Willard Hotel News

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) will receive the Eighth Annual Waterways Council, Inc. Leadership Service Award on Wednesday, February 25, 2009, at 6 p.m. at the Willard Hotel, Washington, DC. Senator Harkin will be honored for his steadfast commitment to the improvement of the Nation’s ports and commercial inland waterways system over his many years in Congress. Harkin worked to broaden the support for locks and dam improvements crafting a measure with Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) that made improvements to environmental programs on the Upper Mississippi River. That resulted in a broadening of the coalition in support of moving forward with both improved locks and environmental mitigation. The measure was passed as a part of the 2007 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).

Congressman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) will receive the Seventh Annual Waterways Council, Inc. Leadership Service Award on February 27, 2008, at 6 p.m. at the Willard Hotel, Washington, DC. Representative Oberstar will be honored for his steadfast commitment to the improvement of the Nation’s ports and commercial inland waterways system over his many years in Congress. Past recipients of the award include Senator Robert C. Byrd (2007); Representative David Hobson (2006); Representative Jerry Costello and Representative John Duncan, Jr. (2005); Senator Kit Bond (2004); Senator John Breaux (2003), and Representative Sonny Callahan (2002). Congressman Oberstar is Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee…

Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-MO) will receive the Third Annual Waterways Council, Inc. Leadership Service Award on Wednesday, March 31, 2004, at 6 p.m. at the Willard Hotel, Washington, DC. Senator Bond is being honored for his unwavering commitment to the improvement of the ports and commercial waterways system. After serving as the state of Missouri’s Governor for two terms, Senator “Kit” Bond is now in his third term in the Senate. Senator Bond serves as Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee of the Environment & Public Works Committee, which is responsible for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers program to maintain and modernize the locks and dams on America’s inland navigation system.

Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) will receive the Sixth Annual Waterways Council, Inc. Leadership Service Award on February 28 at the Willard Hotel, Washington, DC. Senator Byrd will be honored for his steadfast commitment to the improvement of the Nation’s ports and commercial inland waterways system over his many years in Congress. Past recipients of the award include Representative David Hobson (2006); Representative Jerry Costello and Representative John Duncan, Jr. (2005); Senator Kit Bond (2004); Senator John Breaux (2003), and Representative Sonny Callahan (2002). Senator Byrd is Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, appointed to the Committee by then-Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson in 1959, the year Senator Byrd began his Senate service.