After gaining her Abitur (higher-education entrance qualification), Bulmahn spent one year living in the Bror Hayil kibbutz in southern Israel.

During that time, she was also the deputy chairwoman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with Arabic-Speaking States in the Middle East, which is in charge of maintaining inter-parliamentary relations with Bahrain, Irak, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and the Palestinian territories.

From 2009 to 2013, Bulmahn was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and spokeswoman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Sub-Committee on Civilian Crisis Prevention and Integrated Conflict Management.

In addition, she was a member of the parliament’s Council of Elders, which – among other duties – determines daily legislative agenda items and assigning committee chairpersons based on party representation.

In October 2016, Bulmahn announced that she would not stand in the 2017 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.