[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 134 (Thursday, October 20, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11660-S11661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HONORING MARY BOURDETTE

 Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I am delighted today to honor 
Mary Bourdette, a woman who has dedicated her working life to improving 
the lives of disadvantaged children and families.
  Over the past three decades, Mary has served as a tireless and 
extremely effective advocate for our Nation's most vulnerable children. 
Our country is in her debt, and for her passion, commitment, service, 
and good humor, she will be dearly missed when she retires.

[[Page S11661]]

  Early in her career, Mary worked in Washington, DC, with the Legal 
Services Corporation, an organization that provides high quality legal 
services to low-income people throughout the United States. She then 
went to work for the Child Welfare League of America, CWLA, as the 
director of public policy. In this role, Mary was a committed champion 
as she worked masterfully and persistently to seek and implement policy 
improvements for abused and neglected children.
  Mary then took her passion and talent to the Children's Defense Fund, 
CDF, where she served as a powerful ally to children for 8 years. I 
first got to know Mary at CDF where she worked to improve the Head 
Start program by increasing funds dedicated to strengthening the 
quality of Head Start and maintaining its comprehensive approach to 
helping our poorest children and families. Mary was the driving force 
behind the Act for Better Child Care and worked overtime to help build 
support for the Family and Medical Leave Act.
  I had the pleasure of continuing to work with Mary when she became 
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation with the Health and Human 
Services office under Secretary Shalala. Mary was endlessly positive 
and always on the search for solutions. As she was always upbeat, it 
was a genuine pleasure to work with her. Mary seemed to wake up every 
day believing that it held an opportunity to make the world better for 
children.
  She played a critically important role in the enactment of the 
Adoption and Safe Families Act, which helped to realize the goals of 
safety, permanence and well-being for tens of thousands of children in 
the child welfare system. During the negotiation of this bill at the 
very end of the congressional session in 1996, Mary was the Clinton 
administration's lead diplomat on Capitol Hill. I was keenly interested 
in the passage of this legislation, and Mary worked diligently, keeping 
me informed every step of the way and late into the night, as was her 
usual style, to forge a bipartisan compromise.
  While serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary, Mary help lead the 
extraordinary effort to expand the child care and development block 
grant, CCDBG, ensuring that this bill included adequate funding for 
low-income families. She was also deeply involved in the dramatic 
expansion of the earned income tax credit, EITC, a credit that provides 
crucial income support to millions of low-income individuals and 
families. Since its inception, the EITC has been hailed as one of the 
most effective antipoverty policies ever created, and Mary was integral 
to its success.
  Most recently, I had the pleasure of partnering with Mary in her 
capacity as director of government relations for Parents Action for 
Children. Together we sought to highlight the dangers of exposure to 
violent and explicit video games to children. As she has been 
throughout her career, Mary was acutely focused on protecting children 
and empowering parents. I knew from working with Mary in the past that 
her involvement in this endeavor would not only ensure that it was done 
well but that working with her would be a real joy.
  Any one who has had the pleasure of working with her would agree that 
Mary is not only consistently creative but also proactive and 
determined to improve the lives of our Nation's young people. Mary has 
always been a pleasure to work with; her wonderful sense of humor and a 
reassuring smile encourages everyone in her presence. After she 
retires, those of us fortunate enough to have known and worked closely 
with Mary will dearly miss her keen understanding of policy, her gentle 
manner and, most importantly, her deep commitment to children. Millions 
more whose her work she has touched--though they may never know her 
name--will miss the rare combination of caring and talent that Mary 
brought to her hard work on their behalf.
  Long after her retirement, Mary will remain an inspiration for our 
efforts as we continue the fight for America's most vulnerable 
children.

                          ____________________