[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 5 (Thursday, January 9, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E33]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   HONORING CHARLES E. HANRAHAN RETIRING FROM CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH 
                                SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 9, 2014

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Charles E. 
Hanrahan, Senior Specialist in Agricultural Policy in the Resources, 
Science, and Industry Division of the Congressional Research Service 
(CRS). After a distinguished career of 47 years of federal service, 
including more than 29 years of service to Congress on agricultural 
trade and international food aid issues at CRS, Charles will be 
retiring on January 31, 2014.
  Charles Hanrahan's work on international food aid issues has been of 
enormous value to the Members and staff of the House Hunger Caucus, 
which I co-chair. He was famous for his ``International Food Aid 101'' 
briefings that helped every congressional office understand the 
importance of our global food assistance programs, how they worked, the 
challenges they face, and how they might be strengthened and improved. 
My staff and I relied on his insights and we will miss not being able 
to pick up the phone or send him an email seeking information and 
advice.
  During his tenure at CRS, Charles has achieved a remarkable record of 
accomplishment providing invaluable support to the authorizing and 
appropriations committees and Members of Congress on agricultural 
trade, global food security, and international agricultural 
development. Over his illustrious career, he has worked on 10 omnibus 
farm bills, 3 multilateral trade negotiations, and numerous bilateral 
and regional free trade agreements, and has been indispensable in 
congressional consideration of these measures. His unparalleled 
institutional knowledge on these issues will be greatly missed by 
Congress.
  Charles began his federal career working part-time in the offices of 
his representative and senator from his native Kentucky and operating 
an elevator here in the U.S. Capitol while earning his Bachelor of 
Science at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. After 
graduation, he volunteered for the Peace Corps and served over 2 years 
in Guinea, West Africa where he taught agricultural economics and farm 
management. When he returned stateside, he earned his Ph.D. in 1972 at 
the University of Kentucky. Before coming to CRS in 1984, Charles 
worked at USDA's Economic Research Service where he rose to deputy 
director in international economics, and earlier served at the U.S. 
Agency for International Development as a senior economist in the 
Africa Bureau, and as a staff economist at the National Academy of 
Sciences.
  With this wealth of experience, Charles quickly established himself 
as a leading expert on agricultural trade and international food aid 
issues at CRS when he arrived in 1984. During his CRS career, he has 
written more than 200 reports and confidential memoranda and conducted 
hundreds of briefings for Members and staff, all of which were 
completed with authoritative and objective analysis and the skills of a 
masterful teacher. Just over a year after his arrival at CRS, his 
comprehensive knowledge of world hunger issues were tapped by the 
Select Committee on Hunger as Charles testified at a public hearing on 
food supplies in drought ravaged sub-Saharan Africa. His expert 
testimony at this hearing and his accomplished work in the nearly three 
decades following have gone a long way in keeping Congress informed on 
the important humanitarian issues of international food aid and 
agricultural development.
  In addition to his many years of excellent direct support to 
Congress, Charles has served in acting supervisory and mentoring roles 
within CRS, including most recently as acting deputy assistant director 
in his division and as division reviewer of the reports and memoranda 
of CRS analysts. In these roles, he has earned the great respect of his 
CRS colleagues for his deep knowledge, fairness in evaluating their 
work, and his ability to manage challenging administrative problems.
  In retirement, Charles plans to pursue his favorite extracurricular 
pursuits of travel, reading, cooking, dining out and spending time with 
his beloved family. We wish him the very best in his retirement and 
thank him for his dedicated and stellar record of service to Congress, 
the American people, and vulnerable people around the world.

                          ____________________