For the relief of Arpita Kurdekar, Girish Kurdekar, and Vandana Kurdekar.

Madam Speaker, I rise, along with Zoe Lofgren, Chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship to thank Anthony Valdez for his service to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Anthony received his bachelor's degree and a master's in public policy from the University of Maryland. He first joined the Judiciary Committee as an intern with our Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. After nearly a year interning while in college, and a further fellowship with the committee, Anthony joined us permanently as Staff Assistant to the full committee in January 2020. That August, Anthony was named Professional Staff Member and Legislative Aide for the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship.

As Staff Assistant, Anthony supported the full committee's senior staff and me directly. As part of my administrative team, Anthony played a leading role in our committee's seamless transition to remote and hybrid work at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is remembered as a committed advocate and mentor by the many interns and incoming junior staff that he helped shepherd through our committee. Anthony was also a vital member in the Committee's oversight of the Trump Administration, which included pouring through critical evidence, assisting in Member preparation, and staffing high-profile congressional hearings. Regardless of the hour, Anthony answered the call of duty and became a trusted member of the Committee's impeachment and senate trial teams.

Finally, Anthony was promoted again to serve as Professional Staff and Legislative Aide to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship. For two years Anthony served as clerk for all Immigration subcommittee business and his work was essential to the success of much of the subcommittee's activities. Substantively, Anthony was the point person on private bills and was instrumental in the passage of five private bills this Congress, H.R. 187, H.R. 680, H.R. 681, H.R. 739, and H.R. 785. He worked with counsel to prepare myself and Ms. Lofgren for the annual refugee consultation and helped us fight to raise the refugee admissions goal and increase processing. Anthony also contributed significantly to our markup of H.R. 3648, the Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment Act of 2022 or the EAGLE Act of 2022.

For nearly four years, I have been fortunate to count Anthony among my team. I, and the American people, have greatly benefited from his passion for public service, his fine character, and his commitment to excellence. Through extraordinarily demanding times, Anthony was dependable and contributed substantially with diligence and good humor. We will greatly miss Anthony as he heads off to the University of Virginia School of Law, but we look forward to following his next steps in public service and the law.

We thank Anthony Valdez for his service to the Committee and wish him the best of luck with this new chapter.