The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRIBUTE TO HEIDEH SHAHMORADI” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Senate section on pages S1238 on Feb. 27, 2018.
The Department handles nearly all infrastructure crisscrossing the country. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department should be privatized to save money, reduce congestion and spur innovation.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO HEIDEH SHAHMORADI
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, today I wish to express my gratitude to Heideh Shahmoradi, who since 2011 has served as clerk for the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, or THUD, for her many years of distinguished public service.
Heideh's 24 years of public service have included time on both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee, as well as the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, where she first started as a part-time employee at the age of 16.
In her 7 years with THUD, Heideh has played an instrumental role on a host of issues. Her programmatic knowledge and technical expertise have been critical in policy-making decisions that ensured air traffic controllers were able to get back to safely managing our Nation's air traffic control system following the across-the-board spending cuts in 2013. Heideh has also worked to make groundbreaking transformations in how we address youth homelessness, which afflicts far too many young people each year. Thanks to Heideh's dedicated efforts, we have successfully created targeted programs that are designed to meet the unique needs of teenagers through the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program, in ways that our traditional approach to homelessness was unsuccessful in addressing.
Heideh is truly a consummate professional, a brilliant expert, and most importantly, one of the kindest and friendliest people in the Senate. She is known by her colleagues as being an honest broker who is able to work in a truly bipartisan fashion in order to help us advance important legislation.
As Heideh leaves the Senate after years of hard work and dedicated public service, she leaves behind an impressive list of accomplishments and colleagues whose lives she touched because she was such an exceptional role model and mentor. I wish her continued success and much happiness in the years to come.
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