Frank Pallone: “I want to take this opportunity to talk about one of our key staff people who is leaving in the next few days. The…”

“I want to take this opportunity to talk about one of our key staff people who is leaving in the next few days. The person, of course, is Jerry Leverich, who is right behind me here. Jerry has played an instrumental role in the committee's work, not only with consumer protection but on so many issues. Shortly after I became the top Democrat on the committee, more than 7 years ago, he started. He is currently the staff director for both our Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and our Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce. Over these last 7 years since he has been here, he has played a critical role in our efforts to expand access to broadband nationwide, make internet service more affordable, and protect consumers from annoying robocalls. I have to also say that if it wasn't for him, I don't know that I would be able to deal with a lot of technological issues in the committee or even explain a lot of what we are doing on the issues. He led our efforts this summer, on the Democratic side, on passing out of committee for the first time the bicameral and bipartisan consumer data privacy bill, which we consider on both sides of the aisle a significant achievement. We are still working, obviously, to bring that to the House floor before the end of this session of Congress. Mr. Speaker, I thank him for his counsel. I wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.…”