I chose was in my major. Actually, it was all based on blogging, you can see it here. It was a lot of fun, and I got an A. Finally I had 3 credits from a class I started last June that I received a 2-month extension on as I prepared and took this internship. So it was originally due March 15, but I will finish it up on Wednesday when I take my final exam.
The moral of the story is, if you come out here, stay busy. I don't care if you take in the night life, sit in your room and do homework, or join as many sports leagues as you can, just do it.

Second, I would advise you to keep a blog. I have traveled what I would consider a lot for my age. I have always been told to keep a diary of some kind, and on the two trips I have, I remember them much more vividly and have fonder memories. The best part about a blog is that others can read it. I will admit that I did get a stern talking to my first week of work. My superiors found my name through Google's powerful search as I continually mentioned Collin's name or the Farm Bill, and just advised me not to do anything that would get me or them in trouble. I do not know how all staffs would feel about a blog, but mine was fine with it after they read through it and got the idea that I was not trying to take down the Ag. Committee. The best part, as I was getting to, is that other can read it, and I have been closer with all my family (albeit via email) than since I was a new born baby and they came to see me. I don't think I'm attention starved, but when I received a card in the mail from my great-grandma with a message of approval, that was a great feeling. You can also broadcast when your birthday is and be sure to get many more cards and presents, and if you live in a crappy apartment they may be more likely to send money. Okay, so I wasn't planning that, but it worked out well. To be honest, I still need to send the thank you cards. I told my mom I had them written and ready to go, which is true, but they are still just ready to go. It turns out having your mom deal with all your postal needs as you grow up is not the best benefactor for postal independence.

Third, expect the unexpected; that is, just react to things and be adaptable and confident. I did not really understand my duties the first few weeks of my internship. Was it okay for me to take a 15 minute lunch? 30? 45? When other staff members say that they are going to run errands (a.k.a. "X-GTRE" in blackberry talk) was I able to do that? If someone calls and says they need to talk to Collin Peterson, how do I know if they are important? Should I even bother someone about it? If they are, what is Collin's number?
It was these examples that made life pretty confusing at first. After a while I just figured out that lunch depends on the day. I had time for anywhere from zero, during hearing-filled weeks, to a few hours during recess. I could run errands as long as someone else could cover the desk, and I got Collin's number, but I can't give it out.

Fourth, embrace the culture that is "The Hill". I could have seen the suits coming, the signing of documents, or even the seven steps it took to get a waste basket next to my desk, but there is so much more I didn't see coming. The Hill is like a college campus, mostly because 80% of its inhabitants are 35 years and younger. Fresh out of college, everyone knows how to work hard, and play hard as well. The hours are similar to college, get up to go through your normal routine, but you might be up all night reading, writing, or sitting through a boring meeting or markup. But you need to do it to get the grade. Then, after 40 hours in the first three days of a week, the local bar is looking like a good place to relax with your friends. You lose even more sleep, but that is how you make the relationships to make things work. I did miss out on the bar scene, but it might be one thing that draws me back.

Five, you're an intern. I mean this in two ways. One, because you're a political science major with straight A's does not mean you're going to excel on the hill. You may be ahead of some people, but the staff will be sure to let you know that you are not at the level to do their job. By the way, I was a very lucky intern. I knew many interns, and most of them gave tours, some two or three per day. Not all interns are as privileged as I was, I am thankful for that, but I still was doing some grunt work (i.e. moving boxes, like today at 5 p.m. when my mind was already in Minnesota). The other way I mean is that you are an intern! You didn't get selected to be on the hill because you are Joe Schmoe (who could also do pretty well out here). But, since you're out here, don't make yourself look inferior. My general rule was that if I pretended like I knew what I was doing, I did unless someone else knew better. Because every day is different, there are people who have been around for years, but would not remember if you are doing something right or wrong.

Well, I think I've unloaded as much as I can. If I get inspired, maybe I'll write tomorrow. I am going to say the most memorable parts of my internship were meeting the Administrator for a USDA service a few weeks ago and meeting Drew Berrymore and answering a couple of her questions.
On the other end, there was recess. Not doing anything for a few days was fine, but the 10-day Easter break was a killer. Luckily for staff they usually have enough vacation days to go somewhere, but the sun outside was torture as I sat and read about how the Twins were doing in Spring Training and wrote an email to anyone I could think of.

I have two softball games tomorrow, I'm excited. I can't wait to get home, find the Twins easily on TV, or head down the street for a Saints game. That's it, I'm inspired, sometime this weekend I will write about some differences and similarities from MN to DC. Goodnight.

One More Day

2007-05-17T20:04:00.000-06:00

Okay, I feel bad because I have been writing less and less during the end of my internship, but homework is much more fun than keeping everyone updated on my life.

Actually, I'll give a quick rundown, then I'll try to explain more tomorrow after I finish my research paper.

This morning we held our first markup on some generally non-controversial bills the Agriculture Committee will send to the floor. After we adjourned and everyone cleared out of our packed room, we had 8 votes on the floor, then about 12 members came back for a press conference (packed just like the hearing, but 90% press) and the Democrats and Republicans laid out their plans and explained how they would work together. After that, the press asked a lot of questions, and the Chairman decided it was time to go.

I agree, it was more dramatic than that, but I have 10 pages to write. I'll talk tomorrow.

Two To Go

2007-05-16T16:41:00.000-06:00

I almost had a really great day, but it ended up being only a great one. The reason it was so great was the Omelet Luncheon put on by the United Egg Producers. I'll admit it, I had two, but we were able to make them ourselves and add whichever ingredients we wished. In the afternoon I thought I was going to meet Kent Hrbek on behalf of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), but he must have been double booked somewhere else. Then we received our bi-monthly shipment of milk from LandO'Lakes (and I have been put in charge of saying what happens with the 60 bottles we get) and the leftover brownies and cookies from the reception arrived at the same time.

Okay, so that was all about food, but we were also preparing for our first markup (and the only one I will get to experience) that takes place tomorrow. This is not Farm Bill related, but we will be going through three bills that shouldn't be too controversial from my personal estimation. They include the 25X25 Act, the STOPP Act about eminent domain, and the Hunters for the Hungry program.

That's all, I'm going to try to keep on cranking out homework. Two days left.

Rewriting the Bible

2007-05-15T17:45:00.000-06:00

Our hearing today on produce safety was taped by C-SPAN, but for once we only had to use one room for a hearing that was picked up by a TV channel.

I am now spending my days preparing for the end, and a new beginning. While it sounds like Genesis and Revelations, I am just another step in the process. I mean the people at work care about me, but I'm gone this Friday, and the office needs to be as efficient as possible. The new interns will most likely be behind, so I am making sheet after sheet to update them on everything we have been doing, and also to better understand the processes we did not get right away.

One sheet I made today could be pretty controversial, and shows just how important some bureaucratic (not that I'm using it in the derogatory sense) approval can be in this government entity (or any corporation). My Bible, Catechism and Hymnal for the first couple weeks was our Staff Issue Assignment sheet. This piece of paper included the names of our staff who received mail about issues, and which issues each staffer covered. Because we are still adding staff, it would be very hard to complete an updated version (the current one is very outdated) now, but I would not want to be the next intern stuck without it. So I made one myself, but was reminded that it needed to be hidden. Should a staffer on our committee see the sheet and assume that it is official, they may be offended. Everybody wants their areas, their section of work. If the person who covers, for example, parliamentary procedure,--something not stated explicitly in our Subcommittees' jurisdictions--sees "taxes" under someone else's name, they may see this as a revocation of some of their work, or power. Therefore while this document will save everyone a lot of headaches (as mail could get put in the wrong places and calls may be sent to the wrong phone), the release of this document could also be harmful in case of a miscommunication. If all goes well, it will be saved for the interns' eyes only. If not, let's hope the staff are paying attention to my blog today.

Well, it's crazy to say, but there are simply 3 days left. I need to finish up homework now so I can play softball and pack this weekend. I will be home next Tuesday, and I'm already getting emails from aunts and uncles, who shall remain unidentified, that want me to come help me teach their social studies class (I bet that didn't narrow it down). I guess after you're out here, you're a big deal.

The Final Countdown

2007-05-14T19:33:00.000-06:00

Besides a war protest that shut down Independence Avenue (the road in-between the Capitol and the House Office Building) with about 20 people staging a sit-in in the middle of the street, today was normal, but a lot more work. I am down one intern, but I was able to get through the day, even squeeking in the much-needed (and inexpensive) haircut.

We held a hearing on crop insurance and have our final hearing tomorrow before we begin our work on the Farm Bill (hopefully next week).

My entries are probably going to be short for this final week as I finish up my research paper about Horse Slaughter (H.R. 503) and a few other papers I should get done by Friday. Saturday we have a double-header for Minnesota Alumni Softball, then Sunday-Tuesday I'm packing up and heading home, with a little sight-seeing mixed in.

Party Time

2007-05-11T22:16:00.000-06:00

The morning was going slowly. We figured since it was the other intern's last day, we would be taking it pretty easy, and generally we were. At noon we had our farewell party for the two of us, and it was great to have everyone together, because the stress level in the office is pretty high. In fact, the rest of the staff is working tomorrow morning.

Anyway, I took my best friend to see the floor of the house, and she was pretty impressed. After that it was about 4:00. We then had to move a lot of furniture. So much so that Gabe's last day ended up being a last day plus 30 minutes. It was still a memorable day.

Next week we have two hearings planned. I thought it was rough with only two interns, well it looks like I will find out what flying solo is all about on Monday and Tuesday. One week left, and I'm playing tour guide this weekend.

Visitors

2007-05-10T21:57:00.000-06:00

Today I had a lot of good fortune, two women that I was glad to see came to our committee room. We also had two hearings.

The first girl that arrived was my best friend that I actually hadn't seen for about 6 months. She will be spending the weekend hanging out with me.

The second visitor was Drew Berrymore, on behalf of the UN. She had a 4:00 with the chairman, and talked to me before she went in. She asked me what I had learned and how long I was staying, while I was being taped by one of her two video crews.

Anyways, it's past my bedtime because I played softball and showed my guest the monuments.

CSPAN and the Pool, 2nd round

2007-05-09T20:08:00.000-06:00

We had our hearing on the findings of melamine in animal feed. It was a very packed hearing and we had coverage from CSPAN as well as the networks. CSPAN will air it sometime this weekend.

This afternoon I worked on a variety of projects for our upcoming hearings. Tomorrow we have double duty, and we start at 8 am. Today was the minority intern's last day, and Friday is our other intern's last day. I have simply 7 days left, weird.

I'm being quick so I can work on homework and wake up on time.

Animal Welfare Hearing

2007-05-08T19:06:00.000-06:00

We had our hearing about the welfare of animals in agriculture today, and it went as most expected it to. You can read reports about it from the Cattle Network here and the Brownfield Network here. There were also press releases from organizations like the Center for Consumer Freedom.

We had a line started at 9 am, when I arrived, and it grew by our 10:30 start. Not included in that line were also 12 witness, each with a guest, making our "public" section of our large committee room shrink from 36 to about 10 (when it is usually 20-25). We also allow 10 people to stand in the back corner, and then we had an overflow room that seats another 50, which was about 3/4 full. I watched the door for the first 2 panels and could tell the tension in everyone's face as they walked in and out of the hearing room. I was able to sit in our overflow room for the third panel, and I can say things got a little dicey.

This afternoon after cleaning up the hearing I took a few projects here and there, but spent most of my time researching to see if we had any press coverage of our committee hearing (such as with the honey bee hearing, when it was everywhere immediately after the hearing was over). But no such luck, as former House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Stenholm (who was a witness today) said, "What we've got to do is find a way is get that story out to where more of the non-agricultural press begin to pick up on what we're really doing in agriculture, not what some people say we are." It should be noted that the only two reports I found were the two stories linked above.

In my view animal agriculture is just starting to realize they need to put money into education about animal welfare specifically. The difference is, animal agriculture organizations are also spending money on trade, disease control, research, and a plethora of other issues to keep food safe, low cost, and efficient. On the other hand, animal rights organizations focus solely on animal rights.

Growing up on a farm I didn't see any need to have training on animal welfare; being nice to animals just comes with the territory. Starving a cow because it didn't win an award or produce enough milk just doesn't make sense; it makes your goals more improbable. The same with putting pigs in gestation crates (which of course just sounds like a bad name, and is a good reason the people of Arizona were swayed to outlaw the one hog farm there from using them. I learned in 10th grade English that Americans love alliterations. Why not call them pregnancy pens, or birthing booths?), it surely is not to make the pigs uncomfortable during one of the most stressful times of their life, it is to save the lives of piglets (as noted today, the number of piglets per litter has increased from about 7 to 10 since the inception of the technology).

*Those are purely my opinions and a review of my experiences growing up on a farm. They in no way express or reflect the opinions of the Committee.

9 Work Days and Counting...

2007-05-07T21:05:00.000-06:00

The morning went by as I was half sleeping from our tiring trip to New York City. Feel free to see my pictures in my albums by clicking here for album 1, here for album 2, and here for album 3.

This afternoon I started doing some background research for our hearing on Thursday, which, as I have been reminded 50 times, is my brothers birthday. In my research I summarized the 4 components of USDA research, ARS, ERS, NASS, and CSREES. These are my favorite kinds of projects, learning more about the tools I use or have heard about. I'm going to bed early because I spent a long time arranging my Facebook albums (click on the links in the first paragraph) and mostly because I'm really tired.

Tomorrow is THE Livestock, Dairy and Poultry hearing I've been looking forward to. Feel free to tune in online, it should get pretty interesting. If you don't, I'll try to fill you in tomorrow.

Grand Finale

2007-05-04T22:03:00.000-06:00

It was a slow day, but we finally released the hearing that I have been doing a little work with, one on Animal Welfare. It's pretty controversial, but I think almost everyone will be happy after the hearing is over. I have paged through the testimony, and it was what I would expect. This could be quite the hearing, we'll see.
Also today we were briefed on both Animal Welfare and the USDA Checkoff programs. The Congressional Research Service does a really good job of providing both sides of these things.

After work I was invited to my best meeting ever, a one-on-one with a high-up person at USDA. I am not going to release the name just for privacy reasons (and because I would show up on Google Alerts more than I already do).. but in summary I was able to have a full hour with one of the most knowledgeable people I could possibly have access to. I thought it would be a 15-minute meet and greet, but after 20 minutes of talking, he simply asked, "Well, what else would you like to know?" So during the rest of the time I just tried to dig as deep as I could to get questions that I just always wondered about. I leave for New York at 3:00 am, so I'm just going to stay up. I have simply 2 weeks left, plus a weekend and a Monday for site-seeing. We're actually STILL moving stuff in, which is what our other intern got stuck doing all day. I've had my own days, and I'm honestly scared about the week where I will be the only intern, and we will not be having hearings (as we will be gathering the information from all the previous hearings and begin to formulate our mark-up, or at least thats my perception between what I have been told and what I have seen). Have a good weekend!

Still doing homework

2007-05-03T17:33:00.000-06:00

I missed out on yesterday because my Internet connection was being crappy. Today I have some homework due at tomorrow midnight central time, so I'm going to try and do it tonight because me and a friend are going to New York for the weekend via Amtrak. We plan on seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Empire State Building, World Trade Center Site, Times Square, Chinatown, and attend a Yankee's game among other things. Please let me know if you have some suggestions of places I NEED to get to in two long days (6 am Saturday to 11 pm Sunday) or things within the places I've listed that I may want to check out (i.e. Times Square).

Since I'm trying to get to work, I'm going to give only a short summary of yesterday and today:
Wednesday
We had a hearing on the USDA's leak of social security numbers on its website, tech people from all over the district showed up. I didn't hear much, but I guess it was a big deal that was in the news. Other than that we started work on our hearings next week.

Today there was not much going on, the Iraq bill is still in conference, which leaves our Ag. disaster aid hanging in the air. I'm not really sure if we're going to be stripped out of the bill and have to find some other means or if the bill can pass, as is, with only the troop pull-out deadline removed. In our office there wasn't much going on besides paper work as we prepared for next week. Actually I did a lot of work in the Congressional Records, which I will talk about more tomorrow if I remember.

Pie in the Sky

2007-05-01T18:05:00.000-06:00

We all worked double duty for our two-hearing day. The crowds were small enough that I could work on other projects, so I did not get to hear much of the information. The hearing on Crop Insurance started at 10:00 am and was over just after noon. We started up again at 1:00 with a hearing about Rural Broadband (or the lack thereof) and the digital divide. One of my projects included helping to formulate this press release, which was released at about 6 pm tonight. The other project was my continual wading through the pool of Farm Bill proposals. This time we eliminated a few, giving me a better idea of what it was going to look like. I was out of the office by 6:30, as I had an award-winning reception to attend.

