[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 10, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H5162-H5167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         A TRIBUTE TO AL DAVIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
on the subject of this Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from South Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, we are here tonight to honor Al Davis, a 
dear friend, who died in the prime of life in a tragic, wholly 
unnecessary accident. But in his 56 years, he made a huge, if 
unheralded, contribution to the government of this country. We have 
lost a close associate, a valuable colleague. The House has lost part 
of its institutional memory and its analytical ability, particularly in 
the bramble bush we call tax policy; and the country, the country has 
lost a genuine, if sometimes critical, patriot.
  Before Al became the chief economist for the Committee on Ways and 
Means, he was the chief economist for the Committee on the Budget; and 
it was on the Committee on the Budget that I came to know him best.
  Mr. Speaker, if I might digress a minute, I would say that from 1969 
to 1970 I served as a young officer, Army officer in the Pentagon and 
interacted with Congress and its staff; and when I came here in 1983 as 
a Member of Congress, the most striking change I found in the 
institution was in the staff, Members' staff and committee staff both. 
The number of staff had increased several fold, and the professional 
quality has increased even more. And more than I had ever appreciated, 
I soon found out how the House literally could not function without our 
staff. Their roles are often off stage. They make, however, those of us 
on stage look good. They keep the debate moving forward, and they see 
to it that the House churns out its enormous work product of bills and 
reports and conference agreements and correspondence and countless 
other documents.
  Even among the excellent staff that is throughout the House on both 
sides of the aisle, Al Davis stood out. He was noted for two areas of 
expertise: the Tax Code and Social Security. And in those fields, he 
had few peers. He was good because he knew what he was doing, believed 
in what he was doing, and never tired of what he was doing until he got 
it right.

                              {time}  2030

  I often asked Al a question and got a tentative answer. Then, a week 
later, long after I had forgotten the question I put to him, I got from 
Al a memo, a fax sheet, a graph, a table, whatever. He then came up and 
explained it to me meticulously in a way that anybody, me included, can 
understand; because Al was not just our analyst or our economist, he 
was our tutor. Not only did Al produce memos that answered the 
questions we put to him, but he also came forth with memos containing 
answers to questions we should have raised but did not.
  I can remember myself more than once in the well of this House 
struggling, coping to defend our position, only to have Al appear from 
the benches back here with a memo he just happened to have written in 
anticipation of this issue.
  He was a Democrat, make no mistake about it, but he did not pull 
punches for partisan purposes. If one wanted a sophist to help 
rationalize a poor policy proposal, you did not want Al Davis. On the 
other hand, if we had the right position, if we were principled, if we 
faced entrenched opposition, special interests, and found our policy 
hard to defend, we wanted Al Davis on our side, because he would cut to 
the core of an issue and bend every effort to help us.
  His encyclopedic knowledge, his keen mind, his corporate memory, his 
sense of principle, his passion for the truth, and his patience in 
explaining it made Al Davis a joy to work with, a colleague that we 
cherished, a friend we will never forget.
  The House will go on without him, of course, but the debate about 
taxes will be a little less incisive, the explanations of Social 
Security will be a little less clear, the arguments against the deficit 
not quite so compelling without the work of Al Davis behind them.
  He served his Congress, this Congress, and his country well, and 
those of us who worked with him will be inspired for a long time by his 
example, moved by what he taught us, consoled by his humor, for as long 
as we serve in the Congress of the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend and colleague, the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Sabo), former chairman of the Committee on the Budget 
who also worked with Al Davis on the Committee on the Budget.
  Mr. SABO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, in this institution of democracy there is always a small 
group of smart, talented, hardworking, honest people who labor 
anonymously behind the scenes. They are absolutely essential to the 
success of our form of government. Al Davis was at the top of that 
group. His brilliance was exceeded only by his work effort and his 
integrity.
  Al worked hard to help those of us who are Members of Congress 
fulfill our responsibilities in developing, debating, and voting on tax 
and budget laws. He also helped other staffers, policy thinkers, 
academics, reporters, and the general public understand the issues. I 
am told that whenever tax policy experts around town ran into a 
particularly thorny problem, they looked at each other and would say, 
this is an Al question.
  Al was also brutal in his honesty. If he thought something was a bad 
idea, it did not matter where it came from, he would tell the truth. Al 
made himself learn budget rules even when they

[[Page H5163]]

