[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 80 (Thursday, May 11, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1617-S1618]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Public Service Recognition Week

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, this week is Public Service Recognition 
Week--a week we have set aside each year since 1985 to recognize and 
honor public servants. I would like to take this opportunity to express 
my deep, heartfelt gratitude to America's 20 million Federal, State, 
county, and local public servants. From astronauts to astrophysicists, 
caseworkers to court clerks, detectives to doctors, soldiers to 
superintendents, teachers to transit workers, America's public servants 
comprise one of our Nation's most critical and often maligned assets.
  Men and women serve in harm's way to defend our Nation. Other public 
servants support them. Public servants teach our children, deliver the 
mail, administer our elections, keep our streets and communities safe 
and clean, guide air traffic, protect our natural resources and food 
and drug supplies, respond to natural disasters and other emergencies, 
conduct pioneering basic research, provide healthcare, interpret and 
enforce our laws, ensure that seniors and veterans receive the benefits 
they have earned, and represent our Nation's interests in foreign 
posts. I could go on and on. The work that public servants perform 
affects each and every one of us on a daily basis, making our lives so 
much better.

  The public sector workforce--particularly at the Federal level--tends 
to be older, better educated, and more experienced than the private 
sector workforce. So many public servants could earn higher salaries in 
private sector jobs, but their motivation is more than pecuniary gain; 
it is a sense of duty and a love of their community and country that 
compel them.
  President Biden issued a proclamation this week that says:

       At a time when public servants are facing threats and 
     hostility simply for doing their jobs, their continued 
     willingness to serve is even more meaningful and important. 
     We have an obligation to support them and to recognize and 
     value their commitment and sacrifice. Our Nation's future 
     depends on ensuring our public servants have good jobs with 
     competitive pay and benefits, along with the resources they 
     need to accomplish their work. It also depends on the next 
     generation of smart, dedicated people answering the call of 
     public service and joining their ranks, helping deliver the 
     promise of America to more of our citizens.

  I couldn't agree with the President more.
  Just 7 percent of America's Federal workers are under the age of 30. 
I join President Biden in urging young Americans to consider careers in 
public service. We need your talents, your energy, your ideas, and your 
idealism to ensure that America remains prosperous, secure, and a 
beacon of liberty for all humanity.
  Each year, in conjunction with Public Service Recognition Week, the 
nonprofit Partnership for Public Service announces the finalists for 
the prestigious Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals. The awards 
are named after the partnership's founder and benefactor and highlight 
excellence in our Federal workforce.
  I am proud that Maryland is home to 12 finalists.
  They are, in the field of science, technology, and environment, Dr. 
Adam Phillippy, Dr. Sergey Koren, and Dr. Arang Rhie, Investigator, 
Associate Investigator, and Staff Scientist respectively at the 
National Institutes of Health, National Human Genome Research 
Institute, and the Telomere to Telomere Consortium, which Dr. Phillippy 
cofounded in 2018, having cracked the last 8 percent of humans' genetic 
code.
  Their research into understanding the most difficult parts of our DNA 
has

[[Page S1618]]

enabled scientists to discover more than 2 new million variants in our 
genetic makeup, many of which can cause serious health problems. We 
will make leaps and bounds in understanding Down syndrome, autism, and 
cancer, and devising effective gene therapies for a host of diseases.
  Dr. Phillippy put it this way:

       It is really easy to get up and go to work in the morning 
     because our work is making such a difference.

  What a dedicated public servant.
  In management excellence, Megan Meacham, Allison Hutchings, and Sarah 
O'Donnell, Director, Deputy Director, and Team Lead respectively at the 
Department of Health and Human Services' Rural Strategic Initiatives 
Division under the Health Resources and Services Administration, 
created the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program to provide grant 
funding for a wide array of innovative and effective opioid use 
prevention, treatment, and recovery services.
  The program, which they established 5 years ago, has served more than 
2 million people each year in more than 1,800 rural counties across 47 
States and 2 territories. As Megan Meacham has stated, ``We are here to 
help and passionate to serve. Even when we hit a roadblock, we find a 
way around it.''
  We know the challenges of opioid addiction. Our public servants are 
answering the challenge.
  In management excellence, Gloria Morgan Shepherd, Executive Director, 
Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation, is one of 
three DOT senior managers being honored for helping to craft and 
implement the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
  We were proud to pass that bill. It wasn't so easy to implement it. 
Dedicated public servants at the Department of Transportation are 
making sure our legislation carries out its intended purpose. Thanks to 
their work, DOT initiated 1,887 transportation projects last year that 
were awarded nearly $10 billion in discretionary funds on top of $82.3 
billion in formula funding that will help modernize the Nation's 
highways, bridges, shipping ports, railroads, and airports.
  Gloria Morgan Shepherd and her colleagues implemented 76 new or 
expanded grant programs and initiated bridge repair programs, a 
national electric vehicle charging network, and a host of safety 
initiatives. That is what we intended. Our public servants at DOT are 
carrying that out.
  In management excellence, Rear Admiral Nancy Hann, Director of the 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Commissioned Corps 
and Director of NOAA's Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, has 
implemented policies to curb sexual harassment, assault, and bullying 
among employees aboard NOAA's marine fleet and aircraft, creating a 
safer workplace and changing the organization's culture.
  Admiral Hann, who has been with NOAA for 26 years, said:

