For the past month I have worked in the office of Congressman Jason Altmire. It has been an amazing experience, especially for a Civics teacher. I have always tried to emphasize for you (my students) the relevance of what we are learning in class and why it is important for us to know and understand it. After working for a month in a Congressional Office and seeing the work of the Legislative Branch firsthand, I'm even more convinced that it is important, as a citizen, to understand how our government works and how the Constitution shapes that work. I'll now be able to convey this importance to you and to my future students in a much more real way, and my future lessons will be enriched with many more examples from firsthand experience. Though I had never written a blog before writing this one, I've really enjoyed the opportunity to communicate with you through this medium, and to tell you about what I have been learning in real time. For my final entry in my blog, I wanted to share with you the answers to a series of questions I asked Congressman Altmire during my last week in his office. I hope that by reading his answers, you'll continue to add to your understanding of why it is important to know both how our government works and what it can do.
On Wednesday, July 16, my second-to-last day in Congressman Altmire's office, I walked over to the steps of the Capitol Building to have my picture taken with the Congressman by the official House photographer. On the walk back to his office in Longworth, I asked Congressman Altmire the following questions. The first question I asked him was, "What are you most proud of?" He answered that since he has been in office, he has been able to pass thirteen different legislative initiatives. Four of them deal with veterans and military families. Some of these include expanding and insuring treatment and screening of traumatic brain injuries for returning veterans, expanding business opportunities for veterans who are small business owners, providing tax relief to military families who are facing financial hardship due to multiple deployments, and extending Family Medical Leave Act benefits for all military guard and reserve families so that they can take leave time from work to spend time with an injured veteran family member or have time to prepare before their family member leaves for duty. Among the 11 additional bills or amendments authored by Altmire that have been passed by the House is a bill guaranteeing that wounded military veterans can keep their enlistment bonuses. He was also part of the Conference Committee that helped negotiate and approve the final version of the recent GI bill, which will make the single largest investment in college financial assistance to veterans since the 1944 GI Bill. I asked Congressman Altmire why he had a particular interest in veterans' issues and if he has a specific personal tie to veterans. He explained that his (our) Congressional District (PA-04) has the 4th largest amount of veterans in the entire country. So, as the Representative for this district, he feels he has an obligation to work on behalf of veterans. He also likes these measures because they help real people in real ways.
I then asked Congressman Altmire, "What frustrates you the most?" (His answer ties closely with what I taught you about how a bill has to pass both the House and the Senate in the same form before it can go to the President to become a law, so pay attention). He explained that in order to end debate on a bill in the Senate so that the Senators can vote on the bill, you need 60 votes (called "cloture"). He said that the House sent four different bills over to the Senate where they only got 59 votes. He explained (and I'm paraphrasing here since I didn't have my notebook with me), "So we're doing stuff but it dies in the Senate. And then the voters ask why Congress is not getting anything done and we've got to explain it to them." It's also difficult when the President is from a different political party than the majority in Congress, because it makes it more likely that bills that do reach the President will get vetoed.
His answer provided a perfect segue to my next question: "Do you think the government works the way the founders intended?" He answered emphatically, "Yes. I do think so. And I think that it should work this way." He went on to explain that the House of Representatives is designed to be closely tied to the people - (again, paraphrasing) "We're supposed to do what the people want us to do. The Senate is supposed to balance that out. The process is supposed to be slow and deliberative." Hence, although it is frustrating, he is ok with how the system is set up. The Senate has been serving its function, not necessarily by not passing the laws they get from the House, but by providing balance and by making the process more deliberative.
While I worked in Congressman Altmire's office, I got to see firsthand how our government works and what it can (and sometimes cannot) do. From Congressman Altmire's answers to my questions, you can see that he's proud that he's done a lot to help real people, particularly veterans. He gets frustrated by the nature of how the process is designed, yet he understands and appreciates that design, and even agrees that it should be that slow, deliberative process designed by
the founders. He understands that it is in the nature of the design of his office that as a Representative, he should specifically work to help his constituents, many of whom are veterans.
At the beginning of this blog entry, I wrote that I believe it is important that citizens understand how our government works and what it can do. The examples and answers I explained above really drive this point home. Our government is not some far away group of people whose job descriptions you just need to memorize for a test. The government can help real people in real ways. But as citizens, you should understand that the process was designed to be slow. It's up to our Representatives and Senators to work within that process to accomplish legislation that helps us.
After reading this blog, I hope all of you also understand that even though you are thirteen and fourteen years old, you can take a more active role in this process. You can write a letter to your Congressman. It can be as simple as asking the Congressman to support or oppose a particular bill. (I know from firsthand experience that these very short support/oppose letters are the ones the office likes best. They are easier to respond to more quickly and are easier to log into their record system). You can also keep yourself informed by reading the newspaper, by listening to the radio, and by watching the news. You can volunteer to be part of a political campaign. You can make sure you understand the history behind the design of our
government, such that when someone complains about the Electoral College, you can explain why the framers created it in the first place. You'll also be able to explain to them why we have Representatives and Senators and why each office is designed they way it is. When you turn 18, you can vote - and you'll be prepared to vote. And yes, your one vote does make a difference.
I have so many ideas about how to incorporate what I've learned this summer into the classroom. One project I'm thinking about doing next school year is asking the students to write letters to Congressman Altmire. Now, we won't actually send all 125 letters (since I know how much work it is just to answer one!), but what we might do is trade letters with a partner and try to write a response letter ourselves. I learned so much from trying to write response letters to constituents and I'd like my future students to learn the same lessons I did. In particular, I learned what a difficult balance it is to write a letter that is satisfying to a constituent without being able to explain the Congressman's exact position on a bill. We'll also be able to discuss this exercise and learn about the benefits and costs of responding to constituents in this way. Then we might have the other Civics teachers judge a smaller batch of letters (if they agree!) and we'll send five letters, one from each class, to Congressman Altmire's office, where they will respond to them. Another idea I'm thinking about is holding a mock Committee Meeting - either a Mark-Up Meeting or a Hearing. The Mark-Up Meeting would provide good opportunities for debate. I also might have an assignment where students have to write a "Memo" to the Congressman explaining a particular bill and why the Congressman should cosponsor that bill. I had to do this very assignment, and I learned a lot just by trying to make my sentences as succinct as possible in order to fit the explanation on one page. As the students write this memo, they'll learn how to use http://thomas.loc.gov to research different bills and their status. I also might try more to use C-SPAN in the classroom. I know that Congressman Altmire often gives a "one-minute" speech on Wednesday mornings at 10 a.m. after he attends the Speaker's Breakfast. The purpose of all of these lessons will be to learn about how government works by participating in these simulations (though of course these simulations are actually pretty real since I did them myself!).
If, after reading my blog, you have any suggestions for classroom activities, please let me know. Also, I now have some contacts at the House of Representatives, so if you have any questions in the future, e-mail me at mitnickjs@svsd.net and I'd be happy to pass the question along to a member of Congressman Altmire's staff. In fact, the Legislative Director said he'd be happy to answer any future questions from my students. I said, "you might be sorry for that offer because I'll most certainly take you up on it." He then responded, "That's ok. I'm good at delegating." The press secretary and the other legislative assistants in the office laughed. But honestly, everyone in the office did say they would be happy to answer questions.
I feel truly lucky to have been given this fantastic opportunity to work in the office of Congressman Jason Altmire, to observe the work of Congress in person, and to actually participate in that work. During my time there, among many other things, I wrote a number of letters to constituents (which were approved and will actually be mailed to them), I prepared questions for the Congressman to ask at two different hearings (he asked one of my questions at the second hearing - very exciting!), and I wrote two memos to suggest that he cosponsor two bills. I wrote a draft of the Congressman's written testimony to submit for one of the hearings (which will become part of the actual Congressional Record!), I did background research to compile statistics on school districts in the Congressional District and whether they met AYP or not and why (the office will use this
research next year when re-examining NCLB), I got to observe the floor of Congress three different times, and I went to two Committee Hearings and one Committee Mark-Up Meeting. I was given a tour of the Capitol Building by Congressman Altmire himself, and I got to talk with and learn extensively from the staff who work "behind-the-scenes" in the Congressional Office.
I am grateful to everyone at the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation for making this Congressional Fellowship possible. I am grateful to Congressman Altmire for allowing me to become a part of his office and for being so generous in giving me a fantastic historical tour of the Capitol Building and in answering my many questions. Finally, I am grateful to all of the wonderful staff in Congressman Altmire's office for being so patient in answering my enormous number of questions (I told them that I asked more questions during the past month than I have in my whole life) and for being so welcoming to me. I look forward with excitement to sharing what I have learned with my students in years to come. This experience has truly made a difference in my life as a teacher, and as a citizen.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Special Order Hours
(Note - There will be one more final blog entry after this one. It will be entitled "Final Thoughts.")
On Monday night, July 14, I got to see something that had not been done in Congress since 1997, and it was Congressman Altmire's idea. When Congress is in session, after the time for legislative business is over (when they are done voting on bills for that day), they hold something called "Special Order Hours". These hours are in the evening and give the Congressmen the chance to speak on the floor of the House about issues that are important to them. Usually, the Republicans get one hour and then the Democrats get the other hour. During these two hours, each Representative gets 5 minutes to speak at a time. Because the political parties speak separately, the comments are usually very partisan.
Congressman Altmire remembered that in 1997, when Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, they did Special Order Hours differently. This is where Congressman Altmire got the idea for what he organized on Monday night. Rising gas prices and drilling for oil are two of the most significant issues facing the country right now. Congressman Altmire wanted to give Representatives the opportunity to have a dialogue about these issues, and to debate ways to address them. So from 8-10 p.m. on Monday night July 14, around 10-12 Representatives had an open debate for two hours. What was unique about this debate was that it was essentially un-timed - each Representative spoke as long as he needed to. They alternated sides - so one Republican Representative spoke and then one Democratic Representative spoke. The only timing that did occur was that a staff person for each party used a stopwatch to measure the amount of time each party had spoken. By the end of the two hours, each party had spoken for a total of an hour each. A Republican Representative moderated the first hour and Congressman Altmire moderated the second hour. What this means is that he called on the Members to speak and facilitated the discussion.
What was exciting for me was that I was one of the only people watching in person from the gallery. The other members of Congressman Altmire's staff were watching from home on C-SPAN since the Special Order Hours occurred so late at night. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to observe this unique event in person. Congressman Altmire later explained to me what he did to organize the evening. Even though the Special Order Hours were open to any Representative, Congressman Altmire specifically asked certain Democratic Representatives to be a part of it. The Republican moderator did the same by asking certain Republican Representatives to take part. Representative Altmire asked these specific Representatives to be a part of the dialogue because these people had specialties in different aspects of the issue. For example, one Representative knew about oil speculation and its impact on gas prices. Another Representative was head of a Congressional Committee that dealt with energy and energy policy. Hence, the comments that these Congressmen made were more factual and constructive.
For two hours, different Representatives took turns speaking. When they spoke, they often referred to large charts and graphs that had been pre-prepared. Each party had a large pile of these charts leaning against the wall behind them. Before it was their turn to speak, they looked through the pile against the wall to find the appropriate chart to make their case. They set this chart on an easel next to them as they spoke.
What struck me the most about this evening was how respectfully all the Congressmen were acting towards each other. Each side disagreed with what the other side was saying at times, and at times the comments did become heated, but overall it was respectful and productive. When Representatives speak about specific bills during Legislative Business, they usually talk about the merits of the bill and whether they support or oppose that particular bill. This Special Order Hours session was different because it was less a debate about a particular bill and more a dialogue about what was causing rising gas prices, what options existed to confront the crisis, and the costs and benefits of each option. I honestly found myself being persuaded by each side at different times.
