On the recordMarch 21, 2012
I rise today in tribute to Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, who has just become the longest serving woman in Congress, and to applaud the pioneering role that she has played in the evolution of the Senate. Things have certainly changed since 1986, when Senator Mikulski was elected to the Senate. When Senator Mikulski joined the Senate as the first Democratic woman elected in her right as opposed to filling the term of a spouse, the Senate looked very different. There was only one other woman senator, Nancy Kassebaum, a Republican from Kansas. The Senate had just begun to televise their proceedings the year she was elected. And, obviously, there were no women in leadership positions in the Senate. Senator Mikulski set out to change all that. She became the first woman in the Democratic leadership. She became the first woman to serve on the Appropriations Committee. And then she became the first woman to chair the Senate CJS Appropriations subcommittee. And things certainly have changed. Now, in the 112th Congress, there are 17 women, both Republican and Democrat, in the Senate overall. There are seven women on the Appropriations Committee alone. Five women chair Senate committees. Women have had significant roles in both the Democratic and Republican Senate leadership. While all of these changes were clearly not solely a function of Senator Mikulski's pioneering leadership, she blazed a trail as bright and as wide as anyone could possibly hope for.…
