[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 172 (Thursday, December 5, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING STEPHEN KLEIN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. PETER WELCH

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 5, 2013

  Mr. WELCH. Mr. Speaker, today, Stephen Klein, a long serving and 
widely respected Vermont public servant, is receiving the prestigious 
Stephen D. Gold Award from the National Council of State Legislatures 
(NCSL) here in our Nation's capitol.
  The Gold Award is presented by NCSL, in conjunction with the National 
Tax Association and the Association for Public Policy Analysis and 
Management, to an individual who has made a significant contribution to 
public financial management in State and local finance. Those who know 
the serious fiscal challenges our small State has faced in recent years 
know Stephen deserves this award, and much more.
  Vermont has an unusual, perhaps unique, way of grappling with fiscal 
issues. The Joint Fiscal Office, directed by Stephen since 1993, is a 
non-partisan office providing financial analyses to the Vermont General 
Assembly. It serves the so-called ``money committees''--Appropriations, 
Ways and Means, and Finance. It serves Republicans and Democrats. It 
serves the majority and minority parties. And during Stephen's tenure 
both parties have been in both positions.
  Vermont, like most States, has faced contentious fiscal issues--
school finance, health care funding, recessions, and conflicting and 
fiercely debated taxing and spending priorities. Yet through it all, 
with Republican and Democratic majorities and Republican and Democratic 
governors, Vermont experienced in Stephen an assured, creative, and 
honest leader who helped us--through good times and bad--balance our 
budgets, meet our priorities, and plan for our future.
  Stephen Klein's accomplishments are significant: balancing budgets in 
a State without a balanced budget amendment, creating a process for all 
stakeholders to agree on revenue estimates, and establishing a matching 
endowment fund for the Vermont State Colleges, to name just a few.
  But if his competence earned him universal respect, it is his 
personal qualities that have endeared him to all who know him--
professional and emotional generosity, a twinkling smile and sense of 
humor, a hectic but focused energy, respect for his long serving and 
able staff; his humility, and his genuine respect for every legislator.
  As hard as Stephen has worked for the State of Vermont, he has served 
in many other ways including as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras and 
the Dominican Republic, a member of the Randolph School Board, and a 
director of the Hunger Mountain Food Coop. Blessed with a loving 
family--his wife, Pricilla, and his children, Elana and Jonathan--
Stephen is a Vermonter who makes his fellow Vermonters proud.

                          ____________________