A Day in Congress

Okay... One word... DAYUUUUUUUUUM! As high school president I would try not to complain about my schedule (which is very hard) because of all the things I had to do. Getting to school at 6:30 a.m. and not leaving until about 6 p.m. and head home for homework. But honestly.... wow! I guess I had seen this else where before that made me say no to becoming a politician. Even though their day usually starts at 9 or 10 a.m. instead of 6:30 they have a constant schedule where they have to hear decide and move on. Talk about hectic.

I am debating though if this is how I want laws and regulations to take effect in our government. I mean, do all of our congressmen/women read what they are voted for and have time to research what they are changing in everyone life? I though that there was one thing presented to congress a day so they can debate and research it for at least a few day then return with a decision. I can tell I was ridiculously wrong. There were a few things that stood out while I was looking through the schedule. One of them was national defense authorization budget request for the military services’ operation and maintenance funding. I don't know much about this but doesnt the military already get most of the money that's collected from taxes? I just feel that there are other things that could use funding. The education conferences/meetings definitely got my attention! I love anything that has to do with that and if you want a debate on how schools deserve the majority of the money that is funded in ANY program, I am definitely not the one to mess with. This was all for the House.

When it comes to the Senate, I noticed two things. One they don't have a -. In other words there is no time that states what time something is done or the "open" note. Then again they have something starting ever thirty minutes! With many overlaps! I know that happened in the House of Reps as well but at least you have 435 people to split up within all those sessions. However, the Senate only has 100 or 99 at the moment. How are all of these meetings suppose to get the attention the deserve? Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions also came to my attention. First off, all those small words are way big to all be put under one big committee/meeting. I think that all of these should be split up. This meeting was: "Business meeting to continue consideration of S.982, to protect the public health by providing the Food and Drug Administration with certain authority to regulate tobacco products." Why is this not already happening if tobacco is the number 1 leading cause of death in the United States. I was actually hoping this meeting would deal with something different like regulating food in public schools to help the obesity rate go down in the United States knowing that we are the fattest country. Or anything that isn't common sense like regulating tobacco sales.

All in all, I think that all of my classmates and I realized that congress is a very hectic place where any elephant could get lost in. I do however hope that certain things would change such as prioritizing and giving longer time for important laws.