[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 16211]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING MARY FRANCES BLEY ON HER RETIREMENT FROM CRS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 26, 2011

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a longtime Arlington, 
Virginia resident, Mary Frances Bley, who will retire from the 
Congressional Research Service (CRS) on October 31st. During her 28 
years of service with CRS, Ms. Bley distinguished herself by 
passionately and diligently working to ensure that congressional needs 
for research were responded to promptly and with the best information 
and analysis available.
  A native of Washington state, Ms. Bley joined CRS in 1984 as a 
temporary employee in the Inquiry Section where she directed 
congressional requesters to the CRS employees best suited to respond to 
their particular needs. She quickly moved from a temporary to a 
permanent position, and soon afterward to a leadership position within 
the section.
  During her time in the Inquiry Section, Ms. Bley returned to graduate 
school part-time and in 1987, she earned a Master's Degree in Library 
Science (MLS) from The Catholic University of America. After obtaining 
her MLS, she moved to a librarian position in the Congressional 
Reference Division within CRS, where she responded directly to 
congressional requests.
  Ms. Bley's special aptitude for serving Congress was evident in her 
work as a librarian. In 1993, she was invited by CRS leadership to 
participate in a detail to the new Congressional Services Team in the 
Office of the Librarian of Congress. In this position, she worked to 
further the mission of the team to study and enhance the Library's 
understanding of and responsiveness to congressional needs, and 
congressional understanding of the Library's mission and potential.
  In the mid-1990s, Ms. Bley was frequently at the forefront of the 
transition at CRS from a world dominated by print research materials to 
a digital research world. Her early efforts were mostly visible only to 
her CRS colleagues as she worked on efforts to digitize reference 
materials and facilitate access to online federal data sources.
  Ms. Bley specialized in appropriations and budget issues, and made 
significant enhancements to the appropriations and budget information 
available through the CRS website. The culminating accomplishment of 
Ms. Bley's work was the extremely popular Appropriations Status Table. 
This tool, updated daily, allows CRS colleagues and Congress to access 
extensive and timely information on current and historical 
appropriations activities through one convenient resource.
  Throughout her career, CRS leadership recognized Ms. Bley's work for 
Congress with numerous awards, including individual and group Special 
Achievement Awards and a Meritorious Service Award. Ms. Bley's efforts 
as a team member were lauded in one award as the ``glue'' that held the 
CRS Appropriations Team together. In another, Ms. Bley's work was 
praised as being ``distinguished by creativity, independent initiative, 
thoroughness, timeliness, and a service orientation that resulted in 
detailed responses and products of the highest quality.''
  During her tenure, Ms. Bley won the respect and admiration of her 
colleagues and those she served in Congress. She will be remembered for 
her poise; her sense of perspective; her thoughtful analysis; her 
ability to identify and implement practical solutions to complex 
problems; her wit, humor, and energy; and her excitement in learning 
from and collaborating with colleagues. Her vision and leadership will 
continue to benefit CRS and Congress long after her retirement on 
October 31, 2011.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to ask my colleagues to join me in 
congratulating Ms. Bley upon her retirement from CRS. She epitomizes 
the dedication and excellence that make CRS the envy of legislatures 
around the world.

                          ____________________