On the recordMarch 21, 2012
Mr. President I too want to speak of my dear friend Barbara Mikulski, who is just precious. She is precious to her family. She is precious to the people of the Third Congressional District that she represented for 10 years. She is precious to the people of Maryland, precious to the people of the United States, and precious to those of us who have the privilege of serving with her in this body. She has been affectionately known as a few things: The dean of women; the breaker of the ceiling, as Patty Murray just said; setting the stage, setting the rule book--writing the rule book--for women in the Senate. There will be 51 women in the Senate 1 day--there will be--and it will come much more quickly because Barbara Mikulski was the first. There is no question about that. The Senate will be a better place for it in so many different ways. She is also not only known as the dean of women, we love her. She is known as Barb. I love calling her on the phone late at night and having her say: This is Barb. Please call me. Make sure you say the words and leave your phone number twice. Of course, when Barb says something, we all do it. So I always leave the phone number twice. I admire so much about her. But one of the things at the top of the list is who she is. She is the real deal. She knows where she came from. She has never forgotten where she came from.…
Source
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