Back to Work

I'm officially a high school graduate and I headed back to work after three days of last minute rehearsals, celebrations and family. And what a day to come back to!

As you may be reading in your local newspapers, Congress is at work on a major overhaul and rewrite of health care. I've mentioned previously that the 'trigger' health care approach is among our most frequently communicated issues from constituents. So today I had a chance to attend a planning meeting for staff from Blue Dog Democrat offices.

In case you aren't familiar with that term, it refers to a group of 52 Democratic Members of the United States House of Representatives who are moderate or conservative on fiscal matters. Representative Moore is a member of this coalition, hence my chance to participate in this briefing.

The focus of our briefing was around how to be consistent in our communications with our Constitutents. While every Representative has their own voice and perspective, there is general agreement with coalitions, such as the Blue Dog Democrats, that it is helpful for members to coordinate messaging when there are such similiarities. This helps strengthen the potential for the perspective of those Members to be recognized and adopted. As staff, we were able to discuss those similiarities and learn where resources (e.g. Fact sheets, background documents, etc.) are located to assist us in communicating with our Constituents. It's pretty interesting on many levels to participate in an event like this; From meeting other Interns and Legislative Assistants to developing a better understanding of the rationale for the positions that Representative Moore takes on specific issues, such as health care.

Throughout the day I had numerous errands and made several trips from the office to the Cloak Room. We were also quite busy handling what seems like an increasing quantity of calls (many about the pending health care legislation) that we're receiving. The day had a rather frenzied pace to it because of a procedural process that the House Republicans deployed. Frustrated in their minority party status, unable to significantly impact the majority and Presidential agendas, the House Republicans have been submitting amendment requests to literally every piece of legislation on the agenda. This is an attempt to slow down, if not stall, the deliberations on legislation that they oppose, such as many programs that require new or expanded funding.

The result of this tactic is that today, June 18, the House of Representatives had a marathon of votes called on nearly 40 amendments. This essentially tied up Congressman Moore from 10:30 until 6:30 today. This also explains why we were busy carrying materials back and forth to the Congressman in the Cloak Room.

This is a fascinating place to be; But it is even more so when you understand the reasons behind the activity you deal with

Thanks for being patient with me while I've been out celebrating; but it's good to be back.