On the recordJanuary 5, 2011
I want to say a few words about my dear friend, dear colleague, someone I so admire--Senator Barbara Mikulski-- on her remarkable accomplishments. Today, she took the oath of office, the Senator from Maryland, and made history as few others can make. Senator Mikulski has long been affectionately known here in the Senate as the dean of the women. Now she is officially the longest serving female Senator in the history of this great Nation. This distinction adds to the considerable respect and admiration I already have for Senator Mikulski and who she is and what she does. Barb, like me, came from a decidedly middle-class beginning. We often talk about her dad, Willie, who owned a grocery store in east Baltimore, and my grandfather and dad--Jake and Abe--who were exterminators. They were similar because they were people of the community. Barb would tell me that people would come in during difficult times--they had lost their job--and Willie would say, pay me when you can. It wasn't quite the same with my family, but my grandfather and then father, like him, felt people who had roaches or rats crawling through their little houses and apartments, when they couldn't pay, shouldn't have that service cut off for them. So we were both infused with that great upwardly mobile, middle-class, help your neighbor, be part of a neighborhood, be part of a community feeling.
