From the office of U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski:
MIKULSKI STATEMENT ON SELECTION AS PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM HONOREE
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today issued the following statement after the White House announced that President Barack Obama will award her the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony next week at the White House:
“I am honored and humbled to be recognized by President Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. To the people of Maryland, I thank you. Time and again you have honored me with your confidence and trust. I’m so grateful for the opportunity you’ve given me to serve Maryland and the nation. Thank you.”
According to the White House, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. More information on the award is available at www.whitehouse.gov/medal-of-freedom. The award will be presented at the White House on November 24th. Additional details are being provided by the White House.
MIKULSKI SPEAKS ON SENATE FLOOR ON SELECTION AS PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM HONOREE
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today spoke on the Senate floor after the White House announced that President Barack Obama will award her the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony next week at the White House.
According to the White House, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. More information on the award is available at www.whitehouse.gov/medal-of-freedom. The award will be presented at the White House on November 24th. Additional details are being provided by the White House.
Senator Mikulski’s remarks, as delivered, follow:
“Mr. President, today the President of the United States has informed me that I will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I wish to thank him for this honor. I am deeply honored and humbled to join this group of 17 Americans he so honored today.
“The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. It’s presented to individuals who’ve made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
“I have been so deeply honored to serve the people of Maryland and the nation. To the people of Maryland, I thank you because I could not have had an opportunity to serve in such a way had they not honored me with their confidence and their trust by voting for me. I’m so thankful for the opportunity that they’ve given me to actually serve my state and my country.
“Yes, I am the longest serving woman in the Congress, but for me it’s not about how long I serve, but how well I’ve tried to serve.
“For me, service is about being connected to my constituents — staying close enough to them so they don’t fall through the cracks, to look after their day-to-day needs making sure they get their Social Security checks or helping the veterans or working on issues like college affordability.
“Service for me is rooted in the values that I learned in my home and in my community. I think today of my father and my mother who worked so hard to make sure that my sisters and I could get an education. They owned a small neighborhood grocery store. Every day at 6:00 in the morning, my father would walk across the street from our row home and open up the door of his grocery store saying, ‘Good morning, can I help you?’ I still believe in starting each day with ‘Good morning, can I help you?’
“But they also saw that my sisters and I had a fantastic education. I had the opportunity to go to Catholic schools. There the sisters taught us leadership and service. But they also focused on the values of our faith – love your neighbor, care for the sick, worry about the poor, and that it is better to light one little candle than to curse the darkness.
“We were also taught to believe in the American dream. When my great-grandmother arrived in this country from Poland, she had little money in her pocket. Women didn’t even have right to vote. But she did had a big dream in her heart – that if you worked hard and played by the rules, life would be better for you. Coming to America like she did, she never thought her great-granddaughter would one day be a United States Senator.
“But then it’s only in America that my story would have been possible. Only in American do we have this incredible right to speak your mind. I got into politics as a protester. They wanted to build a highway through the neighborhood in which I grew up and other ethnic and black home ownership neighborhoods within the City. I organized the ‘Hell no, we won’t go’ coalition. And we took on the City. In other countries they put you in jail and beat you. In this country, they sent me to City Council, and I beat the political bosses.
“This is an amazing country. Our freedoms are guaranteed in our Constitution. The freedom of assembly. The freedom to speak. And most of all, the freedom to serve and to be all that you can be has been a marvelous gift.
“In a few days, I will be honored by the President of the United States. But the honor has always been to be here serving in the United States Senate. I never dreamed such an honor would come my way. Nor did I seek it.
“I am deeply honored and touched by this. I’m honored to be among the 17 people who will receive the Medal of Freedom. One is the dearly beloved Shirley Chisholm, who I served with in the House of Representatives. She has always been unbought and unbossed. There’s Willie Mays, who always brought it home and knew where home plate was. There’s Barbra Streisand, who always hit the high notes. And of course, even Yogi Berra who shares my love of language is being honored. Then there are distinguished Americans like Katherine Johnson, a pioneer in space history who with her grit and smarts helped American space exploration fly high. And there’s Lee Hamilton who worked both in Congress and in the private sector to bring about world peace. What a distinguished group of Americans. I will be so glad to stand with them.
“I want to thank President Obama for this tremendous honor. I want to thank the people of Maryland for this tremendous opportunity to serve. And I want to thank the United States of America who enable people like me to follow her dream. And I hope in receiving this award, I continue to meet my pledge to be of service. Thank you.”
This is a joke right?
I certainly do not agree with every position or every action Senator Mikulski has stood for. She is far too liberal for me to be a knee-jerk supporter.
However, if people were to research her political origins and career, they would appreciate how she has stood firmly in support of everyday people and small businesses, and in opposition to the corporate world and those arrogant forces seeking to amass wealth and power for the few.
Give ’em hell, Babs!
This cheapens the award just as his Nobel prize for absolutely nothing cheapened it. I’d say more, but I have to go throw up.
why?
What a sorry group of comments.
What a sorry excuse for a Senator.
Saw this coming!! A lot of back rubbing and “at-a-girl” at these events. When a lib is in office, everything gets watered down. The military, award ceremonies, more nanny state services.
Obama n milskullski remind me of Siegfried & Roy. I’m just not sure which one i’d rather see inside a lions mouth? Those who perform magic tricks should try’em in the bedroom first before sliding them down the puplics throat?