Political Quotes

“we make many different kinds of speeches on the Senate floor. Some of those speeches seek to advance legislation and amendments and some aim to commemorate historic events. None are as sad as those we make in the memory of a member of the Senate family who has left us. On May 29, 2003, Janine Johnson, Assistant Counsel in the Senate's Office of Legislative Counsel, passed away. Janine was 37 years old. Many of us and our staffs knew Janine personally. Some of us only knew her only by her initials that appeared on the legislation and amendments we introduce here on the floor. She served the Senate for nearly 13 years, doing much of her work for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, the Agriculture Committee and the Energy Committee. Over the years, Janine prepared thousands of bills for me and for the other members of the Environment Committee. Her expertise in those matters made my job easier and the jobs of the staff easier on countless bills. Janine was an expert drafter on matters of critical concern to the committee. She drafted several generations of Water Resources Development Acts. She drafted our last transportation bill, the mammoth Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, and was in the process of drafting a new transportation bill when she fell ill. She drafted many parts of the last Farm bill, including the nutrition title of that bill.”