This view breaks the statement into its steps and names what each one does.
Mr. President, Procedure · 29 wordsI come to the floor today to honor someone who has changed the lives of millions of Americans, though until this moment, they may have never heard her name: ProcedureClaims · 25 wordsKalina Thompson, my chief of staff, who is leaving our office at the end of the month, after more than a decade by my side.1 Anecdote · 94 wordsKalina and I did not meet as kids. We met when I was already a Congresswoman. But in a way, it still feels that we grew up together, as we learned from each other and leaned on one another from my early days in the House, finding out what it truly means to serve this great Nation, to lead, to not just get through long workdays in order to simply make it until tomorrow, but to make sure that tomorrow is even better than yesterday for the good of those coming up behind you.Anecdote Thanks · 129 wordsKalina is someone whose passion for public service is matched only by her compassion for others. And don’t be fooled by her soft voice; when she believes in something she will fight harder than you can imagine to transform a pipedream into a reality, to do some good, to do right by a constituent who is desperate for someone, somewhere to lend them an ear or a hand. You know, it is rare to find someone whose North Star so closely aligns with your own, but that is what I found in Kalina; a kindred public servant, a trusted sounding board, a truthteller who will call me out when I am wrong. She somehow stays unshakable, even in moments of chaos, and beyond it all, a fiercely loyal friend.Thanks Anecdote · 39 wordsWe were there for one another as we each became mothers, and we were there for one another as we worked day and night to make sure that other new moms would have an easier time than we did.Anecdote Claims · 32 wordsIt is thanks in large part to Kalina that my FAM Act became law, helping ensure that nursing moms traveling through airports would have access to private, clean, 2and accessible breast-feeding rooms. Reasoning · 17 wordsShe recognized that we would never expect a traveler to eat lunch in an airport bathroom stall. Claims · 47 wordsYet, for so many new moms, they had no choice but to breast-feed in one. She saw a wrong, and she righted it. It took 5 years, 3but in doing so, whether they know it or not, she bettered the lives of countless women across this country. Thanks · 89 wordsSo every time you are heading to your airport gate and see one of those breast- feeding pods, think of and thank Kalina. I know I do. That is just who she is. She is someone who so thoroughly and thoughtfully thinks of others that sometimes she does forget to think about herself. So it doesn’t matter that folks in question are halfway down the block or halfway across the world, if she hears of someone in need, she will go sleepless until she exhausts every avenue of service.Thanks Claims · 24 wordsI have watched her sacrifice time with her own family to do everything possible to help families escape war-torn countries in the Middle East. Thanks · 105 wordsShe has made calls to fellow moms across the globe just to let them know they are not alone, that we are fighting for them, that we would never stop fighting for them. She has redefined the word ``compassion’’ with every call she made, every ounce of hard work she put in, every time she went the extra mile for a stranger thousands of miles away. Kalina is also a leader who has taken the lessons she has learned along her own career journey, and she used them not just for herself but for all of those climbing the ladder rungs of success behind her.Thanks Claims · 32 wordsAs legislative director, then as deputy chief of staff, and now as chief of staff, she has made sure that the women in our office always-- always--know and fight for their worth. Thanks · 30 wordsNow, because of her, there is a whole generation of female staffers that believe in themselves more fully, and Congress is a better place because of it, because of Kalina.Thanks Claims · 42 wordsI could go on and on about the constituents Kalina has helped, the bills she has helped to pass, the lives she has changed, the lives that she has saved, starting with her own work fighting to pass the Affordable Care Act; Procedure · 8 wordsbut let me just tell one more story.Procedure Claims · 220 wordsAs Democrats, we like to say that we are the party of middle-class families, which is true. But Kalina took it upon herself to make sure our office didn’t just offer the standard family Senate policies for staffers, when it came to things like FMLA or parental leave. No, she wanted to set a new bar for congressional offices. She said to me: If we want our constituents to truly believe that we would fight for their families, then we have to fight for the families of those who come to work for us every day as well. And it wasn’t simple. At first, it seemed like it would be too big of a resource hit to actually go through with the plan she was proposing. Could our budget afford it? Could our workforce afford it? It would have been easy to just scrap the idea, to backtrack, to stick with the status quo. But Kalina refused, arguing that if we want to actually live up to our policy ideas, to our political party’s ideals, it starts with us in our own backyard. And you know what? She was right. So we became the first office in either the House or Senate to grant 16 weeks of paid leave to new parents.4 And then we extended our family leave policy. Reasoning · 21 wordsWe made sure that we didn’t just talk the talk as Democrats, but that we also walked the walk as employers. Claims · 79 wordsAnd because of her, staffers have been able to go care for their fathers battling cancer; because of her, new moms have had the time necessary to look after themselves and their little ones in those precious all-important first few months after birth. Because of Kalina, no one in our office has had to make the impossible choice between earning the paycheck that puts food on their table and being there for an ailing mom, sister, child, or spouse. Reasoning · 100 wordsTry as hard as she might, Kalina could not singlehandedly change family leave policy for the entire country. But this was a proof point, making it clear that it is possible for an office to be there for its staffers and do its work without missing a beat, because it actually benefited our office in the long run to provide those 16 weeks of leave, as staff members have served longer than they otherwise would have, sticking with us for long tenures, knowing that we will be there for them when it matters most during their toughest, most trying times. Claims · 25 wordsAnd I will say, she and I don’t agree on everything. There are some differences that have divided even our office right down the middle. Aside · 45 wordsFor instance, Kalina and our former legislative director Steph would literally sit in our office in those cubes in Cannon and horrify the rest of us by happily digging into a giant mason jar of sauerkraut, eating sauerkraut right out of that jar, for instance.Aside Claims · 68 wordsBut on nearly everything else, I just feel beyond fortunate to have found a partner so courageous in everything that she takes on, from learning English in America after moving from Bulgaria as a little girl to her ``Love Story’’ karaoke performances to going head to head with the Senate Rules Committees to help me change our Chamber’s bylaws to let parents take newborns onto the Senate floor.5 Thanks · 140 wordsNo challenge has been too daunting for her and no task too small. She simply cares. It is who she is, and it is why I am endlessly grateful to have been able to have her by my side for so long through so much. Let me finish by saying thank you to Kalina, of course, but also her family--Sandy, Wills, and Sofie--for lending your wife, your mom to us for those countless late nights and weekends. Kalina, I will miss you more than I could ever say, but just know how proud all of us are of you and how lucky I feel that I got to watch you grow into the force for good that you are today. Bon voyage, my friend. I know you are going to continue to do good for the rest of the world.Thanks Procedure · 13 wordsI yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Graham). The Senator from Georgia.Procedure
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