[Senate Document 109-15]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
109th Congress------------------------------------------S. Doc. 109-15
TRIBUTES TO HON. ROBERT C. BYRD
Robert C. Byrd
U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA
TRIBUTES
IN THE CONGRESS OF
THE UNITED STATES
Robert C. Byrd
Tributes
Delivered in Congress
Robert C. Byrd
United States Congressman
1953-1958
United States Senator
1959-
a
Compiled under the direction
of the
Joint Committee on Printing
Trent Lott, Chairman
CONTENTS
Biography.............................................
v
Proceedings in the Senate:
Tributes by Senators:
Akaka, Daniel K., of Hawaii....................
74
Alexander, Lamar, of Tennessee.................
36
Baucus, Max, of Montana........................
64
Biden, Joseph R., Jr., of Delaware.............
75
Boxer, Barbara, of California..................
59
Chambliss, Saxby, of Georgia...................
38
Clinton, Hillary Rodham, of New York...........
48
Coburn, Tom, of Oklahoma.......................
51
Cochran, Thad, of Mississippi..................
75
Coleman, Norm, of Minnesota....................
76
Dodd, Christopher J., of Connecticut...........
65
Domenici, Pete V., of New Mexico...............
34
Durbin, Richard, of Illinois...................
20
Enzi, Michael B., Wyoming......................
79
Frist, William H., of Tennessee................
3
Harkin, Tom, of Iowa...........................
68
Hatch, Orrin G., of Utah.......................
45
Isakson, Johnny, of Georgia....................
41
Johnson, Tim, of South Dakota..................
46
Kennedy, Edward M., of Massachusetts...........
30
Kohl, Herb, of Wisconsin.......................
58
Landrieu, Mary L., of Louisiana................
69
Lautenberg, Frank R., of New Jersey............
54
Leahy, Patrick J., of Vermont..................
81
Levin, Carl, of Michigan.......................
39
Lieberman, Joseph I., of Connecticut...........
62
Martinez, Mel, of Florida......................
78
McConnell, Mitch, of Kentucky..................
9, 71
Mikulski, Barbara A., of Maryland..............
47
Murray, Patty, of Washington...................
57
Nelson, Bill, of Florida.......................
53
Obama, Barak, of Illinois......................
60
Reed, Jack, of Rhode Island....................
51
Reid, Harry, of Nevada.........................
4
Rockefeller, John D., IV, of West Virginia.....
43
Salazar, Ken, of Colorado......................
18
Sarbanes, Paul S., of Maryland.................
71
Smith, Gordon H., of Oregon....................
51
Specter, Arlen, of Pennsylvania................
15
Stevens, Ted, of Alaska........................
13
Warner, John, of Virginia......................
25, 39
Proceedings in the House of Representatives:
Tributes by Representatives:
Mollohan, Alan B., of West Virginia............
83
Rahall, Nick J., II, of West Virginia..........
83
Biography
Robert C. Byrd's story is a classic American saga of
hard work, success, and achievement.
Born in 1917 in North Wilkesboro, NC, Robert Byrd was
left a virtual orphan by the death of his mother when he
was only 1 year old. Brought to West Virginia by his aunt
and uncle to be reared as their own, the future Senator
grew up in various communities in the bituminous
coalfields, mastering life's early lessons and graduating
as valedictorian of his high school class in the depths of
the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Unable at the time to afford college tuition, Byrd
sought employment wherever he found an opportunity--
pumping gas at a filling station, working as a produce
salesman, and then becoming a meat cutter--picking up new
skills as he advanced.
One of those skills--welding--was in demand after World
War II started, and he worked during the war years
building Liberty and Victory ships in the construction
yards of Baltimore, MD, and Tampa, FL.
At war's end, he returned to West Virginia with a new
vision of what his home State and his country could be. In
1946, he made his first run for political office, and was
elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates.
After two terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates,
Byrd was elected to the West Virginia Senate; then to the
U.S. House of Representatives for three terms; and
finally, in 1958, to the U.S. Senate, where he has
represented West Virginia continuously since, winning
reelection again and again by record margins in statewide
elections. He has served longer in the U.S. Senate than
has anyone else in West Virginia's history, an indication
of the confidence, faith, and trust that the people of his
home State have regarding him. In fact, in the history of
the Republic, only two other Members of Congress have had
a longer tenure than Senator Byrd's congressional career
of more than 50 years.
In addition to fulfilling his Senate responsibilities,
he earned his law degree (J.D.), cum laude, from American
University in Washington, DC, in 1963 after 10 years of
study in night classes. This marked the first time in
history that a sitting Member of either House of the
Congress has accomplished the feat of beginning and
completing the courses of study leading to a law degree
while serving in Congress. Byrd was awarded his bachelor
of arts degree in political science, summa cum laude, by
Marshall University in 1994, at the age of 77.
Continuing his upward trajectory, Senator Byrd became a
member of the Senate leadership in 1967, when he was
selected by his colleagues to be secretary of the
Democratic Conference. In 1971, he was chosen Senate
Democratic whip. In 1977, he was elected Democratic leader
by his Democratic colleagues, a position he held for six
consecutive terms. For the 12 years he held the position
of Democratic leader--from January 1977 through December
1988--Senator Byrd served as Senate majority leader 6
years (1977-1980, 1987-1988) and as Senate minority leader
6 years (1981-1986).
On two different occasions, Senator Byrd has served as
chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee,
on which he has held membership since January 1959. Also
twice, Senator Byrd unanimously was elected President pro
tempore of the Senate, a post that placed him third in
line of succession to the Presidency. He was President pro
tempore from 1989 through 1994, and again from June 2001
through the end of 2002.
Robert Byrd has the distinction of having held more
leadership positions in the U.S. Senate than any other
Senator of any party in Senate history and, on June 12,
2006, became the longest serving Senator in the history of
the Republic.
In May 2001, Senator Byrd received what he considers his
greatest honor when Governor Bob Wise and both Houses of
the West Virginia Legislature named him ``West Virginian
of the 20th Century.'' In 2006, West Virginia voters
elected Senator Byrd to an unprecedented ninth 6-year term
in the U.S. Senate. He also has cast more votes than any
other Senator in the history of the Republic, having cast
more than 17,700 votes.
Senator Byrd was married for more than 68 years to the
former Erma Ora James, his high school sweetheart and a
coal miner's daughter. Mrs. Byrd died on March 25, 2006,
after battling a long illness. The couple has two
daughters, Mrs. Mohammad (Mona Byrd) Fatemi and Mrs. Jon
(Marjorie Byrd) Moore. They have six grandchildren--Erik,
Darius, and Fredrik Fatemi; Michael (deceased), Mona Byrd
Moore Pearson, and Mary Anne Moore Clarkson--and six
great-grandchildren: Caroline Byrd Fatemi; Kathryn James
Fatemi, and Anna Cristina Honora Fatemi; Emma James
Clarkson and Hannah Byrd Clarkson; and Michael Yoo Fatemi.
TRIBUTES
TO
ROBERT C. BYRD
Proceedings in the Senate
Monday, June 12, 2006
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today marks an extraordinary--
extraordinary--milestone in the history of the Senate and
in the life of one of our most distinguished colleagues.
Today, Robert C. Byrd, the senior Senator from West
Virginia, becomes the longest serving Senator in the
history of the United States.
Today, he will have served 17,327 days in office, and
outlasted 1,885 Senators who have graced this Chamber
since 1789. He has cast more votes than any other Senator.
And this year, Senator Byrd is running for an
unprecedented ninth term.
Our distinguished colleague has amassed an astonishing
record of service, and it is my privilege and honor to pay
tribute to the Dean of the Senate--one of the greatest
orators in the grand tradition of this august institution.
Senator Byrd won his first election to the Senate back
in 1958. Lyndon Johnson was the majority leader. Dwight
Eisenhower was President. And the Soviets had won the
space race with the launch of Sputnik.
Senator Byrd joined the Appropriations Committee and
quickly got to work learning the ins and outs of
parliamentary procedure.
Senator Byrd has been called a walking encyclopedia of
Congress. Indeed, in his career he has authored a four-
volume history of the U.S. Senate.
In 1971, Senator Byrd was chosen Senate Democratic whip.
In 1977, he was elected Democratic leader, a position held
for six consecutive terms.
He led the Senate as majority leader for 6 years, and
served as minority leader for another 6.
Senator Byrd has twice been elected President pro
tempore.
All told, Robert C. Byrd has held more leadership
positions in the Senate than any other Senator in history.
But even having attained this extraordinary influence,
Senator Byrd has never forgotten where he came from or who
sent him here.
From early on in his career, he demonstrated his deep
commitment to the people of West Virginia. His loyalty,
closeness, and respect have been rewarded. Senator Byrd
has won overwhelming majorities in each of his reelection
campaigns, winning with 78 percent in 2000.
He is known across his State for his unflagging support
for his constituents and the future and welfare of those
people of West Virginia. In 2001, he was named by his
State ``West Virginian of the 20th Century.''
Today marks a great achievement for the senior Senator,
but in some ways it is also bittersweet.
Today, Erma Byrd, the Senator's wife of nearly seven
decades, would have turned 89 years old. The Senator has
said that his love for Erma was greater than anything in
his life. Without her, he could not have reached such
great heights, nor could he have endured the inevitable
rough patches of political life.
On the occasion of their 65th wedding anniversary, the
Senator paid an eloquent tribute to his high school
sweetheart. His words:
Erma and I are complete and whole, a total that is more
than the sum of its parts. In my life, Erma Byrd is the
diamond. She is the priceless treasure, a multifaceted
woman of great insight and wisdom, of quiet humor and
common sense.
Senator Byrd has said that, for him, today's achievement
will pass with little fanfare or pride. Today, he will do
what he has always done on June 12. He will honor his dear
wife Erma, remember her and pray for her.
So we will celebrate on his behalf and pay honor to them
both--Senator Byrd for his lifelong service to his
country, and Erma for her quiet and steady support for the
country gentleman from West Virginia.
When history is written, I am certain that Senator Byrd
will hold a prominent place as a Senate legend--and in no
small part because of the love of a kind and gentle lady,
Erma Ora Byrd.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority leader is
recognized.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is Monday. The galleries do
not have many people in them. We have a new batch of
pages. Others graduated recently. But everyone here--pages
and those in the gallery--should recognize that today is a
day of history in America.
Public service is about personal sacrifice for the
greater good. It is about reaching for the better angels
of our human nature.
That quote is a great quote for today. That quote is
from Robert Byrd, which should come as no surprise because
the description fits him to a tee.
As we have heard from the distinguished majority leader,
Senator Byrd passes Strom Thurmond, who I had the good
fortune to serve with, and becomes the longest serving
Senator in American history, with 17,327 days--17,327
days--of service in the Senate.
You add that to his 6 years in the House of
Representatives, and Robert Byrd has served in the
Congress 25 percent of the time we have been a Nation.
Seventy-five percent of the time other people served in
the Congress. But this one man has served 25 percent of
the time we have been a country. This gives us some
perspective of what a significant day this actually is.
The U.S. Senate first met in New York City in 1789.
Robert C. Byrd has served a distinguished career. His
career in the Senate is significant, important, and
impressive. But his life is impressive.
America is a place where everyone has a chance. It does
not matter that you are an orphan at age 1. It does not
matter that you are raised with an aunt and uncle. It does
not matter that your new parents work very, very hard in
the coal mines of West Virginia. Because, you see, in
America people can succeed no matter what the status of
their parents.
Robert Byrd is testimony to that. He graduated
valedictorian of his high school class. He went to work in
the depths of the Great Depression because he had no way
of paying to go to college. He worked at a number of
different jobs. He worked odd jobs wherever he could find
them, pumping gas, selling produce, working as a meat
cutter, a butcher, and even during World War II doing some
welding on Liberty and Victory ships.
After the war, he returned to West Virginia and began
his distinguished career of public service.
The West Virginia House of Delegates was his first
elected position. Then he was elected to the West Virginia
Senate. Then he was elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives in the early 1950s. In 1958, he was
elected to the U.S. Senate.
His career of leadership is unsurpassed and will always
be unsurpassed. He has been a mentor to me for all these
many years and a leader for whom all of us in this body
have the highest respect.
But as we have already heard, for all of his accolades--
and there have been many--Senator Byrd himself will tell
you his greatest success truly came on a late day in May
1937, when he put on his best suit, traveled to the nearby
town of Sophia, WV, and married his high school
sweetheart, Erma. Today is her birthday.
Now, I had the good fortune to travel, on a couple of
occasions, with Erma Byrd and the Senator. We had work to
do around the world. What a wonderful, wonderful woman.
She was kind, thoughtful, and quiet, but with a great
presence about her. I remember having the honor, really--
and it was that--of Senator Byrd asking me to go to West
Virginia. We had a parliamentary exchange with the British
Parliament.
I had heard this song, ``West Virginia Hills,'' but it
never meant anything to me until that occasion in a mesa
in West Virginia where we gathered with those British
parliamentarians for an evening event to listen to some
bluegrass music, to watch the Sun go down in those West
Virginia hills. That is something I will always remember
of Robert Byrd and his lovely wife Erma.
There has been no greater advocate in the almost 18,000
days this man has served in the Senate, and the more than
18,000 days he has served in the Congress, no greater
advocate for the State of West Virginia than Senator
Robert Byrd.
