Charles Rangel: “Albert J. Davis was the chief economist on the Democratic staff of the United States House Committee on Ways and Means.…”

“Albert J. Davis was the chief economist on the Democratic staff of the United States House Committee on Ways and Means. He died Friday, May 30, 2003, of injuries caused by a car hitting him on May 19 in Arlington, Virginia, outside of the Metro stop on his way home from work. He was only 56 years old. Mr. Speaker, it would be impossible for me to list all of the people who have come up to me since the accident to tell me how much Al meant to them. He had such a personal one-on-one relationship with so many Members of this body, so many staff, so many journalists, that all the meetings I had last week became times of reflection on Al's life. Whether I was meeting with other senior Democratic Members or columnists from a weekly news magazine or the experts on tax legislation, we forgot what we were meeting for so that we could pay honor to Al. I could not help thinking that it was indeed a blessing that Al could have touched so many people so deeply through his hard work, his intelligence, and his good humor. Al worked nearly 20 years for this great institution of democracy, first on the House Committee on the Budget staff, at least the last 5 years at Ways and Means. He was one of those staff members who, though he never had to answer directly to the voters, devoted every minute to bettering the lives of ordinary working people.”