REMEMBERING ELISE J. BEAN

REMEMBERING ELISE J. BEAN

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 9 (Thursday, January 16, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 9 (Thursday, January 16, 2025)] [Senate] [Pages S222-S223] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] REMEMBERING ELISE J. BEAN Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge the life and contributions of one of the Senate's truly outstanding staff persons: Elise J. Bean. Elise, who worked for almost 30 years for Senator Carl Levin on various subcommittees of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, died on January 14 at the age of 68. She started in the Senate as an attorney/investigator on the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management and ended as staff director of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), leaving when Senator Levin retired. Having chaired PSI in the 118th Congress, I am personally grateful that this historic subcommittee continues to benefit from the powerful and enduring legacy that Elise left. Anyone who knew Elise would tell you that there was no one like her. She was an institution of congressional oversight. During nearly three decades in the Senate, Elise drove some of the [[Page S223]] Chamber's most significant investigations and, thereafter, was a force behind the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy for a decade. There, she relentlessly promoted bipartisan, fact-based oversight. Elise embraced the notion that Congress is not only capable of high- quality oversight and, in doing so, would turn the tide of history toward fairness and equality. In the days when Elise ran the PSI staff from its basement office in Dirksen, she led by example, spending long hours at her massive wooden desk, with tall stacks of reports and research lining the perimeter and posterboard hearing exhibits leaning on the walls. She was an irrepressible advocate for better financial policies by exposing wrongdoing, corruption, money laundering, tax avoidance, and all manner of form-over-substance abuses. She got there by way of the facts, hard work, and bipartisanship. PSI's reports were heavy tomes, accompanied by additional volumes of documentary evidence. She was undeterred in seeking the truth, such as when she worked every day through the DC Snowpacalypse of 2009-2010 in PSI's offices interviewing witnesses, lest PSI's ongoing financial crisis inquiry fall behind. For her many investigative and other achievements, she has been honored on a global scale--by the Washingtonian, the National Law Journal, the International Tax Review, and more. In her 2018 book, ``Financial Exposure,'' Elise joked about regularly drinking Manhattans with Republican colleagues--which was true--but her across-the-aisle attitude was real. Elise invited bipartisan involvement in every stage of PSI's investigations, leading to a final product that was often bipartisan. Her work paved the way for passage of bipartisan legislation, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the CARD Act of 2009, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and corporate transparency reforms, to name just a few. ``Well, why not?'' Elise would often say. She was not cowed by power or distracted by really anything. She would teach you, too, as she did for hundreds of law clerks and staff, if you were willing to work-- seriously work. And for people who wanted to be in public service, she made good on the promise of doing something important to contribute to the common good by being a constructive teacher and mentor. She also taught classes, published studies and a book, and started a law journal. Through the Levin Center, she hosted oversight boot camps for the next generation of staffers and was a regular lifeline for advice. Elise was generous not just in her work, but also in her sense of fun and warmth for so many people in her circle. Elise threw parties for any reason at all--to recognize staff milestones, a holiday, a Friday, or because the azaleas blooming in spring were lovely. She was devoted to her family, including her husband Paul and her sons Jacob and Joey, and delighted in getting to know the families of her staff and friends. She looked for the good in people, in our government, and created more good in the world. Those who knew her will cherish and strive to continue her legacy. ____________________