I believe that each Congressman who participated had the best interests of his constituents at heart. It was fascinating for me to see, in person, how each Representative presented their arguments regarding the different methods of addressing the energy crisis. The "un-timed debate" format worked particularly well for facilitating a dialogue. I am excited to see what legislative measures will appear in the future as the result of it. Most of all, I appreciated how the different format encouraged the Congressmen to present their arguments, but in a constructive way, since they could talk back and forth with each other without worrying about a five-minute time limit. It was my impression that these Congressmen understood that more could be accomplished by taking turns talking "with" each other, rather than by simply talking "at" each other.
On Monday night, July 14, I got to see something that had not been done in Congress since 1997, and it was Congressman Altmire's idea. When Congress is in session, after the time for legislative business is over (when they are done voting on bills for that day), they hold something called "Special Order Hours". These hours are in the evening and give the Congressmen the chance to speak on the floor of the House about issues that are important to them. Usually, the Republicans get one hour and then the Democrats get the other hour. During these two hours, each Representative gets 5 minutes to speak at a time. Because the political parties speak separately, the comments are usually very partisan.
Congressman Altmire remembered that in 1997, when Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, they did Special Order Hours differently. This is where Congressman Altmire got the idea for what he organized on Monday night. Rising gas prices and drilling for oil are two of the most significant issues facing the country right now. Congressman Altmire wanted to give Representatives the opportunity to have a dialogue about these issues, and to debate ways to address them. So from 8-10 p.m. on Monday night July 14, around 10-12 Representatives had an open debate for two hours. What was unique about this debate was that it was essentially un-timed - each Representative spoke as long as he needed to. They alternated sides - so one Republican Representative spoke and then one Democratic Representative spoke. The only timing that did occur was that a staff person for each party used a stopwatch to measure the amount of time each party had spoken. By the end of the two hours, each party had spoken for a total of an hour each. A Republican Representative moderated the first hour and Congressman Altmire moderated the second hour. What this means is that he called on the Members to speak and facilitated the discussion.
What was exciting for me was that I was one of the only people watching in person from the gallery. The other members of Congressman Altmire's staff were watching from home on C-SPAN since the Special Order Hours occurred so late at night. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to observe this unique event in person. Congressman Altmire later explained to me what he did to organize the evening. Even though the Special Order Hours were open to any Representative, Congressman Altmire specifically asked certain Democratic Representatives to be a part of it. The Republican moderator did the same by asking certain Republican Representatives to take part. Representative Altmire asked these specific Representatives to be a part of the dialogue because these people had specialties in different aspects of the issue. For example, one Representative knew about oil speculation and its impact on gas prices. Another Representative was head of a Congressional Committee that dealt with energy and energy policy. Hence, the comments that these Congressmen made were more factual and constructive.
For two hours, different Representatives took turns speaking. When they spoke, they often referred to large charts and graphs that had been pre-prepared. Each party had a large pile of these charts leaning against the wall behind them. Before it was their turn to speak, they looked through the pile against the wall to find the appropriate chart to make their case. They set this chart on an easel next to them as they spoke.
What struck me the most about this evening was how respectfully all the Congressmen were acting towards each other. Each side disagreed with what the other side was saying at times, and at times the comments did become heated, but overall it was respectful and productive. When Representatives speak about specific bills during Legislative Business, they usually talk about the merits of the bill and whether they support or oppose that particular bill. This Special Order Hours session was different because it was less a debate about a particular bill and more a dialogue about what was causing rising gas prices, what options existed to confront the crisis, and the costs and benefits of each option. I honestly found myself being persuaded by each side at different times.
I believe that each Congressman who participated had the best interests of his constituents at heart. It was fascinating for me to see, in person, how each Representative presented their arguments regarding the different methods of addressing the energy crisis. The "un-timed debate" format worked particularly well for facilitating a dialogue. I am excited to see what legislative measures will appear in the future as the result of it. Most of all, I appreciated how the different format encouraged the Congressmen to present their arguments, but in a constructive way, since they could talk back and forth with each other without worrying about a five-minute time limit. It was my impression that these Congressmen understood that more could be accomplished by taking turns talking "with" each other, rather than by simply talking "at" each other.
The Tour
(Note - The following entry is about Wednesday, July 9. It wasn't posted until now because I took a long time writing it up carefully, and I was waiting for it to be approved for posting.)
Wednesday, July 9 was a very full day for me. I already wrote in an earlier blog about the Press Conference I attended that day at which Representative Altmire and Senator Casey announced that they were planning to introduce the SAVES Act to help volunteer fire fighters and volunteer EMS organizations to confront rising gas prices. The evening of this day was perhaps the most exciting day of my whole Congressional Fellowship. That evening, I not only got to see the floor of the House of Representatives for the first time, but Congressman Altmire also gave me a personal historical tour of the Capitol Building.
For two weeks I had looked forward to seeing the floor of the House of Representatives in person. I had asked the Scheduler if she would let me know when would be a good time for me to go observe a vote on a bill, and Wednesday was the day. Around 5:30pm, the Scheduler and I accompanied Congressman Altmire on his walk from his office to the floor of the House. The Representatives were going to vote on "Suspension Bills." In class, do you remember how I taught you that in order for a bill to pass the House it only needed to have a "simple majority" (half + 1, or the minimum needed to have a majority)? Well,
Suspension Bills are different. When the Representatives vote on Suspension Bills they vote to suspend the normal rules and to adopt new rules. Under these new rules, each bill must get 2/3 to pass, and you also cannot add amendments to these bills. Because the regular rules are suspended when voting on these bills, these bills are called "Suspension Bills." Suspension Bills are usually non-controversial bills.
I got to ride in the Members elevator and go through all sorts of security because we were with the Congressman. (Members of Congress are often referred to as "Members" for short). As we were crossing the street from the Longworth Building to the Capitol Building, Congressman Altmire explained that when a vote is about to occur, the policemen keep all the walk signals green and the traffic lights on red so the Congressmen are able to walk across the street. When we were walking into the Capitol Building, Senator Hagel walked in ahead of us and he said hello to Congressman Altmire. The Scheduler took me
up into the gallery and I got to see the floor of the House of Representatives in person for the first time. This is the room where they give the State of the Union Address. When I first looked down on the floor, all the Representatives were walking around and talking with each other. It's a really special thing to see almost every member of the House on the floor. On the back of each seat on the end of every other row is a little box. This is what the Members use to vote. Each Representative has a special card they insert into this box. After they insert their card in the box, they press "yes," "no," or "present," depending on how they want to vote.
On the floor of the House in addition to the Representatives themselves, there are only a few other people that are allowed to be there. These are the respective staffs of the Speaker of the House, the Majority Leader, the Minority Leader, the Majority Whip, and the Minority Whip. The "Whip staff" passes out blue pieces of paper listing the bills that are being voted on. The Whip Staff also keep a close eye on the voting board that indicates how each of the Members has voted. This a "scoreboard" type screen located on the wall of the Gallery behind the Speaker's Chair. This screen shows the last names of all 435 Members of the House of Representatives. If a Member has the same last name as someone else, it will list their State's initials as well. Next to each name will be a green tally (yes), a red tally (no), or a yellow/orange tally (present). The Whip staff "run around the room" to try to get Members to change their votes or to try to convince Members to vote a certain way if they haven't yet voted. The scoreboard screen reminded me very much of a baseball game, which, after all, is America's pastime. When the vote is finished, the screen disappears - you can't even see where it was. It looks as though there is just fabric on the wall.
During the votes on the Suspension Bills, Congressman Altmire TWICE went up to the Gallery where I was sitting and answered my questions. He showed me his voting card and I got to examine it. He also gave me the blue paper from the Whip staff that lists the bills. Most significantly, while he was on the floor, he specifically walked around to a place where I could see him put his voting card in the box on the back of a chair to vote and looked up at me to make sure I was watching him vote.
I couldn't bring anything to write with into the Gallery, but I remember something I wanted to share with you that Congressman Altmire told me during one of the times he came up to the Gallery. When the Speaker of the House is not there, another Representative becomes "Speaker Pro Tem" (temporary Speaker). The Speaker's Chair always has to be occupied and there is only one person allowed on the Speaker's dais at one time. Congressman Altmire told me how, of all 435 Representatives, he has logged the fourth most amount of time in the Speakers Chair during this term of Congress. Congressman Altmire worked for 5 years as a staffer for former Representative Pete Peterson from Florida. He saw how presiding in the Speakers Chair worked and always wanted to do it.
Another nice thing I noticed was that Congressman Altmire at one point went up to the Congressman who was presiding in the Speaker's Chair and congratulated him. I found out later that it was this Congressman's first time in the Speaker's Chair since coming to Congress through a special election.
After legislative business was over, Congressman Altmire gave the Scheduler and me a special history tour of the Capitol Building. I knew from seeing all the history books in his office, most of which are biographies of Presidents, that Congressman Altmire loves history. This became especially clear as he took us on the tour. Since the Capitol Building was closed to public tours at that point, it was almost entirely empty. Congressman Altmire took us to Statuary Hall, which is where the House of Representatives met for about fifty years before moving to its current room. In Statuary Hall are two statues of people from every state (though these statues were not in the room when it was used as the House chamber). There is a great story about John Quincy Adams discovering a secret facet of this room. After he was President, John Quincy Adams (son of John Adams) served with distinction in the House of Representatives. He discovered that his desk was located in such a spot that he could hear the conversations of people across the room without them knowing it. He would put his
head down on his desk and pretend to be asleep, but in reality was listening to the conversations of Representatives on the other side of the room. Representative Altmire knew where the "magic" spot on the floor was and demonstrated to us. We stood where John Quincy Adams' desk was and he stood on the spot on the other side of the room where we could "overhear" him. Since the room was entirely empty except for us (quite rare since it's usually packed with tourists), it was easy to do the experiment. You could indeed hear him talk from across the room, though what you were hearing was not the sound coming from across the room. Rather, it appeared as though the sound was coming from right next to you. The echoes in this room were one of the main reasons the House had to move to a new chamber in 1857, where they are still serving today,
There is a special room in the Capitol Building called the Lyndon Baines Johnson room. LBJ is one of Congressman Altmire's favorite presidents, so he was excited to show us this room. Although the room was originally intended for the Senate Library, the first recorded tenant was the Senate Post Office, which occupied the room from 1859-1884. In 1885, the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia was assigned to this room, and used it until 1958. One important piece of history that occurred in this room was that the Senate Park Commission was established in it in 1901. The Commission had a significant effect on the development of Washington, DC as we know it today. Senator James McMillan, who persuaded the Senate to establish the Senate Park Commission in 1901, created a plan to organize the design of the city around "green parks, recreation areas, and grand public edifices." The Commission also stopped the construction of a railroad terminal on the Mall, and proposed that the area be planted with grass and lined with museums and government buildings. Union Station, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Cannon and Russell Congressional office buildings all were created under the McMillan
Plan.