seemed silly, so that he could bring his understanding of economics and 
tax law into the budget process. He spent endless hours late into the 
night doing calculations and grinding out memos on every possible point 
of argument or challenge that might come up from a floor debate.
  Al patiently answered the same questions over and over, so Members 
who had not been in the committee debates could understand what they 
were voting on. He spent endless hours helping our staffs learn what 
they needed to know.
  Having said all that, I have to admit there are other staffers here 
who share these same traits. So what about Al made him so special and 
so sad to lose him? Much has been said of Al's love of irony and quick 
humor, but I do not remember him that way. To me, the best single word 
to describe Al is ``twinkly.'' He was always smiling and winking about 
something, usually involving numbers. His eyes would sparkle as he saw 
wonderful number games and possibilities in his mind long before the 
rest of us caught up with him. There was a little bounce in those long, 
lanky strides as he walked down the hall, and when he had his special 
numbers game going in his head, he literally danced.
  Like many of the people in the world I come from, Al was a man of few 
words, but he also was a man of many numbers. He used his profound 
understanding of numerical relationships and the flow of money to make 
life better for all Americans, but particularly for people in need. At 
heart, he was a deeply kind man and a true populist. The House of 
Representatives, indeed all the people of this country, have lost a 
great resource, and I have lost a dear friend. I will miss him very 
much.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. 
Lewis), who serves on the Committee on Ways and Means and knew Al in 
that capacity.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, the 
gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt), for bringing this Special 
Order tonight to honor Al Davis.
  Mr. Speaker, it is true, Al Davis was a brilliant economist. But to 
all of my Democratic colleagues on the Committee on Ways and Means, he 
was so much more. He was our conscience on the committee. Somehow, the 
words ``dedication'' and ``tireless'' do not seem adequate to describe 
the strength of Al's commitment to his work. He spent countless hours 
on weekends and at night responding to all sorts of Members' inquiries 
and issues; even some that, to put it kindly, might be considered 
harebrained.
  Still, he took every request seriously and would leave no question 
unanswered. His efforts were never halfhearted. Unsatisfied with one 
analysis or two or even ten, Al would often put together hundreds of 
analyses. Al would leave no stone unturned to provide all the facts, no 
matter how obscure.
  Despite his unparalleled knowledge and command of some of the most 
complicated issues dealt with by Congress, Al had an amazing and rare 
ability to distill and explain information so that it was 
understandable to the least knowledgeable person. Yet he never, but 
never, condescended to anyone.
  There was something about Al's absentminded-professor persona that 
was both disarming and reassuring. He could always be counted on to 
calm passionate temperaments and remind us all of the facts. He would 
not let us get caught up in hyperbole, and he kept us focused on why we 
are here: to serve as a voice for the underprivileged and the 
disenfranchised.
  Though he might not have enjoyed the name recognition that my 
colleagues and I do, there is no doubt that his work was critical to 
our efforts. Without capable and dedicated staff like Al, this place, 
Mr. Speaker, would not run. I tell the Members tonight, we will forever 
be grateful for his service, commitment, and dedication.
  Mr. Speaker, Al Davis fought the good fight. He kept the faith. He 
worked hard to make things better for those who needed it most. I truly 
believe we are blessed to have known him. Al, we will miss you. My 
friend, a job well done.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Dakota 
(Mr. Pomeroy), also a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.
  Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from South 
Carolina (Mr. Spratt), for organizing tonight's Special Order in honor 
of the memory of Al Davis.
  Mr. Speaker, when I arrived in Washington as a freshman Member of 
Congress in January, 1993, I received an assignment to the Committee on 
the Budget. That was when I met Al Davis. At the time, Al was the 
committee's senior economist. For someone like me, brand new to the 
Federal budget policy, Al was nothing less than the Rosetta Stone.
  Even before I knew his name, I knew him by my first impression. It 
was an impression that I held for the next 10 years working with him, 
our giant brain. The Washington Post said that Al could translate the 
most arcane economic data into real-world language. That is absolutely 
true.
  But I must also admit that sometimes even Al's translations were hard 
to grasp. Why? Because, although he was a master of honing sharp 
political arguments out of obtuse provisions in the Internal Revenue 
Code, he would never sacrifice content or accuracy. If a Member came to 
Al with a winning political argument that did not quite square with the 
facts, Al would patiently explain how the argument could be changed 
politically and substantively to be sound and accurate. He loved 
politics, for sure, but Al cared deeply about the enterprise of 
government, and believed that we all have an obligation to carry on our 
public debate with integrity.
  Al was a senior economist and then chief economist for the Committee 
on the Budget for all my 6 years on the Committee on the Budget. Most 
know that until recently, Democrat staff of the Committee on the Budget 
were housed in the old O'Neill Building, which was also the dormitory 
for House and Senate pages.
  It was quite appropriate that the Committee on the Budget staff 
worked out of a dormitory, because when we went to see Al Davis, 
working along with his colleagues, Richard Kogan and the others who 
served with such talent the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Sabo) and 
then the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt), we truly felt like 
we were in the gifted and talented dorm at college. Here would be Al in 
his office, piled high with every budget and economic resource we could 
imagine, statutes, studies, charts, you name it. Of course, we would 
always find Al perched in the middle of it with an open collar, or in 
the summer a short-sleeved shirt, jacket and tie hanging on the wall, 
just in case of emergencies.
  Al would field questions about budget and tax policy with the 
excitement and enthusiasm of a kid. He not only would answer the 
question, but also point out the humor, the irony, the inconsistency, 
or the sheer lunacy of the provision under discussion. When we went to 
see Al, we were truly talking to the smartest kid in the class.
  Al was a very influential staffer, although he had no use for the 
trappings of authority. Al loved his work for its own sake and not 
because it made him powerful or sought after, which probably explains 
why Al treated people like he did. There would be no one in the world 
more surprised than Al to have an editorial written about him in the 
Washington Post. He was just as happy to explain the finer points of 
tax policy to a junior staffer as he was a senior Member. If one was 
interested in learning the substance, then Al Davis was interested in 
teaching it to you.
  Because of his knowledge and intelligence, we made great demands on 
Al. We asked him not only to undertake economic analyses to support our 
policies, but also to develop the arguments and market them. On many 
occasions, I would decide the night before markup that our charts did 
not quite capture the perfect argument for the next day. I would ask my 
staff to call Al to find the data to create the perfect chart. Armed 
with such an 11th hour request, you can imagine how anyone would be 
exasperated, and occasionally Al was. But even those times, a few hours 
later, sometimes well after midnight, Al would send over the chart, 
just as we had asked.
  I served, along with my legislative director for 10 years, Mike 
Smart, with Al and developed the greatest respect and admiration for 
him. As he loved

