09.24.03

Conrad Announces Four Staff Appointments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 24, 2003

Contact: Stu Nagurka (202) 224-7436 Steve Posner (202) 224-7925

Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Kent Conrad Announces Four Staff Appointments

Senator Kent Conrad, D-ND, ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, today announced the appointment of four new Democratic staff members to the budget panel. Conrad has named Jim Klumpner as chief economist, Jamie Morin as senior defense analyst, Cliff Isenberg as the budget analyst for environmental and energy issues, and Anne Page as executive assistant.

“I am pleased that these four outstanding individuals have agreed to join my Budget Committee staff,” said Conrad. “Their experience, knowledge and varied background will help me and the Democratic caucus address the many budget challenges facing the nation.”

Chief Economist Jim Klumpner returns to the Committee after a nearly five year tenure as chief economist for the House Budget Committee. He previously served for five years as the Senate Budget Committee’s chief economist in the 1990s. Klumpner was also senior economist for the Joint Economic Committee and worked in the Office of the Chief Economist at the Department of Commerce. He has also been a lecturer and teaching assistant at Princeton University. He received his undergraduate degree in economics from Pomona College and two masters degrees from Princeton University’s Economics Department and Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs.

Senior Analyst Jamie Morin has responsibility for defense, intelligence and other national security issues. He joins the Committee from the University of Virginia, where he was a research fellow at the Miller Center for Public Affairs. The Detroit, Michigan native previously was a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, served on the staff of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and worked as a consultant to USAID at the economic development firm J.E. Austin Associates. Morin holds a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University, a master’s degree in public administration from the London School of Economics, and an undergraduate degree in international security and diplomacy from Georgetown University.

Analyst Cliff Isenberg focuses on environmental and energy issues. For the past four and-a-half years, he was a policy analyst for the Concord Coalition. Previously, he worked on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Assistant for Representative Brad Sherman, D-CA, and in Annapolis, Maryland as an aide to former Delegate Cheryl Kagan. A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, the Memphis, Tennessee native received his undergraduate degree from Washington University.

Executive Assistant Anne Page coordinates all organizational and administrative duties for the Democratic staff, and supervises the staff assistants and interns. She has more than 15 years of Congressional experience having worked for two former Speakers of the House, Jim Wright and Tom Foley, as well as serving as a legislative assistant on the House Appropriations Committee. Page also has worked at the Federal Reserve Board, the Downey McGrath Group and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. A second generation Washingtonian, Page attended Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland.