[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 22976]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   IN HONOR OF THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RESEARCH 
                               INSTITUTE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. EARL POMEROY

                            of north dakota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Sunday, September 28, 2008

  Mr. POMEROY. Madam Speaker, 2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the 
Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). I rise to congratulate them 
on their three decades of important work and the unique role they 
continue to serve for us here in Congress, the news media, and the 
public.
  EBRI was created in response to enactment of the Employee Retirement 
Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the major Federal law that still 
governs private-sector retirement and health plans today. EBRI's 
purpose was the--as it is today--to conduct objective, reliable 
research on income security issues so that policymakers and the public 
would have the best possible information when making decisions on these 
issues.
  EBRI is an extremely rare organization in this town: It does not take 
policy positions, and it does not lobby. Rather than trying to tell 
Congress and the Federal Government what we should do on health and 
retirement issues, instead it simply reports what the facts are--and 
what the likely results are likely to be from different policy options. 
Substance, reliability, credibility: That's what I expect when I see 
work from EBRI.
  Because EBRI is nonpartisan, its data and analyses are trusted and 
used by Members of both sides of the aisle. As we in Congress continue 
to address the important health- and retirement-related challenges 
facing our country, it is extremely important that we have a reliable 
source of information to turn to like EBRI. And in a town as transient 
as Washington, EBRI also is remarkable for the depth of knowledge, 
institutional memory, and tenure of its first and only CEO, Dallas 
Salisbury, who has led the institute ever since it opened its doors 30 
years ago. The institute has never wavered from its original mission of 
objective research and education.
  I offer my congratulations to EBRI on its three decades of service. 
With health care and retirement coverage becoming ever-more important 
to our constituents, and the policy choices becoming ever-more complex 
and difficult, we will need their contributions and knowledge more than 
ever in the years to come.

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