[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 82 (Wednesday, May 12, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H2200]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                          OUR DEDICATED STAFF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Kilmer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KILMER. Mr. Speaker, staff are the backbone of this institution. 
In fact, the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, over 
the course of the last few weeks, has had hearings specifically related 
to how this institution can recruit, retain, and have more diverse 
staffs.
  The staffs who work in Congress are dedicated public servants who are 
here because they want to do meaningful work for our country. Today, I 
want to rise to say thank you to some very talented and very special 
staffers who were instrumental to the success of the Select Committee 
on the Modernization of Congress in the 116th Congress: Allie Neill, 
Jake Olson, Danielle Stewart, Mariah Harding, and SoRelle Gaynor.
  As chair of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, I 
was fortunate to have Ms. Neill and Mr. Olson at the helm leading our 
staff and guiding our members through an incredibly productive 2 years. 
Their dedication to our bipartisan mission along with their 
institutional expertise was critical to the committee's success. To 
their credit, when they came in to do the work of our committee, they 
weren't wearing red jerseys or blue jerseys. They were wearing jerseys 
that said: Let's try to make Congress work better for the American 
people.
  On top of that, Ms. Stewart did an extraordinary job of amplifying 
the work of our committee and sharing it with the American people. Ms. 
Harding handled the critical behind-the-scenes work like a pro. Under 
Ms. Gaynor's direction the committee produced an outstanding final 
report for the 116th Congress.
  These staffers exemplify public service at its finest, and I want to 
rise today to thank them for their contributions.

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