[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 143 (Tuesday, September 2, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H3722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING DAVID BROOKS

  (Ms. Stansbury of New Mexico was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Ms. STANSBURY. Madam Speaker, it is with great pride and a bit of 
sadness that I rise today to say goodbye for now and thank you to my 
dear friend, and one of Congress' greatest champions for our public 
lands, Mr. David Brooks, who officially retires this week.
  Over the last 38 years, David has served as an exceptional leader in 
the United States Senate and House, serving over the last 36\1/2\ years 
as counsel to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. He 
is the longest tenured ENR counsel in history, working for eight 
different Senate chairs and ranking members and one House Member.
  During this time, David has worked on bills protecting nearly 25 
million acres of public lands, 25 million acres of wilderness, national 
parks, monuments, wild and scenic rivers, heritage areas, national 
recreation areas, and trails.
  He helped to write, negotiate, and pass one of the largest 
conservation bills in modern history with the passage of the Great 
American Outdoors Act. He helped to create permanent and mandatory 
funding for The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has protected 
public lands across the country.

                              {time}  1220

  During his service, he helped craft 10 of the largest and most 
significant public land and water packages in decades, including 
helping to pass hundreds of individual bills and creating nearly 50 new 
national park units and 17 million acres of new national wilderness.
  As counsel to two New Mexico Senators, he also helped to protect the 
Valles Caldera, Organ Mountains, and Columbine-Hondo Wilderness and 
many other efforts to protect the lands and waters of our State.
  As you can see, Madam Speaker, the impact of David's work speaks for 
itself. To any American who has stood in wonderment and awe of our 
Nation's public lands and most special places, behind the ever-
contested efforts to protect these lands, year in and year out, has 
stood the humble and steadfast work of David Brooks.
  For those of us who know David as I do, Madam Speaker, as a mentor, 
as a friend, and as a teacher, you know more than anything he would 
hate this speech. In fact, I am amazed that he is even here today in 
this Chamber to be recognized for his service. That is because the 
David we know and love has spent his entire career at his desk writing 
and negotiating bills, meeting constituents, working with Members, 
mentoring staff, and, yes, spinning the occasional tale or two.
  For anyone who has visited that hub, or tornado, of activity, you 
know what I am talking about. David's office has always been a meeting 
place for debate, big ideas, tough conversations, and getting things 
done.
  For those of us who have had the pleasure of working directly with 
David, we know him as a kind and wise teacher, mentor, and guide. This 
too will be his legacy of his time here in Congress, and for that we 
are forever grateful.
  He will also be known as a true Tucsonan, who never lost his 
connection and roots to his hometown of Tucson, Arizona.
  A hometown hero in his own right, David began his political career in 
high school volunteering for another Tucson icon, the great Congressman 
Raul Grijalva, cutting his teeth as a high school volunteer for one of 
Mr. Grijalva's school board campaigns in which Congressman Grijalva 
became the city's first Chicano school board members in history.
  After graduating from the University of Arizona, David came to 
Washington in 1987 to work for the great Congressman Morris K. Udall 
where he worked in the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 
now known as the House Natural Resources Committee.
  Like Mo Udall and Raul Grijalva, whom he worked for, two of our 
greatest public lands champions, David leaves the Hill with exceptional 
service and an unmatched record in protecting our Nation's public 
lands.
  If it is not already clear, Tucson has a lot to be proud of, which is 
why we are so grateful that some of Mr. Grijalva's former staff, staff 
from the House Natural Resources and Senate Energy and Natural 
Resources Committee and conservation organizations working across the 
country, have joined us here today. We certainly know that John and 
Carol, his parents back home, and his wife, Celeste, and son, Ben, who 
are here with us today, are deeply proud as well.
  Above all else, we are going to miss David Brooks and his constant 
presence on the Hill. For so many of us David has been a rock, a 
friend, and a person whose loyalty, kindness, and decency stands out in 
a place where it is hard to come by.
  David Brooks is a one of a kind, an American classic, and a Tucson 
hero. We congratulate him on his new retirement.

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