Bud Shuster: “I want to, again, thank my colleagues, my partners across the aisle-- Mr. Rahall and Mr. Bishop--for working so closely…”

“I want to, again, thank my colleagues, my partners across the aisle-- Mr. Rahall and Mr. Bishop--for working so closely with us on this bill to make it a truly bipartisan bill. I want to thank some of the key staff on the other side of the aisle who were really instrumental in moving this forward--Jim Zoia, Ward McCarragher, Ryan Seiger, Dave Wegner, and Eddie Shimkus. Thank you, guys, for all of your efforts. I really appreciate what you put into it, and we really were a team when negotiating with the Senate. I can't thank you enough. I also thank Mr. Gibbs, the subcommittee chairman, who worked so hard on this bill in working up to it, with the hearings he had not only this year, but last year. I thank him for his hard work. I want to thank the staff on our side--Chris Bertram, Steve Martinko, Jennifer Hall, John Anderson, Geoff Bowman, Jon Pawlow, Tracy Zea, Clare Dohery, Beth Spivey, Denny Wirtz, Jim Billimoria, Justin Harclerode, Michael Marinaccio, and Joe Price, who worked with Mr. Gibbs. All of them put in countless hours to make sure that this bill came together, and I can't thank them enough for all of their efforts. To my colleagues, I thank you for the big vote that gave us the strength to go to conference with the Senate and to come back with a bill that is reform driven, that focuses on reform. There are no earmarks in it. It is fiscally responsible.…”