On the recordMarch 21, 2012
I am pleased to stand and add my experiences with and admiration for Senator Barbara Mikulski. It is fitting that she is now the longest serving woman in the U.S. Congress. When I first got here--I was elected in 1993--Barbara Mikulski, as the dean of the women in the Senate, had a workshop the previous year for the newly elected Democratic women Senators. When I arrived in 1993, she expanded it to include all new women Senators, and her sort of opening comment was, civility starts with us. Surely, she has carried through as the dean of the women of the Senate to ensure that all the new women get their bearings in the Senate, that they get the advice of the ones who have been here before. It has been a huge help and really a fun opportunity for us to get to know each other on a personal level as we have our women Senators' dinners. From this came a book Senator Mikulski and I worked on together. The genesis of the book--which became ``Nine and Counting,'' the nine women Senators who were here in the year 2000--came from a meeting called by Senator Mikulski to meet with the women of Northern Ireland, along with the women of Ireland, when there was so much strife in that country. Barbara Mikulski called all of the women Senators together, our nine, to give encouragement and advice to the women who were trying to bring the people of Ireland and Northern Ireland together so that there could be a peaceful conclusion to the conflicts in Northern Ireland.…
