[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 125 (Thursday, July 20, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3455-S3456]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO TRICIA ENGLE

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, yesterday was the last work day for Tricia 
Engle, our beloved assistant Democratic secretary. Tricia is leaving 
the Senate after 26 years of devoted service. I would like to take this 
opportunity to thank her and wish her well as she embarks on the next 
adventure in her life.
  If Tricia were a Senator, she would rank ninth in Senate seniority, 
in-between Senator Collins and Leader Schumer. She arrived here in July 
1997, shortly after graduating from South Dakota State University. She 
started in the Senate as a staff assistant for her home State Senator, 
then-Democratic Leader Tom Daschle. Within a few months, she went to 
work in the Democratic cloakroom and then became a floor assistant for 
Leaders Daschle, Reid, and Schumer before becoming assistant secretary 
in 2019.
  The Senate, as we all know, is not the most ``family-friendly'' 
institution, but Tricia has managed to raise two fine boys, William and 
Garrison, while working here. And she managed to earn her M.A. and 
M.B.A. from Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School in 2010, an 
extraordinary accomplishment when you consider the long hours and 
unpredictability of the Senate schedule.
  Tricia knows Senate rules and procedure as well as anyone and has 
been indispensable to me and so many other Senators. Our landmark 
legislation such as the Affordable Care Act, COVID-19 pandemic relief, 
the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction 
Act, and so many other bills have Tricia's fingerprints on them. Day 
after day, month after month, year after year, Tricia has been in the 
cloakroom, on the floor, or in the well, deftly negotiating unanimous 
consent agreements, figuring out how to get amendments up or cleared, 
and working with her Republican counterparts to help the Senate 
function. Through it all--from all-night votearamas to the January 6 
insurrection--Tricia has been cool, calm and collected, never losing 
her temper even in the most heated moments, always offering the best 
advice any Senator or staffer could ask for with regard to Senate 
procedure and precedents. She is always friendly, quick to help, and 
reassuring.
  We Senators are the focus of public attention, but there are so many 
staffers like Tricia who make the Senate run. They work hard and mostly 
anonymously, driven by a strong sense of public service and love for 
our country and this institution. I have said many times that our 
Federal workforce, which includes congressional staff, is one of our 
Nation's most important--and least appreciated--assets. It consists of 
people like Tricia. I am grateful for her wise counsel and friendship 
over the years. I am also grateful to her family for allowing Tricia to 
be part of the Senate family for the last 26 years. She leaves us 
universally well-liked, respected, and accomplished--a testament to her 
many fine qualities. Senators and staff--Republicans and Democrats--
will miss her, but she certainly has earned a respite from life here in 
the Senate. I know all my colleagues join me in thanking her for her 
extraordinary service and wishing her and her family all the best 
moving forward.

[[Page S3456]]

  

                          ____________________