[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 167 (Wednesday, November 13, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6559-S6560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO KAAREN HINCK

  Mr. HICKENLOOPER. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to 
Kaaren Hinck and her 20 years of service to the U.S. Senate. Although 
she is never one to seek the spotlight, we can't let her walk out these 
doors without acknowledging what has been a tremendous career in public 
service to eight Senators and one Representative across four States and 
two Presidential campaigns.
  Kaaren's Senate career got off to an auspicious start one day while 
she was at home playing hooky from school in Minnesota. Watching TV, 
she saw an ad for the Senate page program and thought that sounded like 
something she might like to do. In a sign of things to come, not only 
was she selected to become a page for her home State Senator, but she 
also worked it out with her principal so she could do an ``independent 
study'' and avoid the page program classes altogether, a born dealmaker 
even before stepping foot in the Chamber.
  After studying art history at Boston University, she returned to the 
Senate, this time interning for the ``Lion of the Senate'' himself, Ted 
Kennedy, before becoming his volunteer coordinator. Thus began her long 
association with the gentlemen and gentlelady from Massachusetts.

[[Page S6560]]

  Ted Kennedy would be a high watermark for most Senate careers, but 
Kaaren would go on to work for Senator John Kerry at the height of his 
Senate career and follow him onto his Presidential campaign. After the 
heartbreaking loss of 2004, she would embark on a new adventure: the 
post-Mickey Drexler Gap.
  But the siren call of the Senate beckoned, and Kaaren returned not 
long after leaving the Presidential campaign trail, this time to work 
for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse before returning home to Senator Kerry's 
office.
  A glutton for punishment, she would go on to work campaigns again--
this time for Senator Elizabeth Warren, including on her 2020 
Presidential run, a campaign that will be remembered for the enthusiasm 
it inspired.
  Fortunately for me, she became one of my very first hires when I was 
elected to the Senate. You can imagine how fortunate I felt that 
someone with her experience would help us stand up the office.
  And now, almost 4 years later, Kaaren is the rock we have built that 
office on. It is hard to imagine the office without her. She is 
everyone's first stop when they hit a wall and have no idea what to do 
next. She is the one who makes the seemingly impossible, possible--the 
person who laughs at the idiosyncrasies of Senate rules and finds joy 
working around them. She is kind to everyone she meets, always generous 
with her time to help staff figure out their next career move or how to 
fix whatever problem has them stumped. Maybe that is also what makes 
her resolve so impressive. I pity anyone who sees in her kindness a 
person who rolls over in the face of a challenge.
  For our office--and I suspect for every office she has served--she 
has always been exactly what our office needed her to be. From a 
trusted adviser present at the creation, to acting chief when we needed 
a steady hand.
  I don't know what Kaaren will do next, but I know we haven't yet seen 
the height of her career. We wish her the absolute best and miss her 
already.

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