He has fought to improve access to education and health
care. The things he has done for transportation in West
Virginia are legendary. He has brought jobs there. He has
done things to protect pensioners.
We just passed on May 24 an example of what Senator Byrd
does for West Virginia. The Mine Improvement and New
Emergency Response Act of 2006 was passed on May 24.
President Bush will sign this into law. Again, it is
important legislation for miners across the country. It
means a lot to me. I have spoken to Senator Byrd about
miners. My father was a miner. And I am proud of the work
Senator Byrd has done for West Virginia because it helps
all miners.
I asked, as I was coming here, my long-serving personal
assistant Janice Shelton: What do you want me to say about
Senator Byrd? She has worked with me all the time I have
been in the Senate.
She said: No Senator comes and talks to the country like
Senator Byrd.
The Fourth of July you prepare your own speech; you read
your own speech about the Fourth of July. Thanksgiving, if
we are here, you give a speech on Thanksgiving. Christmas,
Mother's Day, wonderful--I can still remember your
speeches on Mother's Day. The reason those speeches are so
important to every one of us--of course, they are
important to you; they reflect upon your mother, the woman
who raised you--is because it causes us to reflect on our
own mothers. Every time you gave one of those speeches, I
thought of my red-haired mother working so hard, taking in
wash so that I could have clothes like the other kids. So
every speech you give is not only for the people of West
Virginia. It is for the country. It is for the people who
work here with you.
I have had the good fortune--in fact, I visited with one
of my friends who I practiced law with for 12 years. A
brilliant man, he is so smart. He reads books, has from
the time he was a boy until now, many books each week. I
have always admired Rex Jemison and how smart he is. But
Senator Byrd, to those of us who have worked with you, you
have no peer.
I can remember as if it were yesterday when you decided
you were going to take over the Appropriations Committee
and no longer have a leadership position. We had an event
in the Russell Building, the caucus room. There was no
press, Senators, very limited staff. You stood and talked
to us a little bit. You told us things we thought we
always knew, and I have retold this story so many times. I
am going to retell it again. You told us you could get in
your car in Virginia, drive to West Virginia and back--and
it takes about 8 hours--reciting poetry over and back
without stopping and never recite the same poem twice.
Think about that. Calculate it for a minute. How many
people have read the Encyclopedia Brittanica from cover to
cover? Senator Robert Byrd. How many people have sat down
when we have a break and read the dictionary? This man has
done this. How many people can recite poetry as he did? I
have just talked about this. How many people can recite
Shakespeare verse after verse, passages out of Scripture?
Senator Byrd gave a series of speeches here, 10
speeches, each lasting for 1 hour. The subject was the
line-item veto was going to ruin the Senate. The
comparison was to the Roman Empire, the rise and fall of
the Roman Empire. Senator Byrd gave 10 speeches. When I
was not able to listen personally, I listened to the
recording. So tremendous were those speeches that the head
of the political science department at UNV-LV, Dr. Randy
Tuttle, taught a course on Robert Byrd based on these 10
speeches.
I asked Senator Byrd: You gave those speeches, you quit
right on time, you had an hour set aside. How did you know
when to stop?
He said: It was easy. I memorized all 10 of them.
When we met with the British parliamentarians, as I just
recounted, in West Virginia, the bluegrass music stopped,
and Senator Byrd had staff pass out a little tablet and
pencil to everybody. He said: If I make a mistake, write
it down. And he proceeded to give us a demonstration of
memory that I have never seen before, starting with the
first ruler in Great Britain, the years the person served,
the name, how to spell it, and very briefly what was
accomplished during that period of time, from the
beginning to the present Queen Elizabeth. Those
parliamentarians were dumbfounded. How could an American
do something they had never even thought about without a
note?
There are some professors, I am sure, who are experts on
ancient Rome, but I would tell all those academics, they
don't have anything on the Senator from West Virginia as
far as knowledge of the Roman Empire.
I consider myself so fortunate to have been able to
serve in the Senate with Robert Byrd. And not only serve
in the Senate with Robert Byrd, but all the time I have
been here, I had the good fortune of serving on his
Appropriations Committee.
The great Senator Daniel Webster said that ours:
. . . is a Senate of equals, of men of individual honor
and personal character, and of absolute independence. We
know no masters, we acknowledge no dictators. This is a
hall for mutual consultation and discussion; not an arena
for the exhibition of champions.
The prayer that was uttered today by Reverend Black, our
Chaplain, says exactly what Daniel Webster said. That was
a wonderful prayer, tremendously well done for this
occasion. But I would say in response to the great Daniel
Webster, there are champions among us. There are giants as
well. I have served in public office a long time, but no
one can dispute the fact, as far as I am concerned, that
Robert Byrd is a giant.
I want him to know how much I appreciate all he has done
for me. I care a great deal about this man. I love Robert
Byrd. I love Robert Byrd. He is a person who sets a
standard for all of us.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Thomas). Under the previous
order, there will be a period for the transaction of
morning business until 3 p.m., with each Senator permitted
to speak for up to 10 minutes each.
The Senator from Kentucky.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor today
to pay tribute to our distinguished colleague from West
Virginia who, as the majority leader and the Democratic
leader pointed out, celebrates today truly a momentous
occasion, becoming the longest serving U.S. Senator in the
history of our country.
Senator Byrd's record and achievements have been covered
by the majority leader and the Democratic leader. I would
like to make a few different observations.
When Senator Byrd came to this body in 1959, he was a
member of a very large Democratic class. His party had had
a very good day. It was the second term of President
Eisenhower. In his class were such people as Eugene
McCarthy and Tom Dodd and Phil Hart. Lyndon Baines Johnson
was the leader of his party in the Senate at the time. In
fact, Senator Byrd was accompanied to the well on his
first day in office not by the senior Senator from his
State, as is tradition, but by Majority Leader Johnson,
his future mentor.
Shortly before the distinguished Senator from West
Virginia got here, Majority Leader Johnson had appointed a
committee to pick out the five greatest U.S. Senators in
history. John F. Kennedy was appointed to be the head of
that committee. After due deliberation, they picked out
five Senators: Henry Clay from my State of Kentucky,
Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Robert La Follette, and
Robert Taft. Those five Senators, who were designated as
the five greatest Senators of all time, are depicted out
here off the Senate Chamber in the waiting room.
Six or 8 years ago, we decided to consider adding two
more to the list. I had the opportunity to be on a
committee that reviewed the possibility of adding two
more. We concluded there were two more who should be
added, one Democrat and one Republican.
Our colleagues on the Democratic side picked Robert
Wagner of New York, who was the author of most of
President Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. After due
deliberation, the Republicans on the committee, of which I
was one, concluded that Arthur Vandenberg was the
appropriate selection for us, based upon his willingness
in the late 1940s to make the Truman containment policy,
the Marshall plan, and other initiatives at the beginning
of the cold war that basically set out the strategy that
we followed until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. So
two more Senators were added--Arthur Vandenberg and Robert
Wagner.
Today I think it is safe to predict that some day in the
future, some Senate will decide to revisit the issue of
what other great Senators might be added to this pantheon
off the Senate floor that now includes seven U.S. Senators
in our history. I think I can confidently predict that
near the top of the list, if not at the top of the list,
some day down the road will be the distinguished Senator
from West Virginia.
Mr. President, today, June 12, 2006, is our good friend
from West Virginia's 17,327th day in the Senate, making
him the longest serving Senator ever.
Senator Robert C. Byrd's first day as a Senator was
January 3, 1959, when he was 41 years old. He is the
1,579th Senator. Some of his contemporaries were John
Sherman Cooper, Hubert Humphrey, Everett Dirksen, John F.
Kennedy, and Richard Russell.
Over his nearly 50 years of service here--he has been
elected to eight full terms--Senator Byrd has served with
405 Senators, out of a total of 1,885 Senators who ever
served. That is 21\1/2\ percent of the total number. Over
one-fifth of all Senators who ever served can say they
served with Senator Byrd.
And I add that Senator Byrd is only the second Senator
ever to be elected to eight full terms.
As the Senators from two coal-producing States, Senator
Byrd and I have worked together on a number of issues over
the years to ensure that coal remains a safe, cheap, and
plentiful source of energy, and that coal miners and their
families can continue in this industry. Together we
ensured that the Capitol complex would continue to be
heated by coal. And we work together as members of the
Appropriations Committee. I thank the Senator for his
friendship over the years.
As astounding as the Senator from West Virginia's
service in this body is, I must point out that he has even
more experience representing the people of West Virginia.
Senator Byrd served in the West Virginia House of
Delegates from 1947 to 1950, the West Virginia Senate from
1951 to 1952, and the U.S. House of Representatives from
1953 to 1959. He was elected to his first office in 1946.
He was also elected assistant majority whip here in the
Senate in 1965. In 1971, he was elected majority whip. I
have heard that can be a tough job.
In 1977, Senator Byrd succeeded Senator Mike Mansfield
as majority leader. He has also served as minority leader
and Senate President pro tempore, meaning he has held
every major position in the Senate.
After serving as majority and minority leader, Senator
Byrd became chairman of the Appropriations Committee in
1989, and has been chairman or ranking member ever since.
Our colleague from Alaska, the current Senate President
pro tempore, has served with him on that committee since
1973.
Senator Byrd set the record for number of Senate votes
cast at 12,134 on April 27, 1990, breaking a record set by
Senator William Proxmire. He cast his 17,000th vote in
March 2004, and continues to set the record every time he
votes. As of the opening of the Senate today, he has cast
17,666 votes.
As his constituents in West Virginia know so well,
Senator Byrd is the son of a coal miner. Before government
service, he worked as a welder in wartime shipyards and as
a meatcutter in a coal company town.
Senator Byrd is also an expert on Senate history. He
wrote, with the assistance of Senate historian Richard
Baker, a four-volume collection of history, speeches and
statistics titled ``The Senate 1789-1989.'' He also wrote
a history called ``The Senate of the Roman Republic,'' and
a 2005 autobiography titled ``Child of the Appalachian
Coalfields.''
And my good friend from West Virginia is an accomplished
fiddle player as well. He has performed on the television
variety show ``Hee Haw,'' at the Grand Ole Opry, and at
the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He
even recorded an album called ``Mountain Fiddler.''
Senator Byrd earned his law degree from American
University in 1963, while serving in the Senate. He
attended night school while doing a full day's work here.
President Kennedy presented him with his diploma and gave
the commencement address.
President Kennedy received an honorary degree from
American University at the ceremony. So he began his
commencement address with these words:
President Anderson, members of the faculty, Board of
Trustees, distinguished guests, my old colleague Senator
Bob Byrd, who has earned his degree through many years of
attending night law school while I am earning mine in the
next thirty minutes, ladies and gentlemen . . .
In 1994, Senator Byrd was awarded his B.A. summa cum
laude by Marshall University, which he had attended for
one semester in 1951. He had earned A's in all his
classes, but could not afford to continue. So he actually
received his law degree before his bachelor's.
Senator Byrd is the first West Virginian in history to
win all 55 of that State's counties in a statewide race. I
am sure many of his fellow West Virginians know of his
knowledge and reverence for the Constitution, and that he
always carries a copy in his left breast pocket.
Senator Byrd's legacy in this body is felt every day.
Martin Gold, author of ``Senate Procedure and Practice,''
wrote:
Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) is a giant in the field of
parliamentary history and law. No Senator has had a
greater impact on Senate rules and precedents.
And Michael Barone, in ``The Almanac of American
Politics,'' said this of Senator Byrd:
Robert Byrd, the senior member of the United States
Senate, may come closer to the kind of senator the
Founding Fathers had in mind than any other.
Now, these comments from scholars are certainly to be
respected. But I think Senator Byrd said it best at a
spirited rally near the end of one of his recent campaigns
for office. Senator Byrd said:
West Virginia has always had four friends: God Almighty,
Sears Roebuck, Carter's Liver Pills and Robert C. Byrd.
Mr. President, Senator Byrd would be the first to tell
us he could not have accomplished all he has without the
love of his life, his partner, and his best friend--his
wife, Erma Ora James Byrd. Erma passed away this March, 2
months shy of what would have been their 69th wedding
anniversary.
The daughter of a coal miner, today would have been her
89th birthday. I am sure she is watching down on us from
Heaven today as we honor her husband, the Senator from
West Virginia.
Stories of enduring love are part of the history of any
nation. Robert and Erma were made for each other, and were
together for nearly 69 years. Mr. President, I believe
they are one of our Nation's great love stories.
I say to my friend and colleague from West Virginia, no
one has had a greater career here. Your service is of
great distinction. We all admire you very much, and we are
here today to honor you on this most important occasion.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who seeks time?
The President pro tempore.
Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I join those who honor my
great friend, our great friend, the Senator from West
Virginia. This has been a tradition. Each time a Senator
has reached the position where he has served longer than
anyone else before, we have had tributes such as this. It
is my honor to be here with my good friend today.
Having known Carl Hayden and Strom Thurmond, both of
whom have the distinction that Senator Byrd has had in my
lifetime and my service in the Senate, I believe he joins
a small but distinguished group of dedicated public
servants, people who have devoted their lives to serving
our country.
