While I did not work on the Hill this past summer, I was able to experience politics in Washington D.C. up close and personal as a legislative intern for the Religious Action Center. My work there definitely was eye-opening and reminded me why Congress is an integral branch that shouldn't be overshadowed by the President. However, it was this class and specifically this blog, that really showed me what Congress does, on an institutional level as well as on an individual level. While I did follow political news before doing this blog, I was not following it as thoroughly as possible.
Unlike some of my classmates, I made the decision to follow a specific member of Congress, specifically my favorite Senator, Senator Gillibrand. Not only did I have to constantly analyze news coming from the Hill to keep up to date with what my classmates were posting about, so I could create informed comments on their posts, but I also had to focus on the stories that featured Gillibrand. Often times, these stories were not featured in national news coverage but rather in local New York papers and news channels. This meant that I had to spend a lot of time finding different, sometimes obscure, sources. In order to do this. I set up a Google Alert. This way, I would receive an email from Google every night with a list of every online news story that Gillibrand was mentioned in. It was from this list that I would choose my topic for the weekly post. Another way I was able to find out what Gillibrand was doing was by checking her Senate page for updates as well as following her on Twitter (@SenGillibrand, you should all follow).
When I first started working on my blog, I focused on the idea of the Two Congresses, like many other people. For me, I found this to be easy because a lot of the research I did came from local news stories. Finding stories from these sources gave me the opportunities to hear/read from the perspective of Gillibrand's constituency. These sources provided me with a closer look on what the reaction was to Gillibrand's actions and legislation she supported. For example, Gillibrand left D.C. and returned to her home state to showcase the FIT Kids Act. However, the posts that I found more interesting focused on why Gillibrand made the decisions she did.
My favorite lecture in class focused on the primary motivations that shape congressional behavior, so it was exciting when I had a chance to explore Gillibrand's motivations as seen through her stances on gun control. When Gillibrand first started her political career, she had a seat as the representative to the 20th district of New York. As a Congresswoman for that district, she represented a majority of conservatives. In order to adequately represent this constituency, Gillibrand took the position against gun control, with the NRA giving her an A rating. However, once she took Hillary Clinton's spot as Junior Senator, Gillibrand had to change her position to one that supported gun control. She had to make this change in stances because as Senator, she represented a more diverse constituency. Her politics have to reflect her constituency, and I think it is this idea that showcases one of many motivations that shape congressional behavior. Without the support of the constituency, there is no possible way to be re-elected.
Overall, I think this assignment was a great aide and complement to the class. Writing weekly blog posts helped me develop my critical thinking skills regarding Congress and just in general. While my view on how Congress works and how individual members work has changed, my view on Congress as a whole has not. Instead of just saying that Congress is a failing branch and leave it at that, I feel comfortable enough to defend that statement. I now can hold a discussion regarding the efficiency of Congress just in time for the holidays.
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