Jumpstart Our Business STARTUPS Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I wish to join my colleagues in a tribute to Senator Mikulski.

I am delighted to join my colleagues in joining in this tribute to perhaps our favorite colleague, Barbara Mikulski, on her becoming the longest serving woman in congressional history. Her work in these Halls has made our country stronger. In a place where partisan rancor too often rules the day, she has established a legacy of service to her constituents and to all of us in this body that stands as an example to every one of us.

Her political career began in the late 1960s when she launched a campaign to stop the construction of a highway over a historic neighborhood she wanted to protect in Baltimore. She won that battle and went on to run for the Baltimore City Council in 1971. More than 40 years later and following a successful stint in the House of Representatives, Barbara Mikulski continues to blaze an impressive trail.

During her 27 years in the Senate, she became the first woman to sit on the Senate Appropriations Committee, the first woman to chair an appropriations subcommittee, and the first Democratic woman elected to Senate leadership. Last year, we celebrated Barbara as she became the longest serving female Senator. Now she has crossed yet another milestone, passing Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, having served in the Congress longer than any woman in history.

Of course, we do not just celebrate the quantity of Barbara's service but its quality. No one is better at drilling down to the heart of an issue and expressing it in punchy, unforgettable terms. No one cheers us up more than Barbara when she tells us to: Stand tall, square our shoulders, put on our lipstick, and rise to the occasion. We do not all put on lipstick, but we all get the message.

No one better combines the idealism of politics with the proactive abilities of government. She told me once with a twinkle in her eye, ``I am a reformer, but I am a bit of a wardheeler too.'' Practicality and passion combined is what makes politics successful, and no one does it better than Barbara.

When she was first elected to the House in 1977, she was 1 of 21 women in Congress; 18 in the House and only 3 in the Senate. Today there are 93 women serving including 17 Senators. Barbara has earned the distinction of dean of the Senate women. But she never, never forgot her roots as a champion for those who need a voice in this building.
In her years in the Senate, Barbara Mikulski's dedication to her constituents and women's rights has been clear, from becoming a champion of women's health issues to organizing training seminars for women of both parties elected to the Senate, to sponsoring and pushing through with a force that we all remember the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

During my much shorter tenure as a Senator, I have had the great privilege and pleasure to work with Barbara to pass landmark health care reform legislation out of the HELP Committee. I have also served with her on the Intelligence Committee, and worked closely with her on the Senate Intelligence Committee's cyber task force to evaluate cyber threats and issue recommendations to the full committee. I have taken from those experiences great affection and respect for Senator Barbara Mikulski. These are issues that are complex, complicated, difficult, and abstruse, and she brought to them the verve and the vigor and the vision to move on them. And those really are her hallmarks: verve, vigor, and vision.

I know all of us here in this Chamber are proud to call Senator Barb our colleague and friend as she makes history yet again. Her hard work and collegial spirit have enriched this Senate. I wish her all of the best in the accomplishments ahead. On behalf of all Rhode Islanders, Senator Mikulski, I congratulate you for this milestone in your history, the Senate's history, and our Nation's history.

I yield the floor.

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