[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16741]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           THANKING STAFF INVOLVED IN PASSAGE OF ENERGY BILL

  (Mr. WAXMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. WAXMAN. I would like to take a moment to thank the staff of the 
Office of Legislative Counsel and the Congressional Budget Office for 
their hard work on this bill. The efforts and dedication of Tim Brown, 
Warren Burke, Alison Bell, Pope Barrow and their colleagues in the 
Office of Legislative Counsel were indispensable in writing this wide-
ranging and historic legislation. Similarly, Suzanne Mehlman, Dan 
Hoople and their colleagues at the Congressional Budget Office were 
essential in analyzing the complex financial and scoring issues 
associated with this bill. Both the staff of the Legislative Counsel 
and the CBO deserve to be thanked and congratulated for their 
outstanding work over the many late nights and weekends. We are very 
grateful for their service to the Nation.
  I would like to add my appreciation to the fantastic job that our 
committee, subcommittee and select committee staffs have done in 
getting this legislation before the Congress of the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to my colleague on this 
legislation, Congressman Ed Markey.
  Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts. I thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I thank 
everyone who worked on this legislation, all of the Members on both 
sides of the aisle. But as Chairman Waxman just said, this took an 
enormous amount of work by a lot of staffers over a sustained, intense 
period of time. And I want to thank all of you for everything that you 
have done to make today possible.
  I think you really do deserve a round of applause for the tremendous 
work that you have done. It is your victory as much as any Member, and 
we thank you for it.
  Mr. WAXMAN. Reclaiming my time, I would like to read from page 333 of 
the manager's amendment and to indicate my gratitude to our staff 
director Phil Barnett; to the environmental staff on the committee, 
Greg Dotson, Lorie Schmidt, Alexandra Teitz, John Jimison, Jeff Baran, 
Alex Barron, Ben Hengst, Melissa Bez, and Rob Cobbs.
  Mr. MARKEY of Massachusetts. I would like to thank Joel Beauvais, 
Michael Goo, Danielle Baussan, Ana Unruh-Cohen. I would also like to 
thank Michal Freedhoff, Morgan Gray, Jonathan Phillips, Eban Burnham-
Snyder, Jackie Chenault, Jeff Sharp, Ali Brodsky, Camilla Bausch, and 
especially Gerry Waldron and Jeff Duncan, along with Shannon Kenny, who 
is still sitting over there as well.
  All of you were fantastic, and it's just a historic achievement. We 
thank you all so much for everything that you do.
  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, I also wanted to add our appreciation to 
Matt Wiener, our staff assistant on this legislation.
  I feel empowered because I only asked for 1 minute, and I have talked 
far more than 1 minute. I guess that's become a new tradition in the 
House, but I don't want to abuse it, and I yield back the balance of my 
time.

                          ____________________