[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 24150]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         TRIBUTE TO GAIL WEISS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CLAY. Madam Speaker, my colleagues are all aware of my impending 
departure at the end of this Congress. Since my announcement, not a day 
has gone by without someone wishing me their best or an organization or 
a university giving me a tribute in acknowledgment of my commitment to 
their causes.
  For 32 years, I have served in this body representing the people of 
Missouri, but Madam Speaker, there is another person who has served 
beside me for those 32 years and will also leave this House at the end 
of this session. She was never elected to this body, never placed her 
signature on the corner of any bill that was placed in the hopper, but 
she has had a great impact on the proceedings of this House. That 
person, Madam Speaker, is Gail Weiss, the Democratic staff director of 
the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
  At the end of the Johnson administration, she was a young legislative 
liaison in the Office of Economic Opportunity who chose not to stay on 
for the new Nixon administration. I was a new Member in need of a 
legislative assistant who knew the issues of my committee assignment, 
education and labor. Gail came to work for me, and other than for a 
brief sabbatical to live in London working for a British member of 
parliament, she has been at my side for the entire 32 years.
  After a few years in my personal office, she additionally has 
assisted me on the Education and Labor staff, then the Post Office and 
Civil Service staff, where she became the queen of amending the Hatch 
Act. For 20 years, she carried the torch to grant political rights to 
Federal and postal workers, and finally stood proudly by my side as 
President Clinton signed my bill into law allowing for those rights. 
This was shortly after she stood by my side as President Clinton signed 
his first bill into law, another piece of Clay legislation that Gail 
helped to enact, the Family and Medical Leave Act.
  As the last staff director of the Post Office and Civil Service 
Committee, she turned out the lights after my colleagues from the 
majority abolished that committee. She did so with a smile and the 
resolve that showed she was dedicated to serving this House. No words 
or phrases could tear down the commitment she had to help fight to 
improve the lives of working families and to raise the standard of 
living for the less fortunate among us.
  Dedication and commitment are words often bantered about in tributes 
to Members of this House, but rarely have words so aptly described a 
staff member. Gail's demeanor has always been predicated upon hard 
work. Ask any of her colleagues to describe her, and they will always 
say fair, frank, honest, and hard working. She lived by the motto of 
never asking anyone to do anything that she would not do. There is no 
doubt about her toughness, her tenacity, and her frank New York 
mannerisms. But at the end of the battle, she always has a smile on her 
face.
  When our party lost control of this House, many wondered how we could 
protect the ideals and philosophy that we were committed to. Gail 
helped to find a way to do just that. When I informed her that we would 
lose 75 percent of the staff we had operated with, she just smiled and 
thought of how we could get jobs for those who were leaving.

                              {time}  2100

  So I am very fortunate that Gail has been committed to my legislative 
ideas. We all are blessed by the dedication of great staff members. But 
32 years, 16 Congresses is a tenure of service rarely achieved. There 
are few legislative types that have served as long as Gail.
  I once said that she was my fair lady. But she is one of the fairest 
ladies to have graced this House. I ask that my colleagues join me in 
expressing our thanks, appreciation, and admiration for her service, 
loyalty, and friendship. Because of her presence, my service in this 
House, in this Congress, has been for the better.
  So, Madam Speaker, I thank Gail, my fair lady, for helping to make 
that possible.

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