[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 176 (Thursday, November 17, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7694-S7695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO DANA SINGISER
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I would like to take this opportunity to
honor a dear friend and native Vermonter, Dana Singiser. Dana has
accepted the position of Vice President for Public Policy and
Government Affairs for Planned Parenthood, and while I am sorry to see
her leave President Obama's administration, I am proud to recognize
Dana's hard work and wish her continued success in her career.
Dana was raised in the small rural town of Mendon, VT, where her
mother--the Mendon town clerk--instilled in her the values of democracy
and the importance of staying engaged in her community. Dana carried
this spirit with her in her career on Capitol Hill and on several
presidential campaigns. Dana came to my office as an intern in the
summer of 1991 while attending Brown University. I was immediately
impressed with her intelligence, work ethic, and gregarious
personality. I knew she would go on to accomplish great things, and
indeed she has. After graduating from Brown, she attended law school at
Georgetown University and spent 7 years at a law firm before her return
to public service, where she has remained.
Dana served as the Director of Women's Outreach for Hillary Clinton's
presidential bid--an opportunity that allowed her to grow her career in
politics. She later also quickly proved herself a valuable asset to
President Obama's campaign, and following his election she was
appointed Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs,
where she has served for the last 3 years.
While she has enjoyed her time at the White House, Dana has also
gained immeasurable experience that will certainly add to her already
successful career. In Dana's new role with Planned Parenthood, she can
continue her long fight to protect women's rights, and I am glad to see
her continue to follow her passion. Vermonters are proud to recognize
Dana Singiser's hard work, and we wish her continued success in her
career.
I ask unanimous consent that an article about her achievements, from
The
[[Page S7695]]
National Journal, be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire
[From the National Journal, Nov. 7, 2011]
(By Naureen Khan)
Dana Singiser remembers the glamour of her first job out of
college: running a tiny field office in Vermont for Bill
Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign for $300 a month.
Luckily, Singiser was a local and her mother was on hand to
bring her laboring daughter dinner every night.
Public service was always a natural inclination for
Singiser, she said. She was, after all, raised by parents who
were actively involved in the small rural community of
Mendon, Vt., population 1,056. Mom was the town clerk and a
small-business owner while Dad kept busy with church
activities.
An internship with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., while she was
still an undergraduate at Brown University gave Singiser her
first taste of D.C. and there was no turning back. After
working on Clinton's 1992 race, she landed a job in the White
House with presidential personnel and packed her bags for
Washington--``The last meritocracy,'' according to Singiser,
``where you can work hard and get recognized.''
Twenty years later, after jobs on several presidential
campaigns, on Capitol Hill, and most recently with the Obama
administration as special assistant to the president for
legislative affairs, Singiser is headed to Planned Parenthood
as vice president of public policy and government affairs.
``It's been great, and you can never leave a White House
job without feeling incredibly bittersweet about it,''
Singiser said. ``I feel like a mere mortal, and I can't keep
up these hours and this intensity forever.''
Not that Singiser is expecting an easy road ahead at
Planned Parenthood. She becomes the organization's chief
advocate and liaison to both state and national policymakers
as the group continues to come under attack as one of the
largest legal providers of abortion. The issue has become a
lightning rod over the past several months as Republican
lawmakers, GOP presidential candidates, and conservative
activists have called for federal defunding of Planned
Parenthood. Singiser said she hopes to help reframe the
conversation in her new role.
``Those attacks are just misplaced,'' she said, pointing to
the range of primary-care services that Planned Parenthood
provides for men, women, and children. ``The result of those
sorts of efforts would be to erode women's health.''
Singiser has been well-prepared for the role, working in
both policy and politics for the past decade. After her stint
with the Clinton administration, Singiser got her law degree
from Georgetown University in December 1998 and practiced at
the Washington firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld for five
years, doing regulatory and lobbying work.
When the political bug bit her again, she went to work on
Howard Dean's short-lived presidential campaign before a
Senate job vacancy caught her eye. For three years, she was
staff director for the Senate Democratic Steering and
Outreach Committee under then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-
N.Y.
From there, Singiser went to work for Clinton's 2008
presidential campaign, focusing on women's outreach. When
Clinton bowed out of the race and endorsed Barack Obama, her
former rival, Singiser got on a plane almost immediately for
Chicago to lend a hand to Obama's general-election effort.
She has been with the Obama administration since Day One,
becoming an expert on everything from financial reform to
health care as the president tackled an ambitious legislative
agenda in his first two years in office.
``I'm really proud and honored to have served President
Obama for three years, but I'm really excited to go on to
this next chapter,'' she added.
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