Happy on the Hill

Today, the American Politics seminar mostly focused on Hill activities and how polarized Congress in particular has become.

In the morning, John Lawrence came to the W&M Washington office to come and describe what he thinks the big picture of congressional dysfunction looks like. John Lawrence is the former chief of staff to Nancy Pelosi and a visiting professor for Cal-Berkeley. His opinion was very fascinating because of his highly political strategy role.

In the afternoon, we took a field trip on the Metro down to Capitol Hill to visit Williamsburg representative Rob Wittman (R-VA) and get his take from a very insider perspective. He believes that polarization now is no worse than it has been historically, and that significant legislation can still get passed. After talking with him and his chief of staff, we met with a group of four alumni who work in various offices throughout Congress. They gave us their insights into their career path and how they began in order to get where they are now.

The first week in Washington is winding down…

Until tomorrow,

Reed Timoner, American Politics, ’19