[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 133 (Saturday, August 6, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4212-S4213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO KIM BRINKMAN

  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I would like to take this opportunity to 
congratulate Kim Brinkman, who will be retiring on August 11, and to 
thank her for her 34-plus years of exemplary service to the Senate 
community. Kim has spent her entire career working in the Senate 
Disbursing Office. Her colleagues in disbursing will miss her, but so, 
too, will all Senators and Senate staff and their families. We have all 
relied on Kim for expert advice and guidance on pay and health and 
retirement benefits and other issues.

[[Page S4213]]

  Kim is a constituent, but she originally hails from Nevada, IA. She 
attended Stephens College in Columbia, MO, for 2 years and then 
transferred to the University of Iowa, where she graduated with a 
degree in economics. She is a proud Hawkeye.
  In 1985, Kim had a summer internship working at the Federal Aviation 
Administration and decided she wanted to return to Washington, DC, 
after she graduated from college. She went to a library in nearby Ames, 
IA, and checked the ``Help Wanted'' section of the Washington Post's 
classifieds. The Senate Disbursing Office had an opening; she applied 
and returned to Washington to interview for the job; and she got it. 
She started working in the disbursing office on October 5, 1987.
  When Kim started her career, the disbursing office had a staff of 43; 
just 10 of them were women, including Kim. The Senate had just two 
female Senators: Senator Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, and my former 
colleague, Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, who had just assumed 
office a few months before Kim arrived. Fast forward to today, and 45 
of the disbursing office's 58 staffers are women. There are 24 female 
Senators, plus Vice President Harris. That has been one of the biggest 
changes Kim has witnessed over the course of her career. The other is 
the advent of the internet, email, and other information technology, 
which has revolutionized the way we all work, including Kim.
  Senators Leahy, Grassley, McConnell, and Shelby are the only Members 
currently serving who arrived here before Kim, and just one of her 
colleagues at disbursing has more seniority. Kim began her career as a 
staff assistant in the front office, moved to the employee benefits 
section, became the employee benefits manager, and later was promoted 
to her current position as assistant financial clerk of the Senate.
  I have often said that the Senate is a family, and we are so grateful 
to staff members like Kim who make it function. Certainly, Kim has made 
the thousands of Senators and staffers she has helped over the years 
feel like family. She isn't just a subject matter expert when it comes 
to pay and benefits; she is friendly, cheerful, patient, and kind. 
Everyone who knows Kim has the highest regard and affection for her.
  Kim will travel back to Iowa this month to visit her parents and help 
celebrate her father's 90th birthday. She will also travel to Kentucky 
to celebrate her daughter Maya's graduation from the University of 
Kentucky. While Kim and her sister will continue to look after their 
parents as needed, I know Kim's legions of friends in the DC 
metropolitan area are glad that she will be coming back here, where she 
will step up her gardening and her antique shopping in Rappahannock 
County. She will have more time for her artwork and playing the piano 
and clarinet and volunteering at her church, where she is part of the 
visiting ministry team.
  Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ``To laugh often and much; To win the 
respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn 
the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false 
friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the 
world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a 
redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier 
because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.'' He was describing 
Kim Brinkman.
  On behalf of my colleagues, but especially on behalf of all the 
Senate staffers and their family members whom she has counseled and 
assisted over the years, I want to thank Kim for her outstanding 
service and wish her all the best as she embarks on the next chapter in 
a life well lived.

                          ____________________