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.

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)

Making Laws Isn't Easy

It just gets better and better around here! To tell you about my entire day today would take up more space than you might be willing to read, so I am going to tell you just about the highlight of today, and boy was it interesting! To preface this (and to make you as excited as I am right now) I'll tell you that I asked one of the Legislative Assistants if she had ever seen anything like it before. Said she hadn't -- and she's been here since February of 2007. OK! I went to what is called a "Committee Mark-Up" Meeting today. Do you remember that I went to a "Staff Mark-Up Meeting" on Monday? At the Monday meeting each Congressman's staff told the Head of the Committee staff each of the Amendments their Congressperson was planning to propose. At today's Committee Meeting, they proposed them.

This morning, when it was time for the "Mark-Up" meeting for the Committee on Education and Labor, I accompanied the two Legislative Assistants to the Committee Room, which was in the Rayburn Building (Congressman Altmire's office is in the Longworth Building). All of the main buildings around Capitol Hill are connected by tunnels. To get to the Rayburn Building via these tunnels, it seemed like the equivalent of going from the Owls' hallway down to Mr. Lemmo's room and then all the way back to the Owls' hallway. We had to walk down seven flights of marble spiral stairs, down two escalators, then up a few floors in an elevator, and then zig-zagging through four different hallways. We entered the room from the front of the room, so I walked by what I later found out to be Representative Dennis Kucinich's seat (yes, the same Dennis Kucinich who ran for President). It was a wide room with a huge ceiling. Along the front wall were seats for the Committee stacked in three tiers of seats. Then along the opposite wall were seats for all of the staff for each of the Congressmen and Congresswomen. There are 48 members on this Committee -- 27 Democrats and 21 Republicans. The Speaker of the House (Nancy Pelosi) chose a steering committee and this steering committee chose which members would be on the Committee. Since the Democrats currently have the majority in the House, they also have the majority on the Committee.

The Chair of the Committee, a Democrat, sits in the top tier of seats in the middle and calls on people to speak. To HIS right sits the "Ranking Member." The "Ranking Member" is the member of the opposition with the most seniority. So the Ranking Member is the most senior Republican on the Committee. Then to the Chair's left, sit all the Democrats in order of seniority. It goes outward from the Chair in the top row, then the seniority goes "inward" in order for the next two rows. So all the Democrats sit on the left and all the Republicans sit on the right, in order of seniority. From my perspective since I was looking at them, this was switched (Democrats on the right, Republicans on the left). Since Congressman Altmire is a freshman representative (this is his first term), he was seated in the front row. Between me and the Committee Members was a long table. In the middle of the table sits the Clerk, who reads each of the amendments to the bill. In front of the clerk are three little black boxes spaced along the table. These boxes have green, yellow, and red lights. Each Committee Member gets 5 minutes to speak. The yellow light comes on when there is 1 minute left. Also at this table was a woman tape recording the procedings to be transcribed, and assistants to the clerk, who pass out paper copies of each of the amendments to each of the Committee Members and their staff.

Let me explain to you the order of business for the Mark-Up Meeting and then I'll get to the exciting part. The Chair of the Committee starts off by reading an Opening Statement regarding the bill. In this case he was supporting the bill, since it was proposed by a Democratic Representative on the Committee. Then the Ranking Member read an Opening Statement. In his Opening Statement he stated that he opposed the bill. The bill under discussion today was H.R. 3289. The bill includes the Providing Resources Early for Kids Act of 2007 or the PRE-K Act which directs the Secretary of Education to award matching grants to states to enhance or improve state-funded preschool programs. The Ranking Member explained that he opposed the bill because he believes that the federal government already has the Head Start program, and that control over pre-school education should be left to the states.

Then, each member of the Committee was given a chance to speak on the bill. The first member of the Committee to speak on the bill was the Congresswoman who proposed the bill. Then other Congressmen got to speak on the bill alternating Democrats and Republicans. The Chair recognizes them to speak in order of seniority. After a few members debated the bill, they began proposing Amendments to the bill. Each time an amendment was proposed, the Clerk read the Amendment, or the reading was waived if the Amendment was too long. Then the clerk's assistants passed out copies of the Amendment to each of the Congressmen and to their staff. Then, the Amendments were debated. Each member got 5 minutes to speak. Sometimes, another Congressman said, "Will the Gentleman yield?" Then, if that Congressman said yes, the other Congressman got to use the rest of the 5 minutes. If a Congressman finished speaking early, he or she said, "I yield the balance of my time." Whenever the Chair called on someone to speak, he said "The Chair recognizes Representative (last name) from (State they are from). During the meeting, the Congressmen would keep coming and going, so not all the seats were filled at all times. You could see who was there because each seat had their name in a little holder in front of them on the table.

