Paul Ryan: “I rise to acknowledge an extraordinary staff member who has moved on after 20 years with the House Budget Committee, Jim…”

“I rise to acknowledge an extraordinary staff member who has moved on after 20 years with the House Budget Committee, Jim Bates. James T. Bates, the Committee's Republican chief of staff, recently accepted a position as associate program director at the Office of Management and Budget. Ordinarily, that would be a significant, though not surprising, step in a career dedicated to Washington fiscal policy. But there is nothing ordinary about this case. Jim Bates's two decades of service represents the longest tenure of any Budget Committee staffer. He served in various capacities during this time, including those of minority counsel, chief majority counsel and deputy chief of staff before rising to the top slot in late 2004. In each of those roles he demonstrated a singular dedication. He came to be known as a true believer in the value of congressional budgeting; a stickler for adhering to the budget disciplines written in law and in convention; and a thoroughly convinced proponent of the institution of the Budget Committee. He is as closely identified with the committee as is the Congressional Budget Act itself. It is nearly impossible to think of one without the other. Mr. Speaker, you can't go back over the last 20 years and look at the enforcement of the Budget Committee, the preservation of the Budget Act, without thinking of Jim Bates.”