Author: Natasha Douglass

Today was Congress’ first day back since Easter recess. We had a new intern start today, which was exciting, but it was overshadowed by the fact that I got to take a bill to the floor.

Mr. Meadows was co-sponsoring a bill with Mark Sanford, so I got to take it to the Rayburn office building to get Mr. Sanford’s signature. After that, the new intern and I delivered it to the house floor through the coat room, as tradition requires.

This was another instance in which I felt I needed to be wearing a neon sign announcing “I’m seventeen and have no qualifications or degrees, and you really shouldn’t take me seriously.”

I also got to write up the notes that Mr. Meadows will take into a hearing on the famine in Sudan tomorrow. I consolidated a 12 page memo into a one-page briefing–no easy task, especially when each paragraph you omit further describes the suffering of the Sudanese people.

It was a good day.

 

Today was was quite the flurry or excitement at the Capitol complex, because Congress is returning from recess tomorrow.

Today I mostly finished up some tasks that needed to be done before the legislative work begins for the week, like cutting out these place cards and researching bills passed during Obama’s first 100 days for a comparative press release.

But, I want to focus this post on common misconceptions.

1) “Our taxes pay for your (the Congressman’s) healthcare, so you don’t have the right to take away mine!”

Congressional healthcare is quite a complicated system that takes approximately a bazillion things into account like your spouse’s income, your seniority at the Capitol, and your other sources of revenue. In the case of Congressman Meadows, he pays for his almost entirely out of pocket. So while there are many legitmate arguments for cheaper healthcare, that is certainly not one that advances the plight.

2) Congress has 120 days of vacation each year.

No. Congress has 120 days of recess each year. This is akin to diplomats being given trips home four or five times a year–if you are not spending time with the people you are representing, you most certainly cannot represent them to the best of your ability. When Congress is in recess, the Members are in their constituencies doing four or five events a day. Everyone wants to win reelection–no one is sitting at home for 120 days.

3) The Hill is intimidating

I thought that at first, too. But last week, I heard two senior staffers arguing about whose fault it was that they lost their Snapchat streak. That was the most relateable conversation I’d heard so far, and it kind of made me do a double-take and realize that all these people who write our laws and instruct the Congressmen how to vote are not so much older than me. And not so much more qualified than me.

4) That Congressmen have the power to change anything at the drop of a hat.

Please, educate yourself about what your representative can and cannot do before you call their office and waste someone’s time. If you’re from California, and concerned about Trump’s tax returns, do not waste your time calling a North Carolinian representative.

These days are going by extraordinarily quickly, and I’m quite excited to see what it’s like when they’re back in session tomorrow.

 

 

 

Today was kinda fun because I had a lot of little projects. I delivered some tickets for a White House event this weekend to a few different offices in the Rayburn and Cannon buildings, so it was fun to get to explore the tunnels some more. I also got to go out on the balcony that looks over the mall–only paid staff can access it so Eliza took me out. I also wrote a few letters on behalf of the Congressman and fielded calls from SO many reporters. Mr. Meadows gave a radio interview today that broke some silence concerning the new health care bill, so lots of news outlets were calling to figure out.

The legislative correspondent, Ben, kept telling me that he didn’t have time and to just give them his email. I hope that when I’m 24 I also don’t have time for the New York Times. Jeez.

What’s absolutely crazy to me is how the House (and the Senate, similarly) is honestly run by young people who are recent college graduates. Our legislative staff in the office here are probably all unde thirty, and the six of them get together while Congress is in session to create “vote recs”. This is them each reading the bills and then convening to decide how to advise Mr. Meadows to vote. He essentially follows what they’ve instructed him to do, especially concerning the more minor votes. How insane is that? These staffers are essentially getting to vote in Congress and are hugely influential. I find that amazing.

 

Anyway, hope you have a good weekend! You’ll be hearing more from me on Monday.

There was lots of commotion at the Capitol today because of the informal holiday that takes place on April 20th each year. Some activists for marijuana legalization were giving away free drugs to staffers over 21, and the Capitol police were not happy. Much commotion ensued and I know that at least seven arrests were made.

