Mike Levin: “we would not be at this point in our deliberations were it not for the extraordinary work and cooperation on a…”

“we would not be at this point in our deliberations were it not for the extraordinary work and cooperation on a bipartisan basis of all of our committee members and all of our committee staff. Once again, our Committee and the Senate have put the interests of our country first and we all can be very proud of that. I take just a moment to acknowledge and thank the minority staff members of the Committee on Armed Services for their extraordinary work on S. 2400, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005. You don't get to final passage of this massive and important bill without having staff who are willing to give hours and hours of hard work and make many personal sacrifices. The committee and the Senate are so fortunate to have men and women of their expertise and dedication so ably assisting us on this bill. Rick DeBobes leads our minority staff of seventeen. Though small in numbers, they all make huge contributions to the work of the committee each and every day. Mr. President, as a tribute to their professionalism and with my thanks, I recognize Chris Cowart, Dan Cox, Madelyn Creedon, Mitch Crosswait, Rick DeBodes, Brie Eisen, Evelyn Farkas, Richard Fieldhouse, Creighton Greene, Jeremy Hekhuis, Bridget Higgins, Maren Leed, Gary Leeling, Peter Levine, Mike McCord, Bill Monahan, and Arun Seraphin.”