When each Amendment was done being debated one Congressman called for a vote on it. They did it by "Voice Vote." The Chair would say, "All those in favor say "Aye" and all those opposed say "No." Then, "All those in favor . . . (chorus of "Aye") . . . all those opposed (chorus of "No"). Then, and this was interesting to me, the Chair determined how the vote stood -- he didn't count. For example, he would say, "The 'No's' have it. Next Amendment." If a Congressman disagreed on the ruling of the Chair, he or she could call for a "Roll Call," which means they would vote again on this amendment at the end of the meeting, but they would vote one at a time while the clerk tallied the votes.

Now the EXCITING part. A Republican Congresswoman (let's call her R1) proposed an amendment which stated, "Page 9, line 7, insert the following (and redesign provisions accordingly): (3) An assurance that funds received under this Act will be used to provide services only to children who are United States citizens or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States." In other words, she wanted to amend the bill to make it say that the funds would only go to children who are permanent legal residents of the United States. The Congressmen then debated this amendment including one Democratic Congressman from a district with a large hispanic population. Let's call him D1. He explained that the Supreme Court has ruled that all children in the United States have access to public education, regardless of their legal status. Another Congressman, let's call him D2, then pointed out that there are people living in the United States who are legal residents but who are not permanent residents -- they are in the U.S. legally, but temporarily. Congresswoman R1 was willing to take out the word "permanent" from her amendment. However, in order to change an amendment that has already been debated, you need unanimous consent (everybody has to agree). So she called for a vote of unanimous consent. One Democrat (D3) was opposed. So another Republican Congressman (let's call him R2), asked to AMEND her AMENDMENT. This is called a "2nd Degree Amendment." A 2nd Degree Amendment does not need unanimous consent. His 2nd Degree Amendment proposed to delete the word "permanent." They did a voice vote on this which was determined as "The No's have it." Another Republican Congressman (R3) called for Roll Call on this, which means he wanted a written tally of the votes one by one.

This is where things started to go awry. Congressman R2 essentially wanted to "try again" by proposing a whole NEW amendment taking out THREE words: "for permanent residence." He did this by having one of his staff take a hand-written corrected copy of the Amendment by R1 over to the Clerk to read. However, the rules say you can't propose a new amendment that is the same as the 2nd Degree Amendment you also proposed. So essentially, things broke down at that point. The Chair and Congressman R2 started arguing (politely) about the procedures. Then the Staff Counsels, who stand behind the Chair (two for each party) got involved in figuring out what should be done. Basically, no one could figure out what had just happened and what was the correct procedural course to follow! So for five minutes, there was a flury of quiet talking by everyone in the room. It was very exciting. The Legislative Assistant next to me said he had never seen anything like this. The most exciting part -- when it looked like everything was settling down, Congressman Altmire motioned me to come up to his seat. He then handed me the paper copy of the revised amendment with the word "permanent" crossed out. He said "As a souvenir to show to your students." If you visit me next year, I will show it to you. Then they went through the roll call votes and called everyone by name, Democrats first in order of seniority, then Republicans in order of seniority, who said either "Aye" or "No". So I REALLY got to see Parliamentary Procedure at its height!

Moral of today's story: making laws isn't easy.

Justice Thomas

It's the end of Day 2! Throughout my time here in DC, I'll be missing part of the day in Congressman Altmire's office to go to different events organized by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation. This morning was the first such event. We went to the Supreme Court and got to hear Justice Clarence Thomas speak. When I was here in 2002, I got to hear Justice Stephen Breyer speak. Justice Thomas began his time on the Supreme Court in 1991. He is currently the only African American member of the Court. When we entered the Supreme Court we were ushered into a large wood-paneled room with paintings of previous Supreme Court Justices on the walls. We were told that we should stand when the Justice came into the room and that he would prefer that we didn't take pictures. Justice Thomas spoke to us for about 40 minutes and then answered questions. I took a whole bunch of notes while he was speaking so that I could share some highlights with you. One of the first things he explained was that though all the Justices may have different opinions on a particular issue, they all respect each other's views. Justice Thomas sits next to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who is currently the only woman on the Court. They generally interpret the law in different ways but he said they have great respect for each other as people. Justice Thomas explained that the Supreme Court receives 9,000 petitions a year, but that they only hear around 75-80 cases. He has four law clerks who help him analyze briefs and research relevant cases.

