[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14050-14052]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     RETIREMENT OF BARBARA L. MILES

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, Barbara Miles, a specialist in financial 
institutions retired from the Government and Finance Division of the 
Congressional Research Service, CRS, at the Library of Congress on May 
3, 2007. Including 32 years at CRS and her six years in the executive 
branch as an economist and econometrician at the Bureau of Economic 
Analysis in the Department of Commerce, Ms. Miles devoted 38 years of 
service to the American people. CRS and the Congress lost an 
exceptionally able and dedicated public servant with her departure.
  A native of California, Ms. Miles earned a bachelor's degree in 
economics from Occidental College in Los Angeles and a master of 
economics degree from the University of Washington at Seattle. She 
began her CRS service in July 1975, as an economist. She was 
successively promoted throughout her career, attaining the position of 
Specialist in Housing in 1979, and that of Specialist in Financial 
Institutions in 1995.
  Ms. Miles' research was in the general area of housing. She is an 
expert in a range of housing-related policy issues such as the housing 
industry and finance, housing supply and prices, housing demand, 
mortgage interest rates and affordability, and federal policies toward 
home ownership. Ms. Miles provided close support to numerous members of 
Congress and their staff, in the form of analysis, confidential memos, 
and reports during the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s. She 
worked closely with Congress as it drafted the Financial Institutions 
Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act of

