Here is a comment from Francis Mulvey, vice-chairman of the Surface Transportation Board.

"I first met Chairman Oberstar when I was with the GAO and he chaired the Aviation Subcommittee of the House T&I Committee. At that time, I had undertaken studies at GAO and elsewhere for a number of Senators and Congressmen, but Jim Oberstar stood head and shoulders above the rest. He was extremely knowledgeable not only about aviation issues, but about transportation in general. It was truly a pleasure and an honor to work for him.

Later, I was elated when I had the opportunity to join his staff, first as Staff Director for Railroad Issues and then also as Staff Director for Pipeline and Hazmat Issues on the Highway and Transit Subcommittee. Jim Oberstar always strove to balance the interests and concerns of all stakeholders.

He understood the need for carriers to earn adequate returns, but he also understood the need for travelers and shippers to have access to fair and competitive rates. Moreover, he was keenly aware of the rights of labor and worked hard to protect those hard-won rights. Finally, he was a tireless advocate of transportation safety. Chairman Oberstar will be sorely missed by everyone in the transportation community."

We have a guest response from Congressman Dan Lipinski (IL-03):

Jim Oberstar’s thoughtful and thorough approach to policymaking over more than four decades has had a tremendous impact on transportation in America and beyond. Having had the pleasure of working with Jim, I have witnessed how his knowledge and passion have helped people understand how transportation is the lifeblood of our economy. Given all of his contributions, Mr. Transportation is an especially fitting title.

Over 36 years as a member of Congress, Chairman Oberstar has displayed an unrivaled in-depth understanding of transportation. He ensured the passage of important airline, highway, and rail safety legislation. He was vital to the adoption of intermodalism, the seamless integration of air, sea, rail, and road transportation that Americans take for granted. And he has fought for a transformative surface transportation bill that will usher in the next generation of American infrastructure.

I was always glad to welcome Jim to my district and greater Chicagoland, where we rode the rails and the trails to see first-hand the challenges facing American transportation. As I showed Jim around on these visits I always learned a great deal from him, and I was continually impressed with the comprehensive understanding of transportation policy he readily displayed.

As we look forward, it is clear that no one can replace Jim Oberstar. His life is dedicated to the advancement of transportation in America and he excels at his craft, possessing leadership, experience, and knowledge that is second to none. The Transportation and Infrastructure committee has lost a giant, but I trust the transportation community has not lost him as well. His innovative thinking and exhaustive pursuit of sound policy will ensure that Jim Oberstar’s days as Mr. Transportation are far from over.

We have a response from Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas):

Jim Oberstar is so many things besides our Chairman on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee – he is our historian, our friend, our expert, our champion, and our admired leader. To think of this Committee, and certainly the House, without him leaves a vast hole amongst our ranks and in our hearts.

During his Committee tenure he has played a key role in every major piece of transportation legislation that is law today and is widely held as the foremost transportation expert amongst us. To Jim nothing is impossible – and, during some of the most combative and partisan times we’ve faced, it was Jim Oberstar who reached across the aisle and made things happen.

Jim’s dedication cannot be matched regardless of issue – from transit, to highways, aviation, water infrastructure, the coast guard, railways, maritime and more – he has steadfastly worked to achieve the best results for the American people. I will miss my colleague, my friend, my Chairman, but also expect that none of us will be shy about seeking his advice in the months and years to come.

We have a response from Rep. Laura Richardson (CA-37):

From wings to wheels, propellers to pedals, there is no mode of transportation that Chairman Oberstar has not passionately worked to improve. I am honored to have witnessed personally a Congressman whose efforts have employed millions of Americans and enhanced the safety of the millions more who everyday utilize a transportation system which he tirelessly labored to make cleaner, stronger, and more secure.

Chairman Oberstar’s knowledge and work in transportation is legendary. Speaking six languages, he has travelled around the country and the world, all the while examining the most effective ways to move people and goods and revitalize America’s weakening infrastructure. His efforts on behalf of surface transportation legislation created an intermodal framework for infrastructure development that has become an engine of economic growth and has helped prevent an even worse recession.

Chairman Oberstar has been a champion of mass transportation, preserving Amtrak, tackling prohibitive discrepancies for rail projects, supporting the next generation of high-speed rail, and relentlessly pushing for transparency and accountability with the $68.7 billion in Recovery Act funds. The Chairman has worked to expand interior waterways and has exhibited a tireless commitment to bike trails. The tremendous breadth of his endeavors reflects his full-spectrum vision of the field to which he has devoted his professional life. His knowledge and vision have prepared Inspectors General, witnesses, and even Secretaries for Transportation and Infrastructure hearings.

