[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 68 (Tuesday, April 20, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H1959-H1960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING JEN DAULBY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of ILLINOIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today in a 
bittersweet time in my career here in Congress because it is a time I 
get to bid farewell to somebody who has been with me since day one. 
Because she has floor privileges, she is sitting behind me right now 
and is going to be very embarrassed because I am going to talk about 
her.
  As you can see here, Madam Speaker, this is my longtime chief of 
staff and staff director of the House Administration Committee, Jen 
Daulby, and her daughter, Reagan, standing in the Capitol rotunda.
  I first met Jen in Illinois when she was a young intern for the State 
of Illinois one summer. Little did I know that a few years later I 
would be running a campaign for my former boss, Congressman  John 
Shimkus, and I would hire a field office manager who just graduated law 
school to work out of our Collinsville, Illinois, campaign office. I 
realized very, very quickly she had opinions of her own--something that 
in political campaigns sometimes are a little difficult because as a 
campaign manager, I wanted to be right all the time. But she always 
taught me: get this stuff done and get me the information I need so I 
can do my job.
  Jen Daulby sitting behind me was a pain in my butt during that 
campaign.

[[Page H1960]]

Fast forward: we got a chance to work together in the Shimkus 
congressional office. Then she went on to bigger and brighter things 
working for then-Chairman Goodlatte on the House Agriculture Committee, 
and then to top it off she had to work for Chairman Sensenbrenner on 
the Judiciary Committee. Then as luck would have it, in 2012 I won the 
closest Republican victory in the Nation. Jen was already making a name 
for herself in the private sector, but she wanted to come back to the 
Hill and be a chief of staff.
  I remember how painful she was to work with when we worked together 
on that campaign, and I just threw her in as an interview because I 
knew her. If there was a fifth slot and I was only interviewing four, 
she would have got it.
  But do you know what?
  She came in with a plan. She wowed my wife, who was in the interview 
with me, and my district director, who was in the interview with me, 
and reminded me how special of a person she was.
  Jen likes to say: Thank you for taking a chance on a single mom with 
a 4-year-old daughter at the time to come back to the Hill and be a 
part of this institution, because it was her dream to lead an office.

  She has got it all wrong once again, because I am glad she took a 
chance on me as a new Member of Congress who won by only 1,002 votes 
and came in and made sure that we built an office that was led under 
the same principles with which we still lead today: work hard, be nice 
to people, and lead.
  This institution over the last 8\1/2\ years has been made a lot 
better place because Jen Daulby was a part of it. I am honored that she 
was my chief of staff for 6 years and has been running the House 
Administration minority side for the House for the last 2\1/2\ years.
  There is not a single GOP staffer in this institution who does not 
know her name and has not been thankful for the information that she 
has been able to put out. She helped take the smallest committee in 
Congress--the House Administration Committee--and allowed us to lead on 
so many issues.
  Now, as she moves back into the private sector, I have to wish her 
well. It is with a heavy heart I do so, because I can tell you there is 
not a more tenacious, there is not a more loyal, and there is not a 
more dedicated person to making this House of Representatives work for 
all of us as Members of Congress, for every staff member--like she and 
I used to be--or for every single American.
  Jen was here on the floor with us on January 6. Jen was the first 
person I saw when I walked into my office after I watched my friends 
get shot on a baseball field. Jen was the first person I saw on day one 
as a Member of Congress. She is a leader, she is a patriot, and she 
will always, always have my thanks, the thanks of the American people, 
and the thanks of this institution. But most importantly, her favorite 
job is being a mom to her young daughter.
  I wish her well in going back to being a mom to Reagan, but I am 
always going to call you one of my best friends.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from 
references to guests on the floor of the House.

                          ____________________