[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 19-21]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      COMMENDING SENATOR MIKULSKI

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I wish to make some remarks regarding my 
dear friend and seatmate on the Appropriations Committee and a member 
of my Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
  I join with the entire Senate family in saluting my good friend, the 
distinguished senior Senator from Maryland, on becoming the longest 
serving woman in the history of the Senate. This is truly a remarkable 
milestone.
  I note that Cal Ripken, the former star of Senator Mikulski's 
hometown Baltimore Orioles, became known as the ``Iron Man'' for going 
16 consecutive years without missing a game. Now perhaps Senator 
Mikulski has earned the title of ``Iron Woman'' for going 24 
consecutive years in this body without ever deviating from her role as 
a fierce advocate for Marylanders and for working people across our 
country.
  I hasten to add that the measure of a Senator is not how many years 
he or she serves in the body but what he or she accomplishes during 
those years. That is where Senator Mikulski has truly distinguished 
herself over the last quarter of a century.
  I especially salute her activism and leadership on the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, formerly chaired, of course, by 
Senator Kennedy and which I am now privileged to chair. She has been a 
leading champion of Pell grants and for expanding access to higher 
education for students of modest means. Of course, as has been stated, 
she has been the Senate's leading voice on women's health issues, 
fighting to ensure women are included in clinical trials and medical 
research at the National Institutes of Health, and securing access to 
breast and cervical cancer screenings for women without health 
insurance.
  Senator Mikulski took the lead in writing the sections of the new 
health reform law that focus on improving the quality of care. At every 
turn in the drafting of that historic legislation, she fought to ensure 
that the unique health needs of women were fully recognized and 
accommodated.
  As chair of the Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging, Senator 
Mikulski has been an outspoken advocate for seniors, focusing 
especially on combating elder abuse and neglect. I know she is 
especially proud of authoring the Spousal Anti-Impoverishment Act, 
which keeps seniors from going bankrupt while paying for a spouse's 
nursing home care. I might also add, no one has been a more fierce 
supporter and defender of the right for people to have an attorney 
through the legal aid system in America. She has fought very hard to 
make sure we strengthened the National Legal Services Corporation and 
to make sure it receives adequate funding so people who have no money 
aren't barred from the courthouse door.
  We admire the work of Barbara Mikulski not as a female Senator per se 
but as one of 100 Senators. On this day we also recognize that she was 
the first woman elected to the Senate whose husband or father did not 
serve in high office. We salute her as the proud dean among Senate 
women who has gone to extraordinary lengths for so many years to mentor 
and guide newly elected women Senators of both parties.
  I join my colleagues in congratulating Senator Mikulski as our 
longest

[[Page 20]]

serving female Senator and wishing her many more years of 
accomplishment and service in the Senate.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise today to add my voice to those 
of my colleagues as we commemorate an extraordinary milestone for a 
remarkable woman. Today, Senator Barbara Mikulski becomes the longest 
serving woman Senator.
  For anyone who has had the privilege of working with or for Senator 
Mikulski, this milestone comes as no surprise. She is a devoted public 
servant and a dogged advocate for her constituents. She has spent the 
vast majority of her life in public service as a social worker, as a 
member of the Baltimore City Council, then as a Member of the House of 
Representatives, and finally as a Senator. With each step, her 
constituency got larger and she worked even harder to fight for the 
people of Maryland.
  Senator Mikulski is no stranger to celebrating firsts or milestones. 
She was the first Democratic woman to be elected to the Senate in her 
own right without succeeding a spouse or a father. She was also the 
first woman to serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
  It is also worth reflecting on how far we have come in the 24 years 
since Senator Mikulski was first elected. She was one of only two women 
in the Senate in 1987. In the next Senate, as in the last Senate, we 
are now up to 17 female Senators, meaning that they can no longer call 
us ``Sweet 16.''
  As the dean of women Senators, Senator Mikulski has always been ready 
to help women who are thinking about running for the Senate and then 
help newly arrived women Senators when they get here. Her wise counsel 
is absolutely invaluable. Senator Mikulski has always reached across 
the aisle to bring women Senators together. As she puts it: ``Women in 
the Senate understand issues not just on the macro level, but on the 
macaroni and cheese level.''
  Two years ago around this time, I went to the Senate floor with 
several of my women colleagues to speak about the importance of passing 
the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Senator Mikulski had championed the 
bill for years. I remember Senator Mikulski bringing us all together 
and I will always remember her words. She would say:

       To the women of America: Suit up, square your shoulders, 
     put your lipstick on. We're ready for a revolution.