I am most amazed by the fact that during his 36 years of serving the American people in Congress, the Chairman was not content to merely craft and implement a sweeping expansion of our transportation infrastructure, he was forever concerned with the health and well-being of those who built, ran, and utilized it. Chairman Oberstar campaigned against unsafe trucking practices and refined seatbelt laws. He created the Safe Routes to Schools program because children in every community deserve safe paths to their places of learning. Finally, he worked to ensure that when the government commits funding to federal transportation projects it ensures that Americans who pay the bill are entitled to an opportunity to work, and that all workers are given fair treatment.

It saddens me deeply that come January our transportation guru and a mentor of mine will no longer be chairing the Transportation Committee. We have so much more to accomplish and this will be much more difficult without his knowledge and leadership. I vow to take all that he has taught me and build upon his vision of making the American transportation system the gold standard. However I am hopeful that Chairman Oberstar will continue his life of public service as I know how much more he still has to contribute and how much more we all have to learn from him.

As I close, I would like to talk about Jim Oberstar, my mentor. Since my first days in Congress his kind heart was open to help me. I admire the commitment and capability of his loyal staff. I respect his love for the House and even through surgery and pain, he stood and walked to make others live better. But most of all, he often recollected on his time sitting in the last seat in the last row like we were as freshman. I valued how he listened and respected our young ideas and was not enslaved by seniority.

Oberstar’s approach to civility and bipartisanship was remarkable. But my greatest sadness will be missing his steadying, influential hand and his ability to plan for the long term and strategize for success. Chairman Jim Oberstar: Expert, Teacher, Public servant, and Caretaker for the American people, I thank you.

We have a response from Rep. John Garamendi (CA-10):

For over four decades, Chairman Jim Oberstar has spearheaded the construction of modern America. With brains and brawn, he has built a remarkable road for America’s future prosperity. You could say the man’s got street smarts.

Most Americans may not know Chairman Oberstar’s name, but they certainly know pieces of his life’s work. He has demanded the efficient, safe, and accountable construction of transit projects from sea to shining sea. He has ensured the construction of reliable passenger rail systems. Chairman Oberstar passionately fought for transportation safety measures that have saved thousands of lives, safety for America’s drivers, airline passengers, and schoolchildren.

The Chairman has been a true visionary. His vision for green transportation is creating American jobs in industries of the future and improving national security through energy independence. He understood early on that America needs advanced interconnected modes of transportation, and millions of Americans across this country are able to use a combination of trains, buses, bikes, and subways to travel and commute because of Oberstar’s leadership.

U.S. high speed rail also bears his imprint. Chairman Oberstar’s innovative financing strategies mean high speed rail will soon be an American reality instead of a distant dream.

As even conservative economists will attest, every dollar of infrastructure investment adds $1.57 to the American economy. Through the Recovery Act, Chairman Oberstar secured the single largest package of investments ever in infrastructure. At least 1.5 million Americans are working today because he fought for these funds.

In his advocacy, Chairman Oberstar relies upon an encyclopedic knowledge of transportation policy. He can discuss, with a precision usually reserved for supercomputers, the nuances of policies related to airline deregulation, the Interstate Highway Act, and public transit, and he can explain it to you in six languages.

Chairman Oberstar’s intimacy with transportation predates his service as a statesman. He spent two summers building roads and a waste water treatment plant in his home town of Chisholm, Minnesota. Chairman Oberstar knows what it means to carry a 94 lbs. sack of cement, mix sand and gravel, make the blocks, and haul them to the kilns. He calls it “good formative work.”

A member of the uniquely Minnesotan Democratic Farmer Labor Party, Oberstar has fought tooth and nail for safe working conditions and collective bargaining rights for workers, and he understands that we must Make It In America to make it in America.

I would like to sincerely thank Chairman Oberstar for dedicating his remarkable life toward public service. When he retires, America will have lost a true hero in the halls of Congress, but I’m convinced we haven’t seen the last of the Chairman. His legacy is mixed in the gravel, steel, and aluminum that form the transportation infrastructure of America, and I suspect the final chapter of Oberstar’s rebuilding of America has yet to be written.

This is a guest post by Rep. Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii.

I have lost a real friend. So has my home state of Hawaii and the nation. Articles written about James Oberstar paint the picture of a transportation titan who has toiled to improve the country. He certainly is that. I’ll never forget the time in Hawaii when Chairman Oberstar joined me to view the proposed route for the Honolulu Rail Project in a door-less helicopter. The ride involved sharp maneuvering and white knuckles.

Our intrepid Chairman has mastered America’s vast transportation and infrastructure realm. He has overseen industries of a multi-billion dollar scale on work that stretches across a continent and into the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. His was the clearest, strongest, and most knowledgeable voice in support of our country’s transportation and infrastructure needs.

What sets Jim Oberstar apart is that he never lost focus of the fact that these grand projects are, at heart, about individuals and communities. Despite the tremendous power and influence Jim Oberstar wields after 40 years with the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, he has always been a humble servant of the people. His father was an iron miner and Jim never forgot these roots.