Anyway, a lot of cool things happened today. I got to go on the House floor, which was crazy. You can rarely access it, but today it happened to be open to staffers (perhaps to distract from the impromptu marijuana dispensary that was set up outside..?). I also stopped by the National Portrait Gallery.

News broke this morning that Exxon is applying to get a waiver to circumvent sanctions against Russia. I fielded dozens of concerned calls today about a conflict of interest that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (the former CEO of Exxon) might have when processing the waiver. I had to explain to lots of upset Americans that the application actually goes through the Department of Treasury, not the State Department. A lot of people completely thought I was making that up, so that was fun.

Anyway, tomorrow should be a pretty normal day but you never know what’ll happen. The office is getting quite busy as we’re preparing to go back in session next week.

Today was a bit of a blur because I did so much! The days go by so quickly, which I guess means I’m enjoying them.

This morning I got to go to a lecture at the Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank) about Brexit and the Scottish referendum, given by an advisor to Parliament who is in the States this week. It was super interesting–he made a point that I hadn’t thought about (well, a LOT of points I hadn’t thought about but this one was particularly interesting). He said that this is the first time in history that a nation has gotten to completely overhaul and reexamine their trade agreements without suffering the loss of a war. He saw it as a great opportunity for Britain.

I walked back to the Longworth House Office Building after the lecture and grabbed myself lunch. Then, I went to go pick up my official ID.

After that, I helped give a tour to three constituents and answered a ton of phone calls. A lot of them were calling to thank Mr. Meadows for how he had voted, but a few were people just yelling at me. Not super sure why they think yelling at me will undo a vote that’s already happened, but I guess that everyone isn’t logical.

Then, Eliza gave me a scheduling project. I went into his confidential schedule (very hush hush, very exciting), and made a spreadsheets to track which counties in his district he had visited so far this year. This way, Eliza can clearly see if he’s spending too much time in Asheville and needs to do a couple of events in Hendersonville.

By the time I’d finished that, it was time for me to get home for the day.

 

Also, two different people stopped me in the Metro station and asked me for directions. I was super excited that they thought I lived in D.C.!

 

 

 

 

 

Today begins the saga of Natasha’s Daily Postings on the Blog Because She Is Out of Town and Dr. Hurwitz Asked Her to Post Every Day. I’m currently in D.C., interning in the office of Representative Mark Meadows from North Carolina’s 11th district. Here’s a time-stamped list of what I got to do today:

8:00: Left the house to go into the city (intentionally early so that I would have ample time to get myself something fun for breakfast). I walked to the Prince George’s Plaza station and took it to Capitol South station.

8:30: Got myself breakfast at Pret A Manger

9:00: Showed up at the Longworth House Office Building. There are three office buildings for the House of Representatives, and this is where Mark Meadows works. The House is not in session this week, so he’s back in North Carolina.

9:15: I got introduced to the staff and kinda got a rundown of how things work. Each office has about 14-18 full-time staffers, with titles ranging from Press Secretary to Chief of Staff to the Executive Assistant/Scheduler. They showed me around and explained what kinds of things I’d be doing, like answering phones (“do NOT offer your opinion on any policies to any reporter ever”), to hosting constituents when they visit (“You can offer them coffee or water, but not our Coke. The Coke is sacred–only give the, the Coke if they’ve found out we have it and ask for it specifically.”).

9:30: We all chatted for a super long time. All the staffers are 24-30ish years old and super motivated to change the world. I find that very refreshing in a world of adults who like to tear away at idealism.

10:30: A family from the district came by for a tour of the Capitol, so Jesse (my fellow intern) gave it to them. I came along because I’m supposed to be able to give them next week (I can all but guarantee that I will not be able to do that).

12:30: I went out to lunch at Pret A Manger with Eliza (the Executive Assistant/Scheduler who got me the internship) and Josh (the Press Secretary). We ate outside and had really good sandwiches. Seriously, amazing.

2:00: There was another constituent tour group, this time with eleven people. They were extremely southern–one woman asked me where the bathroom was and I didn’t understand her, so they all made fun of me for not knowing where the bathroom was for the next two hours. And then I couldn’t even totally understand the ridiculing, which was what got me into the mess in the first place, so basically the whole thing was a train wreck.