  Senator Mikulski has always been a master of words and quips. She did 
it again, and we passed that bill.
  On that issue, as on so many others, the cause that Senator Mikulski 
championed was victorious due in large part to her tremendous work 
ethic and her devoted advocacy.
  Senator Mikulski, today we salute you for suiting up and squaring 
your shoulders for 24 years and counting, and we look forward to so 
many more.
  I see my great colleague Senator Stabenow from the State of Michigan 
is here.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I am so pleased to be here today. I 
appreciate the words of the great Senator from Minnesota. I am very 
pleased to rise with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pay 
tribute to somebody who is much more than a colleague--someone who is 
also a mentor and a great friend, the Senator from Maryland, Barbara 
Mikulski.
  Today, as we all know, she became the longest serving woman Member of 
the Senate in the history of our Nation. I have a 3-year-old 
granddaughter Lilly who will be able to read now in the history books 
about not only her grandmother but the woman who holds this record, 
Senator Barbara Mikulski, and all she has done and all she means to 
each of us, particularly as a role model for my granddaughter and other 
young children, other young women who will be coming after all of us.
  She is here today because she is bold and fearless and determined, as 
we all know. In 1986, when she first ran for the Senate, she looked for 
inspiration from her own great-grandmother who came to the United 
States from Poland with no money and no job. But her great-grandmother 
knew the importance of hard work and she built a life for her family 
here, a new beginning, and in so doing opened the door for future 
generations. I know today she is looking down from a special place with 
tremendous pride.
  When Senator Mikulski won that election, becoming the first 
Democratic woman to win a Senate seat in her own right, she carried on 
her great-grandmother's legacy--opening doors for future generations of 
women to follow in her footsteps. Thanks to that, there are more women 
serving in the Senate today than have ever served in the entire history 
of our great country. When Senator Mikulski was elected in 1986, from 
the moment she arrived in this august body, she has been a tireless 
champion of working families in Maryland and across the country. I am 
proud to have partnered with her on so many important efforts to make 
sure we are building things in America again and supporting the people 
who have built the great middle class of this country by their hard 
work.
  She grew up working in her parents' grocery store and understands the 
struggles of working families who want nothing more than to create a 
better life for their children and their grandchildren.
  She got her start in politics fighting to save the Fells Point 
neighborhood in Baltimore, stopping a proposed highway that would have 
divided a neighborhood and destroyed that community. Today, because of 
Senator Mikulski, Fells Point is a thriving residential and commercial 
community. She has continued from that day, every day, fighting for 
neighborhoods and families and standing for the men and women who work 
hard every day to make a better life for themselves and their families.
  When Barbara first arrived in the Senate, she was one of only two 
women Senators, as we know. Before then, women were appointed to the 
worst committees, were locked out of the ``old boys' club'' and didn't 
have much of a voice. But she changed all that.
  She got appointed to the powerful Appropriations Committee--the first 
Democratic woman to do so, giving the women of America a voice, for the 
first time, on how we set our priorities for the investments of our 
country. More importantly, she learned how to build coalitions, to work 
with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and get things done for the 
people who sent her here to work for them.
  Today, as dean of the women Senators, Barbara continues that 
leadership. Thanks to her, the women of the Senate get together--both 
Democrats and Republicans--for fellowship and friendship on a regular 
basis. Now, following in her footsteps, there are woman Members on 
every single committee in the Senate. That is important to the 
operation of our country's business.
  Her example shows us all the importance of hard work, determination, 
and courage.
  I congratulate my friend, Senator Barbara Mikulski, today on her 
great accomplishment and, most importantly, on a distinguished record 
of public service on behalf of the people of Maryland and our country. 
I thank her for all she has done for me personally and for all the 
other women in the Senate--the ones who have already followed in her 
footsteps and the many who are still to come.
  This is an exciting day for the history books--as some of us like to 
say, it is another step in ``herstory''--Barbara's story--which is a 
special one for our country.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Manchin). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

[[Page 21]]


  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: Under the unanimous 
consent agreement, there was a period of 30 minutes for tributes to 
Senator Mikulski. Is there any of that time remaining?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Time has been consumed.
  Mr. HARKIN. If I am not mistaken, under the unanimous consent 
agreement, I was deemed to have 45 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.

                          ____________________