Before Lyndon B. Johnson was president, he was a Senator and served as Senate Majority Leader. In 1959, when he was serving as Senate Majority Leader, Lyndon Johnson moved his leadership office from the third floor of the Senate wing to rooms S-211 and S212 (S-211 later became known as the LBJ Room). Johnson became vice President in 1961 and kept his office in the room until he took over the presidency in 1963. S-211 was Johnson's favorite room during this time. (Since
I didn't have anything to write with, I had to do a little research to fill in my memory with the above facts. So, much of the above comes from the following website):
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:FOsIu7C5Jf0J:www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/resources/pdf/Lyndon_B._Johnson_Room.pdf+Lyndon+Baines+Johnson+room&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
One of the last parts of Congressman Altmire's tour was my favorite. We started at the "House" side of the Capitol Building. There is a hall that goes all the way through the Capitol Building to the Senate side - if you look left and right you can see the doors at either end. He said to us to "remember this door." We walked all the way through the Capitol almost all the way to the other side. Shortly before the other end, on the Senate side, there is a short hallway off of which were rooms that Sam Rayburn used to use. Rayburn was Speaker of the House during FDR's presidency, when Harry S Truman was Vice President. Congressman Altmire told the story of how, one day, Truman was back in one of these rooms talking with Sam Rayburn. The phone rang. Truman picked up the phone, listened for a minute, and his "face went white." Without saying anything to Rayburn, he quickly left the room and ran all the way down the hallway of the Capitol to the door Congressman Altmire had said "to remember." Congressman Altmire said "You could hear the heels of his shoes clicking on the floor as he ran." I smiled when he said this because you could tell, by using this imagery, that he appreciated the "narrative," story-telling
nature of history. He explained that when Truman got to the other side of the Capitol, which is indeed a very long hallway, he got into a car waiting to pick him up. When he got to the White House, they welcomed him there as "Mr. President." FDR had died and Truman had ascended to the Presidency. It was so neat to hear this story told right where it had happened. I looked all the way down the hallway at the other door, and I imagined hearing the clicking of Truman's shoes as he ran down the hallway.
When we left the Capitol Building, we walked down the steps outside of it. When we were part of the way down the steps, Congressman Altmire said to turn around and look up. When I did, you could see this magnificent view of the Capitol dome above you. It was clear that Congressman Altmire had a real appreciation for where he was, for the job that he was doing, and for the history of the building and the office of Representative. He told me that the first time he saw that view was when he came for his interview to be a Congressional staffer.
As we were walking back to his office, he asked me if I had any other questions. I asked him, "What would you want my students to know?" He smiled and said "Now, you're getting all serious on me." He said simply that he would want them to know that he'll try "to accomplish as much as I can while I'm here and that I'm here to help my constituents."
Wednesday, July 9 was a very full day for me. I already wrote in an earlier blog about the Press Conference I attended that day at which Representative Altmire and Senator Casey announced that they were planning to introduce the SAVES Act to help volunteer fire fighters and volunteer EMS organizations to confront rising gas prices. The evening of this day was perhaps the most exciting day of my whole Congressional Fellowship. That evening, I not only got to see the floor of the House of Representatives for the first time, but Congressman Altmire also gave me a personal historical tour of the Capitol Building.
For two weeks I had looked forward to seeing the floor of the House of Representatives in person. I had asked the Scheduler if she would let me know when would be a good time for me to go observe a vote on a bill, and Wednesday was the day. Around 5:30pm, the Scheduler and I accompanied Congressman Altmire on his walk from his office to the floor of the House. The Representatives were going to vote on "Suspension Bills." In class, do you remember how I taught you that in order for a bill to pass the House it only needed to have a "simple majority" (half + 1, or the minimum needed to have a majority)? Well,
Suspension Bills are different. When the Representatives vote on Suspension Bills they vote to suspend the normal rules and to adopt new rules. Under these new rules, each bill must get 2/3 to pass, and you also cannot add amendments to these bills. Because the regular rules are suspended when voting on these bills, these bills are called "Suspension Bills." Suspension Bills are usually non-controversial bills.
I got to ride in the Members elevator and go through all sorts of security because we were with the Congressman. (Members of Congress are often referred to as "Members" for short). As we were crossing the street from the Longworth Building to the Capitol Building, Congressman Altmire explained that when a vote is about to occur, the policemen keep all the walk signals green and the traffic lights on red so the Congressmen are able to walk across the street. When we were walking into the Capitol Building, Senator Hagel walked in ahead of us and he said hello to Congressman Altmire. The Scheduler took me
up into the gallery and I got to see the floor of the House of Representatives in person for the first time. This is the room where they give the State of the Union Address. When I first looked down on the floor, all the Representatives were walking around and talking with each other. It's a really special thing to see almost every member of the House on the floor. On the back of each seat on the end of every other row is a little box. This is what the Members use to vote. Each Representative has a special card they insert into this box. After they insert their card in the box, they press "yes," "no," or "present," depending on how they want to vote.
On the floor of the House in addition to the Representatives themselves, there are only a few other people that are allowed to be there. These are the respective staffs of the Speaker of the House, the Majority Leader, the Minority Leader, the Majority Whip, and the Minority Whip. The "Whip staff" passes out blue pieces of paper listing the bills that are being voted on. The Whip Staff also keep a close eye on the voting board that indicates how each of the Members has voted. This a "scoreboard" type screen located on the wall of the Gallery behind the Speaker's Chair. This screen shows the last names of all 435 Members of the House of Representatives. If a Member has the same last name as someone else, it will list their State's initials as well. Next to each name will be a green tally (yes), a red tally (no), or a yellow/orange tally (present). The Whip staff "run around the room" to try to get Members to change their votes or to try to convince Members to vote a certain way if they haven't yet voted. The scoreboard screen reminded me very much of a baseball game, which, after all, is America's pastime. When the vote is finished, the screen disappears - you can't even see where it was. It looks as though there is just fabric on the wall.
During the votes on the Suspension Bills, Congressman Altmire TWICE went up to the Gallery where I was sitting and answered my questions. He showed me his voting card and I got to examine it. He also gave me the blue paper from the Whip staff that lists the bills. Most significantly, while he was on the floor, he specifically walked around to a place where I could see him put his voting card in the box on the back of a chair to vote and looked up at me to make sure I was watching him vote.
I couldn't bring anything to write with into the Gallery, but I remember something I wanted to share with you that Congressman Altmire told me during one of the times he came up to the Gallery. When the Speaker of the House is not there, another Representative becomes "Speaker Pro Tem" (temporary Speaker). The Speaker's Chair always has to be occupied and there is only one person allowed on the Speaker's dais at one time. Congressman Altmire told me how, of all 435 Representatives, he has logged the fourth most amount of time in the Speakers Chair during this term of Congress. Congressman Altmire worked for 5 years as a staffer for former Representative Pete Peterson from Florida. He saw how presiding in the Speakers Chair worked and always wanted to do it.
Another nice thing I noticed was that Congressman Altmire at one point went up to the Congressman who was presiding in the Speaker's Chair and congratulated him. I found out later that it was this Congressman's first time in the Speaker's Chair since coming to Congress through a special election.
After legislative business was over, Congressman Altmire gave the Scheduler and me a special history tour of the Capitol Building. I knew from seeing all the history books in his office, most of which are biographies of Presidents, that Congressman Altmire loves history. This became especially clear as he took us on the tour. Since the Capitol Building was closed to public tours at that point, it was almost entirely empty. Congressman Altmire took us to Statuary Hall, which is where the House of Representatives met for about fifty years before moving to its current room. In Statuary Hall are two statues of people from every state (though these statues were not in the room when it was used as the House chamber). There is a great story about John Quincy Adams discovering a secret facet of this room. After he was President, John Quincy Adams (son of John Adams) served with distinction in the House of Representatives. He discovered that his desk was located in such a spot that he could hear the conversations of people across the room without them knowing it. He would put his
head down on his desk and pretend to be asleep, but in reality was listening to the conversations of Representatives on the other side of the room. Representative Altmire knew where the "magic" spot on the floor was and demonstrated to us. We stood where John Quincy Adams' desk was and he stood on the spot on the other side of the room where we could "overhear" him. Since the room was entirely empty except for us (quite rare since it's usually packed with tourists), it was easy to do the experiment. You could indeed hear him talk from across the room, though what you were hearing was not the sound coming from across the room. Rather, it appeared as though the sound was coming from right next to you. The echoes in this room were one of the main reasons the House had to move to a new chamber in 1857, where they are still serving today,
There is a special room in the Capitol Building called the Lyndon Baines Johnson room. LBJ is one of Congressman Altmire's favorite presidents, so he was excited to show us this room. Although the room was originally intended for the Senate Library, the first recorded tenant was the Senate Post Office, which occupied the room from 1859-1884. In 1885, the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia was assigned to this room, and used it until 1958. One important piece of history that occurred in this room was that the Senate Park Commission was established in it in 1901. The Commission had a significant effect on the development of Washington, DC as we know it today. Senator James McMillan, who persuaded the Senate to establish the Senate Park Commission in 1901, created a plan to organize the design of the city around "green parks, recreation areas, and grand public edifices." The Commission also stopped the construction of a railroad terminal on the Mall, and proposed that the area be planted with grass and lined with museums and government buildings. Union Station, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Cannon and Russell Congressional office buildings all were created under the McMillan
Plan.
Before Lyndon B. Johnson was president, he was a Senator and served as Senate Majority Leader. In 1959, when he was serving as Senate Majority Leader, Lyndon Johnson moved his leadership office from the third floor of the Senate wing to rooms S-211 and S212 (S-211 later became known as the LBJ Room). Johnson became vice President in 1961 and kept his office in the room until he took over the presidency in 1963. S-211 was Johnson's favorite room during this time. (Since
I didn't have anything to write with, I had to do a little research to fill in my memory with the above facts. So, much of the above comes from the following website):
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:FOsIu7C5Jf0J:www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/resources/pdf/Lyndon_B._Johnson_Room.pdf+Lyndon+Baines+Johnson+room&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
One of the last parts of Congressman Altmire's tour was my favorite. We started at the "House" side of the Capitol Building. There is a hall that goes all the way through the Capitol Building to the Senate side - if you look left and right you can see the doors at either end. He said to us to "remember this door." We walked all the way through the Capitol almost all the way to the other side. Shortly before the other end, on the Senate side, there is a short hallway off of which were rooms that Sam Rayburn used to use. Rayburn was Speaker of the House during FDR's presidency, when Harry S Truman was Vice President. Congressman Altmire told the story of how, one day, Truman was back in one of these rooms talking with Sam Rayburn. The phone rang. Truman picked up the phone, listened for a minute, and his "face went white." Without saying anything to Rayburn, he quickly left the room and ran all the way down the hallway of the Capitol to the door Congressman Altmire had said "to remember." Congressman Altmire said "You could hear the heels of his shoes clicking on the floor as he ran." I smiled when he said this because you could tell, by using this imagery, that he appreciated the "narrative," story-telling
nature of history. He explained that when Truman got to the other side of the Capitol, which is indeed a very long hallway, he got into a car waiting to pick him up. When he got to the White House, they welcomed him there as "Mr. President." FDR had died and Truman had ascended to the Presidency. It was so neat to hear this story told right where it had happened. I looked all the way down the hallway at the other door, and I imagined hearing the clicking of Truman's shoes as he ran down the hallway.
When we left the Capitol Building, we walked down the steps outside of it. When we were part of the way down the steps, Congressman Altmire said to turn around and look up. When I did, you could see this magnificent view of the Capitol dome above you. It was clear that Congressman Altmire had a real appreciation for where he was, for the job that he was doing, and for the history of the building and the office of Representative. He told me that the first time he saw that view was when he came for his interview to be a Congressional staffer.
As we were walking back to his office, he asked me if I had any other questions. I asked him, "What would you want my students to know?" He smiled and said "Now, you're getting all serious on me." He said simply that he would want them to know that he'll try "to accomplish as much as I can while I'm here and that I'm here to help my constituents."
Question Binder ANSWERS!
I asked the legislative staff all the Question Binder questions that related to Congress. I could tell they liked finding the answers to them because after I asked each one, they looked up the answer on the Congressional Research Service website, which provides nonpartisan research resources only to members of Congress and their staffs (you can't access this website outside of Congressional offices, unfortunately). So here are answers to most of the questions:
If a person was born to foreign parents in the U.S. embassy, in say, France, for example, would they be a natural born U.S. citizen? - probably yes, though I actually called and left a message with the State Department for this one (I said I was calling from Congressman Altmire's office, which I was). I'm waiting to hear back on the answer.
