[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 67 (Monday, May 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5049-S5051]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PUBLIC SERVICE RECOGNITION WEEK

  Mr. KAUFMAN. Mr. President, today marks the beginning of Public 
Service Recognition Week. This is a time to recognize the hard-working 
and devoted men and women who serve in our Federal, State, county, and 
municipal governments.
  I wish to make particular mention of the several programs taking 
place throughout the week in celebration of our civil servants and 
their contributions. I know the Partnership for Public Service, an 
organization with a mission to highlight our finest Government workers 
and promote public service, will be marking the week by awarding their 
annual Service to America medals. I congratulate the medal finalists 
and thank them for their excellence in service to our Nation.
  This is an appropriate occasion to address the subject which is so 
relevant to the way we face the challenges before us as a nation. These 
challenges have shaken the public's confidence in our financial 
markets, in our economy, and in our Government. We must work to restore 
the public's confidence.
  So many of the solutions being presented from the rising cost of 
health care to the multiple threats from overseas, to the mortgage 
crisis, rely primarily on the work of dedicated and dependable civil 
servants. The Federal employees who work day in and day out to better 
our country, often at great private sacrifice, deserve our public's 
confidence, and that is what this speech will be all about.
  In the post-9/11 era of insecurity and following years of political 
indecision

[[Page S5050]]

and divisive partisanship, we are left with an abundance of problems. 
Our honored veterans complain of diminishing benefits, while the young 
decry the increases in the cost of education. America's health care 
system is outdated and leaves millions uninsured. We remain painfully 
addicted to foreign oil, and auto manufacturers require more public 
funds to stay afloat. Some of our challenges rise to a level unseen in 
decades.
  Of course, whenever Americans face difficulty, we display that 
greatest trait of our nature. Service to the common good has been our 
answer to every hardship since even before the birth of our Republic. 
One would be hard-pressed to find any public figure of note who does 
not highly invoke the praise of community service and voluntarism.
  Indeed, in every neighborhood in all 50 States, one can find our 
citizens extending their hands in help to their fellow Americans and to 
the unfortunate throughout the world. Likewise, no one can refrain from 
honoring the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in 
uniform. Their dedication and diligence ensure our safe borders and 
sustain our liberty. The hard work of our servicemembers is rightly 
congratulated.
  But, Mr. President, there are those who give so much of themselves 
and often so many years of their lives, yet receive hardly any share of 
recognition. In the recent past, the disparagement of our Federal 
employees--the greatest civil servants in the history of our republican 
government--has become sadly commonplace. Diminishing their 
contribution to this Nation is an all-too-frequent exercise.
  Federal employees deserve praise for the vital roles they play each 
day enforcing the laws we pass in this very Chamber. They care for our 
veterans. They toil in laboratories to create new energy technologies. 
Our Federal workers safely manage the complex networks of flights 
crossing our skies day and night. They deliver our mail, regulate fair 
housing practices, and conduct our diplomacy abroad. They serve in all 
three branches of Government.
  They are, in many ways, silent sentinels of our Nation's well-being.
  Indeed, Federal employees have become indispensable to our national 
life. With a generation of Federal employees nearing retirement, we 
need to attract our most talented citizens back to public service. 
Good, honest, responsible government requires the best civil servants.
  Throughout our history, great men and women answered the call to 
serve in the Federal Government--citizens from all walks of life and 
from every corner of America. There are those who dedicate their entire 
careers to public service, but there are also so many Americans who 
enter Federal employment for just a short period. Even the novelist 
William Faulkner worked part-time as a postmaster when he was a young 
man.
  The nature of our Federal workers today is the same as it was when 
the French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville visited in the early 19th 
century. He observed that:

       Public officers in the United States are commingled with a 
     crowd of citizens; they have neither palaces nor guards, nor 
     ceremonial costumes. This simple exterior of the persons in 
     authority is connected not only with the peculiarities of the 
     American character, but with the fundamental principles of 
     that society.

  I, too, was a Federal employee when I worked for 22 years with then-
Senator Joe Biden, and I can attest as much as anyone that to serve 
entails responsibility and dedication. During my years in Government 
work, including 13 years as a member of the Broadcasting Board of 
Governors, I met so many hardworking, well-qualified, and devoted 
public servants, most of whom will not be recognized individually by 
the public for their important contributions.
  The American people collectively put their faith in all who work in 
Government, from those elected to the highest offices, to those, like 
Faulkner, working part-time for an hourly wage. Our esteemed 
predecessor in this House, Henry Clay of Kentucky, once declared:

       Government is a trust, and the officers of the government 
     are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created 
     for the benefit of the people.