[[Page H5164]]

ideas, so he also loved life. I remember my surprise once at 
disembarking at the Bangor, Maine airport to find Al Davis and his 
loving partner Mary, Al having one of these goofy camping caps on. He 
was off for a canoe trip, an incongruous notion for me, thinking of our 
giant brain paddling that canoe in the wilds of Maine; but that is the 
kind of diverse and loving-life guy Al Davis was.
  I have found my years in Congress to be enriched significantly by 
knowing Al and having the benefit of his counsel. I will miss him very 
much.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the following items: The 
Washington Post editorial on Al Davis; the June 9 Tax Notes write-up by 
Warren Rojas on Al Davis and his contribution to the profession; a 
tribute in the June 9 Tax Notes from Gene Steurele entitled ``Economic 
Perspective''; and last but not least, a beautiful eulogy that was 
presented at the St. Charles Catholic Church in Arlington, Virginia, on 
Monday, June 9, by Dan Maffei, also a staff member of the Committee on 
Ways and Means.
  The documents referred to are as follows.

                [From The Washington Post, June 7, 2003]

                          (By Albert J. Davis)

       Unless you're a tax and budget wonk, you probably didn't 
     know Al Davis. Mr. Davis, the Democrats' chief economist on 
     the House Ways and Means Committee, was one of those classic 
     Capitol Hill staffers whose effectiveness can't be measured 
     by the number of times they are mentioned in the newspaper. 
     But from his cluttered office in the Longworth House Office 
     Building, Mr. Davis helped mold and inform the public debate 
     about what he saw as the troubling direction of the nation's 
     economic policy, churning out fact sheets that were as 
     accurate as they were partisan. He could get as worked up--
     maybe even more--about Democrats using distorted numbers as 
     about Republicans who did so.
       Mr. Davis had the gift of being able to translate the most 
     arcane economic data into real-world language that Democratic 
     lawmakers--the people he called his ``customers''--could use 
     to make their case. For reporters scrambling to make sense of 
     a study or to dredge up an obscure detail, he was the 
     ultimate resource, with a seemingly encyclopedic 
     understanding of the tax code. If you wrote or advocated 
     about such matters, you'd quickly find your way to Al--or he 
     to you. He patiently educated the uninitiated, from green 
     legislative aides to reporters new to the economics beat. 
     When a bill was on the floor, Mr. Davis was always there with 
     his bulging accordion file, colleague Janice Mays recalled, 
     offering when the most obscure of points came up, ``I just 
     happen to have a memo here.''
       Mr. Davis died last week at 56 after being struck by a cab 
     on his way home from work. The accident occurred as congress 
     was finishing work on a tax bill that Mr. Davis detested, 
     and, as he lingered in a coma for 11 days after the accident, 
     we can only imagine how frustrated he would have been not to 
     be immersed in the debate. Len Burman, co-director of the Tax 
     Policy Center, recalled visiting Mr. Davis at George 
     Washington University Hospital and delivering updates on the 
     latest outrages in the tax measure, ``I kept on thinking, 
     he's definitely going to wake up for this,'' Mr. Burman said, 
     Mr. Davis's boss, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), said that 
     Mr. Davis ``promoted truth in an institution too used to 
     skirting around politically inconvenient facts.''
                                  ____


                     [From Tax Notes, June 9, 2003]

        Economists, Lawmakers Laud Departed Democratic Colleague

                           (By Warren Rojas)

       Fiscal watchdogs on both sides of aisle last week grieved 
     the recent death of House Ways and Means Committee Chief 
     Democratic Economist Albert J. Davis--a public servant many 
     revered for his sharp mind, quick wit, and commitment to 
     economic transparency.
       Davis, whom colleagues remembered as a fixture of the 
     Washington economics community since arriving here in the 
     early 1980s, died May 30 after being struck by a taxicab in 
     Arlington, Va., on May 19. Although at press time memorial 
     arrangements for Davis remained were uncertain, Democratic 
     leaders plan to sponsor a special order on June 10 allowing 
     lawmakers one hour of debate time on the chamber floor to 
     share their memories of Davis.
       ``Our members are all sort of devastated because Al was our 
     crutch,'' Ways and Means Democratic staff director and 
     Davis's most recent boss Janice Mays said about Davis, that 
     he was the unofficial ``go-to'' policy guru for most House 
     Democrats.
       ``From my standpoint, he was the perfect staffer. I am 
     really desolate,'' Mays said.
       Davis's chief foil, Ways and Means senior economist for the 
     majority Alex Brill, voiced genuine admiration for Davis's 
     ``strong commitment and belief in economics and his issues.''
       ``We rarely agreed, but he was someone I respected,'' Brill 
     told Tax Analyists. ``He was someone who worked hard and made 
     his issues vibrant and real.'' While they quite often 
     digested the same economic data only to come to diametrically 
     opposed policy positions, Brill said Davis usually emerged 
     with a ``fair read'' of alternative views.
       ``He certainly had that strong grasp of the science,'' he 
     said, adding, ``And I know by reputation that he dissected 
     [the information] very quickly.''
       Similarly, Ways, and Means Committee ranking minority 
     member Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., said that Congress as an 
     institution would suffer from Davis's sudden departure.
       ``Though he appeared soft-spoken and cerebral, Al Davis was 
     passionate about defending the interests of the working men 
     and women of this country,'' Rangel said. ``Using his spread 
     sheets, his charts, and his memos, Al was a powerful fighter 
     for economic justice. He promoted truth in an institution too 
     used to skirting around politically inconvenient facts. Al's 
     death is a loss for the entire nation.''


