[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 129 (Tuesday, August 2, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3858-S3859]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO KIM BRINKMAN

  Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I rise today to extend my 
congratulations and best wishes to Kim Brinkman on the occasion of her 
retirement from the Senate disbursing office. For 34 years, Kim has 
served this Chamber, its Members, and its staff with decency and grace. 
We are lucky and grateful that Kim--some three decades ago as a recent 
graduate from the University of Iowa--ventured to the library in Ames, 
IA, and answered an ad placed in a newspaper to travel to our Nation's

[[Page S3859]]

Capital and begin work in the U.S. Senate.
  Kim represents all that is great about public service--not just in 
aspiration to serve our Nation, but in aspiration to change it, too. 
When she first started at the disbursing office in October of 1987, 
there were just two female Senators. Today, there are 24, in addition 
to our first female Vice President. In the disbursing office itself, 
Kim was one of only 10 women on staff when she began her decades of 
service; she is now one of 45 women out of the office's 58 staff.
  The journey to Washington, DC, was a long one for Kim--geographically 
speaking. She comes from the town of Nevada, IA--the State where her 
parents Harold and Jan Brinkman still reside. She has been sure to make 
the trek and visit home, bringing along her daughter, Maya Caceres, a 
recent graduate of the University of Kentucky. An active member of her 
church and a frequent volunteer, she has managed to lay deep roots here 
in our Nation's Capital.
  Kim has been a kind, giving presence in the Senate for the past three 
decades. A compendium of Capitol knowledge, we will surely miss her 
sage advice and dutiful support. While her departure is a profound loss 
for this institution, Kim deserves a restful and fulfilling retirement 
following her years of extraordinary service.

                          ____________________