Okay, so there are no reception awards, but hill dwellers working long hours do know what good food tastes like, and pie is good food. After being ridiculed at Easter by my Uncle, I suggested that I would tone down the comments what I eat. But, tonight's reception has topped them all, a pie reception, with over 15 different kinds of pie, along with food and refreshments. It was put on by a trucking association, maybe because truckers are as American as pie? I'm not sure, but I'm glad they did. One note about these receptions is that you really don't have to be invited to the majority of them. The organizations just like the publicity and awareness, but usually have some sort of tie into their product (i.e. National Cattleman's Beef and Outback Steakhouse teaming up), but I guess truckers truck just about everything. I was not invited, but a good reception can be a packed party in minutes as staffers get on their Blackberries to let their friends know about the good eats.

We have a full committee hearing tomorrow on a subject I am not to familiar with, the release of Social Security numbers and the USDA's information systems. I'm not certain if there was a mistake in the past or if a problem is on the horizon, but that's why hearings are open to the public. I'll find out tomorrow and fill you in.

Speaking of filling in, I had a lot of pie. But don't worry, I didn't eat any real food so I'm not that full.

Top of the World

2007-04-30T19:12:00.000-06:00

This week we started with a packed field of four hearings, but this Thursday's was postponed. We now sit with a packed field of three hearings. We have two tomorrow and a full committee hearing on Wednesday. Thursday's hearing was also supposed to be for the full committee. The interns were given the duty of writing the press releases for each of tomorrow's hearings. Although they are close to the same every time as far as what they discuss and how uncontroversial they are, it is nice to have something "official" that can be shown as my own work.

On the hill today there were no votes as Members of Congress attended the funeral of Juanita Millender-McDonald, CA, who died last Sunday. While this is the second death among Members of Congress in my short tenure here, it is interesting that work goes on. Letters are written to the office addressed to Vacancy, instead of the members name, followed by the state and district. The staff there still stays on full-time trying to meet with constituents and work with other Members to get their views heard. But, the office itself does not have a vote on the floor until a successor is appointed.

Because of the limited business on the floor, we were able to swiftly complete our setup for our hearings tomorrow morning and tomorrow afternoon.

In other news, the Historic Eastern Market building burned this morning, and I doubt it will be back in business before I leave. I was able to eat there a few times, and even take my family once, for the famous buckwheat pancakes for breakfast. It is an open market frequented by Members of Congress, Senators, and of course their staff as a good place for breakfast or fresh goods.

This weekend my girlfriend came to visit, but she was hard to impress as she had been here only a few years ago. We hit the highlights and I got my first view from the top of Washington Monument, a place my grandpa said he had climbed with a friend over a half century ago. The steps are shut down for climbing on the way up, but the elevator is a nice 5 minute ride to the top.

The Candidate Debate

2007-04-26T17:45:00.000-06:00

I am currently watching the Democratic Candidate Debate for President on MSNBC. Nothing surprising right now, but it's funny that the current questions are coming via email from across the country. Times are changing. Also, they are broadcasting live on cable and the internet, but just dropped network TV

Today we held a quick hearing on crop provisions in the Farm Bill, and with that we were done for the week. This morning I was able to finish my "to do" list and was able to work on homework for the internship class in which I'm enrolled. Not too much going on tomorrow as I was given a half day since we stayed late last week and my girlfriend is coming to town.

That's all I have to report for the day, which is good, as we have a bunch of hearings to exhaust us next week. The days are winding down, only 3 weeks left.

Between Iraq and a Hard Place

2007-04-25T16:44:00.000-06:00

While we await the Iraq Supplemental's speculated initial veto, renegotiation and final passage, farmers wait and listen. If you don't know the story, a whole bunch of emergency aid and programs were put into the Iraq War Supplemental bill, including two things that are held dear by the Ag. Committee: MILC and disaster aid relief for 2005-07 (you get to pick one of three years). While most of the projects are needed, they were put in to help add votes (a.k.a. to entice Republicans to vote) for the bill. For us, we sit and wait, not so much worried about the war (that is, we care about the war, but as a committee we have no opinion), but to see if our needed legislation will be passed. In the case of disaster aid, it will help a lot of the country, including our farmers in the Red River Valley as well as the Citrus farmers in California, (a full list can be found here, albeit from a Republican and critical perspective, but it was the only one I could find) but most of these projects are needs (at least in the political sense) for both sides, and especially for agriculture. Also, MILC would add a few billion more dollars to our baseline budget number, giving us a little more money to work with. There's a quick explanation of something we get speculative emails about in the office all the time, as the bill nears final passage.

The Farm Bill proposals are rolling in, and I have organized them by area, organization and title (of the Farm Bill) today. I guess you could say I have a pretty good idea of what the House Farm Bill is going to look like, but it would be really hard to explain. Basically, go to the website of every non-governmental organization affiliated with agriculture, find their proposal, and find happy mediums between all the arguments, then mix them with Mr. Peterson's stated opinions, and you have yourself a farm bill. We prepared for our hearing tomorrow on the crop proposals, and a few more next week (even two on Wednesday, that should be fun). Happy days!

Secrets and Whispers

2007-04-24T17:49:00.000-06:00

I am able to reveal one of yesterday's "big secrets", which is not really that big (as I explained already), and no longer a secret. The project I was working on was simply summarizing some points about wind energy, as the Chairman testified in front of the Ways and Means Committee about farmers (or rural landowners or whomever) getting a tax credit of $25,000 for building a windmill (or wind turbine), which costs upwards of $40,000-80,000 for a smaller one, up to $2 million for the most economically efficient (the ones used at big wind farms). Although our staff had given him a one page testimonial to read from, Mr. Peterson usually chooses not to, and this was the case today. As he was giving his explanation he rattled off an exact sentence that I had written for him, about how much can be expected for renting land for this use (about $4000). I was only halfway listening and looking around the huge Ways and Means Committee room (which, by the way, is held as one of the top committees to be on in the House, as it deals with a lot of taxes and therefore income, or lack thereof) and the staffer who gave me the project leaned over and whispered, wow, he read your sheet.

The other big stories for the day were our subcommittee hearing for Milk Marketing Orders (I watched the door, but read every single piece of testimony in that time), me being legally taken out to lunch (and no, I'm not saying I have illegally been taken out to lunch in the past) by employees of the University of Minnesota (because state colleges and university's are exempt), and the fire drill that took place after our subcommittee hearing but before we needed to testify before Ways and Means. All in all, another good day.

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

2007-04-23T18:09:00.000-06:00

We're all back at work for another week, just for you. At least those of you who aren't in the group of tax-evading citizens of America... and I was hard at work (although I am no part of taxpayer money) too. This weekend however I took my time up to Baltimore to catch an Oriole's game. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful stadium, and I'm getting really excited for the Twins to open their new venue a few years down the road. Also, on this trip me and my travelmate decided that since we are on the east coast, we might as well head up to New York. I think we're going to do that in a few weeks and catch a Yankees/Mariners game while we're up there.

I did my normal Monday routine and then I had a really exciting day. I did research, and sat in on a cool meeting. Unfortunately, I cannot say what the research was for at this time (but should be able to later this week) as it was for a committee hearing and the witness lists are not yet published. Then I sat in on one of the best meetings ever. I again cannot say what it was about, but it was pertinent to the Farm Bill. Basically another Congressperson came to Mr. Peterson with an idea for the Farm Bill. Last week I was put in charge of writing the memo directly to Collin to explain to him in 5-10 bullet points what the 5 pages of information I got was about. Collin, the other Congressperson, a proposer from said-Congresman's district, two staff members and I sat in Collin's office discussing it (of course by discuss I mean the proposer and the two Congressmen, with the staff at times nodding their heads yes or no, and me sitting there quietly, halfway in awe of where I was) and seeing everyone's reactions. It was a great time, that's all I can say.

These two things I cannot talk about are pretty funny. There are a lot of things that just are not yet public, and these are two fine examples. They mean possibly nothing, as both may never need to have been discussed or researched in the first place, but that's the great part about democracy, everyone has a voice, it just depends on who is listening. And from our meeting, I can tell how much Collin really really cares. I wish I was being paid to write this, but he seems to care more about doing stuff right, and that's my personal opinion. While we were in his office, he had no one to impress to get re-elected, and the meaning and feeling he put into what he was saying about the Farm Bill and what "we" need (we - meaning the people of the 7th district) was just great to watch. I cannot say whether all Members feel that way, but the two in the office (both Ag. Comm. Members) sure talked like it with no cameras around. Also, being on the Ag. Committee obviously isn't a place to be to get famous, at least it wasn't until now. They went on to talk about the Farm Bill and the money that they thought we should have for it, and neither of these two Members thought their work was done. They have been talking to the leadership, and I think they will keep talking.

Well, now that everyone is thoroughly confused I will just conclude by saying it was the best meeting I have ever been to in my life, and probably will stay that way for some time. It also gave me the best sense of what democracy is all about, and a good look into what a Congressman should be. Again, I try to write this blog in my opinion, and I have never been scolded or praised at work for expressing my opinions on here, but I will just say this: Mr. Peterson is doing his job, and doing it well, and I wish him lots of luck in the future after what I saw today. He's a good man.

Nice and Sunny

2007-04-20T17:24:00.000-06:00

We ended a busy work week, both on the floor as well as in our Committee, with a busy Thursday and Friday.

Yesterday I got a little side-tracked, and decided sleep was a good thing to have. The Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research Subcommittee held a hearing on the proposals for the Conservation Title to the farm bill. I stood guard for a while, as this was our best attended hearing yet, but was able to put a simple note on the doors asking people to enter quietly about 2/3 of the way in. Yesterday afternoon slowed down some, but we were watching the debate as to whether Washington, D.C. (and Utah, adding 2 total seats) would be approved to have a delegate in the House of Representatives (which passed in the House, and is on its way to the Senate). During the hearing my good friends Al Franken and Dick Gephardt stopped by. Okay, while they are not my close friends, Franken really does have a sense of humor, you can hear his laugh halfway down the hall, and Dick Gephardt, well, he lost the presidential nomination for the democratic party to Kerry in 2004.

Today was kind of retying all the knots that came loose during the week. With three hearings in three days, we go through a lot of paper (while we print double sided, recycle into newsprint, mixed, and white, and conserve and reuse as much as we can), miss a lot of calls and emails, and have projects which were pushed back during the week all due at the same time. I got a few small things I had set aside earlier done this morning, but at noon I was kindly reminded that I had a book full of information due at 1:30. I was already done, so I was heading to lunch, when I was reminded that the book needed to be done in triplicate. I remembered this and frantically tried to put two additional books together in an hour and a half. Luckily, I had already printed off the materials for the final books, I just had to rearrange the pages, make tabs and labels, and get them all exactly identical. When the requester of my project walked in to ask me if I wanted to head to lunch at 1:25, I thought he was joking. "Oh, yeah, sorry, that meeting got canceled, [Member's name] took an earlier flight home." So I finished the books by 1:30 anyway since I was on pace to, and had a free afternoon to get ready for next week.

This weekend looks like it is going to be 80 degrees and clear. This will be perfect as a friend and I are heading to Baltimore to check out the National Aquarium, take in an Oriole's game at Camden Yards, and take the train back all in 12 hours. Why the National Aquarium is in Baltimore, I'm not sure, but at least it gives us something else to do! Amtrack is pretty affordable for the short 40 ride each way, so I looked up a ride to Minneapolis. It costs twice as much as a plane ticket and can last for 4 days! Thank God for airplanes.

Organic Chemistry

2007-04-18T19:25:00.000-06:00

As with most days revolving around a hearing, there was some work today. Everything went as planned for our 10 am hearing on Organic agriculture. We also tried using our overflow room, with live audio and video from the main room. It worked quite well, but the crowd was not big enough to flow over.

I watched the door, and was only able to sit in for the last 20 minutes of testimony and questions. It was interesting, I actually learned a lot about the Organic way of life. It was funny watching the crowd react as there were people in the crowd who were upset with the way things were worded and I, well never mind, that's all I should say.

This afternoon we put away the room for a reception (which was great, sorry Brian, I'll leave out the food details) and started preparing for tomorrow's hearing. While sitting at the front desk creating documents for tomorrow's hearing we got some calls to inform us that today was the day of action for elephants. The people calling just told (those of us at the front desk) us that today was the day of action, we said "Okay?", and they would politely say thank you and goodbye.

Tomorrow we have a hearing for the Subcomittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research discussing the USDA Farm Bill conservation programs. One important thing that happened today for that subcommittee is that Joe Donnelly of Indiana has been appointed to fill the vacancy. I haven't figured out why the vacancy existed yet, but I will probably find out tomorrow.

When it Rains, it Pours

2007-04-17T18:34:00.000-06:00

The activity level has risen. Room 1300 has completed its first hearing. The Farm Bill creation process is officially underway (as it has been for a while, but we're back from a break). The upcoming hearings (probably about 10 in the next month) will be precursors to the business meetings the Subcommittees and full Committee holds as I am leaving. Of course the schedule is subject to change, but I figure I will see virtually all of the "inputs" for the Farm Bill. As I return to MN, I think the "outputs" from the Congressmen will begin production.

Today's hearing had the purpose to review the market structure for the livestock industry. We had three panels; the first was administration, the second industry representatives, and the third was producers from the various species. This hearing was partly designated as "mine". The upcoming hearings were divided up, and I was given some duties not part of my normal routine. For this hearing I was to contact the witnesses, send invitations, and create an informational book for the Chairman of the Subcommittee which will be updated with current events as time goes on. For doing this, our Staff Director allowed me to sit on the dias (in the corner behind where the Members sit) with the rest of the staff to observe from there. For the first two hours of the hearing I had a semi-emergency project that I had to redo about 8 times as new data and requirements were added. I was still able to see the last half of the hearing from a different view than my normal position outside the door. It was very interesting observing the reactions of my staff, and the Members as the hearing progressed. Members are handed questions to ask if they can decipher the quick jottings of the staff as the situation changes, and it creates for the possibility of a hearing heading in a much different direction from where it was intended. This was especially true in a debate where we could see a battle between the two sides taken on the amount of regulation and bureaucracy needed in meat inspection.

We have two more hearings Wednesday and Thursday, and tomorrow's is the first ever review of economic impacts of production, processing, and marketing of organic agricultural products. I would imagine it would be well attended but, like today's hearing, we have much more room and even allow people to stand in our larger full committee room. Another nice thing is that during our set up we have little to do, as our normal installation of microphones takes only minutes instead of hours, because the cords disappear into the floor and dias instead of needing to be strategically gathered and taped.

Time rolls on, I have basically one month left, and if it weren't for my living conditions after work I don't know if I would be ready to leave. I'm heading to an Oriole's game at Camden Yards this weekend by train. For just $35 I can take a 40 minute train each way for a Sunday matinée. I'm excited. I love baseball. I miss the Twins and am stuck watching the (COUGHhorribleCOUGH) Nationals and Orioles play on the area's virtually all-baseball network. I am going to try to make it to a Nat's game at some time before I leave, but I bet the experience would be much better in next year's brand new ballpark, it looks pretty nice.

Back to Work

2007-04-16T22:38:00.000-06:00

After a few weeks of needed and deserved rest, we were able to use it all up and become stressful and tired again. This is only the beginning. Today was literally 12 hours in the office, I left at 9 pm. 1 and 2 am are probably not unattainable feats as time rolls on. This sounds absolutely awful to someone who has never heard of staying at work that late. But then again, starting work at 9 am has its tendencies to eat away at evenings and nights more quickly. The work we were doing was important, and needed to be done. It wasn't as stressful as it was time consuming. Of course I would say what it was if I could, but it is just better at times when we are left alone to do our work and finish the product before having people criticize us (not that we would be criticized for this work, but, well, everyone needs a little privacy).

This week will have a few hearings. Tomorrow's is on the market structure of the livestock industry will probably be drawn out as you can imagine the many geographies and industries that want to have a say about livestock policy.

One minor emergency was changing out of letterhead in the office. Because of one spelling mistake as well as two recent name changes (a marriage and a nickname preference) we decided to print new letterhead because it is so early in the session. We then had to dispose of all the old letterhead because while most people could probably figure out the small changes that were made, it could potentially cause some confusion. If not confusion, it could cause angers by Members of Congress that were particular about the way their name was presented, which in a formal setting such as ours I totally understand. Especially when many people do not know who their Representative is, so if they were looking for Tim, and saw Tiim, they may keep looking for somebody else.

One thing about being in the center of it all is that we are always watching the news. While many people may not have heard much about the shootings at Virginia Tech until the evening news once they were done with work, we had most of the story early, just as CNN started reporting. It is such a small world on the Hill (because everyone knows someone from somewhere) that a few people in my office immediately reached out to friends that were on or near campus at the school (which is relatively nearby) and we had heard a facsimile of the explanation finally provided later in the afternoon by officials and reporters about 6 hours earlier via cellphone. Everything that happened today was of course a tragedy, and I was disappointed that the media even thought to question the level of security on campus and decision not to cancel classes early in the morning. I think they can wait a while longer before raising blame for an uncontrollable situation. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families affected, and hope to never hear of a similar tragedy again.

Well, it's past my bedtime and my alarm tomorrow can't be moved any later.

Happy Friday!

2007-04-13T19:14:00.000-06:00

I will be back to my regularly scheduled blogging Monday morning. The off weeks were nice, we have finished 1300 as far as I know, and will be using it beginning next week.

