Friday, June 5, 2015
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The second weekend afforded me time to get to better know the area around Woodley Park. Just down the road from our apartment is a set of streets centered around Massachusetts Ave. that contain dozens of foreign embassies. It makes for a great walk to pass by the Embassy of South Africa, with a large statue of Nelson Mandela posed in the front, and then look across the street to find the embassies of both Italy and Brazil right next to each other. Along with great sights, Woodley Park and nearby Adams Morgan have many great restaurants with menus ranging from bafflingly large pieces of pizza to authentic Korean ramen.
Delicious Korean ramen.
Thursday ended up being a lesson in discerning the two different types of hearings on the Hill - informational and political. This one fell under the latter. Whereas some hearings allow for discovery of information and debate of ideas, others consist of separate ends of the political spectrum talking past each other on a divisive topic for a few hours. Although the hearing didn’t end up providing many new perspectives to the committee members, it was eye opening to see the process behind the scenes. My job during the hearing took the form of taking pictures for the committee, retrieving requested supplies and items for the Members of Congress, and generally watching over the hearing to make sure things were going smoothly. It is truly amazing to see how much work is completed by staff members behind the scenes, before the Congressmen and Congresswomen even show up for the day.
Witnesses for the hearing on EPA regulations.
Drew Roberts