Expressing the gratitude of the House of Representatives for the service of M. Pope Barrow, Jr.

Madam Speaker, I rise to join in celebrating the career of Pope Barrow, who is stepping down as House Legislative Counsel.

I have served in this House since 1976, and I have known and worked closely with Pope Barrow throughout my 33 years in this body.

Pope is a true professional--for the last 40 years he has been the House's very own Pontiff of Paper, performing miracles in translating Members' ideas and concepts into well-crafted bills, amendments, and resolutions. He began his career in the Office of Legislative Counsel in 1968, and in 1997 he was appointed to serve as the Sixth House Legislative Counsel since that office was first created in 1918. Today, Pope Barrow leaves his post as head of the Office, and I and many other Members and staff who have worked with him over the years will miss him.

Over the years, Pope has assisted hundreds of Members and their staffs in the drafting of a wide range of legislation. He helped to draft the War Powers Act; he drafted education laws, tax laws, and pension laws. But, it is really in the field of Energy and Environmental law that Pope has made his mark.

Pope helped draft the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Superfund law, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, various amendments to the Federal Power Act. He has worked on each and every omnibus energy bill of the last three decades, including the Energy Policy Act of 1992, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. In intervening years, he has worked on other smaller energy bills that are too numerous to mention.

Pope Barrow has also spent years drafting public lands, mining, parks and recreation laws. He was, for example, the principal draftsman of the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978, which passed under former Representatives Mo Udall and Phil Burton's leadership. He drafted the Alaskan Lands Act with Mo Udall and former Representative John Seiberling.

Just a few days ago, Pope stood on the floor of this House as we took up the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security bill. Like so many other energy and environmental bills before it, this was a bill drafted in part by Pope Barrow, and the other attorneys he has trained and mentored. But, Pope and his colleagues also drafted many of the amendments offered to the bill by the bill's opponents. For that is the duty of the lawyers that this House has chosen to serve as our legislative scriveners. They must serve all of the Members of this House, regardless of party and regardless of position. They must maintain the confidentiality of their contacts with various Member and Committee offices. They must remain neutral as to issues of legislative policy.

Pope and his colleagues in the Office of Legislative Counsel are truly a national treasure. They work very hard to make sure that the bills, resolutions and amendments that we offer are as clearly written, as understandable, and as reflective of legislative intent as is humanly possible. He and his colleagues work long hours, nights, and sometimes weekends, and for some very demanding clients. They truly are public servants. We simply could not do our job around here without their assistance.

When I think of a markup in the Energy and Commerce Committee, or in the Natural Resources Committee, I think of Pope Barrow sitting down at the Counsel's table, ready to assist the Members as we work our way through whatever legislation is before us. Pope, we will miss you down at your usual spot in the counsel's chair.

But we also know that Pope Barrow does have interests outside of the office. Over the years, Pope has been an active whitewater kayaker who has paddled rapids across the country and all around the world. While he still kayaks, Pope reports that it has been years since he has run the Class V waterfalls at Great Falls on the Potomac.

Pope is also an avid sailor, who has sailed up and down the East Coast from Nova Scotia to Key West, and who has sailed across the Atlantic and all around the Mediterranean. In fact, on one ill-fated sailing expedition back in the 1970s, Pope and his father capsized their boat off the coast of Florida in a bad storm and spent several hours in the ocean before floating ashore.

Pope, we salute your service to this House of Representatives. We thank you for all that you have done for the hundreds of Members and thousands of staffers you have done work for. We wish you all the best as you leave this People's House to enjoy your retirement. Please keep an eye on the weather reports for squalls, check those river gauges, and keep both your paddling gear ready for the river and your sailboat ready for sea. Best wishes to you and to your family as you embark on the next chapter of your life.

Madam Speaker, I rise to join in celebrating the career of Pope Barrow, who is stepping down as House Legislative Counsel.

I have served in this House since 1976, and I have known and worked closely with Pope Barrow throughout my 33 years in this body.