Also, I was invited backstage to the Ringling Brothers Circus... the pictures aren't that great because we were in the Armory with gymnasium-type lighting, but it was a great experience.

This picture of the elephant was taken in the basement of the Armory, where the elephants were caged only by strings, seriously. Posts stood about 3 feet high and strings ran between them holding the elephants in relatively large areas. It was pretty amazing.

The other picture is the only known Zedonk (a zebra crossed with a donkey) that can do a hind leg stand. Ringling has gone away from the "ringed" circus and has updated their facilities. We were actually standing and watching this trick on the main floor, which is now basically flat with a banked curve on one end for motorcycles and horses.

Have a great weekend!

Crayfish Broil

2007-03-29T19:13:00.000-06:00

I had crayfish from Louisiana for the first time ever. It was a reception held in the basement of my building which featured cooked crayfish and some alligator jambalaya. It was pretty good stuff, and the crayfish is pretty good if you can get past the whole part that it looks disgusting. It was described to me: as beef is to venison, crab is to crayfish. It's definitely a little spicy.
Speaking of broiling, that's what our Subcommittee hearing was today. We had TV cameras from a number of places including C-SPAN and the "pool" (ABC, NBC, CNN, etc.) feed as well as the Discovery channel and others. This made everything a little more hectic, but was good publicity for a problem that hasn't received much buzz (pun intended). Anyway, after that chaos was over, the rest of the day seemed to go by much slower, even though there were only a few hours left.
Gabe and I wrote some letters for upcoming hearings and prepared ourselves for a couple weeks of little activity. I have a few scholarship essays that need to be postmarked tomorrow, so I'm going to attend to that while letting my crayfish settle.

Shopping Spree

2007-03-28T18:03:00.000-06:00

The Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management held another packed hearing in 1302 as we await the final touches on 1300 (which may be a month from official opening). The room was filled to capacity, along with another room which was made for 25 people, but at one time held 40, just to hear the audio. That meant the interns had to be on our toes to make sure only the exact right number of people got in (divided by press, staff, witnesses and associates, and then the public). Tomorrow is going to be more of a zoo, maybe more like a beehive.
We are holding the Horticulture and Organic Agriculture hearing on Colony Collapse Disorder. While honeybees are thought of for honey, many people don't realize they add $15 billion (by USDA estimates in 2002) of value to US crops (especially specialty crops like almonds and apples). Therefore, this widespread 30-70% loss in bees would not only do damage to beekeepers, but producers (and everyone involved in the food-producing chain) as well. The reason I go into such great detail about this hearing and leave out a lot of information in hearings in the past is that people care. At least the people at C-SPAN, CNN and ABC News may care enough to shove some of their cameras into our already crowded hearing tomorrow. While this should take away only a limited number of seats, it makes our hearing a little more important as everyone will strive to make sure everything is done just right.
Luckily for me, I was able to stock up on some energy to night, we had three great receptions over the past couple of hours. The first one I attended was the National Cattleman's Beef Association/Outback Steakhouse Reception. They had salad, and buns along with all the shrimp, steak and lamb you could eat. For dessert they had Chocolate Chocolate Tower cake, and it was towering, not even I was able to finish it. Of course I may have scarfed it down had I had nothing better to do, but I was on my way to the Taco Bell reception. They had all the soft shell tacos you could eat (chicken and beef), along with enchiladas and nachos. Both events were packed from wall to wall as you can imagine, but tonights big winner for healthy was the California Agriculture Leadership Federation (I would imagine it as the MARL of California) event sponsored by Safeway (a large grocery store chain in the South). Here you could pick up all the oranges, strawberries, avocados, lettuce and spinach you could fit into your grocery bag. Of course at the bottom of the bag they had bumper stickers that encouraged you to eat spinach (something like 80% of the world's spinach comes from one California county, I heard it at a hearing once) and lettuce, because amid the recent scares the food supply is still safe.
As I said, I'm in for a long day tomorrow. Friday will be back to normal if there is such a thing, then the next two weeks we are out of session. This means a lot less work and for me no blogging! I actually get half of the first Monday off, so I will try to get into the Bureau of Engraving and Printing as well as the Supreme Court, or maybe just sleep in. Both sound like great options. Then I will be in Minnesota the Thursday Afternoon before Easter until Monday evening. This time I am going to do the smart thing; spend a little more and take the direct flight. I do not need to spend any more of my time in Milwaukee.

I'm Back

2007-03-27T19:13:00.000-06:00

... and don't worry, you didn't miss much. Friday was filled with big projects. Most of it was filling binders with reference material for Members and Staff, the rest was basically moving boxes or tables. My parents landed in the afternoon so I headed out early. We met Walt and his wife Mary in Union Station for a great 3 hour supper (yeah, supper, learn Minnesotan, it's cool) talking about our pasts and our family's past, and how we're all related, kind of. I was the itinerary maker for the weekend, and I think I wore them out a little.
On Saturday we had a Capitol tour by yours truly. I quickly showed them around the public area in the Library of Congress just a block away. We then hit the National Mall to the Air and Space and Natural History Museums as well as eating at the Museum of the American Indian Cafe. We went to the Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights et cetera, and found a big interesting exhibit (better than all the museums as far as friendly for the whole family) that was interactive and a place no one really knows about right behind the main Archives rotunda. We literally went home and took a nap, as I had them up early and to bed late for Minnesota time. That night we went on a DC Night Tour to see all the monuments, and it really is the best way to see the monuments (at night, not paying $30 a person for a tour).
Sunday we simply went to Arlington Cemetery and Mount Vernon. Both places are similar in that they are big and take some time just to get around, and the sites are sights themselves.
I went to work yesterday, where we were setting up for our hearing today on Credit. In the mean time I sent the family over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the International Spy Museum, and they said they enjoyed all three. I got House Gallery Passes for the whole family last night, and we were lucky to see three votes between 6:30 and 7:15, with about 408 Congressmen showing up. I still remember how different voting was than I thought it would be, and it was interesting to hear the questions that I now take for granted as simply a normal procedure. Then we went to Tortilla Coast last night for some chips, burritos and quesadillas.
This morning I came to their hotel for continental breakfast (it was overall an inexpensive weekend for me. Dad, not so much) and they flew out this afternoon. This morning we had our CCER Subcommittee hearing, with an overflow room! This eased some of the tension, but it will still be nice when 1300 opens up (we're working out the technical stuff, it takes time but needs to be done). Tonight a few of us stayed late to set up for tomorrow's hearing, on Crop Program changes. I've got that tomorrow morning, and set up for another hearing on Thursday, which is on the Colony Collapse Disorder in honeybees, that would be a fun one to sit in on, but I doubt I'll be able to as it affects not only honey bees but alfalfa and specialty crop producers (along with basically any other plants that need pollination).

GFW Loses in First Round of State

2007-03-22T17:32:00.000-06:00

I just listened to the second half of my highschool's first round state basketball game. In the game before theirs, favorite and 3-time reigning champion Braham lost to Maple River, another school down in my area. GFW looked like it had a good chance at winning a state title if it could get past Pequot Lakes, but they lost 57-40. It sounded like they had some unusual circumstances, a great guard getting injured and unable to return and their leading scorer and my best friend's younger brother had a foul mistakenly called on him late in the game. He fouled out but ended up with 19 of their 40 points. Pequot Lakes will most likely move onto the title, and I am flat out depressed, we were good enough to win.

In the office today I summarized some information for a Member, organized a staffer's background information and spent a lot of time waiting. We also had a briefing on Avian influenza, basically what we heard was:
the US is totally safe
cooking chicken at 165 degrees kills avian influenza
avian influenza is a respiratory disease, so even if infected meat would make it past all of our safety checkpoints, the odds of getting infected is very slim even if you ingested it.
Gabe and I also had the privilege to get a professional picture taken on the balcony with the Chairman, I will post that when I get it.

I'm on on the patio again, but I think it's about to rain, its a gorgeous 65 degrees. My parents and Jacob arrive tomorrow, so that means I need to clean my room and wash clothes. Most likely no post tomorrow as I will be showing the "tourists" the town.

Still Turning People Down

2007-03-21T18:25:00.000-06:00

I unfortunately did not see another band nominated for vocalist of the year award today (p.s. credit to Garrett for finding that reception for us), but I did see my sister. She has been out here since Sunday and will remain with her program until Friday night, and then join my parents and brother Saturday morning to stay with them until they leave Tuesday afternoon. I was able to give her the tour of the committee's offices, hearing rooms and the Chairman's personal office while she killed some time after her appointments with her various Congressmen. She made the mistake of eating lunch in Cannon Carryout, which is basically just burgers, fries, and sandwiches, and missing out on the great cafeteria in Longworth and the good cafeteria in Rayburn. Rookie mistake, she'll learn.

Earlier in the day, we held a hearing for the Subcommittee on Specialty Crops, Rural Development and Foreign Agriculture about rural development in the upcoming Farm Bill. The interns worked the door, and hopefully turned away hopeful viewers for the final time as our main committee room receives its final touches.

The rest of the day I spent finishing drafting a letter to follow up on some questions some Congressmen had during a recent Energy Research briefing for the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research, and getting the subsequent signatures from the three signatories of the letter.

Oh, Canada!

2007-03-20T20:02:00.000-06:00

So today I moved a lot of furniture, finished drafting a letter to an Under Secretary in the USDA and an Assistant Secretary in the DOE, made some binders, and moved some more furniture.

So, now let's talk about the best reception ever; held by the Embassy of Canada.
This reception was 6:30-9:30 pm, so a few of us headed over after we were done with work. It ended up being right next to the Hart Senate Building, only 4 blocks from my house. Let's see, what else is there to mention about it? Well they had some good food, including rectangular Canadian flag-shaped cookies, 6 open bars for people that were of age and they held it all in a tent in the backyard of a small museum, including carpeted floors. It seems I am forgetting something... oh yeah,

The Stanley Cup

Leslie Neilson

Emerson Drive. I forgot to mention those, and there was only a crowd of like 100. So I'm not sure if Leslie and Emerson Drive didn't pay their taxes, but they were there. And they gave me a gift bag on the way out including; a hockey puck, a cow, maple syrup, a coffee mug, mints, chocolate, and a CD. Pretty much the best reception ever. I'm off to bed after a 3 hour concert. Good night!

Hurry up and Wait

2007-03-19T19:44:00.000-06:00

Mondays are always a little different as we all get back into our routine. For me, they start with 3 times as much work because all the papers we get think that we deserve the Saturday and Sunday editions. I am not complaining because its so hard to sort and throw away newspaper, or even because my 10 minute mail sorting turns into 30. What drives me crazy is that everything needs to be done right at 9:05 am.

I do not mean to single out people, but I'm sure that this happens at many workplaces. People think up all these great ideas over the weekend, then come to work Monday and try to get them out of their system as fast as they can. It has taught me to try to be early on Mondays, but after I realized being early only led to more boredom during the day it was hard to continue the habit. It is not that I had no projects in front of me or nothing to do, I just do a lot of waiting, which has kind of molded my job around a model of wait and remind.
The staff in our office have a million other things going on, so many of the projects that need to be done by noon are done by close of business or even the next day depending on how busy the staffer is.

My sister flew in yesterday on a trip through our local phone company. She called me today while outside the Department of Agriculture headquarters to ask how close I was to her, as she assumed I was inside that building. Tourists, they never learn (this is a joke for those of you who don't know my sarcasm, I was just as confused my first time out and the whole first week of this experience).

Speaking of tourists, there were protesters everywhere. They wasn't anything organized in my area, but many of the stragglers left from yesterday and this morning decided to have a look around, which is fine, but I wouldn't want to be a yes-voting war advocate when a group of them walks into my office. On my way home a stop sign had a bumper sticker slapped on it to read: STOP Funding War.

We are still moving into everything, we still have half of one large office left to unpack. I have no clue how many more people we are hiring (if any), but there is a lot of misplaced and empty furniture around. It does not help that we are putting the final touches on our conference room, 1300. It looks very state of the art, and when the sun shines in the refinishing of the wood looks great. One funny thing is that the whole room renovation was paid for by the Republicans last year, it's not that they don't get to use it, but the majority just has greater use of the room as most events that are scheduled come through the majority office.
I have a couple of projects ongoing, but nothing too time consuming. My parents and brother are coming later in the week and will be given the grand tour by yours truly.

Final side note: Good luck to the GFW Boys Basketball team as they advance to state. Another GFW connection is my aunt, a GFW grad, taking her Fairmont Girls team to State last week when the upset some very good teams, and lost by only 8 to a team with one loss.

Halfway There

2007-03-16T18:49:00.001-06:00

If you think March Madness does not seep into the nation's Federal Office Buildings, you're wrong. While I of course do not know of any office pools that exist, much less would I ever be part of one as they are of course unethical, I could probably talk to someone who could talk to a "guy" who may be able to send you in the right direction. Basically, I have the scores on auto-refresh going on in the background, and peeked in the minority office at the TV as often as I could. If I were in an office pool, I'd be doing okay. Actually, on the bracket I filled out on facebook.com, I only have two wrong so far (Stanford, yeah, that was stupid of me (but so were 10 other picks I got right); and Creighton, Nevada got lucky in over time).

In the office today I attended a meeting set up by the National Pork Producers Council, which featured representatives from the whole supply chain. The panel included producers, Tyson foods, Walmart, a lobbying firm for grocery stores, a university professor and some of the board members of the NPPC. They talked about how Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (MCOOL, and Voluntary COOL is VCOOL) would affect retailers, and explained that the fish industry has showed us that there is no added value for the consumers, and an average of $9,000 cost per store to implement MCOOL (with virtually no return). It was a really interesting debate, especially because the Chairman is one of the few Representatives on the Agriculture Committee to come out and support MCOOL (although he has voted for only VCOOL in the past).

Then Gabe and I went out to lunch to talk about our progress in the internship with our intern Coordinator, and to talk about how he got to where he is, and his advice for upcoming college graduates. It was really interesting information, and amazing how much the pay scale (and time dedicated to the job) jumps in just a 10 year span from a ridiculous $22,000 to close to $100,000. Once at that $100,000 level, jobs in the public sector (in the D.C. area) pay two or three times that because all those contacts you have made in your years on the hill stay the same as all your contacts take similar jobs with different firms. It's no wonder this is one of the most expensive housing markets in the country.

It's raining and 35 degrees with a chance of snow. Not sure what I'm up to for this weekend, but you can bet it will involve many hours in front of a television watching basketball. Today also marks the halfway point in my internship, I couldn't imagine being here for only 3 months in the summer, I feel like I have so much more to see and do.

A Little Late

2007-03-16T07:43:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Ag. Day, and I had the opportunity to attend an event sponsered by FFA, ADM and John Deere on behalf of Agriculture Future of America(AFA). SkillsUSA partcipants also attended. The event was basically a be proud of ourselves and keep promoting agriculture event, similar to most motivational speeches by FFA Presidents at any State Convention (no offense, it is just that they are all very alike). That was at 3 pm, and I got in on a picture with Secretary Johanns along with AFA, and got back to work by 4:30. Later in the evening I headed out to supper with DC-area AFA members, Advisory Team Members and Employees at Chadwicks. Unfortunately, I went to the wrong Chadwicks. It ends up that there are actually 3 Chadwicks in the D.C. area, and two right on Wisconsin Avenue. I went to the one at Friendship Heights (thinking oh great, right across from the Metro station), but I was 3 miles away from my final Georgetown destination. So I stood in the rain waiting for a cab, and when it pulled up, there was a passenger in the back. Long story short, my 3 mile and 15 minute cab ride turned into a long ways and a lot of time. I ended up being an hour late, felt horrible, but everyone seemed to be okay with it. Originally they thought I was at the Chadwicks in Old Town Alexandria, which is a lot farther than 3 miles.
Other than that the day went smoothly. Between attending a couple of meetings and keeping an I on the basketball scores, today should be just fine.

Manual Labor

2007-03-14T19:50:00.000-06:00

I'm going to go ahead and up the ante from yesterday, a gorgeous 74 degrees at 9:51 pm. Unfortunately I was stuck inside even longer, but patience is a virtue, good things come to those who wait, and everything that goes along with it. I left the building after 8 pm, because tomorrow is the last day the contractors will be working on our main Committee room, 1300. So tonight we setup just over 50 of the 70 total 15 inch monitors the room can use during briefings, hearings, and anything else someone might use it for to show documents electronically. It is also outfitted with state of the art microphones, timers and speakers at every seat (currently we have 3 timers total, which are all about 2 inches tall, and a few dozen feet away from the Members). The paint is dry, the carpet is down, and the 70" TV is installed on the way.
I also finished sound-proofing the door I was working on a few weeks ago, and got our quotes up to date. Other than that, the excitement was when a staffer brought us food at 7:30 from a reception she attended because she felt bad for us unpacking, disassembling and reassembling 50+ (We had to take off the regular TV-type stands, and mount on tabletop brackets to sit on their desks). I'm going to try to head to bed, so I'll end this here. Tomorrow I will celebrate National Ag. Day/Week with Agriculture Future of America at USDA, and have dinner with some of them in the evening. Adios.

