Honoring Doug Bereuter

HONORING Doug Bereuter -- (House of Representatives - July 08, 2004)

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Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I appreciate his taking out this Special Order tonight to honor our colleague DOUG BEREUTER, retiring after 26 years of distinguished service in this body.

I first got to know DOUG as a thoughtful and productive Member of the House Committee on Banking soon after my arrival here, but I soon came to admire him even more for his knowledge and his involvement in foreign affairs. He is now completing his 22nd year on the Committee on International Relations where he chairs the Subcommittee on Europe. He is in his 10th year of service on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence where he chairs the Subcommittee on Intelligence Policy and National Security and serves as vice-chair of the full committee.

For most of his congressional career, DOUG has made it his business to understand the foreign policy challenges facing our country, and he has made enormous contribution to the House's capacity for and exertion of international leadership. He has earned the respect of Members on both sides of the aisle and among his counterparts in other parliaments. He has been a delegate to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly since 1986. He has led the U.S. delegation since 1995, and he was elevated to the presidency of the assembly 2 years ago.

DOUG represents our country's interests forthrightly and effectively in international forums, and he is equally skilled in informal diplomacy, listening well and engaging in candid dialogue, forming ties of mutual respect with leaders abroad. He has taken a particular interest in the challenges facing the NATO alliance after the Cold War, the role of the alliance in conflicts in the Balkans and beyond Europe, and the collective response to terrorism.

Under his leadership, the Assembly has played an important role in the eastward expansion of NATO, both in debating the terms of that expansion and in establishing ties with parliamentarians in the new member States.

Like others in this body, I have greatly enjoyed and benefited from my travels with DOUG, often with his wife Louise and my wife Lisa, on parliamentary exchanges, Aspen Institute seminars and NATO Assembly meetings.

Most recently, we have collaborated in drafting a resolution, H. Res. 642, establishing a commission in the House of Representatives to assist parliaments in emerging democracies. It is our hope that this commission might continue the work begun in Eastern Europe by the Frost-Solomon Commission in the 1990s, working in the Balkans, the Caucasus and other areas as they develop freely functioning parliaments.

Madam Speaker, as much as we respect DOUG's work, we also admire him as a colleague and value him as a friend. DOUG's a warm and sincere and genuine person, persistent and determined when he needs to be, but also cooperative, collaborative, willing to share the limelight and eager to help others succeed. One measure of DOUG's personal qualities and the loyalty friends feel to him is the longevity of his staff here. DOUG's staff obviously believes in him, and they have served for impressive periods of time.

Carol Lawrence has served for 26 years, plus 3 years when he was a State legislator. Robin Evans, 22 years; Jodi Detwiler, 18 years; Susan Olson, his chief of staff, 17 years, and we know Susan well from her NATO assembly work; Mike Ennis, 16 years; Alan Feyerherm, 15 years. That is remarkable. That is a remarkable display of not just staff longevity but staff loyalty, a kind of personal loyalty that DOUG inspires.

Mr. Speaker, DOUG BEREUTER has made a distinctive contribution to this House and to our country. We will miss him here, but we bid him and Louise farewell in the sure hope that we will have continuing opportunities to see them and to work with them. We know that DOUG's talents will find a worthy outlet in the presidency of the Asia Foundation, and we wish him well in that important work.