[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 14, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S374-S375]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Tribute to Elvia Montoya

  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to recognize 
and bid farewell to a valued member of my team, our legislative 
director, Elvia Montoya.
  Five years ago, our office had the fortune of bringing Elvia onboard 
as a legislative correspondent--or LC--working on issues of education, 
equal rights, and healthcare. These are incredibly important issues. 
And she did such an incredible job working on them that it wasn't long 
at all before she was promoted to handle them as our legislative 
assistant.
  And time and time again, year after year, no matter what new task she 
took on or what challenge was thrown at her, she succeeded and thrived. 
Every Oregonian, every American, across this Nation is better off 
today, thanks to her tireless efforts.
  Seventy-two thousand children in our State, for instance, who 
normally get free or reduced-priced lunches during the school year 
continue to get healthy and nutritious meals during the summer months. 
They have Elvia to thank for that because she is the one who included 
language in the fiscal year 2020 Further Consolidated Appropriations 
Act to reinstate the program.
  Thousands of nurses are on the job today saving lives because we 
invested in the training and workforce development that are key to the 
future of this critical profession through the Nursing Workforce 
Reauthorization Act of 2019. And Elvia wrote that bill and helped get 
it passed as part of the CARES Act; and thank goodness she did, or the 
nursing shortage today would be much worse than it is.
  And Elvia was always three steps ahead in the lead-up to the COVID-19 
pandemic. In January of 2020, over 2 months before life as we knew shut 
down and people were only vaguely aware of a new virus coming out of 
China, she saw right away that this had the potential to upend life 
around the Globe.
  By the end of that month, she had persuaded me to lead a letter 
calling on the World Health Organization to declare a public health 
emergency of international concern.
  By the end of February, our office had a resource page for Oregonians 
who were starting to hear about this new, dangerous virus and were 
growing nervous. This was phenomenal timing because Oregon had its 
first confirmed case on Friday, February 28, 2020. The announcement 
came well after working hours.
  But even late on a Friday evening, she was on the ball, alerting me 
and other senior staff and starting to prepare for the long battle 
ahead as she led our team in that battle for the next year-plus.
  She kept tabs on the virus, day in and day out, leading briefings for 
our team and providing daily updates on the spread and impact of the 
virus. And she led my team's efforts to help enact the COVID relief 
bills as we took up and passed them here on the Senate floor--from the 
Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act 
to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act; the CARES Act to the 
Paycheck Protection Program and Healthcare Enforcement Act.
  And she wasn't just invested in policy. She was also invested in the 
logistical challenges we faced under COVID. One night, when a truck was 
supposed to be delivering supplies of personal protective equipment--or 
PPE, as we call it--delivering it from the national stockpile to the 
main resource warehouse in Oregon, from where it would be distributed 
to hospitals and clinics and other places the following morning, things 
went awry.

[[Page S375]]

The security guards at the facility hadn't received the right paperwork 
when the tractor trailer pulled up. So they turned the truck away.

  Now, at that time, we were in such short supply of PPE, and our 
healthcare practitioners were risking their lives because of that 
shortage. So this was incredibly important that we get these supplies 
delivered.
  Doctors and nurses and other first responders on the frontlines of 
the pandemic were counting on that delivery of supplies that was now 
headed in the wrong direction. So Elvia jumped into action. She started 
calling folks at HHS and other Federal and State agencies. She woke 
people up. She tracked down cell phone numbers, including the numbers 
of the guards who were on duty. Eventually, she got that truck turned 
around and those supplies were delivered.
  She was able to do this because she had worked for months and months 
to build connections and relationships with folks working, at every 
level, on responding to the pandemic. Thus, when an incident like this 
occurred, she knew how to make sure the bureaucratic redtape didn't 
stop people from getting the help and resources they needed.
  And so it was when our previous legislative director left to go to 
the State Department in January of 2021, it was clear that Elvia's 
tenacity, resourcefulness, humor, warmth, professionalism would make 
her the perfect choice to ably step up and fill that role.
  Almost overnight, she went from focusing exclusively on healthcare 
and education to overseeing the entire pantheon of our team's 
legislative activities, with all of the added responsibilities--like 
staffing vote-aramas--that came along with the role.
  As legislative director, she has personally taken point on our 
efforts to protect American democracy and ensure every American's right 
to vote. She quickly and deeply immersed herself in the intricacies of 
the issues of voter suppression, of dark money, and gerrymandering that 
we sought to address in the For the People Act and its derivative, the 
Freedom to Vote Act.
  On top of that, Elvia got familiar with the history and arcane 
procedures of this body that are so much in need of reform today, 
helping to craft workable options to restore the Senate to being a 
better legislative body that our Founders intended it to be.
  And even now, she has continued to take the lead on my ``Mysteries of 
the Senate'' project, where every week we prepare a memo for the caucus 
explaining another aspect of the Senate's arcane history and 
procedures. This is valuable, I hope, because I believe we cannot begin 
to improve the way we function unless Members understand better the 
Senate's history and the web of rules and precedents that guide how we 
operate.
  It would be an understatement to say that Elvia has excelled at every 
task and every issue she has taken on over these last 5 years. It has 
been a pleasure for me to work with her. It has been a pleasure for the 
entire team to work with her. And she has contributed greatly to the 
future of our team nurturing and bringing along new staffers, making 
sure they not only are up to speed on the issues but fully integrated 
participants in our collective effort to improve policies to benefit 
Oregonians and to benefit Americans.
  Elvia, all of us on the team--all of us on team Merkley--thank you 
deeply for your dedication. We wish you all the best in your next 
chapter as you take your talents back home to Oregon. I think all of us 
are a bit jealous of that opportunity to be fully back home. And we 
know that wherever you are, you will never stop fighting to build a 
better world.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The majority whip.