2nd Amendments

2007-03-13T20:43:00.000-06:00

I'm doing some research for a paper I am writing comparing our legislators, so I decided to do a little research on the 2nd Amendments (a bipartisan band the Chairman plays in), so of course I turned to YouTube for its superior research materials, not bad for a bunch of politicians...

National Biodiesel Conference - 2007, Brown Sugar

National Ethanol Conference - 2007, he sings in this one, I do not have enough wisdom to know what song this is

Going to Court

2007-03-13T17:30:00.000-06:00

Don't worry... the title is a little misleading.
Today was a day full of beautiful weather, it's currently 67 degrees with a slight breeze. I know this because I am writing from the back patio of my house, and it's absolutely perfect weather for shorts and a t-shirt. It reminds me of the end of almost every day I spent in Brazil (which was a little more than a week during this time last year). Unfortunately, I do not have the moon slightly peaking through the trees, but the alley light. You win some and you lose some.

So, while it would have been a good day to go out for a walk or hold a hearing on the National Mall, we were all inside. I am kidding, and I know we needed to stay inside, but you can always dream. Actually, if we had gone out, we would have had the inconvenience of waiting in a line to get in that stretched around the block. Of course that is because people think they can just take Spring Break and go on vacation here, making the halls and elevators a little more busy. What they don't know, is for the 3 main doors (1 at each building) everyone was trying to get in with 30 minute waits, there is at least 1 additional door at each building that no one really knows about, with no line at all. So if you're ever in line, give me a call and I can easily direct you to a faster entrance. Someday I think I am going to put together a list of do's and do not's when coming to Washington, D.C., so the test won't be until after that time.

Enough about the outdoors, inside we were busy with our Subcommittee on Department Oversight, Operations, Nutrition and Forestry subcommittee hearing. I was put at the front desk with minimal door duty, but there were many people who just never got in. By the looks of it, our large committee room should be finished near the end of the month, and fix a lot of our current headaches. I'm not sure what the conclusions of the hearing were, or really who testified (although you can read full testimony online as soon as they put it up), but as usual the USDA witnesses came in with an entourage of people, at the same time everyone else wanted to be in. Then for the second panel of witnesses, many of the people listening to the first panel leave, and no one wanted to get in anymore. If you needed to get in without waiting, you probably could have paid someone to save your spot, as there were three or four line-holders already at the door when I got to work at 9.

The rest of the day went pretty well, I entered some quotes (a job I had previously started that needs to be done every once in a while) and can proudly say we are up to over 900 quotes cataloged in our database since January 1st from the Chairman and Secretary Johanns, among other leaders in House and Senate, about anything agriculture-related.

A few of us went to a nice reception tonight, and while we were happy for the great food and refreshments, we got there right when they were starting the speeches. This turned our dine-and-dash into a support-and-stomach, as it was a smaller room and not easy to sneak out being one of the tallest people there.

I'm still outside, and will be until my battery gets low. I also found out that the Supreme Court has wireless internet on its steps, so I might wander up the street and research in front of the highest court in the land... speaking of, I just found out there is a full-size basketball court on the 3rd level of the Supreme Court (literally the highest court in the land since its on Capitol Hill), and my goal is to take (and make) a few shots before I leave.

Major Changes

2007-03-12T18:30:00.000-06:00

Today was more of the same. Although I sound like I am bored and things are getting more and more stoic each day, I think its just part of the process with most internships, or starting any new job for that matter. I've gone over that initial hump of excitement, and the great things I experienced in the beginning are still happening, but I've begun to take them for granted. So, I tried to spice things up a little bit this week, by making some events to look forward to. I started planning a trip home some time around Easter, am thinking hard about changing my major (not just because nothing is going on at work), and set up lunch with my intern coordinator at the end of the week.

Because of the lull during our break periods (when we are not in session) my little vacation home looks like it's good to go. I am going to spend a little more money this time for a direct flight, because after last time, it's worth it.
My major change is also probably going to happen. I just look forward to animal science classes and briefings out here, more so than other parts of agriculture.
When I talked to our intern coordinator, he was up for lunch with the two interns, and then offered something even better. While we will still be having lunch, but he wanted to set up some meetings with NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) to talk to them about what they do, and how the people got to where they are, and what they want for the future (if you are part of one, and interested, shoot me an email). This will probably be one of the biggest reasons on whether or not we return to Washington, D.C. in my opinion, and I am really happy he is willing to try to set this up.

Late this afternoon, we set up for our Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry Subcommittee hearing which will be held tomorrow about Food Stamps. The nice thing about this subcommittee is that there will be enough room for all the members to comfortably sit in front of the room (there are only 11). I do not yet know whether people will be lining up early or not, but hopefully I don't have to explain the concepts of fire code or blocked viewing or I am an intern and would let you in if I could.

Searching for the Speaker

2007-03-09T20:56:00.000-06:00

Besides wrapping up loose ends of a week with two Public Hearings with our subcommittees, and preparing documents that will help the next intern learn our routine faster, my big adventure was to the US Capitol. It is a little known fact that the Capitol has no actual address, just: US Capitol, Washington, D.C.. The Capitol Building, like many federal agencies and office buildings, has its own zip code as well. Anyway, trivia aside, I was to deliver a letter to Speaker Pelosi's offic etoday, and I had no clue where it was. It ends up being just off the tour route, between the old House of Representatives (Now called Statuary Hall because a large number of state statues reside there) and the Hall of Columns (names for its columns). The hallway that leads to the Speaker's Office includes a US Capitol Policeman (to check that you are staff and have your badge on) and high quality red carpet. The Speaker's office actually is composed of two large offices, with receptionists sitting outside. Only a few other Representatives get their offices in the Capitol, including Steny Hoyer (the Majority Leader), but they still have satellite offices back in the house office building (such as Hoyers, just 4 floors directly above the office I work out of.

In other news, 1301, our main Committee Room, is nearing completion, but will be done about half a month after their projected March 15 deadline. The carpet is down and the chairs and tables have been moved back in, now we just need to test the 15" LCD screens that will be placed in front of members when technology is used during a hearing or briefing.

For the weekend, I plan to hit some of the sights enjoying our (hopefully) warmer weather, including the Zoo, Arlington National Cemetery and the National Cathedral. On the side I hope to start studying for a midterm for MacroEconomics.

Learning Lots

2007-03-08T22:09:00.000-06:00

The Livestock, Dairy & Poultry Subcommittee held their hearing today, which was again packed for the first panel with two representatives from the USDA (and their posse trailing behind) creating chaos inside and outside of the room. We were packed to the brim, when one extra member of the press showed up and was not very happy with me not letting him go in. After we finally found a place where he could stand in a corner of the room, that disaster was solved with the help of my own staff. Once the first panel let out, animal organizations and a researcher from the U of M took the stage providing testimony and answering questions. With USDA's convoy out, everyone left was let in, and Gabe and I even got in on the last 45 minutes. It is an odd scene, as there were about 25 places with names of members on the subcommittee, only the Chairman has to be there for business to take place. During the meeting, Members of Congress and their staff will be going in and out to other meetings. So while most everyone shows up and says a few words at the microphone at some time during the hearing, for the majority of the time I was there, the subcommittee Chairman, Mr. Boswell, conducted business with just two other Members listening and asking questions. Of course, the testimony is recorded and can be analyzed back in the office, but you only get to ask questions if you are there. Also, at the end of the meeting, they stated that any questions that could not be adequately answered would be allowed 10 days to try to be resolved by the witnesses.

After we cleared the room out, things were a little less stressful all around. At 2:30 I was able to sit in with the Minnesota Farm Bureau and listen to both Representatives Walz and Peterson talk about everything agriculture, fielding some tough questions from the crowd during their 20 minutes each alone with the group of about 30 constituents. I was also able to personally talk to Mr. Walz when he was waiting for one of the 4 elevators on our floor to show up so he could be on his way to the hearings about Walter Reed. I actually learned a lot during the two 1-on-1 sessions, as they talked about possibly finding a fix for the disaster in MN's Red River Valley Region in 2005-2007 (drought), and also possibly making sure that MILC will continue along with the rest of the Farm Bill until September 1 (it is now scheduled to end a month short). As talked about in some places earlier, they would both be attached onto the Iraq funding bill, which is messy and no one wants to do, but it may be the only way it gets done. It also brings a much-needed side effect I never realized; because MILC would continue through fiscal Year 2007, CBO would be required to put it in their budget baseline for the Farm Bill, which means that the money should be there for that program at least (while the general consensus is that the overall baseline will drop with prices as they are). One other important issue that came up was the possibility of eliminating manure as having a 'hazardous substance' status. I cannot believe that this ever happened, as that would mean the whole cities of New York and Washington, D.C. should be made federal disaster areas, with all the human-supplied manure we have there.

It again ended up being a very informational day, and I began doing some research for a paper comparing Mr. Peterson with 1-3 other Congressmen, which gets very interesting when you take into account vote counts and conservative or liberal tendencies. Tomorrow I think I will be working construction and secretary, as not too much is scheduled and we should in recess in the house at about noon.

Peace

2007-03-07T22:07:00.000-06:00

I was there!----------------------------->
Okay, so I am not in this picture, but I was sitting to the right of this picture in the gallery upstairs, during this joint session (both the House and the Senate) of Congress to hear the address by King Abdullah II, the King of Jordan, talk about Peace in the Middle East. This was close to the same kind of security associated with the State of the Union address, because minus the President, all the same people were there. So how does an intern like me get invited to a big event like this? That is a great question. Actually, again, it is all because of a personal relationship. A former Minnesotan, who still works on the hill, is a friend of a friend. A few weeks ago she contacted me and said that she read this blog, and long story short, she called me about 8 minutes before it started, which gave me just enough time to get up to the gallery level and into the door during the final standing ovation before King Abdullah II spoke. (So, if you're reading this, THANK YOU!) It lasted just under an hour, and I was just a few hundred feet from almost all members of Congress as well as Vice President Cheney. The process was made faster when a staffer for the Ag. Committee told me to "lose my phone" for the time being, allowing me to walk right through all the metal detectors, and show my ticket to a Secret Service agent.
What King Abdullah II spoke about, was ending the Palestinian-Israeli tensions, because to him, without it no other conflicts would be solved. It was an interesting speech, as most people were expecting it to be about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After I was done with my fanfare of the day, I was a bodyguard for close to 3 hours. The Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research Subcommittee held a hearing about financing renewable fuels. The first table held representatives from the Departments of Energy and Agriculture, and the state of Pennsylvania. During this time, the room was packed with press and the public, because when administration is around, everyone wants to hear. The second group was people from the industry, so half the room left, and I was able to let in the people who had been waiting a couple of hours (an hour before plus an hour of the hearing) to hear what was left. Another dilemma arose, as the canola reception (one of the best on the hill as I'm told) wanted to start setting up at 3:30, while our 1:00 hearing looked to be getting done by four. They started setting up outside, and the reception still went off without a hitch and the food that I tasted was very good (they basically had a wide variety of food and said "see, you could use canola oil to cook all of this".)

I luckily did not have to stay late to set up (others did) for our hearing tomorrow morning, which is on feed costs for livestock under the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Subcommittee's jurisdiction. It will again be a packed house at 10:00 am, featuring a Deputy Secretary from the USDA as well as panel from the industry and academia, including one from a world-class institution, the University of Minnesota. His name is Gerald C. Shurson, and he is a professor of swine nutrition and management. I hope to try to sneak in, but will most likely have door duty. He has done some research on DDGS and will be the only academic on the panel tomorrow (the rest are from animal organizations). After that, I think the pace of the week will be very downhill, to a nice quiet 60 degree weekend.

Drug Deals

2007-03-06T17:45:00.000-06:00

I was designated handyman for the day, which made it go by rather fast. I was put in charge of sound-proofing an unused door, by placing foam panels on it, an am about 4/5 done with layer 1 of 2. (I ran out of caulking glue).
Legislatively speaking, I attended a great meeting on using antibiotics in animals for about an hour today. While I knew most of the information, it was great to see the American Veterinary Medical Association get together the agriculture staff to flight this bill. The current issue is that a bill, which has been beat in Congress twice before, is going to be reintroduced by Representative Louise Slaughter, to try to do what the European Union has already done with antibiotics, by eliminating most antibiotics labeled as "subtherapeutic" that are used in livestock. The reasoning Rep. Slaughter uses looks to be misguided, and from a political aspect and not from science, in my opinion. In Denmark's pork industry for example, while the overall use of antibiotics has dropped because of this, 30% to 40%, the use of the therapeutic drugs has increased over 130% because more applications are needed more often. This could create resistance faster as repetitions are increased. Behind all of the science, the moral of the story is, the drugs we have go through the same standards, plus two additional requirements, that the FDA puts human drugs through. While I do not know much about Rep. Slaughter myself, it would seems she lives in a relatively urban district, which could possibly be affected by higher food prices as one of the unforeseen risk to adopting this legislation.
Other than that, everything seems to have settled down, and I feel almost like a 'lifer', as they call them out here. Unfortunately my short stay has almost reached its halfway point, and sometime I think it will kick in that me being out here will probably be one of the best learning experiences of my academic career, no classes included.

Tonight, there was a nice reception held, so I snacked there and met some of the people of academia in the forestry industry. And before we left, we were warned that tomorrow may be a long day. We start setting up for our afternoon hearing at 9 am, and will have to set up for Thursday's hearing after a reception ends tomorrow night at 8 pm.

Early Arrivals

2007-03-05T22:54:00.000-06:00

I had a great weekend back home, spending it with my girlfriend and 50 or so closest friends (fraternity bros.) near Grand Rapids. We spent the weekend playing broomball, huddling around a bonfire, and dancing until the music ran out. Getting to Minnesota was quite an adventure. I ended up being just under 12 hours later than I should have been, mostly because US Airways decided to not tell me and 4 other MN-bound passengers that our plane was not going to continue on as originally planned until we landed in Philadelphia. So we got bounced around and ended up going to Milwaukee before making it to my destination very early in the morning, around 4 am.

On the way back I had better luck, the plane was aided by a strong tailwind, allowing me to just make the next flight to D.C., three hours earlier than scheduled, and I was in bed at about the time I should have been leaving Philadelphia, for a total 5 hours of travel, and 6 with the time change.

This morning, I arrived early for work, an hour to be exact. I wish I could just kind of bank in and out my letness, but that was not my intent. My dad called me at seven, to make sure I was awake after a weekend of little sleep, and put me into thinking that I should be to work at 8 am, like I would be in the Central timezone. Well after I realized there was no line to get into my building at 8 am, I remembered when work usually started, and treated myself to a breakfast in our cafeteria.

Today at work I wrote letters to two very important people, the Secretaries of State and Defense, Condoleezza Rice and Robert M. Gates, respectively. I don't think I can go into details about what the letter said, but basically it needed to be perfect, so I printed it like 30 different times as we called and understood the format and content it should have. Another interesting thing is the addresses that Cabinet members have. I have written to Johanns and the DOE Secretary Samuel W. Bodman, and just a name, big building name, and zip code (most buildings have their own zip code for federal departments). We have two hearings coming up this week, on Wednesday and Thursday, so there will again be a herd of press waiting outside our doors nice and early. Then Thursday is a full committee meeting for our budget views and estimates.

It is a little chilly here, but temps look to inch towards 60 by the weekend, which is what I am looking forward to.

Home for the weekend, then back to D.C.

2007-03-01T20:10:00.000-06:00

To make it quick; it took us two hours to set up for our 20 minute business meeting for the whole committee (and not everyone had to show up, we just needed quorum), then I continued working on my book for a Member. I'm off to bed, early Metro to catch in the morning to catch a plane that (hopefully) leaves at around 8 am.

Meetings of all kinds

2007-02-28T19:15:00.000-06:00

We held the Horticulture and Organic Agriculture Subcommittee Hearing at 10 am. After we cleaned up the Subcommittee room, I worked on a project that lasted all afternoon that consisted of summarizing some of the energy components of the 2002 Farm Bill in layman's terms for a Member of Congress. In the middle of all that, the Chairman had to run to testify in a hearing, vote on the House floor, and still try to make it to his meetings. They Chairman's testimony was right down the hall, and I literally took signals on when to send him down. Another staff person was in the room, and was instructed to wave his arms at me so I knew to sprint to the boss' office and say "they're ready". Needless to say, we fell behind as the day stretched on. I did see one of my professors from the U and an AGR alumni, as well as the CHS Chairman who knew my dad from when he was Chairman of the board at United Farmers Cooperative. I completed the book I was making near 6:00 (which felt like 2 in the afternoon to me) and helped move a couple of couches around before I left.

I am planning to fly out of DCA (Ronald Regan National Airport) and back to Minnesota early Friday morning to land at about noon. We'll see what mother nature says about that, hopefully everything will be fine and I will make it for my Fraternity's formal in northern MN. Then back to DC on Sunday evening to start another week.

