Regrets

Although I did get to do a lot here in Washington, there are some things I didn't get to do, and regret it. One thing that surprised me during orientation was the fact that it is fairly easy to go and watch live arguments at the Supreme Court. Essentially, all you have to do is go early to line up at the Supreme Court in the morning and you can go in and watch the live proceedings. Since photography is not allowed within the courtroom this really is a unique experience that you cannot do back in Claremont. Most employers seem as if they would be flexible enough to allow the interns to take off a day, or simply a morning to go to the Court. If you work on the Hill this is also particularly easy because it is directly across the street from the Capitol.

Another regret that I have is not going to the Kennedy Center, I didn't find out until about halfway through the semester, but apparently during the week there is free entertainment. I unfortunately did not get the chance to go. But if I had to do it over again, I would certainly tried to organize a group outing to the Kennedy Center.

Housing

One of the differences between the DC program and living back on campus is that there are no dorms in DC. So instead of deciding whether to live in North Quad, Mid Quad, or South Quad, you instead have to decide where to live within Washington, DC (or possibly outside of Washington DC). I lived in an apartment with Carlos and Jenny. You can see a video of it here.



There are several different options you have to consider:

Is it furnished?
Are utilities included?
Is it close to the CMC Office (Corner of 17th and L Street NW)?
Is it close to your job?
Is it close to the Metro?
Is there a supermarket nearby?
Can it fit everybody you plan to live with?
Is it in a good part of town?

The apartment we lived in had been used the semester before by some CMC students while they were on the program. I highly recommend doing this. It is helpful to know from someone more trustworthy than a random landlord whether or not the apartment is any good.

In addition to our apartment, there were two more groups of three people, one living fairly close to us and the other living in Southeast near the Capitol. There were then two people living on their own, Ben F. lived in an apartment in Virginia and Mike Whatley lived in housing provided by the Heritage Foundation (although you don't have to actually work for Heritage to live there, as Mike did).

It is best to get a furnished apartment (as everybody this semester did) because you do not have to worry about buying or renting all the furnishings for the apartment. That can tend to get more expensive than you might think as me and my apartment mates discovered this summer. You have to remember plates, silverware, couches, tv, lamps, sheets, beds, etc..

Pros and Cons of Interning on the Hill

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more photos.

Kristen Mallory asked me to do a post about the benefits and drawbacks of interning on the Hill. I have to say that I loved my internship in Rep. Schakowsky’s office. Not only was it cool to intern in a small office like that, but an added bonus was the fact that she represents me in Congress. It was nice to know about the specifics of the district for the office in which I was working. With that said, I will say that from what I have heard from people I know that have interned in other Hill offices that it seems to be a mixed bag in terms of the quality of internships on the Hill.


I think that mine was great. In other offices, interns sometimes will only answer phones, sort mail, and write a couple of responses to constituent letters. At my internship I did not have to sort mail, and only had to do the phones for maybe one or two hours a week (which actually was surprisingly enjoyable). I also got to sit in on staff meetings. My office held two staff meetings a week, one was without Schakowsky, before she got into the office for the week, and the second one was to brief her on the upcoming hearings, legislation, and to get her feedback on how she wanted to proceed. Some other people that I know that I talked with were surprised that the office let interns in on staff meetings (and the office that I am in now does not let interns into staff meetings). I got to experience how the staff interacts with their boss, and how Members make decisions on various topics behind closed doors. It was a great “behind the scenes” experience to see how members act candidly when they are not interacting with the general public.



The people in my office were also great about making sure that I got to do substantive work as well as experience things I may not have been able to otherwise. The staff took me to the House floor, I got to be the only intern at a meeting of about twelve Members and Justice Sotomayor (which I blogged about earlier), got to sit in the gallery during the healthcare vote in the House late on a Sunday night (which I also blogged about earlier), and Rep. Schakowsky used my name and my “story” in the opening statements of a committee hearing. Of course, I had to do some typical Hill intern duties: organize a filing cabinet, take some flags to the flag office, and make copies. I did however get to do some pretty substantive work. During the Toyota scandal, the staffer who usually handles consumer protection had a lot on her agenda, so I got to help out and was the only intern at the briefings held by the Toyota lobbyists. I then got to write up notes and some potential questions for CEO Jim Lentz and the Secretary of Transportation. Of course, I was not the lead staffer or the one making decisions on what types of questions she would ask, but I did feel as if I got to have an impact on the process, and at the very least I got some good face time on C-SPAN and at least one news broadcast.



