[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 67 (Tuesday, May 20, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4765-S4766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO EDWARD P. SCOTT, VA ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR CONGRESSIONAL 
                                AFFAIRS

 Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, it is with a mixture of 
happiness and sadness that I pay tribute to Edward P. Scott, VA's 
Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs, as he retires from 
Federal service--happiness for Ed and his family as they embark on a 
new phase of their lives, and sadness for those of us who will miss 
Ed's wise counsel and assistance as we carry on our work on veterans 
issues.
  Mr. President, Ed has had a long and distinguished career, including 
16 years here in the Senate where he served on the Veterans' Affairs 
Committee as general counsel, minority general counsel, and in the 102d 
Congress, as chief counsel and staff director. I first became familiar 
with Ed's work when I joined the Veterans' Affairs Committee in 1985 
when I first came to the Senate; I have recognized and relied on his 
great professionalism and integrity ever since. I particularly 
appreciated his assistance in 1993 when he worked tirelessly to ensure 
that my transition to the chairmanship of the committee went as 
smoothly as possible.
  For the past 4 years, Ed has served ably in the often challenging job 
of Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs at the Department of 
Veterans Affairs. He is enormously knowledgeable about veterans' 
programs and laws, and both the committee and the Department have 
relied heavily on his expertise and keen insight. He has worked hard to 
keep his various constituencies--most particularly, Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs, Jesse Brown and the authorizing and appropriating 
committees of both the House and Senate--informed and working together. 
On any number of occasions, Ed has kept the train on the tracks when it 
was threatening to tumble off.
  During these 4 years, Ed has played an important role in working with 
Congress to ensure passage of significant legislation to improve 
benefits and services for the service men and women who have sacrificed 
so much for our great country. He was particularly instrumental in 
working with the Congress last year to enact health care eligibility 
reform legislation, Public Law 104-262. Ed has also been in the middle 
of efforts to make sure that the Congress understood what the 
administration was doing in response to the concerns of veterans of the 
Persian Gulf.
  Ed's high standards--in doing the job and doing it right, in being a 
person of unassailable integrity, and in working with all parties 
concerned to find solutions that all could embrace--have inspired all 
who have worked with him.
  Mr. President, Ed's earlier career was equally distinguished. He 
graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School 
where he was an editor of the law review. Following a clerkship with a 
justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, he entered active duty in the 
Air Force and served

[[Page S4766]]

as assistant staff judge advocate at Keesler Air Force Base, MS. He 
then served with the Peace Corps, first in the Office of General 
Counsel, where he served as the deputy general counsel, and then as the 
Peace Corps country director in Korea. Ed also worked at the Mental 
Health Law Project here in Washington, an experience that gave him 
significant expertise on mental health issues which he has brought to 
bear on any number of VA mental health matters.
  Mr. President, I am certain that all in the Senate who have had the 
privilege of knowing and working with Ed Scott join me in wishing him 
well as he retires from a distinguished career of Government service. 
We will be the poorer for his going, but the richer for his having 
worked among us.

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