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[Page H4072]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING ALICE RIVLIN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Shalala) for 5 minutes.
Ms. SHALALA. Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the life of one of the
greatest public servants of any age, the indomitable Alice Rivlin, who
died of cancer last week.
An intellectual giant with Midwestern sensibilities, she had a resume
that would never be matched: Assistant Secretary for Policy and
Evaluation at HEW, founding Director of the Congressional Budget
Office, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, president of
the American Economic Association, and Vice Chair of the Federal
Reserve.
In between her government service, she sat on a high perch at the
Brookings Institution, producing rigorous, centrist, and insightful
books and articles on a wide range of Federal policies.
In her spare time, she was credited with saving D.C. from bankruptcy.
She never forgot her responsibility to her adopted hometown.
Alice was deeply respected and beloved by her peers and politicians
of both parties. She was one of the first recipients of a MacArthur
Foundation genius award, a tribute to her skill in building one of the
most important public institutions of our lifetime, the CBO.
Her sustained contributions to public policy analysis have
fundamentally shaped our thinking about the impact of public programs
and the budget.
{time} 1030
She also constantly reminded us that when we refuse to use evidence
in making policy decisions, we do so at our country's peril.
Alice Rivlin was my dear friend. I met her here in D.C. as a newly
minted Ph.D. She was already famous for her classic book, ``Systematic
Thinking for Social Action.''
She was funny, warm, generous, and welcoming. She wanted all of us
newcomers to love her adopted city as much as she did.
When I returned to Washington to join the Clinton Cabinet, Alice,
along with her friend Meg Greenfield, the powerhouse editorial page
editor of the Post, and Post publisher Katherine Graham, formed the
Smart Women's Club. They invited me to join them in hilarious dinners
with interesting guests, a high point in my career.
One of my fondest memories of Alice took place on a day in the 1980s
when I was still in New York. She called me and asked if I could take a
month off to go to Kashmir to trek in the Himalayas. What an adventure,
the beginning of decades of trekking in some of the most interesting
places on Earth with friends and her patient husband, Sid Winter,
himself a world-class economist.
You learn a lot about people when you share a narrow ledge in a
rainstorm on some of the highest mountains in the world. Alice was
tenacious, brave, cheerful, and the kindest and nicest person I have
ever known.
She was a legend, renowned for mentoring younger colleagues and
helping people of all walks of life with their challenges.
Hers was more than a life well lived. She was a patriot who loved her
country and her city, and she served both with extraordinary skill and
passion.
____________________