[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 36 (Thursday, February 25, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S874-S875]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          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

[[Page S875]]

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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