[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11158-S11159]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               JAN PAULK

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in the weeks ahead, as the 104th Congress 
comes to a close, we will be paying tribute to several of our 
colleagues, from both sides of the aisle, who, for one reason or 
another, will be leaving the Senate at the end of this year. But it is 
not only our fellow Members who will be missed.
  The Senate will soon lose one of its longest-serving staffers, 
someone who has become a veritable institution within this institution.
  I am referring to Jan Paulk, our Director of Interparliamentary 
Services. She has held that position since it was first created in 
1981, and her exemplary performance in that post has defined its role 
in the life and the activities of the Senate.
  Jan came to the Senate from Russellville, AR, a graduate of the 
University of Arkansas, and joined the staff of the Foreign Relations 
Committee under its then chairman, William Fulbright.
  Her background in international matters made her a natural to head up 
our office of Interparliamentary Services.
  In that capacity, she has been responsible for the administrative, 
financial, and protocol aspects of all our interparliamentary 
conferences. She has overseen all of the Senate's delegations traveling 
abroad with leadership authorization.
  In short, she has been the Senate's combination of travel office and 
Department of State, part tour guide, part Chief of Protocol, part 
guardian angel to congressional families overseas.
  Most Members of the Senate will have their own memories of Jan's 
helpfulness and thoroughness.
  When things have gone smoothly for us at an international conference, 
we knew it was because of her meticulous planning. And when an 
unforeseen problem arose, we knew we could count on her combination of 
tact and toughness to straighten it out.
  Jan has helped to plan countless visits to the Capitol by heads of 
state and heads of government.
  As every Senator knows, these are not merely ceremonial affairs. They 
usually involve extremely serious matters of international commerce and 
diplomacy.
  They can advance, or retard, our country's interests abroad, and are 
an important part of the Senate's special constitutional role in our 
Nation's foreign policy.
  To put this tactfully, such visits are not always easy to arrange, 
but we could always rely on Jan to smooth things out before they could 
get rocky.
  We all wish Jan well as she retires from the Senate. I know I speak, 
not only for our colleagues, but for our spouses as well, in wishing 
she were not leaving us.
  We will miss her greatly.
  And some of us will be sure to get her forwarding number in the 
confident assurance that, when we run into a particularly difficult 
problem, she will still be ready to lend a hand.
  I want to take this opportunity to thank her, both for Tricia and 
myself, not just for her years of service, but for her calm in the face 
of crisis, her cheerfulness in the face of gloom, and for the way she 
gave real meaning and spirit to what we call the Senate family.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I rise to say thank you to a woman who 
has been a good friend of the Senate, a good friend to Linda and me, 
and most importantly a good ambassador for our country, Jan Paulk.
  Fifteen years ago, when then majority leader Howard Baker created the 
Senate's Office of Interparliamentary Services, he asked Jan to head 
it. She has been doing that job and doing it well ever since. You might 
say Jan is the Senate's youngest institution.
  I am sure I speak for all of my colleagues when I say we will miss 
Jan's professionalism when she leaves us soon to take on a new 
challenge as head of Tulane University's new Asia Foreign Leadership 
Program.
  Jan grew up in Russellville, AR, population 8,000. She first came to 
Washington as a high school senior. She had won an essay contest at her 
high school. First prize was a trip to Washington and $100 in spending 
money. She knew the first time she saw Washington that she wanted to 
make a career here in Government. She did return after college to work 
for Senator William Fulbright, first as a file clerk and then an 
assistant scheduler. She left Washington briefly to earn a master's 
degree in theater from Columbia University. To anyone who mistakenly 
suggests that theater was a successful diversion, Jan is quick to point 
out that there is a lot of theater in politics.
  Jan returned to the Senate in 1971 as editor for the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee and spent 3 years editing the landmark war powers 
hearings.
  In 1974, she was put in charge of travel and protocol for the 
committee, and in 1981, when Senator Baker created the Office of 
Interparliamentary Services to handle those same functions for the 
entire Senate, he asked Jan to head it. As director of 
Interparliamentary Services, Jan has overseen the Senate's official 
foreign travel--a tough job that requires the stamina of an advance 
person, the poise of an Ambassador.
  She and her small IPS staff handle every detail, from arranging the 
transportation to coordinating with host governments to making sure 
Senators understand local customs.
  Jan's work has taken her to more than 100 countries in every 
continent

[[Page S11159]]

on Earth where she has represented not only this body but this Nation 
as well. She visited the former Soviet Union in 1975 with Senators 
Hubert Humphrey and Hugh Scott, the first time a congressional 
delegation had ever visited the Soviet Union at the invitation of the 
Supreme Soviet.
  She visited China in 1979 with Senators Frank Church and Jacob 
Javits. She visited the gulf states just before the gulf war, and she 
returned just after the war while oilfields were still burning. And in 
June 1994, Jan coordinated the largest ever overseas delegation when 22 
Senators traveled to Normandy to commemorate the 50th anniversary of D-
day.
  One trip I will always remember is the trip to Bosnia last April when 
Jan arranged for me and Senators Hatch and Reid to attend functions and 
to visit the land that we had not yet visited following the war. We 
went to assess progress in implementing the Dayton peace accords. What 
promised from the start to be a difficult trip became immeasurably more 
difficult the morning we were to leave when the plane carrying 
Secretary Ron Brown and 34 others slammed into the ground in Dubrovnik.
  Jan's professionalism helped us get through that trip. And in caring 
on, we were able to show the world that America's commitment to peace 
in the former Yugoslavia is unwavering.

  Closer to home, she has helped welcome every head of State who has 
visited the Senate over the last 19 years.
  In her 27 years in the Senate, Jan Paulk has worked for Democrats and 
she has worked for Republicans. She has served both with equal 
professionalism and skill. Most of all, she has served her Nation, and, 
for that, we are all grateful. Linda and I and all of our colleagues, I 
know, wish Jan the very best in her new challenge.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________