[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 136 (Thursday, September 24, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9833-S9834]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CELEBRATING THE 2009 SERVICE TO AMERICA MEDAL WINNERS

  Mr. KAUFMAN. Mr. President, I rise once again to honor America's 
great Federal employees.
  When I began my great Federal employees initiative in May, I did so 
by sharing the stories of some outstanding public servants who in past 
years had won Service to America Medals.
  Last night, at its eighth annual awards gala, the Partnership for 
Public Service announced its 2009 Service to America Medal winners. 
These nine exemplary Federal employees represent a number of agencies 
and hail from diverse backgrounds. Together, they form a snapshot of 
the finest civil service in history.
  When I spoke in May about what makes our Federal workforce so 
excellent, I said there are several qualities our civil servants 
embody. First and foremost, they demonstrate great citizenship by 
choosing careers in the public sector. Second, they are industrious and 
hardworking in the face of often difficult and challenging tasks.
  Our Federal employees take risks both to their safety and to their 
careers. They persevere even when faced with setbacks or with the 
knowledge that the effects of their work may not be felt for years to 
come. Our public servants exhibit great intellect and bring to their 
jobs many advanced skills and specialized knowledge. I am glad--very 
glad--there are awards such as the Service to America Medals to 
recognize the unsung heroes who keep America moving ever forward. This 
is what I have tried to do each week by speaking about our great public 
servants.
  This year's Service to America medalists can well be described by the 
five attributes I just listed.
  Dr. Janet Kemp, who won this year's Federal Employee of the Year 
Medal, exemplified the value of outstanding citizenship when she 
organized a national suicide prevention hotline for veterans. As 
national director for the VA's Suicide Prevention Program, Janet 
oversaw the creation of the hotline to help combat veteran suicide, 
which has increased significantly in recent years. Since 2005, when she 
was asked to spearhead this program, Janet's initiative has rescued 
over 3,000 veterans and has assisted them in finding help.
  An important aspect of citizenship is a commitment to protecting 
one's community from harm. Ben Fisherow was awarded the 2009 Justice 
and Law Enforcement Medal for his work to prevent air pollution. As an 
experienced litigator with the Department of Justice's Environment and 
Natural Resources Division, Ben has spent over 20 years enforcing key 
provisions of the Clean Air Act and taking legal action against 
utilities that violate anti-pollution mandates. In one case alone, Ben 
secured a settlement that prevented the release of over 800,000 tons of 
air pollutants annually.
  Our federal employees are hard working, and this year's Citizens 
Services Medal winner proves it. Michael German, of the Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, has been working tirelessly to combat 
homelessness in America. The Interagency Council on Homelessness, which 
he leads, coordinates with over 850 State and local officials 
nationwide on efforts to help the homeless obtain medical care and 
permanent housing. Their work has led to a 30-percent reduction in the 
chronically homeless between 2005 and 2007.
  Another example of our civil servants' industriousness can be found 
in Allan Comp. Allan won the 2009 Environment Medal for his work at the 
Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining. He created the 
Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team, a partnership between his 
office and VISTA volunteers who help local citizens and community 
groups organize clean-up projects and monitor water quality. His 
program was so successful that it was recently expanded to the American 
West. Today, joint Office of Surface-Mining and VISTA teams are at work 
protecting and empowering local communities in Colorado, New Mexico, 
and Montana.
  Clare Rowley is an economic analyst for the FDIC. She won the Call to 
Service Medal for helping to implement the FDIC's mortgage modification 
program, which helped thousands of families stay in their homes after 
the collapse of subprime mortgages. In February, Clare, who is only 25 
years old, found herself sitting in a high-level meeting with 
regulators, bankers, and Obama administration officials on the 
foreclosure crisis. Despite feeling somewhat intimidated because of her 
age and junior position, Clare spoke up and offered important ideas 
that eventually made their way into the Treasury Department's mortgage 
crisis recovery plan. Now, Clare is one of those instrumental in 
carrying out the plan.
  A risk-taker, who won this year's National Security and International 
Affairs Medal, serves as the director of the USAID's Office of Economic 
Growth in Pakistan. In July, I spoke about a USAID employee who was 
gunned down by extremists while posted in the Sudan. For Amy Meyer, who 
performs similar work in Pakistan, the danger is very real. 
Nonetheless, she arrived in the country in 2006 and began working with 
local women to create dairy cooperatives. Starting with just a staff of 
two and little funding, Amy now oversees a $200 million budget and 
several successful economic empowerment programs. She even teaches yoga 
on Pakistani television and has spent much of her personal time 
dispensing advice to local women in their homes.
  The winner of the 2009 Career Achievement Medal knows the meaning of 
perseverance. Dr. Thomas Waldmann has been a medical researcher at the 
National Institutes of Health for over 50 years. Currently, Tom is 
chief of the NIH National Cancer Institute's Metabolism Branch, and the 
focus of his career has been researching disorders in which the body 
attacks its own cells. His work has led to treatments to once-fatal 
varieties of lymphoma, leukemia, and multiple sclerosis. Tom also co-
discovered a type of molecule that may lead to advances in the fight 
against AIDS and cancer. But his successes did not happen overnight. 
His achievements were the work of a lifetime, and the full impact of 
Tom's discoveries will not be known for years.
  Similarly, Dr. Patricia Guerry has demonstrated great resolve while 
researching an elusive vaccine. Now serving as chief of the Naval 
Medical Research Center's Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Branch, 
she has spent nearly 30 years studying a microbe that causes food 
poisoning. Researchers discovered that the most common microbe involved 
in food-borne illnesses is Campylobacter. In the mid-1980s, after 
several years of unsuccessfully attempting to find a vaccine, many 
microbiologists turned their attention elsewhere. Patricia, however, 
never gave up. Today, she and her team of researchers are nearing their 
goal, and their vaccine is now in the testing phase. She persevered, 
and our troops stationed abroad as well as tens of millions in the 
developing world will likely soon benefit from a vaccine.
  This year's Homeland Security Medal was shared by a pair of CIA 
employees who showed great intellect in solving a critical problem. In 
2005, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence gave Sean 
Dennehy and Don Burke the task of improving information-sharing across 
the intelligence community. Lack of communication between the 
intelligence agencies had been a serious impediment to preventing the 
September 11 attacks. To fix this, Sean and Don created an online 
system called ``Intellipedia,'' modeled after the popular Wikipedia Web 
site. Intellipedia enables analysts from different agencies to 
contribute information to subject pages and open cases. Today, 
Intellipedia has grown to nearly a million pages, and it has helped 
prevent threats to the Beijing Olympics, analyze IED patterns in Iraq, 
and study the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
  All of these outstanding public servants display great humility. Even 
with such accomplishments, modesty is their common response.
  I want to congratulate the Partnership for Public Service on their 
work to award the Service to America Medals. The winners were selected 
by a blue ribbon panel of leaders from both

[[Page S9834]]

the public and private sectors, of which our colleague from 
Mississippi, Senator Thad Cochran, is a member.
  I hope the rest of my colleagues will join me in congratulating all 
of this year's Service to America winners on receiving their medals. We 
thank them, and all Federal employees, for their service to our Nation.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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