Tomorrow we have a full committee business meeting, so there will be a lot of work to do early in the day. I plan to take some medicine that will put me out now so I can wake up in time tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Back in Business

2007-02-27T19:13:00.000-06:00

It seems like forever since I've last written on this thing. Blogging is habit forming; twice last week I sat down to write, realized I had nothing to write about, and only then did I remember my sabbatical from blogging for the week. After I got rid of the habit, I forgot to start up again yesterday. But I'm back at it...

Last week went pretty quickly, we had very few meetings and were scratching around our office trying to find work to do, even with an hour off each day. But, when the phone rings, we must answer, and when someone knocks, we have to open the door. The nice things about the off week were, number one, casual dress. I could wash everything I had little by little and take suits to the dry-cleaners. Number two was the lack of emergencies. The small amount of time we were wrapped up in something, we were never called away to do something "double time."

This week has been somewhat crazy. Yesterday the Chairman was supposed to be in Morris, but ended up in D.C. because of the weather. There was not too much going on on the house floor, and meetings were few and far in-between (as he had a full day scheduled in MN). We were back in the swing of things though, having enough work that we were looking for something not to do, and trying to balance our heavier workload with meetings and moving around.

While the jump from college to Washington is by no means monumental, the change of scenery, as in my desk, is something I think I am just starting to adjust to. For those of you who know me, I am a pretty large guy. I am close to 6'4" and I am no stick. Living on a farm and playing three sports, I could eat basically as much as I wanted, and I would stay the same weight throughout high school. Then I moved onto college, and after a few months realized I was not quite as active, so I toned down the amount of food I put on my plate (which was actually not good economically because Bailey Hall made you pay $9.00 for every stinking meal, whether you had a salad or a whole turkey). But my lack of activity has come to its highest level since I broke my arm and when I was 3 years old, in the same bed for a month. I went to a reception tonight and was full after just a couple of miniature sandwiches, that's not me, and I don't know if I could let that continue much longer.

I apologize, back to making sense, yesterday evening the fine folks from MARL's Class IV picked me up and took me out to Gadsby's Tavern. MARL stands for Minnesota Ag and Rural Leadership, and from my impression was kind of the who's who of Minnesota Agriculture. While they claimed I was their guest of honor, I was honored to be in their presence. I ran into many people I knew, including a next door neighbor, some old friends and a couple of Alpha Gamma Rho alumni. Be sure to read about everyone in this year's class by clicking on the links at the beginning of the paragraph, because I want you to learn, but also because they decided to embarrass me and give out my blog address last night.

So, while Gadsby's Tavern may sound like a good place up the street to forget about your hard day of work, it could be. But this was not the reason we were there. The place is rather small, yet one of the best restaurants I have ever been to. If you go to their history page, you can learn that this is basically one of the original buildings in Old Town, of Alexandria, VA. This place, minus the electricity, looked like something out of the year 1785 (which it is). The owner also claimed it to be the origin of the meaning of the word "bar", as a tavern. The food was great (a choice of Prime Rib, Chicken or Salmon) and came with a salad and a choice of desserts. The group of 30 invited a couple other Minnesota natives as guests of honor as well. Our table's talking started with politics, but of course with 5 men at one table, ended up by talking Gopher sports as time rolled on. On the way out to Old Town (a 30 minute subway ride) I was destined as the fearless leader, because I "knew" the area the best. Well, what they did not know did not end up hurting them.

Today I was able to attend a presentation by Texas A & M, about the nationwide research they do. Using the NRCS and FSA data, they said they were able to basically tell you what to expect as far as runoff in every 2 digit watershed (i.e. the Upper Mississippi, Missouri, Red River) for phosphorus or nitrogen or whatever else they have data on. That made sense on a national scale. But what I thought was amazing was their ability to look at 4 digit (i.e. small divisions of 2 digit watersheds) or even field by field by matching up your characteristics to their charts. They said they have now finally created a use for the data that we had years ago, and can possibly create a TurboTax-like system, where you plug in different scenarios and are able to see how much run off you will have, including variables like how many acres of which crop, where, and estimated chemical use.

Later today, the MARL group that took me out last night had a meeting in one of our rooms and the new Dean for the College of Food, Agriculture, and the Natural Resource Sciences, Allen Levine, among others, stopped by to talk to our staff. Right before that happened, we had my second ever fire alarm, so both the previously mentioned groups were able to experience the chaos of exiting the building, waiting for the all-clear 30 minutes later (a smokey computer in this case) and then the 15-20 minute wait to get back in.

The evening ended with a reception put on by the National Grain and Feed Association, where I picked up my two mini sandwiches, a couple of quesadillas, an egg roll and a few gingerales (so maybe I had a little more than just two sandwiches).

Nothing to do with Nothing

2007-02-20T18:12:00.000-06:00

We are not in session this week, so I will be taking these next few days off from blogging unless something interesting or exciting occurs. We are hopefully going to be let out an hour early each day this week due to a lack in work, thus a lack in drama for my blog.

Remember kids, be cool, stay in school. Oh, and enjoy one of the best online videos I have ever seen...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7761231905389466400

Getting Warmer....

2007-02-19T10:45:00.000-06:00

No work for me today (I already knew this last week), which is probably a compensation for being one of the few offices that were able to brave the elements...
Just two things to report on today, first, an interesting article on Collin in the StarTrib, and second, a weather forecast for D.C., things are getting better all the time:

check back tomorrow

Just another Friday

2007-02-16T21:09:00.000-06:00

Friday was fine. Not much different than Thursday, but I got the quotes all caught up! That was the extent of the in-office excitement today. Out of the office, members voted on the Iraq resolution and a few are still working and having meetings over the weekend before they head out on their District Work Periods next week.

This weekend: Homework, Museums and Homework.

Calm after the Storm

2007-02-15T22:09:00.000-06:00

If yesterday was a roller coaster, today was the scenic train ride. Because we packed all that action into one day, we have nothing to prepare for and thus no work for interns. The rest of the staff was busy however, as meetings were long-winded and schedules delayed because there is now more for people to talk about than ever. I did end up getting my quote compiling all the way to February 6th, and should be up to speed by tomorrow.

After work there was not only one, but two receptions to attend. I almost feel bad, because I have nothing to contribute if anyone is talking about politics. I care, I matter, but my opinion is uneducated and low content compared to the topics talked about at these gatherings. But during my short lull in being able to contribute to society, I was able to take, so I did. I think I took enough for supper and breakfast (not home with me, just consumed while I was there), which is great in a city with $50 haircuts. Tomorrow is the last day of what seems to be a short week, with a long weekend.

A short thank you to everyone and anyone for your gifts and cards for both my birthday and Valentine's Day, I will also be sending a personalized autographed photo of me at my desk. Just kidding, but I will be sending you thank you cards soon, I just wanted you to know I appreciate them all, but haven't found the time (or bought the thank you cards) to do them.

First One There... First One to Leave?

2007-02-14T17:38:00.000-06:00

Now that I have my bearings and know most of what I need to know, things get annoying. One of these annoyances is the voices on the elevator. They are pretty specific and include sayings like "2nd floor, going up", "4th floor, going down", and my personal favorite, "this elevator is full, please wait for the next elevator". Before today, I accepted them as serving a disability function, for people who are blind or optically impaired, but today I realized they were probably just put in so people addicted to their Blackberrys don't just work from the elevator the whole day.

Today was the big hearing, I got there a little earlier than usual, and the first line-holder rode the same elevator as I did. I forgot to mention that yesterday the federal government shutdown at 2pm because of projected weather conditions for the drive home, and some schools closing early. The federal government shutting down means nothing to your office unless your boss says it does, and because we are now a Minnesotan office, we won't be shutting down too often, but it wasn't bad (in Minnesota terms) and I was fine with our choice to stay until 9 and be ready for today rather than be there at 4am this morning. Back to the original story, so I was surprised to see this young man there so early, as we received an email this morning (for those of us who signed up to be notified of federal government closure) that read:

Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are OPEN under a DELAYED ARRIVAL\UNSCHEDULED LEAVE policy. Employees should plan to arrive for work no more than 2 hours later than they would normally arrive.

So when I did put away my coat and sit at my desk with no mail to sort (which usually comes right at 9am versus 11am today) the phone calls started coming. Paraphrasing all of them together, they were asking "Is the meeting still at its regular time"? It was still at 10 am, and the room did not get any bigger. We turned many staff and press personnel away, and they weren't very happy with us. Because a member of the cabinet was in our presence, we invited the police who were a little less polite than we could have possibly been, but got the job done a little faster. The meeting went off fine, the phone calls kept coming, and three of us took turns playing bouncer at the front door. This is a dangerous place to be, because while all staff want to get in, some staff need to get in, to talk to their boss, and it is hard to decipher between the two requests. But we are all still alive, even with people presenting us a few angry faces followed by turns and stomping away aimed our way. After that, Mr. Peterson testified before the budget committee, and we did the rest of the afternoon chores when our boss was nice enough to let Gabe and me off at 4:00. So I got my phone fixed, which wasn't able to receive incoming calls, and was home by the time I am usually let off work.

With all the drama today (Mr. Petersons testifying was a lot of work to put together I'm sure, although I had no part in it) the rest of the week is pretty mellow. We will not have to work President's day either, which I found out is never a guarantee because national holidays are just "another day" in a Congressional Staff's calendar. This is ironic as the people who make the laws to make something a national holiday may be the only ones (or some of the small percentage) working.

Long Day

2007-02-13T20:53:00.000-06:00

I left Longworth House Office Building at 9 pm as we made preparations for THE hearing tomorrow (with Secretary Johanns). Because we are crammed into a Subcommittee room, basically no one will get in. I guess the usual scenario is to fit a couple hundred people comfortably into the large committee room, with the members sitting comfortably on the semicircles in front, facing the testifying party. The over-flow crowd is then able to watch the hearing from our Subcommittee room (the one we are currently using) on the big screen TVs.

Tomorrow on the other hand, we will have about 60 people in the audience, that includes all staff, press, and the Secretary's staff, with the Secretary's table in front, and the 46 Committee members around the 2 semicircles and an extra table for the remaining 10 members that do not fit in the two semicircles.
The reason that we were so late was because a Rice organization was holding a reception in that room, so I was able to have supper, but we were unable to begin restoring the room to its hearing-style protocol until 8 pm.

The earlier part of the day was spent entering quotes into the database (I'm now on January 25th) and running errands. I was able to sneak away for one of our staff member's speaking engagements, where she talked to stakeholders in the soybean industry.

I also learned that lobbyists will pay a kid like me $20 an hour just to stand in line to save them a spot for important hearings like this one. Talk about easy money. I better get to sleep, have to be in early tomorrow to make sure no one reserves a seat.

Johanns Picture

2007-02-13T15:38:00.000-06:00

Looks like it's going to be a long night... We have to set up for tomorrows hearing after an 8 pm reception is done, so I figured I would post this now. Have a good evening

Possibly Stopping the Stop and Go

2007-02-12T18:08:00.000-06:00

The majority of my day was spent entering in quotes from Chairman Peterson, Ranking Member Goodlatte, Senator Harkin, Senator Chambliss and Secretary Johanns into a database. I think I'm about to go "booted" from my desk as we are in the process of hiring staff, which is now a welcome adjustment. Because I now have projects, the saying hi to people and being nice when I answer the phone every 20 seconds is getting old. If I am moved (its not for sure) I think I will be much more productive than I am now in my stop-and-go routine.

This afternoon I attended a meeting that lasted a little over an hour with some of the people in the top tier of the USDA and President Bush's personal assistant on Agriculture. They gave a preview, or more of an explanation, of what they implied or suggested when they made their Farm Bill 2007 recommendations. This is of course one of many events that serve as a precursor to the full Committee meeting and hearing including Secretary Johanns, which will be broadcast at the link earlier in this sentence. The hearing is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at 10:00 am, and it is a meeting I am guessing I will not be able to attend.

I also realized that I now have full access to the CRS website I was orientated to last week. On the website they have everything that is "current" for this session. CRS also does bill summaries much like THOMAS, but they are more in depth and can provide you with more information.

...back to homework.

The Weekend is here, finally

2007-02-09T17:19:00.000-06:00

Today was pretty busy for a Friday. While I worked on summarizing the testimony, the phone rang, people came for meetings and the mail came four or five times. While I was able to get my testimony summary done by the end of the day, all the little things I do really add up to the time taken away from doing the original, usually bigger, tasks. While that part of the day was normal, we were able to attend an orientation class from the Congressional Research Service. This is, to me, a really interesting organization after all. Yet, there were still at least three kids in the nap club by the end of the 45 minute session. What I was able to get out of it was useful: starting Tuesday we will be able to use all the functions of CRS. That is, CRS has no public motivation at all, it's only research is for Congress and their staff. They do a large amount of research, from 1 page papers to 300 page reports. They have a staff of over 700 people, who are experts in basically every field there is. While I was thinking, this would be great to have for college, she came right out and said it. Because you are staff, you are able to do research. They don't care who its for, why, or what its about, they just want the details so you can get the best answer. Most of the time when you need CRS you can call the hotline, because you will be looking for a fact or a quote. They also have the reports, as I mentioned earlier, which can take up to six months to compile. There are two resource rooms for CRS, one in both a House Office Building and a Senate Office Building, as well as the whole Library of Congress. This is of course the largest library in the world, and something I need to do some exploring in. Back to the resource rooms, the instructor said that we, as college kids, can stockpile all we want. I hope to, over the next six months, pull out the drawer on agriculture, and empty it. We really have a lot of access with this new license, but we still have limitations. We cannot check out any of the resources, and we cannot demand deadlines, but our staff (and the members) can do both. So now research becomes even more fun, other people can get quick answers for you, and you can take all the credit. Hopefully, by the end of this I have enough to get A's on the rest of my papers through college.

Speaking of college brings me to this weekend: I plan to study, as much as humanly possible (MacroEconomics, it's not boring, but it's not fun), and go explore the rest of the time. Have a good weekend everyone!

Not a Teenager Anymore

2007-02-08T20:41:00.000-06:00

From 9:00 to 10:30, nothing, nothing to do, no mail to sort, and no projects to start. From 10:30 on, we were moving. It started off with a meeting to plan a meeting, then we got ready for the meeting, which was complex because there was so much going on around the meeting that wasn’t part of the meeting at all. Luckily, that meeting was Gabe’s job, because I didn’t understand it, nor did I want to. I had bigger fish in the sea, I was to sit in on the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Agriculture hearing, which the Agriculture had joint referral on, and take notes like a mad man. Unfortunately the laptops computers were not being issued at this time, so this meant back to good old pen and paper, something I rarely use, and my penmanship shows it. But two hours later, the hearing should have been done, and I was keeping up, but getting exhausted. We were saved by the bell when we heard buzzers ringing and pagers going off announcing a 15 minute vote, followed by ten 2 minute votes. This projected 45 minutes of voting turned into two hours. Needless to say, I did not make it back and would be surprised if the Members did either. So when I got back, I did the jobs I should have been doing during the hearing, and started typing everything I had written. When it was about 7:00, I finished that and began summarizing the submitted testimony. Now by this point, neither Gabe nor I had time for lunch, and I didn’t have time for breakfast, which I will get into in a minute. So when asked if we wanted to move furniture tonight or tomorrow morning, we decided to finish it up tonight and lump all the business into one day. I made it home by 7:55 PM, my latest night yet. But I’m sure it’s not the latest I’ll ever be.

This morning and last night were a different story. As I said yesterday, I fell asleep after I got home, and woke up at midnight. I now remember before I went to be the first time, getting a little shock when I picked up my phone, and one of the buttons not working. Well I found out this morning it wasn’t just a button, it was my ringer. I now cannot receive any calls, and the convenient alarms I use were MIA as well. So, I finally fell back asleep at about 4:00 AM, even though I tried for hours before that, and woke up again to see 9:05 on my alarm clock. Not the best sight to see when you should be to work by 9:00 AM. But, I made good progress with getting ready (and my hair froze straight up on my run to the office) and got to work by 9:40. Luckily my phone can still call out, so they knew I was going to be late. I guess this is what being 20 is all about. Now that I’m no longer a teenager I have to face the battle of just getting out of bed in the morning. I got a lot of great stuff for my birthday, but to be honest, a new phone wasn’t on my list.

Tomorrow Gabe and I will be taking an orientation class so we can have access to the Congressional Research Service’s (CRS) information, which will hopefully speed up a lot of projects. The CRS class would sound like a great way to get out of work, but this is: 1. A class, and 2. A class put on by people who research. 3. Research for Congress! …it might be a long day.

Best Birthday Ever!

2007-02-07T23:59:00.000-06:00

While it lasted about 8 minutes, my meeting with Secretary Johanns was a good one. He was very down to earth, nonchalant, and seemed to care about us during the little time he had to meet. We were brought in, shook his hand and introduced ourselves, and asked where we were from. Then we each (three of us; Garrett (minority intern), Gabe and me) had an individual picture with him, and a group photo as well. He told us about how he loved Washington, D.C., and he said, "I love it here, you know, I don't even know why they pay us." He wished us well and we walked back up to the House Office Buildings. The pictures were taken by a professional photography, so they should arrive some time this week or next.

