[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 13, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S1984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO CHRISTINE CATUCCI

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I join with the Republican leader today in 
honoring Christine Catucci on the occasion, which has already been 
mentioned, of her 40th anniversary of working for the U.S. Senate.
  In any given year, about 2\1/2\ million people visit this beautiful 
building. Bill Dauster, who is here with me and is with me virtually 
every day, every place I go, was just commenting before the prayer was 
given how fortunate we are to work in this magnificent building. And as 
the Republican leader mentioned in his comments about Ms. Catucci, 
people become starry-eyed looking at this building. We are here all the 
time, and we may not appreciate it as much as we should every day. It 
is a beautiful building.
  For those of us who are fortunate enough to venture over to the place 
where she works--down on the first floor is where she spends most of 
her day, and that is where most of the people come into that floor--you 
will see a great smile. That smile belongs to her. I first saw that 
smile many years ago. We had a Senate retreat. She was there to help 
staff us, and she played a vital role in making sure the retreat worked 
well. I have always remembered her from that one experience. She does 
have a disarming smile, for which we should all be grateful. I know I 
am.
  She has been here for 40 years. The only person who has been here as 
a Senator longer than Christine is Pat Leahy from Vermont. She has 
seniority over everybody except Senator Leahy.
  Her career began in the last year of Gerald Ford's Presidency. She 
worked as a tour guide, chaperoning people through the Capitol and 
giving people explanations as to what they were looking at at the time. 
In 1980 she moved to the Office of the Doorkeeper of the Senate and 
moved through a number of positions there for 11 years.
  In 1991, she arrived at the Senate Appointment Desk, where she has 
worked for the last 25 years. She is the director, overseeing a staff 
of nine.
  Over the years, she has developed a close relationship with Senators 
and staff, and she can recount with pleasure the times that Senator 
Robert Byrd--the legendary Robert Byrd from West Virginia--would invite 
her and some of her coworkers to have lunch with him in his Capitol 
office. He didn't eat much, if anything, but he talked all the time, 
telling stories. I was the recipient of a number of the stories of the 
late, great Senator Byrd.
  The Senate is her family, literally. Her father was a Senate 
doorkeeper from 1967 to 1977. Her daughter Nichole works in the 
cloakroom right behind us. That is three generations of Senate 
staffers.
  It was Nichole who summed up everything great about her mother for me 
when she said: ``My mom raised me all by herself and did an amazing job 
as a single mom while working full-time.''
  So this is Christine Catucci. It is her work ethic and caring 
dedication that she has brought to the Senate every day for the last 40 
years--four decades. Thank you very much for being a part of our Senate 
family.

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