He has learned the transportation and infrastructure industries from the vantage of the construction worker who builds our national highway system, the biker who pedals alongside speeding vehicles, the air traffic controllers and pilots who ensure that flights arrive safely, and the exhausted parent stuck in traffic after a long work day who wants to get home to a family. Jim Oberstar has constantly been aware of the individuals whose jobs, quality of life, and livelihoods would be affected by the big picture.

His love for the Committee is apparent. Jim scheduled hearings on ARRA regularly and distributed statistics on each state’s jobs and funding in advance. Under the Chairman’s watch, the Committee tracked where the money went and how many jobs were created in order to ensure accountability. These hearings are a model for other committees to follow. I have no doubt that ARRA would have been a greater success if a larger portion of the funds had been dedicated to infrastructure.

But the ARRA hearings did not revolve strictly around numbers. Testimony was dominated by frontline workers who were employed on the ARRA-funded projects, small business owners who were able to stay afloat, construction associations and state or municipal agencies grateful for the financial assistance in such difficult times. Chairman Oberstar always listened intently as the witnesses recounted their experiences. He thanked each of them at length for their contributions to building America’s foundation. On occasion, he conversed with them in French.

I will miss my friend dearly. I wish the best to him and his wife Jean, his partner and constant source of support. With Jean by his side, I am sure that Jim will continue to improve the lives of those he interacts with in the future, wherever the road takes him.

Here is a comment from Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa

I have had the pleasure of serving with Jim Oberstar on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for the past 14 years. In those 14 years, I have continuously learned from Jim. I think anyone in the field of transportation would be hard pressed to name a single individual who has a greater breadth of knowledge on transportation issues than Jim Oberstar.

Jim is not only passionate about roads, bridges, waterways, airports, and rail, but he is passionate about the people who build and use them. This is what I will remember most about my time serving with him. Jim was always willing to listen to people and take time to understand the issues they were facing trying to strengthen their communities. I remember many occasions where I asked Jim if he would meet with my constituents from Iowa and he was always willing to do so. It did not matter where someone was from, or the size of their challenge - if an issue was important to them, it was important to Jim.

I will truly miss his counsel and camaraderie in the 112th Congress. Jim Oberstar has been called many things during his time serving in Congress, from staff, to Representative, to Chairman. For me, I will always call him my friend.

It is hard to imagine the Congress and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee without Jim Oberstar. He is the foremost expert in the field, and his vision for how a reliable, efficient transportation network is critical for our national economy is reflected in every major piece of transportation law over the last 40 years. He is a close friend and undaunted leader of our Caucus and the Committee, working in a bipartisan way with great results even when partisanship gripped Congress as a whole.

Above all else, Jim Oberstar is a true public servant, representing his constituents and the nation with great dedication, skill and selflessness. I know our appreciation of his efforts will only grow over time, and I also know that while it will be in a different capacity, he will continue to work to meet the transportation needs of our country. I look forward to continuing our work together.

Hard work, attention to detail, and an uncanny knowledge about everything related to transportation: these are the hallmarks of Chairman Oberstar’s service on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that we will never forget. I first met Jim in the late 1970s when visiting Capitol Hill on behalf of the Port Authority of Allegheny County, the public transportation provider in Pittsburgh. I was astonished to speak to a Congressman from Minnesota who was not only interested in the issues my agency faced but was already aware of transportation matters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That was my introduction to Jim Oberstar. In the years since, he has continued to amaze me with his breadth of knowledge, his leadership on important matters of the day, and his unyielding commitment to improving American infrastructure.

From his early days as a member of the Committee to his tenure as the Chairman, Mr. Oberstar has been a tremendous champion for public transportation, and his support has been critical to U.S. transit systems as they grew steadily over the past 30 years. Transit ridership has boomed and the industry has set several modern ridership records in recent years. Without his work, our subways, commuter railroads, and bus systems would be far smaller and less developed, but as evidenced by the many posts in tribute to the Chairman, Jim Oberstar always made time to listen to transportation leaders, employees and customers from all transportation modes. And, we all know the following: you need to have your facts straight when you speak to Mr. Oberstar. Although his staff always has been among the best of Capitol Hill, the Chairman himself is the ultimate expert who always knows the history of an issue as well as the latest news.

While it’s tempting to highlight the many transportation bills he championed, I believe the legacy of Jim Oberstar is not just policies nor projects, it’s his unwavering commitment to making our transportation system benefit all Americans. He’s looked out for public transportation riders, suburban drivers, the construction workers who build roads and railways, the employees of public agencies and many more. While Chairman Oberstar is leaving Congress, I have no doubt that we will continue to benefit from his leadership in new roles. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We look forward to continuing to work with you in the years ahead.

