Word on the Hill: Week Wrap Up

By Alex Gangitano

Posted July 28, 2017 at 7:02am

It’s the end of a very long congressional week.

Senators spent the night in the Capitol and I’m sure many of you reading this now are running on little — or no — sleep.

Enjoy your much-deserved weekend and Word on the Hill will return next week.

Bipartisan play at the Kastles Charity Classic

The fifth annual Washington Kastles Charity Classic was last night at the Kastles Stadium at the Charles E. Smith Center. Members of Congress, media personalities and professional tennis players from the Washington Kastles played a series of seven doubles matches using the World TeamTennis format.

Playing on Team Stripes were Reps. Dave Brat, R-Va Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., and Erik Paulsen, R-Minn. Playing on Team Stars were Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., Charlie Dent, R-Pa., Robert W. Goodlatte, R-Va., and Robert C. Scott, D-Va. A highlight of the evening was the all-lawmaker match in which Scott and Goodlatte beat Bustos and Paulsen.

Meanwhile… bipartisanship at the Kastles Charity Classic: @BobbyScott & @RepGoodlatte playing doubles vs @RepCheri & @RepErikPaulsen pic.twitter.com/ILs0DCDIGZ

— Alex Gangitano (@AlexGangitano) July 28, 2017

“Republicans and Democrats working together for a good cause!” Scott said after he and Goodlatte won. His team, the Stars, ended up the night’s winner, 43-42, winning in a final match supertiebreaker. Dent was named the night’s MVP.

The event raised nearly $30,000 for D.C. charities, including the D.C. Ed Fund, Food & Friends, and N Street Village.

Baby desk

The congressional family got a little bigger this week. Two congressmen welcomed new children: Rep. Ryan A. Costello, R-Pa., and his wife welcomed a daughter on Monday, their second child, and Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, R-Ind., is a first-time dad — he and his wife welcomed a son on Thursday.

Women’s staff association summer conference

Women on Capitol Hill spent Saturday learning to be a boss. The eighth annual Women’s Congressional Staff Association’s Leadership Conference was entitled “Are You The Boss of Your Career? Making Bossy Work for You.”

Speakers included the chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party, Kathleen Matthews, and various senior staffers for “speed mentoring” sessions, such as Michele Perez-Exner in the office of Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., Lorenzo Olvera in office of Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, R-N.Y., and Natalia Diez Riggin in the office of Sen. Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo.

The association’s president Eliza Ramirez commented: “For our eighth annual conference, our focus was to support and inspire women about taking risks in their careers. … The various speakers that presented at the conference discussed how risk-taking propels your career forward, whether it’s from negotiating your salary, asking for a promotion or changing careers.”

Staffer shuffle

Bart Forsyth, chief of staff to Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wisc., is leaving next week to take a position with PhRMA.

Overheard on the Hill

“Is it past your bedtime, kid?”— Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., caught on hot mic talking to Senate pages during Thursday’s late night vote on the Republican health care bill.“I was wearing my Syracuse T-shirt and he was wearing his Tennessee T-shirt.”— Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., describing a health care discussion with Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., in the Senate gym Thursday morning.