3:45: Jesse and I got back to the office and didn’t really have anything to do since the House isn’t in session, so he gave me an unofficial tour of the Capitol and showed me all the cool places my badge lets me into. They gave me totally unrestricted access to the Capitol (I was wondering all day if people realized that I was just a seventeen-year-old with no credentials whatsoever except for a scuba license), so Jesse showed me Paul Ryan’s office, how to get to the very top of the dome, the crypt in the basement, and the private metro system that goes between the Senate and House buildings and the Capitol.

5:00ish: We got back to the office and Eliza and I discussed tomorrow. I’m going to a lecture on Brexit at the Heritage Foundation in the morning and I’ll be back in the office in the afternoon. And I get to pick up my permanent ID! I’ll put up a picture of it tomorrow–it’s very official-looking.

When I left I just myself to the nearest bookstore and read for a bit because I wanted to avoid the crowd and extra cost of the metro at rush hour. I got back to Maryland around 6:30 and had some really good stir fry for dinner! Stay tuned for tomorrow, and we’ll see if I can think of a new type of list by then.

When I was writing that last post, I kept telling myself not to let it revert to a list format. But it just felt so unnatural, and I just have SO many things to say, so here’s a list of more things I’ve learned anyway:

1. Obviously, the state of the economy affects business. But to be able to predict where the economy is headed, Edward Jones tracks everything. They have an online, shared portal that is updated often. It tracks everything from the strength of the Russian ruble to Latino unemployment rates in California. This way they can predict the market with more accuracy.
2. They’re the only private financial services company in the country. This basically means that they do not have to release any information whatsoever about their profits, taxes, or growth. But all of their competitors do have to release those things, so they are in a really good position to understand the field.
3. Being a private firm rather than a public company also allows them to make longer term strategic decisions because they don’t have to make sure that their value increases each financial quarter when the reports are released. Since there are no shareholders to appease, they can truly make decisions based solely on what is best for the company in the next ten years.
4. I’ve decided that when I start interviewing for jobs I’d like to sample their cafeteria food. I’m sure nothing can top the food here.
5. A huge fundraising opportunity is days where charities sponsor people wearing jeans to work. The American Heart Association made 8,000 dollars off of EDJ last Thursday because you could pay $5 to wear jeans. How crazy is that?
6. If you’re in a left turn only lane, you don’t legally have to have your blinker on. (Sorry, that’s unrelated, but I just asked a policeman that yesterday because I’ve been wondering for a while. And I think that’s an important fact to be aware of.)
7. The Canadian dollar is a remarkably stable currency.
8. A common misconception is that the further below a 1:1 ratio with the USD a currency is, the poorer their economy is faring. But you have to look at the fluctuation of the currency over time to estimate the state of their economy, not just how it converts to the dollar. So, for example, the fact that you need 18 Mexican pesos to equal one USD does not mean that the Mexican peso is weak. What makes the Mexican peso weak is that in 2014, it was only 13 pesos to 1 dollar.

I spent last week working with the Firm Analytics and Competitive Insights teams downstairs. Now I’ve moved up to the ninth floor, and this week will be spent with Mr. Rawlins and his team in Treasury.

Yesterday, a guy named Tyler emailed me access to all of their data that keeps track of their business done in Canadian Dollars (CAD). He asked me to make a spreadsheet that would sort all the data into the different of accounts that they’re held in. There are two different types of accounts–Timed Deposit and Repos, that are held in the Bank of Montreal and Royal Canada Bank. So it’s essentially tracking how much money each of those four accounts had in them, each day, for the last year and a half. So far, the spreadsheet has over 1600 rows of data.

When they assigned that to me, I informed them that I’d used Excel approximately four times ever, in my entire life, and I wasn’t sure they should be entrusting me with the organization of billions of dollars. They just kind of laughed at me and I had to figure it out. But most of it is copying and pasting, just a time-consuming task that no one had gotten around to yet.

Today, they showed me how they manage all the Canadian money in the twelve(ish) different accounts there. The woman who manages it, Susan, has to go into their online treasury portal and make sure that each account has enough money in it for all the estimated withdrawals of the day, so that they aren’t charged for overdraft.

