Up on The Hill

So I arrived up here in Washington D.C. on Sunday, and am completing a congressional legislative rotation. I am working in the office of Bob Etheridge (D-NC) as an intern with all the responsibilities that go with it. So far, most of what I've done has been stuffing envelopes and answering phone calls, but if I can spend about 50% of the time doing real work I figure the experience will be worth it.

Yesterday I went to my first Congressional Hearing, and heard this discussion on upcoming Veterans Affairs mental health legislation. At the hearing, one of the witnesses who is a former Marine said the best way to evaluate the levels of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is to make pre-and-post-deployment screenings mandatory. He said that currently, the military does the same mandatory pre-and-post screenings for dental care and said, "I don't have the best grill, but it gets the job done". Watching a former Marine refer to his "grill" before members of Congress was absolutely fantastic.

Afterwards, I went back to the office and spent about two hours doing research on the proposed legislation and writing a summary memo for the Legislative Director of Healthcare for the Congressman. It might be read.

After work, the other pharmacy student here from Wingate and myself met one of our professors who is up here on a lobbying expedition for Pharmacy Managed Care for a drink and then headed off to a Clean Energy reception. "Reception" is code for "open bar and buffet".

Today I'll be attending another Veterans Affairs hearing, to take notes and write memos.

Next week, I'll go to training to learn how to give Capitol tours to VIPs, which will be neat because I'll get to learn the history of the place. I've been taking a few pictures here and there, but because there is no internet access at the house I'm staying at it might be awhile before I get them up.

Miss you all!