It always feels a little odd to write about things that I feel like could overexpose what I do for work. Even though it isn't illegal or frowned upon given the political climate these days it's not like I want to run out and announce to the internet BAM here I am! On the flip side, I think that if you really really wanted to know and dug through the breadcrumbs it would not exactly be a hard thing to figure out as working for Congress means a ton of my info is already out there on the web!

This morning I woke up to something that while it was not completely unexpected it also was not exactly expected. Within Congress on the House of Representatives side years ago the Republican Party made a rule that created term limits for Republicans who were the head of a Committee. It did not matter if you were a Chair (majority party Committee lead) or a Ranking Member (minority party Committee lead) you were able to serve 3 terms or 6 years before you were termed out of that role. In special situations, the party can vote to give a Member a waiver but those are few and far between. As a result and something that I think is important is that new Members can move up the pecking order of a Committee so we do not just have a bunch of 70-year-old Committee leaders.

I do fully believe that this is for the betterment of the House but when it is your boss that is getting termed out there are some reservations about the system! I know my boss will be in his position until the first week of next year but after that whoever follows him could fire all the current staff and replace them with his own people. This doesn't even factor in that the House could flip from being Republican-controlled to Democratic. Since I work for the Republican Majority if it flips 2/3 of our staff will be let go.

That all being said a really unique situation has emerged and that is my boss officially announced he is throwing his hat into the ring to replace the current House Financial Chairman Patrick McHenry who is retiring at the end of the Congress. I love working for my boss as he not only is a nice guy but also is a huge proponent of bipartisanship. Before being the Chairman of the current Committee, I work for he was the Chairman of the Agriculture Committee and passed a huge piece of legislation there called the Farm Bill. Last Congress our Committee was the one that the Chips and Science Bill was crafted through in the House. He has the credentials of being someone who can get big things passed and in a common sense no BS approach.

If he happens to get the job it will create a unique opening for me to try and possibly follow him to House Financial Services (HFS). My current Committee does do some work in the blockchain space mostly in R&D and the different ways that blockchain can be used in various applications moving to HFS would put me in direct contact with crypto legislation. It is a really interesting idea but at the same time not sure if I wouldn't try to make that jump because it would essentially be me starting over in a Committee after what will be close to three years with the current one I am on. With the stuff that is in my portfolio, I know an absurd amount and while I also know a ton about crypto I would be lacking in the nuts and bolts of the legislation that people are trying to tie various aspects of it to.

Over the coming months, it will be a pretty wild time for me to really try and figure out my next course of action. If someone from my home state of Texas wouldn't happen to take over for my current boss and keep me on then I would benefit from already being a resident of Texas and then officially being able to maintain my Texas residence. If my boss moves to HFS it will create a huge opportunity for me in one aspect while also needing to change my address from Texas to likely DC and thus... more taxes and more just general BS that I currently do not have to deal with since I still have Texas residency for now.