I woke up to a couple inches of snow on the ground, which had melted/been plowed on the city streets already, so traffic was normal, even though many schools were closed. I started entering quotes for Peterson, Senator Harkin, Senator Chambliss, and Secretary Johanns into a database, and continued as much as I could during a busy day at the office of random mail drop-offs and interesting phone calls. I came home to find a couple cards, about 100 Facebook and email messages, and a nice present from JC Penney's (James Cash Penney, founder of the store, was an Alpha Gamma Rho by the way). Then I got the best present ever... a nap! So it was another good day, which I have noticed happens quite often out here. Work takes a lot out of me just because the day is so long, but when I can come home to a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich, I know I'm living the good life. "Just livin' the dream." I remembered that I took some pictures with my camera this weekend, so hopefully I can put them up tomorrow.

$50 haircuts

2007-02-06T18:24:00.000-06:00

CNN was today's big feature, finding out which astronaut was going where. Other than that, it was the normal sorting and answering phone calls, with an 15-minute audit meeting of the Packers and Stockyards program in the middle. I hope I have little work because Thursday is going to be a mess. I am going to have to wait in line for 2 hours to get into the Food Safety hearing of the Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on Agriculture. Then I will need to take notes on every question asked and answer given. After I have that completed, I will take the books and books of submitted testimony, and read them. This will probably take days, and then I will need to understand what I read enough to write a summary of each one.

That wraps up today... except for my long walk home, I am looking for low-bidders on haircuts. I walked about 15 extra blocks, only one place was open, and their offer was $50. That's a little more than Great Clips New Ulm.

Tomorrow is a great day for all of America, my birthday of course, and also, I get to meet Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, ask him questions, get asked questions, and get a picture taken. It will probably be one of the highlights of my life for a while. Finally, to contrary belief, I have not seen any part of the $12 billion cash lost in Iraq, we're still looking.

Transcription Accomplished.

2007-02-05T19:46:00.000-06:00

It gets quite cold out here. It has been for a week now, but the wind just doesn't die down. Luckily today I found a new route to and from work underground, it saves me a total of three blocks from the cold! This morning was the usual phone answering for the staff meeting, sorting mail, and doing some research on the internet. This afternoon, I sat myself in a room and finished the last 40 minutes of the Farm Bureau speech. I can say now that I am done I know a lot more about the policy the Farm Bill may hold ahead, and (because it was requested) I will provide a link if that transcription is ever put online. At the end of the day I was given the task to attend my first ever hearing, this one for the Subcommittee on Agriculture for the Appropriations committee. Apparently to get in the room I will need to stand in line for two hours, then write down as much as I can. It is a hearing about Food Safety, so we have joint jurisdiction.

After work I was invited to a Texas A & M reception, two co-workers, including the other intern, are Aggies, so it was a good way to eat supper and meet some people, which I didn't do much of as I was focused on Sprite and Egg Rolls.

Groundhog Day

2007-02-02T17:31:00.000-06:00

It was a roller coaster week, but we have finally entered the best month of the year, February. From what I know, all great people are born in February, we've got everyone. Boris Yelstin, Fran Tarkenton, Charles Lindbergh (the airplane guy, not his dad the U.S. Representative), Hank Aaron, Normal Rockwell, Ronald Reagan, Babe Ruth, Garth Brooks, Charles Dickens and Laura Ingalls Wilder, and that's just the first seven days. I also have some relatives, my grandpa, me, my late great-grandpa and an uncle. Also my friend from church who gets this blog as a printout.

So first, I would like to wish my Grandpa Lowell a Happy Birthday today! I do not know for sure just how many years he has been around, but those who know him can see that he is still young at heart! Second I would like to say Happy Groundhog day because, as you can probably tell, I do not have too much to write about.

Today was a day much like the end of yesterday. Few people were on the Hill for our second day in a row not in session. It was the quietest I had ever seen the office, and we actually had a period where I didn't receive an email for 2.5 hours.

For the weekend, I am doing homework, and watching the Superbowl with Walt.

Empty Halls

2007-02-01T22:06:00.000-06:00

Today was the slowest day by far. At times the halls were empty and no sound was heard for over five minutes, which is really long for any office of Congress. The House was not in session as it was the Democrat's turn for a retreat. I spent the day working on projects and greeting the people coming into our office. At 4:00 Gabe, Garrett (the minority office intern), and I gave ourselves a tour of the Capitol. While this was fun, we were doing it more as re-con, than anything, so if we ever had to give a tour we would be able to know where we are going, and remember some of the important things we learned in our class.

After work I met Emily Zweber at the Dubliner and we had supper with the rest of her colleagues. It was good food, and only a few blocks from my House. Possibly a new favorite place to go when I do not feel like cooking. Another business casual day tomorrow...

USDA Certified

2007-01-31T20:02:00.000-06:00

Today the rest of the staff and I were rushing around to set up meeting rooms for meetings we had as this was the last day we were in session this week as the Democrats take their retreat Thursday and Friday.

I began again to transcribe Mr. Peterson's Salt Lake City speech, but time goes quickly when you have to listen to an hour-long speech in 15 second increments, twice. The first meeting was one that made a lot of news today: Secretary Johann's recommendations for the 2007 Farm Bill, given right next door. We sat and listened to the Deputy Secretary give a detailed report, and were all handed thick books with every single recommendation they suggested.

Our office was really surprised. Overall the staff and Mr. Chairman ended up hearing more good ideas than they thought would come from the USDA. I got to see what kind of real numbers the Farm Bill works with, around $640 billion dollars. It seems like chump change compared to the national debt, around 8 trillion. I am surprised that agriculture is a whopping 7% of that number, as I thought it would be lower.

The next meeting was the first meeting for the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry subcommittee, just to get to know one another. There were no votes taken, it was more just to introduce themselves to one another, and understand exactly what they will be dealing with.

The day flew because I sat in meetings for 2 hours, and prepared for them for another hour and a half. I got out at 6:00 for the first time this week, and tomorrow is business casual. P.S. My story will be in the Minnesota Daily tomorrow.

A Lay of the Land

2007-01-30T19:43:00.000-06:00

Today was probably the day most jam-packed with action so far. I woke up at 6:30 to make it to the White House by 8:15. I actually ended up leaving late, and got there at 8:30. Once I was there and Gabe arrived, the man told us we could enter anytime between 8:30 and 11:30. I may have caught a few more hours of sleep if I had known that was the case. Gabe and I entered, with policemen and tourguides watching our every move, for a quiet 45 minute self-guided tour. Compared to the homes of dignitaries in other countries, the White House isn't much. Don't get me wrong, it's a great place to tour and understand the history of what has happened there, but people with asthma are in no danger of getting exhausted from this tour. The tour basically brings you into the main level, up a set of stairs, past a library, two large dining rooms and three smaller living rooms, and out the back. It does take 45 minutes, just because you stop so long to look at all the intricate detail that goes into the paintings, tables, chairs, and statues that furnish the rooms, but if I had to guess I think I could walk it in 7 minutes with no stopping. It's hard to describe what I saw there, as no pictures are allowed, but there are many paintings of Presidents as well as one of Hillary Clinton.

After the tour Gabe and I trekked back through the mall to be only an hour late for work. I again began working on my project from yesterday, but now I had to write descriptions of each section that I had pulled out of the 2002 Farm Bill. I had not gotten far (and realized that fish and shellfish fell under the jurisdiction of the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry subcommittee, thus having to pull out a few more chapters) when 1:30 came around for my Capitol building tour class.

We arrived at the South visitor's entrance and were scooted up to the front of the line, ah, the power of the staff badge. We then were put into a room that can hold 15 people and got an interesting history lesson, along with Public Speaking and How to Not Offend People: 1001. This is of course not the class title, but the feeling I had as the teacher took me back through the past 10 years of my life, the most boring parts at least. She told us what we can and cannot do as staff including our clearance to be able to look at George Washington's tomb, but not being able to bring "normal citizens" with us. I learned a two more things I thought were very interesting:
1. Tours of the rotunda can only be given to a party with a Member of Congress, and he/she must be present on the tour.
2. There are a lot of myths that have been passed down from year to year (such as John Adams putting his head on his desk to hear his opponents talking on the other side of the old House chamber, where there are spots where you can whisper and someone will hear you on the other side of the room) that the Capitol curators and tour guide staff are now trying to debunk. Most of which I had heard at one time and thought they were true.

I finished my project at 6:30 tonight, and decided to sit in the House Gallery (which was the first time I had ever done that) to watch the debate, which wasn't really substantial. But, it was amazing to sit in a room that powerful, with paintings on the walls of some of the greatest human beings of all time, a place of such respect and honor. I just like the look of the place, and I wish I could take a picture, but they have the most sensitive metal detectors in all of the Capitol Hill area in front of the House and Senate Chambers.

I then decided to try to get lost in the Capitol basement to try and find places I had never been, which I did not succeed at, and ended up on my usual path home.

The Javelina

2007-01-29T19:39:00.000-06:00

Today I literally spent the whole day on one project, and have little to report. It was a time consuming task, pulling everything from the 2002 Farm Bill that had anything to do with Livestock, Dairy, or Poultry, then putting it in a format that even a Congressman could read! Just kidding, but really, that is all I did, besides at noon, Mr. Peterson had us run and get coffee on the way down to meet him at the House Garage. He said he had a package to carry back up to the office. So we met him at his car, and he gave us the box. "Have you ever heard of a Javelina?" he asked. I hadn't, Gabe had. We carried it up to the office.

After work, I interviewed with Allison from the MN Daily for a while. She said my article should be in next Thursday's paper.

Tomorrow I will not really be working, I get a tour of the White House (you can't really bring anything in, no camera, no cell phone) and a workshop on how to give Capitol tours. So that should be a great day, especially when I get to finish up reading the 2002 Farm Bill too!

Wandering with Walt

2007-01-28T17:31:00.000-06:00

Today I went exploring with my second cousin, once removed, Walt, who is almost 50 years wiser than I am. He is an ex-FBI agent , so needless to say, knows a lot about the area. He talked about one major difference in security between then and now. He started working for the service just as the Viet Nam War was beginning. At that time the attitude was that the Capitol was "The People's House". He once pulled up with a man from the UK at 10 pm, and a Capitol Policemen took them on an exclusive tour once he simply introduced himself. Tonight on our walk back to his car, a Policeman in a Blazer watched our every move as Walt took pictures of the East Front of the Capitol. Times have changed, and I got to hear a lot about Walt's life, and we saw a lot of parallels. In 11th grade, I took a week-long trip to Browning, Montana at an Indian Reservation as a mission trip. In his sophomore year of college, he worked on a ranch 30 miles north of Browning, and we could talk about many of the same sights and sounds. He also went to the U, joined a fraternity, and has a law degree, something I have looked at quite extensively. It's all in the family.

Walt and I decided to go to places that I had never been before, most of the lesser toured museums. I was glad we did. Our tour took us first to the mini-Arboretum just off the mall, then to the National Museum of the American Indian. Here I learned a lot, noticed how close the creation stories are of all cultures, and ate some good food. I would recommend this museum (along with the rest of the institution) to everyone. It gives a different look at the colonization of the Americas, the building of the border fence (right through two Indian reservations), and modern day life of Indians mixed with their culture. After an hour and a half tour, I still want to go back. Then we went to the Smithsonian Castle, the original museum, because I asked who Smithson was... and that is quite an interesting story, one that I had never heard. The last two museums were the African Art Gallery, and Sackler Gallery. I never knew these museums existed, because they are underground. So in conclusion, all the Smithsonian Museums are great, but the lesser traveled museums sometimes offer just as much, with less of a crowd. I am cutting this short to get to some homework. Have a great week!

Finally Friday

2007-01-26T23:05:00.000-06:00

This morning I had the opportunity to meet with the Agriculture Chairs of the Minnesota Legislature. The four Minnesota delegates were Representatives Al Juhnke of Willmar, Mary Ellen Otremba of Long Prairie, and Senator Jim Vickerman and his wife. They were attending a two-day conference in Washington with 47 of the 50 states’ agriculture chairs. Our staff and I walked them to a room in the Cannon Building where Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture of the House Appropriations Committee, was speaking. She talked about renewable energy being the thing that is going to get the Farm Bill rolling, which has been a reoccurring theme in our office as well. Our staff director then talked about what he saw as challenges, including that PAYGO and a reduced baseline budget were going to make it really hard to cover everything everyone wants covered. I have heard time and again that right now, we don’t have enough votes to pass the bill. We need to convince other members of Congress to vote for the bill, which will probably be done by linking it to being more fuel independent, helping the environment, and then finally talking about helping our farmers get better prices for what they do. Our staff, along with many other house committee members’ staffs including Ranking Member Goodlatte’s, then answered questions on everything from Animal Welfare to Disaster Relief. Most of the questions were unable to be answered as the limited budget really does not allow the staff to confirm anything that will definitely be in the bill.

This afternoon I continued transcribing a speech that Mr. Chairman gave at the national Farm Bureau convention. While I thought this would be boring, it is really a good tool as I am learning everything that he (we) stand for. It also gives me a better sense of his personality, which I don’t get to see much of while he’s in Washington because he seems much more business like.

With another week down, I feel like I made a good choice in coming out here, and I am learning far more about agricultural policy than I could anywhere else.

Business Casual

2007-01-25T17:04:00.000-06:00

Republicans got mad and left for the weekend, so there was nothing going on. Actually, they had their two-day retreat to get everyone on the same page, so there were no votes today. This meant the Chairman was out, half the staff was not around, and we got let go an hour early. I spent most of the day trying to transcribe a speech given by Mr. Peterson at a MN Farm Bureau meeting. It is an hour long speech, and I only got about 1/4 of the way through it. There was a meeting addressing what President Bush said about renewable energy in his State of the Union Speech today, although I did not sit in, I guess it was kind of heated. So between transcribing, running errands and making contact lists, I found out two fun things coming up for tomorrow. First, I will be walking with a delegation of MN State Legislators (as in St. Paul) right away tomorrow. I am not sure how many, but it will be both Senators and Representatives. Second, we have a party after work tomorrow, so that should be a lot of fun. It's in our office on the other end of the hall, and pretty much everyone who works in our office (even people I have not yet met) will be there.

I also received an offer from the University paper MN Daily, that I will be in an article in their paper next week. Not much to say. We were able to wear jeans and a nice shirt today (because the House was not in session), which I comfortably obliged to. It would be the same if I didn't meet with the legislators tomorrow, but I have to wear a suit with no tie at the least. I like work, but I'm ready for the weekend after tomorrow!

All the buzz

2007-01-24T20:17:00.000-06:00

Between the constant phones ringing, bells going off to signal votes, Blackberry vibrations, construction noise next door, and people coming into our office, I can conclude that there is some noise going through our office. It all started day one, but today I just realized how much of the time there is an annoying noise which we are conditioned to react to. When the phone rings, we answer. A Blackberry vibration deserves a response. A bell and light above the clock means it is time for Mr. Chairman to run to vote. Hammers and saws mean closing our outside door. Visitors mean emails to Blackberries, which starts the whole cycle over again. If the Capitol lost electricity for an extended period of time, progress would most likely be at a standstill.

Today I completed a project for Mr. Holden, a Agriculture Committee member from Pennsylvania and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy (and other things), to help give him some background information about all the different types of energy, by making a binder filled with renewable energy information. Because that consumed so much of my time, I did little of anything else. I of course did wean my way into a few "secrets of the house".

The first was in the cafeteria. I noticed the sign that said "Debitek only" at one of the many checkouts, most of which accept check or credit card. I asked my boss about it, and she felt really bad for not telling Gabriel and me sooner. It is like an employee discount, she explained, but for everyone if they look hard enough. To get the Debitek cards, you have to go to a Cash-to-Card machine, we have the same ones at the U. The machine will print you out a card to use for all your eating and drinking needs while in any of the cafeterias, carry-outs and snack bars. There are actually two secrets, about this secret. The first is in getting the card itself. You have to have a $5 bill. Since the average citizen would take out cash to get $20's, they would first, have cash to spend on food, and second not be able to get a card if they tried. The second secret is that after you get the $5 card, it is instantly worth $5.50. A 10% instant payback, no strings attached! I put in $5 more, and sure enough, $11 showed up on the machine. In the long run, this is a great deal. In the short run, if you are eating anything worth over $5, it is probably worth getting one (as long as you don't end up with too much excess value on your card when you are done).

The second secret is not really a secret, sorry to disappoint. What I did this afternoon was neat and not often done. I got a tour of the Capitol's second floor. This level looks twice as nice as any of the other levels of the Capitol, which aren't shabby at all. There were some things I did not realize that now make sense. Before I got to Washington, I wanted a picture of the House of Representatives to put as my computer's desktop. I only found one online, really odd for one of our nation's most prized places. But again, a rule of the House is that there may be no pictures or videos in the House area of the the second floor, and only a member may bring someone onto the floor of the house. We walked around the outside of where the House assembles, and saw the Speaker's Lobby, where only members and people with "floor passes" are allowed. Until very recently Congressmen could use the room for a smoke-break. Here we handed off a piece of paper to one of the people guarding the door, although I have no clue what it was (the lady I was with had a floor pass and needed to deliver something to CCP). Then we saw the outside of the respective majority and minority Cloakrooms, where I was also not allowed. Two final stops (although I could not see into anything besides the Speaker's Lobby) was at the Congressional dining hall (again, members and guests only) and the Rayburn Room, which was closed off because an event was in there. The reason for the tour was in case we forget something, I would be able to run to one of those places and hand it off to the Chairman or a staff member.

