Internship Journal #12

Hello to all. I had a good day today. One of the legislative assistants in my office is having a birthday and we ate cookies in the congressman's office with him. He asked whether I had already graduated from Chico State and I let him know that I would be graduating in May. He asked me what my major is and I told him, General Political Science. He thinks that I should attend the master's program , he did and look where he is…not that I want to be doing what he is doing. I wouldn't mind being a Chief of Staff in Sacramento…but I hope to be doing bigger things. Not that being a congress member is not a big thing, but I never want to live in Washington, D.C. I wouldn't mind coming here every so often to testify before Congress…that would be a dream come true!! I want to work to help people and not all people, but an underrepresented group of people. People with disabilities. I have a lot to say and hope that one day people will listen to my personal story and begin to understand that some policies need to be changed, so that the system can be utilized in a more efficient way. Those that need help in certain areas are not able to receive these services, because there are too many hurdles and one organization is saying they can't help, because another group is involved and the second group says they can't pay for this service, because she receives another service from another group. The system is absolutely frustrating and I hope to one day ease the frustration for those in need.

SCHIP was passed by the House of Representatives again today. The democrats want to get it through the senate and conference, by Monday and then the president will have to either sign it, or veto it, right before Thanksgiving. This is absolutely about P.R. If the president vetoes the bill, the newspapers the next morning will certainly have headlines reading, "President gives poor children, nothing to be thankful for!!!" Not very good headlines, huh? That is the reason the congress took this vote up, even though several congress members were in their home districts in Southern California. It took several hours to get this vote passed, because in the congress first had debate to pass rules regarding the procedure to be utilized, then they had a vote, then the republicans made a motion to recommit (a last ditch tool utilized by the minority to have the motion sent back to committee) which takes precedent over the issue and must be voted on immediately, the motion failed and then the vote for SCHIP occurred. It passed in a new form today. The congress did not need a 2/3 vote, so they could override the president's veto. He now has to either sign the new bill, or veto it for Thanksgiving!! This is true political theatre. Oh, one of the staffers in my office was also a theatre major, when she started college. She is the third that I know of that started out as a theatre major and completed school as a political science major. Weird how the two are so close to the same thing in many ways. Being a politician is just like being an actor on many occasions. Being comfortable in front of an audience is especially important for an actor and a politician. As a politician you are always in front of an audience. Even when the politician is not standing in front of the audience, the press is always watching, listening, and researching about every part of your life. Hence, a specific reason I do not want to be a congress member. I truly enjoy my anonymity. I really like an audience, but only when it is through my own instigation.

I attended Congressional Research Service (CRS) training today and will now have the opportunity to take advantage of the ultimate in research!! This will spoil me for my POLS330 - Research Skills in Political Science, next semester. I look forward to that class, hopefully with one of my favorite professors!!

I need to go now and tend to some things.

Until next time,

Eliza

Internship Journal #11

Hello to you all. I am writing really late tonight, but I went to a football game. The game was called, "The Longest Yard" and it is played between Congress members against the Capitol Police. The Congress "Mean Machine" was not so mean…they lost 28 to 0! The Capitol police were really good, well…not really good, they were just a lot better than an professional quarterback a couple of other players and some guys that can't catch! I was fun though, watching them try to play football. It was nice to see them out there having fun and raising money for a charity, the Capitol Police Families Fund that helps families of fallen police officers. I went to the game with Diana and Brandon, they are both fun to hang out with. It was Diana's birthday and so we took her out to dinner and then we went to the ballgame. We ate appetizer's at the Pour House and we all had a drink. Brandon's 21st birthday was last week and I wasn't feeling well, so we went to the zoo together this weekend. He liked the hippo's the most, so I gave him a little rubber hippo for his birthday and a pair of tiger sweat bands. I liked the panda's, thought about my friend Dana Stanaland while I was looking at the panda's. Dana was my baby sitter for a while. She wasn't that much older than me, maybe 3 years, but my mom and her mom were in a social sorority together and they went out of town a lot to meetings and the such, so I often stayed with Dana at her house. She had a panda collection, not just stuffed, but on everything she owned. She was in a newspaper once, because her collection was so large. She and I got along well and last I heard she was working for a zoo. I hope she has had the chance to get up close with a panda in her life.

