Ep.14: Avoiding Potomac Fever with Drenan Dudley, Senate Appropriator

“It really is the responsibility of a staffer on the hill – and I would say any public servant – to make sure you’re listening to all of the voices."

In this episode, we speak with Drenan Dudley, a professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, who is responsible for disaster relief and the cyber budget. We talked to her about how these crucial appropriations happen, the process of spending $230B in disaster response and relief since 2005, and what it's been like to oversee a Department of Homeland Security cyber budget that's grown from $92 million in 2007 to $1.1 billion today. 

Drenan reminds us that to be an effective public servant, it's important to never lose focus on why you're there in the first place.