I had the honor of being the whip for 8 years, 4 years
in the minority and 4 years in the majority. I remember so
well what I called the Byrd history lessons. Maybe Senator
Byrd didn't call them that, but each evening in those days
Senator Byrd would come to the floor and give another
statement about the history of the Senate. I believe those
became the framework for the volumes he has written on the
history of the Senate. I didn't need to read them; I
listened to them. As a matter of fact, I think I listened
to every one the Senator made because the then-majority
leader, Howard Baker, would say to me: Teddy, it is your
turn. I would be in the chair listening to Senator Byrd.
Winston Churchill once said: ``We make a living by what
we get, but we make a life by what we give.''
I don't know anyone in my lifetime that I would say has
given so much as Senator Byrd.
Others have talked about what he did before he came into
public life. I know he attended college while he was in
the West Virginia House of Delegates and State Senate and
finished law school as a working Member of the Senate.
He has truly given more than he ever received. But,
really, I would say of my friend from West Virginia that I
know of no man who has done so much to make the Senate a
family. When I first came here, that was one of the first
things that Senator Mike Mansfield said to me--that you
have to realize you are living in a family. This is a
family. Senator Byrd has made that his sort of mantra, and
to be the person who represents the family, reminding us
that we are part of a family.
I remember so well, Senator Byrd, when you made such
kind remarks about my wife Ann after she passed away in an
aircraft accident. I also recall the days that you
congratulated me on getting remarried, and then on the
birth of our daughter Lily when, again, Senator Byrd took
the floor. I will never forget the time you came to the
floor and talked about the fact that my first grandchild
had been born. Senator Byrd told me at that time that I
had my first taste of immortality. Now that I have become
the grandfather of 11 children, I have touched immortality
a little bit more than most people perhaps. I stand in awe
of the honor of being a grandfather. I will never forget
what he said. That means you are going to go one
generation beyond the generation you helped bring into the
world. You have seen your children produce children, and
that really matches your love for the Senate family.
I don't know of anybody here who has had a sorrow or an
achievement when Senator Byrd hasn't taken the time to
seek us out and either commiserate with us in our sorrow
or tell us what a great achievement it was. It is a great
achievement to be part of the Senate family and to be
nurturing our own families.
Others have spoken about your dear wife Erma. I know how
close the two of you were. I know that because of
conversations we have had about Erma. We were all saddened
when she passed away earlier this year, but I know she is
looking down on you today, Senator Byrd. I know she is
proud of your service and, if she were here, she would be
right up there in the gallery. But she is up there
somewhere looking at all of us.
Actually, many of you may not know this, but I met
Senator Byrd during the Eisenhower administration. I
remember sitting in the gallery the day you were sworn
into the Senate in 1959. You were already in the House.
When I got to the Senate, I was talking to the wife of Bob
Bartlett, my predecessor, the Senator's good friend. I was
told that the one person in the Senate I could trust would
be Bob Byrd. Coming from her, that meant a great deal to
me personally. We have worked together for 35 years now on
the Appropriations Committee. I wish I could count the
days when we were chairmen; when Senator Byrd was
chairman, I would wander over to his room, and when I was
chairman, he would come to my room. I remember one day--
and he will not like this--he came over and said someone
had given him some cigars, and he suggested that we ought
to smoke a cigar. I had not smoked a cigar in 20 years,
but I said it would be a good idea. When Senator Byrd
makes a suggestion, it is a good idea. I joined him then.
About 6 months later, I had somebody give me a couple of
cigars, and I wandered over to Senator Byrd's office and
said, ``Let's share a cigar again.'' Senator Byrd said,
``I have quit.''
I was on that trip to London, too, at the British
Parliamentary Conference, and in West Virginia when
Senator Byrd was the host. I don't know if you know this,
Senator.
I have a video of you when we were in London when we sat
around, those Members of the American Senate who were
there, after meeting with our colleagues from Britain, and
we talked and you told us about your own history. I
remember that so well. I remember asking you to recite the
poem about your dog. We talk about this prodigious memory
of Senator Byrd. I have never known anything that I could
ask him to recite that he didn't have the ability to
recite.
Having been here so long together, I come back to where
I started. You have kept alive the spirit of family in
this Senate. I think without the spirit of family, we
would lose the essence of what it is to be here. I tell
people that sometimes I sort of pinch myself to realize
that I really am a Member of the Senate. Others can talk
about their backgrounds. I don't talk about mine very
much, but I certainly never had any reason to believe I
would ever be standing here, and I think Senator Byrd
could say the same thing.
We are here to honor the son of West Virginia, the
patriarch of our Senate family. He is, as Senator
McConnell said, a symbol of our history. I am here to
thank you, Senator, for being a good friend. I think you
have been one of the best friends I have had in the
Senate, and you have really sustained me in times of
sorrow and encouraged me in times of joy. I am here to
honor you for your service; it is a great service. But
mostly I am here because I am honored to be able to call
you my friend.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania is
recognized.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, this is truly a unique day
in the life of the Senate, with the spotlight shining on
Senator Robert Byrd in recognition of an enormous
achievement, being the longest serving Senator in the
history of the body. It is a remarkable achievement.
Senator Byrd started his political career with an
election in 1946, 60 years ago, and is still going strong.
He served in the Senate at the same time that Harry S.
Truman was President of the United States.
Just think about that for a moment. This is a man whose
service has spanned the Presidencies of President Truman,
President Eisenhower, President Kennedy, President
Johnson, President Nixon, President Ford, President
Carter, President Reagan, President Bush, President
Clinton, and President Bush. It is quite an accolade. And
Senator Byrd accurately states that he hasn't served under
any President, however, he has served with Presidents. He
is a scholar and devotee of the doctrine of separation of
powers, something which seems to have been forgotten
lately. But when the issue arose as to the line-item veto
and the constitutional amendment for the balanced budget,
Senator Byrd has been vociferous in defending the
prerogatives of the Congress of the United States. He even
goes so far from time to time to remind people that
article I of the Constitution is for the Congress. You
don't get to the executive branch until you get to article
II. You don't get to the judicial branch until article
III. In many ways the Supreme Court has rewritten the
sequence of the Constitution taking primacy. There is an
effort on the expansion of executive power, but Senator
Byrd is the bulwark for separation of powers. To think
that he was here when Jack Kennedy was here, as well as
when Lyndon Baines Johnson was here--about whom so much
has been written as the master of the Senate. There will
be a sequel to that, and it will be about Bob Byrd.
Senator Byrd was here when great men like Lyndon Johnson
and Jack Kennedy strode these corridors for so many years.
It is an enormous slice of history.
As a newcomer to the Senate, I watched Senator Byrd very
closely. There is a lot to be learned from Senator Byrd.
Senator Byrd was chairman of the Appropriations Committee
when I was one of the younger members of that committee.
One day, I thought Senator Byrd's allocations didn't match
the budget resolution and I told him. It is sort of
untoward to disagree with the chairman. I saw a
magnanimity in Senator Byrd to listen to one of the
younger Senators. I even called for a vote. The vote was
26 to 3. People said it was a great accomplishment to get
two other Senators to join me, Alfonse D'Amato and Bob
Kasten. We lost 26 to 3, but it was considered a victory,
which is a testament to Senator Byrd's power.
Senator Byrd said to me on that day: Some day, you will
be chairman of the Appropriations Committee and you can
make the allocations. I thought it entirely farfetched at
that time that I would ever be chairman of the
Appropriations Committee, but it may happen. I am next in
line behind Senator Thad Cochran. It will be quite a
formidable challenge because Senator Byrd continues to be
ranking Democrat on the committee. To come up against this
titan, this legend, he will probably do more to make the
allocations if, as, and when I become chairman.
Senator Byrd has been a master tactician. I recall one
early morning, about 3 a.m., when we Republicans were
carrying on a filibuster. I believe it was on campaign
finance reform. Senator Dole gathered us all together in a
remote spot and said: Guys, don't show up on the Senate
floor. Make Senator Byrd maintain a quorum.
For those who don't know the Senate rules, they are
sufficiently complicated and we would not expect C-SPAN II
watchers to know, if anybody is watching on C-SPAN II. But
you have to have a quorum on the floor to conduct
business, or somebody can suggest the absence of a quorum,
and it just stops. So Senator Byrd had this idea about
having some Republicans on the floor. Knowing the rules as
he did, he directed the Sergeant at Arms to execute
warrants of arrest for absent Senators. I have never seen
this in my long tenure. Remember that, Senator Byrd?
Mr. BYRD. Yes, I do.
Mr. SPECTER. Now we have confirmation. I have called a
witness here. The Sergeant at Arms was a little fellow,
Henry Giugni. He started to patrol the halls. He came upon
Senator Lowell Weicker. Now, Henry was about 5-foot-4, and
Lowell Weicker was 6-foot-4. Lowell was at his fighting
weight of about 240 at the time. It was about 3:30 in the
morning. Do you know what happens with Senators at 3:30 in
the morning? I won't say on the Senate floor. The Sergeant
at Arms decided not to arrest Lowell Weicker. He made a
very wise judgment. Instead, he went knocking on Senate
doors. Senator Robert Packwood made the mistake of
answering the door. Senator Packwood compelled them to
carry him out of his office. He agreed to walk here, but
he insisted on being carried into the Senate Chamber. I
don't think Senator Byrd got his quorum, but he got his
man, Senator Packwood.
I once had the temerity to engage Senator Byrd in a
debate. I have watched Senator Byrd very closely when he
would control the floor with the parliamentary maneuver of
getting unanimous consent before yielding the floor, which
gave him the right to the floor.
I had read the rule book, and Senator Byrd contended
that he could do that without unanimous consent if there
had been no objection. I thought I had watched him with
the rules to the contrary and engaged him in a lengthy
debate. I did not win that debate, but it was a great
learning experience.
Senator Byrd commanded the floor with great authority.
In the old days, we used to have sessions that went all
night. Senator Byrd was sitting in that chair, and he rose
at about 12:18 a.m.--this is another true story; you get
very few true stories out of Washington. We were all
enervated. Some of us were even tired, but not Bob Byrd.
He rose from his chair and he said: I ask unanimous
consent that I may speak as long as I choose.
A Senator in this chair, whom I will not identify, rose
as if to object. Senator Byrd looked at him as if his eyes
were like laser beams, and the Senator sat down. Past
midnight, Senator Byrd had unanimous consent to speak as
long as he chose. It wasn't too long, but it was a great
display of fortitude and authority.
My final comment about Senator Byrd is about the debates
we have had on constitutional law. His scholarship on the
institution is unparalleled, and that is a record which
will never be broken. It is pretty hard to say ``never,''
but when one looks at the volumes of his work, when one
looks at the magnitude of his speeches--he used to speak
every Friday afternoon for as long as he liked. He spoke
to an empty Chamber, but he spoke to a full history book.
Senator Byrd once said to me that if he became
President, he would make me his Attorney General. May the
Record show that Senator Byrd is nodding in the
affirmative, and Senator Byrd, if you become President, I
expect you to live up to that promise.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise to congratulate my
good friend, Senator Robert Byrd, on becoming the longest
serving Senator in the history of our great Nation.
Senator Byrd has now served as Senator for 17,327 days.
That is almost as long as I have been alive. I fully
expect to continue serving with him for many more days.
I know that during those 17,000-plus days in the Senate,
Senator Byrd has inspired many. I also know that as we
continue to witness his service in the days ahead in the
Senate, he will continue to provide inspiration to this
body and to all of my colleagues and to me. I am sure that
in those days, just as he has in the past, Senator Byrd
will continue to implore our colleagues to respect the
wisdom of the Founders and the brilliance of our
Constitution, which he so proudly carries as a symbol on
his lapel every day, and during those days in the future,
he will continue to remind us all in the Senate of how
much we can and should learn from the history of our great
country and the experience of this democracy.
He will continue, as he always has, fighting for the
hard-working people of his beloved West Virginia, and he
will, as he always has, continue to provide generous
counsel to those of us who have far less experience than
he does, for Senator Byrd truly has been and continues to
be a mentor to all of us, and always, with his grace and
with his dignity, setting an example for all Senators to
act with that dignity, with that courtesy, and with that
eloquence which is truly a legacy of Robert Byrd in the
Senate. For me, as the No. 99 Senator and as one of the
most junior in this body today, I am personally inspired
and grateful to Senator Byrd for his achievements and for
his example.
Just as my family has given me strength in my life, I
know Senator Byrd's remarkable service would not have been
possible without the love and support of his own family. I
have often been moved by Senator Byrd's words about the
power of the love and the bond he and his late wife Erma
shared for decades. So as we honor Senator Byrd today, as
we honor this institution, we also honor the memory of
Erma, and we honor the rest of Senator Byrd's family as
well.
It is a great privilege for me to represent the people
of Colorado in this great Chamber. It is also a true honor
to be a colleague to a historic figure in the name of
Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.
Once again, I congratulate him.
I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the
roll.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that
the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise to join my colleagues
who came to the floor earlier today to mark a historic
milestone. It isn't just a milestone for one man, it is a
milestone for our Senate and our Nation.
Today, our colleague, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia,
who just left the Chamber, becomes the longest serving
Senator in the history of the United States of America.
Today marks Senator Byrd's 17,327th day in office; that is
47 years, 5 months, 1 week, and 2 days spent in service in
the Senate on behalf of his beloved people of the State of
West Virginia.
