[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2770]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        FAREWELL TO GIGI LOPATTO

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, one of our dear staffers is present who has 
given a great deal of effort to the Judiciary Committee, and I want to 
pay her my respects for a few moments.
  Today is Jeanne Lopatto's last day working in the Senate. She has 
worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and for me in particular, for 
the last 18 years and is currently press secretary for the full 
Judiciary Committee. It is with mixed emotions that I rise to thank her 
for all the good work she has performed in the past. I give her my best 
wishes for her future.
  Gigi is a Capitol Hill success story. She began her career with me as 
an entry-level assistant, and she has moved up to spearhead the 
Judiciary Committee press operation, which is a big job and a very 
important one. As a result of her hard work and dedication, Gigi has 
earned the respect, admiration, and trust of all of us who have worked 
with her. Thus, it is with a certain degree of both sadness and pride 
that I am bidding her farewell.
  Gigi will be joining our dear friend and former colleague, Spencer 
Abraham, at the Department of Energy as his spokesperson. In other 
words, she is going to be speaking for a Cabinet-level official. I 
think that is a great thing. Our loss--mine in particular--will be 
unquestionably Secretary Abraham's gain. I know she will have her hands 
full over there, but she is up to the challenge. If I might be so bold, 
I want to say that I share the pride of Gigi's great success with her 
wonderful family.
  Gigi will be greatly missed here in the Senate, and certainly by me. 
I think she is going to be missed by the reporters and the press 
officials who have relied on her on a daily basis. Senate staff on both 
sides of the aisle are going to miss her, her friends and colleagues on 
the committee and on my personal staff, and, of course, most of all, I 
am going to miss her. So let me just say that I am very grateful to 
Gigi for the service she has given to the Senate and to our country at 
large and for working with us on the Judiciary Committee, as an 
essential part of the committee, as somebody who always acted with 
integrity, decency, honesty, love, and affection for all of us on the 
committee, regardless how cantankerous that committee is from time to 
time. She has had a steady hand on the tiller during a lot of really 
acrimonious debate at times, and she has really done this job as well 
as it could have been done. We love her, and we are going to miss her. 
We also wish her well as she proceeds on to even greater and better 
things, as she views it and as I view it.
  So, Gigi, we are going to miss you. We all love you and appreciate 
you and want you to be successful in your next job, which I know you 
will be.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Vermont is 
recognized.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I join the Senator from Utah. We will now 
know anytime the Democrats are told they are not doing their job it 
will be coming straight from the Senator from Utah.
  Senator Abraham is very fortunate to have her there. Senator Abraham 
is a good friend to all of us here, and she has been a good friend to 
all of us here. He is fortunate. I will do my best to fill in and help 
the chairman on some of these issues, especially as I know we can 
finish this bill in 2, 2\1/2\ days, so long as the leadership does not 
interrupt us for anything else.

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