In addition to this, I got to be involved in the process for picking projects for appropriations requests for the district. Again, as an intern, I wasn’t picking which project would receive funding, but I did get to help review and summarize each project in order to help present it to my boss and to put on the website. The final main project of the semester was President’s Fiscal Commission to which the Speaker appointed Schakowsky. For the last month or so, I did research on various members of the commission and what their positions were in addition to various proposals to help lower the deficit and the national debt. This helped me develop a potential topic for my thesis.

Supreme Court

As always you can go to the Flickr page for more photos.

We went to the Supreme Court during orientation, but on May 3, Angela and I made one more trip there. On that day the Supreme Court announced that the public would no longer be able to enter through the famous front doors of the Supreme Court that are usually depicted in movies and pictures. Since we hadn’t had the chance to do it when we went for a tour (they don’t allow people to enter when the court is actually hearing arguments), we decided we should enter through the doors at least once. We managed to get about an hour off from work (the Court is across the street from the Capitol) just to go through the doors. When we had gone on our tour, Dr. Spalding mentioned that this is one of the few buildings in DC where you can still walk directly up to “power.” The Capitol steps are no longer open to the public to walk into the Capitol and the White House has strict security procedures. Although it was rather anticlimactic to walk through the doors, it is nice to be able to say you walked through the famous doors, which are about 100 feet from the actual courtroom where the justices deliberate. People will still be able to exit out the door after they are done with tours, but they will now direct all traffic through one of the side entrances for a new visitors center.

Camped Out at the Office

One of the four classes on the Washington Program is Government 127. This is a program that is focused around a semester long research paper. Most of us wrote on a topic that was related to our internship. As college students, who were also interning full time, many of us naturally procrastinated a good deal until the last week or so. There were some notable exceptions, including Ben F., who was done a good week before it was due. But for most of us the paper meant many sleepless nights that last week. Many of us spent it at the office. We ate, slept, and worked there. We all ended up finishing our papers on time (although some of us got pretty close to the deadline). I thought that this picture captured the feelings of that last week pretty well.

Day on the Hill

As always you can go to the Flickr page for more photos.

On April 27 at 1pm, we all headed to Capitol Hill to meet with Congressman David Drier, CMC alum from the class of 1975 and an alum of the Washington Program, and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, my boss and representative. Mr. Drier has an office in the Capitol (something which only party leadership usually gets). Although some of us, including me, got there a little late, we all found our way into his office. His is the only office with a pinball machine in it (as you can see in the picture). As the former chairman and the current ranking member, he discussed with us the role of the House Rules Committee. He explained the difference between an open and closed rule, and his hopes that the open rule would be used more this year. He also explained the “read the bill” phenomenon, and how that originated due to a bill that was rushed through a couple of years ago. We then went around the room and explained where we were interning and what we were doing at each place. We also got to ask some questions. We then snapped a picture back in his private study.






We then went outside to the Capitol steps to wait for Ms. Schakowsky. It was a busy day with several different Members of Congress meeting various groups from their districts out on the steps. One prominent voice on the steps was a protestor who was in favor of the new immigration law that had passed in Arizona (this was only two or three days after it was signed into law). When we got to meet with Ms. Schakowsky, we went around the circle and explained where we were interning and then took a picture with her. At this point, most of the members had left and we were one of the only groups left. The protestor, possibly knowing Schakowsky’s liberal positions (she was named the most liberal member of the House), decided to focus on her. As we stood there taking the picture, he yelled at her non-stop, calling her “sweet lips” and “toots.” Although it was clear that we could hear him, we did our best to ignore him. Dr. Spalding then asked her to rate the heckler and she humorously said that he had some of the best pitch and consistency she had heard and that his performance is a testament to the first amendment. She went on to explain her opposition to the new Arizona law. We had a quick meeting because she was late for a meeting off of the Hill, but it will certainly be one of my most memorable experiences with a Member of Congress.

Mt. Vernon

As always you can go to the Flickr page for more photos.