Many of us know Senator Byrd's impressive official
biography. He has held more leadership positions in the
Senate than any other Senator in our history, including 6
years as Senate majority leader, and 6 years as minority
leader. Twice Senator Byrd has served as chairman of the
Senate Appropriations Committee, and twice he has been
elected by his colleagues as President pro tempore, a
position that places him third in line to the Presidency
of the United States.
In many ways, Senator Byrd's life is the story of the
20th century of America. He started from the most humble
origins and has risen to the greatest heights, and he has
done this not on the backs of others but by the sweat of
his brow and the power of his massive intellect.
To me, one of the most impressive facts about Senator
Byrd is that he studied for his law degree while he was
serving as a Member of Congress. He would make law by day
and study it at night. True to form, Senator Byrd not only
earned his doctorate of jurisprudence from American
University in 1963, it was awarded cum laude.
Senator Byrd may also be one of the last great orators
in the U.S. Senate, and whether the topic is the war in
Iraq or the Peloponnesian War, the basic ingredients of a
great speech are always present in Senator Byrd's address:
clear, substantive thinking and the rhetorical skills to
effectively express it.
For Senator Byrd, noble purposes are foremost as his
motive and objective. He doesn't take the easy road, and
he doesn't pander. When President Bill Clinton signed the
line-item veto into law in 1996, it was immediately
challenged in court by a group of six Senators, the first
of whom, of course, was Senator Robert C. Byrd. Senator
Byrd, though loyal to his party and loyal to his
President, was loyal first to his view of the
Constitution. He believed the law was unconstitutional and
concentrated too much power in the executive branch of
government. Ultimately, the Supreme Court agreed with
Senator Byrd and disagreed with the Congress and the
President who enacted the law.
Almost 10 years later, Senator Byrd took to the floor of
the Senate, speaking out and facing the wrath of popular
sentiment in opposing the invasion of Iraq. At the time,
it wasn't easy for him to vote no, nor was it a
comfortable decision to defend at home, but Senator Byrd
didn't shrink from the challenge--he never has--and he did
something which has become quite rare in American
politics: He stood up and led. He said that of all the
thousands of votes he has cast--more than 17,000 to be
exact--that vote opposing the war in Iraq is the one in
which he takes the greatest pride.
I might add just parenthetically, I share that
sentiment. In this case, too, I believe ultimately history
will prove all of us right who voted no on the use of
force in Iraq.
Senator Byrd has an unquenchable willingness to serve, a
willingness to lead and carry the burdens and
responsibilities of leadership. Above all else, he has
done these things while continuing to be a truly honorable
man. When all is said and done, the most important words
that will be spoken about Robert C. Byrd will not be that
he was a great speaker or great statesman or great U.S.
Senator--he is certainly all of that--the true measure of
this man will not be found in recounting the number of
days he has served in this body; rather, it will be found
in his strength of character and in his integrity.
That character and integrity are evidenced in many ways
by his love of his beloved late wife Erma. He was such a
devoted husband and partner. Even as she suffered serious
illness in the last years and months of her life, he never
left her side. To his children and grandchildren, he
remains a loving father, a caring grandfather, and a wise
teacher. To his friends, he is a man whose word can always
be counted on. To his country, he is a leader who found
power only in the commitment to service. And to his State,
he is a shining example of the very best that is in all of
us.
I am honored to be counted as one of those who call
Robert C. Byrd a friend, and I know this about my friend:
Today he marks a milestone that no other Senator in the
history of the United States has marked, but his success
will be measured in terms of his faithfulness to the
people who placed him here and the trust of the people of
West Virginia. They have never been betrayed by this great
man.
Although he has risen to the highest levels of power, he
has never forgotten where he comes from, who sent him, and
what his mission is.
If my colleagues will allow me two personal observations
about Senator Byrd and to tell two stories that I think
really are symbols of his view of the world and the great
power of his intellect. One of the first involved a debate
on the floor of the U.S. Senate about the National
Endowment for the Arts. It occurred a few years ago. A
Senator on the other side of the aisle offered an
amendment to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts
with the argument that there were art displays or exhibits
that were being funded with Federal dollars that were
embarrassing. This Senator went on to argue that it really
made no sense for us to subsidize the arts in America
because they were out of the reach of the common man and
we should allow the patrons of the arts, those private
benefactors, to take care and not our government.
I came to the floor to argue against that position,
telling the story of how my immigrant mother used to take
me in the car across the bridge to the art museum in St.
Louis, this woman with an eighth grade education, to show
me works of art and talk about artists she knew very
little about but wanted to learn more about. As I was
telling my story, I saw Senator Byrd come on to the floor,
and I assumed he was coming to talk about some other
issue, but he asked for recognition. He stood here at his
desk, as he has so many times, and completely enthralled
this Chamber as he told the story of his simple life in
West Virginia where he was orphaned and raised by other
members of the family and how one fine day, his new
stepfather took him out and bought him a fiddle. With that
fiddle, he started taking music lessons and developed a
passion for music. He talked about what music and the arts
meant to him growing up as a poor boy in a small town in
West Virginia. It was a classic Robert C. Byrd moment,
taking a chapter in his life from many years ago and
bringing it to application today.
The second experience I recall is one that I have told
over and over to friends in Illinois. If I hadn't been
there to see it, I would not have believed it. It goes
back to the days when I was a Member of the House of
Representatives on the Appropriations Committee. Senator
Byrd, a leader in the Senate, had a transportation
appropriations bill that passed the Senate with several
noteworthy projects for his State of West Virginia. A
Republican Senator across the rotunda took exception to
these earmarks for the State of West Virginia and vowed
that when he came to conference between the Senate and the
House, he would take out these projects for the State of
West Virginia. They were excessive, in his view. He was
interviewed by several news media, including the
Washington Post.
The day of the great confrontation took place just a
couple floors--one floor below us in the appropriations
conference room. It is a long room with a huge table. The
Senate conferees sit on one side of the table. Senator
Mark Hatfield was then chairman of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, of which Senator Byrd was a
member, and I sat on the other side of the table with
House Appropriations Committee members, waiting for this
classic, historic confrontation between Senator Robert C.
Byrd and his critic from the House of Representatives. It
was interesting because as we all sat down, there was one
chair that was left empty. Directly across the table from
his House critic was the empty chair Senator Byrd would
occupy. The moment came when finally the House Member was
recognized, and he stood up and with a lengthy speech took
exception to the fact that Senator Byrd was putting these
projects in for the State of West Virginia. When he
finished and had exhausted himself--no one interrupted
him--and sat down, Senator Byrd asked for recognition in
this appropriations conference room.
I am going to get a few of these facts wrong because I
didn't write them down. Senator Byrd would never get them
wrong. But I trust that at the end of the story, you will
understand what happened that day.
Senator Byrd reflected for a moment, as he often does,
looking to the ceiling, and then he spoke. He said: In
1830, Daniel Webster wrote his famous letter to Mr. Hayne.
And then he paused, and Senator Byrd said: If my memory
serves me, it was January that he wrote the letter.
January the 28th, Senator Byrd said. And if I am not
mistaken, he said, it was a Thursday. And he went on to
explain how Webster wrote the letter to Hayne explaining
the basics of our Constitution, explaining that in the
House of Representatives, a State as small as West
Virginia doesn't stand a chance with a limited population
and very little political power to get things done; the
State of West Virginia has to rely on the Senate, where
every State has two Senators. And if he, Robert C. Byrd,
didn't stand up for his small State of West Virginia in
the Senate, who would? What chance would a small State
have?
It was the classic argument that really was the
foundation for the creation of Congress. Senator Byrd that
day won the argument, won his case before the conference
committee.
I thought at the time, years before I was elected to the
Senate, I wish I had a videotape of that moment. That was
one of those great moments which I have seen here in the
Congress. So when I came to the Senate a few years later,
I went up to Senator Byrd and I said to him: I will never
forget that day when you had the debate in the
appropriations conference committee about the projects for
West Virginia and how you not only recalled the exchange
between Daniel Webster and Mr. Hayne and the historical
and constitutional significance, you not only recalled the
year and the day, but you recalled the day of the week it
occurred. I said: When you said, ``I believe it was a
Thursday,'' I was just absolutely amazed. Senator Byrd
reflected for a moment, and he said: Well, I believe it
was a Thursday. I said: I am not questioning you; no, I am
not questioning you; I am just telling you that I thought
that detail brought more to that debate than anyone could
imagine.
So as luck would have it, 2 hours later, we had a vote
on the floor here, and Senator Byrd at this desk called me
over. I came over to his desk, and he said: Senator
Durbin, I was almost certain it was a Thursday, and I
asked my staff to pull out a perpetual calendar, and if
you will look here, January 28, 1820, was, in fact, a
Thursday. I said: I never doubted you for a moment.
I have heard him stand on the floor reciting poetry at
length. I have heard him recount the debates of this
Senate and the history of this Nation in the type of
detail that puts all the rest of us to shame. He is truly
not just an institution of West Virginia, not just an
institution of the Senate; he is a national treasure. He
brings to debate in this Chamber--what little debate we
have anymore--a certain gravity, a certain importance that
reminds us why we are here, that we have been fortunate
enough to be called by the people who vote in our States
to be one of the few men and women to serve in this great
Chamber, and in serving, we not only represent them, we
represent a long line of history, of great men and women
who have had this opportunity to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Today, of course, is recognition of his special place in
the history of our Nation and in the history of the
Senate: 17,327 days in office--47 years, 5 months, 1 week,
and 2 days--not only witnessing the parade of history but
being such a major part of it.
Senator Byrd, I salute you and your service to the
people of West Virginia and this Nation.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I have been very much looking
forward to this moment.
First, I ask unanimous consent that an article which
appeared in the Charleston Gazette on June 12, 2006, be
printed in the Record following my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, this article embraces the
comments of many dear friends of the Senator, and I say
with some humility, a few of my own comments as well.
I think back on the 28 years that I have been privileged
to have represented the Commonwealth of Virginia in this
Chamber.
There is no single individual for whom I have greater
reverence or respect than my dear friend, the senior
Senator from West Virginia. We bonded together early on.
When I arrived here, he sought me out, and I sought him
out because our two great States at one time were one
State, the State of Virginia. But now, even though we are
two States, our States have so many issues in common.
Many times Senator Byrd and I have come to this floor
with regard to the subject of the coal miners, their
safety, their ability to operate and provide that
essential component to America's energy needs, coal; how
dangerous is the profession, how much we respect their
families and others who share the risk that the miners
take every day.
Then, more specifically, I remember so well how we have
worked together all of these many years in support of
clean-coal-burning technology.
Coal is the largest single reserve of energy that this
Nation possesses--the largest, far beyond petroleum, far
beyond natural gas, far beyond the other renewables, and
so forth. Coal is there. Our research and industrial base
works year after year to try to see how we can consume
these vast coal reserves and thereby become less and less
dependent on importing our energy needs, but burning it in
such a way that it does the least possible harm to the
environment, be it the air we breathe or the problems
associated with acid rain, and so forth.
I commend my dear friend for all the work that he has
done and will continue to do for years on clean coal
technology.
Virginia and West Virginia also share a common border
that is basically established by the Appalachian
Mountains. This part of Virginia and West Virginia has its
own magnificent qualities, particularly the sturdy
lifestyle of the people who choose purposefully to live in
those hills and valleys and those mountains which are so
often ravaged by heavy floods and so often ravaged by
other natural disasters, such as snowstorms.
Senator Byrd and I many times have gone to visit those
regions in the aftermath of a natural disaster. We find no
desire on the part of those people to leave those regions,
only to remain.
Senator Byrd was instrumental in passing legislation
which provides recognition for those geographic areas of
the Appalachian range that are deserving of financial
assistance and other forms of assistance because of the
rigorous, challenging lifestyle in these regions. He has
seen that funding has remained these many years equitably
allocated between the several States.
I think of him foremost as one who is a family man. How
often he has reminisced about the members of his family.
He speaks with a great sense of pride and humility on how
his family, much like every Member of this Senate, is
closely involved in the life of the Senate, closely
involved because of the commitments the families make: the
many long hours Senators are required to either be in the
Chamber or traveling throughout their States, traveling
throughout the 50 States, or, indeed, around the world. It
is a challenge for the families, and Bob Byrd is a family
man, along with his beloved wife Erma.
I remember so well early on in my career, I had the
privilege to be invited by Senator Byrd, to join him on a
number of codels to various parts of the world. We served
together on the Senate Committee on Armed Services these
many years. So often we would visit the troops and others
throughout the world.
One trip I remember ever so vividly, he took the first
congressional codel to the then-Soviet Union to visit with
Gorbachev, who had risen to a powerful position in the
Soviet Union after a lot of strife and turmoil. That man
exhibited extraordinary courage. I so looked forward to
our important visit, as did every member of that codel--I
think there were about a dozen of us who joined Senator
Byrd to go over to the Soviet Union.
Senator Strom Thurmond, whose record Senator Byrd, with
a sense of humility, passes today, was on that codel. And
as we flew to the Soviet Union, I had the privilege--along
with one or two others--of working with Bob Byrd on
remarks he wanted to make. That was an important set of
remarks. Strom Thurmond represented the Republican side of
that delegation. We were basically equally divided. I
remember working through that statement well into the wee
hours of the night as that plane was traversing that long
distance.