Has the United States ever drilled for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge? -- no. It was declared a Federally protected area in 1960 and Congress renewed that in 1980. They have been federal surveys to determine how much oil might be there, but none has been gotten out of the ground. This is a very timely question - the Congress was discussing this when I was there (as you will read in a future blog entry called "Special Order Hours").
Could the President pardon a family member? - yes, he can pardon whomever he wants
What bills does the President pay? Does the President pay taxes? - yes. He pays taxes on is ranch in Crawford, Texas. He does not pay the White House electricity bill.
Because of the mass exodus of people from Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina, would Louisiana get fewer representatives and when would this number go into effect? - they said this was a good question. The answer - yes, and it would not take effect until 2010 when they do the census again. They also said that this might be a reason Senator Landrieu (D-LA) may lose the next election - since many of the people who would have voted for her have been displaced.
When Congress meets are representatives of the Judicial Branch there? - the White House has a hill lobbyist who acts as a liaison between the Congress and the President, so the Legislative Assistants thought it likely that there was one between the Congress and the Supreme Court as well, though they weren't sure. They did say the Judiciary Committee makes sure laws are constitutional. The Supreme Court can't just come out and say a law is unconstitutional. A suit must be filed in the court first.
If a Supreme Court Justice is not mentally competent can they still hold their job for a life term? - yes, though Congress can impeach them.
If you were a Senator before you were President, when your presidency is up, are you still the Senator of that state? -- no, you had to give up your seat in order to become President.
Can you be kicked out of a political party? - sort of, but not exactly. At the moment in the Senate there are 49 Democrats and 49 Republicans and 2 independents. These 2 independents "caucus" with the Democrats, which means they usually vote the way the Democrats do. This gives the Democrats a majority with 51. At the moment, Senator Joe Lieberman, one of the independents, is Chair of Committee on Homeland Security in the Senate. He is an independent because he lost the Democratic primary, and so he ran as an independent. Recently he has been voting more with the Republicans. So the Democrats could take his Committee Chair away from him. Hence, if this happens, he would not be "kicked out" of the political party, per se, but he would be "kicked out" of a leadership position.
How many times can Congress revise a bill and how many times can the President veto it? - You can "ping-pong" 5 or 6 times - 3 each way.
If everyone in the President's Cabinet was naturalized, who would become the new President? - Congress drafted bills after 9/11 to address this. If you look up "United States presidential line of succession" on wikipedia it will show you the order. If you look at it you'll see that two current members of the cabinet are not eligible because they are naturalized citizens. Recently, the Secretary of Homeland Security was added to the end of the list on March 9, 2006. Regarding the question, however, the government has always made sure that such an event is unlikely - at the State of the Union Address, one of the Secretaries is always hidden in an undisclosed location. For further explanation, see wikipedia.
And finally, yes, Charlie, I asked the librarian at the Library of Congress orientation session I attended if the Library of Congress really has a Book of Secrets. She said no. Sorry Charlie. However, I found out from another history teacher this summer that Disney put out a book of "behind-the-scenes" explanations of the truths and myths in the National Treasure movies, so I will try to get this.
If a person was born to foreign parents in the U.S. embassy, in say, France, for example, would they be a natural born U.S. citizen? - probably yes, though I actually called and left a message with the State Department for this one (I said I was calling from Congressman Altmire's office, which I was). I'm waiting to hear back on the answer.
Has the United States ever drilled for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge? -- no. It was declared a Federally protected area in 1960 and Congress renewed that in 1980. They have been federal surveys to determine how much oil might be there, but none has been gotten out of the ground. This is a very timely question - the Congress was discussing this when I was there (as you will read in a future blog entry called "Special Order Hours").
Could the President pardon a family member? - yes, he can pardon whomever he wants
What bills does the President pay? Does the President pay taxes? - yes. He pays taxes on is ranch in Crawford, Texas. He does not pay the White House electricity bill.
Because of the mass exodus of people from Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina, would Louisiana get fewer representatives and when would this number go into effect? - they said this was a good question. The answer - yes, and it would not take effect until 2010 when they do the census again. They also said that this might be a reason Senator Landrieu (D-LA) may lose the next election - since many of the people who would have voted for her have been displaced.
When Congress meets are representatives of the Judicial Branch there? - the White House has a hill lobbyist who acts as a liaison between the Congress and the President, so the Legislative Assistants thought it likely that there was one between the Congress and the Supreme Court as well, though they weren't sure. They did say the Judiciary Committee makes sure laws are constitutional. The Supreme Court can't just come out and say a law is unconstitutional. A suit must be filed in the court first.
If a Supreme Court Justice is not mentally competent can they still hold their job for a life term? - yes, though Congress can impeach them.
If you were a Senator before you were President, when your presidency is up, are you still the Senator of that state? -- no, you had to give up your seat in order to become President.
Can you be kicked out of a political party? - sort of, but not exactly. At the moment in the Senate there are 49 Democrats and 49 Republicans and 2 independents. These 2 independents "caucus" with the Democrats, which means they usually vote the way the Democrats do. This gives the Democrats a majority with 51. At the moment, Senator Joe Lieberman, one of the independents, is Chair of Committee on Homeland Security in the Senate. He is an independent because he lost the Democratic primary, and so he ran as an independent. Recently he has been voting more with the Republicans. So the Democrats could take his Committee Chair away from him. Hence, if this happens, he would not be "kicked out" of the political party, per se, but he would be "kicked out" of a leadership position.
How many times can Congress revise a bill and how many times can the President veto it? - You can "ping-pong" 5 or 6 times - 3 each way.
If everyone in the President's Cabinet was naturalized, who would become the new President? - Congress drafted bills after 9/11 to address this. If you look up "United States presidential line of succession" on wikipedia it will show you the order. If you look at it you'll see that two current members of the cabinet are not eligible because they are naturalized citizens. Recently, the Secretary of Homeland Security was added to the end of the list on March 9, 2006. Regarding the question, however, the government has always made sure that such an event is unlikely - at the State of the Union Address, one of the Secretaries is always hidden in an undisclosed location. For further explanation, see wikipedia.
And finally, yes, Charlie, I asked the librarian at the Library of Congress orientation session I attended if the Library of Congress really has a Book of Secrets. She said no. Sorry Charlie. However, I found out from another history teacher this summer that Disney put out a book of "behind-the-scenes" explanations of the truths and myths in the National Treasure movies, so I will try to get this.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Bills Help Real People Address Real Problems
One of my goals for my Congressional Fellowship was to observe examples of how legislation affects people's lives in a significant way. We learned about the process of how a bill becomes a law in class (remember the School House Rock song, "I'm Just a Bill"?). But sometimes I think it's hard to really appreciate the reality of the process. Textbooks are excellent tools for explaining how government works, but they don't do a very good job of helping us to understand that what government does has real consequences for real people in our community. I want to take this blog entry to explain to you a superb example of why government matters and why you need to know and understand how it works.
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a Press Conference held by Senator Bob Casey and Representative Jason Altmire. It was held in the Russell Senate Office Building. On the way to the room, I passed both Senator John Kerry's office and Senator Ted Kennedy's office. This was exciting because Senator Kennedy had just returned to the Senate briefly that day. In the Press Conference room, there were six cameras lined up in the back behind the chairs. Remember how we learned that in order for a bill to become a law, it has to pass through both the Senate and the House? Sometimes, a bill can be introduced in both chambers simultaneously. This is what Senator Casey and Representative Altmire did.
Senator Casey spoke first and explained the new bill. It is called the "Supporting America's Volunteer Emergency Services Act of 2008" (SAVES Act) and would help volunteer fire companies and volunteer EMS services cover the rising cost of fuel prices. Senator Casey's office originally got the idea for this Act after reading an article in the Wall Street Journal explaining the cutbacks volunteer fire companies had to make as the result of rising fuel prices. Congressman Altmire's office added volunteer EMS services to the bill. Volunteer fire companies like to make sure a fire truck has at least 3/4 of its gas tank full at night in case they get a call to go to a fire a long distance away. With the rising cost of fuel prices, fire companies were being forced to only keep their gas tanks half-full and were not able to respond to emergencies with all the necessary equipment.
The SAVES Act would provide federal grants to volunteer fire departments and other emergency service providers to be reimbursed up to 75% for the increase in the price of fuel beyond the average price baseline of 2007. The Press release explains, "Between June 2003 and June 2008, regular gasoline prices have risen 171% and diesel prices have risen 229%. Volunteer fire companies have reported that they are not able to respond to fire emergencies with the amount of trucks and equipment recommended under guidelines provided by the National Fire Protection Association. [Pennsylvania has 1,700 volunteer fire companies which] serve over 9 million Pennsylvanians and account for 97% of Pennsylvania's fire departments." In Congressman Altmire's district, there are 164 total fire departments, only 7 of which are not volunteer. The SAVES Act has a long way to go before it becomes law, but they are hoping for it to take effect by the end of 2009.
The SAVES Act addresses a clear need in our local community, across Pennsylvania, and across the country. Without it, high fuel costs make it difficult for fire departments and emergency service providers to, as Congressman Altmire explained, "provide local families with the help they need." This is why we learn about "how a bill becomes a law" in Civics class, and why, as an educated citizen, you need to know about how government works and what it can do.
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend a Press Conference held by Senator Bob Casey and Representative Jason Altmire. It was held in the Russell Senate Office Building. On the way to the room, I passed both Senator John Kerry's office and Senator Ted Kennedy's office. This was exciting because Senator Kennedy had just returned to the Senate briefly that day. In the Press Conference room, there were six cameras lined up in the back behind the chairs. Remember how we learned that in order for a bill to become a law, it has to pass through both the Senate and the House? Sometimes, a bill can be introduced in both chambers simultaneously. This is what Senator Casey and Representative Altmire did.
Senator Casey spoke first and explained the new bill. It is called the "Supporting America's Volunteer Emergency Services Act of 2008" (SAVES Act) and would help volunteer fire companies and volunteer EMS services cover the rising cost of fuel prices. Senator Casey's office originally got the idea for this Act after reading an article in the Wall Street Journal explaining the cutbacks volunteer fire companies had to make as the result of rising fuel prices. Congressman Altmire's office added volunteer EMS services to the bill. Volunteer fire companies like to make sure a fire truck has at least 3/4 of its gas tank full at night in case they get a call to go to a fire a long distance away. With the rising cost of fuel prices, fire companies were being forced to only keep their gas tanks half-full and were not able to respond to emergencies with all the necessary equipment.
The SAVES Act would provide federal grants to volunteer fire departments and other emergency service providers to be reimbursed up to 75% for the increase in the price of fuel beyond the average price baseline of 2007. The Press release explains, "Between June 2003 and June 2008, regular gasoline prices have risen 171% and diesel prices have risen 229%. Volunteer fire companies have reported that they are not able to respond to fire emergencies with the amount of trucks and equipment recommended under guidelines provided by the National Fire Protection Association. [Pennsylvania has 1,700 volunteer fire companies which] serve over 9 million Pennsylvanians and account for 97% of Pennsylvania's fire departments." In Congressman Altmire's district, there are 164 total fire departments, only 7 of which are not volunteer. The SAVES Act has a long way to go before it becomes law, but they are hoping for it to take effect by the end of 2009.
The SAVES Act addresses a clear need in our local community, across Pennsylvania, and across the country. Without it, high fuel costs make it difficult for fire departments and emergency service providers to, as Congressman Altmire explained, "provide local families with the help they need." This is why we learn about "how a bill becomes a law" in Civics class, and why, as an educated citizen, you need to know about how government works and what it can do.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Whole Truth: The General's Dentures and July 4th
In honor of George Washington and his often cited virtue of honesty, I'd like to take this blog entry to briefly state the truth on two items of Revolutionary folklore. First, George Washington's teeth were never made out of wood. He actually had many different sets of teeth, none of which were made out of wood. This picture is from the Mt. Vernon website. When I visited the new Visitor's Center at Mt. Vernon, I saw this set of teeth in person. However, I did not take a picture of them because of a very polite sign next to the display, which read, "Please do not photograph the General's dentures." So I didn't. The pair of dentures in the picture is actually made of animal and human teeth, as well as vegetable ivory, and is fitted into a hinged lead base. So in addition to the pain from ill-fitting dentures, the lead was probably not too healthy either. So there you have it -- the true, but brief, story of the General's Dentures.
