[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 143 (Wednesday, October 22, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H8978]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO PHINEAS INDRITZ

  (Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, it is with a great sense of sadness that I 
advise this House of the passing of a dear friend of this institution 
and of mine, Mr. Phineas Indritz, an individual known for many years as 
an outstanding staff member of many committees of this Congress and 
well known to many on Capitol Hill and the city of Washington.
  Phineas Indritz died on October 15, 1997, at the age of 81 at Holy 
Cross Hospital following a long illness. Phineas was a graduate of the 
University of Chicago with A.B. and J.D. cum laude degrees, served as 
Assistant Solicitor and Counsel at the U.S. Department of the Interior 
from 1938 to 1957, except during the years of World War II, when he 
served with distinction in the Army Air Forces.
  He then began 20 years of service on Capitol Hill as a staff member 
to the Government Operations Committee, first as counsel for the 
Subcommittee on Public Works and Resources in 1957 and then going on to 
other assignments.
  In 1963, he became chief counsel of the Subcommittee on Natural 
Resources and Power, and at the same time, in 1969, to the Subcommittee 
on Conservation and Natural Resources. He also served with distinction 
as a member of the staff of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and 
also for its Subcommittee on Energy and Power.
  He has long been known for the outstanding work he has done for human 
rights, protection of natural resources, and for his work as teacher 
and scholar and educator in the area of law.
  Mr. Speaker, he will be missed, and I extend my sorrow and sympathy 
to the members of his family who properly grieve the loss of a great 
man.
  Some may remember the series of articles written by David Maraniss 
for the Washington Post about the Committee on Energy and Commerce in 
1983. In one of these articles, dated July 18, 1983, was a portrait of 
Phineas Indritz. I would ask that a passage from this article be 
reprinted as follows:

       There is a special desk and telephone reserved for Phineas 
     Indritz, the gnome of the Energy and Commerce Committee, on 
     the third floor of House Annex II, and he is received there 
     with the respect befitting a wise old man who has worked in 
     Congress since the birth of the youngest committee member.
       That Indritz retired from government service several years 
     ago and is not on the committee's payroll matters not at all 
     when it comes to his standing and influence. Chairman John D. 
     Dingell loves him like a brother, and it is fair to say that 
     Dingell keeps him around because he needs him: Little Phineas 
     is in many respects the social conscience of Big John.
       Every few months, Indritz appears in Dingell's office with 
     a wrong that must be righted, with evidence of an injustice 
     inflicted by corporate America or some agency of the federal 
     bureaucracy. ``He's like a kid who comes home every day with 
     a different stray dog or cat and plops it on our doorstep,'' 
     one committee colleague said. ``Sometimes we wish he wouldn't 
     bring them home, but his heart is always in the right place. 
     And usually the things he believes in are things that ought 
     to be done.''
       All of this must be taken into account when one considers 
     the life and times of H.R. 100. This measure, popularly known 
     as the unisex insurance bill, has sent the insurance industry 
     into a multimillion-dollar lobbying frenzy. It has been 
     embraced by feminist groups as the centerpiece of their 
     campaign for economic equity. And it has trapped Energy and 
     Commerce members in the middle of a ferocious fight that many 
     of them wish would be waged somewhere else.
       Indritz, committee aide emeritus, dropped H.R. 100 on the 
     doorstep. He is one of the bill's principal authors. An old 
     civil rights activist and New Deal liberal, Indritz is 
     blessed with talents as extraordinary as his name. For years, 
     his amazing juggling feats with bowling pins have delighted 
     friends and strangers in parks around Capitol Hill.
       He drives through town in a fine old convertible, his head 
     barely protruding above the steering wheel. His tweed suit 
     pockets hold a bountiful supply of hard candy, and his 
     scholarly mind retains more obscure facts about 
     constitutional law and legal briefs on discrimination than 
     can be found in the library of the Supreme Court.
       It was his lifelong obsession with fighting discrimination 
     that led Indritz several years ago to take hold of a bill 
     prohibiting insurance companies from using race or sex in 
     setting rates for policyholders.

  Phineas will be greatly missed. We are fortunate that his legacy is 
so long, and continues to live with us and help us every day. He is 
survived by his two daughters, Tahma Metz of Bethesda and Tova Indritz 
of Albuquerque, NM; and a son, Dr. Doren Indritz of Phoenix, AZ; a 
sister; and two grandsons. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife 
of 34 years, Ruth Gould Indritz.

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