On the recordMarch 29, 2011
I rise today to join with my good friends and esteemed colleagues, Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Senator Barbara Boxer of California, as we honor a compatriot of ours from the House of Representatives, an electoral trailblazer, and political torchbearer--the incomparable and courageous, Geraldine Ferraro, who passed away last Saturday after a brave and resilient 12- year battle with cancer. As this august body will hear many times over, Geraldine was a pioneering champion and a dynamic force for women and women's rights, a stalwart legislator and colleague of all three of ours in the U.S. House of Representatives, and always a dear friend through more than three decades. As America's first female Vice-Presidential nominee for a major party, Geraldine has forever secured a legendary position along the timeline of American political history, as Walter Mondale selected her as his running mate in the 1984 Presidential election. (Ms. MIKULSKI assumed the Chair.) While America was learning about Geraldine on the national stage, Barbara Mikulski, Barbara Boxer, and I knew her as a legislative, sister-in-arms, if you will, as all of us served together in the U.S. House of Representatives. Geraldine and I were members of the same House freshman class that began service in January 1979 that brought the total number of women in the 96th Congress in the House to 16. And all four of us fought for myriad causes, most especially those affecting America's women.…