I'd also like to clarify, in brief, a chronological confusion relating to our country's celebration of its independence. Everyone knows we celebrate independence on July 4th -- this is "self-evident." In other words, it is so ingrained in the popular understanding of what it means to be an American that you probably don't even remember when you learned this most important fact. It just was always this way. However, the truth is that independence was actually "officially" declared on July 2nd. Yes, you read that correctly -- July 2nd. It was on July 2nd that the Second Continental Congress offically adopted Richard Henry Lee's "Resolution of Independence." The Resolution was first proposed by Richard Henry Lee, from Virginia, on June 7, 1776. After it was introduced, a Committee of Five was appointed to draft a document to explain the reasons for declaring independence. The Lee Resolution was approved on July 2nd -- so, in other words, the members of the Continental Congress voted to declare independence on July 2. Twelve colonies voted for it, and New York abstained.
So, what happened on July 4th, you ask? It was on July 4th that the text of the document called the "Declaration of Independence," originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson, was officially voted on and approved.
This is a picture I took of the Washington, DC fireworks from the Francis Scott Key bridge in Georgetown. If you look very closely, you can see the Washington Monument on the left and the lights from the Kennedy Center.Now, before you start kicking yourself for celebrating independence on the wrong day all these years, let me make one more point to reassure you that July 4th is probably the correct day to celebrate. On July 4th, we are actually celebrating the official statement and explanation of the REASONS for independence, rather than just the official DECLARING of it. Hence, July 4th is the day which marks a more intellectual argument explaining the causes of our celebration, rather than just a simple statement declaring separation. By choosing July 4th to celebrate, we not only celebrate our declaring independence from Great Britain, but also celebrate the words that have become gospel -- the principles that have become "organic law." The Declaration of Independence gives voice to our rights -- natural "self-evident" rights which are understood to be true. By appearing in written form in the Declaration, the idea that "all men are created equal" first becomes an "official" part of American identity, even though it took a Civil War and a Civil Rights Movement to see it appear in practice. The idea that our government exists to protect and preserve our right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is a fundamental part of being an American citizen. Hence, we should keep accurate historical chronology in mind by recognizing that independence was declared on July 2nd. But we should also recognize that our celebration should indeed occur on July 4th, for on that day, our celebration becomes not merely one of declaring independence, but becomes a celebration of American rights, and American identity.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Making Legislation
This blog entry is from Monday, June 30. Because of what it discusses, staff in two different Congressional offices had to read it and give me permission to post it. So, even though it’s just being posted now, I think you’ll still find it current and interesting.
Making Legislation
Although I've only been working at the Capitol for one week, I've learned a considerable amount about the nature of how laws get made. It's been fascinating to talk with the staff in Congressman Altmire's office. Each has an important role to play, as I explained in an earlier blog entry. Together, they accomplish the behind-the-scenes work of the legislative aspect of our government. On Friday, June 27, I had the opportunity to speak with a legislative assistant for another Representative. Her office has been actively involved in sponsoring two different bills dealing with education. I was curious to know more about the preparation involved in preparing these two bills. I spoke with her for an hour and a half, and I'd like to share with you her extremely clear and helpful answers to my many questions.
Ideas for possible laws come from many different sources. Sometimes the idea for a law comes from the numerous letters a Congressman's office receives every day. Sometimes the idea comes from a constituent who visits a Congressman's office and speaks with a member of the Congressman's legislative staff. Sometimes the idea comes from an interest group committed to specific cause. Sometimes the idea comes from the Congressman himself and deals with an issue that is important to him and his constituents. Often, the idea for a law comes from all of these sources.
I spoke with this legislative assistant about a bill her office introduced. This bill would award grants to schools to promote and strengthen curriculum in music and arts, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, history, geography, and physical education and health. The Representative heard from constituents and others around the country that schools might be dropping classes in the subjects mentioned above. These school districts said it was because they had limited funding or time, and they needed to spend this funding and time on math and reading in order to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress requirements for No Child Left Behind. Unfortunately, many of the students who had difficulty in math and reading but who shined in music, art, and other areas were now not getting the opportunity to take these classes. So the Representative’s bill was designed to address this issue.
Hence, the first step in making a law is identifying some "need." In this case, the need was to provide additional funding to allow districts to continue providing instruction in music, art, history, and other areas. The second step in the process is to gather information. In order for this bill to pass, it needed to be prepared carefully, based on as much data as possible, tailored with compromises, and made broad enough in order to get as many interest groups on board as possible. Some of the statistical information for this bill came from the Center on Education Policy, which heads up many different research studies in different areas of education. The statistics showed that the shifts in instructional time were quite large, even as much as cutting 75 minutes per week in both Social Studies and Science to significantly increase instructional time in Reading and Math.
The wording for the eventual bill came in part from a music and art interest group, who had been working for years to gain support for more of a focus on music and arts education in schools. They also worked with a special, separate staff who is not assigned to any particular Congressman but who is assigned to the Committee on Education and Labor as a whole. The language was then revised to official standards by the Office of Legislative Counsel, made up of lawyers who understand the intricacies of legal language.
Once the bill is written, the Representative’s staff put together a "Dear Colleague" letter and sent it out to all the Congressmen and women. This letter explained the main parts of the bill and why they believed its passage was necessary. The purpose of the letter was to try to gain cosponsors for the bill. Then, the Representative’s staff did something very clever with their bill. Instead of making it a "stand-alone" bill, they attached the bill to the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Hence, this made it more likely their bill would get passed because it was attached to the passage of the entire Act.
The Representative then proposed the bill on the floor of the House of Representatives. After this, the Speaker of the House, with advice from the Parliamentarian, decides to which committee the bill is assigned. Sometimes, a bill has the potential to be assigned to more than one committee. So that this doesn't happen, most Congressmen try to narrowly tailor their bill so that it fits more with one specific committee.
Why would this be such a big deal? Remember – the committee who gains control over a bill has the most power over shaping the nature of the bill and deciding whether it gets passed out of Committee and onto the floor of the House of Representatives. The Legislative Assistant explained an example of why a Committee has so much power. She told me that when a bill is brought up in Committee, the Clerk reads the bill. If the bill is really long, you can ask for unanimous consent to not have the Clerk read the whole bill. One political party might refuse to give their consent if they want to stall the bill. She told me that one time, the Clerk had to read a bill that was 1,000 pages long, which gave the political party more time to come up with amendments to the bill.
I also asked the Legislative Assistant about the role of lobbyists. A lobbyist is a person who represents an interest group and who tries to get Congressmen to pass legislation that helps their interest group and to oppose legislation that hurts their interest group. The Legislative Assistant in the Representative’s office explained that no one interest group has more say than any other interest group. She said that she meets with lobbyists from all interest groups, often representing conflicting sides of an issue. The Legislative Assistant explained, "we write the policy but don't implement it. So it's helpful to talk to the people who do." While the idea for a bill might be suggested by an interest group, the bill that eventually gets passed has been shaped by many different groups of people.
This blog entry is already very long, so I'll just tell you one exciting event from today. This morning I wrote a memo to Congressman Altmire on a different bill than the one I discussed above. When the legislative assistants receive a "Dear Colleague" letter, which, as I explained above, is a letter asking the Congressman to cosponsor a specific bill, the legislative assistants write a one page memo to the Congressman. This memo summarizes the main points in the bill, explains a brief history of the issues prompting the creation of the bill, lists the sponsor of the bill (who proposed it) and the number of cosponsors, and explains any interest groups that might show opposition to the bill. I had to call two different interest groups on the phone to ask about their potential opposition to the bill. Because the memo is only supposed to be one page long and because the Legislative Director told me "the shorter the better," most of my time was spent trying to cut out any unnecessary wording in order to make it fit on one page and be as clear and concise as possible. As you have probably noticed from the length of my blog entries, this is not an easy task for me to do!
Addendum: Congressman Altmire approved my memo yesterday (July 9) so he is going to cosponsor the bill!
Making Legislation
Although I've only been working at the Capitol for one week, I've learned a considerable amount about the nature of how laws get made. It's been fascinating to talk with the staff in Congressman Altmire's office. Each has an important role to play, as I explained in an earlier blog entry. Together, they accomplish the behind-the-scenes work of the legislative aspect of our government. On Friday, June 27, I had the opportunity to speak with a legislative assistant for another Representative. Her office has been actively involved in sponsoring two different bills dealing with education. I was curious to know more about the preparation involved in preparing these two bills. I spoke with her for an hour and a half, and I'd like to share with you her extremely clear and helpful answers to my many questions.
Ideas for possible laws come from many different sources. Sometimes the idea for a law comes from the numerous letters a Congressman's office receives every day. Sometimes the idea comes from a constituent who visits a Congressman's office and speaks with a member of the Congressman's legislative staff. Sometimes the idea comes from an interest group committed to specific cause. Sometimes the idea comes from the Congressman himself and deals with an issue that is important to him and his constituents. Often, the idea for a law comes from all of these sources.
I spoke with this legislative assistant about a bill her office introduced. This bill would award grants to schools to promote and strengthen curriculum in music and arts, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, history, geography, and physical education and health. The Representative heard from constituents and others around the country that schools might be dropping classes in the subjects mentioned above. These school districts said it was because they had limited funding or time, and they needed to spend this funding and time on math and reading in order to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress requirements for No Child Left Behind. Unfortunately, many of the students who had difficulty in math and reading but who shined in music, art, and other areas were now not getting the opportunity to take these classes. So the Representative’s bill was designed to address this issue.
Hence, the first step in making a law is identifying some "need." In this case, the need was to provide additional funding to allow districts to continue providing instruction in music, art, history, and other areas. The second step in the process is to gather information. In order for this bill to pass, it needed to be prepared carefully, based on as much data as possible, tailored with compromises, and made broad enough in order to get as many interest groups on board as possible. Some of the statistical information for this bill came from the Center on Education Policy, which heads up many different research studies in different areas of education. The statistics showed that the shifts in instructional time were quite large, even as much as cutting 75 minutes per week in both Social Studies and Science to significantly increase instructional time in Reading and Math.
The wording for the eventual bill came in part from a music and art interest group, who had been working for years to gain support for more of a focus on music and arts education in schools. They also worked with a special, separate staff who is not assigned to any particular Congressman but who is assigned to the Committee on Education and Labor as a whole. The language was then revised to official standards by the Office of Legislative Counsel, made up of lawyers who understand the intricacies of legal language.
Once the bill is written, the Representative’s staff put together a "Dear Colleague" letter and sent it out to all the Congressmen and women. This letter explained the main parts of the bill and why they believed its passage was necessary. The purpose of the letter was to try to gain cosponsors for the bill. Then, the Representative’s staff did something very clever with their bill. Instead of making it a "stand-alone" bill, they attached the bill to the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Hence, this made it more likely their bill would get passed because it was attached to the passage of the entire Act.
The Representative then proposed the bill on the floor of the House of Representatives. After this, the Speaker of the House, with advice from the Parliamentarian, decides to which committee the bill is assigned. Sometimes, a bill has the potential to be assigned to more than one committee. So that this doesn't happen, most Congressmen try to narrowly tailor their bill so that it fits more with one specific committee.
