Thursday, July 2, 2015
By:
Last weekend, a group of good friends from UNC drove up to visit. It was great to spend some time with friends from home and act as tour guide while I showed them all of my favorite parts of DC. We ate at great restaurants, visited cool exhibits, and spent time just exploring. Fitting so much into one weekend made it quite long, but very fun and worthwhile. Seeing some of my friends made me excited for the 4th of July when more of my friends will come to visit!
This was quite an interesting week to be in DC. For the committee, it was a rather normal, albeit busy, week. We had several hearings throughout the week. I handled a hearing on the EPA's Clean Power Plan, which was welcomed as I have gathered some good experience on energy and the environment so far this summer. This hearing turned out to be extremely political and the most strange I've encountered this summer. There was yelling; there were apologies; there was bonding over California surfing spots. This hearing had a little bit for everybody. Congressmen from both sides of the aisles lost their tempers, but the Chairman reminded everyone that witnesses are guests, so both gave sincere apologies in the next round of questioning. Overall, this hearing was very, very strange and supremely entertaining. For the rest of the week, I started to dive into some budget work, looking at various research accounts for the FAA. As it turns out, the federal government’s budget is extremely complicated! Who would’ve thought?
The biggest news of this week, by far, were all of the Supreme Court decisions - namely cases on ACA subsidies and gay marriage. The Hill was buzzing with excitement as that all went on, especially the later. That Friday when gay marriage was legalized nation-wide, I was busy taking notes on an Armed Services hearing while Joe, my boss, snuck off to the Supreme Court to celebrate! Once I was finished taking notes, I joined in the festivities and excited atmosphere of the office!
Drew Roberts