[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 18] [SENA] [Pages 23501-23502] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO BILL HOAGLAND Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to one who is known as Mr. Budget of the Senate. When I stepped up to the position of majority leader 4 years ago, my first priority was to hire a staff of capable advisers. When I stepped up, it happened very quickly, so I knew I wanted the best of the best. I already had a wonderful staff devoted to help the people of Tennessee, but what I needed was a core group of people to help me with the larger picture, to set an aggressive agenda and help me get it through. I knew immediately who I wanted to advise me on budget and appropriations. In an ideal world, I knew exactly [[Page 23502]] who that would be. And, of course, that was Bill Hoagland. I had known Bill and worked with Bill as a freshman Senator when he was staff director of the Budget Committee, then chaired by Pete Domenici, and I relied on him through those early days again and again in private meetings and tutorials to show me and to introduce me and my budget staff at the time the budget ropes, the process. So when that Christmas Eve 4 years ago came, I picked up the phone and I called Bill Hoagland. I asked--I pleaded with him--to become a part of my team. Bill came to the Senate Committee on the Budget in the early 1980s from the Department of Agriculture. He started as a group leader and senior analyst and worked his way up through the ranks to become staff director. After more than two decades on the Budget Committee under Senator Domenici, Bill was the acknowledged expert on Senate floor procedure for budget resolutions and appropriations measures. He was there during Gramm-Rudman-Hollings. He was staff director during the Balanced Budget Act of 1995. For 21 years, Bill had a voice in every major Senate budget and appropriations measure. I was certain his expertise would be a tremendous asset to my team. And, indeed, it has been. Bill has proven his worth time and time again. While serving as my director of budget and appropriations, Bill has played critical roles in ushering forth the Deficit Reduction Act and the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2006, and many others. During these negotiations, Bill's voice is often the voice of reason, practicality, of realism. His plain speaking only enhances credibility as the preeminent authority, the unquestioned preeminent authority on Senate budget and appropriations. But Bill isn't all business. The Senate Committee on the Budget fondly remembers him for genuinely caring about his staff. They remember his informal Friday late-afternoon happy hours where staff could share stories about the past week and learn things about activities in the weeks ahead. In fact, they were so fond of those informal get-togethers that the current Republican staff director installed a plaque naming the room after Bill Hoagland. My own staff and I will always carry memories of Bill bringing the Kentucky Derby to the Capitol with mint juleps on the Dole balcony behind me. And I will never forget Bill's weekly economic reports which I share on a regular basis with my colleagues. They were as much an exercise in dry wit as a profound analysis of the economic outlook. After some 25 years, Bill has led one of the most distinguished staff careers ever to grace the Senate. On behalf of this Senate, I thank Bill for his dedication as a public servant to this Nation. Never doubt for a moment how much we value your wise counsel, Bill. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Chambliss). The Senator from North Dakota. Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, Bill Hoagland is truly one of the best I have had the chance to serve with in 20 years. Bill Hoagland is deeply knowledgeable, decent, caring. He is one person who has extraordinary credibility on both sides of the aisle. I have known Bill in my 20 years in the Senate. Throughout that period I have served on the Committee on the Budget. Bill has been, at various times, the staff director or the leadership stamp on these issues. I have enjoyed so many quiet moments with Bill in which we have reflected on things that concern us about the direction of the country. More than that, I have enjoyed his uncommon decency. Bill Hoagland is somebody who will be very much missed. I believe Bill Hoagland, because of his intense interest in the fiscal affairs of this country, in the economic well-being of our Nation, will always be there to give good advice. On many occasions I have joked with Bill and made him job offers for far more pay than he was getting on the other side of the aisle. Bill always kind of indulged my humor and never paid too much attention to it because he was firmly rooted on the other side. Bill Hoagland represents the best of this institution. And it is with real sincerity I say I will very much miss Bill's very good judgment in this Senate. I thank the leader for his remarks about our very good friend, Bill Hoagland. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio. Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I have been drafting my farewell comments, and I had a little section in there about my friend Bill Hoagland, but I will just take this opportunity now to add my voice to those who have been talking about Bill. I cannot tell you how many times in the last few years I have gone up to Bill in the corner of the Chamber over here and asked him what was really going on around here. And Bill Hoagland always knows what is really going on around here. Not only is he an expert on the budget, he is an expert on the Senate, and he is an expert, quite bluntly, in strategy as well as an expert in tactics. So I thank Bill for his good and wise counsel to me. I know he has supplied that counsel to so many other people in the Senate as well. But I, from a personal point of view, have appreciated Bill very much. ____________________