[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 72 (Thursday, May 26, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6009-S6010]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CONGRATULATIONS TO ROBERT FOUST

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, today I want to pay tribute to an 
exceptional member of my staff who is retiring at the end of this month 
after 33 years of service to the Senate.
  Bob has worked in the Senate for a period of 40 years, starting as an 
intern in the 1960s, and then working full time for Senator Claiborne 
Pell for 19 years from 1970 to 1989. After taking 2 years to travel the 
world, it was my great good fortune that Bob volunteered to join my 
staff in the spring of 1991.
  At the time, Bob told me he was looking to complete 20 years of 
Senate service. I do not think either he or I thought that he would be 
with me for 14 years. But I could not be more pleased that Bob decided 
to stay.
  During his tenure in my office, he has worked on education, veterans, 
and international affairs issues. His work on all these issues has been 
outstanding. On veterans and education issues, in particular, he has 
developed a long list of legislative victories both small and large.
  Bob has a gift for seeing legislative opportunities. One example I 
will never forget involves the V-chip. For years, I had heard from 
parents, educators, health care professionals and religious leaders 
about their concerns regarding the influence of television violence on 
young people. In response, Bob helped me form a steering committee of 
interested individuals and organizations to talk about possible 
approaches to help shield children from gratuitous violence on 
television. And we developed V-chip legislation. During the debate on 
the 1996 telecommunications bill, I offered my amendment to require 
that the V-chip be included in TVs so that parents would have the 
ability to block out violent shows. When I offered the amendment, the 
so-called experts told us not to push forward--that the amendment 
couldn't pass. But Bob advised me to move forward. And when the roll 
was called, the amendment passed by a strong 73 to 26 margin, and was 
then enacted into law.
  Bob's attention to North Dakota's veterans has paid off in greatly 
improved facilities around the State. When Bob learned that the VA was 
considering closing VA facilities that were not up to current 
standards, he alerted me and helped me lead the fight for a $12 million 
renovation at the Fargo VA Medical Center. These renovations, which 
will be finished later this year, have dramatically improved the 
facility for our veterans. Bob has also been very concerned about the 
long travel times facing the many North Dakota veterans who live in 
rural areas. From his first day in the office, he pushed hard to expand 
services for rural veterans through the Community Based Outpatient 
Clinics, CBOCs. To date, as a result of Bob's hard work, we have 
secured three CBOCs at Minot, Grafton and Bismarck. And the VA's CARES, 
Capital Assets Realignment for Enhanced Services, Commission has 
approved five new clinics at Williston, Jamestown, Devils Lake, Grand 
Forks AFB, and Dickinson. Finally, Bob has had great compassion for the 
most vulnerable among our veterans--homeless veterans--and has 
constantly looked for ways to help them. Most recently, he worked with 
Centre, Inc. in Fargo to shepherd through a $1.6 million grant to 
renovate a facility that will house a 48-bed shelter for homeless 
veterans.
  On education, he was constantly looking for ways to help North 
Dakota's teachers, whether it was bringing information technology to 
classrooms or advocating for appropriate implementation of the No Child 
Left Behind Act. Bob conceived of the Rural Education Achievement 
Program and built a coalition that helped me enact this important 
legislation during the 106th Congress. Almost 80 percent of North 
Dakota school districts have 600 students or less. Under the REAP 
program, small, rural school districts are entitled to consolidate 
funding from Federal education programs to make more efficient use of 
the funds. In the first 3 years of the REAP program, more than 270 
North Dakota schools benefitted from approximately $2.7 million in 
funding.
  Bob's commitment to education also carried over to the intern 
program. As he had in Senator Pell's office, Bob volunteered to 
coordinate my Washington intern program. Bob devoted significant time 
and effort to ensuring that interns in my office had a terrific 
learning experience. In fact, Bob's example has inspired dozens of 
former interns to seek careers in public service. Interns from 10, 20 
and even 30 years ago stop by frequently just to say hello

[[Page S6010]]

and let Bob know what they are doing now.
  But Bob's importance to me and my office cannot be captured by simply 
cataloguing his many accomplishments. During his time working in the 
Senate, Bob Foust has been the consummate professional. He stayed in 
constant touch with North Dakota leaders on the issues he covered. Time 
after time, he would learn of a problem and immediately go to work 
finding a solution. If Federal services were not being delivered 
effectively, Bob would work with the agency to make sure North Dakotans 
got the services they deserved. If a Federal program did not work for 
North Dakota, Bob would draft legislation to fix the problem, and work 
tirelessly until the Conrad amendment was signed into law.
  Finally, and most importantly, Bob Foust is an outstanding person. He 
has worked quietly and tirelessly behind the scenes to make things 
happen, and was always happy to divert all the credit to others. He has 
been tremendously loyal, tremendously dedicated, and a passionate 
advocate for the people of my State. He has never forgotten that he is 
working for the American taxpayer. And he has been a good friend and a 
mentor to others on staff.
  With extraordinary gratitude for his years of service, I wish Bob 
well as he moves on to the next stage in his life and career.

                          ____________________