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.
“WELCOMING ANN BERRY” mentioning Patrick J. Leahy was published in the Senate section on pages S874-S875 on Feb. 25.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
WELCOMING ANN BERRY
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I appreciate what the leader just said about COVID. It certainly reflects the feelings of people in my State that we have to get going.
But I am here on a different matter today. Since the 1780s, we have had an extraordinary list of Secretaries of the Senate. The outgoing Secretary Julie Adams is one of those extraordinary people who have been here, and I have had the distinct pleasure and honor of serving with so many.
But let me be personal for a moment. On Monday, in my role as President pro tempore, I will administer the oath of office to an amazing person, Sonceria Ann Berry. She will become the Secretary of the Senate.
This is a woman who earned her bachelor's degree in education from the University of North Alabama, and she has had so much experience in the Senate. She first worked for Senator Howell Heflin of Alabama.
I had the pleasure of serving with Senator Heflin--as I found when I would travel to Alabama with him, he usually would be greeted with
``Hello, Judge.'' He was a man who had an extraordinary sense of how the Senate worked but made very clear to me how much he relied on Ann Berry. She worked with other good friends of mine: Senator Pat Moynihan, whose office was right down the hall from mine, and Senator Edwards and Senator Carper. She took time out from her duties in my office to help stand up Senator Jones' office.
She came to the Leahy office in 2007, and she worked with my chief of staff, J.P. Dowd. They gave such leadership to my office, and I have found that almost daily, I would stick my head into Ann's office and say: Here is the situation; what do you think we should do here or there? I knew what a go-to in the Senate she had been for generations of staffers, a mentor to dozens of young staffers and interns. I have also said over and over again that we Senators are merely a constitutional impediment to our staffs. Well, this impediment was delighted he could go to Ann Berry and seek help and advice.
I think of her and her family--Reginald, her wonderful husband, and her daughter, Elizabeth, whom I have had a chance to see grow up to become a young woman who is distinguishing herself working here in the Senate.
I also think of her sayings, like ``This, too, shall pass'' or ``I may have been born at night, but I wasn't born last night.'' ``There is more than one way to skin a cat,'' or sometimes when we had been here late into the night, she says, ``Nothing good happens after midnight.'' But with her, everything good happened.
I think of the Senate and all of us in it, in a way, as a family. Over my years here, I have become more and more aware of that. But Ann Berry truly was. I don't know how many times somebody working in my office would have an issue--not just the professionals things; she was always there to answer those and give direction. They would go in and say, ``You know, I have had this thing that has been troubling me'' and know that they could get wonderful advice but also advice in confidence.
I will admit that my grandchildren, my wife and I think the world of her. We do have one grandchild, now 15, but for the last few years, he would be in my office, and he would say, ``I want to go leave a note for Miss Ann,'' and young Patrick would go and leave notes for her. It is a kind of family.
I think the world of our majority leader. When he told me that he wanted to appoint Ann Berry as Secretary of the Senate, I told him I will forgive him this once only because of her extraordinary capabilities.
I will speak more about her next week, but one thing that is going to give me pride because of who it involves is that on Monday, as President pro tempore, I will administer the oath of office to the extraordinary Ann Berry, and I will do it as one of the proudest moments since I have been here.
I yield the floor.
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