112th Congress - 2/8/2012
Lewis Mourns Loss of Former Appropriations Staff Director Frank Cushing
 

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jerry Lewis issued the following statement mourning the death of Frank Cushing, who served as House Appropriations staff director while Lewis was the committee’s chairman:

“Frank Cushing was a fabulous person, a true leader and someone who you could always count on to get an extremely difficult job done right – and leave everyone feeling good about it when it was finished. He was a mentor and friend to so many of the wonderful staff who work for the Appropriations Committee, and one of the best people I ever worked with in my career in public service.

Frank left his mark on public policy through more than 30 years of service in the House and Senate.  Just six years out of college, he moved into leadership positions on the Senate side as clerk and staff director of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee and then as staff director for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

I first came to know Frank well when he came to work for me as staff director of the House Appropriations Committee on Veterans Affairs, HUD and Independent Agencies in 1994. He immediately helped craft a bill that reduced spending by several billion dollars, but at the same won over many agency heads and executive branch officials who found him tough but fair and extremely knowledgeable about their needs.

Frank was a giant of a man. Members on both sides of the aisle – in both the House and Senate – respected him for his integrity, compassion, pragmatism and mastery of the political process. When I became Appropriations Committee chairman in 2005, there was no doubt in my mind who should be staff director of the full committee. I was extremely gratified when Frank agreed – and became just the 12^th staff director of the House Appropriations Committee in history.

His legacy remains on the committee in the many excellent staff members he hired and trained. And he will be missed by the hundreds of members and staff throughout the House and Senate who came to know and admire him. I have no doubt that many will reach out to his wife, Amy and their four children, and express their sympathy at her loss and their gratitude for having known Frank Cushing.”