The roadway safety industry lost a true champion following the November elections. Although he represented Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District, Congressman Jim Oberstar made roadway safety his number one priority for literally every motorist in America. Over his 36 years of dedicated public service, the Congressman introduced key legislation specifically for safety, and consistently invested wisely in our nation’s transportation systems. He fully supported the High Risk Rural Roads Program, the Safe Routes to School Program for our children, and was instrumental in ensuring that the Highway Safety Improvement Program was included in our nation’s transportation bill. Yet, his commitment to safety was not limited to roadways. As the Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, he dedicated himself to ensure that all modes of transportation in America were the safest and most-efficient in the world. In Washington, D.C., Congressman Oberstar’s door was always open. He patiently took the time to listen to the concerns, ideas and suggestions of the roadway safety community and act passionately on many of the important ideas and issues brought forth to him to benefit our nation’s motorists. For many years to come, millions of American people will enjoy the countless transportation and infrastructure programs that he advocated. On behalf of ATSSA, I sincerely thank Congressman Oberstar for his many years of faithful, dedicated service.

During the 21 years that has been our privilege to cover the transportation scene there has been one constant: the towering presence of James Oberstar at every step in the development and evolution of the national transportation policy and legislation. Along with Daniel Patrick Moynihan he will be remembered as one of the truly consequential figures in the history of the federal transportation program.

The departure of Congressman James Oberstar from the House of Representatives comes as a shock to all who are involved in the transportation sector. Whether as Chair or as a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, it has been impossible to think of shaping national transportation policy without reference to Cong. Oberstar. No one is more schooled in the history of transportation, no one is more aware of transportation policy throughout the world than he. His imprint is on all the major pieces of federal transportation legislation for the past three decades, and it is difficult to imagine enacting new surface transportation and aviation authorization legislation without his taking a leading role in its drafting and passage.

While Cong. Oberstar and I are of different poliical parties and, in some areas, have different views about policy, I have always found him to be respectful of, and interested in, my ideas. On a personal level, he is a person of grace and optimistic spirit, and he has always found the connections between his legislating on national issues and the real challenges faced by the people of his district and of Minnesota. He never forgot where he came from, and he never lost sight of where he thought national transportation policy should go. Agree with him or not, everyone in Washington will miss Cong. Oberstar's persistent and constructive engagement on these issues. As they say of truly great athletes, Jim Oberstar made everyone around him better.

Transportation policy and legislation without Jim Oberstar? Not something I want to think about. .When I first came to Washington in 1975 to do transportation for the House Budget Committee, Jim was one of the Freshmen members in the front tier at the House Public Works Committe, sitting next to Norm Mineta (and behind Norm in seniority, as Jim has always reminded us). While the two committees had their fights over budgets and spending caps, Jim was always one who wanted to talk about what was the best way to get results

Since then he's always been there--a steady figure on the issues he cares about and certainly the most knowledgeable individual in the transportation community. What I've always enjoyed about Jim is watching him amass that knowledge. I've seldom met with him without hearing about some new observation, some new insight, some new data that he'd added to the storehouse in recent times. I remember a meeting a year or so ago when he had been in Europe and seen first hand what the EU was doing to enhance their transportation systems. His question immediately was ""why can't we do that?" and soon we saw the ideas translated into legislative proposals.

As we move forward in the legislative arena over the next few years, we will be well served to hang on to his blueprints for surface, air and water transportation. They may not be perfect, but they are a standard, and a comprehensive one, against which we can assess each future intiative.

Jim will certainly be missed up there on the top tier of the T&I committee dais, but I'm sure we will be calling on him for his ideas and his support for many years to come.

I have followed the career of Rep. Oberstar since 1979, when I became a staffer in the U.S. House of Representatives. In those earlier days, I knew him for his advocacy on behalf of the older Northeast-Midwest region of the nation. Thirty years ago he was a strong voice in support of reinvestment in infrastructure to address the economic and environmental challenges facing what disparagingly became known as the “rust belt.”

Since joining Rails-to-Trails Conservancy in 2001, I have been privileged to witness first hand all that Rep. Oberstar has done on behalf of trails, walking and biking. I was honored to introduce him at our conference in 2001 -- just two weeks after September 11 -- as “a man of great intelligence, imagination and, most of all, integrity.”

I fondly remember Rep. Oberstar’s steadfast support for the Transportation Enhancements program when it was under attack in the House of Representatives in 2003. He worked tirelessly across the aisle to rally support for the program and we prevailed on the floor of the House by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 320-90.

I also recall with pride Rep. Oberstar’s speech at our conference in 2005 on the day after SAFETEA passed the Congress. He was jubilant that the bill that he helped to push across the finish line not only preserved Transportation Enhancements but also created the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program and the Safe Routes to School program.

Most of all, Rep. Oberstar will be remembered as the legislator who made the largest contribution to realizing the promise of the landmark ISTEA legislation of 1991. For Rep. Oberstar is a true transportation policy wonk who deeply understands the vital importance of the “I” in ISTEA -- that a truly “intermodal” transportation system is vital to America’s national interest. His legacy will be his advocacy not just for the completion of the interstate highway system, but the expansion of the nation’s transportation system to provide people the choice of walking, biking, taking public transportation or driving.

