Intern reporting in

[greybeta]

Well, I’m sitting in my office on the first day of my internship for the Honorable Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, R-Tulsa. The work has been your run-of-the-mill office work you would expect. What actually comes through the Tulsa office is actually fairly interesting, though I’m not allowed to talk about too many specifics due to the Privacy Act (yes, we still do have privacy rights).

The constituent offices function differently from the DC office. The DC office is concerned mainly with legislation on the floor of the senate while the constituent offices deal with constituent concerns. The casework is split between two offices in Oklahoma, one in the capital Oklahoma City and one in Senator Inhofe’s hometown of Tulsa (where he was once mayor). The contact that gets the most work in Tulsa is the one for Veteran Affairs because of numerous health-related claims.

While I’m not paid for interning at the Senator’s office this summer, I am allowed access to Webster, the Senate’s intranet for secretarial staff. It’s fascinating what’s been put online, like congressional research summaries of bills that are normally difficult to access for the public. I’m also allowed to read up on the National Journal’s Hotline, which apparently is the big behind-the-scenes newsletter/magazine for the things that happen on Capitol Hill.

All in all, I say it’s going to be an interesting summer.

Comments

[cathawk.livejournal.com]

Sounds like it will be an interesting summer. We have some social work interns placed in a congressman's constituent office to do casework--they get a little bit of everything.

[greybeta.livejournal.com]

It's going to be interesting, all right. The constant barrage of phone calls is also interesting.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

enjoy your summer job!