[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 37 (Thursday, March 2, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E269-E270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    FAREWELL TO MICHAEL L. HARRISON

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 2, 2017

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, please allow me to note the 
retirement of my Chief Counsel on my House Administration Committee 
staff, Michael L. Harrison. After 32 years of service to the House of 
Representatives, half of them with the Committee, Mike has decided to 
close out his Capitol Hill career in favor of other pursuits in the 
Sunshine State. His staff colleagues and I will greatly miss him, his 
experience and especially his clever sense of humor, which enlivened 
many meetings and discussions.
  Mike first appeared in these precincts in 1980 as an undergraduate 
intern for one of his home-state senators. To this day, he often refers 
to the Senate as the Upper Chamber. I'm told that as a teenager, Mike 
harbored plans to study law and eventually run for a seat. He was 
reportedly the only resident of his college dormitory with a mail 
subscription to the Congressional Record.
  While working as a Senate intern, Mike had lots of spare time which 
he put to good use. He explored the Capitol and the capital city 
thoroughly. Among his other discoveries during the winter of 1980, Mike 
was fortunate to find another intern, whose good looks and willingness 
to take a chance led to their eventual marriage which endures to this 
day. Everybody who knows his wife, Laurie, agrees that she is a saint 
with a great sense of humor of her own.
  Following law school in St. Louis, Mike returned to Washington in 
pursuit of a career not as a senator but on the staff. Mike served 
three House committees, one joint committee, and three individual 
Members. He worked on budget-process, reconciliation, campaign-finance 
reform and on a measure to clarify when a President can use the pocket 
veto. At the House Administration Committee, Mike worked on sundry 
legislation and oversight of the Government Publishing Office, the U.S. 
Capitol Police, the Architect of the Capitol and the Library of 
Congress.
  Mike, an ardent Democrat by birth, worked in the majority and, to his 
chagrin, the minority. But whether in the majority or minority,

[[Page E270]]

Mike sought every day to serve the interests and uphold the traditions 
of this institution and its members. We need more like him, Mr. 
Speaker, and must find ways to attract and retain them.
  While Mike's thoughts will undoubtedly turn elsewhere in the years 
ahead, I will not be surprised if his name appears once again on the 
list of Congressional Record subscribers. I urge all Members to join me 
in wishing Mike Harrison a long, healthy and prosperous retirement.

                          ____________________