The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRIBUTE TO BOB GRAY” mentioning Patrick J. Leahy was published in the Senate section on page S4762 on June 24.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO BOB GRAY
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the efforts and contributions of a longtime friend and advocate for dairy farmers in Vermont and across the country, Bob Gray. As he retires later this month, he leaves an enduring imprint on Vermont's bedrock agricultural sector.
I first met Bob in 1978 when he joined the staff of Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords, who passed away in 2014. Bob and Jim were an unstoppable force, pushing in the late seventies for Federal legislation that eventually became the 1981 federal Farmland Protection Policy Act. Bob understood the growing urgency of protecting the Nation's working landscapes from development, fragmentation, and speculation--and especially for rural States like Vermont. He also understood that, so long as farmers had a voice and a seat at the table, conservation and agriculture could be mutually reinforcing, not adversarial.
Bob's love for the land and those who steward it comes naturally, having been raised on a dairy farm in Cayuga County, NY. After earning his bachelor of science degree in animal science at Cornell University, he served the Nation as an Army officer in the First Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, KS, before joining the New York National Guard and serving for 3 more years, rising to the rank of captain.
Since 1990, Bob has led the Northeast Dairy Farmers Cooperatives, a trade association representing dairy farmers in Vermont and the region. Throughout the decades of challenging policy discussions and many farm bills, I could always count on Bob to provide me with sound counsel, always keeping the interests of Vermont's dairy farmers first and foremost. That counsel has always been especially important to me during challenging years for dairy, like this one has been. Dairy farmers across the United States are much stronger than they would now be were it not for Bob Gray's work.
Bob's immeasurable contributions to the dairy industry and our decades-long friendship are strong enough that I have welcomed him to join me at farm shows and agricultural fairs in New England, despite his unmitigated and puzzling cheerleading for the New York Yankees.
When Bob announced his retirement, I made sure to join his final board meeting with the Northeast Dairy Farmers Cooperatives. The farmers whom he has worked with and industry leaders who have relied on his expertise, including myself, will certainly feel his absence and miss his kindness. Beyond his advocacy, Bob has always been a good friend to Marcelle and me for so many years--something we will always cherish. As he embarks on this next and exciting part of his life, I want to acknowledge Bob's work and thank him for his decades of support for Vermont's dairy farmers and the U.S. dairy industry and wish him the best of luck.
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