Every semester, Dr. Spalding organizes a group outing. There a couple of various locations that the group has gone in the past. This is usually a place a little bit outside of DC that we might not get to if we were going on our own. This year we went to Mount Vernon in Virginia. This is where George Washington used to live and is buried alongside his wife, Martha.



We met Dr. Spalding, her husband (also Dr. Spalding) and her two kids at the Pentagon City Metro stop bright and early. Carlos, Jenny, Isaac, Angela, Ben, and I climbed into her car and a brand new rented minivan to drive over to Virginia. It was about a half hour to forty-five minute drive, it was a very scenic drive down the George Washington Parkway. There had been some predictions of rain for the day, but it turned out to be a Once we got there, we watched an introductory movie that talked about George Washington’s life and the history of the grounds. Our first stop walking around was the house where George Washington and his family lived (in the picture above). There was quite a long line to get into the house, but some “contemporaries” of George Washington kept us occupied as we waited (pictured below).



We walked through the bedrooms of George Washington, peered into his kitchen, saw the view off of the back porch and went through the slaves’ quarters. Dr. Spalding’s husband, who has done some work with Mt. Vernon, explained to us that much of the furniture and the foundation was showing signs of aging, so a couple of years ago they decided to install air conditioning. There had been debate over whether or not to do this, because of concerns that the air conditioning might upset the “originalness” of the building. However, it was determined that the benefits of the air conditioning would outweigh the negatives.



After seeing his house, we decided to go grab some lunch before exploring the rest of the grounds. We were given two $10 vouchers. We had to spend exactly $20 or else we would not get change, so it was a challenge to make sure that we got exactly $20, and several of us ended up with food to take home. We then went and toured some of the other areas of the grounds. Washington, in addition to leading the Continental Army and the country, was a farmer, who came up with some innovative new farming techniques. There was an area dedicated to demonstrating some of those techniques and included animals and vegetation. Our last stop was at the museum. The museum was organized to go through Washington’s life from the time he was born to his death. It featured many wax depictions of him (pictured with Isaac above), some videos and interactive exhibits. Our exit out of the place was slightly delayed by a landing helicopter, but Dr. Spalding’s kids were very excited to see it. The group ended up getting dropped off in Old Town Alexandria. It turned out to be a great little place, with a small town feel (kind of like the Village in Claremont). We walked to the water and stumbled upon this guy. He played some Bach as well as the national anthem and God Bless America for us. Overall, it was a great trip, and probably one of the highlights of the semester.

Guest Speaker: Charles Krauthammer

As always, you can go to the Flickr page for more pictures.

On April 26, we met up at about 2pm at the office of Charles Krauthammer, a columnist and frequent commentator on Fox News. He has his own personal office, not far from the CMC offices. We met with him for about an hour and he talked to us about his thoughts on the Obama administration. He criticized how they have handled the relationship with the British and with Israel. He explained how he thought Israel was our strongest ally in the Middle East and that a vast majority of Americans supported a strong relationship with Israel. He also explained that he thought the Obama administration was taking our relationship with England too casually. He said that in the early months of the administration, an Obama official explained that there was “no special relationship” between the two countries. Krauthammer called this ridiculous and said that there was indeed a special relationship between the two countries, and that we needed to be more aware of our standing in the world. Krauthammer then took questions from us (including Dr. Spalding). After we were done, we all went back to work until class again that night.

The Move Out

With coming to D.C. for only four months, you do not realize how much stuff you can accumulate. Finals are over, the internship is over, and now it is time to move out! Cleaning out a dorm room seems a lot easier now that I realize how much harder it is to clean a whole house!

We are now officially Washington Program Alums, and are moving on to new internships and adventures in D.C., around the country, and around the world. Here is a quick snapshot for some of us on the program:

Our summer plans, enhanced by our D.C. experiences and networking contacts:

Carlos Rivas to the Chicago Public Schools Office of College and Career Preparation

Michael Kotler to the office of Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Jenny Hou continues with a position at the Federal Communications Commission

Mike Whatley continues working for the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee

Ben Forster moves on to NATO in Belgium

The Washington Program has been a great experience, and we've made lifelong friends. I want to thank Professors Spalding, Haskell and Wolfson on behalf of the new program alumni for showing us a great semester in D.C. I also want to thank Kristen Mallory and the rest of the Off-Campus Study staff for their remote assistance as we continued throughout the semester.

