James M. Jeffords: “first I want to commend my good friend from Oklahoma for all of the effort he put into this bill. I know, having been in…”

“first I want to commend my good friend from Oklahoma for all of the effort he put into this bill. I know, having been in the position of being the chairman at one time, the incredible effort that goes into the production of a bill of this size. I know what his staff did, and I will give my commendation to the staff as well. I emphasize also the importance to the Nation. This is a jobs bill. In fact, there is no other jobs bill that will do so much for different workers of this Nation. Everyone benefits. Those who are in the manufacturing area of all the tools and equipment that are necessary to provide the work all benefit by the tremendous effort that goes into improving roads throughout this Nation. Also, there is a tremendous effort put into it which requires machinery. Therefore, the companies that make the machinery benefit with increased production, increased utilization of workers, right on down through to the people who do the minimal things which are also so very important. As far as the staffs goes, I would like to thank the staff of the Environment and Public Works Committee, on both sides of the aisle, for their efforts. From my staff, I thank Ken Connolly, Ed Barron, Jeff Squires, Erik Steavens, Liz Ryan, Alison Taylor, and Carolyn Dupree; Catharine Ransom, Jo-Ellen Darcy, and J.C. Sandberg with Senator Reid's staff.”