[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18481]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 TRIBUTE TO CHAIRMAN JAMES L. OBERSTAR

  (Mr. GARAMENDI asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, I am struck by the comments of my 
colleague from California and his desire to build jobs here in America. 
My comments today are really directed towards the chairman of the 
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mr. Oberstar, who will be 
leaving this House at the end of this year, an extraordinary individual 
who over his 40 years in this House has led the way for good American 
union jobs in the construction industry.
  Unfortunately, when it came time in the stimulus bill, not one 
Republican voted for the stimulus bill that created 1.5 million union 
jobs in the construction industry. Unfortunately, that was the case. 
You can't have it both ways, I suppose. Mr. Oberstar has led the way 
time and time again for worker safety, to make sure that Americans had 
the transportation, the infrastructure that they needed.
  I have had the great pleasure of working with him and learning from 
him. I am sure I join with every colleague in this House, Democrat and 
Republican, to say that we will miss him deeply, and his leadership 
will be lost upon us.

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