Guest Speaker: John Judis

On April 2, we all took a break from work to go to the CMC office to hear from John Judis, the editor of The New Republic. Dr. Spalding bought everyone lunch (some Italian food). We went around the room to tell him where we were interning, and then he started to discuss contemporary politics. He talked about how he thought the 2010 and 2012 elections would play out, the role of the Tea Party as well as the role of Sarah Palin. We were able to ask him questions about anything political that may have interested us at the time. He was very accommodating and was happy to answer all of our questions. After that we all went back work until our 6:30 class with Professor Haskell.

White House Garden Tour

The White House was open today for a special garden and grounds tour. Angela, Meredith and I spent the afternoon on the White House grounds learning about the rich history of the South Lawn, Children's Garden, Rose Garden, and the Jaqueline Kennedy Garden (neither appeared to have roses in them.)

The White House Garden Tours have been a tradition since 1972 when Pat Nixon first opened the White House gardens to the public. Along with the excitement of being in at the President's house, the seat of the executive branch of our government, we experienced what the First Family experiences on their grounds. As a tourist looking onto the grounds from outside the gates, the majesty of looking at the people's house includes the glimmer of serene green lawns across to the pearly white walls, but you never expect the personal family experience. The South Lawn is the Obama family back yard, as it has been for first families since (back when President John Adams and his wife Abigail moved-in in 1800.) The South Lawn has a family feel, and somehow is free of the noise of the busy DC streets. The Children's Garden offers a serene escape with a pond and bronze hand and feet prints of the grandchildren of presidents (mostly Bush I and II), the kitchen garden provides organic vegetables for the first family, and the rushing fountain to the front provides the iconic back drop representing the White House, and the presidency.

Today's tour included the history of the many trees on the grounds. Each fist family has contributed a tree to the grounds, along with many renovations and style. The Obama's had a playground installed, and we found many basketball hoops for our president's favorite pastime.

The grounds are opened up twice a year for this garden tour, both offering unique views of the White House grounds. The event is open to the public (though you have to arrive early to receive a ticket). The event occurs yearly in April and October. If you work at a government agency or for a member of Congress, it is likely that they will receive tickets that might go to you!

Nuclear Summit

As always you can go to the group's flickr site to see more pictures.

Last week, 47 heads of states met two blocks from our apartment for two days as President Obama hosted the first Nuclear Security Summit. You could say that during those two days our apartment was on the safest block in the country in terms of muggers, but it was the most dangerous in terms of a terrorist threat. Our block was blocked off to vehicular traffic but was open to pedestrian traffic. On our corner was a military humvee along with police and concrete barriers.
The first morning was actually easier to get to work, the roads were closed to cars, but it was open to pedestrians, so essentially I didn't have to wait for any cars or traffic signals on my way to work. The walk back was a much different story. I tried to walk up the side of the street I had come up and usually walk up, but wasn't able to. After about two blocks the police had blocked it off, and there were protesters standing on the corner, making it a little difficult to cross. Right as I was about to, they stopped all traffic in all directions. Two minutes later, what appeared to be the South African motorcade came through the intersection. After that, we were cleared to cross.

Cherry Blossoms

As always, you can go to the group's flickr page for more photos.

The Congressional recess happened to coincide with the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It is centered around the Tidal Basin which is just off of the mall, near the Washington Monument and where the Jefferson Memorial is located. I went to the Tidal Basin during the first week of the recess to try and see the cherry blossoms. I walked there from the Capitol, but it was a very long, hot walk and when I got there it was packed, I was barely able to walk down the sidewalk because there were so many people there. I decided to leave pretty quick.
Because of the recess, I was given off Wednesday because we tend to have more desks than interns and with me the only full time day they decided to have me take the day off. With a lot of time, I took the Metro to the Smithsonian stop and made the short walk over to the Tidal Basin. Most of the cherry blossoms were past their prime. There wasn't as much pink as I had hoped for. There were still some trees that were in their prime, but unfortunately not as many as I had hoped.


