Opening statements: Senator Glenn. Senator Levin...... CONTENTS WITNESSES Hon. Bob Packwood, U.S. Senator from the State of Oregon.. William M. Diefenderfer III, nominee to be Deputy Director, Office of Man- Letter to Chairman Glenn from Mr. Diefenderfer, May 11, 1989 "Scientist Says Budget Office Altered His Testimony," by Philip Shabecoff, NOMINATION OF MONDAY, MAY 8, 1989 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., in room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Glenn (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. Present: Senators Glenn, Levin, Sasser, and Stevens. Today we consider the nomination of William M. Diefenderfer III to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. We have our good friend Senator Packwood here this morning to introduce him, and we are honored to have you lead off this morning. TESTIMONY OF HON. BOB PACKWOOD, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OREGON Senator PACKWOOD. Mr. Chairman, thank you. There is no one that I take greater pride in introducing to the Committee than Bill Diefenderfer, who I have known for a little over 10 years. As you look at his resume and as you question him, you will find him a man of extraordinary breadth: an English and history major from Dickinson College and the son of a steelworker. He has worked all his life, got out of Dickinson College, spent the better part of 6 years with the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency where he was responsible for State scholarships in a fair portion of the State of Pennsylvania and there, I think, learned a great deal about that facet of Government. His tour at that agency was interrupted for service in the Army, including combat in Vietnam, which he is modest enough not to list. He says "service," but he was, indeed, in combat. He came back, finished up at Duquesne Law School and then got an L.L.M. at Kings College, University of London, interestingly in international trade law and Common Market law, which is certainly a subject of immediate and hot importance right now. He served in various jobs in the House and with the executive branch, staff counsel to the House Committee on Education and Labor, and assistant director of the Domestic Council in the White House, administrative assistant to a Congressman. And then, in 1979, it was my good luck-I had become ranking minority member on the Commerce Committee and was looking for a new minority counsel to come across his name. Bill came to our attention, and (1) out of a pile of 50 to 100 résumés, his just stood out among any other that we had. And I was lucky enough that he took the job, and from that time on, it was my good fortune to be associated with Bill. In 1981, he became chief counsel of the Commerce Committee when the Republicans took the majority, and stayed with me through late 1983. Then he went off and opened up a very successful law practice of his own for a relatively short period of time. When I became Chairman of the Finance Committee, I asked if he would come back, and he did come back as chief of staff and counsel. I have got to say, although I do not know whether this is something everybody wants to know or not, he is probably as responsible as any single person, including me, for the tax reform bill in 1986. He did more to put the coalition together, did more to put out fires that needed to be put out and to start fires that needed to be started. And if there is any single thing-single thing-I look back upon, it was that extraordinary effort that he made to make that extraordinary reform possible. Following tax reform, Bill went back to the private practice of law for a short period of time, and then, of course, the administration called upon him to be, if confirmed, Deputy Director of OMB. Now, that is the formal Bill Diefenderfer, Mr. Chairman. I know Bill and his family well. Sandy and Bill have been at our house for parties; we have been at their house. We have vacationed together. I know his sons Will and Barret. I do not have a closer friend in this town, and I am not likely to have a closer friend in this town. He is intellectually and personally the most extraordinary, natural leader I have ever met in my life-man or woman, black or white, liberal or conservative, House or Senate or executive branch, in or out of public life. Bill Diefenderfer has no peer. I have quoted about him once before, and I will quote again, a quote that fits him well. It is from "The Natural" by Bernard Malamud, where the baseball hero, Roy Hobbs, is asked what he wants to be, and he said, "I want to be the best there is in this game, the best there ever will be." And that is Bill D. He is the best that there ever will be. I want to add one last fact. When all else fails-when intellect and persuasion and friendship and loyalty and his wife Sandy and his children and everything else fails-please be advised that he is a brown belt in judo. And in his early 30's, he was third in the Pennsylvania State judo championships, going up against people in their early 20's, which were old at that time. So if he cannot persuade people any other way, he does have a talent that most of us do not have. And when we know that he has that talent, if he has failed in all other ways to persuade us, we somehow fall in line. Chairman GLENN. He is liable to need that over at OMB, too. [Laughter.] Senator PACKWOOD. He will need it both at OMB and on us on occasion. But I can assure you, Mr. Chairman, there is nobody better. I can come to this Committee for 10 years introducing people, and I will never introduce anybody better or have a better friend. Thank you. . |