Date: 1981-12-16
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. the work of the Senate staff has a direct and important Impact on the quality of legislation that Is produced by Congress. Few staffs in Congress have a broader mandate of responsibility. more pressure. or longer hours than does the staff of the Democratic Policy Committee In the Senate. Abbey Reed. Charles Kinney. and Pat Griffin are well known to all Senators for their thorough and effective and courteous work on the Senate floor. Although they serve the Senators on my side of the aisle on scheduling and floor matters. they are a vital part of the bipartisan mechanism of the Senate which allows for a timely flow of legislation. I particularly single out Abbey Reed and Charles Kinney and Pat and refer to the work they Oo. for all of us. I commend them on the closeness with which they work with Elizabeth Baldwin and Howard Greene and John Tuck. who ably perform similar duties for the majority. I have found Elizabeth Baldwin to be especially courteous and very understanding. always extremely cordial and considerate. and I take this occasion to express my personal appreciation for those attributes. D~emocratic Senators are grateful for this cooperative relationship. This has not been an easy year for those of us on this side of the aisle who have become accustomed to the benefits of maliority status. In our role as the minority. our staffs otf committees have been slashed. The Issues staff of the Policy Committee. led by Dick McCall. the Policy Committees deputy staff director. has stepped Into this void and consistently has provided extremely useful issuerelated Information and coordination to all Democratic Senators. SMost Senators are familiar with the very accurate and thorough Democratic legislative bulletins. the analyses of Senate voting histories. Individualized voting records. and indexes of Senate votes. which are prepared under the direction of the Po11ev Committee and especially under the direction of Beth Shotwell. the committee chief clerk. This year. the Policy Committee has Initiated several new publications. Including a weekly legislative update. a weekly economic data review. special reports. and other publications designed to provide Senators with Information useful to them in analyzing public policy issues and the history and record of the Senate. I believe that the Senate Democratic Policy Committee Is one of the finest staffs ever assembled in Congress and 1. for all my Democratic colleagues. thank Robert Liberatore. who Is the staff director. and all. the members of the staff for their dedication. their long. long hours. and their deep commitment to the highest standard in public policymaking. Robert Liberatore Is a fine. dedicated. bright young individual who Puts his heart and soul into the work of the Policy Committee. He is extremely capable and I am personally deeply grateful to him December .16. 1981 C for his perserverance. his dedication. and his conscientious service on that staff. I thank Terry Sauvain. the new secretary for the minority. for his hard work for Democratic Senators. -He. too. does an outstanding Job. He follows in the footsteps of the very able secretary for the Democrats. Mr. Joe Stewart. who has left the service of the Senate. but Terry Is following In those footsteps in an admirable and competent way. I also thank Patrick Hynes and the clockroom 3taff for their unending good cheer and helpfulness. I especially thank Lynwood Hall who has worked in the .Democratic cloakroom for 212 years and who will be moving on to other pursuits early next year. The Senates work Is facilitated by many people. but few people are more associated with the daytoday Important work of the Senate than are those gentlemen who man the desk below the PresidIng Officer. I speak of Bob Dove. Alan Frumin. and Joseph Strickland. the Parliamentarians. Bill Farmer. the legislative clerk. Jim Thorndike. the Journal clerk. Vince Del Bazo. the bill clerk. Russ Walker. Editor In Chief of the ate.. does an outstanding Job and Is always most courteous to all Members of the Senate and so accommodating to all of us. I also wishto express appreciation to the other Official Reporters of Debates who are tireless public servants whose specialized skills allow the deliberations of the Senate to be shared by. the American people. Bill Hildenbrand. the Secretary of the Senate. and Howard Liebengood. the Sergeant at Arms. have fulfilled their new responsibilities this. year with dignity. efficiency. and good cheer. They have. helped to make the transition for some of us somewhat more gentle. I particularly thank the Chaplain for the good cheer which he always spreads among us. for his spiritual overview of the Senate. and for his. prayers which constantly give us strength. succor. and comfort. Finally. I thank my colleague. the distinguished senior Senator from Tennessee. the majority leader. HOWARD BAKER. Although I have from time to time disagreed with him and he with me this year on some very substantive issues and although those issues have more and more begun to break down on a partyline basis. I express wholeheartedly my personal appreciation and my admiration for the majority leader. He Is a fair man. He is a Judicious man. And he Is a very bright man. His guidance of the Senate is steady handed. and I could not hope to work with a better majority leader than HOWARD BAKER. and there are very few who could equal him.. I Also wish to express appreciation for his able assistant. the distinguished Republican whip. TED STEVENS. who for many years worked with me on the Appriations Committee on the Dlepartment of the Interior. T he friendship that I formed with these two eminent gentlemen is a friendship which -I cherish and one which