The Senate Finance Committee staff will get a boost when Bill Dauster joins its team as general counsel at the end of the month.

The Capitol Hill veteran arrives after a stint as legislative director for Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). His additional Congressional experience includes 10 years as chief counsel and then Democratic chief of staff to the Senate Budget Committee, and as Democratic chief of staff for the Labor Committee.

Dauster — who will advise ranking member Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and other committee members on budget and Social Security matters — was deputy assistant to the president for economic policy during the Clinton administration.

Commercial Success. Rachel Welch has joined the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee minority staff as counsel to Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.). She will cover media issues for the Palmetto State Senator, among others.

Prior to moving to the Hill, Welch worked for the law firm Covington & Burling, where she dealt with a range of broadcast and telecom issues before the Federal Communications Commission and Congress.

The 32-year-old Rochester, N.Y., native holds a bachelor’s in political science and English from Wells College in Aurora, N.Y., and went on to earn a law degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Au Revoir Ose. After a stint as Rep. Doug Ose’s (R-Calif.) campaign manager and finance director during his successful 2002 campaign, Elisa Brewer has joined the National Roofing Contractors Association as public affairs director for its government relations office.

Brewer, who has also spent time as a

political affairs manager and PAC director for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, once worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee, as well as several statewide and Congressional campaigns.

Philadelphia Story. Rep. Joe Hoeffel’s (D-Pa.) longtime Chief of Staff Josh Shapiro is leaving Capitol Hill after eight years to join the litigation department at Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll in the City of Brotherly Love.

Hailing from the Philadelphia area, Shapiro got his Congressional start in the office of Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.). He later served as senior adviser to then-Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) and as senior legislative assistant to Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-Fla.).

Shapiro holds a bachelor’s from the University of Rochester and a law degree from Georgetown University.

Wowing the Wolverines. Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.) picked up fellow Michiganian Adri Jayaratne to serve as his new legislative assistant responsible for all appropriations and grants requests, as well as trade, energy and agriculture issues, among others.

Jayaratne comes to the Kildee team after a three-year stint as a legislative aide to then-Rep. David Bonior (D-Mich.).

The 25-year-old is a member of the University of Michigan’s class of 1999.

He replaces Laura Cimo, who moved over to the office of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to work as an environmental legislative assistant.