course work

Been a while since I've posted in this blog. We'll see if it still works.

I've been in Washington DC this week, taking part in a course entitled the Congressional Briefing Conference, given for my line office within my agency. Not too related to my daily work but may/should come in handy in the not so distant future. It's a crash course on the legislative process, including how appropriations come to pass. The course is tailored for government employees, and so is more focused on what kinds of information various Executive Branch agencies have to provide for the budget planning process, how budget and appropriations actions move forward, and the challenges both the Legislature and the agencies face in this yearly exercise.

What's been most interesting is the very clear descriptions and frank discussions on how the system is supposed to work, or more aptly, how it's not supposed to work, at least smoothly. There's been quite a bit of discussion about this. The view from the outside is that Congress is ineffectual, that the party in power tries to run roughshod over the minority party, or that the minority party is obstructionist. While that may be true at times, what is equally true is that the way Congress works is how it was designed to work. Passing new laws is supposed to be hard. The bicameral structure of Congress makes it hard, and smooths out extreme changes that might happen if a minority party for a long period of time suddenly finds itself in the majority after an election. The Senate is the most "deliberative", since it acts by unanimous consent and that any Senator can stop or slow almost any action.

Various presentations have been made by instructors, public policy experts, reporters, congressional wonks, House of Representative staffers, House appropriations staffers, former Senate staffers and so on. It helps that the course is actually given in one of the House office buildings, and part of the course involves sitting in on congressional hearings, viewing the actions of the House and Senate from the galleries, and really, by just being here in the Capitol.

So far, three days into it, with one to go. I'm also enjoying the opportunities to run around here as well....down the National Mall past all of the Smithsonian Museums, the monuments, the Capitol and the White House. There's just something about being here that makes it seem special. At least to visit....not so sure I'd want to make it permanent.