[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 167 (Wednesday, December 5, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S12445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO MONICA TENCATE

 Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a 
departing Senate Finance Committee staffer, Monica Tencate. She has 
served the Senate with great distinction, and it is with much sadness 
that I am bidding her goodbye. I'd like to take a few moments to 
describe her contribution.
  Monica came to the Senate from California in 1998, and joined 
Chairman Roth's Finance Committee health team. After effective service 
there, she moved to Senator Frist's Subcommittee on Public Health, 
making a tremendous contribution on a broad range of challenging HELP 
Committee issues. I know her years with Senator Frist were very 
rewarding ones for her, so I was delighted that she was willing to 
return to the Finance Committee to work with me, as Director of the 
Finance Committee's health policy team.
  As I look back at this year, Monica was a real leader in the 
Committee's effort to strengthen and improve Medicare for the 21st 
Century, including prescription drug coverage for Medicare 
beneficiaries. She did a stellar job in helping to assemble a 
Tripartisan group, which put forward a framework for future success in 
this area. Due to the September 11 terrorist attacks, making major 
improvements to Medicare will have to wait until 2002. I believe, 
however, that we've laid a solid foundation for next year's efforts, 
and Monica's contribution was indispensable.
  Monica also played a key role in the Committee's efforts to help 
provide coverage to the uninsured, to streamline Medicare regulations 
for beneficiaries and providers, and to address potentially serious 
problems posed by the new hospital outpatient payment system. She's 
done all this while keeping in mind the reality that our federal health 
programs aren't free--it's hard-working Americans who pay for them. 
It's easy to lose sight of that fact here inside the Beltway, but 
Monica never has.
  Monica's contribution to me and to the Senate, in fact, went beyond 
policy and politics. She was a true team player, earning the respect of 
everyone she worked with, and the affection of her fellow Finance 
Committee staffers. And she did all this during one of this body's most 
tumultuous years in recent history--a year we'll all remember for the 
50-50 Senate, the change in party control, the September 11 attacks, 
and finally the anthrax attack that drove many of us out of our 
offices. She served in her extraordinarily challenging job under these 
difficult circumstances with grace, commitment, and good humor. She 
will be sorely missed.
  Now Monica is heading home to San Diego, to rejoin her husband Mike, 
who's also serving the nation in the United States Marines. I wish her 
and Mike every blessing in this new phase of their life, and I extend 
to her my deepest thanks.

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