On the recordAugust 6, 2022
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. 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.…