During the round of questioning, one of the teachers said that her students often ask why Supreme Court Justices serve for life and are not part of the democractic process. She wondered how he would answer this question. I smiled at this question since I knew we had learned about this in class! He answered by referring to a case from 1896 called Plessy v. Ferguson. In this case, the Supreme Court essentially ruled that racial segregation, even in public accomodations (such as railroads), was constitutional under the "separate but equal" argument. The idea of "separate but equal" was not reversed until 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education. In the Plessy v. Ferguson case, the "dissent" (or disagreement with the ruling), was written by Justice John Harlan. In his dissent, Justice Harlan explained "But in view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law." In other words, he argued that segregation should not be legal. However, the Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson allowed segregation to continue until 1954. Justice Thomas then explained that Supreme Court decisions cannot be left to the democracy. If democracy had decided the ruling in 1954, he explained, we would still have segregation. He then asked the question, "How do you protect individual rights against the majority if the majority always votes on it?" In other words, as we talked about, the Justices need to be free to base their decisions on the Constitution, and not necessarily on what the people want. According to Justice Thomas, in 1954, a majority of the people would have wanted segregation to continue. So appointing Supreme Court Justices for life allows them to make decisions based on the Constitution, and independent of popular bias.

At the end of the time with Justice Thomas, he told us about how he still visits and keeps in touch with his 8th grade teacher, who is 95 now. He said she ruled by "pure fear," and that "you could hear a gnat tiptoe across cotton in that room." But it was she and the other teachers he had who made him think that with an education, anything was possible. It made me think how nice it would be if some of you would visit me when I turn 95!

After the Supreme Court, I returned to Congressman Altmire's office. For most of the afternoon I worked on writing three different letters responding to e-mails from constituents. It was easier to write the letters today since I had already done one yesterday. I also found them a little easier since all three dealt with education.

In the middle of the afternoon, I met with the two Legislative Assistants who handle Congressman Altmire's assignment on the House Committee on Education and Labor. They spoke with me on the ways I might get involved this summer in legislation on education. I'll tell you more about this as events unfold. But right now, I have a meeting scheduled on Friday with a staffer for Representative Woolsey, who recently proposed the following bill: H.R.3606: To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide grants for core curriculum development. This bill includes the Access to Complete Education Act - which "amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) to promote and strengthen as an integral part of the curriculum one or more of the subjects of music and arts, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, history, geography, and physical education and health." The Act "gives priority to LEAs that have greatest numbers or percentages of children from families below the poverty line." It also, "requires grantees to coordinate, to the extent practicable, their programs to promote or strengthen education in such subjects with opportunities provided by public or private cultural entities, including museums, education associations, libraries, and theaters." One drawback of No Child Left Behind is that some school districts are getting rid of music and art. This bill would address this issue. I'll let you know what happens!

Today I spoke with two more people in Congressman Altmire's office whose positions I didn't tell you about yesterday. One is the Legislative Correspondent. The Legislative Correspondent was extremely helpful to me today when I was writing the letters. Her primary job is to manage all of the responses to the letters, e-mails, and phone calls coming in from constituents. The other person I spoke with today was Congressman Altmire's Legislative Director. He's the expert in the office. He explained to me today why everyone in the office was so excited about a bill that just passed the house today. Congressman Altmire had contributed some amendments to this bill. Remember that I taught you that Congress can override a presidential veto with a 2/3 vote? Well, this bill passed the house with more than a 2/3 vote! Now it gets sent to the Senate. Since the House passed it with more than 2/3, the Senate is now more likely to do so. The part that he explained to me was the complicated part about how they got this bill to pass the House (this is why he's one of the experts around here). The House can vote on what are called "suspension bills." A "suspension bill" is when they suspend the rules during debate on a bill which prevents anyone from adding amendments to a bill. One of the things the opposition often tries to do is add an amendment to a bill that would make the bill impossible to pass. By suspending the rules to prevent these amendments, the bill is more likely to pass. This is what the House did today. The Senate needs 60 votes for "cloture," which ends debate on a bill. I'll let you know what happens.

Tomorrow I'm going to get to go to an actual "Mark-Up" Meeting of the Committee on Education and Labor. So I'll actually get to see the Representatives discussing amendments to a bill. For me it will be very exciting. As usual, I plan to take a lot of notes. So stay tuned to hear about that tomorrow.