The following day, Gorbachev announced he was going to
allocate an hour and a half to meet this delegation. The
time was carefully allocated by Senator Byrd and Senator
Thurmond to members of the delegation.
I recall that I was the junior man on that delegation.
When he got to me, I had 2 minutes. I was proud to get 2
minutes. Our dear colleague and friend, the retiring
Senator this year, Senator Sarbanes, senior, of course, to
me at that time, turned to me and said: I will give you my
3 minutes so you can have 5 minutes because you are on
that Committee on Armed Services, and there is nothing
more important to be covered today than the issues
relating to national defense. I will never forget that act
of courtesy by Senator Sarbanes.
Senator Byrd delivered his remarks flawlessly. Gorbachev
listened very carefully. Gorbachev made a few notes on a
pad. He was followed, then, by Strom Thurmond, who
delivered one of his thunderous, heartfelt remarks,
beginning with how he stormed the shore on D-day and how
the Soviet Army was pressing on Germany from another
direction. It was a confluence of primarily those two
forces and Great Britain and, of course, their allies and
the free French who brought a conclusion to the war.
Gorbachev's father had been in the war. Strom reminisced,
jokingly saying that he hoped he had not hurt his father.
I recall Gorbachev very much was moved by that comment.
That was the type of thing for which Senator Byrd was so
famous: putting together those delegations, going to those
places in the world around which the axle of history was
evolving at that time, or the spokes of history around
that axle. What a privilege it was to travel with this
great man.
I think of him as a historian. This Senator does not
have the temerity, and I don't know of anyone who would
challenge Bob Byrd on the history of this great
institution. No man hath greater love for this Senate than
Robert Byrd. He has expressed that with a sense of
humility many times in speeches in the Senate.
When he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a copy of
the Constitution--he almost knows it by heart--he always
opens that little book. He can, as quickly as anyone in
this Senate, find those passages that are relevant to the
debate at hand or the issues at hand. Those are things we
remember about him with such great respect.
He is a humorist. He can be tough. He can be firm. But,
oh, can he bring a chuckle about in the hearts of all of
us. Sometimes in this Senate when things hit the high
point of stress, I have seen Bob Byrd take to the floor
with his very soft voice, dispel tension, dispel some of
the rancor, and inject a note of humor.
Bob Byrd is also, it might surprise Members, an artist.
One painting he did many years ago, some of us through the
years have been privileged to get a copy of that painting.
He has an eye for art. He also has an eye for music. I do
recall the times when he played the fiddle, the music that
he loved and still loves. I think he composed a little bit
on the side from time to time.
I can recount so many things where he is far more
capable than I. I have never considered myself a poet, but
Bob Byrd can recall from memory hundreds of poems and
recite them at times when it seems most appropriate.
He is a family man, historian, humorist, artist,
musician, composer and poet. And then we think back to his
respect for the Bible, and second only to the Bible, his
respect and love for the U.S. Constitution.
I went back and checked a little history. This Chamber
honored me the other night after I cast my 10,000th vote,
a very modest accomplishment in the face of Bob Byrd's
accomplishment, my 28 years. He has been here just short
of twice as long.
Also, someone thoughtfully said that I was the second
longest serving Senator from Virginia. Lo and behold, who
was the longest serving Senator from Virginia? None other
than Bob Byrd's close friend of years past, Harry F. Byrd,
Sr. I repeat, senior, because when I came to the Senate,
Harry F. Byrd, Jr., was the Member of the Senate with whom
I was privileged to serve as his junior Senator. But it is
interesting, Harry F. Byrd, Sr., was born in Martinsburg,
Berkeley County, WV. There you have it. He was the longest
serving Senator and remains with that record at 32 years
and 8 months for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Now Bob
Byrd takes it not only for the State but for the whole of
the history of the Senate.
There has to be something, I say most respectfully, in
the water down in West Virginia, or the lifestyle, the
hardiness, or the courage of the people that enabled these
two distinguished Virginians, Robert C. Byrd and Harry
Flood Byrd, Sr., to become the longest serving in their
respective States.
Exhibit 1
[From the Charleston (WV) Gazette, June 12, 2006]
The Pillar of the Senate: 10 Presidents Later, Byrd
Longest-Serving Senator
(By Paul J. Nyden)
Sen. Robert C. Byrd becomes the longest-serving member
of the U.S. Senate today, having represented West
Virginians for 17,327 days in the chamber.
Byrd began serving in the Senate more than 47 years ago,
on Jan. 3, 1959, after spending six years in the House of
Representatives and six years in the West Virginia
Legislature.
He also has cast more votes by far than any member of
the Senate: 17,662 times, as of last Friday.
``I consider him to be the pillar of the Senate,'' says
Sen. Paul Sarbanes, D-Md. ``His commitment to the United
States Senate and its history, customs and procedures is
equaled only by his commitment to the state of West
Virginia, our nation and our Constitution.''
Byrd's impact on fellow senators personally rivals his
institutional role, some of his colleagues said.
``Senator Byrd has been a very, very important figure in
my life,'' said Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican.
``He is such a magnificent teacher of the history of the
Senate.''
Warner recalls a conversation he had with Byrd when
Warner was new to the Senate. ``He said, `At one time, our
states were together. I don't want to put them back
together, but I want to work together as full and equal
partners,' '' Warner said.
``I enjoy the man,'' Warner said. ``He is wonderful.''
Up to now, the Senate's longest-serving member had been
the late Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. The third- and fourth-
longest-serving members are Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and
Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, both of whom have been there
more than 43 years.
``Byrd epitomizes the role that the framers of our
Constitution envisioned for the legislative branch,''
Sarbanes said.
In fact, The Almanac of American Politics, a widely
consulted volume on federal politics, describes Byrd as
the politician who ``may come closer to the kind of
senator the Founding Fathers had in mind than any other.''
Since President Bush took office, Byrd has been one of
the Senate's leading voices on challenging the war in
Iraq, preserving Social Security and protecting workers'
jobs and safety.
Despite his strong positions, however, Byrd said he
regrets the increasing animosity in both legislative
bodies. He said he has always worked to be bipartisan.
``I thank the people of West Virginia for having
repeatedly expressed their faith in me,'' Byrd said. ``I
never lose sight of that. Every morning of every day of my
life, my first thought is, `What can I do today for West
Virginia?' ''
Byrd's contribution to the state has been immense, said
Gov. Joe Manchin and members of West Virginia's
congressional delegation.
``I don't know of a person in West Virginia who has not
been touched, or benefited in a most positive way, by
Senator Byrd's service,'' Manchin said. ``I mean,
Democrats, Republicans, independents and people who don't
vote--they all benefit.''
Byrd has long been known as a ``legend'' in West
Virginia, said Jay Rockefeller, Byrd's junior Democratic
colleague for the state. ``But now he has surpassed even
the great legends of the Senate to become the longest
serving senator in U.S. history.''
He can take credit for ``highways, dams, bridges,
federal facilities and jobs, health centers and
educational institutions,'' Rockefeller said. ``And the
best part is, he's not finished.''
``What do you get when you multiply the power of the
beacon by the strength of a workhorse by the steadiness of
an anchor? Robert C. Byrd,'' said Rep. Nick J. Rahall, D-
W.Va.
Byrd's ``ability to deliver for our state'' is awe-
inspiring, said David Hardesty, the president of West
Virginia University. ``His votes are guided by his
understanding of the Constitution and by his dedication to
the people of this state.''
Manchin also emphasized Byrd's future.
``People also need to know that Senator Byrd has a lot
of years of service left in him,'' he said. ``When people
ask about what he has done, he says, `I want to talk about
people who can help me do what we still need to do.' ''
Born in Wilkesboro, N.C., in 1917, Byrd grew up in a
coal mining family in Sophia, Raleigh County.
Nearly 20 years later, he married Erma Ora James, who
passed away on March 25 of this year. Today, Mrs. Byrd
would have turned 89.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it is an extraordinary honor
to be able to speak a few words about my friend, the
senior Senator from the State of West Virginia, as he
makes history yet again.
There are precious few opportunities in life to
recognize greatness in our midst, but today we have that
opportunity. We honor our friend not simply because he's
become the longest serving Senator in our history, but
also because there's no doubt that he's earned his
rightful place besides Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John
Calhoun, and other giants in Senate history.
Bob Byrd's life is a tribute to the power of the
American dream--rising from humble beginnings, this son of
the Appalachian coalfields reached the pinnacle of power
and accomplishment through decades of hard work and
unwavering dedication.
His life is also a tribute to the power of love and
commitment. Bob Byrd's commitment and love for the Senate
and the country is total and complete, just as they are
for the people of West Virginia and his beloved Erma, with
whom he shared one of America's great love stories.
Erma and Bob would have celebrated her birthday today--
and we're saddened that she could not be here to share
this extraordinary moment. But we know she's looking down
from Heaven with a smile for the young boy who once shared
his chewing gum with her more than 70 years ago.
This is a special day for me as well, because it's a
time to tell my friend how much he means to me, and how
much I believe his service means to our Nation.
For longer than I've been in public life, I've known
Robert C. Byrd. I first came to know him during the famed
West Virginia Presidential primary of 1960.
Bob was a new Senator and moving up through the ranks as
a protege of Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson. My
brother Jack and Bob were colleagues in the Senate, but
Jack knew it was inevitable that Bob would be looking out
for LBJ in the Mountain State, and hoping to deny us the
victory we needed.
Jack had won the Wisconsin primary, and the stakes were
high in West Virginia.
It was a spirited campaign in which all of us in the
Kennedy family got to see the extraordinary qualities of
the people of West Virginia--kindness, compassion for
their fellow citizens, and perseverance even in the face
of enormous obstacles--the qualities that Bob Byrd knew
and loved. Jack campaigned extremely well in the State and
came to love the people too, and he never forgot the boost
they gave him during that hard-fought campaign.
President Kennedy and Robert C. Byrd formed a powerful
partnership, and one of Jack's first official acts in
office was to authorize the shipment of emergency rations
to help the people of Appalachia recover from a disaster.
They worked together to create the Appalachian Regional
Commission, which lifted thousands out of poverty, and
eliminated many of the barriers that had isolated the
region from the economic mainstream of the Nation. They
invested in the people, and it worked. President Kennedy
and Senator Robert C. Byrd understood that if you give
Americans opportunity and hope, there is no limit to what
they can accomplish.
For me personally, it's impossible to imagine the Senate
without Senator Byrd. He defeated me for majority whip in
1971. We both thought we had the votes lined up to win,
and it was Bob who taught me how to count votes as he went
on to become an outstanding whip and later an outstanding
majority leader. My consolation prize was being set free
to focus on the legislative issues I care most about.
Over the years in the Senate together, we've all come to
rely on Senator Byrd as the great defender of this
institution and the champion of the Constitution.
He doesn't defend the Constitution simply when it's in
fashion to do so. He doesn't yield when political
convenience suggests that the legislative branch should
demur for the sake of comity or to accomplish a popular
goal.
Bob Byrd understands that the Founders intended each
branch of government to have powers that could place them
in conflict, and that the powers Congress cedes to the
executive today may have dire consequences for the Nation
tomorrow.
In this role, he is the guardian of the Senate and the
ideals that Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and
Hamilton fought to enshrine when they created our
government.
I have many warm memories of Bob Byrd as leader, as
friend, and as scholar. One that comes to mind now is our
barnstorming trip through West Virginia during the 2004
Presidential campaign.
We traveled by bus around the State from Charleston to
Mingo and Logan counties and wherever we stopped, you
could feel the love and respect that the people of West
Virginia had for Bob Byrd. At one stop, he even jumped up
onto the back of a flatbed truck to deliver a stemwinder.
I was committed to the campaign as well, but that was a
tactic I thought best be left to Bob.
In the end we came up short in West Virginia on election
day, but I'll never forget the fun we had those last few
weeks of October, and I'm eternally grateful to Bob for
inviting me. I'll cherish the memory forever.
Of all the remarkable attributes of Senator Byrd, few
have impressed more than his ability to memorize and
recite poetry. As a child, this was always one of my
greatest challenges at school and I'm awed by Bob's
extraordinary talent.
His mind must hold hundreds of verses that he can recite
at a moment's notice. One of my favorites describes the
responsibilities we have as public servants to address the
causes of the problems that confront us, not just the
consequences of those problems.
It's about whether it's better to build a fence around
the edge of a cliff, or keep an ambulance ready in the
valley below.
I can't recite it from memory like he can, but this is
how it goes. It was written by Joseph Malins in 1895:
'Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,
Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant;
But over its terrible edge there had slipped
A duke, and full many a peasant.
The people said something would have to be done,
But their projects did not at all tally.
Some said ``Put a fence 'round the edge of the cliff,''
Some, ``An ambulance down in the valley.''
The lament of the crowd was profound and was loud,
As the tears overflowed with their pity;
But the cry for the ambulance carried the day
As it spread through the neighbouring city.
A collection was made, to accumulate aid,
And the dwellers in highway and alley
Gave dollars or cents--not to furnish a fence--
But an ambulance down in the valley.
``For the cliff is all right if you're careful,'' they
said;
``And if folks ever slip and are dropping,
It isn't the slipping that hurts them so much
As the shock down below--when they're stopping.''
