Jessica Berry

Jessica Berry serves as the Clerk of the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee, manages the Subcommittee staff, and handles national security matters. She has served on the Appropriations Committee for more than 14 years in several roles, returning to CJS as Clerk in July 2022 after having served as the Professional Staff Member covering the Department of Justice (DOJ) and various related agencies accounts from 2008–2013 for then-Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.). She was the Legislative Branch Appropriations Clerk from 2019–2022, and worked for former Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on the Full Committee from 2017–2022 as the lead Committee staffer for shepherding through his Vermont and national funding priorities across the 12 appropriations bills. In total, she has more than 23 years of Senate experience.

While on the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2001–2005, Jessica advanced then-Ranking Member Leahy’s priorities relating to appropriations and authorizations under DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security. She played a lead staff role in drafting and negotiating the 2005 Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act (VAWA). As Leahy’s Projects Director and Legislative Aide between 2005 and 2008, she oversaw his Appropriations priorities and housing/community development policies.

Just prior to rejoining the Appropriations Committee in 2017, she served as a Senior Advisor at the Department of the Interior, coordinating appropriations and oversight of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). She has also worked in the criminal justice reform field.

Jessica is a proud alumna of Bowdoin College in Maine, where she received a B.A. in government and legal studies and sociology in 2000. She has lived and studied in Argentina’s Patagonia region, and Stockholm, Sweden. She enjoys hiking, boating, snowshoeing and traveling, and spending as much time as possible on the Connecticut shore and in Vermont with her family and their dogs, Butters and Maggie.