Mikulski honored as longest-serving female Congress member

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., was honored at length on the Senate floor Wednesday to commemorate reaching a historic milestone as the longest-serving woman in congressional history.

"When I first came here there was one woman serving, (Kansas Republican Sen.) Nancy Kasselbaum," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. "It's fair to say that Barbara Mikulski has been pivotal in creating here a true band of sisters."

Mikulski, 75, was praised by Republicans and Democrats alike for her legislative savvy, commitment to women's issues, and her role as the informal mentor to all women who have been elected since she became the first woman elected outright to the Senate. "She has guided us, she has shown us how to stand up and fight, and she has taken all of us under her wing," said Patty Murray, D-Wash.

Her career has been defined by firsts. She was elected to the House in 1976 and, 10 years later, became the first woman elected to the Senate who had not had a father or husband serve before her. In 2011, she passed former Maine GOP senator Margaret Chase Smith as the longest-serving woman in Senate history and, on Saturday, she became the longest-serving woman in Congress overall. She was the first woman elected statewide in Maryland.

Known for her bluntness, she has been dubbed the "meanest" U.S. senator by Washingtonian magazine but also commands respect among her colleagues. Among the 17 women serving in the Senate, Mikulski is the dean and has worked behind the scenes to cultivate strong working relationships with female lawmakers.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., praised her tenacity. "In our chamber, she is beloved," he said, "People are sometimes afraid of her when she gets mad. People seek her approval. But mostly, people seek her advice."

Mikulski has been a prominent advocate for women's rights. In 2009, she guided the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act through the Senate and stood next to President Obama when he signed it into law. She authored a bill that established the Office of Women's Health at the National Institute of Health. She has also supported legislation to expand women's access to preventive health care, including mammograms, and to require insurance companies to cover conditions specific to women.

She has worked hard to elect more women. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., recalled how Mikulski aided her first Senate campaign in 1992, a year that would later be dubbed "the Year of the Woman" because it sent four newly elected women to the chamber.

"When we were running back in 1992, Barbara Mikulski was on the phone with us, 'What can I do to help?' When we got here, she helped in any way. She is so totally supportive of women," Feinstein said. "It's very special to see someone like this reach this apex."

One of 1992's winning women, former senator Carol Moseley-Braun, D-Ill., appeared in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to pay tribute.

Mikulski has often bristled at questions regarding women in politics, which she has long viewed as a matter of parity, not special treatment. Mikulski famously quipped that "calling 1992 the Year of the Woman makes it sound like the Year of the Caribou or the Year of the Asparagus. We're not a fad, a fancy, or a year."

In her remarks on Wednesday, Mikulski said she was called to a life of service, in part because of her Catholic education, and she said she briefly considered becoming a nun.

"That vow of obedience kind of slowed me down a little bit," she said.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will host a Women's History Month reception in her honor. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, former secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, are scheduled to attend.