Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President I too want to speak of my dear friend Barbara Mikulski, who is just precious. She is precious to her family. She is precious to the people of the Third Congressional District that she represented for 10 years. She is precious to the people of Maryland, precious to the people of the United States, and precious to those of us who have the privilege of serving with her in this body.

She has been affectionately known as a few things: The dean of women; the breaker of the ceiling, as Patty Murray just said; setting the stage, setting the rule book--writing the rule book--for women in the Senate.

There will be 51 women in the Senate 1 day--there will be--and it will come much more quickly because Barbara Mikulski was the first. There is no question about that. The Senate will be a better place for it in so many different ways.

She is also not only known as the dean of women, we love her. She is known as Barb. I love calling her on the phone late at night and having her say: This is Barb. Please call me. Make sure you say the words and leave your phone number twice.

Of course, when Barb says something, we all do it. So I always leave the phone number twice.

I admire so much about her. But one of the things at the top of the list is who she is. She is the real deal. She knows where she came from. She has never forgotten where she came from. As I have told her personally, she has that internal gyroscope of who she is, what she should do, and how she should do it that guides her almost instinctively, and it is probably the most precious thing a politician can have. Not very many people have it, but hers is about the best I have ever witnessed.

It started from her upbringing and her faith, which she mentioned. We have talked about Willy. She has mentioned Willy. But you never forget how she reminds us because it is with her, and you can see it in her actions every day--how when people would come into the store that Willy had, the grocery store in east Baltimore, when they had lost their job or someone was very sick and Willy would say: Take the groceries and pay me later.

It reminded me of my grandfather Jake--we have talked about this--who was an exterminator, not quite the same as Willy and not providing the same services, but he would tell people: If you have roaches and rats in your house and you can't pay, I will still exterminate. Pay me when you have the money. So I understood that instinctively.

I would have loved Willy to have met my grandfather Jake because I am sure they were kindred souls in a lot of ways. And the guidance of Willy and Barb's mom--you can see it every day in the way she acts.

I just want to say another thing about Barb. She got into public service as a community activist. There was a highway that was going to tear up an important and historic part of her community, and she got involved. Being schooled by her and many of my colleagues, many women believed, oh, they would be excluded from politics if they went into politics directly. But when you are a community activist and you take a lead because something is bothering you about your home or your neighborhood, politics just followed sort of naturally. It is a little bit like Patty Murray's story as well.

These days, because of what Barb has done, I think my daughters can aspire--I do not know if they do, but they can aspire to go into political life directly. In those days, it was much harder. But there she was. She led this fight. She went on to the city council, of course the Third Congressional District in Maryland, and now to this august Chamber. She has done so much. It has been cataloged by all my colleagues.

Medical research: There are probably millions of people alive today because of the 35 years she has pushed to make that happen. They do not know who they are, but they are there; and they are living happy and healthy because of Barb Mikulski.

How about veterans and health care needs? Again, literally tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of our veterans are living much better lives because they were able to get the health care that Barb Mikulski spearheaded, particularly in the earlier days when this was not a popular cause.

The list goes on and on and on. She has done so much. In our Chamber she is beloved. Beloved. People are sometimes afraid of her when she gets mad. People want her approval. But most of all, I think what most of us seek is her advice, because after so many years in politics, she has that gift to understand what the average person needs and to talk directly to them. She does not talk through her colleagues or does not talk through the media or does not talk through some community leader or other politician. She still is talking to that family sitting in east Baltimore or in Hagerstown or in Annapolis. She almost has them in front of her eyes wherever she goes. That is why her speeches are so effective. She does not try to polish them. That is not her. She speaks from the heart directly to the people, and she cares so much about them that it comes through. It is an amazing trait.

I most admire people in political life who never forget where they came from. She is one of the most powerful people, not just women, one of the most powerful persons in America. I did not know Barb Mikulski when she was a community activist in East Baltimore, but my guess is she is exactly the same today. All the power and the accomplishments and the emoluments and the praise, all deserved, have not changed her a whit. That to me says an amazing thing about an individual.

Barb, I know my colleagues are waiting, but we love you. We cherish you. And as Patty Murray said, I will put it my own way, I am sure that Barbara Mikulski, knowing her as well as I do, the best is yet to come.

I yield the floor.

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