Congressional Recess

Greetings again, and apologies for my sporadic posting. I've had a busy few weeks, for a variety of reasons, including two papers which I have due this Monday, ahhhh!!

The Congress has passed its budget resolutions for FY 2010, which is only the beginning of the process, which will last at least through September, when the Fiscal Year starts, and that's assuming that the process is on time. The big question on that front is whether Democrats, especially in the Senate, will use the special "reconciliation" process to get universal healthcare reform and some other long-range programs through the budget process, so that it cannot be filibustered by Republicans and conservative Democrats, and only pass with 51 votes in the Senate. Personally, I think that this is a good idea to move forward on sweeping reforms which the country needs right now, and I don't think that people out in the country care how the policies are changed, that's largely just inside baseball, but they want change, and they don't care if some Republicans have hurt feelings at the end of it.

On the internship front, things are progressing along nicely. On Wednesday, I had to go around the three House office buildings getting signatures for a "Dear Colleague" letter about land and water conservation which Rep. Murphy is the point person on. I do not enjoy the Rayburn building, since it is enormous and has many dead ends, so I frequently got lost.

A two week congressional recess has begun, which means no legislation, just some planning for future things, and catching up on old work. Also, it is tour season in DC, especially for congressional tours, which means the other interns and myself will frequently find ourselves spending a few hours per day taking visitors through the capitol, or waiting on line to do so, fun.

I'll try to update soon.