Frank Lautenberg: “I thank my pal from Maryland. We have been good friends. Senator Mikulski said something that got my attention. She said…”

“I thank my pal from Maryland. We have been good friends. Senator Mikulski said something that got my attention. She said she has looked up to me. We have differences in height in a lot of places, but no one has ever looked down to Senator Mikulski. She is a giant. What a welcome addition she was when she first graced the Democratic Party with her presence, followed by nine others. What a difference women have made in this body--not just cleaning up the language, which helped, but also in making sure that we understood there was a far different point of view on many issues. As Senator Mikulski so clearly said and has always said, she listened. We can steal a couple of things from commercials to say that when Senator Barbara Mikulski speaks, people listen. The Members here listen. We share a common background in many ways. We both have Polish roots. Second, we both have what I call an ordinary person's background; she in the bakery, and me in the newspaper store with our families trying to eke out a living each and every day.”