[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 24 (Thursday, February 12, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S966-S967]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Tributes to Kathie Alvarez

  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, regular C-SPAN viewers, this is your DVR 
alert. Get your TiVo ready. After today you will no longer hear the 
dulcet voice of Kathie Alvarez calling the roll in the United States 
Senate. After nearly 30 years as an integral part of the floor staff, 
Kathie is leaving the Senate.
  Her road to the Senate began as a young seventh grade history teacher 
in Louisiana. In 1984 she chaperoned her

[[Page S967]]

students during a class trip to Washington, DC. During the trip she met 
an old college friend who told her about a job opening in the Senate 
Document Room. While her students were touring the Capitol, Kathie 
interviewed and was hired on the spot. Unfortunately for those 
students, they lost a great teacher that day, but it turned out to be a 
gain for the Senate.
  In 1985 Kathie was hired as the second assistant bill clerk and was 
quickly promoted to assistant bill clerk.
  In 1991, for the first time, Senators came to this Chamber and heard 
a woman's voice taking the rollcall vote. It was Kathie Alvarez, the 
first female bill clerk of the United States Senate. What an 
achievement.
  Before the end of the millennium, Kathie Alvarez was a part of 
another first when she was 1 of 10 officers--all women--presiding over 
the Senate at the start of the day. If that were not enough, Kathie 
once again made history when she was promoted to legislative clerk in 
2009. She was the first woman to serve in this role too. What a career.
  In 1922, for the history books, Rebecca Latimer Felton was the first 
woman to sit in the Senate. She served in this body for only 1 day, but 
during those 24 hours she made a bold prediction for her time about the 
future role women would play in the Senate. She said:

       When the women of the country come in and sit with you . . 
     . you will get ability, you will get integrity of purpose, 
     you will get exalted patriotism, and you will get unstinted 
     usefulness.

  Well, I will certainly second that.
  As the first woman to serve as the bill clerk and legislative clerk 
of the United States Senate, I would say Kathie Alvarez has certainly 
lived up to Senator Felton's prediction. She began her career as a 
seventh grade history teacher and came to the Senate, where she made 
history.
  Thank you for your service to this body. I know you will be joining 
your husband John and your high school student daughter Georgia in a 
much more fulsome way now, but we will miss you in the Senate, and I 
wish you and your family the very best.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I wish to say a word about a 
remarkable woman in the Senate we will soon be losing.
  Kathie Alvarez, the Senate's legislative clerk, is a bit of a 
celebrity. Every C-SPAN aficionado knows her voice. All she has to say 
is ``Mr. Alexander, Ms. Ayotte . . .'' and it is instantly 
recognizable.
  Kathie has been calling the roll around here for quite a while. In 
1991, she became the first woman to ever call the roll in the Senate. 
In 1999, with Senator Collins in the chair, Kathie became a member of 
the first all-female team to preside over this body, and in 2009 she 
became the Senate's first female legislative clerk.
  So Kathie Alvarez has been making a lot of history since she first 
arrived here in 1984.
  And you will notice, Madam President, that every female floor staffer 
is paying tribute to her today. They are each wearing something with 
Kathie's favorite design--animal print.
  Along with the love of Cajun food, sartorial distinction is one thing 
this Louisianan has become known for, a passion for perfection is 
another.
  Kathie has maintained a laser-like focus for three decades. That is 
good news for the Senate because we rely on her--and the American 
people rely on her--to ensure that every bill, every amendment, and 
every message from the House is processed perfectly. That is a lot of 
pressure.
  So we can't blame Kathie for wanting to retire. I know she is looking 
forward to spending more time with her husband John, and I know Kathie 
wants to see more of her daughter Georgia.
  It will not be as though Kathie is leaving us entirely. We will still 
be able to hear her voice on the film every tourist watches when they 
come to visit the Capitol.
  So the Senate thanks Kathie Alvarez, its history-making celebrity, 
for her many years of service, and we wish the very best to her deputy, 
John Merlino, as he steps into Kathie's role as the Senate's new 
legislative clerk.
  (Applause, Senators rising.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and 
consent to the nomination of Ashton B. Carter, of Massachusetts, to be 
Secretary of Defense?
  Mr. INHOFE. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Kansas (Mr. Moran).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid) is 
necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hoeven). Are there any other Senators in 
the Chamber desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 93, nays 5, as follows:

                       [Rollcall Vote No. 56 Ex.]

                                YEAS--93

     Alexander
     Ayotte
     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Booker
     Boxer
     Brown
     Burr
     Cantwell
     Capito
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Coats
     Cochran
     Collins
     Coons
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Cotton
     Cruz
     Daines
     Donnelly
     Durbin
     Enzi
     Ernst
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Flake
     Franken
     Gardner
     Gillibrand
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hatch
     Heinrich
     Heitkamp
     Heller
     Hirono
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kaine
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lee
     Manchin
     Markey
     McCain
     McCaskill
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murphy
     Murray
     Nelson
     Paul
     Perdue
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Roberts
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Sanders
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Scott
     Sessions
     Shaheen
     Shelby
     Stabenow
     Sullivan
     Tester
     Thune
     Tillis
     Toomey
     Udall
     Vitter
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden

                                NAYS--5

     Blunt
     Boozman
     Crapo
     Kirk
     Risch

                             NOT VOTING--2

     Moran
     Reid
       
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the motion to 
reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table and the President 
will be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

                          ____________________