[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2848]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO CARL TUBBESING

 Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, today I honor Carl Tubbesing, 
executive director of the National Conference of State Legislatures, 
NCSL, on the occasion of his retirement after 35 years of service. 
Carl's dedication to the ideals of federalism has been steadfast and 
unwavering during the course of his time at NCSL, and his 
accomplishments have been many. His tireless commitment to maintaining 
the balance among Federal, State and local governments undoubtedly has 
made a positive impact in the lives of many.
  I am fortunate to have worked with Carl during my days as chairman of 
the National Governors Association. Together, we fought to maintain a 
healthy relationship between Federal and State governments, and to 
ensure that the folks in Washington adhered to the same ideals of 
federalism in which we believed.
  In 1986, I made a speech as mayor of Cleveland lamenting the fact 
that while Constitutional federalism was alive in theory, it had died 
in practice. We have made great progress since I gave that speech more 
than 20 years ago. The comeback story of federalism and our success in 
the proper delineation of responsibility from Federal centralization to 
local control is due, in no small part, to Carl's perseverance and hard 
work.
  Carl's efforts to devolve authority for domestic policy from the 
Federal to State level paid off, most notably, with the passage of 
several major pieces of legislation. These include the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act, amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Reform Act, 
welfare reform, and Medicaid reforms.
  It is my privilege to recognize Carl Tubbesing for his diligent 
commitment to federalism and dedicated service to the National 
Conference of State Legislatures, and to congratulate him on his well-
deserved retirement.

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