USDANEWS                                                           VOLUME 58 NO. 8 — October-November 1999

Editor's Roundup
USDA people in the news

Andrew Fish was sworn in as the assistant secretary for congressional relations. He succeeded David Carlin, who held that position from January 1996 to November 1998, when he returned to the Washington, DC office of the law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld as a partner in its Public Law and Policy Section. [Then] Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations Cheryl Tates-Macias served as acting assistant secretary for congressional relations from November 1998 to July 1999, when she became the associate director of presidential personnel at the White House.

Before joining USDA, from 1997 until his swearing-in in October 1999, Fish served as the deputy chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. In that position he managed legislation and policy on environmental, natural resources, and USDA oversight issues, including conservation, water quality, clean air, climate change, biomass energy, and forestry. He was an associate with the law firm of Dow, Lohnes, & Albertson in Washington, DC from 1995-97.

During 1994 Fish worked in the White House Office of the Staff Secretary, where he managed the daily briefing book of President Bill Clinton, and traveled with him during the midterm election campaign that year. He served on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry from 1989-92 as a professional staff member to U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), where he handled domestic food aid, nutrition, and food safety legislation.

A native of Dummerston, Vt., Fish holds a B.A. degree in psychology from Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and a J.D. degree from Stanford University Law School in Stanford, Calif. 

Inside the "USDA NEWS" News and Current Information	Past Issues USDA's ...Homepage