Why would this be such a big deal? Remember – the committee who gains control over a bill has the most power over shaping the nature of the bill and deciding whether it gets passed out of Committee and onto the floor of the House of Representatives. The Legislative Assistant explained an example of why a Committee has so much power. She told me that when a bill is brought up in Committee, the Clerk reads the bill. If the bill is really long, you can ask for unanimous consent to not have the Clerk read the whole bill. One political party might refuse to give their consent if they want to stall the bill. She told me that one time, the Clerk had to read a bill that was 1,000 pages long, which gave the political party more time to come up with amendments to the bill.
I also asked the Legislative Assistant about the role of lobbyists. A lobbyist is a person who represents an interest group and who tries to get Congressmen to pass legislation that helps their interest group and to oppose legislation that hurts their interest group. The Legislative Assistant in the Representative’s office explained that no one interest group has more say than any other interest group. She said that she meets with lobbyists from all interest groups, often representing conflicting sides of an issue. The Legislative Assistant explained, "we write the policy but don't implement it. So it's helpful to talk to the people who do." While the idea for a bill might be suggested by an interest group, the bill that eventually gets passed has been shaped by many different groups of people.
This blog entry is already very long, so I'll just tell you one exciting event from today. This morning I wrote a memo to Congressman Altmire on a different bill than the one I discussed above. When the legislative assistants receive a "Dear Colleague" letter, which, as I explained above, is a letter asking the Congressman to cosponsor a specific bill, the legislative assistants write a one page memo to the Congressman. This memo summarizes the main points in the bill, explains a brief history of the issues prompting the creation of the bill, lists the sponsor of the bill (who proposed it) and the number of cosponsors, and explains any interest groups that might show opposition to the bill. I had to call two different interest groups on the phone to ask about their potential opposition to the bill. Because the memo is only supposed to be one page long and because the Legislative Director told me "the shorter the better," most of my time was spent trying to cut out any unnecessary wording in order to make it fit on one page and be as clear and concise as possible. As you have probably noticed from the length of my blog entries, this is not an easy task for me to do!
Addendum: Congressman Altmire approved my memo yesterday (July 9) so he is going to cosponsor the bill!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
TODAY!!! on C-SPAN: Hearing on Rising Food Prices
Today at 10am, the Committee on Education and Labor will hold a Hearing entitled "The Rising Costs of Food and Its Impact on Federal Child Nutrition Programs." One of the Legislative Assistants gave me the assignment of preparing a few questions for Congressman Altmire to ask at the hearing. One of the issues they will be discussing is the effect of rising food prices on school lunch programs, and the ways schools have had to cut back in order to meet costs. I don't know if Congressman Altmire will ask any of my questions, but it's still very exciting. In any case -- you can watch the hearing on C-SPAN TODAY!!! If you go to http://www.cspan.org look on the right-hand side of the screen and click on "Price of Food for Nutrition Programs for Children." It will then take you to a screen where you can see the video feed.
Addendum on 7-10-08: Congressman Altmire was unable to come to this hearing because he had another hearing scheduled at the same time. However, it was still very interesting for me to observe. I took many good notes which I will share with you in a later blog. It was also good experience for me to develop these questions.
Addendum on 7-10-08: Congressman Altmire was unable to come to this hearing because he had another hearing scheduled at the same time. However, it was still very interesting for me to observe. I took many good notes which I will share with you in a later blog. It was also good experience for me to develop these questions.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Mount Vernon
On Thursday, I had the opportunity to travel with the James Madison Fellows to Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. If you've never had a chance to visit Mount Vernon, I would definitely recommend it. We got there early in the morning on a gorgeous summer day, and were able to tour the house before the crowds arrived.
This is a picture of me in front of George Washington's house.
The outside of the house looks like it was constructed of stone, but looks can be deceiving. Since stone was expensive, they built the house out of wood and carved the pine boards to look like stone blocks. Then, they mixed sand with the white paint, so the surface of the wooden "stone" blocks looks like sandstone. This process is called "rustication."
You can see the wood in this picture where some of the paint has been scraped away.
This is a picture of the Piazza on the back of the house and the view from the Piazza. You can see why George Washington might have longed to return to Mount Vernon during his time away from it as Commander-in-Chief and as President.
On the property of Mount Vernon, a short walk from the house, is the tomb where George Washington, his wife Martha, and 25 family members are buried. George Washington is buried in the marble casket on the right. One of the teachers in my tour group was a veteran (he had served in the marines), and he got to place the wreath inside the tomb.
Other than seeing George Washington's House itself, the best part of visiting Mt. Vernon was the new Visitor's Center and the new exhibit they have. For all of you people interested in "CSI" stuff, this is right up your alley. A number of scientists and artists set out to figure out what Washington looked like when he was 19, 45, and 57. To do this, they studied the bust sculpted by Jean Antoine Houdon, considered to be the best likeness of Washington, as well as his "death mask," dentures, and clothing. In my opinion, the most famous picture of Washington by Gilbert Stuart, which is on the dollar bill, looks nothing like Washington if one compares it to the Houdon bust. If you look at the pictures below, you'll really get a sense of Washington's appearance. When I saw the statues in person, it gave me chills because for the first time, you could "see" what the real man might have looked like.
This is a picture of me in front of George Washington's house.
The outside of the house looks like it was constructed of stone, but looks can be deceiving. Since stone was expensive, they built the house out of wood and carved the pine boards to look like stone blocks. Then, they mixed sand with the white paint, so the surface of the wooden "stone" blocks looks like sandstone. This process is called "rustication."You can see the wood in this picture where some of the paint has been scraped away.
This is a picture of the Piazza on the back of the house and the view from the Piazza. You can see why George Washington might have longed to return to Mount Vernon during his time away from it as Commander-in-Chief and as President.
On the property of Mount Vernon, a short walk from the house, is the tomb where George Washington, his wife Martha, and 25 family members are buried. George Washington is buried in the marble casket on the right. One of the teachers in my tour group was a veteran (he had served in the marines), and he got to place the wreath inside the tomb.
Other than seeing George Washington's House itself, the best part of visiting Mt. Vernon was the new Visitor's Center and the new exhibit they have. For all of you people interested in "CSI" stuff, this is right up your alley. A number of scientists and artists set out to figure out what Washington looked like when he was 19, 45, and 57. To do this, they studied the bust sculpted by Jean Antoine Houdon, considered to be the best likeness of Washington, as well as his "death mask," dentures, and clothing. In my opinion, the most famous picture of Washington by Gilbert Stuart, which is on the dollar bill, looks nothing like Washington if one compares it to the Houdon bust. If you look at the pictures below, you'll really get a sense of Washington's appearance. When I saw the statues in person, it gave me chills because for the first time, you could "see" what the real man might have looked like.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Replies to Comments
Thank you to everyone who has been writing such great comments in response to the blog! I am going to try to answer all the questions from the "comments" that I haven't yet answered.
Sixth period asked, "How do you answer a constituent's letter? What color is the subway?"
I'm learning a lot about how a constituent's letter gets answered. First, ALL letters are read by someone in the office and get answered in some way. The letters that come in the actual mail get answered more quickly than those that are sent via e-mail (since there are relatively few paper letters compared with the number of e-mails). First, the staff checks to see if a letter has already been written to respond to a specific subject. For example, let's say that many people write letters asking Congressman Altmire to support the G.I. Bill to increase funding for veterans to pay for college. If a response letter already exists on that subject, then that constituent's letter gets logged into the computer and assigned to the "batch" of constituent letters who all get sent that letter in response. If no response letter has been written on that subject, someone is assigned to write it. This letter goes through an extensive review and editing process. So, the four letters I wrote to constituents are now in the middle of the following process. First, they were read and edited by either the Staff Assistant or the Legislative Correspondent. Then they were given back to me to make the corrections. I then printed out a new copy of each letter and gave it to the Legislative Assistant assigned to that topic. For example, one Legislative Assistant handles all issues relating to veterans and education, while a different Legislative Assistant might handle energy and transportation. Then, the Legislative Assistant gave the letters back to me to make more corrections. So I printed out new copies again. Then I gave these copies to the Legislative Director. He made edits and gave them back to me. On Monday, I will make these changes and print out new copies of the letters for the Chief-of-Staff to read. Once the Chief-of-Staff approves the letters (and I make any edits she has indicated), THEN the letters go to Congressman Altmire to read and approve. So every response letter gets read and approved by the Congressman. Sometimes, he will make changes or additions as well before the letter is sent to the constituents.
The subway (which is called the "metro" in Washington, D.C.) has many different "color" routes, depending on where you want to go. In order to get from the Rosslyn metro station to the Capitol South metro station, where I go every day, you can either ride the blue line or the orange line. However, before you get on the metro, you have to make sure the train is going in the right direction. So you have to pay attention to the "ending" destination. I also learned today that you have to use the SAME metro card you enter with in order to exit. You have to put your metro card into a reader, which opens a turnstyle to let you enter AND exit. When I tried to exit today, my metro card had run out of money. I had another metro card with money on it which I tried to use to exit, but it didn't work. So I asked the person in the booth, and she explained that I need to add the correct exit fare (an additional 50 cents) to my card so I could exit with the same card. When I put it in the exit reader, it kept my card because I put exact change on it and used it up. So now I know to make sure I have enough money on the SAME card when entering and exiting.
I am looking forward with much excitement to seeing members of my 7th period class when I am 95 years old. But please don't try to ask me any hypothetical questions at that point since it's not nice to purposely try to confuse an old lady.
In response to "Making Laws Isn't Easy," my "thoughtful students" wrote, "Do the meetings often call for a tallie of votes for a recount? How long did it take to get through the building? Did you get lost? Next year you should have a mock meeting to debate bills. Keep us updated."
It's more likely for someone to call for a "roll call" vote (when they tally the votes individually) if a bill or amendment is controversial. The Education and Labor Committee is very partisan -- which means the Democrats and Republicans often disagree strongly on policy. However, the Transportation Committee is less partisan, so there are fewer roll call votes that take place during those committee meetings since bills they examine are usually less controversial.
It took me at least 10 minutes to get through to the other building where the committee room was, due to all the stairs, escalators, and elevators. I tried to go to the Ed and Labor Committee Room by myself the other day to take a picture of it for you. I actually was able to get there successfully by myself! Sadly, it was locked. And then I got lost coming back. It turns out there is a real Barber Shop (where they cut hair) in the basement of the Rayburn building. I passed this Barber Shop twice while I was lost. Eventually, I had to ask for directions to get back. It turns out there are two different "basement" levels, and I was on the wrong level to get back to the escalators to the Longworth Building. So, YES, I got lost. But it was fun. GREAT idea about a mock meeting to debate bills! I'll definitely keep that in mind!
First period -- thanks for reminding me that I should put a picture of myself on the blog. You'll see that I did.
To Charlie K. -- I'm glad you got to visit the Library of Congress and that's too bad you couldn't go into the main reading room. You do indeed need to be 18 to enter. However, you should have been able to look down into it through the glass windows. I recently found out that Disney has a book for history teachers which explains the "real facts" behind the National Treasure movies. I am going to get it. If I remember, when we tour the Library of Congress, I'll will try to ask about the "Book of Secrets" for you. I'm sure many people have asked about this by now so the guide probably has a pretty good answer ready.
Joseph -- Thanks for reminding me about your embassy question. Your question was "would someone born in a U.S. embassy in a foreign country be considered a "natural born" citizen," right? I will ask the Legislative Director when everybody gets back to work on Monday. He'll probably be able to answer it.
Carly -- I'm glad you're enjoying the blog! You have a great summer too!
Colleen -- Thanks for your nice comments. That must have been so exciting to take part in the round up! There's a book you might like called "The Virginian" by Owen Wister. It's actually my favorite book. It's about a cowboy and a school teacher (which is probably why I like it) but it's considered classic literature. It's extremely well written. That's neat about the model and the rafting. These three activities are so very different from each other! I'm glad your foot has healed - just in time for summer :o)
Chris - I'm glad you enjoyed visiting Sewickley and Virginia!
