Cord Byrd: “I rise to commend Scott Bates, our legislative clerk, on his outstanding 25 years of service to the U.S. Senate. Scott…”

“I rise to commend Scott Bates, our legislative clerk, on his outstanding 25 years of service to the U.S. Senate. Scott Bates began his career in Washington as a summer intern in the bill clerk's office under Senator John L. McClellan's patronage in 1970. It was the beginning of a most auspicious match for both Scott and the Senate. From the beginning, politics was in Scott's blood. His father, Paul Bates, served as a member of the Arkansas Legislature. Scott loved politics in school, and he served as a page in both the house and the senate of the Arkansas Legislature. In 1975, Scott first began working at the Senate desk where he has continued working ever since. His contributions to this body and to its workings have been many and notable. As the bill clerk of the Senate, Scott was instrumental in developing the first automated recordkeeping system in the Senate, later known as LEGIS. Scott Bates established the current method used here in the Senate for numbering amendments, and he has left his innovative mark on much of the printed material used on the Senate floor to aid us in our work, from rollcall tally sheets to the Senate calendar. Although public service in general and careers in Washington have fallen out of favor, I believe that Scott Bates' life and work experience present a compelling case against the current cynicism about the many fine people who serve here in the Congress in various capacities.”