When I first started my internship, I met former Congressman Henry Bonilla, a Republican from Texas' 23rd district. He served on House Appropriations from 1993-2006 and was the subcommittee chair on Agriculture Appropriations. He had been a surrogate for President George W Bush, helping him reach out to Hispanic voters. Henry is largely credited with having helped Bush outperform current trends of Republicans with Hispanics. He told me a lot of stories about his time in the House, including his time on Appropriations and his dealings with party leaders. He didn't tell me this, but near the end of his time in the House, he was rated one of the most powerful members in Congress by Time Magazine--I read that in my own research. However, I don't think I've ever met someone who is so positive, always smiles so much, and is so humble and self-deprecating--all around good-natured, I would say.
We were taxi-ing from Normandy near K St NW to the Hill for some meetings when he asked me, "Who is your favorite member of Congress?" I instantly replied, "The House Minority Whip, Steny Hoyer, of Maryland." I let Henry know that I admire Hoyer because he is a loyal Democrat but has shown a proclivity to work across the aisle and still views the Republicans as people. His eyes lit up, "Oh great, Steny and I were on Appropriations together for my time in the House and we're really great friends. I'll arrange a meeting for all of us so you can meet him."
Sure enough, Henry emailed me a few weeks later giving me a time and date for meeting with him. That date was just this Wednesday. Henry and I arrived in the Capitol building and went directly to Hoyer's leadership office. The office itself was beautiful--sky blue walls, tons of light, wallpaper of frescoes and tons of open, airy space. We got about fifteen minutes to meet with the Minority Whip. Henry gave me a glowing introduction, talking about how great I've been at Normandy and some of the original project ideas I've brought to the firm. Hoyer took great interest in my public health minor and my interest in budgets, appropriations, and authorizations. He was so knowledgable on all of these processes. For added measure, toward the end of our meeting, I threw in how much I admired his "Make it in American" plan for the House Democratic Caucus. He smiled widely: "You're very well informed, Travis." We then took a photo and Henry and I milled about the Capitol Building, spending several minutes on the Speaker's Balcony and him showing me around the building.
We were taxi-ing from Normandy near K St NW to the Hill for some meetings when he asked me, "Who is your favorite member of Congress?" I instantly replied, "The House Minority Whip, Steny Hoyer, of Maryland." I let Henry know that I admire Hoyer because he is a loyal Democrat but has shown a proclivity to work across the aisle and still views the Republicans as people. His eyes lit up, "Oh great, Steny and I were on Appropriations together for my time in the House and we're really great friends. I'll arrange a meeting for all of us so you can meet him."
Sure enough, Henry emailed me a few weeks later giving me a time and date for meeting with him. That date was just this Wednesday. Henry and I arrived in the Capitol building and went directly to Hoyer's leadership office. The office itself was beautiful--sky blue walls, tons of light, wallpaper of frescoes and tons of open, airy space. We got about fifteen minutes to meet with the Minority Whip. Henry gave me a glowing introduction, talking about how great I've been at Normandy and some of the original project ideas I've brought to the firm. Hoyer took great interest in my public health minor and my interest in budgets, appropriations, and authorizations. He was so knowledgable on all of these processes. For added measure, toward the end of our meeting, I threw in how much I admired his "Make it in American" plan for the House Democratic Caucus. He smiled widely: "You're very well informed, Travis." We then took a photo and Henry and I milled about the Capitol Building, spending several minutes on the Speaker's Balcony and him showing me around the building.
All in all, what a successful day. I got to meet one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress and got to spend some down time with one of the nicest and most good-natured Republicans in America. The next day, while covering the Farm Bill, I watched Steny Hoyer fight tooth and nail for his Caucus' right to speak on the floor--through it all, he was so articulate and dissected the rulings of the Chair with such acuteness, that my ranking of him as my favorite Congressman was affirmed ten times over.
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Travis
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Travis
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