But Rep. Oberstar’s legacy in support of intermodalism is under attack. As a AAA member, I was distressed to read in a summer issue of AAA Mid-Atlantic’s magazine the following attack on Rep. Oberstar’s support of intermodalism:

“…House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair James Oberstar has already introduced a version of a reauthorization bill. What Rep. Oberstar does, and what the Administration’s version is expected to do, is to further expand the scope of projects on which Federal Highway Trust Fund money can be spent.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what every federal reauthorization bill since 1991 has done: make federal highway monies more ‘flexible.’ That so called flexibility means using gas taxes not just for highways, but ‘nonmotorized’ transportation – including sidewalks and hiking and bike trails…”

I have asked Mr. Darbelnet, the CEO of the national AAA, to disavow these remarks and he has, to date, declined to do so. If enacted into law, the AAA position would mean the end of Transportation Enhancements and Safe Routes to Schools. These programs not only embody the legacy of Rep. Oberstar, but are also the most popular US DOT programs at the community level. Simply put, these programs are wildly popular because they greatly improve – rather than diminish – the daily quality of life for millions of Americans.

So I can only assure Rep. Oberstar that we are prepared to honor his decades of service by protecting his legacy in the months and years ahead by mobilizing the voices of people in communities across America who have benefited from his visionary leadership.

U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman (“emeritus”) James L. Oberstar is the longest-serving member of Congress in Minnesota’s history for good reason. Because of his tireless efforts in pursuit of a safer, more prosperous district, state and country, the people of Northeast Minnesota loaned Jim to our nation’s capital seventeen times in a row. The national currents of this past election cycle swept away this transportation titan – a stalwart leader on the importance of transportation and infrastructure to the nation’s prosperity. His presence in the halls of Congress will surely be missed.

AAA had the pleasure of presenting Jim Oberstar our “Transportation Leaders Award” in 1998 for his efforts to restore the “trust” in the Highway Trust Fund and promote a better, safer transportation system. But an even greater pleasure was working with him and his dedicated staff over the years on ways to improve the nation’s transportation network. Whether it was boosting the share of federal dollars that went towards traffic safety improvements or putting the interests of the system users first when it came to innovative transportation finance approaches, Jim Oberstar did not wait for a quorum to galvanize his colleagues in pursuit of smart policy.

I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of being schooled by “professor” Oberstar on transportation history. His knowledge of transportation is vast and his command of the facts is daunting. Throughout his tenure in Congress, Jim Oberstar has always looked for ways that the federal government could learn from state as well as foreign capitals in pursuing innovative approaches to making gains in safety, increasing mobility and improving the quality of life for all Americans. AAA looks forward to working with chairman emeritus in the future on ways to garner public support for necessary improvements and investments for our transportation system. Thank you Jim Oberstar for your tireless service.

While disagreeing with many of Jim Oberstar’s transport policies, I found him to be a particularly nice person to meet, and a shining example of how to get along with others.

I hope that his future activities, such as another visit to Singapore, will give him enjoyment and satisfaction, while also benefiting his state and country.

In the work TEN and our affiliates did with Chairman Oberstar over the years, one quality of his stood out above all others—a quality that was at the heart of his extraordinary expertise, sensitivity, and intelligence. Unlike many public officials, Rep. Oberstar listened.

Again and again, Rep. Oberstar took the time to meet with TEN members. He listened to testimonies from ordinary people who were taking three buses to work each day, people who couldn’t reach their doctors’ offices because of service cuts, people whose children struggled to reach school because of inadequate transit access.

Rep. Oberstar sat down at a stakeholders’ table with TEN members, MN state legislators, minority contractors, and other community representatives to help hammer out a path for fair access to transportation construction contracts and jobs for low-income people, women, and people of color.

At a time when transportation policy and planning is too often shaped by unaccountable officials and contractors, Rep. Oberstar made time to listen citizens. This fueled his vision and leadership in creating the Safe Routes to School program, which expanded walking and biking routes for children, while helping address problems of traffic congestion and air pollution.

Rep. Oberstar drafted a national transportation bill that was meant to move us toward a more objective, performance-oriented system for transportation planning and funding. He worked to provide more uniform transit service to folks who had been left out of transportation planning in the past. He focused on fairness and equity, and showed his care for the needs of low-income people and children.

As Rep. Mica takes up the chairmanship of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and works to shape a comprehensive transportation authorization act, he should follow Rep. Oberstar’s example by listening to the community first, and by responding to the needs of the most vulnerable Americans in a spirit of fairness and equity.

Chairman Oberstar is a true champion of aviation safety issues and of working men and women who strive to make our transportation system safer and more efficient while fighting for fair treatment, safe workplaces and safe, reliable equipment. His loss last week is a great loss for the nation.

