Barbara Mikulski

Barbara Ann Mikulski (born July 20, 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. Mikulski, a former United States Representative, is the longest-serving female senator and the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. Congress, having served since 1977.

Raised in the Highlandtown neighborhood of East Baltimore, Mikulski attended Mount Saint Agnes College and the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Originally a social worker and community organizer, she was elected to the Baltimore City Council in 1971 after delivering a highly publicized address on the "ethnic movement" in America. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, and in 1986 she became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Maryland.

Mikulski is chairwoman of the Health Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging and Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, and is a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence. Mikulski became chair of the Appropriations Committee following the death of Senator Daniel Inouye.

Early life, education and career
The great-granddaughter of immigrants who owned a local bakery, Barbara Mikulski is the oldest of three daughters of Christine Eleanor (née Kutz) and William Mikulski. Her parents were both of Polish descent. She was born and raised in the Highlandtown neighborhood of East Baltimore. During her high school years at the Institute of Notre Dame, she worked in her parents' grocery store, delivering groceries to seniors in her neighborhood who were unable to leave their homes.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Mount Saint Agnes College (now a part of Loyola University Maryland) in 1958, she obtained her master's degree in social work (MSW) from the University of Maryland School of Social Work in 1965. She worked as a social worker for Catholic charities and Baltimore's Department of Social Services, helping at-risk children and educating seniors about the Medicare program. Mikulski became an activist social worker when she heard about plans to build a 16-lane highway through Baltimore's Fells Point and Canton neighborhoods. She helped organize communities on both sides of the city and stopped the construction of the road, saving Fells Point and Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Early political career
Mikulski received her first national attention in 1970 as a result of her remarks at a conference at The Catholic University of America regarding “Ethnic Americans”, convened by Msgr. Geno Baroni. Her message became one of the major documents of the “ethnic movement”.

America is not a melting pot. It is a sizzling cauldron for the ethnic American who feels that he has been politically courted and legally extorted by both government and private enterprise. The ethnic American is sick of being stereotyped as a racist and dullard by phony white liberals, pseudo black militants and patronizing bureaucrats. He pays the bill for every major government program and gets nothing or little in the way of return. Tricked by the political rhetoric of the illusionary funding for black-oriented social programs, he turns his anger to race — when he himself is the victim of class prejudice.

[He] has worked hard all his life to become a 'good American;' he and his sons have fought on every battlefield — then he is made fun of because he likes the flag. The ethnic American is overtaxed and underserved at every level of government. He does not have fancy lawyers or expensive lobbyists getting him tax breaks on his income. Being a home owner, he shoulders the rising property taxes — the major revenue source for the municipalities in which he lives. Yet he enjoys very little from these unfair and burdensome levies.

... [T]he ethnic American also feels unappreciated for the contribution he makes to society. He resents the way the working class is looked down upon. In many instances he is treated like the machine he operates or the pencil he pushes. He is tired of being treated like an object of production. The public and private institutions have made him frustrated by their lack of response to his needs. At present he feels powerless in his daily dealings with and efforts to change them. Unfortunately, because of old prejudices and new fears, anger is generated against other minority groups rather than those who have power. What is needed is an alliance of white and black, white collar, blue collar and no collar based on mutual need, interdependence and respect, an alliance to develop the strategy for new kinds of community organization and political participation. Mikulski's activism led to a seat on the Baltimore City Council in 1971. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1974, losing to the Republican incumbent, Charles Mathias, Jr.. It has thus far been the only election that Mikulski ever lost. In 1976, she was elected to represent Maryland's 3rd congressional district from 1977 to 1987, never facing substantive opposition in the heavily Democratic district. She made a successful 1986 run for the U.S. Senate upon Mathias's retirement, winning 76% of the vote.

U.S. Senate career
In September 2009, the "tell-all" book The Clinton Tapes revealed that during the 2000 presidential election, President Bill Clinton suggested Mikulski as a running mate for Al Gore, who instead chose her colleague Joe Lieberman. In 2007, Mikulski endorsed her colleague, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), for President of the United States, praising her as a leader and citing her desire to break the "glass ceiling" by electing the first woman president.

Committee assignments
Mikulski serves on the following Senate committees (standing committees in bold):


 * Committee on Appropriations (Chair)
 * Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (Chair)
 * Subcommittee on Defense
 * Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
 * Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
 * Subcommittee on the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
 * Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
 * Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
 * Subcommittee on Children and Families (Chair)
 * Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging
 * Select Committee on Intelligence

Political positions
Mikulski was one of 11 senators to vote against both the 1991 and 2002 resolutions authorizing the use of force in Iraq.

Mikulski has opposed predatory lending, and has had been an outspoken opponent of Fairbanks Capital (now Select Portfolio Servicing), alleged to have illegally foreclosed on over 100 homes in Maryland.

Mikulski voted in favor of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which granted immunity to the telecom companies that cooperated with the NSA in warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens.

On October 1, 2008, Mikulski voted in favor of HR1424, the Senate version of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which provided a $700 billion bailout to the United States financial market.

Political campaigns
In 1986, then-Maryland Senator Charles Mathias announced his retirement from politics. At the time of this announcement, it was expected that then-Governor Harry Hughes would run for the seat being vacated by the retiring Mathias. However, Hughes became caught up in the aftermath of the Maryland savings and loan crisis. He lost popularity with voters, opening the door for Mikulski's bid for the Senate. During the campaign, her Republican opponent, Linda Chavez, made comments that Mikulski's supporters interpreted as an attempt to draw attention to the issue of Mikulski's sexual orientation. Mikulski never directly responded to the issue and eventually won the race with 61 percent of the vote. She was the first female Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in her own right (not appointed or filling a seat of a deceased husband).

Mikulski, popularly known as "Senator Barb," was reelected with large majorities in 1992, 1998, 2004, and 2010. Having won reelection in 2010, she has surpassed Margaret Chase Smith as the longest-serving female senator. ABC News named Mikulski its Person of the Week for that milestone. On March 17, 2012, she became the longest-serving female member of Congress in the history of the United States, surpassing the previous record-holder, Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts, who represented Massachusetts from 1925 to 1960.

Electoral history
= Resources =

Legislation

 * Legislation sponsored in the 113th Congress
 * Legislation cosponsored in the 113th Congress