                          A National Treasure

       Born in Dallas in 1947, Davis laid the foundation for his 
     economic ascension by securing Bachelor of Arts in economics 
     (with Honors) from Swarthmore College in 1968. He followed 
     that up by earning a Master of Arts in economics (with 
     concentrations in international economics and public finance) 
     from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1974.
       With tools in hand, Davis then began his professional 
     career as a research director and fiscal policy expert for 
     the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (1976-1980) before moving 
     to Washington and leapfrogging from governmental agency to 
     governmental agency, servicing as: senior analyst at the U.S. 
     Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (1980-
     1983); senior economist for the Democratic staff of the House 
     Budget Committee (1984-1994); chief economist of the 
     Democratic staff of the House Budget Committee (1995-1998); 
     and chief economist for the Ways and Means Democrats (1999 to 
     2003).
       While his resume reads like a road map followed by the 
     prototypical federal number cruncher, economists and friends 
     claim his fiscal vision and translation skills made Davis an 
     unparalleled ally.
       According to Mays, Democrats treasured Davis's counsel 
     because the combination of computer savvy and homemade 
     economic models enabled him to provide lawmakers in the 
     minority with in-depth analysis on par with what Treasury and 
     the Office of Management and Budget deliver to the White 
     House.
       ``He could kind of give you the facts of who would benefit 
     and who wouldn't from various tax changes,'' Mays said of his 
     understanding of how taxes, budget, and long-term fiscal 
     policy changes here all interrelated. ``He had a great 
     overview of how all those things would work together.''
       Rather than hoard that knowledge, Mays said Davis enjoyed 
     the intellectual exercise of sifting through the tax code and 
     bringing all its hidden flaws to light.
       ``He enjoyed explaining how the machine worked. Members 
     would talk to him and go away understanding something a 
     little bit better,'' she said of the impromptu tutorials and 
     explanations Davis could provide at a moment's notice. She 
     added that often, Davis would make time to talk to any 
     legislative assistant who reached out to him--happily logging 
     20-hour workdays to explain the underlying economic 
     consequences of any legislative proposal.
       Explaining how Davis was more than a mere policy work, 
     Urban Institute economist and Tax Policy Institute codirector 
     Leonard E. Burman painted Davis as a ``legislative 
     detective'' adept at sifting through the fine print of most 
     tax bills and spelling out the particulars to Hill watchers 
     and members alike.
       ``If you talked to Al every day, you would routinely learn 
     things that others might not read about in the mainstream 
     papers till two or three weeks later,'' he stated, hailing 
     Davis as ``an ordinary guy who was pivotal to how tax policy 
     works.''
       Burman praised Davis for working ``tirelessly to keep both 
     the Democrats and the Republicans on the Ways and Means 
     committee honest and informed about their tax policy options 
     and the implications of their choices,'' and thanked him for 
     keeping everyone else in Washington up to speed on the day-
     to-day tax grind.
       ``He knew how to read the tax law and could figure out how 
     these goofy provisions concocted in the dead of night would 
     [effect] other issues down the road. And he knew how to write 
     so that anyone could understand it,'' Burman said of Davis's 
     copious policy memos.
       On a personal level, Burman said he would most miss 
     scanning the tax dailies in search of a (supposedly) 
     clandestine comment from Davis. ``I am going to miss reading 
     articles in Tax Notes and other places where a House staffer 
     or some other well-placed aide was quoted and picking out his 
     voice--because I always knew it was Al,'' he said.
       Congressional Research Service economist and close friend 
     Jane G. Gravelle called Davis's death ``a great, great 
     tragedy'' for those who were close to him and to the 
     economics profession as a whole.
       Although he prided himself on staying behind the scenes, 
     Gravelle said Davis clearly had a ``great effect on the 
     transmission of economic knowledge'' both in and around 
     Washington.
       ``To me, he was the epitome of the staff adviser to 
     Congress,'' she said--although Gravelle quickly added that 
     Davis was somehow able to avoid getting mired down in the