To everyone -- I am going to Mt. Vernon tomorrow -- the home of George Washington. I'll be sure to tell him hello from all of you. They just opened a new visitors' center which is supposed to be fantastic. It has three life-sized statues of George Washington at different ages. I plan to take lots of pictures, so stay tuned for the next blog!
Sixth period asked, "How do you answer a constituent's letter? What color is the subway?"
I'm learning a lot about how a constituent's letter gets answered. First, ALL letters are read by someone in the office and get answered in some way. The letters that come in the actual mail get answered more quickly than those that are sent via e-mail (since there are relatively few paper letters compared with the number of e-mails). First, the staff checks to see if a letter has already been written to respond to a specific subject. For example, let's say that many people write letters asking Congressman Altmire to support the G.I. Bill to increase funding for veterans to pay for college. If a response letter already exists on that subject, then that constituent's letter gets logged into the computer and assigned to the "batch" of constituent letters who all get sent that letter in response. If no response letter has been written on that subject, someone is assigned to write it. This letter goes through an extensive review and editing process. So, the four letters I wrote to constituents are now in the middle of the following process. First, they were read and edited by either the Staff Assistant or the Legislative Correspondent. Then they were given back to me to make the corrections. I then printed out a new copy of each letter and gave it to the Legislative Assistant assigned to that topic. For example, one Legislative Assistant handles all issues relating to veterans and education, while a different Legislative Assistant might handle energy and transportation. Then, the Legislative Assistant gave the letters back to me to make more corrections. So I printed out new copies again. Then I gave these copies to the Legislative Director. He made edits and gave them back to me. On Monday, I will make these changes and print out new copies of the letters for the Chief-of-Staff to read. Once the Chief-of-Staff approves the letters (and I make any edits she has indicated), THEN the letters go to Congressman Altmire to read and approve. So every response letter gets read and approved by the Congressman. Sometimes, he will make changes or additions as well before the letter is sent to the constituents.
The subway (which is called the "metro" in Washington, D.C.) has many different "color" routes, depending on where you want to go. In order to get from the Rosslyn metro station to the Capitol South metro station, where I go every day, you can either ride the blue line or the orange line. However, before you get on the metro, you have to make sure the train is going in the right direction. So you have to pay attention to the "ending" destination. I also learned today that you have to use the SAME metro card you enter with in order to exit. You have to put your metro card into a reader, which opens a turnstyle to let you enter AND exit. When I tried to exit today, my metro card had run out of money. I had another metro card with money on it which I tried to use to exit, but it didn't work. So I asked the person in the booth, and she explained that I need to add the correct exit fare (an additional 50 cents) to my card so I could exit with the same card. When I put it in the exit reader, it kept my card because I put exact change on it and used it up. So now I know to make sure I have enough money on the SAME card when entering and exiting.
I am looking forward with much excitement to seeing members of my 7th period class when I am 95 years old. But please don't try to ask me any hypothetical questions at that point since it's not nice to purposely try to confuse an old lady.
In response to "Making Laws Isn't Easy," my "thoughtful students" wrote, "Do the meetings often call for a tallie of votes for a recount? How long did it take to get through the building? Did you get lost? Next year you should have a mock meeting to debate bills. Keep us updated."
It's more likely for someone to call for a "roll call" vote (when they tally the votes individually) if a bill or amendment is controversial. The Education and Labor Committee is very partisan -- which means the Democrats and Republicans often disagree strongly on policy. However, the Transportation Committee is less partisan, so there are fewer roll call votes that take place during those committee meetings since bills they examine are usually less controversial.
It took me at least 10 minutes to get through to the other building where the committee room was, due to all the stairs, escalators, and elevators. I tried to go to the Ed and Labor Committee Room by myself the other day to take a picture of it for you. I actually was able to get there successfully by myself! Sadly, it was locked. And then I got lost coming back. It turns out there is a real Barber Shop (where they cut hair) in the basement of the Rayburn building. I passed this Barber Shop twice while I was lost. Eventually, I had to ask for directions to get back. It turns out there are two different "basement" levels, and I was on the wrong level to get back to the escalators to the Longworth Building. So, YES, I got lost. But it was fun. GREAT idea about a mock meeting to debate bills! I'll definitely keep that in mind!
First period -- thanks for reminding me that I should put a picture of myself on the blog. You'll see that I did.
To Charlie K. -- I'm glad you got to visit the Library of Congress and that's too bad you couldn't go into the main reading room. You do indeed need to be 18 to enter. However, you should have been able to look down into it through the glass windows. I recently found out that Disney has a book for history teachers which explains the "real facts" behind the National Treasure movies. I am going to get it. If I remember, when we tour the Library of Congress, I'll will try to ask about the "Book of Secrets" for you. I'm sure many people have asked about this by now so the guide probably has a pretty good answer ready.
Joseph -- Thanks for reminding me about your embassy question. Your question was "would someone born in a U.S. embassy in a foreign country be considered a "natural born" citizen," right? I will ask the Legislative Director when everybody gets back to work on Monday. He'll probably be able to answer it.
Carly -- I'm glad you're enjoying the blog! You have a great summer too!
Colleen -- Thanks for your nice comments. That must have been so exciting to take part in the round up! There's a book you might like called "The Virginian" by Owen Wister. It's actually my favorite book. It's about a cowboy and a school teacher (which is probably why I like it) but it's considered classic literature. It's extremely well written. That's neat about the model and the rafting. These three activities are so very different from each other! I'm glad your foot has healed - just in time for summer :o)
Chris - I'm glad you enjoyed visiting Sewickley and Virginia!
To everyone -- I am going to Mt. Vernon tomorrow -- the home of George Washington. I'll be sure to tell him hello from all of you. They just opened a new visitors' center which is supposed to be fantastic. It has three life-sized statues of George Washington at different ages. I plan to take lots of pictures, so stay tuned for the next blog!
Revamped G.I. Bill is Now Law
The Congress is in recess all this week which means that most of the Congressmen are back home working from their districts. On Monday, Congressman Altmire spoke with Kevin Miller on KDKA radio at Kennywood Park. It was interesting for me to listen to his interview from his office in DC. Kevin Miller asked Congressman Altmire some excellent questions about important issues he is working on in Washington, D.C. One of these issues is the G.I. Bill.
That day, (Monday, June 30, 2008), President Bush signed the G.I. Bill into law. This law provides increased funding for service members to attend state colleges and universities. Congressman Altmire serves on the subcommittee which amended the G.I. Bill, so he had a lot to do with getting this increased funding. The following is the Press Release that the Press Secretary sent out on Monday. She said that I could share it with you.
ALTMIRE: REVAMPED G.I. BILL IS NOW LAW
Pennsylvania veterans eligible for additional $14,000 to pay for college
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Congressman Jason Altmire (PA-04) today issued the following statement on the revamped G.I. Bill, which the president signed into law this morning as part of the supplemental funding legislation. Pennsylvanians who have completed more than three months of active duty service since September 11, 2001 could now qualify for a maximum educational benefit of $23,846 a year, which includes $12,164 for tuition, $1,000 for books and $1,186 per month for living expenses. This is a dramatic increase over the original G.I. bill's maximum education benefit of $9,990 a year.
Earlier this year, Congressman Altmire joined Congressman Harry Mitchell (AZ-05) in introducing the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act (Post-9/11 G.I. Bill - H.R. 5740), which was included in the supplemental funding legislation. More than 65,000 Pennsylvanians have been deployed since 2001 and could qualify for assistance under the new G.I. Bill. Veterans can find out more information on how to access these benefits by calling their universities' veterans liaison's office, calling 1-888-GIBILL-1, or going to www.gibill.va.gov
"Today, the promise of the G.I. Bill has been fully restored for our newest generation of veterans," Altmire said. "As tuition costs rose in recent years, the real value of the G.I. Bill fell to the point where it covered only a fraction of the cost of a college education. Now, Congress has ensured that veterans will have the funding they need to pay for a quality education at any public university. I am confident that just like the millions of Americans heroes who went to college on the G.I. bill in the 1940s, today's veterans will use this new G.I. Bill to strengthen our country."
That day, (Monday, June 30, 2008), President Bush signed the G.I. Bill into law. This law provides increased funding for service members to attend state colleges and universities. Congressman Altmire serves on the subcommittee which amended the G.I. Bill, so he had a lot to do with getting this increased funding. The following is the Press Release that the Press Secretary sent out on Monday. She said that I could share it with you.
ALTMIRE: REVAMPED G.I. BILL IS NOW LAW
Pennsylvania veterans eligible for additional $14,000 to pay for college
(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Congressman Jason Altmire (PA-04) today issued the following statement on the revamped G.I. Bill, which the president signed into law this morning as part of the supplemental funding legislation. Pennsylvanians who have completed more than three months of active duty service since September 11, 2001 could now qualify for a maximum educational benefit of $23,846 a year, which includes $12,164 for tuition, $1,000 for books and $1,186 per month for living expenses. This is a dramatic increase over the original G.I. bill's maximum education benefit of $9,990 a year.
Earlier this year, Congressman Altmire joined Congressman Harry Mitchell (AZ-05) in introducing the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act (Post-9/11 G.I. Bill - H.R. 5740), which was included in the supplemental funding legislation. More than 65,000 Pennsylvanians have been deployed since 2001 and could qualify for assistance under the new G.I. Bill. Veterans can find out more information on how to access these benefits by calling their universities' veterans liaison's office, calling 1-888-GIBILL-1, or going to www.gibill.va.gov
"Today, the promise of the G.I. Bill has been fully restored for our newest generation of veterans," Altmire said. "As tuition costs rose in recent years, the real value of the G.I. Bill fell to the point where it covered only a fraction of the cost of a college education. Now, Congress has ensured that veterans will have the funding they need to pay for a quality education at any public university. I am confident that just like the millions of Americans heroes who went to college on the G.I. bill in the 1940s, today's veterans will use this new G.I. Bill to strengthen our country."
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Freedom of the Press
On Thursday and Friday this past week, I left the Capitol early to return to Georgetown for a "Freedom of the Press" Symposium organized by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation and the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum. The Freedom Museum is a new museum in Chicago designed to help visitors better understand the five freedoms in the first amendment. As part of this symposium, the two organizations invited famous scholars and reporters to give a series of lectures and then debate different points of view on freedom of the press. For me, the highlight of the symposium was getting to hear Pete Williams and Victoria Clark. Pete Williams is an NBC News correspondent who covers the Justice Department and the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. In 1986, Pete Williams worked as Dick Cheney's press secretary and legislative assistant when Cheney was a Congressman (before he became Vice President). In 1989, when Cheney was named Assistant Secretary of Defense, Williams was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Victoria Clark succeeded Williams in that position. In the past, she has served as the press secretary for former President Bush's 1992 re-election campaign and as an advisor to Senator John McCain. Victoria Clark is also originally from Sewickley, PA.
Pete Williams and Victoria Clark spoke about journalists covering the military. Williams began by explaining how he sponsors a "social responsibility" point of view and not a "libertarian" point of view regarding freedom of the press. For example, he told the story of how one newspaper found out that the military had figured out how to monitor cell phone communications during the hostage crisis in Lebanon. Williams, who was at the Pentagon at the time, discouraged this newspaper from reporting this information. They did it anyway (claiming freedom of the press) and guess what? The military was no longer able to monitor the cell phone communications. However, he also told the story of how another reporter did wait to reveal information. This was during the Persian Gulf War. The reporter heard that the U.S. military was planning to drop missiles in a certain location. This reporter decided to wait to print his story until after the missile strike had begun, and so didn't compromise the mission.
