[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15767]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO CURT HAENSEL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. PETER A. DeFAZIO

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 10, 2017

  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Curt Haensel, 
Senior Counsel of the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the U.S. 
House of Representatives.
  For the past 30 years, Curt has served as Legislative Counsel to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In that time, Curt has 
worked to assist the Committee under eight different Committee 
Chairmen, half a dozen Ranking Members, and hundreds of our Committee 
colleagues. He formally began working with the Committee in 1989 and 
one of the first bills he worked on was H.R. 598, which banned smoking 
on commercial airlines. At the Committee markup, Curt drafted dozens of 
amendments as the smokers and their advocates worked to fill the 
amendment tree, as they tried to kill the bill by endless amendment. 
The back row of the dais filled with cigarette smoke as the Committee 
slowly worked its will and ultimately banned smoking on airlines.
  After this baptism by fire, Curt went on to work on every single 
surface transportation, aviation, water resources, and environmental 
law that this Committee has enacted. He took our ideas, and working 
with our staffs, used his gifted legislative craftsmanship to shape our 
transportation future. ISTEA, TEA 21, SAFETEA-LU, and the FAST Act; 
Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Acts; WRDA after WRDA; 
and dozens of other Acts all bear his stamp.
  One of Curt's great achievements was his work, in the wake of the 
September 11 terrorist attacks, on the Aviation and Transportation 
Security Act (ATSA), which enhanced aviation and surface transportation 
security and created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). 
After months of negotiation and as the Thanksgiving break approached, 
House and Senate Committee staffs and House Legislative Counsel spent 
20-hour days drafting the agreement. The Committee Chairmen and Ranking 
Members finally resolved the remaining critical issues on a Thursday 
afternoon. House and Senate Leaders wanted the agreement passed the 
following day, Friday, before the House and Senate adjourned for 
Thanksgiving. As Committee staffs and Legislative Counsels Curt Haensel 
and Dave Mendelsohn finished drafting the conference agreement around 
4:30 a.m., the Office of Legislative Counsel computers failed and the 
computer files of the agreement were completely lost. The Committees 
faced the prospect that Congress may not be able to pass the 
legislation before the Thanksgiving break There was a genuine fear 
that, over the break, the hard-fought agreement could fall apart. 
Instead, Curt and his colleagues, after a walk around the block to 
clear their heads, recreated the text from memory and, later that day, 
both the House and Senate passed the agreement. Two days later, 
President George W. Bush signed the bill into law and the U.S. 
Department of Transportation began immediately implementing it to make 
our country safer. This little-known story is but one example of Curt's 
contributions to the House of Representatives and the American people.
  Curt will continue to serve in his new role. He is joining the Office 
of Legislative Counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), where 
he will help develop DOD's request for the National Defense 
Authorization Act each year. I am hopeful that this new opportunity 
provides Curt more time to spend with his wife, Meg, and their two 
kids, Ada and Peter, and hopefully watching his beloved Wisconsin 
Badgers and spending longer vacations on Lake Michigan's shores.
  The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will truly miss 
his expertise, wise counsel, and friendship. I join all of my 
colleagues on the Committee in wishing Curt all the best in his new 
endeavor.

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