James Oberstar: “first and foremost among the litany of thanks and appreciation should be the members of the professional staff of the…”

“first and foremost among the litany of thanks and appreciation should be the members of the professional staff of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, who worked vigorously over the past several weeks, intensively since September 11, who gave not only weekdays, but week nights, Saturday and Sunday and Monday of this past weekend, in order to bring us to this point with care and skill in working out the language. Often conferees get together and Members discuss principles without specific direction on how to translate those principles into the actual language, and this dedicated staff have done that. I specifically want to mention David Heymsfeld, whose shadow looms long over all aviation legislation in the last 25 years. His fingerprints are on every major piece of aviation legislation. Also Ward McCarragher, Stacie Soumbeniotis, Amy Griffith Denicore, Sheila Lockwood, Dara Schlieker, Rachel Carr, Michael McLaughlin, of the staff of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski); Kathy Weatherly, staff of the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio); Lloyd Jones, who has proven a strong leader on the Republican staff; Mike Strachn, Elizabeth Megginson, Levon Boyagian, Fraser Verrusio, David Schaeffer, with whom I have worked for many, many years on aviation; Sharon Barkeloo, Adam Tsao, Cheryl McCullough, Sharon Pinkerton, and Legislative Counsels David Mendelsohn and Curt Haensel.”