Chairman Oberstar's vast knowledge of aviation and transportation issues, stalwart support of air traffic controllers and all of the safety professionals NATCA represents, the dogged determination with which he advocated for labor, and his unrelenting pursuit of what is right for working men and women in this country will be sorely missed.

With more than three decades of service to Minnesota's Eighth District and leadership on transportation issues, Chairman Oberstar has accumulated an enormous wealth of information and experience and truly understands every facet of our aviation system. For air traffic controllers, he has always carried the mantle for fairness and equality. A few years ago, we bestowed upon him our highest honor with the Sentinel of Safety Award, for excellence in aviation safety policy. When the previous administration unilaterally imposed work and pay rules on our membership, he not only vehemently opposed it but worked to rectify the injustice. His vocal leadership as the Chairman of the Transportation Committee compelled the Obama Administration to return to the bargaining table to fairly seek a collective bargaining agreement that both sides could be proud of.

That contract, now one year old, has helped to stem the tidal wave of controller retirements, stabilize the workforce, and ensure that controllers, just as recommended by the DOT Inspector General, will play a meaningful role in the planning, development and deployment of the Next Generation Air Transportation System.

Chairman Oberstar brought over a half-century of transportation and labor policy experience to the table, often recalling intricate details of long-forgotten legislative fights from decades past off the top of his head. It is unfortunate that the incoming freshman class will be deprived of his vast knowledge of transportation policy.

The Teamsters Union was very saddened by last week’s election loss of one of its champions, Rep. Jim Oberstar.

He cared deeply for the working men and women of this country. Time after time he fought off attempts to weaken worker protections even as he envisioned a better, safer future for all Americans.

His leadership on labor and transportation issues will be sorely missed. He understood that outsourcing aviation maintenance to foreign repair stations was dangerous to air travelers and devastating to American workers. He worked tirelessly to bring overseas maintenance facilities to the same standard as domestic facilities.

Jim Oberstar recognized the FedEx Express was wrong to hide under the guise of an airline. It was unfair to its workforce and to the rest of the package delivery industry. He spearheaded the effort to correct this injustice, but he was not alone in that belief. His defeat may be a temporary setback, but the work he started will be carried on by others who support fair competition and giving workers the right to organize.

His work on transportation safety is unparalleled. He saved countless lives because of his devotion to making America’s transportation system the safest in the world. He was a tireless advocate for truck safety, constantly fighting off efforts to lower truck safety standards by letting bigger, heavier and longer trucks on our highways.

We’ll miss you, Jim.

With the upcoming departure of Jim Oberstar, Congress – and I dare say – the nation is losing a national treasure, a leader whose resume is trumped only by his character, resiliency and incredible commitment to service. Among many giants in the Congress, Jim Oberstar is the single member in modern history who challenged the conscience of our nation about the mounting transportation needs of America and did something about it.

Jim Oberstar traveled across America and every corner of the world studying the best ways to move passengers and global commerce. He is unyielding in his view that effective and efficient transportation is completely compatible with worker and public safety. An entire generation of workers – whether they operated, maintained or built our transportation system, or worked in our vast manufacturing supply chain – owes a debt of gratitude to Jim Oberstar for their middle-class wages, benefits and safe job sites.

Among the icons that rise above others in the history of Congress, few can match Jim Oberstar’s accomplishments. The massive expansion of our aviation system coincides with his career to date. He was promoting the need to build the “next generation” air traffic control system years before it became stylish to do so. The historic surface transportation bills completed on his watch put tens of millions to work, embraced the concept of “intermodalism” and connectivity that is now the transportation policy gold standard worldwide and advanced the now-proven principle that rebuilding and expanding the transportation network is a powerful engine of job creation. The zeal with which he pushed for massive expansion of public transportation will forever mark a turning point in America’s spotty history of fulfilling the vision of a mass transit network that serves all people. His unwillingness to let extreme forces dismantle, privatize and de-fund America’s national passenger railroad, Amtrak – and his passionate push for high speed rail – make Jim Oberstar a founding father of the modern passenger rail era that is on the verge of transforming the way Americans travel. His stubborn commitment to expanding our maritime system and stopping those who would gut the U.S. Merchant Marine and the laws that protect the industry and its employees make Jim Oberstar a friend that will be hard to replace. And there wasn’t a single worker protection in our laws and regulations that Jim Oberstar didn’t write or defend, even during the difficult 1990s when some sought to dismantle decades-old protections. These protections include the right to form and join unions, bargain collectively, prevailing wage requirements and fair treatment for workers when our government invests in transportation or reviews mergers and acquisitions.

For much of his career, Jim Oberstar has made the case that injecting billions into transportation operations and infrastructure is among the most effective ways that Congress and the President can lift economies up. During too many recessions, members of Congress failed to heed Oberstar’s calls. But with the passage of the 2009 Recovery Act, Jim Oberstar’s position won the day with the largest transportation provision ever enacted in a stimulus bill. While a monumental achievement, Oberstar said the $48 billion wasn’t enough and he was right. While there are many nay-sayers out there, the facts are the facts: at least 1.5 million Americans worked or are working thanks to the transportation stimulus championed by Jim Oberstar.

