Matt Sowards Email & Phone Number

Washington Dc

• Cultivate, build, and maintain relationships with bipartisan Members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and external stakeholders, advocating and lobbying for the 150,000 federal employees represented by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU). • Lobby Members and staff of the following Committees: House Ways and Means, House Energy and Commerce, House Oversight, House Appropriations, Senate Appropriations, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Senate HELP, Senate Finance, and Senate Energy. • Manage a legislative portfolio of issues relating to federal health benefits, retirement, insurance benefits, leave policy, and whistleblower rights. • Draft and propose legislation, amendments, and appropriations recommendations. • Analyze legislation and monitor the changing political landscape to make recommendations to senior leadership.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Built and maintained relationships with bipartisan Members of Congress, the Executive Branch, and external stakeholders, advocating and lobbying for 230,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). • Analyzed, interpreted, and drafted legislation, amendments, proposed regulations, and resolutions.• Lobbied Members and staff of the following Committees: Senate Appropriations, Senate Finance, Senate Judiciary, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Senate Veterans’ Affairs, Senate HELP, House Appropriations, House Judiciary, House Oversight, House Education and Workforce, and House Veterans’ Affairs • Oversaw a portfolio that included healthcare, mental health, and privatization, as well as criminal justice reform and safety for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which has 37,000+ federal staff. • Briefed senior and executive leadership, preparing for meetings with Congress and Executive Branch officials.• Tracked hearings, wrote hearing statements and placed questions before committee members. • Drafted testimony and staffed senior members of the Executive Team when called to testify. • Created three pieces of legislation that are now law. • Worked with bipartisan staff of the Senate/House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science; shared staffing information, emphasizing the need for—and later securing—additional federal funding for BOP.

Office Of Senator John D. Rockefeller, Iv.

• Managed a portfolio of issues on labor, pensions, taxes, financial services, and appropriations. • Assisted with the management of the Senator’s Finance Committee portfolio. • Prepared materials for Sen. Rockefeller to use during committee hearings and markups, including the Finance Committee’s markup on Medicare payments and Tax Extenders. • Analyzed and summarized proposed legislation, amendments, and regulatory changes. • Drafted constituent correspondence, Dear Colleague letters, vote recommendations, memos, talking points, floor statements, statements for the record, bill text, and amendment text.• Edited and crafted portions of legislation to protect employee benefits in the event of company bankruptcy.• Assisted in the submission and tracking of Sen. Rockefeller’s appropriations requests.• Worked on legislation that would help black lung victims obtain benefits. • Oversaw 18 interns over tenure, assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and providing performance feedback.

Athens, Ohio

Research: Researched primary sources, journal articles, and LexisNexis for advising professor’s working draft of a scholarly article, which examined the number of women running for elected office.Summarizing Information: Produced summaries of journal articles, papers, and book chapters, briefing advising professor.

Charleston, West Virginia Area

Charleston, West Virginia Area

Master'S Degree, Political Science And Government

Bachelor'S Degree, Political Science And Government