Congress Reporter, Courthouse News Service
Congress Reporter, Courthouse News Service
Benjamin Weiss has spent the early years of his career proving - to readers, editors, and himself - that he is a capable and prolific reporter with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and the tenacity to excel as a comparatively small fish in the enormous pond of Capitol Hill.
Born in Ellicott City, Maryland and hailing from the New York City commuter town of New Fairfield, Connecticut, Ben was interested in journalism from a young age, even if he didn't realize it. He spent his early years interviewing family members on a Fisher Price tape deck, and some of the first words he learned to read were from the pages of the New York Times. After graduating high school, Ben went straight to the action, earning his Bachelor's degree in International Relations (and an underused Russian minor) from the American University in Washington, D.C. During his time in college he took his first real foray into the world of journalism, joining AU's scrappy investigative journalism outfit known as AWOL, and eventually becoming its editor in chief.
Graduating in 2020 and straight into the nadir of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ben fretted that his lack of formal journalistic training would put him at a disadvantage during an already tenuous time for aspiring reporters, but he found an opportunity to prove himself at the Exchange Monitor, a nuclear industry trade publication where he was hired in 2021 to cover civilian nuclear power and waste disposal. Despite the seemingly niche subject matter, his time at the Monitor - a skeleton crew of skilled reporters where he was given the responsibility of an entire beat - proved to be a blessing. Ben was presented with the unique opportunity to cover and under-covered industry at a time when Washington was looking to nuclear power as a possible antidote to clean energy troubles. He had the opportunity to cover Congress as a member of the Senate press gallery and to rub shoulders with major figures in the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission - agencies that were regular readers of his work and whose officials knew him by name.
Ben's credibility as a custodian of the nuclear power record earned him numerous one-on-one interviews with federal energy officials such as Assistant Secretary of Energy Kathryn Huff, and got him invited to participate on a panel at the NRC's annual conference for nuclear industry stakeholders.
Ben's time at Exchange Monitor also posed a unique challenge that proved vital for his skillset. Reporting on nuclear power and waste - especially for an audience of industry professionals - required immense technical knowledge of not only nuclear physics and engineering but also the law and corporate governance. Ben had to get smart on all of these things in order to convey a modicum of credibility to his readers, so that is exactly what he did. He will carry that versatility and adaptability throughout his reporting career.
In March 2023, Ben transitioned away from the trades and became a full-time Congress reporter for Courthouse News Service, leveraging his existing Hill experience to hit the ground running. In his time at CNS, Ben has covered the issues of the day in Washington - the federal budget, judicial nominations and major legislation - but also seeks out stories and issues that get less ink in larger outlets, whether that's Paris Hilton's visit to Capitol Hill, an impromptu concert in a lawmaker's House office or the history of the Senate's arcane "milk precedent."
Outside of his reporting career, Ben is an avid motorsport fan (family lore has it that some of his first words were 'cars and trucks'). He 'interned' on a stage rally racing team in high school, where he learned to wrench on cars and fed his desire to seek out new challenges. He's a longtime Formula One fan, but if it's got wheels and goes fast, Ben is interested.
For the time he's been a reporter, Ben has gained significant experience relevant to a life covering Capitol Hill. Beyond time spent roaming the halls of Dirksen and Longworth, Ben has also learned volumes about covering federal agencies, courts and companies - information that is valuable in any journalistic discipline but especially in politics, which more often than not touches all of those areas and more. He's also developed and continues to grow a thick rolodex of sources both on and off the Hill, connections that are unspeakably valuable for a political reporter.
Ben has all of the trappings of a good reporter - interviewing skills, a strong work ethic, a cool head under pressure (deadline or otherwise) - but he also possesses an innate love of information and a thirst for knowledge that sets him particularly apart. Ben loves to dive headfirst into new subjects and absorb as much information as possible, and can do so while still turning around concise reporting on those topics in a timely manner. Ben's love of knowledge helps him convey his reporting with a sense of genuine curiosity and a desire to help others understand complex subjects - a trait that has served him well as a journalist.
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