So for years (we have heard), as these mishaps occurred
Quick forth would the rescuers sally,
To pick up the victims who fell from the cliff,
With the ambulance down in the valley.
Said one, in a plea, ``It's a marvel to me
That you'd give so much greater attention
To repairing results than to curing the cause;
You had much better aim at prevention.
For the mischief, of course, should be stopped at its
source;
Come, neighbours and friends, let us rally.
It is far better sense to rely on a fence
Than an ambulance down in the valley.''
``He is wrong in his head,'' the majority said;
``He would end all our earnest endeavour.
He's a man who would shirk this responsible work,
But we will support it forever.
Aren't we picking up all, just as fast as they fall,
And giving them care liberally?
A superfluous fence is of no consequence,
If the ambulance works in the valley.''
The story looks queer as we've written it here,
But things oft occur that are stranger.
More humane, we assert, than to succour the hurt
Is the plan of removing the danger.
The best possible course is to safeguard the source
By attending to things rationally.
Yes, build up the fence and let us dispense
With the ambulance down in the valley.
That's the principle Bob Byrd has followed throughout
his brilliant career in the Senate. He's a Senator for the
ages, and it's an extraordinary honor and privilege to
know him, to serve with him, and to learn from him.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I will soon have been here
34 years. That is not very long compared to the man about
whom I rise to say a few words. I understand this was the
day. I was in my office and, having heard the eloquence
that was spoken today to my good friend, Senator Byrd, I
figured that I couldn't do him justice just coming down at
this very moment, as I am. But everybody knows why we
speak today when we attempt to honor him for his devotion
to his colleagues, to the institution, to the
Constitution, and to the United States of America.
The distinguished Senator knows what each of us thinks
of him. He knows, better than we each do, what we think of
him. He could tell me what Pete Domenici thinks about Bob
Byrd, and probably be close to right. And vice versa. He
has occasionally spoken about what he thinks of me. I
don't think he takes it lightly. I think what he says he
means. He has been far too generous in what he has said.
But I will choose, among all the things, for just a
moment, to say what I think mostly about him, as I think
about his time here and revere it.
First, there is something about learning to appreciate
what the Senate is as a place, as a house, as an
institution. Woe be it any man or woman who is elected to
this place and who serves for any length of time and
doesn't feel it, doesn't understand it, doesn't quite
grasp what a rare place this Senate is. It is hard to say
why it is. One could talk about the men and women who made
it like this. We could talk about the rules of the Senate
that made it like this. We could talk about the two or
three great qualities, the fact that you can offer
amendments freely--which has been known as one of those
real attributes of this place. You can come down here on
an afternoon while something is being debated on health,
and if you can get the floor you can offer an amendment
about Iraq. Somehow or another, you get the feel of the
place, the limitation on trying to get things done that
this threat to filibuster offers, and how that plays, and
the minority and majority and what it means in this place.
You know at some point in time if you have ever had to
make a decision on the floor of the Senate that was
important just because it was important to the Senate,
then Robert Byrd would be there to stand up and
congratulate you. That is, if as chairman of the Budget
Committee I had to get up and say to the Senate: I want to
admonish you that if you do this or that you are
challenging the rules of the Senate--if I would look
around and expect some help, the walls would give me help.
And it would be Robert Byrd saying: Listen carefully, if
you are talking about the Senate.
That is why I came here, because of all his qualities, I
think he will best be known as a man of the Senate, as a
man who understood the Senate--what made it great and
different, unique. He is noted for his great ability to
manifest so many great historic concepts, of modern times
and ancient times, and today debate them, deliver them,
state them from memory, and truly inform us what they
mean.
His understanding of freedom is legendary, what American
freedom is. But today I chose to congratulate him for not
letting up, in all his years--never letting up on the
proposition that the Senate is a special place. He will go
down in history because he has regularly, habitually,
without hesitance informed us of what a special place the
Senate is by virtue of what we have been given, what was
bestowed upon us in the Constitution, how our Founding
Fathers have accredited this place, what its rules have
become through its leaders of the past, and how the halls
just reek with all of that past and just keep making it
the Senate.
That is what he is; that is what he has done. He is the
Senate. The longer he is here, the more he is that. I
don't know how many years it took him to become it, to
know it, to relish it as he has passed it on to each of
us. Certainly, by the time I came in 1972, and I have been
here 33 going on 34 years, he already was there and was
preaching that to all of us. Some of us began to
understand it to where we could stand up and say: Hey,
don't forget, fellow Senators, this is the Senate. Let's
not do an injustice to it. Let's not violate it.
I won't state names, but I remember very young Senators
who wouldn't think of talking that way. But 10 years
later, that is the way they talked, that is the way they
behaved. I venture to say each and every one who comes to
my mind, if you ask them where they got that feeling, that
rapture for this place, probably among the very few things
they would mention, they would mention Robert C. Byrd.
Congratulations for all the times spent in breaking all
the records for the time, but most of all congratulations
from me, to a Senate man, a man who makes the Senate what
it is and likes to tell everybody else around what it is,
and in particular likes to make sure Senators grow up and
begin to relish it as he has, and never forgets what it
is.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Cornyn). The Senator from
Tennessee is recognized.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I first came to the U.S.
Senate 40 years ago next year, not as a Senator but as a
legislative assistant. Senator Kennedy was here then in
his second term. Senator Byrd had been in the Congress
since 1953. I was working for Howard Baker, the first
Republican Senator to be elected from Tennessee.
I noticed over the years how he and Senator Byrd became
good friends. The strength of that friendship was
demonstrated in 1980 when the Republicans gained control
of the Senate--which surprised virtually everyone, gaining
12 seats. Among the shocks that would occur is that Howard
Baker, who was then the Republican leader--he refused to
call himself the minority leader, but the Republican
leader--was to become majority leader and Robert Byrd, who
was the Democratic leader, would have to be the minority
leader.
I remember two stories Senator Baker tells about that
incident which had a lot to do with shaping what happened
in the Senate shortly after that.
Senator Baker went to see Senator Byrd, and as I have
been told, he said: Bob, I wonder if you would be willing
to keep your office. Well, that got him off to a good
start with Bob Byrd. I am sure that incident must have
caused the Senate to work much more smoothly over the next
few years. Senator Baker kept the minority leader's office
and expanded it, and Senator Byrd kept the majority
leader's office even though he was the minority leader.
But the second thing that happened was this: The new
majority leader, Howard Baker, said to the stepping down
majority leader, Bob Byrd: ``Bob, I would like to make an
arrangement with you.'' Senator Byrd said to Senator
Baker: ``What is that, Howard?'' He said: ``I would like
to make an arrangement about surprises. I will not
surprise you if you won't surprise me.'' According to
Senator Baker, Senator Byrd replied: ``Let me think about
it.'' They got back together the next day, and Bob Byrd
gave Howard Baker his word: No surprises. According to
Senator Baker, that word was never broken during the
entire time Senator Baker was the majority leader and
Senator Byrd was the minority leader. I am sure the Senate
and this country benefited greatly because of the trust
those two men, who usually had very different opinions on
issues, had with one another.
The other thing I would like to say about Senator Byrd
is this: I came to the U.S. Senate as a Senator many years
later, the same year the Presiding Officer came from
Texas. It was in 2003 when we were sworn in, and that was
exactly a half century after Bob Byrd came to the
Congress. Each of us in our class made what I believe we
still call maiden speeches--our first speech on the
subject that was most important to us. The subject that
was most important to me--and still is--is what it means
to be an American, concepts that unify our country. I find
it absolutely remarkable how our country, among all
others, has accumulated this magnificent diversity but has
found a way to bind it into a single country based on a
few fragile principles that are found in our founding
documents and by our common language and by our saga of
American history.
There is no one in the Senate--even though many of us
try--no one in the Senate who understands and expresses
that better than Senator Robert C. Byrd. He understands
what it means to be an American. He votes that way. For
example, when the No Child Left Behind Act came up in the
Senate before I was elected to this body, the legislation
focused on reading and math. Senator Byrd insisted that
the Senate bill include a $100 million authorization for
the teaching of what he called traditional American
history. Our seniors in high school are scoring lower on
U.S. history than on any other subject. In other words,
our high school seniors don't score lowest on math or
science; they score lowest on U.S. history. Those are the
worst scores our seniors have. In focusing on the need to
do a better job of teaching history to young Americans,
Senator Byrd is making an effort to make sure we remember
where our country came from.
When I made my maiden speech and then introduced a
modest bill to try to create summer academies for
outstanding teachers and students of American history in
2003, Senator Byrd came to the floor. Senator Byrd co-
sponsored the bill, and then he showed the great
compliment to me of showing up at the hearing before the
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee to
testify for the bill. As I said, it was my 1st year in the
Senate; it was his 50th year in Congress.
So I congratulate him for his service. I congratulate
him for his relationship with other Senators, his word
being his bond, as it was in the example with Senator
Baker, and I admire his work in helping to remind us in
this body and all of us in this country of what it means
to be an American. That will be one of his lasting
legacies.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I cannot be in the Chamber
on this somewhat historic day without recognizing the fact
that one of our colleagues today becomes the longest
serving Member of the U.S. Senate. Senator Bob Byrd is a
special Member of this body and has been a good friend to
all 99 current Members, as well as all the previous
Members of the Senate who have had the pleasure of serving
with him.
I will never forget the first week I was here making my
rounds of the other Senators I did not know. When I came
to Senator Byrd, he, of course, knew immediately who I was
and engaged me in a conversation about some facts
regarding my service in the House and some other issues
that were personal that let me know how much he cared
about the Senate by taking the time to research the
background of individuals who become Members of the
Senate.
I will always cherish the fact that during that
conversation and in subsequent conversations I have had
with him, he shared with me the fact that his favorite
Member of the Senate has always been Senator Richard B.
Russell of my home State. Senator Russell served in this
body for 34 years, and I happen to hold the seat of
Senator Russell. I have an office in the Senate Russell
Building. So I have a number of ties to Senator Russell,
and I also have such great respect and admiration for him.
To hear Senator Byrd talk in such glowing terms about a
man from my State for whom I have such respect gave me a
warm feeling about this man with whom I was about to
engage in service in the Senate.
He is a remarkable man. He is a man who, without
question, believes in the Constitution of the United
States and thinks we ought to be more bold in our
adherence to that Constitution.
In that respect, again, in that same first week I was
here, I received in my office mail a copy of the U.S.
Constitution from Senator Byrd, along with a letter from
him saying that as a Member of the Senate, I should always
remember that this has been our guiding light and has
served us well during every single day that our country
has been free and democratic.
As we help share and celebrate with him on this historic
day, I extend my congratulations to him on his service to
our country and his service in the Senate.
I yield the floor.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, before the distinguished
Senator departs, I thank him for his kind remarks and
thank him for his service on the Armed Services Committee.
He mentioned Richard Russell. Indeed, he had many years
of service on the Armed Services Committee. I know he
would be very proud of what Senator Chambliss has done to
carry on the traditions which he instituted.
I earlier shared my respect for Robert Byrd and that
great class of Senators with whom he worked in this
institution, among them Harry F. Byrd, Sr., Richard B.
Russell, and John Stennis. They were quite a team, and we
have all learned from them. I must say, Senator Chambliss
carries on those traditions with his great State.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I congratulate my good friend,
Robert C. Byrd, on becoming the longest serving Senator in
American history. Senator Byrd is an institution within
this institution that we all dearly love. For more than 47
years in the Senate, he has served America and his beloved
West Virginia with firm purpose, confident that his work
is to do their work. He has done it extraordinarily well.
Senator Byrd's place in history was assured long before
this milestone. He is distinguished more by his love for
the Senate than by the length of his service. Senator Byrd
knows the history and rules of the Senate better than any
of us serving today--perhaps better than anyone who has
ever served this body. He has defended the traditions and
prerogatives of the Senate as strongly as any Senator ever
has. Senator Byrd reveres our Constitution, a copy of
which he always carries in his pocket, and is as firmly
committed to our Constitution as any American ever has
been.
To just give one example, I saw that commitment in our
work together against the line-item veto, which Congress
passed and President Clinton signed into law in 1996. In
the floor consideration of that bill, Senator Byrd
illuminated the debate, as he so often does, by reaching
back into history. He quoted the 18th century English
jurist, Sir William Blackstone, who wrote:
In all tyrannical governments, the supreme magistery, or
the right of both making and enforcing the laws, is vested
in one and the same man, or one and the same body of men.
And wherever these two powers are united together, there
can be no public liberty.
After the bill became law, despite that opposition, I
joined Senator Byrd and Senator Moynihan in filing an
amicus brief at the Supreme Court, arguing that the line-
item veto was an unconstitutional surrender of legislative
power to the executive branch. In June 1998, the Supreme
Court agreed in a 6 to 3 decision. Senator Byrd came to
the Senate floor, and he declared that this is a great day
for the United States of America, a great day for the
Constitution of the United States. Moreover, he said that
today we feel that the liberties of the American people
have been assured. God save this honorable Court.
Well, we are honored to have this giant in the Senate--a
true living legend--among us and guiding us in our daily
work.
The determination with which Senator Byrd approaches his
work in Washington is borne of his devotion to the people
of West Virginia.
