[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 200 (Wednesday, December 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7878-S7879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO HAZEN MARSHALL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, earlier today, I finished my yearend 
tributes to several of my fellow Senators, but, unfortunately, there is 
still one more goodbye to a very special member of my own team. It is 
no exaggeration at all to say that for the past 4 years, Hazen Marshall 
has stood squarely in the center of every consequential decision and 
piece of legislation that Congress has taken up. Just wrap your mind 
around the job: the policy director in the Senate Majority Leader's 
office.

  Every day that Hazen has driven here to the Capitol and parked his 
big pickup truck among all the hybrids and hatchbacks, he has come 
ready to work--as a visionary strategist, a lead negotiator, a graceful 
manager, a constant resource to key players on both sides of the 
aisle--basically, something like an air traffic controller for the U.S. 
Senate.
  Now, with a job like that, it is no wonder that when my chief of 
staff and I set out to lure Hazen back to the Capitol to join our team 
in 2014, it didn't start out as an easy sell. For one thing, he had 
already served 18 years of hard time here.
  Hazen started out as an intern for his home State Senator, Don 
Nickles. Now, the way I hear it all these years later, he may or may 
not have missed the official deadline for submitting his internship 
application, but this agriculture and economics whiz from Oklahoma 
State was exactly what the office needed, with a farm bill coming up. 
So they brought him on.
  By the time he departed the Senate with Don for greener pastures, he 
had shot up through the ranks and become staff director on the Senate 
Budget Committee. Everybody knew Hazen, and they knew that he knew 
everything. Everyone loved working with him. He had become a part of 
this institution in his own right.
  We knew he would need some good luck to persuade him to write a 
sequel to all of that, but our fortunes turned around when Hazen 
volunteered to come down to Kentucky in the last days of my 2014 
campaign.
  With the atmosphere of public service and the camaraderie and old 
friendships already in place with so many of his would-be colleagues, 
well, I think

[[Page S7879]]

the old bug hit Hazen again right then and right there. I am sure it 
didn't hurt when we actually won the majority that year, too.
  So this policy mastermind and peerless budget expert came on board. 
Keep in mind that this is the guy who has only worked for two bosses in 
his whole life--Don Nickles and his own father. I got to be lucky No. 
3.
  Just a couple of things have happened since then: the early wins, 
like the 2015 highway bill, paving the way for reconciliation with a 
quick turnaround on the 2017 budget, getting tax reform off the white 
board and on to the President's desk, walking the narrow bipartisan 
balance beam of this past winter's funding agreement, and scoring a win 
for defense funding.
  During each of these battles and many others, Hazen was right there 
at the center of the action. But I can't think of a single time when he 
himself sought to be the center of attention. As far as Hazen was 
concerned, his accomplishments were not Hazen Marshall's. They were the 
accomplishments of the leader's office, the conference, and the Senate. 
His victories were all team victories.
  You couldn't succeed at a job like Hazen has without having 
thoroughly mastered the machinery of Congress, but you wouldn't be as 
happy doing it or make nearly so many friends along the way, unless you 
were in it for the right reasons.
  This is a town where many folks will try to parlay any proximity to 
power into black-tie invitations and jump at any chance to self-
promote--not Hazen. It probably doesn't hurt that he would probably 
rather be in the seats at Nat's Park, anyway, at his kids' 
performances, or on the river than at most high-society functions. But 
even more than that, selfishness is simply not in the man's character.
  He is just rock solid, completely confident, and utterly reliable.
  When I or any other Member or any staffer brought a question or 
problem to Hazen, we knew we would get a straight answer and we would 
get it fast, and it was guaranteed to be right. In every meeting, on 
every hard day, there was Hazen at the end of the table reassuring me 
and everyone else with a smile and his trademark encouraging words: 
``It's all good. It's all good.''
  He is one of the seniormost staffers in the Senate, still totally 
humble, still trying to buck everyone up and squeeze some smiles out of 
the work. And, frankly, with Hazen at the negotiating table, it almost 
always was ``all good.''
  Of course, we will miss more than just Hazen's professional 
excellence. His humble, hard-working spirit isn't the only way he 
remains less of a beltway operator and more of that farm boy from 
Hennessey, OK. He may be one of the most savvy and well-connected guys 
in this city, but you had better believe that while colleagues would 
compare notes about the different trips they had taken over recess, 
Hazen would grin ear-to-ear while describing the latest Indy car race 
he had taken in.
  To be fair, this is also a man of high culture. His affinity for 
music and theater includes the artistic pursuits of his children, 
Madeline and Max, and practically everything else under the sun as 
well.
  So I don't suspect Hazen will have a hard time filling his days when 
the Senate reconvenes without him in January. Maybe he will dive even 
deeper into his CrossFit habit and convert to ``two-a-days.''
  Certainly, his devotion to the Washington Nationals will ensure that 
he still faces many frustrating, stressful situations come springtime, 
but unlike many legislative challenges, he will be able to shoulder 
that burden with a cold beer in his hand.
  I can't wait to see you in the stands, buddy, but I will miss you 
here.
  Thanks so much for your service to me, to your colleagues, and, most 
of all, to your country.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Tillis). The Senator from Oregon.

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