[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 233]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO STEWART HOLMES

 Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I want to express my gratitude for 
the service of my long-time aide, Stewart Holmes, who is leaving the 
U.S. Senate to pursue a new career. Stewart has served the Senate in 
different capacities over the past 17 years in a manner that reflects 
credit on the institution and our Nation. During this time, I have 
valued Stewart as a trusted and loyal advisor with sound judgment on 
complex national security issues. More broadly, his public service on 
Capitol Hill has contributed to the safety of the American people and 
our Nation.
  Stewart's sense of service, responsibility, and dedication to the 
United States is closely linked to his own 22-year military service 
career. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1979, and was 
appointed a 2nd Lieutenant in 1986. He was deployed during Operation 
Desert Storm. While in the military, he earned a Bachelor of Arts 
degree from the Citadel in South Carolina and a Master of Arts degree 
in Financial Management from the U.S. Naval Post Graduate School. In 
1997, he became the first military fellow to serve in my Senate office, 
a position that preceded his becoming the Marine Corps Appropriations 
Liaison.
  In 2001, Stewart Holmes retired from the Marine Corps as a major and 
joined my staff as a military legislative assistant. In 2005, he joined 
the Senate Committee on Appropriations and served as an intelligence 
and military advisor to me. He became minority clerk of the Defense 
Appropriations Subcommittee in 2009.
  Throughout my association with Stewart, he has been a hard worker. He 
has demonstrated consummate professionalism, attention to detail, and 
dedication to the Senate as an institution. These qualities have served 
him well as the Defense Subcommittee has worked to overcome the fiscal 
and political challenges inherent in funding our national security 
priorities. I appreciate his work on various issues of importance to 
our national interests and to my State of Mississippi, including 
shipbuilding, supercomputers, next generation technology, shipbuilding, 
NASA and others.
  As Stewart moves on with the next chapter of his career, I wish him, 
his wife, Maren, and their children every success and happiness. We 
will miss him here in the Senate. I am pleased to extend my thanks to 
him for the great job he has done in the Senate.

                          ____________________