[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15356]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO KATHY A. RUFFING

 Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I take a moment to recognize someone 
who has provided invaluable assistance to the Budget Committee for many 
years. After 25 years of service at the Congressional Budget Office, or 
CBO, as we call it, Kathy A. Ruffing will be retiring at the end of 
this month.
  During her tenure at CBO, Ms. Ruffing earned a well-deserved 
reputation for tirelessly producing high-quality analyses on a wide 
range of topics including interest costs and the Federal debt, Federal 
pay, immigration, and Social Security. In particular, Members and their 
staffs came to depend on Kathy's thorough knowledge of the Social 
Security Program as they developed proposals for addressing the 
program's financial status and benefit structure. She also made major 
contributions to CBO's reports on the economic and budget outlook and 
the reestimates of the President's budget. Her analyses always 
displayed those characteristics of CBO's reports that we in the 
Congress most value--impartiality, clarity, and comprehensiveness. In 
fact, Kathy was a principal architect of the formats of many tables on 
which the Budget Committee has come to rely so heavily.
  The Congress will feel the loss of a dedicated public servant who 
selflessly worked extraordinary hours in helping us advance the 
legislative process. We will miss Kathy's expertise and counsel.
  I know that I speak for all of the Members who have served on the 
Budget Committees of the House and Senate during the past 25 years and 
all of our staff when I express our gratitude to Kathy for all of her 
contributions to the legislative process.

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