Through his arduous work he has brought needed
infrastructure to an area that has lacked for economic
development. He has fought, first and foremost, for the
working people and particularly the coal miners of West
Virginia. Just last week--I guess the week before now--the
Senate passed the mine safety bill that he championed
along with his colleague, Senator Rockefeller. West
Virginia has had no finer advocate in its history than
Robert Byrd, a fact the State recognized when it selected
him ``West Virginian of the 20th century.''
In addition to his service in the Senate, Senator Byrd
has lived, and hopefully will continue to live for many
years, an amazing and an amazingly full life. He is a man
of great abilities and many passions. He plays the fiddle;
he reads the classics; he is a master orator; he has
worked as a butcher and welder; he is a writer and
historian; he has lived in a shack with no electricity and
now keeps the company of Presidents and of Kings.
He has known true and deep love with his cherished wife
Erma whose birthday they would have celebrated today. His
life and his love for the Senate and for the Constitution
is exceeded only by his love for Erma.
When I was elected to the Senate in 1978, Robert Byrd
was majority leader. The first vote I cast was on a Robert
Byrd motion. And since that day, I have learned more about
this institution from Robert Byrd than I have from anyone
or from anywhere else. The greatest tribute we can pay to
Robert Byrd is to stand firm for Senate procedures which
have made the Senate the most notable place in the world
of democratic institutions where the protection of
minority rights to debate and to amend legislation are the
most protected. There is no other place like the Senate in
the world. It is here where the right to debate is given a
privileged position, a protected position so that minority
views can be aired fully and so that, hopefully, consensus
can be arrived at rather than just simply adopted by
prompt majority votes.
So that is the tribute we can all pay to Robert Byrd: to
defend this institution, to stand for its procedures, and
to carry, as he does, at least in our hearts, the
Constitution, as he carries the Constitution on his body.
Congratulations to Senator Byrd on this historic
milestone in his lifetime of service to our Nation and his
now record length of service to the Senate of the United
States.
Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I am pleased to come to the
floor today to pay my personal tribute and the tribute of
all Georgians to the service of Robert Byrd in the U.S.
Senate. Today, in his 47th year of service, he is the
longest serving U.S. Senator in history.
I am distinctly honored to be in the Senate and to have
been elected here, and there are many reasons why I am
honored. But one of the most wonderful experiences since
my election has been the chance to come to know Robert
Byrd. He, obviously, is a legend. He, obviously, is a
great orator. But he is also a wonderful human being.
On Fridays it is my occasion to preside over the U.S.
Senate for 3 hours. As the other Members of the Senate
know, on Friday mornings we are not always in business.
Therefore, Friday is the day where a lot of Members come
to make speeches about issues of importance to them and
their constituents.
On occasion, I have had the chance to hear Robert Byrd
make one of his famous Friday morning speeches, probably
the most enjoyable of which took place three Fridays ago
when I was presiding over the Senate. Senator Byrd arrived
in the Chamber, asked for recognition, and then spoke,
basically without notes, for 48 minutes. I remember
counting the minutes. I did not want it to be over because
he gave his famous Mother's Day speech. He paid tribute to
his mom and all moms in the United States of America.
Robert Byrd is a wonderful, unique institution, a man of
great honor, great intellect, and great capacity.
One of my other great experiences since coming to the
Senate has been to work with him on the bill we recently
passed and is now on the President's desk, the mine safety
bill. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Occupational
Safety, it fell to my lot to deal with the tragedies of
the Sago mine disaster and subsequent disasters that took
place in Kentucky.
Obviously, the Sago mine is in West Virginia, and I
traveled to West Virginia and met with those mine
families. But I also met with Robert Byrd on numerous
occasions, talking about what we as the U.S. Senate could
do to try to see to it that we reacted to where there
might be shortcomings in the mine safety laws and to help
institutionalize better practices not only in our
inspections but in the operations of those mines.
With all the energy of a teenager, love and compassion
for those widows, and with great effort on his own part,
Senator Byrd worked closely with us over the last 6 months
since that disaster, and a couple weeks ago we passed in
this body--and the House passed 2 days later--the mine
safety bill.
Today, mining is a safer profession because of Robert
Byrd and his compassionate love for the people of West
Virginia and the coal miners who work there.
I could go on and on telling personal stories, but I
will not do that. I simply close by saying, of all the
great distinctions and honors I have had to serve in this
body, none is greater than to get to know the great man of
great capacity and great compassion, the honorable Robert
Byrd from the State of West Virginia--now the longest
serving Senator in the history of the U.S. Senate.
(At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was
ordered to be printed in the Record).
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, on January 3, 1959,
Robert Carlyle Byrd entered his first term as West
Virginia's junior Senator. Today, June 12, 2006, after
serving 17,327 days representing West Virginians, Robert
C. Byrd is now the longest serving U.S. Senator in our
Nation's great history. He has surpassed giants and
legends of the Senate to be in a class by himself.
Although his 47-plus years and 17,666 votes are what we
celebrate today, we also know that he is just as much West
Virginia's future as he has been part of its past.
During his tenure, Senator Byrd has brought over $1
billion to West Virginia's highways, dams, educational
institutions, and more--earning him the moniker of West
Virginia's billion-dollar industry. Senator Byrd has also
created a number of other health care and educational
opportunities across the State such as the Robert C. Byrd
Center for Rural Health, based at Marshall University; the
Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center at West Virginia
University; and the Scholastic Recognition Award for West
Virginia's public and private school valedictorians.
Senator Byrd's projects are so numerous it would take me
hours to name them all; however, the improvements he has
brought to West Virginia are immeasurable. And West
Virginia's future is much brighter as a result of his
years of service and his continued desire to work for our
State.
His dedication to the people of West Virginia is
unmatched, and in the years to come, we all look to
Senator Byrd to continue to fight for a State that would
have much less without him. Today he is working to secure
a Federal prison in McDowell County, continuing to improve
our State's highways, updating the safety laws for our
miners, protecting the checks and balances in our
government structure, securing our borders, and creating
opportunities for the youth of West Virginia.
Sadly, this year, Senator Byrd lost a pillar of strength
and the most beloved person in his life--his wife Erma Ora
Byrd. When Senator Byrd earned his law degree while
serving in Congress, Erma and his children sacrificed time
with him for the betterment of our Nation. Erma served as
a spiritual companion and as an emotional support for him.
When elected as majority leader, many said that his life
was the Senate, but those who know him know that the love
of his life and his eternal companion truly was Erma. Her
values and strengths are those of all West Virginians. She
was a coal miner's daughter and a daughter of Appalachia.
She provided Senator Byrd with everything he needed
throughout his life, and provided unfailing support during
his lifetime of public service.
Senator Byrd's love for West Virginia and its people is
extraordinary. Throughout his unprecedented public service
in the West Virginia House of Delegates, the U.S. House of
Representatives, and the U.S. Senate, Robert C. Byrd has
never lost an election--a tribute to his resounding
support in our State of West Virginia and something very
few of his colleagues can say. One reason for this perfect
record is that he never fails to work for the future of
our State--he is on the cutting edge of West Virginia's
needs, and he is fast to respond to new problems, such as
border security, and homeland security, with new
solutions.
Senator Byrd's contributions to this country extend far
past West Virginia's mountains. He has served as a leader
on the Senate Appropriations Committee, worked to create a
Federal compensation system for black lung victims, worked
to secure passage of the Panama Canal treaties, led the
effort to pass legislation keeping the Social Security
system solvent, worked to ratify the INF treaty with the
Soviet Union, went to court to block the recently passed
line-item veto, among many other historic pieces of
legislation, treaties, nominations, and resolutions. Most
recently, Senator Byrd has worked tirelessly to help pass
the MINER Act in light of the tragedies at the Sago and
Alma mines.
In addition to his stellar legislative record, Senator
Byrd has been a proven leader in the Senate, holding more
leadership positions in the Senate than any other Senator
of any party in Senate history. He has held leadership
positions including secretary of the Democratic
Conference, chairman of the Senate Appropriations
Committee, Senate Democratic whip, Democratic leader,
majority leader, and minority leader. On two occasions
Senator Robert C. Byrd has served as President pro tempore
of the Senate, demonstrating the tremendous amount of
respect that the Senator has from his colleagues and
placing him in direct line of succession to the
Presidency.
Throughout his career, Senator Robert C. Byrd has
remained a dedicated husband, father, grandfather, great-
grandfather, and friend. A man of deep faith, his
dedication to our country and our State is exceeded only
by his dedication to his family. I ask my colleagues to
join me in congratulating Senator Robert C. Byrd for the
incredible amount of time and effort he has given to our
Nation and to the State of West Virginia. I know my
colleagues join me in hoping that he will continue to
serve West Virginia for many more years to come.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I want to add my voice in
tribute and recognition of the continuing service of our
distinguished colleague, the senior Senator from West
Virginia, Senator Robert C. Byrd. Today he becomes the
real dean of the Senate, the longest serving of all the
1,885 men and women who have served in this body.
It will not surprise any of my colleagues that others
will make more of this remarkable milestone than the
Senator from West Virginia himself. For him, Day 17,327 is
just another day serving the people of West Virginia and
the United States here in the Senate. But for the rest of
us, this milestone recognizes not simply the length of
Senator Byrd's tenure, but what he has done with that
tenure.
The Senator from West Virginia brings a sense of history
and perspective to the politics of the moment. He is as
determined as anyone here to achieve his political goals,
but his emphasis on the institution's history and
prerogatives helps us place the immediate in a larger
context. In that sense, he is not just a Senator, not just
a colleague, but he is a teacher for the many Senators who
have walked on this floor for the first time since he came
here so long ago.
The Senator from West Virginia is truly an original. I
ask my colleagues: do you know anyone else who feels
equally comfortable giving a discourse on the Roman Senate
and appearing on the tv show ``Hee Haw''?
Many Senators, for example, receive academic degrees
during their service in this body. Most, however, are
honorary degrees. The Senator from West Virginia received
a law degree from American University in 1963, but he
earned it after taking night classes for a decade.
Senators have written books during their service in this
body. The Senator from West Virginia, however, has written
books about this body. He is widely known as the author of
a four-volume work on the history of the U.S. Senate,
published in 1987 for the Senate's bicentennial. Those are
not simply history books. The project began as a series of
speeches about this institution and its history, delivered
right here on this Senate floor--a book about Senate
history arising while participating in that history.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Inside the
front cover of volume two of his work on the Senate is a
photograph of the Senator from West Virginia and his wife,
whom he has so often simply called ``my dear Erma,''
standing on a staircase in the Senate. We all mourned Erma
Byrd's passing just a few months ago and today would have
been her birthday. That photograph was on the occasion of
their 50th anniversary in 1987. I do not doubt that in his
left breast pocket was that familiar copy of the U.S.
Constitution which, I might add, was celebrating its own
bicentennial that same year. How fitting that one
photograph would capture these loves of his life, the
institutions to which he was so committed: his marriage,
the Constitution, and the Senate.
So much more could be said, but I just want to pay
tribute and honor to my colleague of nearly 30 years, a
man of character and integrity, a caring man passionately
devoted to his faith, his family, and his country, a good
man, a great Senator.
Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the
Senate's most enduring figure, Senator Robert Byrd of West
Virginia. Today marks the day that Senator Byrd becomes
the longest serving Member in the history of the U.S.
Senate, with almost 50 years of senatorial experience. I
extend to Senator Byrd my congratulations on this
momentous occasion.
Born in 1917, Senator Byrd had a hardscrabble childhood.
After the death of his parents when Senator Byrd was just
1 year old, he was raised by his aunt and uncle in various
communities in West Virginia. He graduated at the top of
his high school class in the 1930s, in the midst of the
Great Depression. Taking work wherever he was able to find
it, Senator Byrd pumped gas, sold produce, and cut meat.
These jobs grounded Senator Byrd in the realities of the
working world. During World War II, he became a welder and
worked on the Liberty and Victory ships.
After the war, Senator Byrd began his political life
with a successful run for the West Virginia House of
Delegates. After serving two terms, Senator Byrd was
elected to the West Virginia Senate, then to the U.S.
House of Representatives. Finally, in 1958, Senator Byrd
was elected to the U.S. Senate. He has subsequently been
reelected by large margins again and again. In numerous
elections, he has carried all 55 counties in West Virginia
and in 2000 carried nearly every precinct in the State, an
unheard of achievement. Additionally, Senator Byrd has
held more positions in the Senate leadership than any
other Senator in the history of the institution, including
12 years as Democratic leader.
While outside of the Senate Chamber, Senator Byrd became
the first Member to initiate and complete the courses
needed for a law degree while simultaneously serving in
Congress by taking night classes from American University
over the course of 10 years. In May 2001, Senator Byrd was
named ``West Virginian of the 20th Century'' by Governor
Bob Wise and both houses of the West Virginia Legislature.
He is also blessed with two daughters, six grandchildren,
and six great-grandchildren.
I am pleased to recognize my colleague, Senator Byrd, on
this historic day. The work he has done throughout his
life has bestowed countless benefits to the people of West
Virginia and to the Nation. It is a pleasure to work with
such a creative and dedicated lawmaker, and I once again
congratulate Senator Byrd on reaching this milestone.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to
congratulate my longtime friend and colleague, Senator
Robert C. Byrd, on his landmark accomplishment of becoming
the longest serving Member of the U.S. Senate. Today is
Senator Byrd's 17,327th day in office--in his 47th year of
service. And he is still going strong--gearing up for his
race for a ninth term this fall.