Pope is a true professional--for the last 40 years he has been the House's very own Pontiff of Paper, performing miracles in translating Members' ideas and concepts into well-crafted bills, amendments, and resolutions. He began his career in the Office of Legislative Counsel in 1968, and in 1997 he was appointed to serve as the Sixth House Legislative Counsel since that office was first created in 1918. Today, Pope Barrow leaves his post as head of the Office, and I and many other Members and staff who have worked with him over the years will miss him.

Over the years, Pope has assisted hundreds of Members and their staffs in the drafting of a wide range of legislation. He helped to draft the War Powers Act; he drafted education laws, tax laws, and pension laws. But, it is really in the field of Energy and Environmental law that Pope has made his mark.

Pope helped draft the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Superfund law, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, various amendments to the Federal Power Act. He has worked on each and every omnibus energy bill of the last three decades, including the Energy Policy Act of 1992, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. In intervening years, he has worked on other smaller energy bills that are too numerous to mention.

Pope Barrow has also spent years drafting public lands, mining, parks and recreation laws. He was, for example, the principal draftsman of the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978, which passed under former Representatives Mo Udall and Phil Burton's leadership. He drafted the Alaskan Lands Act with Mo Udall and former Representative John Seiberling.

Just a few days ago, Pope stood on the floor of this House as we took up the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security bill. Like so many other energy and environmental bills before it, this was a bill drafted in part by Pope Barrow, and the other attorneys he has trained and mentored. But, Pope and his colleagues also drafted many of the amendments offered to the bill by the bill's opponents. For that is the duty of the lawyers that this House has chosen to serve as our legislative scriveners. They must serve all of the Members of this House, regardless of party and regardless of position. They must maintain the confidentiality of their contacts with various Member and Committee offices. They must remain neutral as to issues of legislative policy.

Pope and his colleagues in the Office of Legislative Counsel are truly a national treasure. They work very hard to make sure that the bills, resolutions and amendments that we offer are as clearly written, as understandable, and as reflective of legislative intent as is humanly possible. He and his colleagues work long hours, nights, and sometimes weekends, and for some very demanding clients. They truly are public servants. We simply could not do our job around here without their assistance.

When I think of a markup in the Energy and Commerce Committee, or in the Natural Resources Committee, I think of Pope Barrow sitting down at the Counsel's table, ready to assist the Members as we work our way through whatever legislation is before us. Pope, we will miss you down at your usual spot in the counsel's chair.

But we also know that Pope Barrow does have interests outside of the office. Over the years, Pope has been an active whitewater kayaker who has paddled rapids across the country and all around the world. While he still kayaks, Pope reports that it has been years since he has run the Class V waterfalls at Great Falls on the Potomac.

Pope is also an avid sailor, who has sailed up and down the East Coast from Nova Scotia to Key West, and who has sailed across the Atlantic and all around the Mediterranean. In fact, on one ill-fated sailing expedition back in the 1970s, Pope and his father capsized their boat off the coast of Florida in a bad storm and spent several hours in the ocean before floating ashore.

Pope, we salute your service to this House of Representatives. We thank you for all that you have done for the hundreds of Members and thousands of staffers you have done work for. We wish you all the best as you leave this People's House to enjoy your retirement. Please keep an eye on the weather reports for squalls, check those river gauges, and keep both your paddling gear ready for the river and your sailboat ready for sea. Best wishes to you and to your family as you embark on the next chapter of your life.

Resuming our time, Madam Speaker, at the outset, I would like to ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks in the Record on this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

There are a lot of lives that you can live in the law. You can live the life of the fighter, the champion on the white horse, the litigator, the trial lawyer. You can live the life of the counselor, the deal maker, the advisor, the person who helps to plot his client's course through uncertain waters. There are a lot of lives you can live in the law.

