[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8368-8369]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO GREG MASTEL

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise today to thank Greg Mastel for his 
work as the Finance Committee's chief trade adviser and chief economist 
during the 107th Congress.
  I asked Greg to rejoin my staff in early 2001 with two specific goals 
in mind--significantly expanding the Trade Adjustment Assistance 
Program and reinstating fast-track trade negotiating authority for the 
President. To me, these are the twin pillars of U.S. trade policy. If 
the United States was to move beyond the logjam that had stalled 
progress on trade for nearly a decade, both of these programs needed to 
be in place.
  Thanks in large part to Greg's hard work, both of those goals were 
achieved.
  In August of last year, the President signed into law the Trade Act 
of 2002. Not only did it restore fast track to the President, it also 
created the largest expansion of Trade Adjustment Assistance in that 
program's history. And just for good measure, we renewed and expanded 
both the Andean Trade Preferences Act and the Generalized System of 
Preferences.
  The Trade Act of 2002 is the most significant piece of trade 
legislation to come out of the Congress in over a decade. And it would 
not have happened without the skilled guidance and steady hand that 
Greg showed every step of the way.
  Getting there wasn't easy. There were a lot of long nights and more 
than a few tense meetings. And for Greg, there were some personal 
challenges that didn't make the job any easier, but made his 
performance even more impressive.
  Shortly before we went into conference with the House on the Trade 
Act, Greg suffered a nasty bicycling accident that left him with a 
broken collarbone, badly bruised ribs, and more sore muscles than I 
care to think about. But Greg was in the office every day, working 
through the pain and showing the same good humor that always made him 
such a pleasure to work with.
  At the time, I called Greg ``the Lance Armstrong of the Trade 
World''--although he probably needs to hone those biking skills. I 
stand by those comments. In conference negotiations, it is always a 
challenge to bridge the differences between Democrats and Republicans 
and between the Senate and the House. But to sit in a room negotiating 
the finer points of U.S. trade policy at 2 in the morning while 
fighting through the pain of broken collarbone takes a special kind of 
staffer.
  Not only is Greg an expert on trade--he also understands the state of 
Montana. Greg is a true product of Montana. He grew up on a ranch 
outside of Missoula, where his childhood pursuits included hunting, 
camping, and archery. He is a graduate of Hellgate High School in 
Missoula, where he was a star second baseman on their baseball team.
  He has never forgotten his roots in Montana. I have always felt that 
Greg's experiences back home gave him a feel for policy issues that 
cannot be learned.
  And Greg has a long history with my office. He began as an intern in 
1987, and within a few months became my youngest legislative 
assistance. His formal training as an economist made him a natural for 
covering international trade issues, vital for a State that depends on 
exporting its goods and services to markets around the globe. I relied 
on Greg to assist me with some of the most important issues to 
Montanans, including beef exports to Japan and wheat exports to China.
  At various points, Greg has served as both my legislative director 
and my chief of staff. In each of these positions, he served with 
distinction through many years of trying to convince Montanans that 
trade was necessary and could be beneficial. He came up with the idea 
of trade missions and helped organize those to Asia and South America. 
Those missions did more to promote understanding than 100 speeches 
could have.
  Greg also became an expert on U.S. trade laws, including many which 
he helped to draft. It was a natural that, after leaving my staff in 
1994, Greg moved on to a distinguished career in academia and public 
policy. He is the author of three books dealing with China, United 
States trade laws, and WTO negotiations, and has written a column for 
the Journal of Commerce.
  Somewhere along the way, Greg and his wife Lois found the time to 
raise two beautiful children--Alexander and Caroline.
  I was lucky to be able to lure him back for the 107th Congress to 
serve as my chief trade adviser on the Finance Committee.
  Greg has been a wonderful friend to me and my staff over the years. I 
thank him for all of this hard work and wish him the best of luck in 
all his future endeavors.

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