[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 208 (Wednesday, December 9, 2020)]
[House]
[Page H7052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING ROB STRAIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Perlmutter) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise for a couple of purposes today.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the career of Rob Strain, a friend 
and constituent who is retiring as president of Ball Aerospace, 
headquartered in Colorado.
  Rob first joined Ball Aerospace in 2012, after serving as director of 
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. At Goddard, Rob's strong oversight 
and leadership skills contributed to the success of more than 13 
missions, as he was able to blend technical and programmatic solutions 
while under intense congressional and agency scrutiny.
  Rob has a hands-on managerial style and a collaborative nature, which 
makes him a critical contributor on mission teams and not just the 
person in charge.
  Rob helped devise and execute a smooth transition from the flawed 
tri-agency NPOESS program for the Nation's next-generation polar 
weather satellites to the NASA/NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System, JPSS, 
based at Goddard to ensure the continuity of these critical weather 
satellite observations. The significance of his thoughtful, effective 
leadership during the program's transition cannot be overstated.
  Rob also served a key role for the final space shuttle servicing 
mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. The mission encountered a major 
programmatic challenge from a prelaunch computer failure 1 month before 
the scheduled launch. In this ``failure is not an option'' moment, Rob 
brought together the government and industry expertise to fix the 
problem, ensured the team stayed on track, and minimized scheduled 
impacts. The result was a successful servicing mission, extending 
Hubble's incredible contributions to our scientific community as we 
approach 31 years in service.
  Prior to joining NASA, Rob led the Space Department of the Johns 
Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where he was integral to the 
successful development, launch, and operations of the New Horizons 
spacecraft to Pluto. New Horizons overcame numerous technical and 
instrument availability issues to meet an extremely tight planetary 
launch window and successfully flew by Pluto in 2015.
  Through his career at Ball Aerospace, Rob has been a strong champion 
for diversity and inclusion across his teams and empowering all members 
of the team to be themselves and contribute to the success of the 
business and the mission. Despite the success Rob has achieved in his 
career, he remains an incredibly approachable and humble person. Rob 
remains accessible to individuals at all career levels, actively 
seeking their input and making them feel valued.
  Rob, I will miss your dry sense of humor, which often brought levity 
to serious meetings and tense situations. Thank you for your friendship 
and your work on behalf of the aerospace community, Colorado, and the 
Nation. I wish you the best in your retirement.

                              {time}  1030


                       Election Results Were Fair

  Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, the second purpose I rise today is to 
respond to one of my friends who is questioning the validity of the 
election. He couldn't be more wrong. The gentleman from Alabama and I 
work on legislation together. We cosponsored a bill that was just 
signed. But with respect to his allegations and the allegations of 
attorneys that there has been major fraud in this election, I can tell 
you that they couldn't be more wrong. There is not a shred of evidence.
  I would say to my friend, under the Constitution--under Article I, 
Section 1.4--the States are in charge of their elections. And under the 
section concerning the Presidency, Article II, Section 4, we choose 
when we hear from the electors of the electoral college--which will be 
January 6. But citing a New York Post article of an unnamed Democrat, 
who supposedly is an expert in elections, certainly is not evidence.
  In the cases across the country, there has been no evidence, and case 
after case has been thrown out, as they deserve to be thrown out. In 
fact, the Supreme Court just threw out a case yesterday concerning 
claims against Pennsylvania and its election process.
  Mr. Speaker, I don't understand how these attorneys can bring these 
cases without facing sanctions by the various courts for bringing 
frivolous, vexatious, and abusive litigation. This election was fair. 
There have been many instances where they are trying to find some level 
of fraud. No fraud has been found. Joe Biden is the President-elect, 
and we will make him President on January 20, when the inauguration 
occurs.

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