[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5169]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DR. RUTH ELLEN WASEM

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, Dr. Ruth Ellen Wasem, a specialist in 
immigration policy, will be retiring from CRS at the end of this month. 
Dr. Wasem is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she 
received a Ph.D. and M.A. in history. She completed her undergraduate 
degree at Muskingum College--a private university located in New 
Concord, OH--where she graduated magna cum laude. Dr. Wasem was raised 
in Cadiz, OH.
  Dr. Wasem came to CRS in 1987 as an analyst in social legislation, 
where she worked on teenage pregnancy, youth policy, homelessness, and 
immigration policy. She eventually moved full time into immigration 
policy, where she became a recognized and leading expert in the field.
  Throughout her time at CRS, Dr. Wasem provided substantial 
legislative support to Members and congressional staff on various 
aspects of immigration and social welfare policy. Dr. Wasem's work was 
used by Congress in hearings, legislative development, markups, and 
preconference negotiations.
  Dr. Wasem wrote numerous analytic and concise reports for Congress--
well over 300 during her tenure at CRS. Dr. Wasem also testified before 
congressional committees numerous times throughout her tenure at CRS, 
providing testimony on issues ranging from asylum to unauthorized 
migration to immigration and social policy data.
  As CRS's immigration team leader, Dr. Wasem served as a mentor to all 
of the other team members, and she always displayed great generosity 
and selflessness in devoting time and energy to their professional 
development.
  The Congressional Research Service has given Dr. Wasem a number of 
outstanding commendations and special achievement awards for 
legislative analysis in the areas of immigration policy, Haitian 
relief, health care reform, homeland security, temporary foreign 
workers, and welfare reform.
  Dr. Wasem recently spent a year as a Kluge Staff Fellow at the 
Library of Congress where she researched legislative efforts to end 
national origins and race-based immigrant admissions to the United 
States, all of which culminated in the Immigration Act of 1965. During 
her time as a Kluge Fellow, Dr. Wasem was awarded the Abba P. Schwartz 
Research Fellowship, which is administered by the John F. Kennedy 
Library Foundation, to further her research in this area.
  During her 29 years at CRS--and her 2 years of previous Federal 
service--Dr. Wasem won the respect and admiration of her colleagues. 
Her steadfast dedication to serve Congress and her commitment to the 
highest standards of analytic, unbiased, and timely response to 
congressional requests for information and analysis have made a 
positive and lasting contribution to the congressional policy 
discourse.

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