A powerful voice pays off for Maryland during federal budget cuts

With the aid of Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Many contributors of Congress appeared lovely helpless this week as they fought to save cherished applications of their states from across-the-board budget cuts. But after Congress wrapped up work on a bill to fund the federal government thru September, some participants looked less helpless than others. Among them was once Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, a Democrat from Maryland. Neither Mikulski nor Congress as a complete saved any agency from the $85 billion in cuts often called the "sequestration. …