[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 206 (Thursday, December 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S7203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO FAISAL AMIN

  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the work of Mr. 
Faisal Amin, who has been serving for the past 4 months as a detailee 
on the staff of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the 
Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.
  Faisal is a senior attorney for the Budget and Appropriations Law 
Group at the U.S. Government Accountability Office and joined the staff 
in September of this year to fill in for a longtime staff member on 
maternity leave.
  Faisal has been heavily involved in the drafting, consideration, and 
passage of the fiscal year 2020 Interior appropriations bill starting 
from the first day of his assignment with the subcommittee. In just 4 
months, he participated in almost all of the milestones of the 
appropriations process: a committee markup, floor consideration, and 
conference negotiations.
  He ably represented Vice Chairman Leahy and me throughout the 
process, handling the day-to-day responsibilities of overseeing the 
budgets of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and related 
agencies and working with other congressional offices, Agency staff, 
nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders to ensure that 
the priorities of Members of this Chamber on both sides of the aisle 
were well represented.
  Faisal did tremendous work, stepping in to handle complicated policy 
and budgetary issues in an unusually expedited process. He is smart, 
pragmatic, thoughtful, and strategic--creating an excellent rapport 
with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle and serving as an 
optimistic and positive presence on the subcommittee. I am grateful for 
his time with us, and I know his colleagues on the subcommittee staff--
Rachael Taylor, Ryan Hunt and Melissa Zimmerman--feel the same way.
  On behalf of Vice Chairman Leahy and the committee, I also extend our 
gratitude to the Comptroller General, Mr. Gene Dodaro, and the staff of 
the U.S. Government Accountability Office for sharing Faisal with us 
during this critical time.
  Congratulations, Faisal, for a job well done, and thank you for your 
service to the United States Senate.

                          ____________________