Thank you for all of your wonderful comments on the blog! Let's see if I can briefly answer those couple questions. First of all, ALL FIVE classes are my FAVORITE. I'm voting 60 times and calling for cloture on that. End of debate. Thank you first period -- I appreciate that you appreciate all the work I do. Period 2 - Yay for Deanna on the runners knot! Period 5 -- glad you liked my explanation about the buzzers. The dorms at Georgetown are actually pretty nice. Mine is carpeted. Since I'm a Congressional Fellow, they gave me a room with a private bathroom, which is nice. Period 6 -- the constituents' letters deal with every topic you can imagine. Many of them refer to specific bills under debate in Congress, such as ones dealing with veterans benefits, healthcare issues, and drilling for oil. I even read one that said a law should be passed that abolishes homework. I thought you'd like that one. Period 7 - My last day in the office is July 17 and I leave for Pittsburgh on July 18. The traffic is not too bad. I take a shuttle bus from Georgetown to the metro (subway) station in Rosslyn, which is in Virginia. Then I ride the metro to the Capitol South stop. The Longworth Building is right near that stop. So it's nice to commute without having to drive.

More tomorrow! :o)

Where It All Happens

Wow! What a day! The work that is involved in running the office of a Congressman is detailed and varied. Let me tell you a little bit about how the office is organized and then I'll explain what I did today. Just like the office of the President, Congressman Altmire's office is managed by a Chief of Staff. There is a special person to handle the Congressman's scheduling. There are a number of staffers who are "Legislative Assistants." Each Legislative Assistant is assigned to a different committee on which the Congressman serves, and they help to evaluate and amend legislation looked at by each committee. There is also a Press Secretary, a Staff Assistant to handle constituent work and myriad other office concerns, and several interns, some of whom are still in college and are working here for the summer. These interns do anything from answering phone calls from constituents to putting together mailings (2,000 just today!) that reply to concerns expressed in e-mails and letters from constituents and which explain the current status of the legislation. Keep in mind all of these different people and the roles they play, since I learned something from each one of them today.

The first activity I did today was to read the DC Office Intern Handbook. Although I am not really an intern, but a "Fellow," I still needed to be aware of all of the requirements of someone who works in the office of a Congressman. This handbook explained the working hours (9-5) and mentioned that people are welcome to stay later or come earlier. Right now it is 5:45pm. I am typing this blog in the office and all of the key people are still here. Congress is in session starting at 6:30pm. Congressman Altmire was in Pittsburgh this morning attending meetings. He flew to DC this afternoon and just arrived in the office a minute ago. I just shook his hand and thanked him for this opportunity. He welcomed me to the office and I told him I looked forward to learning much to share with my students.

Back to my day. The Handbook explains the office attire (business), how to respond to phone calls from constituents, how to address casework (such as when someone needs to have their passport expedited), flag requests, tour requests, and all of the office phone extensions. After I finished reading the Handbook, the Staff Assistant reviewed the key points with me. She then showed me the computer program on which they keep track of all the communications from constituents. This system allows the office to keep a record of each constituent's concern or request so that they can receive a thank you letter from the Congressman. From 9:30am-3:30pm I read through a large stack of these letters and entered many of them into the computer system. For some of them, special letters had to be written to address individual requests, so these were put in a separate pile. Although it was a bit of a challenge to sit in front of a computer for six hours, it was fascinating to read through the myriad of concerns presented by these constituents. What was particularly interesting was that Congressman Altmire received letters that expressed completely opposite views. Remember, a member of Congress does not merely represent those people who voted for him, but represents everyone in his district.

This idea came into play during the last hour of today, when I was given an assignment to write a letter in response to a constituent's letter. While I was writing the letter, I was invited to attend a committee "mark-up" meeting for all the staffers of the Congressmen on the committee. To "mark-up" a bill means to make amendments or changes to the proposed bill. I asked one of the Legislative Assistants if this means "mark-up" as in the same way a teacher "marks up" students papers, making corrections or additions. He said that this was probably the same meaning. At this meeting, the staffers proposed amendments to the bill. As I taught you all in class, the Chair of the committee has significant influence over the shape of the bill. It was interesting to see the Chairman's Chief of Staff, who was running the meeting, remind all those making amendments that the more diverse the amendments, the less likely the bill would pass.

After the "Mark-Up" meeting I came back and finished the letter. Then I met Congressman Altmire when he came in.