Victoria Clark was the person who essentially came up with the idea of "embedding" news reporters with the troops. There aren't a lot of journalists with military experience. In the past, many news reporters ended up being injured or killed while covering the troops because they entered dangerous situations on their own with little knowledge of what they were facing. As Pete Williams explained, "whatever blows up near the troops, blows up near you too." So Clark developed the idea of "embedding" the news reporters. What this means is that now, there is a program where journalists will be assigned to a specific military division. The journalists might go through a similar "boot camp" as the troops so they'll know what to do in a combat situation. Clark's idea behind this was to reduce the number of casualties among journalists (since there wouldn't be random journalists trying to go on their own into dangerous situations). Her other thinking behind this program was that "if more people could see young men and women perform in combat, we'll have meaningful public support even when things go wrong." They put together this embedding program so carefully that they even knew which military vehicles had lighters and which didn't (they needed these lighters in order to recharge their equipment). The secondary effect of this program was that the military had more confidence in the press since they saw that the press was now taking everything more seriously and planning more carefully. For example, the military now was not as likely to need to go rescue a journalist who struck out on their own and ended up in a dangerous situation.
To continue this theme of exploring Freedom of the Press, a few other history teachers and I decided to visit the new "Newseum" on Saturday. This is a new museum that just opened this spring. It is dedicated to freedom of the press and showing the public how the news and the media have contributed to our world over the years. The part of the Newseum that I liked the most was their exhibit of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs. Next to each photograph, they had an explanation of the story behind it. Many of the photographs were hard to look at, but very powerful. You've probably seen two of these photograph before -- the most famous one is the photograph of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima and the similar one of the firefighters raising the flag on 9/11. As the exhibit explains, each of these photographs "record the defining moments of our world and our time." The Newseum also had historical newspapers that covered pretty much every major timeline going back to the invention of Gutenberg's Printing Press. If you ever have the opportunity to come to Washington, D.C., I would definitely recommend visiting this museum. It's not a museum for kids, but it was four floors of fascinating information.
After the Newseum, we walked over to the National Gallery of Art. I got to see the original Gilbert Stuart Painting of George Washington -- the one that was put on the $1 bill. George Washington's cheeks look funny in this picture because he had lost almost all of his teeth by that point, so they stuffed his mouth with cotton balls.
I also got to see the only da Vinci painting in the United States . . .
. . . and the originals of the most famous Monet paintings.
On Saturday night, I went to see the Capitol Steps, which is a comedy group that sings songs about current politicians and current event. Though not always politically correct, it was incredibly hilarious. Every year, the Capitol Steps records a radio show that they play on NPR on July 4. Well, they recorded the radio show Saturday night while I was there! So if you listen to it on NPR on July 4 (in Pittsburgh the station is 90.5 DUQ), you might hear me laughing in the audience!
Today (Sunday) I went to an organ concert at Washington National Cathedral. This is the Cathedral in which they hold the services for major heads of state. So the service for President Ronald Reagan was held here.
Also, President Woodrow Wilson is buried in this Cathedral. I have included a picture. If you look carefully, you can read his name.
The organ concert was beautiful. The sound filled the entire Cathedral as the light streamed in from the gorgeous stained-glass windows. The organist was Douglas Major, who used to be the Organist and Choirmaster of Washington National Cathedral but who now lives is Rockport, Massachusetts, gives concerts, and is Director of Music at St. Michael's Church in Marblehead.
I go back to Congress tomorrow morning for my second week. This week, the Congress is in recess until after July 4, which means most of the members are back in their districts and holding events to speak with their constituents. So things will be a little more relaxed in the office, but everyone is also looking forward to getting a lot done this week. I hope everyone's summer has started off well!
This is a picture of me with the Capitol Building in the background, taken from the balcony of the Newseum.
Pete Williams and Victoria Clark spoke about journalists covering the military. Williams began by explaining how he sponsors a "social responsibility" point of view and not a "libertarian" point of view regarding freedom of the press. For example, he told the story of how one newspaper found out that the military had figured out how to monitor cell phone communications during the hostage crisis in Lebanon. Williams, who was at the Pentagon at the time, discouraged this newspaper from reporting this information. They did it anyway (claiming freedom of the press) and guess what? The military was no longer able to monitor the cell phone communications. However, he also told the story of how another reporter did wait to reveal information. This was during the Persian Gulf War. The reporter heard that the U.S. military was planning to drop missiles in a certain location. This reporter decided to wait to print his story until after the missile strike had begun, and so didn't compromise the mission.
Victoria Clark was the person who essentially came up with the idea of "embedding" news reporters with the troops. There aren't a lot of journalists with military experience. In the past, many news reporters ended up being injured or killed while covering the troops because they entered dangerous situations on their own with little knowledge of what they were facing. As Pete Williams explained, "whatever blows up near the troops, blows up near you too." So Clark developed the idea of "embedding" the news reporters. What this means is that now, there is a program where journalists will be assigned to a specific military division. The journalists might go through a similar "boot camp" as the troops so they'll know what to do in a combat situation. Clark's idea behind this was to reduce the number of casualties among journalists (since there wouldn't be random journalists trying to go on their own into dangerous situations). Her other thinking behind this program was that "if more people could see young men and women perform in combat, we'll have meaningful public support even when things go wrong." They put together this embedding program so carefully that they even knew which military vehicles had lighters and which didn't (they needed these lighters in order to recharge their equipment). The secondary effect of this program was that the military had more confidence in the press since they saw that the press was now taking everything more seriously and planning more carefully. For example, the military now was not as likely to need to go rescue a journalist who struck out on their own and ended up in a dangerous situation.
To continue this theme of exploring Freedom of the Press, a few other history teachers and I decided to visit the new "Newseum" on Saturday. This is a new museum that just opened this spring. It is dedicated to freedom of the press and showing the public how the news and the media have contributed to our world over the years. The part of the Newseum that I liked the most was their exhibit of Pulitzer Prize winning photographs. Next to each photograph, they had an explanation of the story behind it. Many of the photographs were hard to look at, but very powerful. You've probably seen two of these photograph before -- the most famous one is the photograph of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima and the similar one of the firefighters raising the flag on 9/11. As the exhibit explains, each of these photographs "record the defining moments of our world and our time." The Newseum also had historical newspapers that covered pretty much every major timeline going back to the invention of Gutenberg's Printing Press. If you ever have the opportunity to come to Washington, D.C., I would definitely recommend visiting this museum. It's not a museum for kids, but it was four floors of fascinating information.
After the Newseum, we walked over to the National Gallery of Art. I got to see the original Gilbert Stuart Painting of George Washington -- the one that was put on the $1 bill. George Washington's cheeks look funny in this picture because he had lost almost all of his teeth by that point, so they stuffed his mouth with cotton balls.
I also got to see the only da Vinci painting in the United States . . .
. . . and the originals of the most famous Monet paintings.
On Saturday night, I went to see the Capitol Steps, which is a comedy group that sings songs about current politicians and current event. Though not always politically correct, it was incredibly hilarious. Every year, the Capitol Steps records a radio show that they play on NPR on July 4. Well, they recorded the radio show Saturday night while I was there! So if you listen to it on NPR on July 4 (in Pittsburgh the station is 90.5 DUQ), you might hear me laughing in the audience!
Today (Sunday) I went to an organ concert at Washington National Cathedral. This is the Cathedral in which they hold the services for major heads of state. So the service for President Ronald Reagan was held here.
Also, President Woodrow Wilson is buried in this Cathedral. I have included a picture. If you look carefully, you can read his name. 
The organ concert was beautiful. The sound filled the entire Cathedral as the light streamed in from the gorgeous stained-glass windows. The organist was Douglas Major, who used to be the Organist and Choirmaster of Washington National Cathedral but who now lives is Rockport, Massachusetts, gives concerts, and is Director of Music at St. Michael's Church in Marblehead.I go back to Congress tomorrow morning for my second week. This week, the Congress is in recess until after July 4, which means most of the members are back in their districts and holding events to speak with their constituents. So things will be a little more relaxed in the office, but everyone is also looking forward to getting a lot done this week. I hope everyone's summer has started off well!
This is a picture of me with the Capitol Building in the background, taken from the balcony of the Newseum.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Pictures!
Hello everyone! I hope you have a fabulous last day of school. I'm going to keep writing the blog during the rest of my time in DC. You might not hear from me every day, but I hope that many of you will continue to read the blog over the summer. My last day in Congressman Altmire's office is July 17.
Today I thought I'd show you some pictures I have taken during my first week in the Capitol. I've included captions below each picture.
It was truly a pleasure to teach all of you this year. I hope that you'll continue to stay in touch in the future. Best of luck in the Intermediate High School!
Sincerely,
Ms. Mitnick
This is a picture of Copley Hall, which is the dorm I am staying in. It's an impressive building, though it's hard to see because of the trees.
This is Healy Hall. The students call this the Harry Potter Building, and you can see why. Notice the John Carroll statue in front. He was the founder of Georgetown University.
This is taken from behind the John Carroll statue. Notice the rainbow!
This picture was too good to pass up. See the little bird sitting on top of John Carroll's head? He's been there in the evenings almost every day. He seems to be enjoying the rainbow.
This is the Library of Congress. I'll be taking a tour of it later in the summer. The inside of the building is also impressive.
Here is a picture of the Capitol Building. Notice all the construction going on. They are building a massive visitor's center underground. They were working on this when I was here back in 2002. It's an enormous project.
Two views of the Supreme Court Building. Think about your Greek history from last year. Of what does this remind you?
A closer look at the Supreme Court's facade.
The famous Marbury v. Madison ruling -- engraved on the wall inside the Supreme Court Building.
The Supreme Court Room. If you look very closely, you can see the black chairs in which they sit.
Looking out at the Capitol Building through the pillars of the Supreme Court.
The Capitol Building, on a gorgeous summer day.
This is the Longworth House Office Building, where Congressman Jason Altmire's office is. Notice the long line of people out the door waiting to get through security. I wait in this line every morning -- the picture was taken around 9am. Notice also the Capitol Building in the upper right. Congressman Altmire has to walk from his office to the Capitol Building every time there's a vote. I think it's a neat picture :o)
Today I thought I'd show you some pictures I have taken during my first week in the Capitol. I've included captions below each picture.
It was truly a pleasure to teach all of you this year. I hope that you'll continue to stay in touch in the future. Best of luck in the Intermediate High School!
Sincerely,
Ms. Mitnick
This is a picture of Copley Hall, which is the dorm I am staying in. It's an impressive building, though it's hard to see because of the trees.
This is Healy Hall. The students call this the Harry Potter Building, and you can see why. Notice the John Carroll statue in front. He was the founder of Georgetown University.
This is taken from behind the John Carroll statue. Notice the rainbow!
This picture was too good to pass up. See the little bird sitting on top of John Carroll's head? He's been there in the evenings almost every day. He seems to be enjoying the rainbow.
This is the Library of Congress. I'll be taking a tour of it later in the summer. The inside of the building is also impressive.
Here is a picture of the Capitol Building. Notice all the construction going on. They are building a massive visitor's center underground. They were working on this when I was here back in 2002. It's an enormous project.
Two views of the Supreme Court Building. Think about your Greek history from last year. Of what does this remind you?
A closer look at the Supreme Court's facade.
The famous Marbury v. Madison ruling -- engraved on the wall inside the Supreme Court Building.
The Supreme Court Room. If you look very closely, you can see the black chairs in which they sit.
Looking out at the Capitol Building through the pillars of the Supreme Court.
The Capitol Building, on a gorgeous summer day.
This is the Longworth House Office Building, where Congressman Jason Altmire's office is. Notice the long line of people out the door waiting to get through security. I wait in this line every morning -- the picture was taken around 9am. Notice also the Capitol Building in the upper right. Congressman Altmire has to walk from his office to the Capitol Building every time there's a vote. I think it's a neat picture :o)
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