[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 20260]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                      TRIBUTE TO MRS. PATTY LEWIS

 Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I would like to recognize the 
professional dedication, vision and public service of Mrs. Patty Lewis 
who will be leaving the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee at 
the end of this year to return to the Department of Defense to serve in 
the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. It 
has been a privilege for me to work with Mrs. Lewis and it is an honor 
to recognize her many outstanding accomplishments.
  I asked Mrs. Lewis to join the staff of the Armed Services Committee 
last October to assist me and the other Members of the Committee deal 
with the complex issues of improving the Military Health Care System, 
TRICARE, and providing health care to Medicare-eligible retired 
military personnel and their families. She is superbly competent and 
demonstrated a level of professionalism which far exceeded that of many 
of her contemporaries. Mrs. Lewis is an expert at cutting through the 
red tape of the military health care bureaucracy and never losing sight 
of the fact that taking care of the individual is paramount. Her focus 
was always on doing the right thing for our service members and their 
families.
  Mrs. Lewis has earned a reputation as someone on whom we could rely 
to provide fresh ideas, detailed research, and practical solutions to 
complex problems. Her professional abilities and expertise have earned 
her the respect and trust of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle 
and in both Houses of the Congress. Mrs. Lewis' ability to clearly see 
a viable alternative when others could only see the fog of confusion 
contributed to the success of the Committee on Armed Services in 
developing the legislation that will, for the first time in history, 
definitively entitle retired military personnel to the lifetime of 
health care that they were promised when they were recruited and 
reenlisted. With Mrs. Lewis' help, we are finally able to fulfill that 
commitment.
  Mr. President, initiative, caring service and professionalism are the 
terms used to describe Mrs. Lewis. Patty Lewis is a great credit to the 
Senate and the Nation. As she now departs to share her experience and 
expertise with the Department of Defense I call upon my colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle to recognize her service to the Senate and wish 
her well in her new assignment.




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