[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 192 (Monday, December 12, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1253]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNIZING DIANA MEREDITH FOR HER SERVICE TO THE HOUSE BUDGET 
                               COMMITTEE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN A. YARMUTH

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 12, 2022

  Mr. YARMUTH. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor Diana 
Meredith, staff director of the House Budget Committee. Diana is 
retiring after more than 25 years of dedicated service to Congress and 
the Executive branch, including 20 years on the House Budget Committee.
  A native of Washington state, Diana worked as a newspaper reporter in 
Seattle and the Napa Valley for several years. In 1997, she came to 
Washington, D.C. to work for the Senate Budget Committee, led at the 
time by U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine. In 1998, Diana moved to 
the White House Office of Management and Budget (0MB) to serve as a 
program examiner for Social Security and fiscal issues, analyzing 
Social Security reform proposals and negotiating and resolving policy 
disagreements among agencies and White House offices.
  After five years at 0MB, Diana joined the Democratic Staff of the 
House Budget Committee in 2003, under Rep. John Spratt, Jr. of South 
Carolina. Diana went on to serve as a budget analyst on the House 
Budget Committee for 14 years. She advised House leadership and 
committees on budget-related matters--developing recommendations, 
messaging guidance, and overall strategy for key Congressional 
legislative deliberations. Diana played a particularly important role 
in the development and passage of the historic Affordable Care Act 
(ACA) and in pushing back against harmful proposals to restructure 
Medicare and other crucial social programs.
  In 2017, Diana became Deputy Staff Director of the House Budget 
Committee, where she assisted in the negotiation and passage of a 
number of highly consequential pieces of legislation. Her legacy 
includes the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, which ended the threat of 
annual discretionary sequesters from the Budget Control Act, the 2021 
concurrent budget resolution that paved the way for the American Rescue 
Plan, and the historic American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which helped 
our nation rapidly recover from the COVID pandemic, with record-
breaking job creation and broad-based economic growth.
  Diana became Budget Staff Director in 2021, an enormously 
consequential year for President Biden, Congressional Democrats, and 
the American people. Diana led the Committee in enacting the framework 
for what would become the Inflation Reduction Act--landmark 
reconciliation legislation that has lowered the cost of prescription 
drugs for millions of seniors, expanded health insurance subsidies to 
help families access affordable, high-quality care, and provided the 
largest investment in U.S. history to combat climate.
  Diana is a deeply caring public servant. She is uniquely adept at 
navigating complex budgetary issues and negotiations, while never 
losing sight of the reason we do this work: to help the American 
people. And Diana never missed an opportunity to reflect on and 
celebrate her staff's victories, big or small. The Budget Committee and 
our entire country has benefited from Diana's expertise, her extensive 
knowledge of the budget process, her mentorship of staff, and her 
unwavering dedication to America's working families.
  I want to thank Diana for her advice, dedication, and leadership. I 
wish her all the best in her much deserved retirement.

                          ____________________