With all of Jim Oberstar’s achievements, let us not forget his commitment to forging bipartisan consensus while upholding his principles. Let us not forget the decency with which he conducted his life’s work. Let us not forget the dozens of dedicated, proud members of his staff who served with great distinction. Let us not forget his respect for the institution he served for so long. And for union members everywhere, let us not forget that there will be few who follow Jim Oberstar in the House – a leader who always believed that strong unions are the best path to the middle-class. This is a value that he carries with him in the memory of his father Louis Oberstar, an Iron Range miner, a fighter, and a founding local steelworker union leader. I never met Louis Oberstar. But after working with Jim Oberstar for the last 20 years, I feel like I have.

We won’t soon forget his force of personality or his accomplishments made in the Congress. But I don’t think Jim Oberstar is done with transportation policy yet. I will look forward to working with him wherever he chooses to do his future work, whenever he chooses to do it.

I have personally known Jim for 25 years and he has been a tremendous public servant on behalf of the citizens of Minnesota and the United States Congress.

We will miss the passion and leadership for transportation Jim has shown throughout his 34 years in Congress – and specifically since becoming Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in January 2007.

Jim practically invented the term “livability.” He sponsored a number of important programs including Transportation Enhancements, Safe Routes to Schools, Recreational Trails, and National Scenic Byways. Certainly, anyone who wonders what transportation means to the quality of life in our communities hasn’t talked to Jim.

Jim also was behind the $48 billion for transportation investment included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He demanded accountability and, at his insistence , state DOTs moved quickly to get projects underway . His focus on timely, transparent reporting allowed us to show the tremendous progress made through this program. Fortunately, we met every deadline he set. And, Jim was right. Hundreds of thousands of people are working today because of Jim Oberstar’s leadership.

People sometimes ask me why I am such an avowed fan of Jim Oberstar given our partisan differences and the number of large issues about which he and I have disagreed over the years – airline mergers and alliances, antitrust immunity, foreign investment in U.S. airlines, to name just a few.

The answer is that I have never known anyone who took the job of legislating more seriously than he, or who worked harder at it, or who mastered his subject matter more consummately. He has always cared deeply about transportation and its importance to the quality of life in America, and he has applied his protean intellect and boundless energy to transportation policy in a way that actually ennobled the much-maligned legislative process. Whether or not the 111th Congress enacts long-delayed authorizing legislation for our federal surface and air transportation programs, Jim Oberstar will leave a towering legacy.

I first saw him in action as chair of the House Subcommittee on Investigations & Oversight in early 1985, part of the old Government Operations Committee. He was conducting a hearing on the fatal crash of a Galaxy Airlines aircraft in January of that year during a charter flight destined for Minneapolis. Given the close link to Minnesota and early evidence that maintenance and inspection procedures were implicated – it was clearly an accident that should not have happened – I anticipated a very loud, angry, difficult, and news-making event. As one of DOT’s witnesses, I wasn’t looking forward to it. Nor were my FAA colleagues.

It turned out to be nothing of the kind. Chairman Oberstar engaged in no histrionics. Instead, he used the hearing to probe deeply into the regulatory framework that had permitted the mishap to occur. He was clearly determined to find out what had transpired in order to begin fashioning systemic improvements, and then he did.

I learned in time that Jim’s hearings were always like that. With Newt Gingrich as his ranking member on the “I&O” Subcommittee, he held hearings in the late ‘80s into how the government conducted international aviation negotiations. There had been many such hearings in other committees, and they always seemed contrived to portray U.S. negotiators as hopelessly ineffective at defending the interests of U.S. airlines. In stark contrast, Jim’s hearings were more like seminars – a thoughtful quest for the right answers to tough questions. He has taken some good-natured jabs over the years for the length of his hearings and his pursuit of detail. From the perspective of this witness, however, they were public policy heaven. The dialogue didn’t stop when the gavel came down, but often continued in smaller, follow-up meetings in his office or over a meal in the House dining room (where he always picked up the tab). Those conversations made for some of my most enjoyable moments in public service. It was easy to understand why he was accorded such profound respect by members of both the House and Senate.

It isn’t easy to pigeon-hole Jim Oberstar. A liberal Democrat, he is avowedly pro-life and opposes gun control. An adoptive father, he co-chaired the Congressional Coalition on Adoption – something I learned only after he called to congratulate me on the adoption of our first child in 2006. He was formally honored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation for his legislative work on the adoption process.

The House of Representatives will swear in a lot of new members early next year. Partisan politics aside, those new members can do no better than to examine Jim Oberstar’s extraordinary 18-term career as the clearest possible demonstration of the importance of the job and its power to do good. It should serve as an inspiration to all who follow.

