[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 4096]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         GRATITUDE FOR INTEGRITY, EXPERTISE AND PROFESSIONALISM

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, at the end of March, I will be losing a 
valuable member of my legislative team as she returns to her host 
agency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Since early 2005, 
Larisa Collado has served as a legislative fellow in my Washington, DC, 
office. Her extensive expertise on technical financial intricacies, 
coupled with her diligence, enthusiasm and professionalism has made her 
an invaluable, albeit temporary, member of my staff.
  As chairman of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on International Trade 
and Finance and the designated Senate lead for regulatory relief 
matters, I am actively engaged in a wide portfolio of financial issues. 
During her service, Larisa has been critical to advancing my 
legislative agenda by meeting with stakeholders and analyzing and 
recommending legislative initiatives. She has effectively utilized her 
firsthand experiences as a regulator when working on a number of 
controversial issues. Without her able assistance, my efforts to 
promote financial services regulatory restructuring would have been 
seriously undermined. Larisa has demonstrated time and again the 
willingness to revisit detailed regulatory provisions without losing 
patience or drive. When others would have turned to other projects, she 
stayed committed to this long-overdue but sorely overlooked facet of 
the financial services sector.
  Larisa has also demonstrated keen perceptivity and integrity with 
regard to the proper balance of personal privacy protection and 
legitimate law enforcement--a necessary component of congressional 
oversight and reform of our Nation's financial markets. Idahoans and 
Americans across the country are becoming increasingly aware of the 
vulnerability of their personal financial information. I looked to her 
for guidance and analysis of the proper ways to ensure that financial 
information remains private. At the same time, Larisa has also been a 
key component of my efforts to work with Idaho Hispanics to educate 
those who need help with financial literacy and understanding the 
benefits of the financial services community.
  Larisa has proven herself a highly effective professional and I have 
no doubt she will continue to excel at the FDIC in a career already 
marked by superior performance and achievement. I thank her for her 
commitment to public service and to Idaho these past months, and wish 
her well.

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