While work is great, when I come home I still have a couple classes to do homework for, so I better get back to that. I hope all is well in MN, and wherever else you are reading this!

In a Stately Manner

2007-01-23T20:29:00.000-06:00

Today was jammed full of everything you should want in an action movie. I saw helicopters, M-16's and motorcycles, and that was just on the 3 block walk home.

Tonight I helped at a reception for the Jefferson Islands Club, and yes, there actually is an island. Former members include August Busch (of Anheuser-Busch),President Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt. I would guesstimate that a bipartisan 10% of the House of Representatives and Senate checked into the reception, along with many corporate sponsors. They served oysters, mini-sandwiches, fruit and brownies.

The earlier part of the day was busy as well. In the morning Gabe and I did the daily routines, and I completed a renewable fuels definitions page for Mr. Holden, the new Chairman of the Agriculture Committee's subcommittee on Energy (along with other things). The Agriculture Committee held their Organizational Meeting.

After the meeting, Gabe and I attended an eye-opening meeting with a handful of top people from the USDA. We talked about Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) and the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). I learned that COOL was already in place for fish and shellfish. Right now, the biggest thing that people do not understand is that current legislation places all responsibility on the retailers alone. If nothing is done this session as far as COOL legislation, the law will be enforced in September 2008, even if the USDA does not have time to set up the process to allow it not to be a burden for retailers and producers alike. We must realize that beginning COOL is a two-year process when it comes to beef (because of the time from birth to butcher), and variable lengths for other species. I talk about beef because I understand it best, but without a label at birth, there is no way a retailer will know what country it is from when it reaches the store.

Another thing about COOL, is that it was put in the Farm Bill please consumers of 2002, and not as much for safety reasons. It is so a soccer-mom from the suburbs can go to the store and see that her 98% fat free beef is 100% American. It also something that is now inevitable, as we have come too far. It will not be included with convenience and restaurant foods, and the vast majority of meat affected will be in your larger supermarkets. One thing to point out is that COOL is intended for fruits and vegetables as well, but is much easier to implement as most fruit is stickered already.

NAIS is something that is usually that goes hand it hand with COOL. NAIS is also something that is coming, but the resistance is much higher. NAIS is also for safety, and the quelling of fear. Currently, about 25% of the nation has their premises registered. The goal is for any disease outbreak, emergency disease, or foreign outbreak that would occur, the USDA is able to pinpoint where the food/animal came from as quickly as possible. With all things in the USDA, privacy is up to the holder. The USDA will have 24/7 access to records, but not even your neighbors will find out. If there is a disease on your premises, of course your neighbors will be tested. But the USDA never once gave out the names of the producers in any of the BT, BSE, or other animal disease cases. They found that even if they would have liked to make the location and person public, the producer usually does it first. The neighbors have usually been called before the USDA gets there. The main USDA spokesperson said the data was at the utmost security. Although he did not say it, I believe you could compare it to the privacy placed on taxes and social security numbers at the federal level.

With all the different technologies and programs NAIS uses, and with more being added each year, costs are shrinking. Unfortunately, so is trust. As time passes, producers agree less with NAIS than they did when NAIS was first introduced. Animal ID is something I need to be well researched on, as I will be attending many hearings in the upcoming months, and I was told the hearings will be useless if I do not know all of the acronym's the speakers are using.

After watching the State of the Union, I know tomorrow will bring many phone calls. Each mention of renewable fuels brings more attention to the Agriculture Committee. While most of the press is good, much of it is the same question, something we do not know the answer to, or something too obvious to give an answer without laughing.

To close, I just want everyone understand how diverse the Washington, D.C. culture is. The following is an excerpt from the reception:
"Ya'll have an accent," then he looked at my last name on my nametag, "Oh, ya'll are from Sweden? Cool!"

Slow day after Snow day

2007-01-22T19:40:00.000-06:00

From a legislative standpoint, the office was quite stoic. I spent all morning making labels and like most staff, avoiding going outside. Leaving the building today would have meant spending at least 30 minutes trying to get back in as the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade again brought abortion opponents to Capitol Hill. Middle schoolers wore t-shirts and hats representing everyone from St. Abraham to St. Zacharia, and places as close as D.C. and as far away as St. Louis. This afternoon we prepared for the first full Committee meeting (which will be held tomorrow) in one of our rooms. It is called the organizational meeting as they set the Rules for the session, which meant copying the 36 page document for 150 people, including the 46 Members, staff, press, and public who are assumed to be in the room. I also had many other minor projects like calling to find out who the Agriculture Legislative Analysts (LAs) were from each office, and doing the final editing and proofreading of a press release that will come out tomorrow.. I kept plugging away at making labels in the afternoon as the school children marched down the streets and in our basements.

I was a true secretary today and have little to report. I could always get into the positives and negatives of abortion, but luckily I am just an intern, so I do not have to take a stand. I am not sure if all the southern states' staff made it in because of the light layer of snow, as besides the Catholic kids, the halls were very empty.

My big news for the day was that I was invited to take a tour of the White House some time in the upcoming weeks, so I had to submit all my information to do a background check.

It was an enjoyable day, but nothing to blog about.

Pictures and Subscription

2007-01-20T19:42:00.000-06:00

I put pictures of the D.C. area on Facebook... click here!
And another note, sorry if it was a confusing first email, but you do NOT have to subscribe to the blog to read it. The site will always be here.
Also, an issue that was mentioned to me was to those of you not used to reading blogs, the underlined words are links, usually to the website of what I am talking about.
Lucas

Full Speed

2007-01-19T22:56:00.000-06:00

Today was not too exciting as far as my activities, but I did receive word on exciting things ahead. We started with a staff meeting where the rest of the staff had chipped in to get my boss a massage at 3:30 today, and the computer technician a gift certificate with the afternoon off, as they had both been working overtime and on the weekend to try to align our office with the schedule we should be on. I was awarded a desk and computer this morning, which meant I was able to complete one of my projects and start another. It was really a relief to me and the rest of the office as my stash of papers was starting to pile up. I think we were close to what we would call "normal" as far as day-to-day operations go, with a few minor pieces, like mailboxes and the fact that our back room looks like a giant storage closet, left to fit in the puzzle.

Gabe and I were able to go to a Government Accountability Office meeting. This is probably the most interesting government agency you have never heard of. While the name sounds like they should be something out of the IRS or OMB (Office of Management and Budget), but is really more closely related to things like the USDA, FDA, FTC, and SEC. The GAO is the office run by the Comptroller General. They are basically the general research arm that government can use for testimony and references. We were handed a 10 page packet of research today, with writing on both sides. On each page there were about 10 reports on research the GAO had done in the past 3 years, making about 200 reports in this one packet. Because it was in alphabetical order, agriculture came first, and I just assumed we would continue on to health, money, and science reports as we flipped through the pages. But when I opened up the book, I realized that these were ALL agricultural reports, on important issues that either the Senate, House, or an agency like the USDA had applied to had researched. Recent reports included everything from ethanol and commodity pricing as well as sod-busting and avian flu. Most of what the GAO does is report and testify to Congress, which is why they were coming to us to "tell us they were there." Most of the staff in the room had of course always worked in the minority in the past, so knew little about the agency as their requests would not matter as much. It was interesting to see them as another side of research that maybe funds projects that Universities would not approach, or was there when needed as a (hopefully) less-biased institution.

My upcoming project is to research Animal ID/NAIS as with my computer I successfully completed an ethanol and biodiesel fact sheet for reference of one of our staff. As part of this project I will be able to attend a closed-door meeting where I will meet the man from the USDA in charge of NAIS, to find out exactly why we have made almost no progress over the past couple of years. My most exciting news was a picture session with Mike Johanns, current Secretary of Agriculture and former Nebraska governor. I also need to come up with good questions to ask and have information to answer questions like "Where do you see agriculture going?" and "What interests you in agriculture?"

The great thing about this job is that I am always looking forward to something, and I can work in-between the moments of opportunity. I was asked to bartend and/or sign in guests at a social before the State of the Union next Wednesday, with extra pay, as it is a group that Mr. Chairman co-chairs, which will be a good time to see many members of Congress and other people with much more power than I have. This weekend I plan to take pictures, if offices are open, to try and better show and explain some of the things I am talking about. The two day break will be refreshing as I managed to travel by subway and bus to a Target, so I could stock up for the weekend. I hope I learn as much next week as I did in week one. I will be doing homework and other housekeeping stuff, so if you have any questions, drop me an email or give me a ring, and I would love to chat! Have a good weekend!

Stepping Stones

2007-01-18T20:58:00.000-06:00

I finally learned something my teachers had always been trying to tell me: MAJORITY RULES! At sometime during a 4H, Student Council, FFA, Boys' State, or Alpha Gamma Rho meeting, I understood that the motion with more votes, would win. I understand parliamentary procedure, and the concept behind voting to make decisions, but until today, I did not understand just how much the majority in fact does rule. The House of Representatives has rules that make up its body, like most organizations. The rules include information about committees having the same ratio as the full House, how long someone is able to speak, and how they will be starting and ending each day. Somewhere in the mix of the parliamentary information is a rule about staff. Whether the majority is 100% or 50.1%, the majority party has both 2/3 the staff and budget, for every Committee across the board. This means they are able to do twice as much research, be in twice as many places, and in theory help twice as many citizens. In our case, we are adding new staff every day. I believe last years number was something like 14, so this year the cap is around 28. I do not know who is actually "staff of the House Ag. Committee" and who is not, but I have had to learn a new name every day, while I know most of the Republicans. We also get the corner office, which is THE Agriculture Office, run the website and answer the phones. When you call the House Committee on Agriculture, who you are speaking to is actually the majority party office. Every once in a while we will send someone down to the Republican office, but there is really no reason unless it has something to do with only Republicans, as the Democrats (and more importantly Mr. Peterson and his office) control the committee and what it does. For the most part we can do as we please.

I thought the 2/3 staff rule was unusual, but then there are the Senate's rules... and these rules I have known about for some time, but it is hard to hear that they still exist. But of course, those in power will keep the rules so that they stay in power. I have one example (of many) of how these rules are so powerful. This year we will be working on a Farm Bill. If it were a perfect world (for our office) everyone would agree to what we say, and it would move out of committee with unanimous approval. Then the House would vote and again have a unanimous Yea vote to send the bill to the next step, which is either a conference committee with the Senate or the President. If Mr. Chairman hated the bill, he would not present it to the house. However, the full House could still pull it out of committee using a 2/3 vote.

In the Senate, there is no such rule. Mr. Harkin, the Senate Ag. Chair from Iowa, does not agree with some of the policies from our office. If he did not approve of our Farm Bill, he could sit on his committee's version as long as he wanted, and just wait for the session to end. He, as a Senate Chairman, has much more power than a House Chairman. It is this kind of power that worries many in our office, as even if we have all the votes for the bill, Mr. Harkin, who is involved with Ag. but thinks a little differently, can stop anything from happening. So even though our majority in both houses exists, we may now have to find a lesser of two evils deal.

My day started off with normal mail sorting and email deletion, and then onto little projects like sorting bills and printing labels. At 10:45 I was treated to attend a speech by our office's Minnesota Agriculture person, to the Midwest Association of Governors. This was held in a building which I am not sure of the name, but it houses C-SPAN, Fox, NBC and many other media outlets into little sets, which look much bigger on TV, when you see pictures of the Capitol or White House in the background (think Meet the Press). It also houses about 90% of the States, and serves as offices away from home for Governors and their staff. At this meeting we had Governors' staff from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio, along with me, my boss, and the Farm Bill spokesperson from Chairman Harkin's (the Senate Ag. Chair from Iowa) office. I was sitting in between two people who know more about what the Farm Bill can look like than anyone in the universe. We talked ethanol, MILC, and California, and then proceeded to the Minnesota office to talk about setting up a testimony at a hearing by Governor Pawlenty in front of the Ag. Committee. I never realized how important it was for a governor to be in Washington (Pawlenty was today) and know what is going on. It would be a waste of time if either Congress or the State was working towards a similar law, which is why there are so many state offices within blocks of the Capitol. We also needed our badges to get into this building, as it is basically an extension of Capitol hill, being as close as possible behind the federal buildings.

I had lunch with the Science Policy Director for the Weed Science Societies. We quickly found out we were both AGRs, he was from Iota (Wisconsin-Madison) and came from smaller crop and dairy farms. He is actually the only person from his organization (it is a volunteer society) on the Hill. We had a very good conversation about what he did and how he got there. He said that he has worked as both a scientist giving information and a policy director helping make decisions, but with the rest of Agriculture, he was a bottom feeder. While in my microcosm I see Agriculture as one of the most important and pressing topics each day, most people, especially Congressmen, don't. He said he has approached Congressmen that will tell him that they "do not support illegal drug use," so his title alone can start him off on the wrong foot. After he tells them, "we kill them, we don't smoke them," it is still hard to get most people to listen on how big of a deal noxious weeds are, and trying to get the money back that Agriculture was promised in an '04 bill that was made to help get rid of them. He did also say that he really enjoys his job when he can meet with others in agriculture, as they have a common bond (maybe beer?) that allows their conversation and workings to go a lot more smoothly, no matter the party our house of Congress, compared to other committees. After meeting with him I really can see myself working on the Hill (as well as a billion other places), as it puts things in perspective that maybe life out here isn't so chaotic after all. He reflected that many Congressmen saw Agriculture as a stepping stone, where he and I both truly believe that the House Ag. Chair is the spot Mr. Peterson wants to be. He said the same thing one of the people in my office said about the Republican ranking member, last year's chair of the Ag. Committee., Mr. Goodlate. They both talked about how he probably wanted the Judiciary Committee Chair, being that he was a lawyer, and took Ag. because he could, just to "add a notch to the belt." I see this as horrible policy in a place like the U.S. Congress, but fine for your local 4H club. To me chairing a committee should be something you really want to do, and not a PR stunt.

When I returned to the office after lunch, the House quickly passed HR 6, the provision to increase Renewable Energy funding and lessen dependence on foreign oil. Mr. Chairman ran the Agriculture portion of the 4 committee debate, which lasted about an hour out of a total 5 or 6 hour bill discussion. Many Republicans also voted for this bill, and didn't listen to their colleagues talking how this bill was actually helping create more jobs in the Middle East. One thing I have realized is that when you sit in an office spitting out only one side of everything, it is really easy to become part of that office. It's everything from setting policy to details on newspapers. Yes, the more liberal the paper, the higher on the stack it goes, filtering conservative information to the bottom. I know how our office stands on a lot of issues, and have to believe they are right, as I only hear all the good things for one side of each debate.

I received word on some really interesting projects added to my docket for when I get a computer. They include doing research on ethanol, animal ID, and possibly helping to write "Legislative Histories," which are placed in the National Archives. The last is just something that came up today because I did not have a desk, everything happens for a reason. Friday will be a nice end to a busy short week. We may get a Capitol tour so we would be able to give them in the future, and hopefully I end up with a real desk by the end of the Friday. Our computers currently lost their "backup" capabilities, so I will not have a password for sometime, but look forward to the day I do less sitting on the couch, and more typing. Yeah, you're right. That does sound really weird coming from a college student.

Constructive Criticism

2007-01-17T18:38:00.000-06:00

I woke this morning to find myself in Minnesota-like weather. That is, Minnesota weather in the Fall. My walk to work had fewer sirens and horns than Tuesday, as the people and cars have parked for the work-week, leaving little traffic in the Capitol Hill area. One thing different in D.C. from when I was here in 11th grade, is all the construction. The American History Museum is actually closed until the Summer of 2008, with about 15 trailer houses (holding construction workers) fenced into an area between its entrance and the sidewalk on Constitution Avenue, as workers install major changes inside. In the House Office Buildings, carpet is being torn up and wires fished through the ceilings as teams finish up renovations that are needed when offices were changed. The Capitol itself is closed off in many areas due to crews working, and there is no longer a direct route from the House to the Senate via the Capitol basement.

But amid all the remodeling, I was finally given the token to more privileges, my badge. This badge does not really have as much respect as one would think, or at least as I did. Arriving yesterday in the House Office Building for only the second time in my life, I realized just how open to people the building is. Because I saw the Capitol area as a place of such privilege, I never realized that it truly belongs to me. In Mr. Chairman's office, instead of a sign with the name of the receptionist it states, "This Office Belongs to the people of the 7th Congressional District of Minnesota." Which, in this crazy world of politics and partisanship, gives me hope that we are still moving in the right direction, what the pace is though, I am unsure. One great thing the badge does is keep me out of the cold. I am now about to walk under the Capitol freely, and others (visitors) are able to walk with me, which will be great when friends and family come to visit. I felt powerful today (although I am not, compared to others) when I walked past the sign that read "NO VISITORS BEYOND THIS POINT" on my way home.

