September 24, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 166 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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Tribute to Amy Amrhein (Executive Calendar); Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 166
(Senate - September 24, 2020)
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[Pages S5849-S5850] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] Tribute to Amy Amrhein Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, Senators come to this floor with greatly diverse life experiences and political theories and representing enormously different States. But we all share this in common: a vast appreciation of our team members, our staff, who enable us to do our work as U.S. Senators on behalf of our own States, but also on behalf of the Nation. These team members are not just staff. They are family. We share in moments of joy--marriage, the birth of a child. We grieve with them in those life moments that are so difficult. And when the team members choose to move on, it is a bittersweet moment. I come to the floor today to recognize and pay tribute to a beloved member of my team, Amy Amrhein, who in just a few short days will be leaving us to a well-deserved retirement. Even after knowing for months that this day was coming, it is still hard for me not to be saddened by her departure. She has been on my team from the very beginning of my time as a Senator, serving as my field representative in Southern Oregon and staffing our Medford office. That is now a dozen years. She took on the task of learning complicated natural resource issues and learning them with determination and insight, working to internalize the issues and challenges of every community in the region, from the smallest port to the biggest county. She mastered the art of putting on a townhall, as I do one in every county every year, and I think at last count that is about 80 townhalls she has conducted over the years. She has worked to bring the community together to discuss visions for the future. One of those was the potential expansion of the Cascade- Siskiyou Monument. She organized a gathering that gave public testimony, which helped share insights from all the stakeholders. Local leaders and regional Tribes and all members of the public shared their insights and perspectives. It is no exaggeration to say that there are few people in the world with a better grasp of the complicated water issues in the Klamath Basin. We have a saying in the West that ``whiskey, that's for drinking; water, that's for fighting'' because it is so essential to so many aspects of our economy and our natural system. For 12 years, Amy engaged in shuttle diplomacy over long-term solutions to water shortages. She found ways to help farmers and ranchers save their livelihoods through shattering droughts, truly making herself an indispensable facilitator to stakeholders across the board and an indispensable facilitator as I tried to work out agreements. That really came in handy with the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, developing that effort to have the stakeholders share a common vision for the future. It really came in handy when we worked to get funds to address the devastating droughts in 2010 and 2013--funds that would help the farmers who depended on irrigation but had no water to be able to temporarily, for a season, retire their water rights and therefore have some income for their ranch or their farm or be able to have money to pump groundwater to compensate for the lack of irrigation water during those drought years. One of the issues has been the water quality in the Klamath Basin and the competing environmental rules regarding the river and the lake, and a piece of that is the survival of two endangered species. So she helped to put all the details together to hold the Sucker Science Summit, which brought together again the farmers, ranchers, Tribes, scientists, local government officials, and Federal officials to devise a plan for the long-term survival of the C'waam and Koptu suckerfish in the Klamath Basin. There is no doubt that Southern Oregon could not have asked for a better advocate over these past 12 years. I have appreciated her diligence, her humor, her positive attitude, and her candor about our smart political tactics or policy tactics and our mistakes. I could share some of those stories, but perhaps they are better shared through the eyes of our fellow team members, so I will read some of their comments. The first goes as follows: Amy is the definition of dedication. No one can out work her. She is committed and she will keep asking questions and pushing buttons until she makes progress on an issue. She is fearless. She has been such a great leader and mentor for not only the field team, but the entire state staff. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to learn from her. Oregon is a better place to live because of her service and she will be dearly missed. A second team member expressed this: When I think of Amy I think about her fearlessness. A distant field rep's job is really challenging--[the rep] is the face and the voice of the Senator and you are all alone, far from DC, even far from Portland. Despite all our communications breakthroughs you are still all by yourself, driving remote highways, walking into rooms full of strangers, never knowing what is going to be thrown at you. They want a Senator, and instead they get you. Amy was open about her questions and concerns, but once she was out there and on her own, we always had confidence she would do and say the right thing. A third team member said this: No surprise that she is leaving behind big shoes. She makes covering some of the largest counties and most difficult issues in the state look easy. Her knowledge of the issues run deep and her contacts in counties is impressive. When you ask about a county, she'll give you the breakdown of all her contacts: who would give me straight answers and who has the juicy county political/social gossip. She has also been a great mentor to those in the field. I am pretty sure she has walked every one of us through our first town halls, roundtables and site visits. She was someone you could rely on to give you feedback and let you know if you were on the right path. The final comment from a team member: I would just say that every time I have ever come into contact with a community leader or elected official that has worked with Amy, no matter the political party, they absolutely love her. She has done so much for the Southern Oregon communities. Just a beautiful human who has worked incredibly hard over the last decade-plus to help rural Oregonians. She is funny, kind, and blunt--always tells you like it is. I cannot reiterate enough how imperative her mentorship has been. She is a wealth of knowledge and experience that can't be replaced. I certainly could not have said it better, so I appreciate the team members who contributed those thoughts. On behalf of myself and the entire team, thank you, Amy Amrhein, for all you have done for our team, for all you have done for the State, and for all you have done for so many constituents, working on so many complex and difficult issues. You are going to be deeply missed by the entire team but by me most of all. It is the wish of the entire team that you will have a joyous, healthy retirement. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the Young nomination? Mr. MERKLEY. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The legislative clerk called the roll. Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito), the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson), and the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Moran). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson) would have voted yea. Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Ms. Harris) and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) are necessarily absent. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote? [[Page S5850]] The result was announced--yeas 93, nays 2, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 194 Ex.] YEAS--93 Alexander Baldwin Barrasso Bennet Blackburn Blunt Booker Boozman Braun Brown Burr Cantwell Cardin Carper Casey Cassidy Collins Coons Cornyn Cortez Masto Cotton Cramer Crapo Cruz Daines Duckworth Durbin Enzi Ernst Feinstein Fischer Gardner Gillibrand Graham Grassley Hassan Hawley Heinrich Hirono Hoeven Hyde-Smith Inhofe Jones Kaine Kennedy King Klobuchar Lankford Leahy Lee Loeffler Manchin Markey McConnell McSally Menendez Merkley Murkowski Murphy Murray Paul Perdue Peters Portman Reed Risch Roberts Romney Rosen Rounds Rubio Sasse Schatz Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Shaheen Shelby Sinema Smith Stabenow Sullivan Tester Thune Tillis Toomey Udall Van Hollen Warner Warren Whitehouse Wicker Wyden Young NAYS--2 Blumenthal Schumer NOT VOTING--5 Capito Harris Johnson Moran Sanders The nomination was confirmed The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader. ____________________
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