If you are going to be a deal maker though, if you are going to be a counselor, I venture to say that there are very few callings in the world that can call upon as much in the services of the personal lawyer as serving as counsel to a legislative body. In this country, the greatest calling of that sort would be to serve as counsel to the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress. The biggest deals in the country are made in this Chamber. Certainly this Chamber possesses the body, unlike any court, to trample upon, to barge in upon, to stumble upon, to mess up, settled bodies of law that have slowly emerged and evolved over decades and in other institutions. And short of only the Constitution of the United States, there is nothing to stop a body such as this in messing up in all kinds of ways. And so it's essential that the advice that we have be the best, the best counsel, in order to make sure that the laws we make, that we plan for the future, are fully informed and have the best counsel behind them.

You know, if the Hollywood mogul said that an oral contract ain't worth the paper it's written on, or as a client of mine once said, if it can't be read, it hadn't been said, then it is essential that the deals, the understanding, the undertakings that are made by Members of this body that are oral, that are over a handshake, they have to be reduced to writing, and those writings have to be clear. They have to be understandable. They have to be able to be read and interpreted by all of the parties, as Mr. Lungren so ably said, who have to interpret and rely upon their counsel.

Over the last 50 years, I venture to say, if Carlisle is right, he is the one who said there is no such thing as history; there's just the great man theory of government. There is no history. It's just the biography of great men. If that's true, then if you subscribe to the lawyer theory of history, then there is no history of law beyond the biography of great lawyers.

In the last 50 years, I'd venture to say the legislative record of this government is probably in the personal biography of Mr. John Dingell. Over the last 40 years, the legislative record of this Congress has been the professional biography of Middleton Pope Barrow who, more than any other, has guided this House in the undertakings it has made by giving them the language to embody the deals and the understandings that are made here in this body.

A fellow named Charles Black once said, the prima materia of all tragedy is the failure to recognize kinship. If that is true in relations between country and relations between people, it's also true in the law. Not to understand what we do and its kinship to what the courts are doing, the regulatory agencies are doing, the States are doing, what this government has done in prior years, in prior Congresses, the failure to recognize that kinship can lead to all kinds of trouble.

I think it's a matter of personal regard, a great personal matter of personal pride for me that I recognize a different kind of kinship with the gentleman we honor today with this resolution, because we have a kinship of a much more basic and prosaic kind. His father's father's father and my father's father's father are one and the same man, the first of this name, Middleton Pope Barrow, and I am very proud to claim kinship with the gentleman we honor today. I am kind of reminded, though, of old Ambrose Bierce's definition of genealogy. Genealogy is the study of one's descent from ancestors who did not necessarily care to know their own.

Well, I do care to know my own. I care to know the descendants of a common ancestor, Mr. Pope Barrow. It's not for me to say how well our district is represented in this House of Representatives, but I think I speak for every member of my family in saying that we feel extremely well represented by the services that Middleton Pope Barrow has rendered this House over the last four decades. We wish you God speed, and God bless in all of your undertakings.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings).

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. Waxman.

Madam Speaker, I would like to note for the record that colleagues of ours who want very much to be here to express, in person, their congratulations and best wishes to Pope Barrow on this occasion cannot be here because of conflicts that make it impossible for them to come.

Chairman Markey of Massachusetts sends his regards. Chairman Rangel of New York sends his regards. Chairman Slaughter of New York also sends her regards. All planned on coming here to pay tribute in person to the life and work of Pope Barrow, but conflicts in their meeting schedules make it impossible for them to come, and so I merely wish to note for the record their support of this resolution.

Having no other speakers on our side, Madam Speaker, I will wrap up on a personal note.

The poet Robert Frost wrote a short poem that says an awful lot. It is entitled ``Devotion,'' and it goes something like this:

``The heart can think of no devotion greater than being shore to ocean--holding the curve of one position, counting an endless repetition.''

