[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 34 (Thursday, February 26, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2549-S2550]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MANNY ROSSMAN

  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I wish to take a few minutes to say farewell 
to the head of my whip office staff, Manny Rossman.
  By some standards, Manny has had a relatively brief career in 
Congress. But anyone who knows Manny knows that he has been an 
indispensable staff member from the very beginning.
  Manny started his career on the Hill as an intern, like so many 
others. He was lucky his internship was with then-Congressman Bill 
Archer, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Manny was not 
any ordinary intern, however. He quickly moved from opening mail and 
answering phones to working on substantive legislative issues. Clearly, 
Bill Archer saw the promise of this very special intern.
  Following his internship, Manny went off to law school at the 
University of Pennsylvania. Manny was president of the Penn Law 
Republicans and a member of the Federalist Society. He graduated in 
1999.
  His time in law school was very successful, and he could have easily 
made his way to Wall Street for a career there or elsewhere. But the 
pull of public policy and public service brought him to Washington, DC. 
After he graduated from law school, Manny accepted a job with then-
Congressman Phil Crane.
  Congressman Crane was a senior member of the Ways and Means 
Committee, which gave Manny the opportunity to work on the leading tax 
and trade issues of the day. These issues are central to our economic 
health as a nation, and Manny made them a top priority. Manny quickly 
became a trusted adviser to Congressman Crane, working on such landmark 
issues as the law that repealed the FSC/ETI tax benefit and replaced it 
with a deduction designed to encourage domestic manufacturing activity. 
He also worked on enactment of trade promotion authority and multiple 
free trade agreements.
  After Phil Crane left the House, Manny made his way across Capitol 
Hill to the Senate, where he became Senator Trent Lott's key staff 
person on the Finance Committee. That is where I first met Manny and, 
more importantly, where Manny met his future bride. At that time, 
Jennifer Vesey was handling health care issues on the Finance Committee 
for our then-colleague Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Who knew 
that the Deficit Reduction Act could be so romantic?

[[Page S2550]]

  While working on Finance Committee issues, Manny helped the Senate 
enact a landmark pension reform bill, the Central American Free Trade 
Agreement, and the extension of the 15-percent tax rate for capital 
gains and dividends through the end of 2010. Following the devastation 
of Hurricane Katrina, Manny worked night and day to help Mississippi 
and the entire gulf coast region begin the long road to recovery 
through the establishment of the Gulf Opportunity Zone, or so-called GO 
Zone.
  Trent Lott was elected the Republican whip in late 2006, and to no 
one's surprise, he asked Manny to become his whip office chief of 
staff. Working with Trent Lott, Manny built a highly effective whip 
organization. At the same time, he developed countless relationships 
with other Senate leadership offices, with House leadership offices, 
and with the administration that to this day facilitate the smooth 
operation of the entire legislative process.
  When Trent Lott retired at the end of 2007 and I was elected whip by 
my colleagues, I knew the key to an effortless transition was Manny 
Rossman. I am grateful that Manny agreed to stay with the whip 
operation through my first year. I very much appreciate the advice and 
the counsel he has given me during this time. I agree with Trent Lott 
that there is something about ``the magic of Manny'' that makes him 
such an effective and delightful addition to our whip team.
  We will all miss him very much. We thank him for his service to the 
Senate, to the Congress, and to the country, and we wish him farewell 
and Godspeed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to echo the remarks of my good 
friend from Arizona, Senator Kyl, about our friend Manny Rossman, who 
has never worked directly for me, but I say to the Senator from 
Arizona, he has such a great sense of teamwork that even though Manny 
was working first for Senator Lott and then for Senator Kyl, you had 
the feeling that the two offices were sort of a seamless web. The 
credit for that, in addition to the principal, I think goes to Manny, 
who had a great sense of the importance of cooperating, working 
together, making the leader's office and the whip's office really one. 
His personality, his brilliance, his ability to interact with people is 
really unsurpassed.
  So I join my friend from Arizona and congratulate Manny for his great 
service to America in the Senate. I know he will have a hugely 
successful post-Senate career. We are going to miss him, but we wish 
him well.

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