U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) was recognized as the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. Congress. Senator Mikulski became the longest-serving woman in U.S. Senate history when she was sworn in to her fifth term on January 5, 2011. On Saturday, March 17, 2012, she surpassed Representative Edith Nourse Rogers as the longest-serving woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. In 1976, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as the Congresswoman from Maryland’s third district, and was first elected to the Senate in 1986.
The program included a performance by the Institute of Notre Dame Choir. The Institute of Notre Dame was the high school attended by both Senator Mikulski and Baltimore native Representative Pelosi.