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[Page S1530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Tribute to Maura Keefe
Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I come to the floor this afternoon
with mixed emotions--mixed emotions because I feel a tremendous sense
of gratitude but also sadness because at the end of this month,
tomorrow, after more than a decade of working together, my chief of
staff, Maura Keefe, will leave to start a new adventure.
Maura is here on the floor today with my new chief of staff, Chad
Kreikemeier, and most of our staff here in DC are in the Gallery
watching. Everyone is here because we think so much of Maura, and we
are so sad that she is leaving but wish her Godspeed in everything she
does. She has been an incredible asset as we worked together to improve
the lives of Granite Staters.
I must thank her for her service and share some of the memories from
the past 10 years. In New Hampshire, where we are the home of the first
primary State, public service and political engagement are part of our
culture. It is a culture that is epitomized by Maura and her family.
Maura helped me get elected in 2008. Actually, she helped me before
that--in 2002, when I didn't win the election. Despite our loss, she
came back and she worked with me in 2008, and then when we won, she set
up the office. She had already accumulated several careers by that time
in political campaigns and nonprofits and in the private sector. At
each and every step along the way, Maura made new friendships, and she
blazed a trail of accomplishments. Her time with us has certainly been
no different.
I remember right after that election, she and a small group of people
were working to set up the office. She showed me the files of people
who were interested in working on the staff. I was down here for
orientation, and she and the woman who would become the deputy chief of
staff spent the whole weekend--while I was running around doing fun
things, they were working into the night to go through those resumes to
hire the best possible people to open the office.
Maura's father, who served as chief of staff to New Hampshire Senator
Tom McIntyre, whose seat I now hold, would be very proud of everything
she has done and all of her accomplishments.
I will never be able to thank her enough for building our wonderful
team, for hiring a staff of dedicated public servants who work hard for
the people of New Hampshire.
Those of us who have had the pleasure to work with Maura know her
sense of humor. She does great birthday cards that are very funny.
Every month when we do birthdays in the office, she does farewell cards
that are sort of testimonials but more roasts--or equally roast and
testimonial. Her sense of humanity is also what makes her special. I
have certainly benefited from both of these over the last 10 years.
Maura is going to be missed, not just in our offices here in
Washington and in New Hampshire but throughout the Senate because for
the last several years, she has played an important leadership role
among the Democratic chiefs of staff and among the women chiefs of
staff. She has made a positive difference for all of our offices, and
she has made important and constructive inroads with Senate leadership
on both sides of the aisle. Her presence will be missed by so many
people in this institution.
Of course she is going to be missed for forging important consensus
on the golf course as well. Our office does a golf outing every summer,
and Maura is always the one who comes out on top in those golf outings.
She has two holes in one, and she displays the plaques for those holes
in one on the wall that is between our two offices. They are a reminder
that from the Capitol to the tee box and everywhere in between, Maura
is a fierce competitor.
Over the last 10 years, there have been real historic moments. I hope
those moments will be the cornerstone of Maura's memories from the
Senate--the passage of healthcare reform that was decades in the
making, ushering in the first bipartisan energy efficiency legislation
in a generation, working to put a woman on the twenty-dollar bill,
increasing funding and resources to combat the opioid crisis, expanding
critical investments for the Office on Violence Against Women, and so
many other critical infrastructure projects, changes in New Hampshire
that have meant jobs and that have improved the lives of so many of our
citizens.
Perhaps the most succinct description of Maura can be credited to
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, for whom Maura worked as chief of staff in
the 1990s. Congresswoman DeLauro once told a reporter aptly that Maura
is ``someone who doesn't mince words.'' I can attest to that. When I do
things that she thinks are not quite what I ought to be doing, she
doesn't mince words; she lets me have it.
I am going to greatly miss her daily doses of wisdom and wit. Her
supporting counsel has always been invaluable to me. I can't thank her
enough for her dedicated service.
Thank you, Maura. We are all going to miss you but me, most of all.
Thank you, Madam President.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
