This Senate resolution formally honors the memory of Jereima “Jeri” Bustamante and highlights a memorial scholarship associated with her name. The short text recounts her journey from Panama to Florida, her education, and her public-service career, and urges beneficiaries of the memorial scholarship to carry forward her example.
The measure is ceremonial: it records the Senate’s sentiments and places those sentiments on the legislative record. For professionals tracking congressional activity, the practical effect is reputational rather than regulatory — it signals institutional recognition and can raise public awareness of the scholarship and of Bustamante’s biography.
At a Glance
What It Does
The resolution expresses the Senate’s respect for Jeri Bustamante by recounting biographical facts and formally offering condolences. It publicly recognizes a memorial scholarship bearing her name and encourages its recipients to honor her legacy. The text creates no binding obligations, does not authorize funding, and serves as a formal entry in the Congressional Record.
Who It Affects
Directly affected parties are the Bustamante family, beneficiaries of the Jereima Bustamante Memorial Scholarship, and the Miami Beach Senior High and Florida International University communities referenced in the preamble. Institutionally, it occupies Senate floor time and becomes part of congressional archival materials and communications from the sponsoring office.
Why It Matters
Although ceremonial, the resolution matters as a vehicle for elevating a local scholarship to national visibility and for signaling how the Senate commemorates public servants. It also sets (or follows) precedent about when—and how—Congress uses non-legislative instruments to honor individuals, which matters to staff and communications teams who draft similar measures.
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What This Bill Actually Does
S. Res. 162 is a short, honorary Senate resolution that narrates the life and career of Jereima “Jeri” Bustamante and places that narrative on the congressional record.
The preamble lists a sequence of biographical points: she emigrated from Panama with her family, attended Miami Beach Senior High School, earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media Sciences and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Florida International University, paid her way through school by working, interned at a Miami television station, and later served as press secretary to Governor Rick Scott. The text also references the Jereima Bustamante Memorial Scholarship as a continuing element of her legacy.
The operative portion of the resolution contains four short declarative statements: to honor her life and memory, to offer condolences to her family and friends, to affirm that her example demonstrates the possibility of achieving the American Dream through hard work, and to encourage recipients of the named scholarship to carry on her legacy. Those are expressions of sentiment rather than commands or policy changes.Procedurally, the resolution is nonbinding: it does not appropriate funds, change law, or create legal duties for federal agencies or states.
On introduction it was referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary for consideration, which is the typical routing for many resolutions that include commemorative language. If the Senate adopts it, the text will appear in the Congressional Record and can be used publicly by the sponsor’s office for outreach and commemorative purposes.In practice, adoption would have modest administrative consequences: Senate staff prepare and file the text, committee and floor offices may schedule consideration, and the recorded resolution can increase the public profile of the memorial scholarship.
The resolution does not itself alter how the scholarship is administered or funded; any concrete changes to scholarship programs would require separate action by the scholarship’s sponsors or by appropriating authorities.
The Five Things You Need to Know
Senator Rick Scott introduced S. Res. 162 on April 8, 2025.
On introduction the resolution was referred to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
The preamble records that Bustamante emigrated from Panama, attended Miami Beach Senior High, earned a B.A. in Communication and Media Sciences and an M.P.A. from Florida International University, and served as press secretary to Governor Rick Scott.
The text contains four short resolves: honor her memory, offer condolences, assert that her example shows the American Dream remains possible, and encourage recipients of the Jereima Bustamante Memorial Scholarship to carry on her legacy.
The measure is purely ceremonial: it creates no funding, no regulatory changes, and no enforceable duties for federal agencies.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Biographical recitation and context
This section compiles the factual and laudatory statements about Bustamante’s life: her immigration from Panama, high school and university education, work ethic while studying, media internship, and public‑service role as press secretary. For readers this is the evidence base the resolution uses to justify the Senate’s expressions of honor and sympathy; for drafters it is a typical mix of personal biography and public-service credentials designed to ground the commemorative language.
Formal honorific — the Senate honors her life
This short clause is the core ceremonial action: the Senate 'honors' Bustamante. That verb has no statutory weight here — it signals institutional approbation and creates a record that the Senate formally recognized her contributions. Organizations that track congressional recognition often cite such clauses in press materials and historical files.
Condolences, normative statement, and encouragement to scholarship recipients
These clauses offer condolences to family and friends, state that Bustamante’s example shows the American Dream remains attainable, and explicitly 'encourage' recipients of the memorial scholarship to carry on her legacy. The 'encouragement' is rhetorical; it places moral weight on scholarship recipients but imposes no requirement on scholarship administrators or recipients. It is, however, a targeted public relations tool that can be leveraged by the sponsoring office to increase the scholarship’s visibility.
Committee referral and nonbinding status
The resolution was submitted to the Senate and referred to the Judiciary Committee, which handles many non-legislative memorials. Whether the full Senate adopts the resolution is separate from its introduction; regardless, the document carries no legal force, creates no budgetary authority, and does not direct agencies to act. Its primary consequences are archival (entry in the Congressional Record) and reputational.
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Who Benefits
- Bustamante’s family and close friends — the resolution provides public recognition and a formal congressional record of condolences that they can cite in memorial materials.
- Recipients and prospective applicants of the Jereima Bustamante Memorial Scholarship — the Senate statement can raise the scholarship’s visibility and potentially aid outreach or fundraising by increasing its profile.
- Miami Beach Senior High School community — listing the school in a Senate document spotlights the institution and its graduates, which local administrators and alumni groups may use for promotion.
- Florida International University and its alumni network — the formal recognition of an alumnus’s public service enhances alumni relations and can be referenced in university communications.
Who Bears the Cost
- Senate staff and Judiciary Committee offices — preparing, filing, and processing the resolution uses legislative staff time that could be applied elsewhere; those costs are routine but real.
- Sponsor’s communications team — the office will likely bear the bulk of publicity and outreach costs tied to the resolution, including events or press materials celebrating the commemoration.
- Taxpayers in a de minimis sense — printing, archival, and administrative actions tied to the resolution incur marginal public costs, although the resolution does not create ongoing expenditures.
- Scholarship administrators — increased visibility can bring administrative burdens (more applications, donor inquiries) without accompanying federal resources to handle those demands.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is whether a public institution should devote scarce legislative attention to symbolic honors that elevate individuals and local causes versus using that attention for binding policy or oversight; the resolution honors a life and can boost a local scholarship’s profile, but it does so without creating resources or obligations, exposing a trade-off between recognition and substantive impact.
The resolution navigates standard tensions inherent in congressional commemorations. First, it trades substantive policy action for symbolic recognition: the Senate can honor a life publicly, but the resolution contains no mechanism to support or expand the scholarship it praises.
That gap leaves open questions about whether symbolism will translate into concrete support for beneficiaries. Second, memorial resolutions are easy to draft and deploy, but they also risk politicization — choosing which individuals receive national ceremonies can reflect partisan priorities even when the language is neutral.
Implementation is straightforward but not trivial. Because the resolution is nonbinding, any expectation that it will change scholarship administration or funding rests with outside actors (private donors, schools, or state officials).
Communications teams may leverage the resolution to solicit support, but the resolution itself creates no pathway for such assistance. Finally, the document’s usefulness depends on adoption: an introduced but unadopted resolution still appears in committee records, but only an adopted resolution carries the weight of a formal Senate pronouncement in the Congressional Record and subsequent ceremonial uses.
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