As you can see from the pictures, I was able to get some good shots with the cherry blossoms, including the Tidal Basin which was filled with paddle boats. Although there were still all the stands, signs, posters, gift shops and porta pottys were still there, it simple wasn't the same as if all the trees had been in their prime. Either way, it was still a relaxing afternoon with some beautiful views.

Recess Part 2

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more pictures.

This past week was the second and final week of the Spring Congressional Recess. It was another week of a more laid back Capitol Hill. Not nearly as many lobbyists and interest groups visiting the office and many more constituents and tourists in town to see the second week of the cherry blossoms. With not as much to do in the office, one of the staffers took the other intern and myself around for a tour of the Capitol. I have walked around quite a bit so I've seen quite a lot, but I still hadn't had been able to walk to the Floor. You are required to go to the floor with a full-time staffer who has to be carrying a special card given to each congressional office. We go in through the Speaker's lobby. Even though the Capitol is decorated with tons of old statues, mirrors, columns, and marble floors, I was very impressed with how well decorated the Speaker's lobby was. It had what looked to be about 8 chandeliers, high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows and is guarded by Capitol police. We had to give up all our electronics and photography is prohibited on the floor (although when I was in the gallery for the healthcare vote, there were several Democratic members taking pictures). The floor looks pretty large on TV, but when you're standing in the middle of it, it actually looks very small. It feels like it wouldn't even hold all the members. For the State of the Union they have to bring in extra seats to put in the aisles. We hung out for about 10 minutes, sat in the chairs in the first row, but unfortunately, we were not allowed to go onto the Speaker's Podium where the President speaks from during the State of the Union.


After we left the Floor, the staffer took us through a couple of tunnels and a set of stairs that led out to best view I've seen so far in Washington. It was a view of the mall directly below where the President is sworn in. It was a gorgeous spring day, and another reason why Recess is so enjoyable.

The Commute

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more details.

Commuting every morning is one of the very different aspects from life at CMC. While I was able to wake up at 10:50 for an 11 o'clock class on campus, everyday here in DC I have to wake up at about 7:15. I'm supposed to be at work everyday at 9 (although with Congress in recess these past two weeks, I don't have to be in until 10) and that means I have to wake up much earlier to shower, put on a suit, and ride the metro to work.


Overall, from when I leave my apartment door until I step into Congresswoman Schakowsky's office, it takes approximately a half hour. I take about a 7 or 8 minute walk to the Metro Center Station. There I get on either the orange or blue line to ride to Capitol South. You can see the DC Metro map here. One of the key things to keep in mind is that on all the escalators at the station is that you should stand on the right and walk on the left. With so many tourists here lately for the cherry blossoms, this has been a little bit of an issue and has actually resulted in some heckling of the tourists who stand two wide on the Metro escalators, so keep this in mind when you're going to work. You can also check how much your commute is on the Metro website. There is also a Metrorail card that you can pick up. This means that if you lose your card, you can get a new card with your old balance on it. So if there were $50 on your card, and you then lose it, you can get a new card with $50 already on it. It also allows you to go quickly through the turnstile, you can simply scan your card instead of waiting for the paper card to slowly feed through the machine. It also makes you look less like a tourist.

Opening Day

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more pictures.

Today, Ben H., Jake and I went to Nationals Park for Opening day. The Nationals were playing the Philadelphia Phillies. We heard a couple of days ago that the Nationals were going to be releasing 400 five dollar tickets on the day of the game. In addition, President Obama would be throwing out the first pitch. The tickets were first come, first served. Although five of us got cleared to leave work on Friday, it eventually turned out only three of us could make it. I got there at about 7:15 to wait in line. At the time there were only about 70 people ahead of me, but the line quickly got very long. At 10:35, they opened the gates to let us in. During batting practice you're allowed to go to any section in the park, so we took in BP from the bleachers. It was a beautiful day with blue skies and green grass. One of the players even threw Jake a ball during batting practice.
After that, we tried to get the best view to see the President throw out the first pitch. As you can see from the picture below, we didn't get all that close, but it was still much better than the view we would have had from our seats.
Although the game was a blow out (Phillies won 11-1) it was still a great experience. It was my first time going to Opening Day, and I loved it. After the game we had to go straight to class, but not before we all got heckled by a couple of Phillies fans for being Dodger/Cubs fans.