[[Page H5165]]

     political frustration and procedural malaise that often 
     overtakes people who stay on Capitol Hill too long.
       ``Whereas there are those on the Hill to whom politics is 
     the predominant issue, Al had principles. He always wanted to 
     communicate the truth--even if his members didn't want to 
     hear it,'' she stated.
       ``He was very quick in seeing through to the essence of 
     things--particularly sneaky ways that people could turn and 
     twist the tax code to benefit from policy changes,'' Gravelle 
     said of Davis's economic intuition. She added that Davis's 
     economic know-how and command of public policy would be hard 
     to replace.
       ``To replace that set, to explain things and understand 
     them--quite often these two do not go together. Particularly 
     in economics,'' she quipped. ``I can't help but believe that 
     Democrats will suffer from the loss of those skills.''
       Brookings Institution senior fellow and Tax Policy 
     Institute codirector William G. Gale said Davis's passing 
     would leave a void that will not easily be filled.
       ``He was deeply committed to what he was doing--but he was 
     also willing to take a step back and laugh about the policy 
     silliness,'' Gale recounted. ``He will be sorely missed both 
     personally and professionally.''
       While noting that he believes there is a sea of unsung 
     policy experts and congressional staffers keeping most 
     lawmakers afloat, Gale hinted that the stereotypical 
     Washington bureaucrats do their jobs ``maybe not quite as 
     well as Al did.''
       ``He wouldn't have bothered writing such clear, compelling 
     stuff if he didn't think it mattered,'' he said of Davis's 
     economic convictions.
       Moreover, Gale suggested that Davis's long commitment to 
     combating complexity and other long-term fiscal concerns had 
     renewed his sense of purpose in recent years.
       ``One of the things he really railed against was the 
     disingenuity of how tax cuts were advanced over the last few 
     years,'' Gale said. ``It was a constant thorn in his side 
     that tax cut advocates were using any argument to justify 
     their tax cuts. So he spent a lot of time trying to be a 
     reality check on those people.''
       Mays noted, however, that even though they had been 
     overtaken by the immediate sense of mourning, she and her 
     staff would ultimately honor Davis's memory by continuing to 
     shine a light on potential abuses of the tax code.
       ``Al would want us to keep fighting. He would not want us 
     to stop just because he is not one of the troops anymore,'' 
     she stated.
       Contributions in memory of Albert J. Davis may be made to 
     memorial funds established in his name at Swarthmore College 
     and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
                                  ____


                     [From Tax Notes, June 9, 2003]

                         A Tribute to Al Davis

                           (By Gene Steuerle)

       Al Davis. Al Davis. Where are you, Al, now that we need you 
     more than ever? Many tributes are going to be made about Al, 
     who died on Friday, May 30, as a result of injuries from 
     being struck by a taxi. Still, I feel compelled to add my own 
     accolade, not just in gratitude for what he did for me over 
     the years, but to challenge all of us who engage in tax 
     analysis and policy to try to live up to his standards.
       Anyone who worked with Al knows that he was a master at 
     putting together information and disseminating it in easily 
     digestible nuggets. He loved data and would reconfigure and 
     recompile it until the stories hidden in the numbers came out 
     and hit you over the head as if they were apparent all along. 
     He fed all of us information about actions we had missed--
     especially if they involved some sleight of hand, some 
     manipulation of the numbers, or simply some little noticed 
     special interest provision snuck into a bill late at night. 
     In this endeavor he was ceaselessly bipartisan. Those for 
     whom he worked, Democrats on the Ways and Means and House 
     Budget Committees, may be well aware of his biting edge when 
     he thought Republicans were running amok, but I can assure 
     you that he was equally informative, honest, and skeptical 
     when Democrats were dodging or ignoring principles of tax or 
     budget policy.
       Al was a national treasure. He knew more quirks of the tax 
     and budget process than most of us will ever hope to guess 
     at, much less understand. He could translate confusing rules, 
     jumbled numbers, and incomplete actions, with a keen 
     awareness of just how they were going to affect the policy 
     process. He would spend whatever time was necessary to 
     educate his bosses and his colleagues in the tax and budget 
     community, even if it meant that he had to work 18 hours 
     instead of 12 to get other parts of his job done.
       Al and I go back to graduate school days at the University 
     of Wisconsin long ago. We both had returned to school after a 
     military tour of duty, and we both had a keen interest in 
     issues of public policy. Al was quickly disaffected by some 
     of the arcane aspects of economics--those that might be great 
     for tenure but had no applicability to the real world. Al 
     wanted to solve problems and his interest from the start was 
     in public policy. How could it be made to work best for the 
     public? From beginning to end, I don't think there was ever 
     any other motivation that so drove him. He was an exemplary 
     public servant, the embodiment of the concept of service.
       At the same time, he was fun. Sometimes when action was 
     fierce, battle lines drawn, and staff abuse the order of the 
     day, Al would smile brightly and plunge harder than ever into 
     the morass to try to come out with information that was 
     straightforward, sensible, and influential. And always 
     timely. He had a special smirk for much of the silliness that 
     always prevails in the legislative process, and when you saw 
     it come over his face, you got ready for a good story--the 
     same way you anticipated a Bob Hope punch line. I think Al's 
     energy cells were fueled by the action going on around him.
       Integrity largely defines Al's approach to work and 
     policymaking. There's something about our system of 
     government that makes it dependent on people like Al, the 
     ones who tell it like it is and are willing to bear the 
     consequences. There's a story that circulates in government 
     about the many staff persons in Congress and the Executive 
     Branch who either stare at their shoes or simply tell their 
     bosses what they want to hear. The shoe staring arises when a 
     elected official says something outlandish or wrong, but no 
     one has the nerve to correct him or even put better 
     information into the conversation. Al's failure to play these 
     games may have foreclosed certain career options, but he was 
     usually in his element in the jobs he took, always just below 
     the surface visible to the public but right at the heart of 
     policy.
       It's hard to convey fully the loss to the policy community, 
     much less to Al's friends and loved ones. I do know this. 
     Al's death warns us once again that those who would serve 
     must do it now, not later after some power has been obtained 
     or some career ambition achieved. Thanks, Al. And every time 
     I see still more silliness in the tax or budget process, I'll 
     sense your outrage that it couldn't have been done better and 
     your humor at how it all happened. I'll try to maintain hope 
     that, with people like you to grace our lives, maybe, just 
     maybe, we can muddle through once again.
                                  ____


