Thank you Chairman D'Amato, Senator Sarbanes, and other distinguished Senators for giving me the opportunity to appear before you today.
My husband Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. who is lawyer in private practice and my daughter Jordan who is in kindergarten are present with me today. They have been a constant source of strength and inspiration to me. They share my joy today that I have been given this opportunity to serve our Government.
I am honored to appear before you today as the President's nominee to serve as General Counsel of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. I am grateftil to President Clinton for giving me the opportunity to serve in his Administration, and I am tremendously indebted to Secretary Cuomo for his confidence and support.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is entrusted with a wide range of responsibilities to strengthen and build upon the foundation of community life in America. These responsibilities include, among other things, assuring decent and affordable housing, enabling all Americans to aspire to home ownership, providing resources for communities to build strong neighborhoods, preventing homelessness, and enforcing fair housing laws.
As you know, the Office of General Counsel plays a vital role in helping the Department accomplish its missions. The Office provides legal counsel and advice on all aspects of federal housing and urban development laws, regulations and policies. These duties include drafting of legislation and regulations, representing the Department in affirmative and defensive litigation, and serving program clients as program counsel by providing guidance about the statutes and regulations that govern the operation of Department programs.
I believe that my prior legal experience and education have provided me with the variety of skills necessary to ensure that the General Counsel's Office provides the best possible legal advice in performing these duties. As a former Director of Governmental Affairs and Counsel for the Legal Services Corporation and counsel to two different Senate Subcommittees, I gained broad experience with both the legislative and regulatory processes. My work as a public defender and law clerk has provided me with first hand knowledge of the various aspects of appellate and trial litigation in both federal and state court. The totality of my legal experience and education has prepared me for the role of programmatic and enforcement counsel for the Department's programs and offices.
In addition to providing high quality legal services, a successful General Counsel must understand the workings of a large bureaucracy, and be able to manage and motivate a diverse staff. Such skills are especially crucial in these times of fiscal prudence, where all government agencies have been challenged to "do more, with less. " My experience in working on Capitol Hill has refined my skills of working with others to forge a consensus and get things done in a large institution.
As General Counsel for the Department of Housing and Urban Development it will be my principal goal to maintain an office with the highest ethical and professional standards -- a goal that is of paramount importance to an office that serves a critical role in the day-to-day operations of the Department as the Department's legal advisor.
In his confirmation testimony before this Committee, Secretary Cuomo pledged that the goal of the Department would be to "create a future unlike any that has come before ... in which no person is left behind and in which no community is forgotten. " My professional life of public service has been motivated by my desire to use the many blessings that have been bestowed on me to achieve such a goal. If the Senate honors me by confirming my nomination, I look forward to joining Secretary Cuomo, the others at this table, and the dedicated public servants at the Department in translating this goal into reality.
Thank you.
Home | Menu | Links | Info | Chairman's Page