Justice Sotomayor

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more pictures.

A while back, I think it was my second or third week on the job, I got the chance to meet and get my picture taken with Justice Sotomayor. She was on the Hill to meet with some members.

The overall day was pretty exciting. After doing the normal intern duties during the morning, I was told that there was a press conference that Congresswoman Schakowsky was going to speak at on the Senate side and that I should head over. It turned out to include Senators Kerry and Boxer in addition to some other Representatives. It was a press conference to re-introduce the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). If you're bored, see if you can spot me in this video (Hint: It's right at the end on the right side of the screen). After that, the communications director, who had come to the press conference asked me if I wanted to go try and catch a glimpse of Sotomayor. I wasn't sure exactly what he was talking about, but I figured my lunch could wait for a Supreme Court Justice. It turned out we were going to the Speaker's office where about 12-14 members were meeting the Justice. The Justice actually took me by surprise as she walked right past me off the elevator. Unfortunately, they were not letting staff into the meeting. So myself, the communications director and about 4 other staffers had to wait out in the hallway. After about 2o minutes, it turned out that the House was voting on PAYGO and the vote was getting a little close so all the members had to go vote. As they were filing out one of the members said that we were free to go in. In one of those things where you didn't have to tell me twice, I gladly went in.


Once we were in, it was only 4 other staffers, the communications director, the Justice, her security detail and myself. We weren't really sure what to do, and were just standing around for a little while. Justice Sotomayor was just sitting at the table, waiting for all the members to come back. I asked the communications director if it would be okay to go ask her for a picture. He liked the idea and started pushing me pretty hard, even after I started having second thoughts. I went to go ask, and a member from her security detail told me to wait until the end of the meeting. The communications director knew that this meant I probably wouldn't get a picture. So he told me to try again, so this time I just walked around the other end of the table and with nobody from her security detail on that side of the table, I was able to ask her for a picture.

I had a little talk with her, as she told me about how great an opportunity it was to be able to intern on the hill, and how she hopes her niece will one day get the opportunity.

After that we headed back to the office and the Congresswoman had to go to the floor for some more votes.

Recess

This past week and next week has been "District Work Period" for Congress. This is also known as a "Congressional Recess." To me, it kind of seems like Spring Break on the Hill. The House Office Buildings are quiet, there are no hearings and much fewer lobbyists making the rounds. The cherry blossoms are also in full bloom which has brought in a lot more tourists on both the metro and at the Capitol Visitors Center.

There has been a lot less to do in the office this past week, a couple of times they even sent me home early. Most of the staffers use this opportunity to take some of their vacation days. After the push for healthcare, which included a weekend of being in the office, this has been a welcome break.

Most of the members are back home. Congresswoman Schakowsky came in for the bill signing on Tuesday, but has been back home ever since. The only other member I have seen so far is Henry Waxman. He was in the Rayburn cafeteria taking some pictures with one of the high school groups that is in town this week.

Next week should be a little more hectic though Speaker Pelosi named Rep. Schakowsky to the President's debt commission which will be meeting soon.

Here's a good article by Politico on the recess.

The Vote

Sorry no pictures for this one.

This past Sunday, the House voted to pass the Senate's version of the healthcare bill, which Obama signed into law yesterday (They also passed a reconciliation bill to be sent to the Senate, which has, after some rewording, been sent to the President for his signature). Whether you supported healthcare or not, Sunday was clearly an historic day. The Hill was flooded with protesters. Apparently that weekend, the House Office Buildings were even filled with protesters as some of you may have seen from the news coverage.

On Sunday, I had hoped to go to Capitol Hill to see the vote, but with a research paper due on Tuesday and lots of reading due Monday, I decided to not go and head into the CMC office to get to work. I was joined there by Bukola, Angela and Jake. We were following the House debate on C-Span on the office TV as we worked on our papers. We ordered pizza and picked up snacks for a late night.

At about 8pm, I got a voicemail from my supervisor at work asking if I wanted to come in to watch the vote. At that point I was regretting my decision to not go(along with some badgering from Angela saying I should go), so I saw this as the perfect opportunity to correct that initial decision.

