Update

Thursday 5/8/08
I went to a Congressional hearing at 10:00 am on how Katrina relief funds have been implemented in states affected by the hurricane. Congress was upset at Mississippi, whose government has been accused of spending $600 million on construction of a port instead of direct housing relief like it was supposed to. The hearing was delayed until 12:45 because of House voting, and I finally left at 3:00 when they were only halfway through the second panel. It was pretty much an all-day event.

Congress criticizes Mississippi use of Katrina relief funds

Mississippi official asks Congress to waive environmental regulations for Katrina relief (audio)

Katrina relief: We cannot "put the port above the people" (audio)

Wednesday 5/7/08
Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul was in DC to promote his new book, The Revolution: A Manifesto, which is currently a number one bestseller on Amazon.com. I got to listen to him speak, then bought a copy of his book and had him autograph it, and got a picture with him. I liked listening to him speak because even though he is pretty radical, he says exactly what he feels and doesn't seem to care too much about his political "image." I started reading his book, and I like it a lot too because unlike most campaign books, he doesn't really talk about himself or his life. Instead, he talks clearly about the issues he cares about and his stance on them, so it makes it really easy to understand what his values and principles are. He seems very intelligent and well-read, and it was interesting to see another point of view.

Ron Paul on "The Revolution"

Ron Paul autographs copies of his latest book (photos)

In the morning, I went to a hearing on how the Federal government is reducing Medicaid funding to hospitals, which Congress says will reduce their already inadequate emergency response systems. Basically, they said if some huge crisis happened in a certain area-- i.e. a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, or a disease pandemic-- local hospitals would not be able to accommodate the surge of patients and many people would die for lack of available supplies and medical personnel. Most believed taking away the Medicaid funding would worsen the situation, but some argued that Medicaid was not intended to be used for trauma response centers and that it is not being used for that purpose now anyways.

Reduced Medicaid funding may diminish emergency response

Reduced Medicaid funding could be crucial in "golden hour" of emergency situation (audio)

"Medicaid reimbursement and terrorism preparedness" not necessarily related (audio)

Tuesday 5/6/08
In the afternoon, I went to a discussion at the National Press Club where some people from Nursing Economics talked about how a massive shortage of registered nurses across the nation will hinder America's ability to reform its health care system. They also talked about the various presidential candidates' positions on health care, and how much support each candidate has got from RNs.

Nursing shortage could hinder health care reform

New survey says Clinton is favored among registered nurses (audio)

In the morning, I went to a Congressional hearing on various systems that are used to determine whether or not workers are eligible for employment in the US, or if they are illegal immigrants, etc. They were basically talking about the costs and benefits of each system and trying to figure out which would be most efficient, accurate, and easy to implement.

Committee compares employee verification systems

Rep. Calvert says E-verify program is "doing the job it was intended" (audio)

Rep. Johnson says NEVA will "maintain a legal work force" (audio)

Monday 5/5/08
I was pretty tired because I had just gotten back from NY the night before, and luckily our staff let us come in at 10:30 instead of 8:30 for a video training orientation, for the same program that I explained in my last entry. We did that until 1:00, when we went back to the office and tried to find some afternoon events to go to so we could have something to put on the website. There was nothing going on, so one of my bosses suggested that I do a phone interview. I was kind of nervous, because I was afraid I would either mess up the recording process or ask stupid questions, but it went okay. We get press releases and interview offers daily in our email, so I chose one with a representative from the American Civil Liberties Union regarding medical care for immigrant detainees. Apparently, illegal immigrants or legal immigrants who are being detained in Customs for whatever reason are given no medical attention, and some have died due to neglected conditions. The woman I interviewed talked about a new bill that Congress is trying to pass in order to get more funding for these people.

ACLU policy counsel advocates immigrant detainee medical care (audio)