Dick Durbin: “today, I want to talk about the worst kept secret in the Senate. Nancy Olkewicz is really great at her job. I have…”

“today, I want to talk about the worst kept secret in the Senate. Nancy Olkewicz is really great at her job. I have depended on her many times as have many others in this Chamber. She has had many roles in the Senate, and she has been spectacular with all of them. She has served under chairmen like the late Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senator Harry Reid, and me. Over the years, she has been given many challenging assignments, and she has never failed to deliver. It is with great pride and some sadness that Nancy has announced her plans to leave the Senate Sergeant at Arms and retire from the Senate this summer. We celebrate her 36 years with us. She will be very much missed. Many people in Washington see their professions as just jobs. For Nancy, her work has meant much more than that. The agencies she helped fund and the people she has worked with are her second family. She has been working in the Senate since she was 19 and an aide to Senator Paul Sarbanes. Nancy practically grew up in the Senate. Her countless friends and the respect she has earned from both sides of the aisle are a testament to her accomplishments and her demeanor. If you want to see a monument to Nancy's work here, look no further than the Senate rain garden. This innovation has been capturing and filtering runoff from parking lots to reduce storm water flooding and keep pollutants from entering local streams and rivers for 10 years now.…”