[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO LAURA UPDEGROVE

  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I have two other team members who are 
leaving.
  Laura Updegrove is leaving us to work with the Biden administration. 
She came to us after serving in various foreign policy roles at the 
State Department, the Department of Defense, and the White House. She 
joined our team 4 years ago to bring her extensive expertise to bear on 
our foreign policy portfolio, and I am sure glad she did.
  During her tenure in my office, I have been astonished, time and 
again, by the depth and breadth of her knowledge, her work ethic, her 
strong organizational and management skills, and the way she approaches 
each and every task with a very positive attitude. Those traits make 
her not only a top-notch legislative staffer but a terrific partner as 
we work to address a variety of issues.
  On two occasions, we had the chance to travel on international 
issues--one trip to many different countries in Africa to better 
understand the root causes and impacts of the four famines on that 
continent and to understand how American policy could be changed to 
assist in these desperately difficult situations.
  Then, some years ago, we had the genocide carried out against the 
Rohingya people in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi came and spoke to the United 
Nations, and she said: We have nothing to hide. Come and see for 
yourselves. So Laura went to work in organizing the congressional 
response, the congressional trip. We really thought we were going to 
see exactly what had gone on in those villages, and she worked 
incredibly hard to arrange everything from boats to helicopters to get 
us to the right places. Then, the day before we left, Burma denied us 
the ability to see those villages.
  We had backup plan after backup plan to explore what had happened 
both in Burma and the conditions at the refugee camps in Bangladesh. 
She reworked everything in a short period of time to direct attention 
by our congressional delegation and through our delegation to the world 
to the traumatized, difficult circumstances of a community that was the 
subject of genocide by Burma. Again, the whole goal was to figure out 
how the United States could do more to help. Laura really understood 
and cared about and helped with the plight of people in some of the 
most difficult circumstances around the world.
  The same passion and dedication and strategic thinking that Laura 
dedicated as a policy staffer are also what have made her an 
outstanding legislative director for the past 2 years. She has not only 
continued to lead our efforts on critical issues from rules reform to 
social justice but has been a daily example of the power of teamwork 
and mentorship to other staffers.
  Her departure is a big loss for Team Merkley but a really big win for 
the Biden administration, particularly the State Department, where she 
will be able to utilize her enormous talents on behalf of our country 
and on behalf of our country's building a better world.
  Laura, we wish you all the best.

                          ____________________