[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2074-E2075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING PATRICK RYAN ON HIS RETIREMENT FROM THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON 
                           VETERANS' AFFAIRS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 19, 2004

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, as Patrick Ryan, Chief Counsel 
and Staff Director for the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, retires from 
government service, I rise today to pay tribute to his extraordinary 
career and accomplishments. After more than two decades working for the 
Committee, and a decade before that working for the Veterans 
Administration, Patrick is ending his public service career to pursue 
new personal and professional challenges.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the first actions I took when I was elected 
chairman 4 years ago was to name Pat the chief counsel and staff 
director for the committee. Having been a member of the committee for 
20 years, I was already familiar with the expertise, knowledge, 
judgment, compassion, and devotion that Patrick had displayed 
throughout his career.
  A graduate of the University of Maryland, Pat went to work for the 
Veterans Administration in 1974 as a benefits counselor at the D.C. 
regional office. In this job, Pat learned firsthand about the 
challenges facing our Nation's veterans, especially those returning 
from the conflict in Vietnam. He also learned in detail about the 
programs and services that VA provided to help improve their lives. 
Among those Pat worked with at that time was a DAV benefits 
representative named Jesse Brown, who later became Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs in the 1990s.
  Shortly after Pat went to work for VA, he also enrolled in the 
evening program at Georgetown University Law School. Over the next 4 
years, he continued to work at VA, moving up to the position of budget 
analyst, while attending law school at night, earning his law degree in 
1978. He then moved to a new position in VA's Office of General 
Counsel, where he worked for the next 5 years.
  In 1983, Pat Ryan began working for the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs, serving as counsel for the Subcommittee on Hospitals and 
Health Care. He later served as counsel for the Subcommittee on 
Oversight and Investigations, as well as for the full committee. Over 
the years, Pat was promoted to serve as both deputy chief counsel and 
finally, as chief counsel and staff director.
  For the past 22 years, Pat Ryan has made tremendous contributions to 
many of the most important new veterans laws approved by Congress. He 
worked on numerous bills to expand services for aging veterans and 
those in need of long-term care. He was instrumental in helping to 
establish domiciliaries for homeless veterans and was the principal 
drafter of legislation to authorize VA's transitional housing guarantee 
program to benefit homeless veterans. Pat played a central role in 
helping to establish the Department of Veterans Affairs and in creating 
the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

  Pat has been deeply involved in numerous successful committee 
initiatives that have expanded and strengthened the Dependency and 
Indemnity Compensation, DIC, program, survivor health care services, 
and educational assistance benefits available to surviving spouses and 
children of servicemembers killed in action or who later die of a 
service-related cause. And over the past 20 years, Pat has played a 
role in increasing the Montgomery GI bill benefit for qualified 
veterans from $300 when he joined the committee to over $1,000 today.
  Using his budget expertise, Pat has been invaluable in helping 
Congress ensure that VA's budget has been both appropriate and 
sufficient. His extensive knowledge of the law and the inner workings 
of VA has also greatly aided the committee in its work to provide 
exemplary oversight of veterans programs.
  From managing the committee's professional staff, to drafting 
legislation, to overseeing VA's programs and services, Patrick Ryan is 
the consummate professional. During the four years I have served as 
chairman, he has helped draft and guide to enactment more than a dozen 
new laws to benefit veterans, including legislation to modernize the GI 
bill, expand veterans' health care programs, strengthen benefits for 
disabled veterans, and aid homeless veterans. I consider him to have 
been a partner in all that this committee has accomplished during our 
time together and it has been an honor to work side-by-side with him.
  Throughout his tenure in the House, Patrick has earned and retained 
both the respect and the trust of Members and staff on both sides of 
the aisle. Pat was hired by Chairman Sonny Montgomery when the 
Democrats controlled the committee, and he went on to serve both the 
late Chairman Bob Stump and me while Republicans have controlled 
Congress. Pat is equally respected inside the Department of Veterans 
Affairs and by outside leaders of veterans service organizations.
  Mr. Speaker, all of us who know Pat Ryan understand that he is driven 
to succeed, not for his own benefit, but to benefit his fellow man. 
What has made Patrick Ryan such a valuable public servant are his 
personal qualities of faith, hope, and charity. A leader in both his 
community and his church, Pat is well-known for his singing in the 
choir and for his love of music, especially his eclectic musical 
tastes.
  On a personal level, Pat Ryan has lived his life in a way that has 
truly made a difference. He has walked to the beat of our Lord's 
drummer when He said ``whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, 
you do likewise to me.'' For Pat, that means always looking out for the 
little guy. I have such respect and admiration for that character 
trait, and it is very strong in Patrick Ryan. What motivates Patrick 
first and foremost is devotion and love for his wife Kathie and their 
three children--Kerry, Dan, and Julia. For Pat Ryan, family comes 
first.
  Pat is ever proud of his father who has passed, William Everest Ryan, 
a proud Marine who saw combat action during World War II in the South 
Pacific, where he was wounded and won the Purple Heart award. He later 
joined the Justice Department while continuing in the Marine reserves 
as an Officer in the JAG Corps, retiring with the rank of Colonel in 
1964. After a distinguished career of government service, Pat's father 
retired from government service in 1977. In 1999, William Ryan died in 
the VA nursing home in Baltimore, 3 years after his wife, Pat's mother, 
Rosemary Ann Kelly Ryan, had passed away.

[[Page E2075]]

  Pat Ryan has spent his entire career in Congress defending the same 
values his father defended on the battlefield and in the courtroom. 
These are the same values that Pat and his wife Kathie have taught 
their children through their words and their example.
  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of his colleagues in the House, members of the 
Committee on Veterans' Affairs and other Members who have known and 
worked with him, on behalf of veterans organizations and leaders across 
the country, and on behalf of millions of veterans who have benefited 
from his work, but have never known his name, I want to thank Patrick 
Ryan for a distinguished career of faithful public service. It has been 
an honor to work with him.
  I call on all of my colleagues to join with me in honoring Patrick 
Ryan on his retirement and to wish him good luck and Godspeed in 
whatever lies ahead of him.

                          ____________________