Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Ann Mikulskiis the senior United States Senator from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party, serving since 1987. Mikulski, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, is the longest-serving woman in the history of the United States Congress...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth20 July 1936
CountryUnited States of America
integrity thinking has-beens
I think, though, with that whole sense of integrity and a lot of things that have been going on, the shared leadership rather than the titular head.
fighting equal-pay passages
[During] the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter [Fair Pay Act], equal pay for equal work, the women led that fight.
reform world groups
There was a whole group that really welcomed me: George Mitchell was one, Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd, the reformers were really delighted to see me. So if you were one of those squeaky clean, shiny bright, let's reform the world, you were very glad to see Barb Mikulski, and George Mitchell was in that category.
father thinking alzheimers
My own father had died of Alzheimer's. George [Mitchell] had been also, I think, deeply moved by a similar tragedy.
views issues choices
We don't have a caucus, because we differ on so many views. Some of us are pro-choice, some are not. We'll take the issue of drilling, for example: Lisa Murkowski would want to drill in ANWAR, Maria Cantwell, Barbara Boxer, and most of us would say no, and so we don't. But we get together once a month for dinner, and we have three rules: no memos, no staff, and no leaks; and we get together for friendship. In fact, we're having a dinner tonight. We just have drinks and talk about life and times.
guy kind share
I wanted to [share] what a gracious kind of guy George Mitchell was.
hills debacles happened
Nothing really happened - I was elected in '86 - until 1992, and that's when the Anita Hill debacle happened.
thinking wife heathers
I think Paul Sarbanes and his wife Christine socialized with them [George and Heather Mitchell] more than I did, but we all hung out, or we saw each other in groups.
integrity thinking voice
I think the legacy was set because the way George Mitchell was the leader enabled Tom Daschle to be the leader he is. It carried on the spirit of integrity and of reform, of also working both with committee chairmen but bringing in the newer members to be able to have a voice and a say and participate in the deliberations, to always look at a modern way of doing it.
thinking promoting
I think George Mitchell believed in promoting women.
opportunity bridges missing
One hundred thousand dollars was the bridge that enabled me to go on TV, not miss a beat or miss an opportunity, and raise then my own money to carry me forth. And that's how I got to be the first Democratic woman in the United States Senate's history.
thinking people leader
People had so much respect for George Mitchell. They wanted to cooperate with him. I think that's a hallmark of a very good leader.
giving bob way
Senator Paul Sarbanes really was a big help to me. He was so well known and so well respected, and he said, "Give her a chance here." And he showed me the ways of power and the corridors of power, [as did] Bob Byrd. [They] helped with [my] committee assignments.
home nursing emotional
In my very first term there was an issue that brought us [George Mitchell, Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd] together in a very deep, emotional, and personal level.It was called 'spousal impoverishment' and it meant that for one person [to go into] a nursing home, the family [ ], could go near bankruptcy, and then they'd end up with a lien on the family farm or the home. And so I wanted to change that.