[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 162 (Thursday, December 9, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2112-E2113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THANKING MS. LEA FOWLIE FOR HER SERVICE TO THE HOUSE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 9, 2010

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, on the occasion of her 
retirement on September 30, 2010, we rise to thank Ms. Lea Fowlie for 
her 36 years of distinguished service to the United States House of 
Representatives. Lea has served this great institution as a valued 
employee of House Information Resources, HIR, within the Office of the 
Chief Administrative Officer, CAO.
  Lea began serving the House of Representatives on January 7, 1974, as 
a Junior Computer Terminal Operator in the Bill Status Office, where 
she responded to as many as 100 telephone inquiries a day about the 
status of legislation from both the American public and the House 
community. She was appointed Quality Control Coordinator and contacted 
House committees, the Senate Bill Clerk, and the White House daily to 
ensure the accuracy of the data.
  Lea was selected in the late 1970s as one of the first Service 
Representatives to inform Congressional offices of emerging computer 
technologies in the House and was appointed

[[Page E2113]]

in the early 1980s as an Office Automation Consultant to analyze mail 
flow in Member offices. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she served 
as an Applications Analyst where she assisted in the design, testing, 
implementation, and support of the House's correspondence management 
service and several online databases. In the late 1990s, Lea worked to 
ensure a smooth technology Y2K transition and assisted with the 
conversion of online services from the mainframe to the Web.
  Lea's coworkers and clients came to rely on her for her editorial, 
public speaking, and collaboration skills. She wrote, edited, and 
produced user documentation for classroom instruction, served as a 
member of the CAO Communications Team, had an article published in 
Government Information Quarterly in 1991 as part of a special symposium 
on legislative information, and served as Editor of the e-CyberCongress 
Connection Newsletter distributed to House staff. Lea also participated 
in several Congressional Research Service, CRS, District/State 
Institutes, delivered the ``History of HIR and Technology'' portion of 
the HIR CIO Vision briefing: Distinguished Service for a Digital World, 
and was a primary speaker at two Federal funding workshops in 
Congressional district offices.
  Lea was appointed as one of the first classroom trainers for the 
House of Representatives in the 1970s and returned to the classroom 
environment three times while at the House. She spent the last 15 years 
with The House Learning Center instructing Congressional staff in a 
wide range of desktop software, BlackBerry, Web design, online 
research, and professional development skills. She consistently 
received high marks from her students. She was instrumental in the 
development of job-related training matrices and in forming a 
partnership with the Congressional Research Service, CRS, to advise 
staff on how to assist their constituents in finding Federal funds for 
district projects.
  Lea was recognized by CAO and HIR leadership for her work in 
individual and team efforts on the CAO Roll of Honor, as a CAO All 
Star, with a CAO/HIR ``Pat on the Back'', 107-111th Congressional 
Transitions Teams, and as a CAO ACE Excellence Award nominee. The 
Congressional Research Service (CRS) recognized her for her work on the 
Legislative Information System (LIS) project where she served as the 
House's representative. She was spotlighted in the January-June 2007 
CAO Semi-Annual Report and in the `Trophy Case' on the CAOnline 
internal web site. Lea received numerous notes and letters of 
appreciation from Members of Congress, Congressional staff, coworkers, 
and the public.
  On behalf of the entire House community, we extend our 
congratulations to Lea for her many years of dedication and outstanding 
contributions to the United States House of Representatives. We wish 
Lea many wonderful years in fulfilling her retirement dreams.

                          ____________________