Chris Allen, a Senate Finance Committee GOP tax aide, has died, according to his former boss, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.
“Chris was beloved by everyone who had the privilege of meeting him,” Roberts said in a statement. “He had a brilliant mind, a generosity of spirit and a passion for serving the country in the United States Senate. His gentle soul made him an amazing husband, father, son, brother and friend.”
Allen died Thursday night, according to Roberts’ office. A cause of death was not immediately available.
Allen served as legislative assistant for tax issues under Roberts from 2011 to 2018, before he moved to the Finance Committee staff. Allen handled pensions and tax-exempt organizations issues under Finance Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa.
���Chris was a public servant who brought a deep well of knowledge to his work, and he will leave behind a legacy of impact on so many lives that he was able to improve with his expertise, competence and hard work,” Grassley said in a statement.
Allen also served as senior economic policy adviser for Roberts. Prior to working on Roberts’ staff, Allen worked as a consultant, as director of government relations for the Financial Accounting Foundation and as director of federal relations for the National Association of State Treasurers, according to a January 2019 Finance Committee press release on Grassley’s policy team for the 116th Congress.
Allen was a top committee aide dealing with overhauling the creaky multiemployer pension system, with plans serving mostly union members short of cash and in danger of insolvency in the coming years.
Grassley has been working on a plan to shore up the federal pension insurer, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, with Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. It wasn’t yet clear who would fill Allen’s shoes in working on that effort.
Allen received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1984 from Loyola College in Maryland and a master’s degree in government from Johns Hopkins University.
He was 58 years old, according to Roberts’ office.
