Monday, May 10– by  Saoud Al-Shoaili (Oman)

I am a member of a team of six from the Arab Gulf region participating in the legislative fellowship April, 28- May 29 2010. After an orientation week including meetings with legacy international staff, former congressmen, Continued…

Friday, May 7– by Riyadh Al-Balushi (Oman)

Friday on Capitol Hill was a relatively slow day, Congressman usually travel back to their respective areas to deal directly with their constituents and to work on campaign issues. This means that there are no hearings, markups, Continued…

Thursday, May 6– by Abdulmanan Al-balushi (Oman)

One week passed since I have arrived in Washington DC through Legacy International Fellowship program. I have visited so many places in Washington. Also, I have learned so many things regarding the congress Continued…

Wednesday May 5– by Sarah Al-Sharji (Oman)

So Day 1 of the actual fellowship was yesterday. Phew! What a day! I walked in to the office at 9am only to find Congressman Conyers himself near the reception desk. Not knowing exactly who I was and assuming I was the new intern, within 10mins of walking in he declared me in charge of the office and put me on phone duty when he and everyone else left the office to prepare for his 10am hearing! Funny how I panicked at the thought of being left all alone in the office to take calls when I was there to take on a lot more serious issues. I only had to take one phone call before some of the other staffers walked in and I was introduced to everyone and set up at a desk.

At 9.30 I had decided I wanted to attend the 10.15 Judiciary Committee (which Congressman Conyers chairs) meeting on the Patent and Trademark Office. I was taken to the Committee office and introduced to everyone and asked to come back a bit after 10am for the start of the hearing. When I did I was told to sit with the staffers behind the Committee members for the hearing. I naturally picked a corner seat where I would be practically invisible (if not for my colourful pink scarf).

At 10.20am Congressman Conyers walks in and asks me to sit right behind him! I am now in full view of everyone and very aware of the cameras pointing in my (well, Chairman Conyers’) direction. The hearing was an oversight hearing on the USPTO and some of the issues it was facing, primarily relating to funding and the quality of patent inspections. We heard from 4 witnesses who touched on issues such as an increasing backlog of patent applications and how a longer patent pendency threatens an inventor’s rights.

As soon as the hearing was over at 12.45, I met up with Riyadh for lunch. We got lost a bit on our way to Longworth cafeteria but let’s see how we do today. We were done by 1.45 and rushed back to our offices to go for a 2pm meeting of the Judiciary subcommittee on electronic communications privacy. That was very interesting as they discussed technological developments since 1986 (since the Electronic Communications Privacy Act was passed) and the need for the law to be revised to take into account these developments. Again we heard 4 witnesses who all described various aspects of these advancements in technology.

When that was over at 4.10pm, I went back to the office to settle in only to be rushed over to the Senate building for a 4.30 press conference on the impact of Asian carp on the Great Lakes! A few Senators and Congressmen made statements on the need to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp, which threaten to disrupt the Lakes’ multi billion dollar fishing industry and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports. The press conference was held to highlight the pressing issue and rally support for the enactment of a bill (the CARP ACT) for immdiate action to be taken.

By the time we were done with that at 5.15, I went to the office to get settled and sorted with an e-mail account, access to the House network and other logistic issues. I actually had to look at the time to realize it was 6pm and time to call it a day as I hadn’t realized it was that late already.

Overall, day 1 was a great way to kick off my fellowship. Congressman Conyers’ office is very busy and there are half a dozen events going on at any one time. Having racked up 2 hearings and a press conference on my first day, I think I did pretty well! It is such a great honor to work with Congressman Conyers and I couldn’t be happier with my other colleagues (for 2 and a half weeks!). I could definitely get used to this

Tip for tomorrow: wear comfortable shoes!

Tuesday May 4– by Talal Ali (Kuwait)

Now its been a week already in the Legislative Fellows Program (LFP) but it feels like I have gained years of experience from this week.  We joined  several  meetings, we had lots of orientations and discussions with Former Members of Congress on Capitol Hill and in the hotel with legacy international. We also attended the DOS event were we meet Kuwait embassy Deputy chief of mission.  The past week was full of events that are for information gathering and full of tours and sightseeing of Washington DC. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, as my fellowship will begin.

Monday May 3– by Mona Ameen (Kuwait)

Venue: U.S Department of State.
We arrived at 8:30 am in U.S department of State , Loy Henderson Auditorium  with a total of 83 fellows from different countries, and most of them are in their conclusion of their fellowship program while we are in the beginning of our program.  The opening plenary session started at 9:00 Leonard J. Korcki from Bureau of Education, followed by a speech by former U.S Congressman Martin Frost, and Dr. Curtis Huff from Bureau of Education. After that we went for a coffee break with small chats to meet with other LFP participants.

The fellows reports came later in the second session, which started by 11:00 with a presentation from each group & country, which started with our presentation, my colleagues Sara & Talal were the speakers about our delegation representing MENA region, Kuwait & Oman as part of GCC. After that came each group presentations, which were really interesting.

We had lunch in the Benjamin Franklin Room and on our way we had the great opportunity to look at an amazing masterpieces. I had a beautiful picture standing next to Thomas Jefferson desk. Legacy International has invited The Deputy Chief of Mission of Kuwait Embassy in the U.S, Mr. Nabeel Al-Dakheel, Who introduced himself and welcomed us & invited us to visit the Embassy while we are on LFP.

Later in the afternoon, and before the wrap up session, each member has entered into a round table discussion group according to his area of interest which was really beneficial. I have been placed and participated in the discussion group that I have previously ranked as # 1 which is Legislative staff and their role in the legislative processes, which took place in Loy Henderson Auditorium, and the session moderator was Dr. Michael Haltzel, a senior fellow, Johns Hopkins University, who gave us a beneficial briefing form his wide experience on how legislative staff should act and prioritize their task and what they do.

Finally came the wrap up session with briefing from each group, and will start the second part from Legislative fellows congress tomorrow which will take place and start with a tour in the white house!