  Senator Clay could not have been more correct. Those who serve the 
Republic carry the heavy responsibility of not working for the benefit 
of themselves alone but for the good of all.
  What should be a source of pride to those who enter employment in the 
Federal Government has become, all too often, a thankless job. Serving 
in the Federal Government can be an enriching experience, and we need 
to do more to promote civil service among young people. I am encouraged 
that there is a growing desire now, unlike in the past several years, 
among our best and brightest students to seek Federal jobs.
  For so long, the allure of easy wealth on Wall Street and scorn for 
Government work led our young graduates to overlook positions in civil 
service. But it should not take a recession and a popular new 
administration to attract this talent. Our young people are eager to 
take on responsibility, to prove themselves worthy of others' trust. 
They want to have a part in what President Obama has called ``repairing 
the world.'' With more recognition of our Federal workforce and praise 
for its important contribution, there is no reason we cannot convince 
these young, idealistic Americans to seek in Government what they so 
desire--a role in history, a chance to shape their world.
  The recent decision by Kal Penn, the young Hollywood star, to accept 
a position working in the administration advances this effort 
significantly. Despite a lucrative career in film and on television, 
Penn--a second-generation American whose parents are immigrants from 
Mumbai--announced he would take a couple of years off from acting to 
serve his country in the Federal Government. When asked about his 
motives, he said:

       It's probably because of the value system my grandparents 
     instilled in me. There's not a lot of financial reward in 
     these jobs. But, obviously, the opportunity to serve in a 
     capacity like this is an incredible honor.

  Mr. President, when I was young, it used to be that this honor which 
Penn speaks of drew young people by the thousands to careers in our 
civil service. A job in Government was a mark of distinction. It was a 
privilege to be able to work for the betterment of the American people. 
However, in recent years, that honor has been eroded by the 
misconception that our civil service is growing beyond measure and 
consists of those in Washington who are out of touch with ordinary 
Americans. But I say this characterization is completely untrue.
  The number of Federal employees today has not grown significantly 
larger than its size in the 1960s. In fact, 85 percent of all Federal 
employees live and work outside of Washington. They are ordinary 
Americans, yet they perform extraordinary work.
  As De Tocqueville observed more than 150 years ago, the qualities 
embodied by our civil servants reflect the greatest values we hold dear 
as Americans. Federal employees display exemplary citizenship, choosing 
of their own accord to pursue careers that not only provide for their 
families but benefit the Nation as a whole. This is despite the 
advantages to private sector employment. Our civil servants are 
industrious. They work hard, tackle difficult problems affecting 
millions of their fellow citizens, and do so with grace and humility.
  They often need to take risks, not only to make new discoveries in 
science and engineering or to represent us in unsafe corners of the 
world, but also to expose unnecessary waste and corruption where it may 
arise. The history of our civil service is filled with those who choose 
to uphold the public trust even when at a danger to their own lives and 
careers. Their work requires great perseverance, and results may take 
longer than their tenure in office. It requires great care and 
attention to detail. When the public's faith is bestowed upon you, 
there can be no halfhearted effort. Most of all, employees in our 
Federal Government display an unbelievable level of modesty.
  You may wonder why I go on about the virtues of our public servants 
when there are so many pressing matters to be considered by this body. 
I return, however, to my first point--that no matter what programs we 
launch to get America back on the right path, they will be carried out 
by our Federal workers.
  Exemplary cases abound, but I want to highlight a few individuals in 
particular who embody these values and

[[Page S5051]]

reflect the excellence of our civil service as a whole. They have each 
been selected by a blue ribbon panel which includes Senator Susan 
Collins, in concert with Partnership for Public Service, to receive a 
Service to America medal.

