Frank Lautenberg: “I, too, want to add some words of commendation and appreciation to the staff, particularly on this occasion when Pat…”

“I, too, want to add some words of commendation and appreciation to the staff, particularly on this occasion when Pat McCann will have seen the last transportation appropriations bill that he is going to have to work on. I reminded him, sometime he is going to look back here, where it is a quarter to 10 at night, he has not had dinner, has not seen his family, he has not been able to watch the Olympics, how much he is going to miss this place. He started to weep, and I could see a tear fall down his cheek, but he will be strong. On a serious note, Pat's service has been truly exemplary of bipartisanship. He came to me as a Republican, stayed with me as a Republican and left as a Republican. That is really bipartisan. But we have worked very well together--again, trying to be serious, Pat and Peter, the two senior people on each of the subcommittee staffs, the majority and the minority, have given loyal service wherever and whenever called upon to do so. We are going to miss Pat. He brings a special touch and a good sense of humor and knows the subject extremely well, and he had the good judgment to send his daughter to college in New Jersey.”