[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 111 (Thursday, September 5, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1511-E1512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 ON THE SWEARING-IN OF J. RUSSELL GEORGE AS INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR THE 
             CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. STEPHEN HORN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 5, 2002

  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, all of us who serve in Congress depend heavily 
on skilled, capable and hard-working staff members to meet the heavy 
demands of committee hearings, floor action and all of the other 
activities of a national legislature. These staff members serve in many 
roles, ranging from our personal staffs who handle a wide variety of 
issues to specialists at the Congressional Research Service, the 
General Accounting Office, the leadership staffs and our committees.

[[Page E1512]]

  Over the past decade of my service in the U.S. House, I have been 
blessed with a strong and effective group of staff members who have 
helped me meet the needs of the 38th District of California. My staff 
also has helped me engage in vigorous oversight of government programs 
as a subcommittee chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform.
  Today I want to recognize and honor one particular member of my staff 
who has served with me for nearly eight years as staff director and 
chief counsel for the House Subcommittee on Government Management, 
Information and Technology, which is now called the Subcommittee on 
Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental 
Relations.
  J. Russell George joined my staff in 1995, shortly after Republicans 
won control of the House and I was appointed a subcommittee chairman. 
Since that time, Russell has been my key adviser and chief aide in 
directing the subcommittee through hundreds of hearings that 
investigated every department of the federal government. He helped me 
prod executive agencies into a serious and sustained effort to prevent 
any major breakdown of government computer systems due to software 
problems related to the Year 2000 changeover. He was a key force in 
pressing for legislation to collect debts owed to the taxpayers and he 
has directed many other subcommittee initiatives that have saved 
hundreds of millions of dollars while making government programs more 
effective in meeting the needs of our citizens.
  All of these efforts built on Russell's prior experience as a New 
York prosecutor, as an aide to Senator Bob Dole of Kansas and as a 
White House aide under President George H.W. Bush from 1990 to 1993. 
They also serve as a excellent foundation for the new challenge that 
Russell takes on today after being sworn in as the new Inspector 
General for the Corporation for National and Community Service. Senator 
Dole administered the oath of office and both of us are proud of our 
roles in spotting Russell's ability and putting that talent to work for 
the taxpayers.
  I know Senator Dole and I also were pleased that Russell's parents, 
Jonas and Celeste George, were able to attend today's ceremonies. 
Russell was born in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City on October 
8, 1963. His father is a retired New York City Transit Authority 
Supervisor and his mother, Celeste Russell George, is a retired 
secretary.
  Russell grew up in the Laurelton section of Queens, New York, where 
he attended public elementary and junior high schools. Following an 
entrance examination, he gained admission to Brooklyn Technical High 
School, where he took pre-law prep courses to follow his dream of 
becoming an attorney. From a very early age, Russell demonstrated a 
commitment for public service, raising funds for charities, and at the 
age of ten, publishing a neighborhood newspaper aimed at his peers.
  Following his high school graduation, Russell entered Howard 
University here in Washington and began his career in public service. A 
political science major, with a history minor, Russell was involved in 
college politics and was elected as the undergraduate representative to 
the Board of Trustees of Howard. He also served as an intem on Capitol 
Hill and that lead to his hiring as a clerk on the personal staff of 
Senator Dole, who at the time was chairman of the Senate Finance 
Committee. Russell remained on the Senator's staff until his graduation 
from Howard, working nearly full-time, while winning placement on the 
Dean's List and graduating magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa in 1985.
  Following Howard, Russell entered the Harvard Law School with the 
stated goal of ``achieving legal training and returning to my community 
to serve it.'' Russell remained true to that commitment by becoming a 
prosecutor in the District Attorney's Office in Queens, New York, 
following his graduation in 1988. He tried cases and argued appeals 
before leaving to join the Administration of President George H.W. 
Bush, first as assistant general counsel in the Office of Management 
and Budget, and later as associate director for policy in the White 
House's Office of National Service. It was in that latter position, 
that Russell was first introduced to the National and Community Service 
Act of 1990, when he was instructed to implement the recently passed 
legislation.
  After serving in the Bush Administration, Russell practiced law at a 
corporate law firm in New York, but in 1995 I was able to lure him back 
to Washington to head my subcommittee staff. Russell has been a 
tremendous resource and aid for me through many long hours and days of 
difficult work. I thank him for his dedication and hard work and I wish 
him all the very best in what I know will continue to be a very 
distinguished career in public service. He is a wonderful person and a 
sterling example of the men and women who serve our country so very 
well.

                          ____________________