[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15952-15953]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        RECOGNIZING MARK PRATER

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to Mark Prater, 
deputy staff director and chief tax counsel for the minority staff of 
the Senate Finance Committee.
  Later this week, the Tax Foundation will award Mark their Exemplar of 
Excellence in Public Service Award for his many years of service on the 
Finance Committee. He will be only the second congressional staffer to 
be honored by the Tax Foundation in their 77-year history. And, I can 
say without any reservation that no staffer is more worthy of such an 
honor.
  After several years in private law practice in his native Oregon, 
Mark came to work for the Finance Committee in January 1990. At that 
time, Mark thought he would stay for just 2 years and return home. 
Fortunately for all of us, Mark has been on the Finance Committee staff 
for nearly 25 years now.
  Over these years, he has served with great distinction and has come 
to be one of the most trusted and respected staffers on Capitol Hill. 
Indeed, it seems that everyone in Washington knows Mark Prater and 
seeks him out for advice on tax policy.
  Perhaps most importantly, Mark is a kind person who treats everyone 
with respect. Honestly, he would be the last person to seek out this 
type of honor, usually opting to share credit for his successes with 
those he works with.
  Mark has worked for a number of prominent chairmen and ranking 
members on the Finance Committee, including Bob Packwood, William Roth, 
and Chuck Grassley. But, while he is always worked for Republican 
Members, Senators on both sides of the aisle have come to rely on 
Mark's experience and expertise. This was never more evident than in 
2011 when Mark was tapped to serve as the staff director for the Joint 
Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
  For the past 4 years, I have had the privilege of having Mark on my 
Finance Committee staff and I have been

[[Page 15953]]

a direct beneficiary of his knowledge and understanding of not only the 
Tax Code but of how things can and should work in the Senate. You see, 
Mark is one of the few staffers who have been around long enough to 
remember a time when things used to get done around here. In fact, Tax 
Notes recently published the results of their survey about 
congressional tax staffers in which Mark was named the best dealmaker 
and the top Republican tax staffer. I have no doubt that, in the 
future, his work will be instrumental to helping restore the traditions 
and productivity of this Chamber.
  I want to congratulate Mark for this tremendous honor from the Tax 
Foundation, along with his wonderful family--his wife Lori and his son 
James--who should enjoy this honor along with him.
  Selfishly, I hope that Mark has many more years of honorable service 
here in the United States Senate.

                          ____________________