My first encounter with Chairman Oberstar began when I was Chair of the American Association of Port Authorities. I had heard that he was a friend of freight, extremely knowledgeable, and passionate about national transportation policy. When we met and got wrapped up talking for over an hour, the reality was better than all of the hype. Here was a guy who REALLY GOT IT. We talked about how we need a national strategy lest Canada and others were going to eat our lunch. We talked about how this vision must be mode-neutral and driven by making our whole system more competitive. And we talked about the challenges of bringing together the many supply chain stakeholders to reach consensus on how we were going to fund our aging system. Afterward, as a thank you for his time, I sent him a copy of the National Geographic Channel’s special series on the Port of LA: America’s Port. The next time I saw him, I was no longer AAPA Chair, he made me feel like a TV Star! He cut through the crowd of people around him and bee-lined for me to announce enthusiastically that he not only knew me – he knew EVERYONE at the Port of LA. He knew the pilots, the port police, etc. It turned out that he watched all 6 episodes of the show as he exercised on his stationary bike. Now that’s commitment! So I will be one of many who will miss his sage and sincere voice in Congress, but hope that he will still be an important part of the on-going dialogue toward the reform and progress we need on our nation’s goods movement infrastructure.

We have an early response from William S. Lind, Director of The American Conservative Center for Public Transportation and co-author of Moving Minds: Conservatives and Public Transportation.

In his last term of office, Chairman Oberstar went after one of the biggest unrecognized liabilities facing rail transit: the time differential between obtaining approval for a highway project and for a rail project.

Chairman Oberstar found that while a highway project may obtain approval (and funding) and break ground in a matter of months, the average time required to do the same for a rail line is fourteen years.

To understand just how powerful an impediment this is to more and better public transportation, let me put on my other hat, that of military theorist, and talk a bit about the Boyd Cycle. Discovered by America’s greatest military thinker, the late Col. John Boyd, USAF, the Boyd cycle concept says that in any contest, each party goes through repeated cycles of Observing, Orienting, Deciding and Acting (the OODA loop). Whoever can consistently go through the cycle fastest gains a decisive advantage.

I worked with Col. Boyd for twenty years. If I had told him that highways had an 18-month OODA loop while rail transit’s loop took 14 years, his reply would have been, “Then transit’s not even in the game.”

Alone among transit specialists, Chairman Oberstar got this. He intended to address it in the next TEA bill. But the Obama Administration, which doesn’t get it (or much else), sandbagged his plans for a new authorization bill. Now with the chairman gone, it looks like no one will address the time differential problem. So much for our hopes to see rail transit and highways compete on a level playing field.

During the mark-up of the next TEA bill which may happen sometime in this century, I predict at least a few other lawmakers and staffers will say, “Jim Oberstar would have lost his lunch over this piece of junk.”

Chairman Oberstar's defeat on Tuesday is a devastating loss to the highway safety community and to our nation. His primary concern as a Member of Congress and leader of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee was always to ensure that our nation's transportation system was the safest in the world. In private meetings and in public forums he fretted that every year 40,000 people needlessly died on our highways and millions more were injured as though he were talking about losing members of his own family. He studied how European countries were making steady and significant progress in bringing down highway deaths and injuries and pushed to do the same in the United States. The draft surface transportation authorization bill introduced under his leadership was an example of his safety stewardship. He knew what worked and he wasn't afraid to advance a strong and effective highway safety agenda. The surface transportation bill he introduced last year with bi-partisan support included sanctions for states that still have not enacted a primary enforcement seat belt law and/or taken a tough stand against drunk driving by passing an ignition interlock law for first time offenders. Because the U.S. Department of Transportation continues to drag its feet in requiring electronic on board recorders (EOBRs) for all long-haul truck drivers to enforce hours of service rules he took the initiative by mandating this proven technology in the bill. And, he believed that every child in every community should be able to walk to school without the fear of unfriendly streets and speeding cars and created the Safe Routes to School program.

His legacy is not only measured in the bills he supported but the ones he opposed as well, even in the face of daunting political pressure from other Members as well as lobbyists. He was a tireless truck safety champion. He was vigilant and victorious in fighting off countless attacks by well-funded and well-organized special interests seeking to roll back truck safety by allowing bigger, heavier, longer and more dangerous trucks on our streets and highways as well as unsafe exemptions to hours of service rules that would result in fatigued drivers.

For the past 20 years Joan Claybrook and I frequently have met with Chairman Oberstar to discuss safety issues that were almost always controversial and contentious but necessary to save lives. He was always welcoming and willing to help. In May, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety celebrated its 20th Anniversary and presented Highway Safety Leader awards to Members of Congress who have made a significant contribution to saving lives. Chairman Oberstar received our award because of his lifetime and life-long dedication to highway and auto safety. Today there are thousands of people who are alive because of his extraordinary safety accomplishments and don’t even know who he is. Yes, Chairman Oberstar will be sorely missed in Congress, in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and by his friends in the highway safety community.