[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 337]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO STEVE BEASLEY

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President. I rise today to say a few words of thanks 
to Steve Beasley, an outstanding agriculture economist at USDA who 
recently completed a year-long fellowship on the Senate Finance 
Committee. Steve's service to the committee, and by extension to the 
State of Montana, will be remembered fondly and with great 
appreciation.
  A year ago I was able to snag Steve away from his job at the Foreign 
Agriculture Service at the Department of Agriculture. He brought to us 
years of experience in foreign market development and capacity-
building. During his time with the committee, his expertise proved 
invaluable as he worked on calculating the effects of the North 
American Free Trade Agreement on Montana agricultural products, 
analyzing the effect of agricultural trade liberalization on crop 
prices over the past few years, as well as helping prepare me for trade 
missions to Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, and Thailand.
  Half of my State's economy is based on agriculture, and the work 
Steve did for us will serve us for the next several years as we examine 
the effects of trade on our economy's largest sector. I am sad to see 
him go, but I know the USDA is eager to get him back. I thank him for 
his hard work over this past year, and I wish him all the luck in the 
future.

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