This blog is already getting very long, so I'll just add one more thing. The Scheduler just explained to me what the loud "buzzers" are that I've been hearing today. At first, I thought they were a fire drill, since that would be what they sound like at the middle school. However, since no one got up from their seat, I figured this deduction was not correct. Actually, the loud buzzer indicates when a vote is about to occur. When the buzzer goes off, the member of Congress has 15 minutes to get down to the floor of the House before the vote begins. The scheduler explained that in Longworth (the House Office Building that Congressman Altmire is in), the bell sounds like a buzzer. But in Rayburn, the other House Office Building, it actually sounds like a bell (brrrring!) -- just like a fire drill. If the Congressman is not on time for the vote, he doesn't get to vote. So the moral of the story, students, is learn to be on time now or you'll never make it as a member of Congress!

One more interesting fact -- The Scheduler told me that Congressman Altmire is one of only TWO Congressman (yes, class, remember that's out of 435) to have NEVER missed a vote -- out of around 1500 votes! The other Congressman is Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Georgetown University

While I'm working as a Congressional Fellow, I'll be living in Copley Hall, which is a dorm on the campus of Georgetown University. In 1789, John Carroll, who was the first head of the Catholic Church in America, obtained the property on which Georgetown was built. So Georgetown has its roots in the era of the Early Republic (George Washington began his first term as President in 1789). Also staying in Copley Hall are history teachers from all over the United States and the world. They are here for the James Madison Memorial Foundation Summer Institute on the Constitution. I participated in this in the summer of 2002. They will be taking a course on the Constitution. The James Madison Memorial Foundation provides two Fellowships -- one that provides money for a Masters degree (and during which you take the summer course on the Constitution at Georgetown) and the Congressional Fellowship, which I won. There are around 70 James Madison Fellows here and 2 Congressional Fellows. Tonight we all had an opening banquet. Among the speakers at the banquet was Admiral Paul Yost, who is President of the Foundation. Admiral Yost previously served as Commandant of the United States Coast Guard. The Commandant is the highest ranking member of the U.S. Coast Guard and is the only four-star Admiral of the Coast Guard. He is appointed for a four-year term by the President of the United States upon confirmation by the Senate. I shook his hand and spoke with him about my serving in Congressman Altmire's office.

In addition to the history teachers who are taking the course on the Constitution, there are a few Fellows from around the world. I met two Fellows from Cuba. At dinner, I sat next to the James Madison Fellow from Iraq. He is currently earning his Masters in International Relations in the United States. I asked him if after his Masters he'll be returning to Iraq to teach. He replied that he wasn't a teacher -- he works as an advisor in the office of the Vice President of Iraq. I was pretty embarrassed. But I recovered with a question that I think he appreciated. I ask him if he had a unique perspective on learning how the Founders designed the U.S. Constitution because Iraq just created a new Constitution. He said yes, and that he did intend to return to Iraq and share what he learned about the design of the U.S. Constitution and government in the hopes that he can help strengthen the government of Iraq.

I'm off to Congress tomorrow morning. I cut the tags off of the new suit I bought, which is hanging on the outside of my closet all ready to go. I packed my bag with a new notebook that is just waiting to be filled with notes about how Congress works and how the Constitution guides that work. Congressman Altmire's office needs to approve anything I put on this blog about Congress, so you may not read about my Monday experiences until Wednesday (since I have to show them my "Monday" blog on Tuesday, and then post it Tuesday night). So stay tuned!

My Upcoming Trip in the Time Machine

Hello everyone! Welcome to Ms. Mitnick's blog. This Spring, I was fortunate enough to receive notification that I had won a Congressional Fellowship from the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation. The Congressional Fellowship is an opportunity to work for a month during the summer in the office of a Congressman or Senator and to observe how the Constitution guides the work of Congress. It is awarded to just two history teachers in the country. I will be working in the office of Congressman Jason Altmire (D-4th), who not only represents the community in which I live, but also part of the school district where I teach 8th grade Civics & Economics. For more information, see the recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08146/884083-54.stm

In one of the essays I wrote for my application, I explained that it would be the dream of any Civics teacher to take a Time Machine back to observe the debates at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Since that request is not yet technologically possible, I got my next best request -- to observe how the Constitution, written in 1787, guides the work of Congress in 2008. As part of my Congressional Fellowship, I'll get to help evaluate legislation, observe the work of committees, attend hearings, learn how members of Congress interact, and take part in addressing the needs of constituents. The purpose of the James Madison Congressional Fellowship is to give teachers firsthand knowledge of how Congress works so that they can then share what they learn with their students. When the school year starts again in the Fall, I'll have a wealth of knowledge and numerous real examples to help make Congress come alive for my students. I leave for Washington, DC on Saturday and I can't wait!