[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 138 (Tuesday, October 6, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1917-E1918]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   SANTE ESPOSITO, DEMOCRATIC COUNSEL, COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION & 
                     INFRASTRUCTURE: A TESTIMONIAL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 6, 1998

  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a very special 
member of the staff of the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, Sante Esposito, and to express on behalf of the 
Committee, our gratitude to Sante for his hard work, wise counsel, 
wonderful sense of humor, and great personal friendship.
  Sante has served on the Committee--and its predecessor, the Committee 
on Public Works and Transportation--since 1981, and as our Democratic 
Chief Counsel for the past decade. It is a tribute to his abilities 
that he has risen through the ranks under five different Democratic 
Chairmen or Ranking Members (depending on whether we were in the 
majority or minority). This month, after 23 years on Capitol Hill, 
Sante will be retiring from public service, leaving behind the late 
nights, the drafting and redrafting sessions, and the never-ending 
jurisdictional squabbles, and will be moving on to new challenges in 
the private sector.
  As the Ranking Democratic Member on the Committee, I will greatly 
miss Sante's keen mind, wise counsel and warm friendship. He has an 
innate ability to think and act quickly and decisively, and to 
communicate effectively. His understanding of the legislative and 
parliamentary processes, transportation, economic development, public 
buildings, aviation, water, and environmental issues, and the overall 
politics of these issues, have helped our Committee and its many 
Members on both sides of the aisle make decisions to build a better 
America.
  Sante Esposito, a native of Plainville, Connecticut, is a graduate of 
Fairfield University and holds a law degree from the University of 
Connecticut. He worked for the Connecticut General Assembly, and came 
to Washington in 1975 answering the call of our former colleague, 
Robert Giamo, the first Chairman of the Budget Committee. Sante served 
both the House Budget Committee and the Congressional Budget Office 
before joining our Committee to serve as our own in-house expert on the 
budget.
  As a member of the Budget Committee staff, Sante helped implement the 
then-new budget process of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 
Control Act of 1974, which we still use today. He also helped develop 
the budget reconciliation process, a process that has become a staple 
of the budget debate in every Congress since 1980.
  Sante is more than just a budget expert. His imprint can be found on 
many significant

[[Page E1918]]

pieces of legislation. His tireless work on the Transportation Equity 
Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21) in this Congress is a prime example. 
He was present at every Sunday morning staff negotiation and every late 
night Members' conference, guiding both staff and Members to 
compromises that allowed House and Senate, Democrat and Republican, all 
to claim victory. And TEA-21 is but one example.
  Looking back at the achievements of our Committee in the last two 
decades--whether the landmark highway, highway safety, and transit 
legislation of 1991, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency 
Act; the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997; authorizing the 
construction of the largest Federal building outside the Pentagon, the 
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center; or the 
Committee's long-standing efforts to take the transportation trust 
funds off budget, Sante's contribution has always been compelling, 
leading the way to the final compromises that became law.
  In all of these initiatives, Sante has always fought for what was 
best for the Committee, the Congress, and the country. He has always 
enjoyed working in a bipartisan manner when he could, or a partisan 
manner when he had to.
  In an ordinary day, Sante is just as likely to be talking to an 
intern who's trying to learn about Congress, as he is to be meeting 
with Members discussing important legislative and policy issues, or 
talking to executive branch agency heads. He has been invaluable to 
many young students as a mentor. In fact, one of these former interns 
that Sante took under his wing is Ward McCarragher, who has just been 
named the Committee's Democratic Chief Counsel.
  I have enjoyed working with Sante over these many years, admiring his 
irrepressible spirit and respecting his talent to have fun at work. He 
has helped each of us fully appreciate and put into practiced the 
universal truth: ``Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for 
they shall never cease to be amused.'' I recently saw a Frank & Ernest 
cartoon in the Post which pictured a smiling job applicant saying to 
the personnel director, ``I don't really have an employment history. 
It's more a series of funny stories.'' Sante Esposito immediately came 
to mind. What a gift he has! Bright, talented, intense and hardworking, 
yet able to find and enjoy every bit of humor life holds.
  As a friend and a colleague, Sante will be missed on our Committee. 
While we are fortunate to have his protege in place, Sante's spirit and 
sense of fun will be as difficult to replace as his expertise on the 
intricacies of the legislative process. We will miss his daily presence 
as a coworker, but we are sure to continue hearing from him in his new 
position as a legislative advocate.
  I join his many friends in wishing Sante, his lovely wife Nancy, and 
his children, Jennifer, Mike, Erin and Bryan all the best of everything 
good in the years ahead.

                          ____________________