Be sure to read Parts 1, 2 and 3 if you haven’t yet!
From continued debt ceiling discussions, to committee hearings, and even to a baseball game, my penultimate summer blog post covers all the bases (pardon the pun) in arguably the most eventful two weeks of the internship.
In case you had not been following the news of late, the United States raised its debt ceiling to avoid default, according the U.S. Treasury Department. This debate precipitated demands for both compromise with Democrats and “holding the line” against proposals such as the “Gang of Six” debt reduction plan and the Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) alternative. Two weeks later and we have not made much progress aside from a couple of more bruised egos in the unforgiving political lexicon. Democracy did not do much, but luckily for you, I certainly did!
Is Gold Money?
I showed up about an hour early, but it paid off: I got myself a seat three rows behind Federal Reserve Board Governor Ben Bernanke at a full committee hearing of the House Financial Services Committee. Bernanke was delivering his semi-annual monetary policy report – either way, I was stoked to witness live what has become somewhat of a YouTube tradition: Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) grilling the acting head of the Fed.
A crowd of about twenty members of the press flocked around the witness table, anxiously awaiting a snapshot of Bernanke to send over to their employers. Bernanke entered from the upper right-hand corner of the committee room and the cameras flashed and fluttered for about five minutes straight, long after Bernanke was settled in his seat. Just as the staccato bursts of the cameras subsided for a bit, they began another volley, this time aimed at Rep. Paul at his committee seat. Aside from being a presidential challenger and perpetual critic of the Federal Reserve’s accommodating monetary policy, this time Rep. Paul was the center of attention because he had announced his intention to not seek re-election to the House of Representatives.
Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Alab.) and Ranking Member Barney Frank (D-Mass.) sparred with each other over entitlement spending in their opening statements – quite indicative of the times in Washington – but in a rare show of respect and bi-partisanship, both Bachus and Frank acknowledged the service of Rep. Paul in the House and House Financial Services Committee. Bachus even cracked a joke that the Federal Reserve would miss Rep. Paul and his trademarked remarks over the years, to which Bernanke uncharacteristically smirked.
Rep. Paul created what I think is sure to become an instant YouTube classic by questioning Bernanke as to whether he thought gold was money. Bernanke’s pauses seemed brief on video, but in committee, felt like an eternity. As I looked around the audience, I saw some faces contort and others smile.
Though tough to acknowledge the end of Rep. Paul’s era in the House, I was encouraged toward the latter stages of the hearing, when fellow GOP members invoked the spirit of Rep. Paul in their questioning. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Miss.) and Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) both expressed doubts over the Fed’s purported hold on the value of the dollar; Rep. Duffy even said he thought the Fed’s continuous printing of money was contributing to an inflationary bubble. To this Bernanke responded in a perfunctory, even peremptory manner; he did not like what he was hearing from this new generation of Republicans.
The gRand Slam
I also attended the Congressional Baseball Game, a fifty-year tradition sponsored by Roll Call and played at Nationals Park in which Congressmen from their respective parties don baseball jerseys for charity and bragging rights.
As a baseball fan and Little League manager, it was only natural that Sen. Paul would be the only Senator to play in the entire game. Since we are interns, we were entrusted with reserving several rows of seats for the staff members of both Senator Paul and Rep. Paul’s staff. Though the GOP was manhandled by the Democrats thanks in large part to the pitching efforts of former Colorado Rockies minor league pitcher-turned-Congressman Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-Lou.), the game was a blast. Senator Paul played a pretty good right field, we held up our office “gRand Slam” sign for a bit, and it was refreshing to get to know some of Rep. Paul’s staffers.
Halfway through, Sen. Paul came into the crowd to talk to his parents in the stands. I could not help but equate the moment to a father giving his son advice in the middle of a Little League game–wacky, indeed.
Intern Lecture Series
As I mentioned last time around, the Committee on Rules and Administration puts on a “We the Intern” Lecture Series, which summons political speakers to the Hill to speak to interns. I have already seen Ralph Nader and General Colin Powell thanks to them, but this time, Senator Paul was scheduled to speak and I, along with a fellow intern, were given the privilege to introduce Sen. Paul to the interns.
The room was packed with about 150 interns and I could not help but mention the Harvard Political Review to them all. I mentioned my gratitude to the Senator for giving me free rein to share my unique insights online, and then encouraged everyone to visit harvardpolitics.com to get the inside scoop. Senator Paul chimed in, “A bit of self-promotion, eh?” and the crowd collectively chuckled. I hope a few more readers flock here, as a result, lest my shameless attempt at generating traffic end in vain.
The Libertarian Colony
Several of us interns took a trip to Springfield, VA to visit the Ron Paul 2012 campaign headquarters, among other things. Springfield is home to many libertarian-leaning organizations: Campaign for Liberty, Gun Owners of America, and the National Right to Work Foundation, to name a few. As one staff member joked, I’m sure quite a few in Washington would love to fence it off from the rest of the United States and keep all the libertarians confined there to start some utopian society.
We also visited the National Right to Work Foundation, an organization at the vanguard of the movement to give employees the choice to work without joining labor unions. Yes, that means they are fighting tooth and nail against the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) in its fight against Boeing. If this colony ever needs a mayor, I will more than happily throw my name into the hat.
The opinions of this blog are solely those of Naji Filali and do not reflect the beliefs of Senator Rand Paul or his staff.
Photo Credits: C-SPAN