Today was a really busy day in our office. I called 1/4 of House Ag. Committee Democrats members' offices (don't worry, the other 3/4 were called by others) to remind them of our 2:00 meeting. I was also able to attend a meeting with an energy non-profit from Minnesota. I was only able to stay for about 10 minutes, thus not remembering the name, but it was interesting watching lobbyists interact with staff, which is hard to explain, but I hope to post more about this later on. After that we held the Democratic Caucus for the House Agriculture Committee next door. Although I was unable to attend the meeting, I did put most of the booklets and folders together for the 25-member Committee, including "the boss" and my Discrict 1 Representative Tim Walz, which were used at the meeting today. This gave me an inside look at the exact processes of what the committee does. The meeting was by far the biggest attention we received so far. First, this was the first time the committee had ever met, so the press were asking for transcripts from the meeting starting at about 3:00 yesterday. Next, the committee elected Chairs of the six new subcommittees, which were controversial to say the least. The new committees included Horticulture and Organic Agriculture, which prompted a call from an organic organization to tell me they were, and I quote, "Tickled pink to hear" that we had made a subcommittee about Organic Agriculture. I do have my own views (shared with others) on the subject, but I see it as is an important issue to address, and I hope that anything decided in that Subcommittee receives much scrutiny and research, so that we know the truth. Once the meeting had let out, phones were off the hooks, with every call being transferred to our poor press secretary's voice mail. Of course we would not have the press release until much much later, but there was no use in telling a reporter that.

We had big names in our office today, and titles that were too big to remember, including a Brazilian economist, people from Microsoft and Walmart as well as Minnesotans, because Mr. Chairman will be working double duty this 2-year session, we have twice as many people in his offices, but he gets twice as many staff. I would love to tell you I shook all of their hands and spoke with them, but I was moving books containing the Hearing information for the Ag. Committee from the 99th Congress until the 108th. While a chore at first, I was motivated by the fact that these books were the last thing stopping me from having my own desk. When we finished, I was thrilled to hear I would receive the desk in the actual office, while Gabe was unfortunately moved a few doors down the hall. As of tomorrow morning, I will have a desk, as many Post It notes as I wish, and a telephone. On top of all the things I just listed will be papers and assignments. Another thing I do not yet have is a computer code to check my House email and do research projects, but things are obviously moving along quickly, and I am expecting it by the end of the week.

I look forward to tomorrow, as we will be busy as our first bill (HR 06, dealing with cutting oil subsidies and increasing renewable energy, which the boss is deeply involved in) will be presented on the house floor as part of the Democrats first 100 hours, and Mr. Chairman will most likely be speaking. I put together binders (yes our democratic-republican (not Democratic and Republican) government runs off scripts, and interruptions by party members are scheduled in to break up the talking) for the Democrats to read from as the bill is presented on the floor. It is a unique time as the bills were not, in this case [along with the rest of the 100 hours' agenda], sent to a committee, but only to the full floor.

This brings up another point, if you watch CSPAN, you will notice how empty the House is during debates and how full during votes, especially during this 100 hours campaign (because the debates are meaningless because everything is bound to pass). Although we are constantly watching the House Television and can see that the Dems may have majority with just 5:00 min left on a 30 minute vote, "the boss" will run out of a meeting with 1:30 on the clock, just to get in that vote. Although I understand that every vote matters to the District one represents, it is sad that members must break out of meeting to cast a ballot for an already decided vote. Of all things technology-wise, I am impressed that voting on the floor has stood the test of time. Yes, we have moved away from the ballot and hopper to an electronic system of buttons and lights, but the truth is, everyone knows when a bill will be passed. For controversial bills, everyone that cares will be at the debate, and need to vote. I would call this another inefficiency in this flat world that probably needs to stay in place until we have fully developed tele-portation Star-Trek style. I have thrice seen Mr. Chairman literally run out of the office, forcing a citizen or group to wait, just to cast a vote with the rest of his party. This really tells me that voters and the media place much more emphasis on voting, collectively than they should. Each year an opponent of someone will bring up their voting record, spitting out facts about members casting only 25% of the votes during their term. For the future, I will be remembering that I would much rather talk to the largest companies and most advanced countries in the world than voting to suspend the rules so that I can listen to people congratulating the University of Florida Gators on their win over the Ohio State University Buckeyes, so my representatives can too, but I digress.

Tomorrow looks to be a promising day since I will not be walking in as much wind, have my own desk, and be helping (although I could never guess exactly what that means) present H.R. 06 on the House floor. I also have a 1:00 lunch with a Science Policy Director with the National Weed Science Societies, who is a friend of a co-worker at Agriliance at Tortilla Coast. I will be waking up to what they are calling "the coldest day of the year" in D.C., which means absolutely nothing to me.

Baptism by Fire

2007-01-16T18:02:00.000-06:00

Day one was a learning experience to say the least. I have never seen so many police and power-suits in one 20 minute walk. From the moment I stepped through the metal detector, I knew I was lost. The front door of the Longworth House Office Building had no secretary's desk, no directory, just a couple of the Capitol Police. I asked the female officer, "Where is the reception desk?" "There is no desk honey," she said with a "you're in trouble" look on her face. My boss told me to ask for him when I got to 1301 Longworth. I thought it was funny he gave me an address to get to the building, then it clicked, 1301, floor 13, room 1. "Nevermind ma'am, I got it!"
As I stepped in the elevator and realized there was no floor 13, I pushed 3 to try my luck. In this case I was right. I later learned that you only pay attention to the last 3 numbers to find a room. The first number is the building itself. Cannon Office Building has no 1000 number (ex. 101), while Longworth has a 1 in front (1000's) and Rayburn has a 2 in front (2000's). While confusing at first, it allows you to drop the building from any instructions, and not end up in the right room and the wrong building.
After a few quick introductions, and signing for a badge on a form, my first chore tested the room-number-theory. I had to hand deliver letters to the offices of the House Agriculture Committee Democrats, throughout all 3 buildings. Besides a 15 minute delay not being able to find the right elevator to get back to the underground tunnel, I did pretty well.
Once I returned to the office I realized I showed up for my job one week late. That is, I was not any later than I was supposed to be, but I was a week behind on knowing what everyone else knew, which was not too much... the buildings were organized chaos. Desks, couches and chairs lined the hallways, closely resembling any moving of furniture at my fraternity. You trust everyone not to steal your stuff by putting 8.5 x 11 signs that say "Please Do Not Move." Even in the House of Representatives things get stolen, or I mean misplaced, for a little while. I do not currently have a "place to sit" , but it looks like I will end up with a nice spot in the reception office of the House Agriculture Committee, with a really nice desk and a DELL Desktop with a 20" screen.
We (the other intern, Gabe, a graduated senior from Texas A & M, and I) have to pickup mail at 10:30 & 3:30 in Mr. Chairman's actual office in the Rayburn House Office Building. I concluded that he does not support PETA, as his office adorns heads and mounts of many different animals, along with a lot of other Minnesota memorabilia. His staff was very friendly to us, and I had been noticing this trend since I started handing out letters. Secretaries gave a meaningful "Thank you" each time, as if you were doing them a huge favor. The truth is, interns are in no way glamorous. All receptionists had probably been in our shoes trying to work their way up in the political world at sometime in their lives, and understood how much of our work is mindless, and theirs full of purpose. We headed back to the House Ag. Committee Office and as soon as we stepped out of the elevator to head back into Longworth, we saw a mass of people coming towards us and heard the fire alarm. So we got into the elevator and waited back in Mr. Chairman's office for another 40 minutes. They gave an all clear as it was a false alarm of course. The alarm had devastating effects to everyone's schedules, throwing us all off by two hours. When they mean everyone out, everyone is out. All the restaurants and police have to be re-stationed before anyone was allowed back in. Lunch was delayed for many, but we finally made it back with the mail, sorted it, and then sat and waited. The staff member that interviewed me for the job rolled in at 11:00. He had injured himself in a Flag Football game the night before, and had to get his knee checked out. Then, all the staff disappeared for a meeting about tomorrow's meeting.
Gabe and I took turns answering phones from Horse Slaughter Opponents and people looking for other people. Gabe and I currently share one desk. Because I am new, Gabe has a computer password, and I do not. This meant sitting on the couch, reading the entire Washington Post, front to back, and eating complimentary peanuts. We did a few more random jobs throughout the rest of the day, and I got to meet and talk with Mr. Chairman (which is one of two ways everyone addresses him, otherwise its "the boss" in third person). I also did the typical fetching of lunch and coffee, sealing and stuffing envelopes, and putting people on hold.
I was handed my job description today. I am basically a glorified secretary, and by glorified I do not mean by pay or pecking order in the world, but by being "there" when others cannot, and hearing "things" that may never be repeated. I knew this coming in, and am thankful for the experience, but would be lying if I said I am not going to enjoy what happens after work more than work itself.
As time progresses the work will increase, greatly. Talking with one of our press communicators, she said she has received 10 times as much contact because of both being in the Chairman's office and the approaching Farm Bill.
One big thing I learned today is the lingo of Washington, D.C. I was given many projects, which I have called errands all my life. Projects today included getting coffee, putting together packets and moving computer equipment. I always viewed a project as a 2 or 3 week work that took time and resources, but I'm happy to hear that I never have time to procrastinate and will not be graded.
Basically today was pretty low-key, but life is hard when you don't have "a place to sit." I re-learned how to sort mail and correlate newsletters, two great skills I have learned from my mother. But in my case it was only like 14 mailboxes, and 25 newsletters. I'll give it another try at 9 am tomorrow.

Day One at Ground Zero

2007-01-15T10:14:00.000-06:00

It was an eventful weekend as Jamie and I traveled to and from Kansas City, MO from our Nicollet County homes in just over 45 hours. We left at 5 am on Friday for Alpha Gamma Rho Recruitment School, arrived noon Friday, and drove back starting at 7 pm on Saturday, making it home through an ice storm by 2 am Sunday, not advised, but here's what your car might look like if you do.
I arrived at MSP to find that we had been delayed "an hour and a half" by weather. This moved my departure time from 2:50 to 4:10, disappointing but manageable. One shutdown airport and a frozen valve later, I landed at Dulles five hours after I had originally expected at 1:00 am Eastern. The shutdown airport was New York's JFK, which has 0.0 visibility for four hours because of the fog. After we were finally boarded, we had to switch planes because one of the valves froze up because it was snowing so hard in Minneapolis. When we finally did take off at 8:00 pm (with 8:05 being our estimated time of arrival at Dulles) the flight went very smoothly and everything went as planned. Unfortunately, because I was so late the $13 bus I was going to take turned into a $60 taxi cab ride, but its over now, and I'm here and I like it.
My new landlord, Bill, was nice enough to wake up and meet me to let me in. He was very understanding and showed my my place, which is pretty nice for what I am paying, and I put everything away and went to bed. This is the beginning of my D.C. blogging, and hopefully not the end. I am going exploring today, camera in hand, and we will see what I find.

Too much Christmas

2006-12-26T22:43:00.000-06:00

This year I had the opportunity to attend a total of 5 Christmas celebrations. The first was with Alise's family celebration on the 23rd. Unlike Bernadotte, the Sauk Centre area was able to have a White Christmas because of a couple inches on Thursday night. I arrived on the Friday the 22nd for my 2nd Johnny Holm's band experience in Sauk Centre. It ended up being a late night with a stop at the Truck Stop at 3:00 am after hitting up the town of West Union once Johnny Holm's band was done playing.

Saturday was jam-packed with activity. I woke up to the smell of dinner cooking in the oven. Then we opened presents, which looked like it was going to take forever. But we keeping chipping away at the heap until there was nothing left. I spent all afternoon trying to win games of pool or Foosball. I found out early in this relationship that this was no easy task with her family, but I think I ended up with enough wins to count on one hand. We were then treated to an excellent steak and crab dinner, which was probably the highlight of my weekend. After supper I racked up W's in both Disney Trivia (with Jerry's help) and Trivial Pursuit (the unstoppable Brian, Tammy and Lucas). We then winded down with the traditional viewing of the movie Jackass, which left us all feeling a little uncomfortable.

Sunday started out with my 3rd ever Catholic church service. I only saw a few broad differences beside the "genuflecting" and kneeling rituals. The lack of coat racks drove me nuts. I had never seen so many jackets worn in one church. I would totally understand if you had nothing to wear and threw a nice leather jacket over something less dressy. But the people who had their coats on were the same people wearing nice shirts or sweaters. One thing I never realized I cherished about Lutheran churches is my time at the coat rack. I can easily spend 10-15 minutes putting away my coat, grabbing a hanger for someone behind me, meeting someone new, or just talking to a "neighbor" I have not seen in a while. On the way out, it can take much longer as everyone is there at the same time. But this past Sunday I was in and out faster than you can say confessional. The only other big difference was the time we spent just watching the priest pray. I noticed at my Christmas service that only once does the pastor pray without the congregation. At the Catholic service I felt like half the time we were waiting in silence staring at the man on the throne. I do admit Lutherans have excessive preludes and postludes to their songs, but I think this is a fair trade.

We spent Sunday afternoon in Sauk Centre for Alise's grandparents' Christmas. The family of 12 siblings is much bigger than my mom's and dad's of 5 and 4 respectively, and the house is filled much faster. We ate, played the gift exchange game and were off to my house for our traditional Christmas Eve supper with my Grandparents and 1 set of aunt, uncle and cousins. There was no Santa in the flesh, but I had a good time playing Foosball against my much younger cousin, eating Ostkaka (my favorite dish of all time) and opening presents.

Christmas Day stayed as traditional as always. We started with church, headed to Grandma and Grandpa's down the road, and ate brunch. Then we opened presents and poked fun at each other until it was time to go to Christmas at the Rathmann's. Here we played cards, ate and opened our [surprise] $50 check from Grandma, which comes in handy this time of the year.

On Boxing Day (the 26th) I had a dentist checkup (no cavities) and am currently up in the cities, wasting my time away until Thursday, when I start work at Williams Arena. I will either try to keep myself busy with odds and ends I need to finish before Washington, D.C. (like packing and buying airline tickets), or enjoy America's past-time of sitting on the Internet doing nothing.

Holiday Break

2006-12-18T16:44:00.000-06:00

I just got done with my 3rd semester of college, which unlike the last two, went very well. My GPA is up, my girlfriend is cute, and life is just peachy. I ended up taking 20 credits this semester, which is more like 15. Three of them were my internship this past summer with Agriliance, and two credits were for a 3-day class called Dairy Judging, which involved me traveling through the countryside of Minnesota and Wisconsin to judge cows. It was something I was hoping to succeed in, that is do well enough to have a spot on the team next year, well I did not. I used to be good, really, (Intermediate Individual Reasons Champion - 2001 MN State Fair, heck yes!) but I just stopped caring and trying. Anyways so my classes went very well, minus the fact that I was accused of cheating and having a "file of correct answers". I did not have/do either, and I ended up with a good grade in the class.

For break, I will be either home until Friday the 23rd, then at Alise's for her family's Christmas, and then back home from the 24th to the 27th. From the 28th until the 10th of January I will most likely be in the cities living at Alpha Gamma Rho and working at Williams Arena, which I did last year. It is a good time to log a lot of hours and really not do too much work.
I will leave for "AGR Recruitment School" which is the 12th and 13th in Kansas City, MO.

This brings me to the "big news" for me for this semester. I will most likely fly out of MSP on the 14th to arrive in Washington, D.C. to start my internship with the Honorable Collin C. Peterson (Dem, MN-07) and the House Agriculture Committee. This is graciously brought to me by the Renewable Fuels Association who is helping to differ some of my costs while I am out there. I start work on the 16th of January and end around the 19th of May. I will hopefully keep updating this blog close to daily as it is a good way to communicate with friends and family and cut down on the ol' cell phone bill. My duties should include answering phone calls, writing memos, and doing research and then taking in all the events and dinners that Capitol Staff usually get invited to. I am living just 3 blocks from the Supreme Court (4 from the Capitol) and and am really excited, yet a bit nervous at the same time. It is an exciting time as the Democrats won the house, which was good for me as Mr. Peterson is a Democrat and will now be the Chairman in a Farm Bill year. So, instead of the normal political schmoozing and pampering, I will hopefully be treated even more like a king. Just kidding, but hopefully.

I have really been overwhelmed by the number of people who, firstly, know someone that lives in D.C. working in the agricultural realm who are willing to get me as many contact numbers or emails so they can look me up when I am out there. And secondly the number of my closer friends and relatives who decide that "now would be a good time for a trip out there" (Cheap tickets through SunCountry Airlines). I look forward to it being my greatest semester of college, although I will miss out on a lot of stuff happening back at college. Of course I will miss my girlfriend, close friends and family, but thankfully EVERYONE was supportive of the trip right away and I basically forced myself to take the internship. I will miss all the little gatherings and Spring Jam, MN Royal and our brand new "Sweetheart Week," but they will be there next year. If enough people visit I can probably apply to be a tour guide for the summer or something, but until then, I plan on returning and either taking another internship or being a Full-Time student this summer.

The holidays are soon upon us. Merry Christmas!