Political Quotes

“I rise today to recognize a truly exceptional member of my staff who recently departed after 22 years of service in the Senate. Tom Mahr is one of the longest-serving members of my staff, and he has made invaluable contributions to important debates and the drafting of key pieces of legislation in the Senate over the past 2 decades. He will be missed. Like many staff members, Tom began his career on Capitol Hill as an intern. I tapped him to join my staff in January 1988 as a legislative correspondent. Tom excelled from the start, and it was not long after that he began a steady path to increasing levels of responsibility. His first major effort as a banking legislative assistant was during the Savings and Loan bailout. He provided me with sound advice, and I was one of only 8 Senators to vote against the bailout. Tom left briefly to complete graduate school at Princeton; he rejoined my staff in 1991, working on a number of important issues, including what to do to help the economy. When I joined the Finance Committee in 1993, Tom was assigned to work on trade issues. For North Dakota, with its significant agricultural interests, ensuring fair trade agreements and opening new markets for our products was vital. In those days, the rapid rise in imports of wheat and barley from Canada was negatively affecting farmers in North Dakota. Addressing this was a top priority for me, and Tom was a key part of the effort.…”