 Reflections at the Mass of Christian Burial for Albert J. Davis, St. 
Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Arlington, Virginia, Monday, June 9, 
                                  2003

       My name is Dan Maffei. I am the spokesperson on the 
     Democratic Staff of the Committee on Ways and Means where Al 
     worked.
       I first got to know Al though his memos. Al's memos were 
     sort of like his Star of Bethlehem. They did not reveal all 
     the truths but they led you to him and you were seldom 
     disappointed.
       Al's title was ``Chief Economist'' but Al knew more tax law 
     than most tax counsels and virtually anything about the 
     federal budget. He knew American history. When I had a 
     question about physics or Latin, it was a pretty good bet Al 
     would know that too.
       And Al didn't just know the answers, he knew where the 
     answers came from. He could explain how to understand them to 
     any journalist or staff member--his ``clients'' or 
     ``customers'' as he called them.
       Al was a greater communicator.
       Too often, the simple soundbite answer can lead to unfair 
     and unjust policy.
       But, as a wise member of the Ways and Means Committee once 
     said, ``If you have to `splain it' you've already lost.''
       Al Davis was the antidote to that axiom.
       Al could, by explaining something so well and so clearly, 
     reveal the simple truth within a complex issue.
       Al produced both quality and quantity. Memos, e-mails, 
     distribution analyses, spreadsheets, one-pagers and charts--
     charts, charts, charts.
       With such preparation, it is easy to understand why Al was 
     such a good sailor and outdoorsman. Compared to Al, the best 
     boy scout would look impromptu.
       Al even could predict the future.
       On the House floor, he was a walking library. A member 
     would ask some obscure question and Al would say, ``I happen 
     to have something on that right here.''
       Though he had served with distinction in the United States 
     Army, Al was not particularly good at taking orders, and not 
     good at delegating. But that did not matter. He was a staff 
     unto himself.
       Al had many bosses throughout his career but his big secret 
     was that he really worked for himself. All of his bosses 
     would quickly realize that, if allowed to do it his way, Al 
     could cause a great deal of trouble for some and do a great 
     deal of good for the working Americans.
       ``Business is good,'' Al would say.
       He would reveal the gimmicks, debunk myths, and correct bad 
     numbers.
       A couple of weeks ago, the Senate Republicans' tax bill was 
     derailed by ``an estimating error.'' A memo Al had written 
     two days earlier revealed a flawed estimate. Even as Al lay 
     in the hospital, he had thrown a wrench in the works of those 
     trying to get away with too many short-cuts.
       Al was angry at the current Administration and the 
     Republicans, not for their views but for their dishonesty.
       Al did not sit well for lies.
       Honest opinions, honest numbers, honest budgeting--these 
     meant a great deal to Al.
       He had a particular dislike of logically inconsistent 
     statements that were designed to con the public. He saw only 
     one rational reaction--ridicule.
       As he wrote, ``Most recently, the President has equated tax 
     cuts with `jobs.' He has warned against a first-round of tax 
     cuts as `small' as $350 billion. If economics is that simple, 
     why not eliminate all taxes? If economics were that simple, 
     families could get

[[Page H5166]]

     ahead by spending twice their income every year.''
       Al's sarcasm had a lighter side too, frequently accompanied 
     by that trademark grin.
       Back in the army, Al would quip that he was given a rifle 
     to guard a paint shed, a night stick to guard a depot, and 
     nothing at all to guard the Pentagon.
       Many years later when the Bush White House sent up a budget 
     wrapped in an American flag cover, Al's memo ripping the 
     budget's tax provisions apart had a bold stars and stripes 
     watermark.
       As the war in Iraq got under way, Al sent the following e-
     mail: ``The newspapers today say that the stock market 
     `soared' upon news of the war. Forget the dividend tax cut 
     plan, the stock market is taken care of.''
       Recently, I sent Al an e-mail about a new Democratic 
     Leadership Council idea to set up a ``prosperity reserve 
     fund'' so the Federal government could put away money to pay 
     down debt later on. Al's response was five words: ``Ringling 
     Brothers Barnum and Bailey''
       That was not the only Democratic dumb idea that came Al's 
     way. As each new young staffer came along, feeling that he or 
     she really had the solution, and came to Al with their flawed 
     idea, Al would sign. Or, it was something he had heard a 
     dozen times before, it would ge the head shake.
       Al was well practiced at rolling his eyes.
       Yet, Al had near endless patience. Frequently, a young 
     legislative aide would assure Al had lost patience with him 
     when, lo and behold, they would get an e-mail from Al with 
     all the answers they needed.
       Al disdained it when other staffers or members of Congress 
     would take themselves too seriously. That was a trait he did 
     not have.
       In fact, the most frequent victim of Al's acerbic wit was 
     Al himself. He would apologize for ``torturing'' people with 
     his depth explanations. Or say that some foolish person 
     decided to do a detailed analysis of this bill and then 
     attach a memo that he himself had done.
       Just about 6 weeks ago, I asked Al whether he had ever 
     taught college. Al could have made a great college professor. 
     Al said that had he finished his Ph.D., he might have 
     considered it.
       But that would have taken Al out of the front lines. In the 
     fight for better government and for a better life for the 
     working people of this country, Al was in the best place he 
     could be.
       For even though Al could seem cloistered among his books 
     and files and spreadsheets, and even though he would shun 
     meetings and had to be dragged to the House door, Al loved 
     being an agent in the process--and a potent one at that. He 
     had found work worthy of himself.
       And besides, it didn't whether he had the title, Al was the 
     best professor I ever had.

