{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/tribute-karen-goode", "TRIBUTE TO KAREN GOODE", "2022-06-14", "2022", "2022-06", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Cindy Hyde-Smith", "H001079", "www.hydesmith.senate.gov", "hydesmith", "https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom", "scraper", "Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 101\n\n(Senate - June 14, 2022) PDF\n\nMrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, it is an honor to pay tribute\n\ntoday to Ms. Karen Goode, who has retired after 47 years of dedicated\n\npublic service with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Regional\n\nOffice in Jackson, MS. Since becoming a U.S. Senator in 2018, I have\n\ncome to appreciate Ms. Goode who has earned consistent high praise from\n\nmy State office staff responsible for assisting veterans with their VA\n\nclaims. Karen's knowledge, responsiveness, reliability, and\n\ntrustworthiness have enabled me to serve Mississippi's veterans\n\nbetter and more effectively, and I am very thankful to her for that.\n\nKaren began her career with the VA in 1975 in a clerical position\n\nwith the finance department. A GS-3 at the time she was hired, Karen is\n\nretiring as a GS-13 supervisory veterans service representative, which\n\nis evidence of her meritorious work leading to continual promotions\n\nthroughout her Federal civil service career. In the process, she\n\nacquired the knowledge and skill sets for processing all claims for\n\ncompensation, pension, education, vocational, and rehabilitation. Ms.\n\nGoode's thorough understanding of the claims review process, along with\n\nher excellent management skills, propelled her into key senior\n\nleadership roles that led her to supervising seven different employee\n\nteams over her VA career.\n\nMs. Goode's high degree of professionalism earned her multiple\n\nspecial recognitions. At the recommendation of the veterans service\n\ncenter manager, Karen in 2006 served as the representative for the\n\nsouthern area on a quality assurance detail HELP team in Washington,\n\nDC. In 2012, at the completion of a designated special project as\n\nquality team coach, Karen obtained Lean Six Sigma Green Belt\n\ndesignation.\n\nEven though Congress writes the laws regarding veterans' benefits, it\n\nis up to teams set up within the VA to review veterans' claims and\n\ndetermine if they are eligible for benefits. It can be a complex and\n\nlengthy process, which I highly respect. Covering a broad range of\n\nbenefit categories, I understand the effectiveness in which VA team\n\nmember groups review and process claims can differ greatly. Despite\n\nexercising most of her leadership away from the public eye,\n\nMississippi's veterans are fortunate to have been served by Ms. Karen\n\nGoode for so many years working in this capacity. She has been\n\nunwavering in her commitment to ensuring that Mississippi's veterans\n\nreceive the benefits to which they are entitled under the law.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T02:39:01Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/tribute-karen-goode"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8851303718984127, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}