[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 39 (Thursday, February 27, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1162-S1163]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO LAURA DOVE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now, on an entirely different matter, 
earlier this week I said paying tribute to departing Senate staff is 
one of my favorite and least favorite things to do, simultaneously.
  So I am especially unhappy to be back at it again today.
  There is almost nobody--nobody--in this institution with whom I have 
worked more closely, or whose counsel I have sought more frequently, 
over the past 6\1/2\ years than Laura Dove.
  Few people actually understand how important the Secretaries for the 
Majority and to the Minority are to this institution. These two 
officers supervise each side's cloakroom and floor staff. They are sort 
of like air traffic controllers who help Senators sequence the bills, 
amendments, and nominations that we vote on. They keep every office 
apprised of what exactly has happened, is happening, and will happen on 
the floor.
  They serve as in-house procedural experts to each side, advising the 
leader and the chairmen. And they build close relationships with every 
Member of their side, trying to ensure the floor schedule reflects 
everything from Senators' policy priorities to their personal 
scheduling conflicts.
  And while the two Secretaries are doing all this work in parallel 
with each other, they are also constantly working together. On many 
daily questions of process and of timing, their one-on-one relationship 
is the diplomatic frontline between the two sides of the aisle.
  The Senate, as you know, is a consent-based institution. Almost every 
practicality is made much easier with bipartisan agreement--from 
scheduling major votes to packaging nominees, to literally turning the 
lights on every morning. And it is often Laura and her counterpart, 
Gary, who hammer out those details.
  Consider the limitless scope of this job. It is no wonder Laura has 
made a certain piece of human resources phraseology into her personal 
mantra and her cloakroom's motto: ``Other duties as assigned.''
  The Secretary for the Majority is essential to the Senate, and so 
Laura has become essential to all of us.
  There cannot be many father-daughter pairs in world history--in world 
history--who have bonded over parliamentary procedure, but the fact is, 
it doesn't just seem like the Senate is Laura's natural habitat; she 
literally grew up in this place.
  Laura's father, Bob Dove, started in the Parliamentarian's Office in 
the 1960s. He kept rising, and in the 1980s and 1990s, he was the 
Parliamentarian.
  Bob was known for a wry saying he would repeat after tough days: 
``You may love the Senate, but the Senate may not love you back.''
  Unfortunately, for his family, one of the Senate's love languages 
turns out to be keeping people here late at night, which meant that the 
Dove family dinners, orchestrated by Laura's mom, Linda, sometimes 
happened in the corners of this very building.
  The exposure sparked Laura's curiosity. Those family dinners turned 
into days off from school, spent wandering the halls and trying to 
imitate the duties of the pages. Then she put on the page uniform 
herself, and that is how this distinguished decades-long Senate career 
began: delivering notes, filling water glasses, and studying for math 
tests in the attic dorms of the Library of Congress.
  That was the mid-1980s. Laura debuted in the cloakroom right around 
the time I debuted as a freshman Senator. Neither of us knew what 
awaited us.
  From the lowest rung to the top of the ladder, Laura threw herself 
into literally everything. At every step, no task was too insignificant 
and no challenge was too great. Laura has had a hand in every 
accomplishment of this institution for nearly a decade. She has played 
a significant role in literally every single victory of this majority.
  Her job performance alone would be stunningly impressive. But what is 
even more unfathomable is the level of kindness and good cheer she has 
maintained while doing it. She seems to begin every day with a smile on 
her face and a show tune on her lips. She treats everybody with the 
same respect and simple kindness, from the pages whom she invites over 
for home-cooked holiday meals to the Senators whose family details she 
has committed to memory.
  She is as happy tutoring junior staff in Senate basics as talking 
strategy with senior members. No matter how late the floor was open the 
night before, the same Laura clocked in the next morning, full of joy 
and maybe a new recipe to share with fellow Senate foodies.
  Laura reminds us that the Senate's strength comes from its people. 
She has embodied this in her professional conduct, fighting to preserve 
and protect this institution as she helped us navigate through it, and 
she has embodied this institution in her personal character as well. 
She treats everybody with such warmth and respect as though this 
Chamber were our shared second home--and in some cases, it literally 
has been.
  This staffer is so dedicated that she has rung in major milestone 
birthdays on these very premises, stolen sleep on a couch during 
overnight sessions--you get the picture.
  Few were shocked when Laura's previous attempts to leave the Senate 
fizzled out after a year or so. I remember being relieved when I got 
another year, but I suspected she would be back.
  But this time is different. In recent months, I know Laura has grown 
more and more excited to reallocate some time from her second home to 
her real home, to the family she has built with her husband Dan and 
their children, Abby and Jake.
  Laura loves this body, its rules, its quirks, and its history more 
than almost anything. I say almost anything. But she loves a family 
dinner with those three, a glass of Chardonnay, and a game night by the 
fireplace even more. And as they prepare to send their oldest off to 
college soon, that time is becoming extra precious.
  For us Senators it is hard to imagine what it is going to feel like 
next week when Laura is not here. I imagine she may feel the same way. 
But I know this: Those of us who remain will frequently ask ourselves 
``What would Laura do?'' And whether the issue at hand is institutional 
or strategic or culinary, we will know asking that question will point 
us in the right direction.
  I also know that Laura will be departing with some new wisdom of her 
own. She will know that, in a rare occurrence, her brilliant father 
actually got one thing wrong--that funny old saying: ``You may love the 
Senate, but the Senate won't love you back.'' Well, his daughter will 
leave knowing that is only half true.
  So, Laura, this institution cannot thank you enough, nor can this 
majority, nor can I. But I feel certain you will never quite be a 
stranger to the Senate. I don't think you could manage it even if you 
tried. So we won't say goodbye. We will just conclude with one more 
piece of Laura lingo she made famous: ``Ciao for now.''

[[Page S1163]]

  

                          ____________________