[originaltext] [16] We are going to start today talking about congressional

[16] We are going to start today talking about congressional aides, that is, the people who work for our congressional representatives, both in Washington and in the representatives’ local districts. It used to be that members of Congress had a relatively small staff of people working for them, and role of these people wasn’t of primary importance. But now, there are thousands of congressional aides, and they’ve profoundly affected the way the whole government works. [17] Congressional aides work in two different locations: one, in the congressional representative’s local offices, the districts from which they were elected, and two, in Washington. Staffs in local offices help members of Congress stay in touch with cftizens in their districts. These citizens can bring problems in, in person, or by mail or phone.
    This personal connection between the aids and local people can be helpful, when the next election comes around. People remember the help they get from the office of their local congressional representative. But as you know members of the Congress have to spend most of their time in Washington taking care of their legislative duties. [18] Over 6,000 new laws are introduced in Congress each session. Without help, representatives would have trouble keeping up with proposed laws that directly affect their districts, so that’s why congressional aides play their major role in Washington: they keep their bosses informed about pending legislation, organizing hearings, and just keep their local congressional representatives up-to-date, and informed on what’s going on in other parts of Congress. [19] Now, another thing congressional aides do is to help develop ideas for laws that their bosses can eventually propose to Congress, this can be called the staff s entrepreneurial function, a bit like a business executive trying to find out what product is most popular. Congressional aides promote or encourage laws they think will be popular with the public. You’ve also got other employees that work for the whole Congress, not just for individual members. We’ll talk about these people next.
16. What’s the speaker mainly talking about?
17. Where do congressional aides do their work?
18. How many new laws are introduced in Congress each session?
19. What’s congressional aides’ entrepreneurial function?