When I think of his 40 years of service to this House--20 Congresses, of the gun having to start on legislation that has been on the table for years, having to be started over and over again with new Members coming, all the folks coming and bringing the same ideas back to the table and new ideas emerging throughout all of that. I can't think of any greater devotion than being able to hold the point of serving as counsel to this body.

More to the point, it is not for lack of something better to do that someone like Pope Barrow serves in this body for 40 years. It is because of his devotion to the work of this House and the unique opportunity that he has as counsel to this House and that he has

had of serving as counselor to the folks who are making the biggest and most important deals in the country. It is that devotion that we recognize today and certainly not for a lack of anything better to do or that which is more productive in other spheres. So that is the spirit in which I hope we will all acknowledge his service as one of great devotion to our country. With that, it is with a great deal of pride of association--not accomplishment but of association--that I urge the support of this resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 635 expressing the gratitude of the House of Representatives for the service of M. Pope Barrow, Jr. In 1970, as a student at Georgetown Law School, I had the opportunity to take a class from a colleague of Mr. Barrow's who was then working in the Legislative Counsel's Office. It was to teach those of us who were law students what the legislative process was really all about, how you made an idea a law. I recall at the time marveling at the command of the rules and the use of the English language that was presented by that Office, and how they were an integral part of the workings of the House of Representatives.

Later when I came to the House of Representatives the first time in 1979, I made it a practice for my office to regularly consult with the Legislative Counsel's Office to ensure that we, in fact, were doing what ought to be done in order to make legislation a reality on this floor. And although a member of the minority party for all 10 years of my first service in this House, I never despaired of the possibility that I might actually pass legislation. So we wanted to make sure that it was done in the right way, and the work of the Legislative Counsel's Office was always extraordinary. Their ability to continue to work tremendous hours is something to behold.

I would also say that they always acted in a nonpartisan way, so that those of us on the minority side, and then during my return here to the House, my first 2 years on the majority side, which I might say I did enjoy that short period of time, and now once again on the minority, I never noticed a change in the attitude of anybody in the Legislative Counsel's Office with respect to the professional job they did to help those of us who are elected by our constituents to ensure that we get the people's work done in this House.

So, therefore, I am pleased to rise to honor a longstanding member of this Institution's support staff, or Legislative Counsel, Pope Barrow. The House Office of the Legislative Counsel is, as I mentioned, a significant resource and an absolute contributor to the effective execution of a Member's legislative efforts, contributing nonpartisan service to bring important policy objectives to fruition.

I can recall some of the most disappointing moments on the floor of the House when Members have turned to me as we were discussing legislation and I have pointed out what certain words are and they say, don't worry about it; the courts will decide. That's an abrogation of our responsibility under the Constitution. And as one who has had the opportunity to actually see the product of legislation effectively impact the law, that is, as a trial attorney, you know that a word, a phrase, a misplaced comma, an incorrect grammatical presentation can make all the difference in the world in terms of a decision, a real- life decision with litigants before the court. We also know that it impacts the lives of many individuals as they are the beneficiaries of government services or government programs, so it is important for us to attempt to get it right, and Barrow has been one of those people who has dedicated his life to ensure that we do that.

In his various capacities with the Office of Legislative Counsel, he has continued his family's legacy of service to the United States Congress. That legacy, which I understand includes three former Members of the House of Representatives and one Member of the U.S. Senate, is further enriched by the alternate and complementary role that Pope Barrow has served as legislative counsel. He has dutifully served the House of Representatives, guided by the principle that his service might necessarily be equally diligent, regardless of the petitioning partisan, aiming

to minimize the enormous cost to society of having law out there that nobody understands. Those are words to live by in this House.

For his many years of service to this body and his commitment to drafting a body of legislation that is intelligible and coherent, I extend my sincere thanks to Pope Barrow, and I would urge a unanimous vote in support of this resolution.

At this time, I reserve the balance of my time.

General Leave

I continue to reserve.

