Name: Justin Livesey
Hometown: Greenfield, WI
UW-Madison Graduation Year: Fall 2017
Major: Economics with a math emphasis
Current Job: Staff Assistant in Senator Ron Johnson’s Office
Where was your internship?
I interned at the Committee on Ways and Means – Tax Subcommittee.
What types of projects did you take on during your Wisconsin in Washington experience?
I had a lot of different projects – ranging from your typical intern administrative work to policy research. During my time on the committee, Congress was in the middle of overhauling the tax code, so there were a wide variety of demands for the interns. Every week I had to update the legislation tracker which helped us keep track of member priorities. I was also in charge of collecting stakeholder feedback from members of Congress and outside industries about certain tax provisions. The stakeholder feedback allowed me to gain a more holistic view of the tax code because many individuals had personal interest in the changes that were being made. This allowed me to see the incredibly complex decisions required to get the bill done.
The policy research I did was for the tax counsels on the committee. They were in charge of crafting tax policies, and sometimes they would need background on certain policies.
Finally, I was able to do a lot of personal interest work. For example, my supervisor would send me to hearings and briefings I was interested in. I would then write a memo about what was said that would be circulated around the office. I also did work for our chief economist since I have an interest in becoming an economist myself one day.