[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 78 (Tuesday, May 9, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S1564]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                     TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL D. QUICKEL

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, I pay tribute to Mike Quickel, the U.S. 
Senate Finance Committee's policy director, who is leaving Congress 
after more than 25 years of devoted service.
  One of the things that eases our jobs in the Senate is knowing we 
have solid people working steadily and earnestly beside us on behalf of 
the great people we represent. Idaho and our country have had that for 
decades with Mike Quickel. Since 2000, when he came to work in my 
office, after working more than a year as staff assistant for the U.S. 
House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on 
Oversight and Investigations, he has consistently supported Idahoans 
and the important work we do here in the Senate on behalf of the 
American people.
  After little more than a year of serving as a legislative 
correspondent, Mike was quickly promoted to serve as my tax and budget 
adviser, and he has generally served in this capacity through multiple 
positions since. As senior policy adviser, he staffed my positions on 
the Senate Finance and Budget Committees. His responsibilities included 
developing well-defined strategies for various tax legislative efforts. 
He also helped lead the bipartisan Senate Finance Committee Task Force 
on Savings and Investment. The task force crafted retirement savings 
proposals that were later enacted into law as part of the SECURE Act in 
2019. Every American worker should have the opportunity to save for a 
secure retirement, and Mike's work on this legislation has helped make 
it easier for Americans to do so.
  His steadiness, dependability, and strong grasp of policy and its 
practical effects also saw him tasked with critical, but under the 
radar, responsibilities like editing constituent response letters. I 
always have known I can count on him for the small and big tasks at 
hand. He proved this when he helped develop fiscal reform and debt 
reduction proposals when I served on the bipartisan Simpson/Bowles 
Commission in 2010. I cannot mention that commission without also 
noting that our country would now be on better fiscal footing if 
Congress had fully enacted the fiscal reforms Mike worked on more than 
a decade ago.
  But, back on point, when I began leading the Senate Committee on 
Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs as ranking member and chairman, Mike 
came with me and served as policy director for the committee. During 
this time, he worked tirelessly on drafting and negotiating the 
historic enactment of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, TCJA. This law, 
which is probably the achievement he is most proud of during his time 
in the Senate, lowered tax rates for all Americans, ensured American 
job-creators could better compete and bring jobs back to our country 
and led to the strongest economy in many of our lifetimes prior to the 
pandemic.
  He also successfully led bipartisan efforts to reauthorize the 
Export-Import Bank in 2019, as well as Senate confirmation of its 
chairman and board members. The Export-Import Bank had operated without 
congressional authorization and a Senate-confirmed chairman for several 
years, and Mike was instrumental in fixing this lapse. Additionally, he 
supported the successful bipartisan enactment in 2018 of the Economic 
Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act. This law has 
enabled financial institutions to better serve their customers and 
communities, while maintaining safety and soundness and important 
consumer protections.
  When I became ranking member of Senate Finance in 2021, I once again 
asked Mike to come with me and serve as policy director for the 
committee. Throughout this time, he has continued to dependably and 
professionally contribute to consequential legislation and policy 
initiatives, including his work to strengthen retirement security 
through the enactment of the SECURE 2.0 law in December 2022. This law 
expanded opportunities for Americans to increase their retirement 
savings and improve workers' long-term financial well-being. He has 
also been instrumental in successfully protecting the TCJA from 
attempts to undo its tax reform benefits.
  In addition to his policy expertise and keen knowledge of the Senate, 
Mike has helped and supported others. He has mentored countless young 
staffers and even set up annual Thanksgiving dinners for staff, many of 
whom were far away from home during the holidays. He is known as being 
loyal to everyone he has worked with over the years.
  Mike has been a steady, unassuming, and strong influence in the 
Senate. He is quiet but thorough. When I think of Mike, I think of 
God's instruction in the Bible verse James 1:19-20. He is truly quick 
to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. He listens carefully 
before framing the task or problem to fix that is weighed against his 
significant experience, knowledge, and know-how. He listens and reasons 
first and then acts prudently and never impulsively. This has been 
invaluable, as he has helped shape tax, retirement and economic policy 
that has had far-reaching benefits for our country. It will take a 
great deal of time to get used to not having Mike as a central part of 
my staff, but I wish him all the best. He has more than earned more 
time with his lovely family--wife Meg and son Davey--that I am hopeful 
his departure from Washington, DC, will afford him.
  Thank you, Mike, for your 25 years of dedicated, sound, and measured 
service to our country.

                          ____________________