   

I would like to change my thoughts a bit at this point and say that I am worried about the interns that are from southern California. I hope that their families are well and their homes are protected from the fires.

   

I am tired and ready to go to sleep. It is late and I certainly need to sleep, although with the fires raging in California, it is worrisome to me and it will be difficult to sleep. But I am certainly about to try.

Until next time,

Eliza

Internship Journal #10

Hello to all…

I have been feeling a bit under the weather these days. I've had a migraine headache every evening this week. Ick!! I hope I begin to feel better. I am not certain what the cause of these headaches is, but it could be either the lights, reading the computer screen for long periods, or it could be my back. Not certain…I will prevail however…if my friend Scot can do it for so many years, I have no excuse to be a wimp. I spoke to another intern in the laundry room…he said he was tired…I told him that if he thought he was tired, imagine being my age. He chuckled…putting things into perspective is usually a very good thing.

I was to tell you all about the astronauts. I met the team that just returned on the space shuttle. One of the members of this team was Barbara Morgan, she was the replacement for Krista McCauleph, the teacher that was on the space shuttle Challenger, the one that exploded on lift off in 1986. I lived in Orlando, Florida for most of my life and saw the space shuttle blast off on many occasion, I even saw the space shuttle piggy back atop a 474 airliner. I was in Orlando to see the pieces of the Challenger falling from the sky. It was a traumatic moment in the space program and the world watch in horror as these astronauts exploded before their very eyes. Barbara Morgan was never allowed to go into space as a teacher, however she became a military pilot and astronaut in full, so she had the opportunity to finally, 21 years after the Challenger tragedy, to follow her dream and fly on the shuttle. She and the others were more than willing to speak with us and one of the other interns is a "rocket scientist" from Cal Poly and he was in awe of the astronauts, just like I was. He asked them all questions and I let them all know that I grew up in Central Florida and feel very close ties to the area and believe that although there have been accidents, this is not a perfect world and these people are such perfectionists that we should expect that whatever should be done to improve on the work, these people are all willing to do this, because they know that it is a matter of life and death . The souls of the astronauts looking through the heavens are all hoping that someday, perfection in flight can be achieved.

We attended a seminar this past week with Tim Roemer, the President of the Center for National Policy. He was a great speaker, he suggested we read the book, "The Dance of Legislation" about a young person that comes to Washington, D.C. to change legislation. I look forward to reading it. I will order it soon. He spoke about how we can make a difference, he worked on education as a member of Congress. He tried to improve higher education and help more people receive funding to attend college. He told us that we need to find our nitch and work in the area in which we think we can make the most impact. I believe that my impact will be in the advocacy arena and I hope that I will have the opportunity to advocate for people with disabilities. I have found that many people are still discriminated against in employment issues and the offer of employment. I have been reading a report about employment of people with disabilities and the importance of this group of people to replace the many baby boomers that will be leaving the workforce. I hope to write my public policy paper on this issue. The paper is to be 20 pages and no long quotes. The professor wants us to do more paraphrasing of the information. I like long quotes, so I need to get with this paper soon. My journal is to be 20 pages as well and I think I am close, although I began before everyone else.

My battery on my computer is almost dead and my charger is no longer working. Tipper Gore chewed on it, before I left home and it finally quit on me. I ordered a new cord, but it won't be here until tomorrow…so I could lose my battery at any time. I will write more soon…

Until next time,

Eliza

Internship Journal #9

Last modified on: 10/6/2007, 5:36 PM

Yea, yea, yea, I know…I said I would write more often, but sometimes I have a real problem wanting to write. You know…kinda like writer's block! So, I have been worried about what to write, because according to my office here in D.C. I can have a blog, but I cannot discuss my office. So, suffice it to say that I got the office I wanted…for those of you out there that I told who I wanted to work for while I was here in D.C.