I hurried back home to get my staff ID and then grabbed a cab to the Capitol. When I arrived, there were still a lot of protesters. They were trying to get as close to the House chamber as possible. I was lucky, because with my staff ID, I got to go to the staff gallery, while people with gallery passes had to instead go wait in a longer line.

The staff line was still very long and I was fortunate enough to find one of the other staffers from my office who was also waiting. It turns out that they were sort of cycling staffers through the gallery, allowing groups to wait there for 10-15 minutes and then having them get in the back of the line. I first got in to the staff gallery with about 5 minutes left in debate for both sides. The gallery was packed and the floor was packed as well. As the people in my office said the next day, it seemed like any staffer with floor privileges was there that night. After about 10 minutes they cycled us out of the gallery. We got back into line, and we actually made the cut for being allowed to get back into line by about 10 people.

It turns out we missed the Pelosi speech and the fiery "Hell no" speech from Boehner. We got back in right as they were starting the first vote. It turned out I got to sit about 7 or 8 seats from Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. The gallery was also very rowdy, with the person next to me yelling out when the Speaker Pro-tem asked for the "yays and nays."

One of the more controversial moments was when the GOP side brought up a motion to recommit that included the Stupak amendment. Steny Hoyer was clearly caught by surprise and had aides running around frantically trying to understand what was in the motion. I was also in the gallery for the controversial "baby killer" comment during Rep. Stupak's speech.

After the Speaker announced the final tally and after sticking around to watch a couple more extensions (apparently I was the last staff member left in the gallery), I exited the Capitol to head back to the CMC office. It turned out I was taking the same exit as many of the members and got to sort of "walk the ropeline" past a group of cheering supporters. By coincidence, I also ran into Rep. Schakowsky, my boss, and got to talk to her for a little bit before heading back to the office.

After that, it was a cab ride back to 1101 17th Street for a late night working on my CMC homework.

The Office

As always you can go to the group's flickr page for more photos.

On the Washington Program you will be spending lots of time at the program office. I will give you a little run through of what the office consists of. The office is located at 1101 L Street NW and as you can see from the above picture we are in suite 604.

Everybody is given a key to the office, and every housing group is given a fob, which you swipe in with to get 24/7 access to the building. You will need the fob to access the building and elevators after 6pm and on weekends. As Meredith and I found out, you can't cheat the elevators by taking the stairs up as those require a key which we don't have access to. Just a word of advice, if you find yourself locked in the stairwell, just bang on the door until someone comes and opens it.
As you know the program is open to students from all of the colleges, and it is clearly displayed as soon as you walk in on the left wall. Under the different college's signs are some couches and chairs.

As you walk in, immediately in front of you is the student lounge with two computers and a table to work at. You can see it in the first picture as well. This is a great place to get work done both before and after class. The computers are technically part of the CMC network and are serviced by the CMC IT crew, but unfortunately you can't use your own sign in or connect to the U Drive directly, but you can still connect to the U Drive via the internet as you can from any off campus computer. These computers also print to the office's copier/printer/scanner/faxer which I have more pictures of further down.


Right outside the student lounge and Dr. Spalding's office are some more couches and chairs and of course the CMC campus would not be complete without President Gann's photo on the wall.


If you keep walking past the couches and chairs and Dr. Spalding's office you will enter the main room where you will have classes. There are some extra tables in the back so when there are bigger groups, the rectangle of tables can be made larger. In addition to having class here, this is a great place to do work on the weekends and after work. I actually prefer it to the office. The only downside is that there is only one reacheable outlet to plug in your laptop from this set up of tables. The chairs are a tad bit squeaky, but are very comfortable and lean pretty far back.

On the other side of the classroom are the above couch/chairs. You might not be able to tell from the picture but those leather chairs are recliners and are quite comfortable. In this area is also a photo album with the pictures from past groups as well as a bookshelf full of magazines and other literature, mostly on international relations.


The final room houses the copier/printer/scanner/faxer, which has had some trouble this semester with paper jams, but now seems to be all better. If you turn left when you enter the room, you will see the fridge, sink, and water cooler as you an see below. It is a great place to store drinks and food for late nights working on papers or applications.



The CMC facilities in DC really are great. They are welcome place for class, schoolwork or even a nap to re-energize you.

P.S. Sorry I don't have a picture of the outside of the building, I will try to get one up soon.