[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 92 (Thursday, May 26, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2747-S2748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO LEE J. LOFTHUS

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, I rise today to express my appreciation for 
a dedicated public servant, Mr. Lee J. Lofthus of Maryland, who is 
retiring after nearly 40 years of public service at the U.S. Department 
of Justice.
  Lee received his MBA from American University in 1982 and joined the 
Department shortly thereafter. Since then, he has served in a number of 
positions, including the last 16 years as its Assistant Attorney 
General for Administration, the highest ranking career position at the 
Department of Justice. In this role, he has been responsible for many 
duties, including serving as the Department's chief financial officer, 
leading its financial reporting, annual financial statement, budget 
formulation and execution, accounting operations, asset forfeiture fund 
support and debt management support. As Assistant Attorney General, he 
has also been the Department's chief ethics official while also 
overseeing its facilities, procurement, human resources, and planning. 
Lee also served as the Department of Justice career Agency Transition 
Director for every Presidential transition since 2008. His leadership 
has been essential to the Department's operations.
  I know Lee from his role as the top Department of Justice liaison 
with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. In my time as both 
chairman and ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, 
and Related Agencies Subcommittee, I have seen firsthand Lee's deft 
understanding and management of the congressional appropriations 
process. He has been an asset to both the Department and the 
Appropriations Committees and will be missed by all of those who have 
worked with and for him.
  Lee has many interests outside of his work, and he will now have the 
opportunity to focus more time on those interests, foremost among those 
his wife Dawn and his sons Mike and Austin. I also expect Lee will 
dedicate more time to caring for animals, including his affinity for 
dachshunds and his occasional adoption of a wayward bird. Lee may even 
find some time to indulge his devotion to Bob Dylan.
  The one activity to which I am certain Lee will be devoting his time 
is enhancing his status as one of the Nation's leading numismatists. 
Lee's role as the Department of Justice's CFO makes even more sense 
once you learn that he has long been a nationally recognized, 
published, and award-winning expert on U.S. paper currency. Lee's 
particular emphasis is on National

[[Page S2748]]

Bank Notes, which were effectively a form of national currency until 
being discontinued in the 1930s. The ledgers Lee is familiar with are 
not just the ones involved in the Department's budgeting, but also the 
original Treasury Department ledgers tracing the return and destruction 
of these notes. I wish Lee continued success in this field.
  Above all else, Lee will leave behind a legacy of strong, calm, and 
effective leadership. Few can fill the multifaceted role he held at the 
Department but even fewer can do so in the universally respected and 
admired manner that he did so.
  The Nation and the Department of Justice have lost a great asset. I 
commend Lee for his many accomplishments and for his selfless service 
to this country. He will be missed. On behalf of Kansans and a grateful 
nation, I personally thank Lee for his service to our Nation and 
congratulate him on his retirement; he has earned a long and fulfilling 
one.

                          ____________________