Madam Speaker, I would yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) such time as he may consume.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, we've talked about the professionalism, the dedication of Mr. Barrow. I'd just like to relate a particular incident that came to my attention. It was the day after the House office buildings were shut down because of the anthrax attack. At that time, the Committee on Resources was still in business, bringing bills to the floor for consideration.

So how did they do this?

Well, the only way the committee was able to bring its legislation forward was through the efforts of Pope Barrow, who was working from a dark corner in a conference room in the GAO building, using two BlackBerrys, an aged laptop and the phone. He was able to produce the necessary legislative materials, and the House was able to continue its work but only because of his ingenuity and resourcefulness. It is that kind of dedication, when he could have used any excuse not to be able to perform his job at that time, that has marked his tenure as the legislative counsel, and for that, we thank him profusely.

Madam Speaker, I have no more speakers on my side, so if the gentleman has no more on his side, I will be happy to yield back the balance of my time while urging support of this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I send to the desk a resolution and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration in the House.

Madam Speaker, I yield 30 minutes for purposes of debate only to my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren).

Madam Speaker, I yield to myself 4 minutes.

Madam Speaker, this a great institution in which we all take great pride in serving. And it is that because of the great Constitution, but also because of the Members who have served here over so many years. And we can be proud of

those who have served as elected Members. Beyond those Members who have been elected, there are large numbers of people who have served here by appointment as essentially servants of the House, or perhaps more better said, as public servants.

None of those has been more distinguished than the resolution honors. I am very proud to handle this time and to have the privilege of honoring a dear friend. I am also very proud and very happy that we are able to send him off with the dignity, respect and the affection that his long and distinguished service has done.

One of the things that enables us to be very proud of people like Pope Barrow is the dedication, the decency and the integrity that they bring to their job. In the case of Pope Barrow, he has done this with extraordinary dedication. But beyond that, he has also done it with extraordinary ability, indeed, remarkable ability. One of the things I like to chuckle about is the way that he and the people who have worked for him have made it possible for the House to serve well and Members of this House to serve well, by giving us the best possible legal advice on the handling and the construction of legislation.

From his first day of nearly 40 years of service at the Office of Legislative Counsel, Pope Barrow has been an outstanding public servant. He served first as a law assistant and then more latterly in higher and higher positions until he served as Legislative Counsel. He has served this country, this Chamber and all of the Members of this body with great distinction and wholly selflessly.

I have worked together with him, as have most of the Members, throughout my years in Congress. He worked on the complicated and arduous Clean Air Act amendments. At that time, I promised him that no longer would we ever allow this legislation to be opened up to public consideration. And those of you who remember the 1990 Clean Air Act will understand how he would thank me profusely for that commitment.

All of us, including myself, have much relied on his expertise in energy, in the environment and public lands. He has been impartial. He has been nonpartisan. He has shown extraordinary judgment. And he has expressed in his deeds an extraordinary sense of duty that has proven to be invaluable to this Chamber. These qualities are reflected in the high regard in which he is held by Members and staff all across the political spectrum and all during his long period of service.

If you speak to the attorneys and staff in the Office of the Legislative Counsel, you will see the impact of Pope's leadership and guidance. He has set high standards in the Office while supporting the attorneys and the staff in their professional and personal pursuits. This balance has set a positive, proactive tone at the Legislative Counsel and has served us all, the Congress and the public at large, extraordinarily well.

I remember years ago, when Pope and I were young, perhaps we were as young as 50, members of my staff would run back and forth to the Office of the Legislative Counsel to drop off drafting requests.

I yield myself 2 additional minutes, Madam Speaker.

Today, in no small part of because of the extraordinary leadership of Pope, the Office of Legislative Counsel has been modernized. The dedicated and hard-working staff members of the Legislative Counsel are able to utilize technology to provide the critically important service upon which we all rely.

