Modern Day Rome
By Muiz Wani (PC Fall ‘16)
“How do you like D.C.?”
I’ve been asked this question a lot of times this semester. Family, friends, Uber drivers, and work colleagues all have wanted to know what I think about living in the nation’s capital, or as a Hill staffer put it, “Modern Day Rome.” And the answer I often give is short and sweet, and quite simply, the best way to put it: interesting.
I’ll break down my experience in two categories: my work experiences and my thoughts on the city overall.
Work Experience
This semester, I had the chance to intern with the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (Democratic staff). Over a 16-week period, I had the chance to interact with professionals who have dedicated their lives to advancing science in the political realm, industry experts who are among the most knowledgeable in the world in their field of study, and politicians and government officials who are the face of a massive and complicated machine known as the federal government.
The work itself was incredibly rewarding. Usually when one interns on “the Hill,” it is either either with an individual member of Congress, or a congressional committee. Interns that work directly with the staff of an individual member often have a thankless of job of answering countless constituent phone calls and replying to complaints through mail, e-mail, or fax. However, since committee staff don’t deal directly with constituents, I was able to have a chance to thoroughly explore the policy-side of Congress.
On a day-to-day basis, my work primarily consisted of preparation for committee hearings. We would invite experts from all across the country to testify before our committee on issues ranging from quantum technology, grid security, geoengineering, and so on. The committee staff would be responsible for drafting statements for members of Congress for the hearings, briefing members through memos and internal documents, and preparing questions to ask witnesses during the hearings. I had the chance to do all three, and my work was actually utilized by several members of Congress!
The other cool part of the job was that I was literally in the federal legislature, meaning I could go to the House or Senate floor or explore the halls of the Capitol building. I frequently bumped into members of Congress, and almost ran headfirst into Bernie Sanders on the elevator! There are a lot of events on Capitol Hill as well, so you get to meet government experts and former officials all the time (my favorite briefing was by former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers on tax policy). Since I attended other committee hearings on the Hill as well, I was able to make it on C-SPAN a few times in the backdrop of the audience!
The City
Being able to live directly in Washington, D.C. was incredibly cool, considering I hadn’t really stepped outside of Atlanta for the past 12 years prior. I lived right next to the Supreme Court, and every day on my commute to work I would walk past the structure, and it was awe-inspiring every time. The federal government is what makes D.C. what it is; the monuments, federal buildings, and museums preserve the institutions and continually remind us of what makes us great, even if we don’t really notice it when the politics start getting messy.
The power structure of D.C. is also immediately noticeable. When you hear “Drain the Swamp,” the president is talking about something that is undeniably true. Lobbyists fill the street on the way to work (the way I was able to notice them is that it’s usually an older white male without a pin on his suit — members of Congress and government officials typically have the pins), and people of influence regularly check-in into Capitol Hill clubs. Members of Congress will have dinner at regular restaurants in D.C. (I once saw a congregation of Alabama representatives enter a Chinese restaurant while I was waiting for my takeout order).
But outside of that, I was able to make lifelong friends at work and at George Washington University! It definitely helped me explore the city and have an incredibly rewarding experience. Overall, the semester was something that I had never experienced before, and has given me a taste of what working for the federal government would be like. And if you’re interested in working for the government, I highly suggest you check out the Federal Jackets Fellowship at Tech!
Originally published at gtakpsite.com on January 7, 2018.
