[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 23546-23547]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


                        RETIREMENT OF VEE BURKE

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise today to pay a tribute to Vee 
Burke, specialist in income maintenance, Domestic Social Policy 
Division, a dedicated and gifted employee at the Congressional Research 
Service, who will be retiring from CRS at the end of this month.
  Mrs. Burke is a graduate of the University of Chicago. She has four 
grown children and is the widow of Vincent Burke with whom she wrote 
Nixon's Good Deed, a book about Nixon's welfare reform proposals.
  When Mrs. Burke joined CRS more than 30 years ago, she was already a 
recognized expert in the field of public welfare. During her tenure at 
CRS, she became a leading expert on the history, evolution and 
interaction of welfare and public assistance programs for low-income 
individuals and families.
  Because of her stature as one of the leading authorities in the 
country in this policy area, Mrs. Burke's advice and assistance has 
often been required by the Congress. Over three decades, Mrs. Burke has 
contributed to major congressional deliberations affecting AFDC and 
related public assistance programs, including the sweeping welfare 
reforms enacted in 1996 that replaced AFDC with TANF.
  During the consideration of the reauthorization of the 1996 welfare 
reform legislation in both the 107th and the 108th Congress, Mrs. Burke 
provided invaluable assistance to the Senate Finance Committee. In the 
108th Congress, Mrs. Burke was especially helpful to myself, as 
Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and to my staff. She assisted 
in the drafting of the committee mark and legislation, providing 
technical assistance as well as continuously analyzing state data. 
Because of her vast knowledge, Mrs. Burke also functioned as an 
impromptu tutor to Senate Finance Committee staff on this history of 
welfare.
  The work of the Congress is detailed and complex--in order to do our 
work members and our staffs need to be well versed in policy in order 
for us to make the best decisions. For this expertise, we often rely on 
the analysis of the Congressional Research Service. CRS provides a 
unique service to the Congress in that they are truly nonpartisan. The 
specialists from CRS provide non-biased, research based analysis that 
helps guide us, as policymakers, to make the best decisions.
  Mrs. Burke, throughout her long and admirable career, has embodied 
the very best of what CRS provides for the Congress. Those of us who 
care deeply about programs affecting the poor thank her for her 
efforts, will miss her and wish her well.

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