Pork anyone?

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time. ~ U.S. Constitution Article 1, Section 9


That’s where we come in. People submit requests, we prioritize, fill out forms, and submit them to the Appropriations Committee. It's a super long process, requiring tons of paperwork and long hours that really don't amount to much. The reason being, Congress hasn't approved a budget in a while. This is where you might spit out your drink all over the computer screen and say "WTF?!!!" I couldn't tell you when the last budget was approved, but I can tell you that we're running on a continuing resolution. This means that all agencies and programs are being funded at the level the last appropriations bill was approved. Word on the street is that FY 2009 will probably be another CR. That's just the word, but things can change...

We didn't put in as many long days as I had expected. I think we paced ourselves pretty well and had all hands on deck to split the load. It's quite the interesting process, and I can honestly say that it can be a very frustrating process. As staff members, we are at the mercy of the member, the various approps subcommittees, and the various organizations submitting requests.

We did a last minute request on Tuesday, the day before they were due, for the Financial Services subcommittee. We sought out the project because we rarely get any submissions for Financial Services. In fact, aside from this one, there were no other FS requests. We waited around the office for awhile because of technical difficulties. It was more like operational difficulties, but we finally got the request and it was submitted on Tuesday evening, signifying our successful attempt of submitting approps on time, and with a day to spare.

So where do we go from here? Not sure what happens when the Approps committee gets their hot little hands on our requests, but they'll probably mull over the mountains of paper for several months. Just think, we were a little overwhelmed by the stack of requests our office received. The Approps Committee has to deal with that times 435. That's a lot of requests. A LOT!!! Depending on if we get a budget or another CR determines the outcome for a lot of these programs. But we won't know until fall 08. Chalk this up to a very long and very daunting process. Thankfully, where approps are concerned, my work here is done.

P.S. Anyone, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any of the budgeting process. The above summation is a recollection from a West Wing episode. Sad, but true.

It's Recess!!!

Two weeks of recess starting today! Heck yes!! Friday and Monday off. Shorter hours and casual jean days. I love my job!

I tell people we're on recess for the next two weeks and they ask, "so, what, are you in grade-school? Do you get to go out and play?" Why, yes we do! Aside from appropriations, some of the more pressing issues on our agenda were locking down details for the office trip to Atlantic City and filling out the NCAA Final Four Bracket.

Two of our guys are leaving Wednesday for a week stint in Germany. Our scheduler is at home in Minnesota for a week for her birthday. I think someone else is leaving at some point, so there's like four of us holding down the fort. And I'm the only girl. Oh the things I hear in this office.... And I'm in the middle of a paper war zone back here. Good times for sure!

So I'm hoping with this recess I'll have time to get caught up on the blog, get caught up on some sleep, get a little organized with all this new health care business I've got going on, and you know, just chill.

This is such a great office to be apart of during recess and really any other time as well. We're all going to Atlantic City in April (minus the Congressman obviously). What office do you know that goes to Atlantic City to hang out together? Our office. And every day at 1pm, everything stops for Family Fued. It's our lunch ritual.

Recess and this office - I love it!!!

Stepping Up

The saga continued at work. Without divulging too many details, I’m the new Health Care Legislative Assistant in the office. I’m so thrilled! And this is kind of a big deal! It will definitely help in the job searching department when the time comes in ’09. Before, I was just a floater in the office doing whatever needed to be done. Now I have my own issue and I’ll have my own meetings to sit on, my own memos to write, my own legislation to suggest. I have a real purpose in this office!!!

Appropriations are also keeping us busy in the office. They need to be finished before the March recess in two weeks. Our two approps gurus are off to Germany for a week, and they have to be finished before they take off. Otherwise, their trip is cancelled (not really, but our LD can be very dramatic sometimes). I’m not sure what the whole process entails, but I’ll give an update once approps are due if there is anything interesting to report back on.

The boss gave us a pep talk later in the morning. We now refer to it as the “Come to Jesus” talk. And one of our legislative assistants is now lovingly known as the golden goose, a name given by the boss. The talk was much needed and helped to lay things on the table and clear the air.

After work, the schmooze training continued. Torrey works for BNSF and they were a large contributor to an organization that brings awareness to train suicides. I couldn’t turn this event down. Obviously free food is always a luring feature of the reception, but this event was featuring Academy Award winning actress Marcia Gay Harden from Welcome to Mooseport and Pollock. She recently starred in a film called Rails and Ties that addressed the issue about train suicides.

I really enjoyed this event. Torrey, not so much, because they didn’t serve free alcohol. But I got to meet a couple of his colleagues who were pretty interesting. One works in their press office, but she’s soon moving to Israel because her husband works for the World Bank. I had a great conversation with her about the PR field and how she broke into the biz. She actually doesn’t have her masters, which I thought was interesting, but she said that you don’t really need it for PR. Especially if you have Hill experience, agencies and other organizations really look at that.

There was this other lady who worked for Union Pacific who was a pistol! I’m glad we ran into her, because I was having a hard time going up to meet MG Harden. What was I supposed to say to her? “I loved you in Welcome to Mooseport. I have no idea why you’re here but thanks for being involved.” Lame! So the pistol lady went up to Marcia (we’re best friends now) and introduced herself and then introduced us. I would like to say that I was very surprised at how well spoken and intelligent Marcia comes off, but that’s nothing new. She has always come across that way in the roles she plays and the way she carries herself in the limelight. She’s a very articulate person, and also very beautiful. She was sporting a pretty rockin short do.

Torrey and I had a great conversation with Marcia. We talked about trains and how suicides by trains are underreported because they’re generally classified as an accident. I mentioned that Torrey and I went to school in a town where the train crossed a very busy and heavily pedestrian trafficked area. I know someone died on the tracks while I was at school, but I don’t know if it was on purpose, or if it was a drunk kid on his way home and just didn’t make it across.

Anyways, we had a lovely conversation with Marcia. Asked her about Mooseport, to which she commented that she preferred Gene Hackman to Ray Romano because Hackman is more of a man’s man. We wished her well in the upcoming films she has and thanked her for being apart of the cause. Then we took off and got a cocktail.

Director and cast from Rails and Ties.

Eastwood, Bacon, Harden, and a young John Doe.