[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 15, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S681-S682]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Tribute to Corey Tellez

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to say a special 
word of thanks to a former member of my staff who has meant a lot to me 
and has performed great service in my office.
  Corey Tellez was part manager and part legislative magician. She was 
also my deputy chief of staff. She was one of the first persons I would 
reach out to. She seemed to always find a way to translate big ideas 
into legislation and then legislation into law.
  Corey is driven by solid values. She has a special talent for 
management and organization. Every Senator

[[Page S682]]

should be so lucky to have a Corey Tellez on their staff.
  Corey joined my staff nearly 11 years ago as my economic policy 
adviser. Her first assignment was to help craft and build support for a 
bill called the Marketplace Fairness Act. Here was the goal: give Main 
Street businesses across America, mom-and-pop shops, a level playing 
field on which to compete against the giant online retailers by giving 
States the option to require out-of-State businesses to collect sales 
tax on online sales, the same way local businesses do.
  The big online retailers resisted. Corey would not back down. She 
worked with the staff in the offices of our main cosponsors--Senators 
Mike Enzi, Heidi Heitkamp, and Lamar Alexander--and together they came 
up with a solution that won support on both sides of the aisle and even 
won the support of some of the giant retailers.
  In 2013, the Marketplace Fairness Act passed the Senate. Corey was 
still working on getting the bill signed into law when, to our 
surprise, in 2018, the Supreme Court issued a ruling negating the need 
for it by giving the States the same option our bill created.
  Corey had made her mark, and she became a critical part of our 
legislative team. Six years ago, I moved her up to be my legislative 
director. Three years ago, she became my deputy chief of staff.
  At the end of last year, to my disappointment, she announced she was 
moving on from the Senate for a new opportunity, working for the 
Department of the Treasury in their congressional relations office. She 
is returning to the field she loves, with a special emphasis on 
international economic policy. I have no doubt she is going to be 
successful just as she was in the Senate.
  Corey first came to the Hill 15 years ago, working in the 
Congressional Hispanic Caucus as an intern to the office of 
Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas. She already had a degree in 
political science and history and a law degree from the University of 
Illinois.
  She worked on the House side as a legislative assistant for 
Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York and as deputy chief of 
staff and counsel for Representative Debbie Halvorson of Illinois.
  It is an impressive resume, but I think that Corey has put as much 
effort and passion into advancing the careers of others as she has her 
own. My own staff is filled with talented men and women whom she 
encouraged and gave a chance to grow professionally.
  There is a danger, when you work with policy and dry legislative text 
for a long time, that you might forget the people whose hopes and 
dreams ride on the laws we enact. That never was a problem for Corey. 
While growing up, Corey's mom was a single mother.
  She views every bill and every initiative through the eyes of a 
proud, hard-working American, just like her mom. Basically, she has two 
basic questions when it comes to these issues: Are they true to the 
Constitution? Do they treat working families with fairness and dignity? 
That was her litmus test for any legislative undertaking. I can't think 
of a better one.
  Since joining my staff, she became a mother too. She and her husband 
are parents to a little daughter, Elliott.
  With her move to her next exciting assignment, I want to say again: 
Thank you, Corey, for all that you have given our office, the Senate, 
and our State of Illinois. I am wishing you the very best of luck in 
your new position.