William L. Clay: “my colleagues are all aware of my pending departure at the end of this Congress. Since my announcement, not a day has…”

“my colleagues are all aware of my pending departure at the end of this Congress. Since my announcement, not a day has gone by without someone wishing me their best or an organization or a university giving me a tribute in acknowledgment of my commitment to their causes. For 32 years, I have served in this body representing the people of Missouri, but Madam Speaker, there is another person who has served beside me for those 32 years and will also leave this House at the end of this session. She was never elected to this body, never placed her signature on the corner of any bill that was placed in the hopper, but she has had a great impact on the proceedings of this House. That person, Madam Speaker, is Gail Weiss, the Democratic staff director of the Committee on Education and the Workforce. At the end of the Johnson administration, she was a young legislative liaison in the office of Economic Development who chose not to stay on for the new Nixon administration. I was a new Member in need of a legislative assistant who knew the issues of my committee assignment, education and labor. Gail came to work for me, and other than for a brief sabbatical to live in London working for a British member of parliament, she has been at my side for the entire 32 years.”