James Oberstar: “In closing, I wish to express my great appreciation to Mr. Mica, the senior Republican on our committee and my partner…”

“In closing, I wish to express my great appreciation to Mr. Mica, the senior Republican on our committee and my partner and good friend and co-participant, in all of the works of our committee. I share with him this tragic fact of the loss of pay for these 1,922 employees. He immediately said, We have to fix that. We have got to make it right by them, and he volunteered to cosponsor the legislation, which he has done. I am delighted he designated the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Speaker, who a great advocate for our committee, a great participant in all of our work and who is also a very good, fair and decent-minded Member. Today, we will do something really good and decent. We can all go home and feel we have accomplished something useful in a very specific and direct fashion for 1,922 career professionals in transportation of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Again, I express admiration for Secretary LaHood for taking the initiative to bring this issue forward and to find a funding solution for it as well.”