OUT ON THE HILL is the official blog of the Victory Congressional Interns. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of LGBTQ+ Victory Institute. Learn more about the internship at victoryinstitute.org/vci.
__________________________
Witnessing debates on the Hill has reaffirmed my belief that people can always find something to disagree on, and they will do so fervently. Representatives speak to each other with such vitriol, it’s hard to imagine they show up for each other when the chips are down. I see this especially in debates over the anti-LGBTQI+ riders and legislation being introduced this Congress. It is often the same few people advocating for the rights of our community, and their colleagues seem not to recognize any responsibility to support them. After already digesting daunting levels of intransigence in just my first week here, I started to think: what would allyship on the Hill even look like?
For starters, allyship on the hill is unique. When getting behind an issue or a colleague, a Representative does not stand alone. Joining them is the sheer weight of power entrusted in them by their constituents; no decision is small. Considering this, I was resigned to thinking I would never get to see true allyship here – until a couple weeks ago.
I had the chance to be present for some of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s record-breaking magic minute. Starting at 3:53 AM, he spoke for nearly nine hours to stall a vote on the most devastating economic legislation in American history. The room was cold and quiet, and the low hum of the microphone coaxed me in and out of a trance-like state. I wondered to myself how Leader Jeffries was still standing.
He read letters from Americans who shared what this bill would mean for their children, their jobs, their educations. As he spoke, Democratic House members took shifts sitting behind him. At points of emphasis, every Representative would stand and applaud, shouting words of encouragement. Jeffries never turned his shoulder to see if his colleagues were behind him.
There it was.
The Democratic party is far from unified on every issue. However, this sinister bill managed to unite the party over their bottom line: to protect the communities they love. For the majority of this internship, I had been looking for allyship on the Hill between members of the House of Representatives. However, the passing of the reconciliation bill highlights the dangers of just that. Congress’s failure to protect working Americans is a result of elected officials valuing their allegiance to each other instead of serving the people they represent.
While connections between House Members can certainly exist, they’re not what I should have been looking for. Allyship between Members should be secondary to the commitment they have to their people, and such connections should serve their respective constituencies, not themselves.
Representative Jeffries’ speech and the resounding unity by the Democratic party against the reconciliation bill reminded me that I am here to pursue my place on the bottom line. When I feel frustrated by the slow pace of progress, I have to refocus on the people and community I love, that energize me. It is that same strategy, I’m convinced, that led House Democrats to gather in support of Representative Jeffries, and keep him standing.
