[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 61 (Tuesday, May 17, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                ON THE RETIREMENT OF JOSEPH A. ITALIANO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Wise). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the forebearance of my 
colleague, the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Allard], who has a special 
order at this time in letting me proceed.
  Mr. Speaker, I take this time to pay my respects to a retiring member 
of the staff of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, 
Joseph A. Italiano. Joe Italiano and I worked together as staff members 
of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation for 6 years, during 
4 of which I was administrator of the staff of the Committee on Public 
Works and Transportation, and for the past 20 years serving as a Member 
while Joe was our editor of the full committee operations.
  Mr. Speaker, I look upon Joe Italiano not only as a coworker, as a 
colleague, but most importantly, as a dear and treasured and wonderful 
friend. He leaves with 33 years of service to the Congress. He started 
as a special assistant to the U.S. Senate Permanent Committee on 
Investigations in 1951 through 1965, and from 1965 through 1968 he was 
special assistant to the U.S. Senate Committee on the District of 
Columbia. In October of 1968 he began his service with the Committee on 
Public Works and Transportation.
  During all of those years, those 26 years of service to our 
committee, Joe Italiano presided over the editorial review of thousands 
of volumes of committee testimony and more than 2 million pages of 
testimony, which he himself meticulously reviewed, carefully scrubbed 
for accuracy, from the transcriber's notes through galley proofs to the 
final printed document.
  Typical of Joe Italiano's workmanship and devotion and dedication to 
duty was hearings my Subcommittee on Aviation held in February 1993 on 
the final condition of the airline industry and on legislation to 
expand a Presidential commission on the financial and competitiveness 
of the airline industry.
  I said ``Joe, when we have finished these hearings, I want all of the 
printing work completed so we can have the final document in the hands 
of all the members of the Presidential Commission when they begin their 
work.''
  Within two weeks from the time of completion of our hearings, that 
document, that thick document of about 600 pages of testimony, was 
completed. It was in our hands and it was available for the Commission, 
which was not appointed for the next four months.
  Joe Italiano has the unique distinction of having been born where he 
works. He was born and raised on Independence Avenue at his family 
home, which was acquired by the U.S. Congress for the construction of 
the Rayburn Building. It was later, after Rayburn was completed, Joe 
Italiano joined the staff of the Public Works Committee, and I think 
his office is probably just a few stories above where his family home 
originally stood.
  It says a lot about a man who gave a career of total dedication, 
total devotion to duty, and consummate professionalism that his work, 
his life, were one.

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