  When she began her job as Director of the Office of Public Housing 
Programs in 2002, Nicole Faison inherited a HUD rental system program 
rated for 13 years as a ``high risk'' program by the Government 
Accountability Office due to rampant waste, fraud, and abuse. Today, it 
is recognized for helping more low-income families receive housing 
assistance without wasting resources. Under Nicole's guidance, the 
program eliminated over $2 billion in fraudulent payments and earned 
praise for its streamlined operations.
  Since 9/11, there has been much attention on the security of cargo 
containers entering our country from overseas. Leading the charge to 
secure our ports, Tracy Mustin serves as Director of the Department of 
Energy's office of Second Line of Defense. Under Tracy's leadership, 
her office has installed monitoring devices at more than 100 airports, 
seaports, and border crossings in over 40 countries which help detect 
and prevent the trafficking of nuclear or radiological substances. She 
also oversees the Megaports Initiative, which screens and monitors 
cargo entering major seaports around the world. In addition to her 
responsibilities as a civil servant, Tracy is commissioned as a captain 
in the Navy Reserve.
  While Tracy and her team have been fortifying our Nation's second 
line of defense against terrorism, brave men and women in the Armed 
Forces remain overseas fighting on the first line of defense. When our 
wounded warriors return home, they can thank the dedicated civilian 
employees of our Defense Department for significant advancements in the 
treatment and care they will receive for their injuries.
  Dave Carballeyra, the Air Force's Director of Stereolithography, 
introduced a new 3-D technology for bone and tissue imaging which has 
improved treatment and rehabilitation care for wounded veterans. In 
particular, his work has helped soldiers suffering from severe burns 
from bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan and those requiring surgery to 
attach prosthetic devices. These advances have significantly improved 
their quality of life. Believe it or not, Dave is only 25 years of age.
  Another public servant whom I very much want to mention is Dr. Rajiv 
Jain. Each year it is estimated that 2 million patients develop 
infections while in U.S. hospitals for routine procedures. One hundred 
thousand of these patients die as a result, and the elderly and newborn 
are particularly susceptible. Rajiv and his team at the Veterans 
Affairs Hospital in Pittsburgh are at the forefront of an effort to 
reduce these infections. The infection rate at their VA facility has 
already dropped 60 percent, and the strategy developed by Rajiv to 
prevent infections has now been adopted by all 153 VA hospitals.
  When asked about his work, he commonly explains that ``one infection 
is too many.''
  The final person I will mention, who works for the Department of 
Energy, has proven wrong those who are convinced that Government can't 
do something right. At the end of the Cold War, when the former Rocky 
Flats nuclear weapons plant near Denver was designated as a Superfund 
site, it was estimated that it would take 70 years and nearly $40 
billion to clean it up. Many advocated a permanent quarantine of the 
site, arguing that its rehabilitation was not worth the cost. Frazer 
Lockhart took charge of the cleanup effort in 1995 and finished the job 
in 10 years, spending only $7 billion. Today, 95 percent of the 
original site has been delisted from the Superfund and been set aside 
as a 6,200-acre wildlife refuge. Frazer's sound management and 
perseverance led to the cleanup 60 years ahead of schedule and $30 
billion under budget.
  Mr. President, these stories are just a few of the countless many. 
Indeed, there are a great number of exceptional Federal employees, and 
I hope to continue sharing their stories before the Senate and honoring 
their service over the coming weeks and months, beginning with this 
group. I invite my fellow Senators to join me on those or other 
occasions in doing the same. These men and women daily carry out the 
work of developing new technologies, protecting our free markets, 
ensuring a cleaner environment, and advancing our interests around the 
world.
  I believe the Founders foresaw the need for a vibrant and effective 
civil service and that they would be proud of the Federal employees 
serving today. When the first Congress convened in New York on March 4, 
1789, its first matter of business was to fulfill an obligation set to 
it by the Constitution. Article VI declares that all public officers 
are to be bound by an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution, 
but the document leaves up to Congress to decide on the form.
  The first piece of legislation ever to be passed by the United States 
Congress and signed into law by President Washington codified this 
simple but poignant oath:

       I do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the 
     Constitution of the United States.

  In the years since, it has been expanded to the oath presently taken 
by all of us who serve in this Chamber and in the House of 
Representatives and by every Federal employee. But the underlying point 
remains unchanged from that original oath. What the Founders intended 
in their first act of Government, and what we now reaffirm with each 
taking of our modern oath, is that everyone who serves in our 
Government is not only obligated to support the Constitution but also 
entrusted with that responsibility. That trust--the same as was noted 
by Clay--is the foundation of our civil service. It is the guiding 
principle of our Federal workers and the reason they deserve the 
public's confidence.
  Careers in Government, we know, frequently pay far less than 
comparable careers in the private sector, and many times our Federal 
employees are asked to move across the country or overseas to perform 
their duties. Many serve for 20 years or more, leaving a lasting impact 
on communities and on our national policies without special 
recognition. They never see bonuses like those paid on Wall Street or 
elsewhere in the private sector. However, after many years of service, 
when our civil servants retire, they can look back on their careers and 
know with certainty that when their country needed them, they gave of 
themselves. They gave to our Nation, and they know their contribution, 
even if little recognized, has been genuine and significant. This is 
their bonus, the satisfaction and the knowledge that they have answered 
the call to duty, that their lives have surely served a meaningful 
purpose.

  Again, please let it be noted that the first week of May each year is 
Public Service Recognition Week, and it is with great pride that I 
honor the service and sacrifice of our Federal employees. I thank them, 
and I urge my colleagues to join me this week and in future weeks to 
thank them for their continued work in support of our recovery during 
this challenging time.
  I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kaufman). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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