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Thursday, August 11, 2016

Congressmen Jared Huffman: A Dedicated Public Servant and Community Leader

By Maggie Alves

On July 18th, 2016, the Earthscope Media team had the privilege of interviewing Congressman Jared Huffman at his local office in San Rafael. Huffman represents over 700,000 people in California’s second district, the northwest portion of California, ranging from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. Huffman is a member of the Committee on Natural Resources and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Huffman is an avid community member and an outspoken environmentalist. He works tirelessly to protect the environment and advocate for new important legislation. Despite his busy schedule, he loves connecting with his community, particularly the youth, and was kind enough to devote an hour to our group.
After assembling in front of the building to review our questions, we entered through the large front doors. The waiting room was filled with flags, certificates, legal papers, and framed photos, including one of him with Obama. Once in his office, it didn’t feel like I was standing in the office of a respected political figure. The office perfectly reflected his personality; fishing and family photos covered the walls, there was a UCSB Sports Hall of Fame plaque for men’s volleyball, and official documents. Seeing a face in person that I have learned so much about in school was a surreal experience. His staff were incredibly friendly and accommodated to all nine of us being in a small space. Huffman addressed each of our questions thoroughly and made sure he clarified all his statements.

The issue I asked Huffman about regarded his own bill: The Drought Relief and Resilience Act of 2015. This was the first bill he ever asked for public input on. The “crowdsourced” bill received thousands of comments from the public, many of which were inputted in the bill. The bill has not been voted on, but would be a huge stride to combating the drought. Huffman states, “My bill provides emergency funding to stretch existing water supplies: deploying efficient irrigation technology, drilling wells, and building pipelines.” It also plans to quickly upgrade treatment facilities, repair leaking infrastructure, improve urban and agricultural water use efficiency, improve desalination technology and water recycling, recharge and clean depleted groundwater aquifers, and better manage headwater forests and watersheds. To learn more about the bill, visit https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2983.

At the end of the forty-minute interview, we asked about what it was like to be in politics. Huffman explained it was the same as any other job; some things he loved, and others he did not. Everyone is politics is there because at some point they were extremely passionate about something. To me, the most remarkable part of the experience was seeing how down to earth and humble he was. He conducted himself professionally, shook all of our hands, and gave each question thorough and in-depth responses; you could tell he didn’t think of himself above anyone. Politics is not meant for people who only want their names in headlines; it’s meant for people who are passionate and will work hard to see the changes they want in government. I feel so lucky to be represented in politics by someone who cares and reflects the interests of the community.  



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