[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 184 (Wednesday, October 20, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7111-S7112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                     Tribute to Robert Travis Scott

  Madam President, No. 2, we have an organization in Louisiana called 
the Public Affairs Research Council. It is one of our premiere think 
tanks. It is an independent group. They are not political. They do 
serious research, and they offer very serious suggestions about how we, 
in Louisiana, can solve some of our social and economic problems. We 
call it PAR, Public Affairs Research Council.
  I don't know how long PAR has been around. As long as I have been in 
government, which is the late 1980s, it was there way before I came. I 
didn't have time to look up when it was founded, but I think it is 
pretty much 2 years older than dirt. It has been there. It is an 
institution in Louisiana.
  It is privately funded. People who care about our State contribute 
money to do PAR's work. I religiously read all of PAR's white papers 
and research papers. Everybody I know who cares about my State takes 
their suggestions seriously.
  To be the director or the president of PAR, it is quite an honor. It 
is a lot of work and it is a big deal. Our president of PAR is 
retiring. He is a friend of mine. His name is Robert Travis Scott, and 
I want to say a word about Robert.
  Robert is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with high 
honors, a graduate of Johns Hopkins. He has done it all. Robert has 
been the president of PAR since 2011. But before that, he was the 
capital bureau chief for our Times-Picayune newspaper in

[[Page S7112]]

New Orleans, and that is how I got to know him. Robert was never an 
agenda journalist. And we know that those journalists, particularly in 
the print media, exist, and they exist in the electronic media.
  I couldn't tell you today what Robert's politics are. I don't even 
know what party he is in. I don't know if he is in a party. He was 
always, when he was a reporter, a straight shooter. He called it like 
he saw it. He played it straight down the middle. And if he thought he 
ought to bust you upside the head because you did something dumb in 
public service, he would do it, but he didn't do it just in a 
gratuitous way.
  So it was no surprise to me when PAR asked Robert to take over 
running the Public Affairs Research Council. And he did that. He has 
done it since 2011, 10 years. Robert and PAR have contributed so much 
to my State.
  His replacement is going to be a gentleman by the name of Dr. Steve 
Procopio, who I know as well. Steve is going to do a great job. But we 
are going to miss Robert. I hope he doesn't go far.
  I just wanted to come say a word about my good friend Robert Travis 
Scott.