National Trip Day 3It was another beautiful day here in the nation’s capitol. D.C.’s a beautiful city and even more so with the cherry blossoms and magnolias in full bloom!
We spent another day all dressed up in formal business attire. Tyler didn’t get the memo.
uhhhh… business formal, Tyler?
We had a pretty light agenda for the day with just three meetings. We met with Representative Hanabusa and both the House and Senate Committees on Agriculture.
We learned that Sydney Keli‘ipuleole and Representative Hanabusa were preschool classmates from Wai‘anae Elementary!
We had a great conversation with Representative Hanabusa.
Next we met with the House Committee on Agriculture’s Keith Jones (Staff Director), Mary Knigge (Professional Staffer), and Anne Simmons (Senior Minority Policy Advisor).
The Capitol, again.
Then, we met with the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry’s Joe Shultz (Chief Economist) and Grant Colvin (Policy Analyst).
It was an interesting day. The House and Senate Committees on Agriculture talked about the recently passed 2014 Farm Bill. GMOs have been a staple topic with everything going on back at home and it was interesting to hear the spectrum of view points, opinions, and insights from all.
For me, this trip has shed light on how policy gets made and exposed me to current agricultural issues at the National level. Additionally, I was able to not only put faces to names but also made personal connections to our senators and representatives and key people, departments, and organizations working on agricultural issues that affect us at home and at the national level.
