[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 18339-18340]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   IN RECOGNITION OF THE OUTSTANDING PUBLIC SERVICE OF SIX RETIRING 
          OFFICIALS WITHIN USDA'S OFFICE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARK S. CRITZ

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 2011

  Mr. CRITZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the distinguished public 
service careers of six retiring officers within the Department of 
Agriculture's Office of Rural Development, RD. These individuals have 
worked diligently and effectively over many years to promote economic 
prosperity and safe living in the various rural communities throughout 
southwestern Pennsylvania. Lambert Rosenbaum, Virginia Stump, Cindy 
Brandt, Barbara McMillen, Susan O'Donnell, and Mary Ellen Polosky have 
made clear through the quality of their work at RD that they see a 
place for rural areas in America's future. These individuals will leave 
a lasting legacy; their belief in the promise of rural America will 
surely live on in those who have had the privilege to work with them 
and manifest itself in all that RD does for the individuals, 
communities, and businesses of southwestern Pennsylvania for years to 
come.
  Public service has been a calling for each of the six outgoing 
officials at USDA Rural Development. Lambert Rosenbaum, the outgoing 
Area Director for the Butler and Westmoreland Area Offices, boasts a 31 
year career at USDA. In addition to his civil service, Mr. Rosenbaum 
served three years of active duty in the Army, during which he served a 
combat tour in Vietnam and earned the prestigious Bronze Star. He has 
also served in the Army Reserves for 42 years. Most recently, Mr. 
Rosenbaum's reserve service took him to Kuwait, where he earned the 
Meritorious Service Medal. His devotion to the public welfare has 
clearly made an impression on his children, as two of his sons have 
served in the Iraq War.
  Virginia Stump, a Team Leader and Area Specialist, will leave RD 
after 30 years of civil service. She has worked extensively on the 
Water Waste Program, which furnishes rural communities with the means 
to install sanitary sewers. She has also helped to market several rural 
development programs, including the Value Added program and the 
Renewable Energy programs. Ms. Stump is married and has one daughter, 
as well as twin grandchildren.
  Cindy Brant, a Loan Specialist, also has over thirty years of 
experience in civil service. She began her career with USDA in 1979 as 
a Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, CETA, Trainee. A year 
later, she became an Assistant County Supervisor, working out of the 
Somerset Office until its closure in 2007. While in the Somerset 
Office, she worked extensively on the Direct Housing Program, helping 
numerous low-income individuals to purchase homes in rural areas. Upon 
leaving Somerset, she moved on to the Greensburg Area Office and took 
on the additional roles of Guaranteed Housing Program Specialist and 
Multi-Family Housing Program Specialist. In recognition of her 
outstanding service, Cindy received USDA's Unsung Hero Award in 2009.
  In her 28 years with USDA, Barbara McMillen, an Area Specialist, has 
worked on a number of different projects, including those that provide 
housing loans and loans to farmers and ranchers who are having 
difficulty obtaining commercial credit. Over the last seventeen years, 
she has worked ardently to help 51,450 households and businesses to 
obtain $331 million dollars in loan and grant funds for public water 
and sewer service.
  Susan O'Donnell, also an Area Specialist, has been with USDA since 
1977 and has

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done extensive work in the business, multi-family housing and community 
facility programs across six counties. She is extremely passionate 
about public service, and plans to continue to working to promote the 
welfare of others through volunteer work upon retirement.
  Having performed over 36 years of Federal service, Mary Ellen Polosky 
has set a laudable example for current and aspiring public servants. 
While with USDA, she has worked mainly in the Housing Division. She has 
served in her current capacity for the last 9 years, during which time 
she has helped numerous individuals living in rural areas to procure 
loans for home purchases and improvements.
  Mr. Speaker, I have had the privilege of working closely with these 
individuals while serving as the District Director for the late 
Congressman John Murtha, and can attest that they embody the highest 
order of integrity and proficiency. We should all be grateful that such 
exemplary individuals chose to engage full-bore in the effort to secure 
a prosperous future for rural America. Their work has given hope to 
countless individuals and businesses in southwestern Pennsylvania. All 
of us in the Federal Government should attempt to emulate their 
commendable public service in our own careers.

                          ____________________