Mr. President, I have said it before, and I will say it again: Not one of us would last a day here in Congress without our staffs. But it is not just our staffs; there are a lot of other people on this campus who are essential to ensuring…
Mr. President, I have said it before, and I will say it again: Not one of us would last a day here in Congress without our staffs. But it is not just our staffs; there are a lot of other people on this campus who are essential to ensuring the continued running of this institution: the men and women who clean our offices, who perform ongoing maintenance around the Capitol Complex, who ensure that Members and staffers have some place to get food, who issue ID badges, who run the Press Galleries, who maintain our historic buildings, who set up for events--sometimes very big events--and then break things down afterwards.
The list is long. Day-to-day operations in the Capitol Complex are significant in themselves, but there have been some particularly noteworthy events recently: President Carter's lying-in-state, a Presidential visit, and President Trump's inauguration. Every one of these events required substantial planning and coordination and a lot of extra work for a lot of people, and today, I want to say thank you.
There is no way to name all of the people who were involved in pulling off these events, but I want to make sure to recognize the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, ably led by Senators Klobuchar and Fischer and by Mike Wagner and Julia Daniel, executive director and chief of staff of the committee. The inauguration would not have happened without these folks, and I am very grateful for their work.
I also want to thank the Architect of the Capitol, Tom Austin, and his incredible staff. From preserving the historic treasures in this building to tending the gardens around the Capitol Complex, staff of the Architect of the Capitol Office make sure that our Capitol continues to stand as a visible beacon of freedom and the rule of law. The work they did for the inauguration and for President Carter's lying-in-state was tremendous.
From building an inaugural stage and then another inaugural stage once freezing temperatures forced the inauguration indoors, to setting up chairs, providing support for TV and press operations, and decorating the building, Tom and his staff worked tirelessly.
I want to give special thanks to Raynell Bennett in Tom's office, who plays a key role in ceremonial events here in the Capitol and whose unfailingly can-do attitude makes planning these events a lot easier.
In addition to the Architect of the Capitol Office, I also want to recognize Jennifer Hemingway, the Senate Sergeant at Arms, and her office. Members of the Sergeant at Arms Office perform essential security and preparedness functions in the Capitol. They monitor the doors to the Senate floor, maintain order in the Galleries, and they are custodians of Senate protocol, including providing key ceremonial support when dignitaries visit. They were essential to both the inauguration and President Carter's lying-in-state, and I am very grateful for their work.
I also cannot fail to mention the Secretary of the Senate's Office as well as members of my staff, who worked on both the lying-in-state and the inauguration.
My deep thanks to all those who maintain the cleanliness of the Capitol and Senate buildings and ensured that so many spaces were ready to welcome visitors.
Finally, I want to recognize all of the women and men of the Capitol Police who stand on guard for us every day but whose workload was vastly increased by these events. They put a lot of effort and a lot of overtime into ensuring safe and successful events, and I am grateful every single day for their service.
Thanks is also due to other law enforcement agencies and officers who contributed to these events, including the Secret Service as well as members of the National Guard. I am grateful for every man and woman in this country who put themselves on the line to protect their fellow Americans.