I want to wish him well, on my own behalf and on behalf of my wife, Deborah, as well as the entire body of the House, as he retires to spend more time with his children, Isabel, Pope and Rebecca, and to express to him our good wishes for happiness and to give him a chance to spend more time with the family which he treasures. Perhaps retirement will allow him more time to kayak white-water rivers and to sail across seas. I will surely miss Pope, and I will wish him well on behalf of myself and all of us.

I want to also congratulate Sandy Strokoff on her appointment as Legislative Counsel, and I look forward to working with her in the future.

I reserve the balance of my time, and I ask unanimous consent, Madam Speaker, that my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Barrow) may control the remaining time on this side.

Madam Speaker, it's been said before on similar occasions, but bears repeating today: This institution simply could not function without the assistance of the many gifted professional staffers who serve us--and serve our country--here in the House of Representatives.

I rise today to honor the service of one such individual, Pope Barrow, whose talents and tireless dedication have improved countless pieces of legislation during his 41 years as a legislative counsel in the House.

Often, Members of Congress are described by the media as ``law makers.'' Well, Pope Barrow is a ``law writer''--and one of the very best ever to serve in that capacity, going all the way back to the days when laws were written by hand, with pens, on parchment. He's that good.

You know, it's not easy--in fact, it's darned hard--to translate the complex and often confusing ideas we come up with around here into clear, concise legislative language that accurately reflects the will of the Congress. But that's precisely the work Pope Barrow dreamed of doing when he came to Washington in 1968, fresh out of Harvard Law School, to start his new job in the Office of the Legislative Counsel.

It was an impressive office to be sure, but young Pope Barrow began at the very bottom of the ladder as a Law Assistant. Over time, he moved steadily up the ranks, first to Assistant Counsel, then to Deputy Legislative Counsel, until in 1997 he was appointed ``The'' Legislative Counsel to the House.

That's when Pope Barrow's work first came to my attention--because a short time later I became chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee. Pope and his top-notch team in the Office of Legislative Counsel were invaluable to me and my staff during those years. Their assistance helped ensure that our bills were properly prepared and ready on time at each stage of the legislative process. They willingly lent their expertise from the early development of a rough concept to the consideration and final passage of a bill and its eventual signature into law.

Pope's work was always completed in a professional and timely manner no matter how challenging the circumstances. Indeed, Pope and his team continued assisting my committee even during evacuations of the Capitol complex on September 11, 2001, and the deadly anthrax attack several weeks later.

Pope was also instrumental in modernizing the Office of the Legislative Counsel to make it more efficient and effective; he worked tirelessly to upgrade the computer programs used to produce legislative documents, and to make all information available in a user friendly electronic medium.

Madam Speaker, much of what I've just said emphasizes why Pope Barrow's service has mattered to the House. But the best explanation I've ever heard of why the work of the House Legislative Counsel matters to the American people came from Pope Barrow himself. So let me take a moment and share with all of my colleagues here today something Pope said several years ago:

If there is one thing that we can do here, it is to

minimize the enormous cost to society of having laws out

there that nobody understands, with everybody having to feud

and fight over what it's supposed to do and what it means;

and with agencies struggling to put out regulations when they

don't really know what the underlying statutes are supposed

to mean. Then people have to puzzle over it and fight over it

and courts have to litigate it. It is really much better to

get the bills written clearly in the first place.

Now I'm sure that Pope Barrow would be the first to tell you that far too often Congress misses that target, sometimes by a country mile. But what he won't tell you is that when our legislation is confusing or seems contradictory, it's almost always in spite of--not because of-- the outstanding efforts of Pope Barrow and the dedicated professionals who serve under him.

Madam Speaker, at a time when fewer Americans than ever before spend an entire career working in one place--for the same employer--the United States House of Representatives has benefited greatly from Pope Barrow's commitment to serve here for more than four decades.

Over the past 41 years he has left an indelible mark on laws that have kept our country safe and touched the lives of Americans in ways far too numerous to list. That's a legacy of which Pope Barrow and his family should be truly proud--and for which those of us who serve in the House of Representatives are deeply grateful.