  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Sandlin), also a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.
  Mr. SANDLIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from South Carolina 
for yielding to me.
  Mr. Speaker, unlike many of my colleagues on the Committee on Ways 
and Means, I only knew Al Davis well for a brief period of time, 
although now I am in my fourth term. I had previously met Al, but I 
recently became a member of the committee. It did not take me long to 
learn that Al was an invaluable resource to all of us.
  Al's mastery of economics, his vast institutional knowledge and 
patient demeanor, combined with the rare ability to simplify and 
explain complex data, helped ease my transition and the transition of 
many others to the committee.

                              {time}  2045

  It served committee Democrats well during crucial tax debates.
  As several poignant columns have pointed out this past week, 
including these that have been referred to in The Washington Post and 
in Tax Notes, Al worked tirelessly to shed light on the ways in which 
data and statistics can be and often are manipulated and misrepresented 
to serve narrow purposes. At the same time, Al was proudly partisan and 
used his extensive knowledge to influence public debate on economic and 
fiscal policy.
  Whether one agreed or disagreed with Al, everyone who was familiar 
with him acknowledged the accuracy of his data and the sincerity of his 
motives. He never stopped fighting for economic justice, and he was 
especially passionate in his criticisms of the increasing inequities in 
the Tax Code. He clearly stood for the working men and the working 
women of this country.
  His charts, graphs, spreadsheets and memos were highly regarded on 
the Hill and among fiscal and budget policy experts, and his research 
and presence will be greatly missed.
  As many speakers here today are aware, Al's office space was a study 
in controlled chaos. I met with Al in his office shortly after I joined 
the committee in January, and I was impressed with both the volume of 
material in his office and the fact that he was able to quickly locate 
seemingly obscure information with very little effort. As committee 
members and staff know, Al typically carried much of this material with 
him at all times, carried it with him to the floor; and he always had 
relevant information handy. During our heated debates, he was a 
constantly reassuring sight to all of us on this side of the aisle and 
could always be counted on to clearly and concisely refute arguments on 
fiscal and budget policy made by our colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle.
  Simply put, Al is irreplaceable, a reality check for both Republicans 
and Democrats; and his friends and colleagues will feel his loss for 
years to come.
  Al's friend and a friend to the committee, Janice Mays, is the 
Democratic staff director and Al's most recent boss. On the issue of 
going forward from this point, she recently said, ``Al would want us to 
keep fighting. He would not want us to stop just because he is not one 
of the troops anymore.''
  There could be no better memorial than that; and Mr. Speaker, there 
could be no better compliment.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Doggett), also a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, as I am sure is the case with each of those 
who have spoken tonight, I come to these remarks with a heavy heart, 
one of the more difficult remarks that I make here I guess for two 
reasons, both because of my affection for Al and because he is not here 
to help me with the speech.
  As I look back over the floor, I see the spots where I would see Al 
sitting with John Buckley and Janice Mays and Dan Maffei, with Beth 
Vance and other members of the staff of our committee, knowing the loss 
that each of us speaks of tonight as a Member is a loss that has been 
suffered by his colleagues who worked with him, the closest as staff 
members on the Committee on Ways and Means.
  But I think of the many times that I have been here when I was over 
there vigorously scribbling the final notes of what I might say in 
rebuttal to some argument I heard when Al would come over and note 
something that had been omitted from the debate and totally change my 
speech; or when having concluded that the strongest argument for our 
side was a particular bit of data, I would turn to Al and have him 
indicate that it really was not quite as solid as perhaps the sheet 
that had come out from one of the various groups particularly 
interested in the matter might have indicated and that a stronger 
argument was to be found somewhere else.
  Al did all this with that sense of gentleness, of cooperation that 
has been spoken of by others here tonight. He was a remarkable 
individual.
  Also, I still have a collection of e-mails from Al because, as others 
have also pointed out, Al would see some bit of contradiction. One of 
them I came across was one that in a simple message said I was struck 
by the following sentence in the President's speech last night, 
preceded by an analysis by Al of the contradictions between what the 
President said and what the President and his administration had done.
  Al has provided the kind of careful insight to public policy, the 
kind of careful analysis of the numbers but also with an understanding 
of the human condition, an understanding in a life varied in 
experience, filled with love from his family and from his colleagues, 
and he brought that special insight to us so that it was not just a 
matter of regurgitating the numbers but of putting flesh and bone on 
those numbers and translating them into what they meant to ordinary 
American citizens in a way that few people I met here, either elected 
or unelected, have a capacity to do.
  As I think about the tragic loss of Al, something that came so 
unexpectedly to all of us, to his family, his friends, his colleagues, 
I think that while I will add a few more specifics in my extended 
remarks here tonight, that I would want to reflect on Al's commitment 
to words like dedication, industry, loyalty and integrity and would

