[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 19, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1525]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                COMMENDING THE SERVICE OF HUGH P. BRADY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. IKE SKELTON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 19, 2005

  Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today 
to commend Mr. Hugh Brady, a member of the professional staff of the 
House Armed Services Committee, whose honorable service to this body 
and to our country deserves our sincere appreciation.
  Hugh recently departed Capitol Hill for the private sector after many 
years of selfless service. While here, he epitomized what it means to 
be a professional staff member. He is uniformly recognized by his peers 
and by industry and executive branch officials as an expert in the 
fields of the Federal budget, missile defense, and the nuclear weapons-
related activities of the Energy Department. It is also no 
understatement to say that many Armed Services Committee members, 
including me, John Spratt, and Silvestre Reyes have come to rely on the 
wisdom of Hugh's advice, and it was invariably on the mark. 
Nevertheless, Hugh is the kind of person who never sought public 
recognition. Instead, he labored tirelessly in the background to insure 
those of us in the spotlight had access to the most sound policy 
analyses and advice possible. On the rare occasions when we might 
pursue another course, he unfailingly adopted that course as his own 
immediately and worked to support it with all of his energies and 
expertise.
  Those of us who know Hugh know that this approach has been his modus 
operandi since he arrived on the Hill in 1985, soon after graduating 
Magna Cum Laude from Hamilton College in New York and a brief 
internship at the State Department. After two years in the office of 
Representative Ben Gilman (R-N.Y.), Hugh left to attend to pursue a 
master's degree in public administration from Harvard's Kennedy School 
of Government. Upon graduation he received a prestigious appointment as 
a Presidential Management Intern and subsequently worked in the Navy 
Comptroller's Office and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
  Hugh returned to Capitol Hill in 1992, working first in the office of 
Representative John Spratt (D-S.C.) as a legislative assistant focusing 
on national security and international affairs. It was not long before 
he moved to the Budget Committee as an analyst for defense and 
international affairs. From there, Hugh moved to the Armed Services 
Committee, where he primarily worked on the Strategic Subcommittee on 
issues concerning space, ballistic missile defense, intelligence 
policy, budget matters and defense issues within the Department of 
Energy. Mr. Speaker, I am sure you recognize what an important 
portfolio that is, with a myriad diverse and complex issues that 
directly affect our national security. Yet, Hugh mastered it with 
aplomb.
  Typical of Hugh's mastery of substance, as well as his understanding 
of politics, was his successful effort to establish an equitable 
worker's compensation program for Energy Department Employees who were 
exposed to harmful substances while working in nuclear weapons complex. 
Despite high program costs, budgetary considerations and cross cutting 
political concerns on both sides of the aisle, Hugh shepherded this 
legislation into law, where it has received almost universal critical 
acclaim.
  On the personal side, Hugh is a lifelong New York Yankees fan who has 
remained devoted to the team even as their league standing plummeted 
and their performance on the field declined to the point that his 
colleagues have ridiculed their play. Still, he never let his fervor 
for the Yankees interfere with his work, or with his role as a devoted 
husband and father. With that said, then, Mr. Speaker, I am sure you 
can appreciate that perhaps nothing attests to Hugh's great 
professionalism more than the fact that he stalwartly managed to come 
to work the day after Game 7 of the 2004 American League Championship, 
when the outcome could have killed a Yankees fan of lesser 
constitution.

  Mr. Speaker, we are so very fortunate to have people like Hugh Brady, 
who dedicate themselves to providing us Members of Congress with the 
very best support imaginable. It is staff members like Hugh Brady who 
enable Members of Congress to do work so well and who make the House of 
Representatives the great institution that it is. We do not mention 
their contribution frequently enough. We miss opportunities to thank 
them, but they think nothing of it. Instead, they continue to go forth 
and serve the country as best they can, and the American people are so 
much the better for it. Hugh Brady has been such a selfless public 
servant. Mr. Speaker, I know I speak for all Armed Services Committee 
members in extending to him our deepest thanks.

                          ____________________