Sunday, July 26, 2020
By:
Hello, all.
Kind of surreal how quickly the summer has flown by. I know it’s still July, but you know what I mean. Since I start classes August 3, my official work duties with Congressman Foster’s office will conclude at the end of this week. Then, it’s off to Nashville and time for school! My stress level is considerably improved since last week though. Probably because I signed a lease finally, woo! But I also have a pretty good sense of my last few work projects, and the clarity gives me a sense of comfort.
This week, I’ll have six bills to review and memo, hopefully no surprises there, and I’ll have my final presentation to put together for SPS. I wrote my abstract today and I have a feeling you’re supposed to do the project before you write your abstract…just my hunch there…either way, I think the presentation will turn out fine as will the memos. Here’s my makeshift abstract if you were interested.
As a student of interdisciplinary physics, I prided myself on being able to work across disciplines when a task required it or would benefit from that approach. However, the challenges the nation faces today and that our Congress must address require a level of interdisciplinarity and collaboration that even I would not have fully appreciated until recently. The national mood largely sets that diverse, overlapping agenda, as it should in a republic, but how did the agenda we saw being shared in media and on the streets translate to my, albeit unrepresentative sample, of work in a Congressional office? This presentation will seek to answer those questions about the national mood, my work, and other day-to-day duties and experiences as a Congressional intern on virtual Capitol Hill.
The inspiration was those graphics you always see come out of Congressional offices at the end of a term that list a bunch of office stats. # constituents served. # dollars returned to the Treasury. # bills sponsored. # bills cosponsored. # amendments presented. And so on and so forth. So, I want to talk about those stats of mine (love a good humble brag), but I also want to get into what some of the bills were and how they pertain to the issues people actually care about. That’s the research part of my presentation too then I guess, did the work I did reviewing dozens of bills actually touch on issues that people cared about?
That’s the part I don’t quite have an answer to yet. I want to say yes, I mean I certainly worked through my fair share of COVID-19 related bills, but maybe that’s just my own confirmation bias kicking in. I certainly hope my work was relevant to the people. I certainly felt relevant to me. At the end of the day though, in Congress, I don’t work for me, I work for all of you.
Stay well,
Kyle Blasinsky