On the recordMarch 26, 2012
I join with the entire Senate family in congratulating my great friend, the distinguished senior Senator from Maryland, Barbara Mikulski, on becoming the longest serving female Member of Congress in our Nation's history. She reached that milestone recently, having served in Congress for 12,858 days--more than 35 years--surpassing the previous longest serving Member of Congress, the late Representative Edith Nourse Rogers. Representative Rogers famously quipped, ``The first 30 years are the hardest.'' But I dare say that Senator Mikulski has had a somewhat different experience. As with other pathbreaking women, she has encountered sexism and discrimination. But from her first day in the House in 1977 right up to today, in her much respected role as dean of women Senators, Barbara Mikulski has been a singularly formidable and forceful public servant. Pity the Representative or Senator who has made the mistake of in any way underestimating this remarkable person. For three and a half decades in Congress, Barbara Mikulski has been an outspoken and proud progressive--a tireless advocate for quality public education, access to health care, and a strong safety net for those she calls ``the least of these our sisters and brothers''-- including the elderly, people with disabilities, and the poor. Her passion for social and economic justice was nurtured by the nuns who taught her at Catholic school in working-class east Baltimore.…
