[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 27]
[Senate]
[Pages 36321-36322]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO KATHERINE McGUIRE

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I am joined on the floor by Katherine 
McGuire, who is the staff director of the Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions Committee. This will be her last time on the floor of the 
Senate.
  It was just about 11 years ago when I first came to Washington to 
serve the people of Wyoming in the Senate. As soon as I arrived, the 
first item on my agenda was to start to put staff together. I knew it 
was an important first step because the key to whatever success we are 
able to achieve is always due in large part to the dedicated and loyal 
people who work with us and for us.
  In addition, that first staff is so important to a new Senator 
because our staffs help to set the tone for that first Congress and the 
beginning of every Senate career. It is true that in the end, you are 
only as good and effective as the people with whom you work and for 
whom you work--as it turns out sometimes.
  Now, I talked to everyone I could. I went through a mountain of 
resumes and slowly but surely began to make some progress. In a short 
week, I went through orientation--with the leadership of my wife, we 
bought a house--and I interviewed over 100 people for my staff.
  As I reviewed the credentials of an impressive group of applicants, I 
knew I would need someone to head up my staff who knew Wyoming. That 
meant I would need to find someone who had Wyoming roots and understood 
the needs of my home State. In addition, that person would need to know 
Washington and the Senate and how to help me and the rest of the staff 
get things done. I knew it would not be good enough to work hard if 
that hard work and determination did not produce the results that we 
were after.
  It would not be easy to find someone who was equally at home in both 
Wyoming and Washington, but when I had those qualifications in mind and 
started looking for such a person, one candidate rose to the top. That 
was Katherine McGuire, and she was clearly the best and most obvious 
choice for the job.
  She had committee experience as well as State staff experience. She 
also had a master's degree in agricultural economics. I represent an 
agricultural State, and I knew I would need that help. She helped to 
fuel expectations, which we were then able to meet. It is with a lot of 
pride that I have been inducted into the Wyoming Agricultural Hall of 
Fame, largely because of her efforts.
  Now, I would never forget those early days. As is true with all 
Senators, our first office consisted of one room. It was actually a 
storeroom for the credit union. That cramped space helped us to develop 
a strong sense of teamwork right from the start because we were all in 
the same room and everybody knew what everyone else was doing.
  Now, fortunately, Katherine was there at the helm, and she helped to 
direct the efforts of my legislative staff right from the start. She 
was able to do so because she is a natural leader. She leads the best 
way, and that is by example. People on my staff know they can approach 
her with any ideas or suggestions they have, confident she will hear 
them out and help them with whatever issue areas they have been 
assigned.
  Thanks to Katherine, we were able to accomplish a great deal during 
my first few years in the Senate. In more sessions than I could ever 
count, Katherine showed she was a great negotiator and an even better 
strategist. She is the best networker I have ever seen.
  Her competitive spirit began to show itself in high school in her 
play on the basketball team. It then expanded in college, and then 
blossomed when she played professionally in Europe. You do not want to 
try to rebound an issue with her.
  Then, when the opportunity came to chair the Senate Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, once again, I knew I would need 
to put someone in charge of my committee staff who could handle the 
responsibility and the opportunity we would have to take action on some 
issues of great importance not only to the people of Wyoming but to the 
rest of America as well. Once again, it did not take very long for me 
to feel certain that Katherine was the perfect choice for the committee 
staff director position.
  On the committee or on my personal staff, Katherine has proven 
herself time and time again, and over the years she has made a 
difference in my work on a long list of topics that have come to the 
Senate floor. It would be impossible to name them all.
  I want to mention my first big bill, though. It was drafted to keep 
Washington bureaucrats from being successful in their determination to 
make methane gas into a solid, which, of course, would have taken away 
royalties from property owners and even forced them to pay back back-
royalties. In my first year, in less than a month, the correction was 
passed by both the Senate and the House unanimously. That meant that 
Katherine, my team, and I had to talk to 535 Members in Congress in 
less than a month to get that result.
  It was interesting later to watch the Supreme Court use that bill as 
a basis for back payments to these same people. We could not do 
anything to solve anything before the legislation was passed because 
you have to look to the future.
  So that was our first big win, and, fortunately, more was to come, as 
Katherine headed up my team effort. I will just mention a few: the 
global HIV/AIDS law, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the new MINER law to 
protect miners of this country, the new Food and Drug Administration 
reform law, the Pension Protection Act, and a host of other successful 
bills that were signed into law. For every one of them, Katherine was 
always there putting in long and extended hours, providing clear, 
accurate leadership and advice and doing everything she could to make 
our team vision come true.
  Whenever I get the chance, I like to tell people who ask about my 
staff that I was very fortunate to hire the people I did. In fact, I 
still think that if staff work was an Olympic event, my staff would win 
the gold medal--and Katherine would be the most valuable player.
  Katherine was a natural fit for the captain of the team--a role she 
has played very well. She is proof of the wisdom of the old adage that 
a good captain makes everyone on the team better. Katherine has been 
such a good leader because she has always been willing to do what was 
necessary to ensure a successful outcome. She has an unusual amount of 
abilities and talents, and an overdose of persistence that has helped 
her to get things done. She has never been one to talk about what she 
would like to accomplish; she just takes action.
  In the West, we like to say she rides hard. That has helped her to 
earn the respect and appreciation of not only my staff but all of the 
staffs she has worked with and developed close ties to over the years.
  I have always believed in something called the 80 percent rule. I was 
not surprised to discover that Katherine understood my 80 percent rule 
so well because she had put it into practice long ago without even 
knowing the name. She knew that 80 percent of every issue can be 
brought to agreement. People usually are willing to accept 80 percent 
instead of nothing. It is the other 20 percent that is difficult to 
resolve. But by focusing on the 80 percent, impossible problems become 
possible and can be solved around here.
  Katherine was also there to help support my vision to look for and 
find the

