[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 195 (Thursday, November 30, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H9521]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          EXPRESSING GRATITUDE TO IGOR BIRMAN, CHIEF OF STAFF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my gratitude to 
my chief of staff, Igor Birman, who will be leaving the House of 
Representatives on December 5 to begin a new career in financial 
management. He and his wife, Kim, are expecting their first child in 
April and will be moving to New York.
  Igor Birman's story sums up the best of America and is testimony to 
the exceptionalism of American founding principles, how they beckon to 
oppressed people around the world, and how much those who come here 
legally bring to our Nation.
  Igor was born in Moscow to parents who desperately yearned for the 
fundamental rights they were denied in the Soviet Union. At the time, 
they were called refuseniks, Russian Jews persecuted for their 
religious beliefs and denied exit visas because of their technical 
knowledge.
  Finally, after many years, as the Soviet Union began to collapse, 
glasnost opened an opportunity for the Birmans finally to realize their 
dream. Igor remembers hurriedly learning English on borrowed phonograph 
records. A week before their departure, the family returned to their 
tiny apartment to find the place upended by a last-minute KGB raid. 
Igor's mother comforted her children by saying: ``In a few weeks, we 
will be in America, where this can never happen.''
  Igor was 14 when they arrived in California to begin a new life. He 
entered UC Davis, where he quickly rose to public prominence after a 
column he had written expressing his libertarian views was censored by 
the politically correct apparatchiks on the campus newspaper. The irony 
wasn't lost on anybody, and it became a prominent story on northern 
California talk radio.
  That is where I first became aware of Igor, and that year, I was 
fortunate to have him work in my State senate office as an intern. He 
left to attend law school, and when he returned, he did an amazing job 
as my finance director in a hard-fought campaign for Congress in 2008. 
Hiring him as my chief of staff was the easiest decision I have ever 
made in my years in public office. He came to Washington at the age of 
28--I believe the youngest chief of staff then serving.
  He has ably run my congressional office for nearly a decade, and 
during those years, he has assembled the most competent team I have 
ever had the honor to serve with. I have found his judgment impeccable, 
his insight keen, and his honesty and integrity spotless.
  Charles de Gaulle famously observed that the cemeteries are filled 
with indispensable men, but General de Gaulle had never met Igor 
Birman. I can say definitively some people truly are indispensable, and 
Igor is one of them.
  I am obviously not the only person to hold this opinion. The founder 
of Cablevision saw these same qualities in him and, beginning next 
week, he will be placing his operations and foundations in Igor's 
capable hands.
  Igor once ran a very credible race for Congress himself, and I hope 
that he will not give up on his ambition to serve our Nation. I believe 
a time may be coming when Americans may lose the memory of freedom and 
they will need to turn to leaders like Igor for a passionate reminder 
of just how valuable a commodity is our freedom.
  ``There is a time to every purpose under Heaven,'' and for now the 
time has come for Igor and Kim to enjoy their new family, to enjoy the 
fruits of their new labors, and to embark upon a promising future 
together. I wish them the very best in their many happy years ahead.

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