[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 95 (Wednesday, June 25, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S8551]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO JANINE LOUISE JOHNSON

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, it is with great sadness that I pay 
tribute to Janine Johnson, who for over 12 years served the Senate, its 
Members and staff as an assistant counsel in the Office of Legislative 
Counsel. Janine died on May 29, 2003 at the far too young age of 37.
  In reality, there is little my words can add to the memorial Janine 
herself built through her outstanding legal skills, extraordinary 
dedication and uncommon kindness and personal grace. She will be 
remembered for her positive impact on the laws she helped so much to 
enact and for the example and fond memories she has left her colleagues 
and friends.
  Janine came to work in the Senate Office of Legislative Counsel with 
an already full set of accomplishments: first in her high school class 
of 333 in Winchester, Massachusetts; National Merit Scholar; cum laude 
graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School; a federal 
circuit court clerkship with Judge Cecil F. Poole on the United States 
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; member of the Massachusetts 
Bar.
  We are fortunate that Janine built on that record by bringing her 
excellent qualifications and talent to the Senate. Beginning in 
February of 1991, she drafted many bills and amendments for committees 
and individual members and their staffs. Her work, which was primarily 
in the areas of the environment, public works, agriculture, nutrition 
and natural resources, contributed to a long list of enacted 
legislation.
  In addition to numerous environmental and public works laws, 
including the Water Resources Development Acts of 1996 and 2000, and 
the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century of 1998, Janine 
contributed greatly to writing the Federal Agriculture Improvement and 
Reform Act of 1996 and the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 
2002. And though her efforts helped better our Nation, and even other 
parts of the world, only a very few people have any idea or 
appreciation of Janine's work.
  That is just the way Janine would have it. She was a private person 
who did not seek the limelight. Instead, she quietly went about doing 
excellent work as the consummate professional she was. She was 
meticulous, detail-oriented and precise, as one would want someone 
drafting important legislation to be, with an uncanny ability to take 
concepts and ideas and shape them into exact language carefully crafted 
to fit into the federal statutory scheme. To cite an example, Janine 
was the lead legislative counsel in drafting the nutrition title of the 
2002 farm bill. Especially in a bill as extensive and complex as the 
farm bill, it is the rule that drafting errors are to be expected. To 
this day, not one error has been found in the drafting of the 2002 farm 
bill's nutrition title.
  Janine willingly put in the extra hours so often required to produce 
such high-quality work while meeting the demanding time constraints of 
the legislative process. She was a very patient and stabilizing force 
in what are frequently pressurized circumstances--someone who also took 
pride in cultivating and maintaining good relations with both sides of 
the aisle and all sides of the various issues she worked on.
  In short, Janine Johnson exemplified the fine professional qualities 
that are characteristic of the Senate Office of Legislative Counsel. 
She distinguished herself by setting a high standard within an office 
known for its high standards.
  Janine's death is a terrible loss, and yet as we consider her very 
substantial and lasting accomplishments and contributions--and more 
importantly the memories of her that live on--it is fitting to recall 
the words of John Donne:

     Death be not proud, though some have called thee
     Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
     For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
     Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

  I offer my condolences and kind wishes to Janine's family, friends 
and colleagues as they mourn her passing.

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