On our first full day in D.C. my friends Brandon, Diana, and I went into D.C. on the Metro rail, so that we could time the ride in and find our office buildings. My office is in the Cannon House Office Building and I am happy about that, because it is the oldest of the House Office Buildings and it is also the closest to the Metro station. We had a wonderful time in D.C. that day, Brandon frolicked on the lawn of the Capitol and we herded geese into the reflection pool. I rode on a carousel and we saw adults playing kickball on the Mall.

We saw the Washington Monument (but we couldn't get tickets to go to the top, but we will eventually) and World War II Memorial and my favorite part of the day was the Lincoln Memorial where I shed several tears. I cried because Lincoln was so important to this country and being from a southern state it was even more touching for me, because I could be a citizen of an entirely different country if not for Abraham Lincoln.

I arrived in my office on Monday morning at 10:00a.m. and my intern coordinator was out sick. I was shown around by our staff assistant and taught how to sort mail and faxes. I was sent to the office of John Doolittle to take a tour of the Capitol. WOW!!! What beautiful building. I will tell more about this after I take some pics inside. I did find it interesting that there are statues of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America and General Robert E. Lee, Commander of the Confederate Army. There is a picture of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in which Thomas Jefferson is standing on John Adams foot!! Jefferson and Adams were arch rivals and died on the same day, interestingly enough it was on July 4th. We went into the gallery of the House of Representatives and that was exciting to actually be there listening to debate on the floor. On Friday, of my first week, the House was not in session and I had the opportunity to sit in a seat on the floor!!! (Did I mention that I saw the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi on two occasions?) I spent most of my first week sorting mail and faxes; and trying to learn how to answer the phones…gggrrrrr…by Tuesday of my second week, I had the phones down pat.

Wednesday of my second week, I attended my first committee meeting…a very long committee meeting about the FDA regulation of tobacco products. The legislation is sponsored by Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Nathan Deal (R-GA). Nathan Deal was my congressman when I lived in Georgia. When I lived in Georgia, I was the Governmental Affairs Program Manager for the Georgia Jaycees and the coordinator for the Model Legislature held each year and I invited Nathan Deal to speak to us during the legislative session. He did come and the other day, after the committee meeting I went and introduced myself and told him that the model legislative sessions and meeting him were the main reasons I decided to become a Political Scientist and why I applied for this internship. He was happy that I came and spoke to him and that made me proud of all I have accomplished, since the time I was a Jaycee.

The Legislative Aid that deals with Healthcare issues is very kind to me and she gave me info regarding a luncheon briefing on Wednesday. This briefing is about Children's Mental Health issues, a great concern for me personally, because of the illness of my daughter Jaymi. Senator Kennedy should be in attendance for this meeting, I hope so. I will also attend a luncheon briefing on Tuesday regarding Mental Health issues, as well.

So, let me tell you about the showdown on the hill these days. The House and Senate have both passed the SCHIP Bill, the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the President has now vetoed it. At this point neither chamber has enough votes to override the President's veto, but from what I have read in Roll Call and heard around the hill, they both just might get to the numbers they need to override the veto. The House will need 196 votes which is 2/3 of the Congress and the Senate has the 67 votes they need to override the President's veto. The consensus regarding this bill is growing among all sides and the republicans are likely to fall in line with the democrats on this issue, because few of them want to be seen as not helping children. I can tell you all that their have been many phone calls, faxes, and mail have come into all the offices on the hill wanting the Congress to override the veto. If they do, in my opinion, the republicans may have a better chance at holding on to some of their congressional seats next November. We shall see!

I spent the day today in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia and it was beautiful…I will write more about my weekend tomorrow, because I am going with Kari to Mount Vernon tomorrow and I want to include some pics from today and tomorrow at the same time and this posting is long.

Oh, I forgot to tell you all that I got a room to myself and I am VERY HAPPY about this…not that I don't want a roommate, but…well I am old and stuck in my ways and it is just much better for everyone this way!!!

Until next time,

Eliza

P.S. Did I mention that I met Astronauts the other day??? More on that later!!