Patty Murray: “26 years ago, almost to the day, I came here to the Senate floor to speak about a mom in Washington State and a member…”

“26 years ago, almost to the day, I came here to the Senate floor to speak about a mom in Washington State and a member of my staff. Mary Glenn had come to Congress with Senator Feinstein, a few years before, to share the story of her son Shaun, who was tragically killed by gun violence, and to advocate for change. As a mother myself, I couldn't imagine the pain that she had gone through, but I could absolutely recognize her passion and her resolve to respond to challenges and hardships, not by getting discouraged but by getting determined to make a difference. So not long after Mary brought her story here to the Senate, I brought Mary herself onto my team in Seattle, in September of 1995, and it was the best decision I could have made. Over her 31 years on my team, Mary has handled well over 20,000 constituent cases. That is astounding--20,000. Each case represents an individual or a family seeking help, usually under difficult circumstances. Mary gave everyone who reached out compassion, and she got them results: helping people who were struggling to keep their utilities on and connecting them with social services that could assist them; helping families stay in their homes and fight off eviction. And no one--absolutely no one--could do more to help seniors get their Social Security and Medicare benefits than Mary Glenn. In some cases, Mary helped people finally get hundreds of thousands of dollars they were owed by the government.”