Mikulski Becomes Chairman Of The Senate Appropriations Committee

Maryland’s Barbara Mikulski now heads one of the U.S. Senate’s most powerful committees. The state’s senior senator becomes one of a handful of high public officials who decide how the people’s money will be spent. WYPR’s Fraser Smith reports.

Fraser Smith: Baltimore’s Barbara Mikulski added another chapter yesterday in her record-setting career when Senate Democrats made her chairman of the Appropriations Committee. She accepted with a brief floor speech.

Senator Barbara Mikulski: “I take the floor today to announce that with full humility.”

Smith: She made a gentle allusion to the raucous recent politics in Washington.

Mikulski: “As I assume the chairmanship I look forward to working with each and e very member of the U.S Senate in my own caucus and across the aisle to have a committee that functions on a bi-partisan basis.”

Smith: She assumes her new role immediately. I’m Fraser Smith, reporting for 88.1 WYPR.