James Oberstar: “I want to join with him in recognizing Erla Youmans and paying tribute to her. She started with the committee a year…”

“I want to join with him in recognizing Erla Youmans and paying tribute to her. She started with the committee a year before I did, in 1963, is when I came then to work for my predecessor, John Blatnik. But I started on the Rivers and Harbors Subcommittee as what was quaintly known as a clerk in those days, and Erla was there. She has been there all through the years since then, and worked in such a bipartisan manner, years later that I realized she worked for the Republican side of the committee. We did not know the distinction. She gave 38 years to government service, 36 of them with the committee on Public Works and then Committee on Public Works and Transportation, now Transportation and Infrastructure. We served 6 years together, those first 2 years as I worked on the subcommittee and then 4 years when I was administrator of the Public Works Committee staff. In every respect, Erla was a thorough-going professional. I just kind of looked it up the other day. If she had been a Member all these years, she would rank third in seniority, having begun her service in the 85th Congress. That is a long and dedicated career. She has made such a lasting contribution. Many Members come through here, they might get a bill passed, they might even get an amendment passed, they might even have something become law. Erla has presided over many bills, many laws, too numerous to mention, provided enormous service.…”