[[Page H5167]]

say that when it came to issues like retirement security, like assuring 
that people could get health care, like guaranteeing that there was at 
least a little sanity in the budget process, and I initially met Al 
working with the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) and with 
his predecessor, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Sabo), as a young 
member of the Committee on the Budget, on issues like tax fairness that 
have been so important to me personally, that Al was committed to those 
issues.
  His tragic passing reminds us that we never know how long our tenure 
and our ability to serve what we view the public interest is going to 
be, and I think we are called upon in remembering Al to remember the 
causes that were most important to him and to redouble our efforts in 
his spirit and on his behalf to fight for fairness, to oppose 
hypocrisy, to stand up for what is right for the American people in 
much the way Al would do if he could be here offering us suggestions 
tonight.
  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks.
  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my colleagues gathered here 
today to honor and memorialize Ways and Means Democratic Staff 
Economist Al Davis who life was tragically cut short.
  Al dedicated many years of his life to helping Democrats in the House 
of Representatives promote policies to improve the lives of America's 
working families. He did this first when working for the House Budget 
Committee Democratic staff and more recently with the Ways and Means 
Committee Democrats as our chief economist.
  Those of us lucky enough to serve in Congress know how important the 
role of staff really is. A good staffer is not someone who will just 
agree with you--though it takes many of us a very long time to discover 
that reality. The best staffer is someone who understands the facts and 
helps you use those facts to promote policy that you support or oppose, 
but will tell you when the facts aren't on your side.
  Al excelled in this role. He knew the tax code and budgetary impact 
of any change in law better--and more quickly--than almost anyone. If 
you needed the facts to support your argument, he was there with a memo 
to assist you. But, only if your argument was correct and could be 
substantiated! And, that was why Al will be missed so greatly. He'd 
tell you if the facts didn't support you--and you couldn't convince him 
to do otherwise.
  There are two words that I think best describe Al Davis. The first is 
``integrity''. As I've said above, he always held true to the facts and 
helped us do so as well. The second word is ``commitment''. Al was 
truly committed to the work he was doing here on Capitol Hill. He was 
here helping us whenever the Ways and Means Committee was meeting or 
the full House was considering Ways and Means bills--no matter how late 
at night it was. When the House wasn't in session late, he was usually 
still here long after we'd gone home analyzing bills, making charts and 
getting his memos out to us to make sure that we had the facts 
necessary to promote or combat various policies.
  Al Davis will be sorely missed. He was the consummate Congressional 
staffer. We need more Al Davis' on both sides of the aisle. It is very 
sad that, instead, we have one less in our presence today.
  Mr. McNULTY. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join with my colleagues 
tonight in celebrating the life, and mourning the loss, of an exemplary 
public servant, Al Davis.
  Al was the embodiment of the concept of public service. He possessed 
an encyclopedic understanding of the tax code and was committed to the 
promotion of truth and honesty in American tax and budget policy. In 
fact, if there was one word synonymous with Al, it would be 
``honesty''. Members and staff on both sides of the aisle expected 
nothing but the raw truth from Al, and they were never disappointed. It 
was the core of his being.
  Armed with a keen sense of American history, a quick mind and sharp 
wit, and the passion of his convictions, Al would cut through the 
political rhetoric to translate complex technical data into readily 
understandable facts. While the Congress may be diminished by his 
physical absence, his commitment inspires us to continue the fight for 
better government.
  Al, you will be missed both personally and professionally. But as you 
look down on us from a better place, we will be inspired by your 
example and the sense of purpose you set in the fight for a better life 
for the working people of our country.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this 
opportunity to join my colleagues from the Ways and Means Committee 
honoring Mr. Al Davis.
  As one of the two newest members on the committee in the 108th 
Congress, I was privileged to become acquainted with Al and appreciate 
his round the clock efforts to make sure the Democratic members of the 
committee and their staffs were kept abreast of the upcoming events and 
legislation we would be dealing with. And I do mean round the clock. 
Messages would come on my Blackberry pager at 11 o'clock at night, 
sometimes later. When major bills were getting ready to be discussed in 
a hearing or markup before the committee, the first memo that reached 
my hands in the morning would be the most recent information that Al 
had spent the previous night researching and compiling.
  To say that Al provided sage-like advice to the committee is an 
understatement. While my colleagues on the committee are extremely 
knowledgeable of the economic issues related to the Ways and Means' 
jurisdiction, rarely would they not yield to Al as he would offer 
greater insights into the complex issues we faced. I think I can speak 
for other members when I say that a common first response to questions 
we had for our staffs was ``Let me check with Al and see what he 
thinks.''
  Al's tireless work ethic, attention to detail, and cunning sense of 
humor will be remembered by all his friends and colleagues, here on 
Capitol Hill and elsewhere. As I take these moments to remember Al, I 
also want to thank him for his steadfast commitment to the ideals of 
the committee.

                          ____________________