This evening several of us attended a late session of Congress where the U.S. House of Representatives were considering any number of bills before they go out on break (again). Our legislation was number #63 on a huge list so we knew it would be late before our bill was considered. So, after showing our red passes we went through security. This was a thorough search as the guard found a small spray hand sanitizer in my make-up bag and told me to go back outside and throw it in their special bins they have for such items and then made me walk again through the metal detector machine. So after walking through winding paths inside the new Visitor Center we ended up turning in our cell phones & cameras and got into the Gallery and watched the proceedings. It's a very bureaucratic, ritual-laden process and we were in quiet hysterics about how each Congressional Representative gave him or herself permission to speak after the House chair said "Each side will control 20 minutes." The Member would then say, "I yield myself as much time as I may consume." And then the House Chair would say "the Member is recognized" and the speechifying would start with Members yielding back and forth their time. Most of the bills were of little concern to us although at one point one Member got himself into a good rant and rave about the recent DOJ decision involving threatening of voters, even though the bill under consideration did not directly, or even indirectly, seem to be connected. Things also got a bit lively when someone got worked up about the federal government only paying $1 for land that cost a city government $170,000 but it all seemed a bit arcane and unreal. That is, of course, until they came to the legislation we'd been working on for four years and we sat their agog as they went through the legislative ritual and passed it! Hooray! What a gladness this was!