[[Page 36322]]

third way in dealing with conflicts. Her philosophy has always been 
fashioned after the old adage: We will either find a way or make one. 
That attitude has always served to help her bring groups to the table 
to reach compromises that seemed unlikely at best.
  Now Katherine has decided to leave the Hill to take on another 
challenge in her professional life. Katherine knows that life is an 
adventure, and constant change is a good thing. Now she will be moving 
to a new place to help spread our message.
  As she leaves, I cannot thank her enough for all she has done for me 
and for Wyoming over the years. She has been a tireless worker, and she 
has never hesitated to roll up her sleeves and get to work whenever and 
wherever she was needed.
  I remember one long evening on the Senate floor. During my speech, in 
thanking people at the end, I mentioned that Katherine was an excellent 
juggler, referring to her ability to handle many tasks at the same 
time. Her daughter was watching on C-SPAN2 and said: I didn't even know 
Mom could juggle.
  Being a legislative director and a staff director has cost her a lot 
of time from home. But she has been able to work her family life into 
her work schedule as the top priority that it needs to be. Now she will 
have more time to spend with her own team at home that needs her love 
and attention. Her husband David, along with her children Ellie and 
Cooper, have all been very supportive during her Senate years. She is 
now going to try something new, and once again her family will be there 
for her, supporting her, and providing the assistance she will continue 
to need as she pursues her new career.
  It will be difficult to say goodbye to Katherine. When she leaves the 
Senate, she will be greatly missed. Someday soon, we will have found 
someone to take on the responsibilities that she leaves behind, but we 
will never be able to replace her. Her constant warm and genuine smile, 
her concern for all the people on her staff, and her unique ability to 
size up a political situation immediately upon contact--unmatched. She 
has been a tremendous addition to my personal and committee staffs, and 
we will miss her daily presence in our lives.
  Like most offices, our staffs are more than our legislative teams, 
they are extended family. That will not change. She will forever be a 
member of the Enzi family--another daughter.
  The Senate is a place to work unlike any other in the world. It 
welcomes only those with special skills and unique abilities and 
provides them with a tremendous opportunity to make this great Nation 
of ours a better place in which to live.
  In the end, that will be Katherine's legacy after 17 years of service 
in the Senate. On my staff, and before that, serving with Senator Al 
Simpson and Senator Richard Lugar, she has made the most of every 
opportunity she was given, and she can be proud of the record of 
success she has compiled over the years in every area of her life.
  We know from the Bible that we chart our course in life in our 
hearts, but God directs our steps. God has directed these new steps in 
Katherine's life, and I know she will continue to make the most of 
every step that God moves her to take.
  Good luck and God bless you and your family, Katherine. Don't forget 
us. We will not forget you. In fact, we are going to leave a light 
burning in a window of the Capitol dome so you can always find your way 
back home. Thanks for your years of service.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Utah.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, if I could make one comment. I have known 
Katherine for a long time. She is one of the truly great staffers on 
Capitol Hill.
  I want you to know how much all of us have appreciated the work you 
do, and with this great Senator you have been working for. I appreciate 
it.
  Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from North Dakota has asked 
that I yield for a unanimous consent request, and then I would like to 
retain the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota is 
recognized.

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