       It is really important for everyone to have a voice and to 
     feel comfortable physically, emotionally, and mentally in the 
     workplace. I have the responsibility to be the voice of the 
     people who don't feel like they have a voice or are too 
     scared. I take that responsibility very seriously.

  We are all better off because of Admiral Hann's work.
  The Paul A. Volcker Career Achievement Award: Dr. Eric J. ``Rocky'' 
Feuer, Chief, Statistical Research and Applications Branch, 
Surveillance Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and 
Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of 
Health, has developed new methods to estimate the chances of 
individuals being diagnosed with cancer at different times during their 
lives.
  Over the past four decades, he has designed a sophisticated system 
using statistical analysis to understand national cancer trends better, 
leading to significant prevention, screening, and treatment options 
that have benefited millions of Americans.
  In 2000, he created the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling 
Network, allowing statisticians and scientists to address critical 
cancer-related questions collaboratively. He has stated that the 
statistical analysis he has engaged in over the course of his career is 
``backbencher type of work,'' but added it has helped ``move people to 
action'' and improve healthcare.

  Yes, we are dealing with cancer challenges in our communities, and 
people like Dr. Feuer are making a huge difference.
  Safety, security, and international affairs: Lisa Hsiao, Assistant 
Director, Consumer Protection Branch, Department of Justice, has 
protected the public from harmful or misleading trade practices by 
businesses across a wide range of industries, including Altria, R.J. 
Reynolds, Facebook, and Dish Network, securing some of the largest 
fines in U.S. history and requiring the disclosure of important safety 
and privacy information.
  As Dr. Lisa Hsiao has said, ``I'm proud that through these cases we 
have created law that can be built upon. As a lawyer, it's pretty rare 
to be able to make precedent that both protects the public and effects 
good public policy.''
  Protecting consumers, protecting the public, that is what public 
servants do.
  Management excellence: Robert Gorman, Senior Trial Attorney, 
Department of Transportation, is one of three DOT officials in the 
Office of Aviation Consumer Protection who has led an aggressive 
campaign to require airlines to compensate air travelers for airfare 
and other related costs for canceled or significantly delayed flights 
due to circumstances within the airlines' control. The campaign has 
produced a record $8.4 million in fines and more than $1 billion in 
passenger refunds.
  Robert Gorman and his colleagues looked for patterns to determine if 
an airline were repeatedly being unresponsive or noncompliant with 
respect to consumer complaints, leading the Aviation Consumer 
Protection Office to issue two regulatory notices, launch 
investigations, bring enforcement actions, and in some instances, reach 
settlements for travelers to be reimbursed.
  Thanks to Robert Gorman and his colleagues, the skies are finally 
friendlier for fliers.
  Science, Technology, and the Environment: Dr. Sarah Nelson, Director 
of Defense Programs Office of Experimental Sciences, National Nuclear 
Security Administration, Department of Energy, played a leading role in 
overseeing scientists who, for the first time in history, produced a 
fusion reaction that produced more energy than it required, a 
breakthrough with enormous implications for abundant clean energy and 
national defense. When harnessed and expanded to utility scale, fusion 
energy will produce reliable electricity without releasing greenhouse 
gases or producing radioactive waste.
  Dr. Nelson started as an intern at the NNSA's Lawrence Livermore 
research laboratory.
  She said:

       It was a tremendously influential experience for me, but I 
     had no idea that I'd be sitting in this chair 20 years later 
     when such a scientific breakthrough would be accomplished. If 
     we are able to use this technology someday to enable clean 
     energy, [it would be a game-changer].

  She is right on that.
  So we can debate the proper role and size of our government, but I 
hope we can all agree that we want the best and brightest to serve. 
These individuals and their fellow honorees represent the best our 
Federal workforce has to offer. But we should be grateful for all 
public servants who go to work each day determined to make a positive 
difference for their fellow Americans, and we should be grateful all 
year long.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.