Something that I’ve found really interesting is the relationship Edward Jones has with the banks. I thought of EDJ as the customer and the bank as the service provider–naturally making the bank do as much as they can to provide EDJ with the best service so that they don’t move to another one. But what seems to actually be the case is that everything EDJ does kind of annoys the banks, and they have to try really hard to be low-maintenance so that the bank doesn’t close the account.

For Wednesday and Friday. I’ll keep working on this spreadsheet and hang out in treasury, and sit in on a couple more meetings. On Thursday I’ll go to the North campus in Maryland Heights to shadow Steve Ford in sourcing. I’m not super sure what exactly that is, but I’m sure I’ll find out!

And one last thing–I see a lot of articles about how bachelor’s degrees are useless and the only reason to get one is because it’s a prerequisite for lots of jobs. But you definitely need one degree, and maybe two to be able to work here. Otherwise, I think it would be very hard to figure out what’s going on (at least that’s my experience so far). The rhetoric is extremely high-level, and there are lots of business and economic theories put into practice. You really do need to know about all of it and be fluent in the language.

(One last thing part 2: I haven’t been attaching pictures because I can’t take them of anything really, because it’s all very confidential financial information. I’ll try to take a picture of my lunch of something.)

I’ll do another post on Friday when I figure out what the Sourcing department does!

My post shall be in the format of a list (because I’m sure you know I love lists). Here are a few things I’ve learned in my week of shadowing in the Firm Analytics department at Edward Jones:

1) Finance is actually super interesting if you give it a chance (contrary to what actually everyone says).

2) Edward Jones manages over one trillion dollars in assets per year. For reference, that’s six percent of the GDP of the United States and larger than the GDP of most countries.

3) Adults are really impressed by teenagers who do basic things correctly, like showing up on time and asking questions.

4) Almost every country in the world is affected by currency fluctuations, but Edward Jones is not. They are an unusual company in that a) they do not sell a physical product that requires materials sourced from another company (i.e., and iPhone) and b) they are not a multinational company that generates revenue in other currencies and must exchange them for US dollars.

5) Graduating high school doesn’t magically make you follow dress codes. Probably 20% of people here definitely do not dress “business”.

6) A good career move would be to join a growing company after college. This way, you can advance by filling newly created positions. If you join a stagnant company, you have to wait for someone to retire (which literally takes a lifetime).

7) There is so much overhead at a large company. There are 79 people here who work in Firm Analytics–so their job is just to answer questions that Treasury, Sourcing, Marketing, or anyone else might have about the company’s profits, etc.

8) Mr. Rawlins handles over $10 billion of cash every day.

Anyway, I’m excited for next week in Treasury. This has been a much more interesting week than I expected, since I’m mostly reading reports and listening to meetings.

 

My project is split into a series of chunks that cover most fields in which a degree in international relations is applicable.

For the first two weeks, I’ll be shadowing at Edward Jones in a few different departments. I’ll spend some time in marketing, human resources, and development. I have three different people that I’ll be working with and learning from there. The purpose of this week is more to shadow quietly and observe, not to help out in any tangible way. This section covers the business possibility of the degree.

The third and fourth weeks, I will be in Washington, D.C., working in the office of Representative Mark Meadows from North Carolina. I’ll specifically be working with the scheduler for his office and her contacts. Most of the days will be working with her on The Hill, but for two of them I will shadow with a contact at the Heritage Foundation in the International Policy department. This covers the political possibility of the degree.

The fifth week, I will go to New York and work with Dani Trigo at her textile design shop. It’s a small business that helps New York artists find contacts to sell to. This will cover the small business route of the degree.

The sixth week, I’ll be working at the MasterCard Tech Hub in Manhattan. This will be more like Edward Jones, in that I’m simply participating in a shadowing program and will not be helping them out very much. I’m working with two women in management, named Valentina and Missy, and they’ll show me essentially how the business works, day to day.

My last week, I’ll be working with Mrs. Schenk at a law firm in St. Louis. I’ll be essentially shadowing her for a week and learning about how a law office functions. This will cover the last major use of an international relations degree, which is law.