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1989 that established the Resolution Trust Corporation, which 
liquidated the assets of insolvent savings and loans, and reimbursed 
depositors and other creditors.
  As her career developed, Ms. Miles also devoted her talents to the 
study of and analysis of public policy concerning government sponsored 
enterprises, or GSEs, which are stockholder-owned companies whose 
Congressional charters call on them to support the secondary mortgage 
market, especially lower income groups and geographic areas not well 
served by lenders. She provided ever more insightful and detailed 
reports on the costs, benefits, and risks of various GSEs, advising 
Congress on the impact of the GSEs on different sectors of the housing 
market in particular, as well as on the nation's economy in general. 
Through regular and ever expanding contacts, she helped to familiarize 
members and staff with the role of Congress in policy options and 
oversight of the GSEs. She provided regular analyses of options for 
legislation and oversight. Her work included in-person briefings, 
telephone briefings, lectures, seminars, reports, confidential and 
general distribution memoranda, and CRS reports for Congress. She 
testified before Congress on many occasions. All of her work in the 
area of GSE-related oversight and legislation by Congress demonstrated 
an extremely detailed understanding of the complex, significant policy 
issues surrounding these institutions and their operations. Her 
insights and perspective were plain, and understandable; the clarity 
and rigor of her analyses won praise from members and commendations at 
CRS.
  In 2000, Ms. Miles assumed the position of Section Head of the 
Banking, Securities, Insurance, and Macroeconomics Section within the 
CRS Government and Finance Division. For the next five years she 
supervised eight to ten economists, ranging from experienced veterans 
to newly-appointed staff hired from the private sector, other 
government agencies, and from distinguished graduate programs. She was 
generous with her time and offered constructive advice working with 
staff through multiple revisions to produce the most useful products 
for members and staff. She challenged veteran staff to think and write 
in new ways to better serve Congress.
  She emphasized the need for economists to write clearly and to 
connect the microeconomic foundations of financial markets to macro 
economic policy to best assist Congress in its duties of scrutiny, 
oversight, and legislation. Ms. Miles' own broad expertise and depth of 
experience in her section's wide-ranging policy responsibilities 
provided her with unique tools during her period as a section manager 
in CRS. She conducted knowledgeable oversight of section written 
materials and was regarded by her staff and management as a skilled 
reviewer whose insistence on the highest standards was matched by her 
ability as a mentor and educator. She constantly worked with her staff 
to improve the precision and clarity of their writing and to produce 
accurate, balanced and insightful analysis of the issues of the day in 
a timely manner. Ms. Miles led her section to new levels of 
intellectual excellence and dedicated service to Congress, while 
gaining the unquestioned respect and genuine affection of her staff.
  Ms. Miles was an invaluable resource in many ways that did not always 
attract notice. Throughout the course of her career, other analysts 
frequently consulted with her for her subject matter and economic 
expertise. She tirelessly peer-reviewed papers. Ms. Miles managed a 
long-running CRS cooperative ``Capstone'' project, initiated with 
students and faculty of the University of Texas, that examined 
corporate governance policy issues and questions for Congress. She 
initiated and nurtured a popular ``Brown Bag Luncheon'' series of 
lecture-discussions on policy issues. She selected topics and used her 
wide contacts to arrange for speakers for a program that has covered a 
very broad range of issues, and continues to draw standing-room-only 
audiences. Ms. Miles was honored by her colleagues when they elected 
her president of the Congressional Research Employee Association.
  CRS management recognized Ms. Miles for achieving and exceeding the 
organizational goals established for her section, leading her staff to 
new levels of excellence that could not have been attained without her 
steady and inspired guidance. Her mastery of technical skills, her 
understanding of and commitment to the mission and goals of the 
Congressional Research Service, coupled with her ability to communicate 
these to her staff, helped lead her section to significantly improved 
organizational performance.
  After stepping down as section head in 2005, Ms. Miles continued to 
mentor new staff. In stepping down, she planned to spend more time 
analyzing and writing about government-sponsored enterprises, housing 
issues, and financial services. She also took on the role of division 
reviewer to ensure that all products met the highest CRS standards.
  Ms. Miles won numerous awards and praise from members during her 32 
years at CRS. In 1995, a Senator praised one of her products for 
``explaining that the debate between the direct lending and the 
guaranteed loan program is fundamentally a debate over political 
philosophy and not a debate over economics. . . . It is important to 
keep in mind that these economists at the Congressional Research 
Service are not individuals who work for the Republican Party, nor are 
they individuals who have some hidden agenda, who have some connection 
to the banks or the guaranty agencies. They are simply economists who 
work for the Congressional Research Service and provide us with 
objective, nonpartisan analyses of the programs that Congress 
develops.'' In 1998, two Senators and a Representative praised her work 
on the Higher Education Amendments of 1998.
  She wrote numerous concise and complete reports for CRS. She also 
contributed to the Joint Economic Committee's Demographic Change and 
the Economy of the Nineties with ``Demography and Housing in the 
1990s,'' which turned out to be a classic work on housing.
  Ms. Miles also testified before Congressional committees numerous 
times on housing and mortgage issues. The members of the House 
Committee on Financial Services and the House Committee on the Budget 
were the most frequent beneficiaries of her insights and wisdom.
  In 1993, she received a CRS special achievement award for 
``extraordinary contributions to debate over the student loan program 
including the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.'' In 2000, 
2001, 2002, and 2004 she received incentive awards for sustained high 
performance. In 2001 and 2002 she received honorary superior service 
awards. Upon her retirement, Ms. Miles received a meritorious service 
award.
  Ms. Miles was active in professional associations, conferences and 
meetings. She participated in conferences sponsored by the Chicago 
Federal Home Loan Bank, the Chicago Federal Reserve, the American 
Economics Association, the American Real Estate and Urban Economics 
Association, and Women in Housing and Finance. In her private life, Ms. 
Miles remains an avid bicycle rider who has raced competitively. One of 
her goals after retirement is to ride a ``century'' or 100 miles. She 
is also an active member of the Episcopal Church, in which she served 
with distinction on the Diocesan Council Episcopal of the Episcopal 
Diocese of Washington.
  For the 32 years of her career at CRS--and her six years of previous 
federal service--Ms. Miles won the respect, admiration, and thanks of 
her colleagues. Her steadfast dedication to service to Congress and the 
nation and her commitment to the highest standards of unbiased and 
timely response to Congressional requests for information have made a 
positive and lasting contribution.
  On behalf of the members of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, 
and Urban Affairs, Senator Shelby and I express our deep appreciation 
to Ms. Miles for her many years of dedicated public service and wish 
her well as she goes on to other endeavors.

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