9-1-2016: Legislation: A Sneak Peek

Today, I spent time familiarizing myself with a draft of a bill. This is so I will be prepared to work with the draft when I arrive in DC next week.

It was not easy actually reading the draft of the bill. After I read the bill from start to finish (and had a basic understanding of what it hopes to achieve), I reviewed the legislative summary. This is basically a summary of the goal and intent of the bill; in other words, it’s a Sparknotes version of the bill. It seems as if the legislative summary is used as an outline to then write the bill using more formal, legal language.

After reading the bill contacted the legislative assistant in the DC office responsible for working on the draft with Ms. Kaptur. We discussed the bill and its purpose, as well as talk about a potential project for me next week. At this point, it seems like my project will be researching more about this issue and drafting a short informational piece about it. I spent the rest of my morning reading about this issue using materials I received from the legislative assistant in DC.

It was very interesting that I got to see a local activity earlier this week that was related to the bill, and I know that these activities would become easier for individuals across the country if the bill were to pass. It’s also surprising to find out that this bill has been in the works for years, and that we’re hoping it will be introduced by the end of the month. I’m excited to see more of this bill and other legislative activities next week!

In my time that I didn’t have other assignments or tasks to complete for the office, I did some research regarding the Congresswoman’s legislative record and history.

I learned that one of the most important bills the Congresswoman has sponsored was the legislation that established the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. Although the bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993, the memorial wasn’t opened until 2004, and even then, the history of the monument extends even many years before the bill was passed. It all began when a constituent first reached out to Ms. Kaptur with the idea in 1987 when the two were at a fish fry. Ms. Kaptur began working on this, introducing legislation to establish the memorial in 1987, 1989, and 1991. It required a lot of work with other federal agencies to work out all logistics for the memorial, not to mention that very little federal funds were allocated to the project. This is just one example of Ms. Kaptur’s accomplishments during her seventeen terms in Congress.

I am much more comfortable now than when I started on my first day with no idea what to expect. Now, I have no fear of asking for clarifications when I’m working on a project. Although today was a slower day with fewer assignments, I’m glad that I had some time to explore resources on my own and I am even more excited about next week in DC!