Senator Byrd's life shows the power of America's unique
opportunity structure. His mother died when he was a baby.
He was raised by his aunt and by his uncle, who was a coal
miner, during the Great Depression. In his early life, he
worked pumping gas, cutting meat, and even welding war
ships in various ports--including in my own hometown of
Baltimore. Yet Senator Byrd never forgot his roots, and he
never forgot those miners. In fact, his new mine safety
legislation--the MINER Act--just passed the Senate last
week. Like me, he stands up for the little guy.
Senator Byrd and I have a long history together. When I
first came to the Senate in 1986, one of the people who
was most welcoming to me was Senator Byrd. I reached out
to him. I told him I not only wanted to be a fighter--I
wanted to be an effective player. I wanted to be there not
only to change the law books. I wanted to be sure there
was money in the Federal checkbook for my State and for
the national priorities that would help ordinary families.
Robert Byrd said to me, ``You should come on my
Appropriations Committee.''
Senator Byrd helped me become the first woman on the
Appropriations Committee and one of the first freshman
Members of the Senate on the Appropriations Committee.
With Senator Byrd as the ranking member of the
Appropriations Committee and me as a member, we have been
working together ever since to build coalitions to get
things done.
Senator Byrd's home State of West Virginia is right next
door to Maryland. We share a common border--with Allegany,
Garrett, and parts of Washington Counties just across the
State line in Western Maryland. But we share more than a
common border. We share a common set of values--rooted in
faith, family commitment and patriotism.
Senator Byrd is no stranger to breaking records. He has
done this before. He has already cast more votes and held
more leadership positions--including serving as minority
leader for 6 years and serving two stints as President pro
tempore--than any other U.S. Senator in history. Today's
record is further evidence of Senator Byrd's unwavering
dedication to his State. When asked about this
accomplishment, Senator Byrd told the press:
Records are fine. But what's important is what I do for
the people of West Virginia. They are the ones who sent me
here 48 years ago.
It is this dedication that keeps the people of West
Virginia voting for Senator Byrd. I like to say that I am
the ``Senator from Maryland and for Maryland,'' and it is
this kind of shared value that makes me feel so close to
Senator Byrd.
So today--June 12, 2006--we congratulate Senator Robert
C. Byrd for his historic contributions to his State and to
our Nation.
Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a
longtime friend and colleague, the esteemed senior Senator
from West Virginia, Senator Robert Byrd. This is a
historic day in his career and a historic day in the
history of the Senate. Today Senator Byrd adds to his many
accomplishments and honors the distinction of becoming the
longest serving Member in Senate history.
Senator Byrd's years of service to this country are an
inspiration to all of us. His lifelong devotion to the
institution of the Senate sets an example that we can only
try to emulate. For almost half a century, he has been a
tireless advocate for the people of West Virginia and the
Nation. He believes that government can improve the lives
of the citizens that it serves, and that we can all be
advocates for justice. We are better Senators and better
citizens when we attempt to live up to the legacy that he
has established.
I first worked with Senator Byrd during the early days
of my husband's administration. At the time, he had
already served in the Senate for 34 years. I remember him
being stately and silver-haired when we met. He was
already the unofficial historian of the Senate, famous for
standing in the well of the Chamber and dazzling his
colleagues with quotations from the classics. I also
learned then that he was a strict disciplinarian when it
came to procedural rules and decorum, a quality that he
retains to this day.
It is his devotion to the institution of the Senate that
has made him a mentor to so many of us, and I am honored
to include myself among the ranks of those whom he has
counseled.
When I was elected to the Senate, it took me only a
minute to conclude that I should start my preparation by
going to see the great sage and historian of the Senate,
Senator Byrd.
To this day I still very fondly remember the visit that
I paid to Senator Byrd's office in the Capitol in late
November 2000. I will be forever indebted to him for the
guidance that he provided when I first came to the Senate.
Of course, I am not the only recipient of his kind
advice and guidance. In fact, Senator Byrd has codified
his vast knowledge of the history of the Senate into a
multi-volume book. The four volumes published in 1989,
1991, 1993 and finally in 1995 were a labor of love for
Senator Byrd. They will continue to be a resource and a
treasure for many generations to come.
And let me tell you what Senator Robert Byrd did for the
people of New York in the aftermath of the attack on lower
Manhattan in 2001.
After that terrible day, the White House sent up a
supplemental spending bill to finance the war, and there
was not a single penny in it for New York. I told the
President of the United States in the Oval Office that we
were going to need at least $20 billion to rebuild Ground
Zero.
And thanks to the leadership and dedication of Senator
Byrd, who chaired the Appropriations Committee at that
time, we got that funding for New York. Thanks to his
commitment, our firefighters, police officers, first
responders, and volunteers who came to the rescue that day
will have some help as they continue to cope with the
health effects of exposure to the site.
Because of Senator Byrd's efforts, where once a pile of
rubble stood, one day a tower will stand.
Because of Senator Byrd, our businesses and homeowners
who lost everything are on the road to recovery.
As Senator Byrd has himself said, New York gained a
third Senator on that day, and we are unquestionably
better off for it.
Robert Byrd was born in North Wilkesboro, NC, and raised
in West Virginia by his aunt and uncle. He is an avid
fiddler, steeped in the rich musical traditions of the
Appalachian folk life. He grew up in the coal mining
community that he proudly defends today. As a member of
the HELP Committee, I continue to be impressed by his
vigilance on behalf of the coal miners of West Virginia
and elsewhere in the Nation.
He was first elected to this Senate in 1958. He became a
member of the Senate leadership in 1967, when he was
selected to be secretary of the Democratic Conference. He
was chosen to be Senate Democratic whip in 1971 and
Democratic leader in 1977. He has held more leadership
positions in the Senate than any other Member in Senate
history.
Through all of his years of Senate service, there was
one person who was always by his side, as his partner,
friend, and as he said on many occasions, his teacher.
Erma Ora James was born in Floyd County, VA, and moved
from there to the coal mines of West Virginia with her
family. It was there that she met Robert Byrd at Mark
Twain High School over 70 years ago. He first tried to woo
her with gifts of bubble gum that he took from a classmate
and stored up for her. And apparently it worked, because
they became high school sweethearts and were married on
May 29, 1937. Over the years, their family grew to include
two daughters, six grandchildren and six great-
grandchildren.
It is a tradition of Senator Byrd's to go to the floor
of the Senate each Mother's Day and pay tribute to the
Nation's mothers. When he does that he has often mentioned
Erma and the joy that they shared together for so many
years.
They had been married nearly 69 years when she passed
away 3 months ago on March 15, 2006, after a long illness.
Theirs has been called one of the great American love
stories.
As his 63d wedding anniversary approached he went to the
Senate floor and said of her:
I have to frankly say that what little I have amounted
to, if it is anything much, I owe for the most part to
[Erma].
I know that today, as his colleagues who respect and
admire him so very much come to the floor to praise his
service in the Senate, Erma is looking down on us as well.
It is truly an honor to serve in the Senate with Senator
Byrd. I wish him all the best on this day and I look
forward to continuing our work together on behalf of the
American people.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I would like to join all
Senators, Democrats who yesterday spoke of Senator Byrd, I
know many Republicans did as well. I, not being in town,
wanted to take an occasion to salute Senator Byrd for a
remarkable career in the Senate. I was touched recently by
the recognition given to his wife, who recently passed
away, in which Senator Byrd essentially said that this
would be a bittersweet day for him in that he now is the
recordholder for service in the Senate because Erma would
not be here to share it with him. I know how much Senator
Byrd values the Senate, but I think that comment of his,
that reflection, was evidence that he values his marriage
and family even more.
As a Republican Senator, I salute Senator Byrd for his
remarkably long and distinguished career.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I want to congratulate
Senator Byrd as well. What a wonderful gentleman. What a
gentle spirit, but what a firm voice. We value your
service and we appreciate what you can teach us and what
you have taught us.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, on Monday, Senator Robert Byrd
of West Virginia reached an extraordinary milestone:
17,327 days in the U.S. Senate, almost 48 years. He has
cast over 17,000 roll call votes. His congressional career
has spanned the tenure of 10 Presidents, beginning with
President Dwight David Eisenhower. In West Virginia, he
has run 14 times and never lost.
He has served nearly 60 years in both the House and the
Senate and other public service. This year he is running
for his unprecedented ninth term as a U.S. Senator from
West Virginia. Suffice it to say, he is the longest
serving Senator in the history of West Virginia, as he is
in the history of the United States. He is the only person
in West Virginia to carry every county in the State, all
55. He has run unopposed for the Senate because of the
regard, the respect, and, indeed, the affection of the
people of West Virginia.
He is 88 years old. He is not slowing down, he has never
slowed down, and he will keep it up. As a Member of the
Senate, he has been a leader--Democratic whip, majority
and minority leader, chairman of the Appropriations
Committee, and President pro tempore of the Senate on two
occasions.
In everything he has done, he has been a champion of the
Constitution and the people of West Virginia. He secured
billions of dollars in funding for his home State, and he
has been a leader on mine safety and other issues that are
so closely tied to his constituents.
In May 2001, Senator Byrd was given the award that
everyone recognizes is his due. Governor Bob Wise and both
houses of the West Virginia General Assembly named him
``West Virginian of the 20th Century,'' and he is striving
now for the 21st century.
He is an individual who is a self-made man, starting off
in war industries in a shipyard, and earning his law
degree cum laude from American University while a Member
of the U.S. Congress. He is also someone who recognizes
the need for education of others. He created the Robert C.
Byrd National Honors Scholarship. This scholarship
provides opportunities for young Americans to pursue
education as he has pursued his education.
He is a historian--a historian of this Senate and the
Roman Senate. In fact, his 3,000-page ``History of the
United States Senate'' is the premier history of this
august body. He is a defender, a supporter, and, in some
cases, the living embodiment of the U.S. Constitution. He
carries it with him everywhere and at all times. He is
someone who not only talks about the Constitution, but on
the floor of this Senate and in this country defends it
each day.
He is an individual of great prominence. He is an
individual of great humanity.
There is only one fact, I think, that is dimming this
very special occasion for the Senator, and that is, it is
not being shared by his beloved wife Erma Ora Byrd. But
she is looking on this day with the same satisfaction, the
same sense of accomplishment.
It is only fitting to close with a quote from Senator
Byrd because I can in no way match his oratorical skills.
In September 1998, he addressed the history of the Senate
and he said:
Clio being my favorite muse, let me begin this evening
with a look backward over the well-traveled roads of
history. History always turns our faces backward, and this
is as it should be, so that we might be better informed
and prepare to exercise wisdom in dealing with future
events.
His grasp of the past has given him a wise and
insightful view of the future. He has always encouraged us
to learn our history and then practice our history to
shape the future of this country in this Hall of the
Senate.
He has stood tall on so many occasions, but most notably
I think was in October 2002. With an iron will and
articulate voice, he questioned the policy of this
government as we entered this fight in Iraq.
History, I think, will record his wisdom, his decency,
and his contribution to the country. Although I am a day
late, I hope I am not a dollar short.
Congratulations to Senator Byrd on his model
accomplishment.
Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I join our
colleagues in the accolades and commendation for our
colleague, the senior Senator from West Virginia. I
believe there is no other Senator who commands the respect
and the admiration and the love of fellow Senators as does
Senator Byrd.
My first encounter with Senator Byrd I will never
forget. Right over there at that desk, 5\1/2\ years ago, I
rose to make my maiden speech in the Senate. In the course
of that speech to a fairly empty Chamber of the Senate, I
happened to mention that it was my maiden speech. In a few
moments, suddenly the doors of the Senate flung open and
in strode Senator Byrd. He sat down at his desk and
listened very politely and patiently as I continued my
first oration in this tremendous, most deliberative body.
As I finished, Senator Byrd stood and said, ``Would the
Senator from Florida yield?'' I said, of course, ``I yield
to the distinguished Senator from West Virginia.'' He
proceeded to give a history of the Senate about maiden
speeches. He told how, in the old days, when word would
get out that a new Senator was going to give his first
speech, all of the other Senators would gather around
because they wanted to hear what the new Senator was
saying. Of course, you can imagine what an impression this
made on this new Senator 5\1/2\ years ago by not only the
conscience of the Senate but the historian of the Senate,
the keeper of the rules of the Senate, the distinguished
Senator from West Virginia. And, of course, he passed a
milestone yesterday. All of us are proud for him, and we
are exceptionally proud for this institution, that it
would have a Senator such as the distinguished senior
Senator from West Virginia.
I want the Senate to know that this Senator is very
privileged that he has had the opportunity not only to
call him a friend and colleague but that this Senator has
had the opportunity to sit at his knee and try to soak up
the wisdom of the years, the exceptional historical
knowledge of this institution and the extraordinary
knowledge of the history of planet Earth that the Senator
brings to this Chamber.
Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I rise to talk about a
significant event that took place yesterday in the U.S.
Senate, and that is the fact that we have now a new
longest serving U.S. Senator in the history of our
country. Senator Byrd nears the end of his eighth term
here in the Senate but holds more than just another
significant record. His contribution to our country has
been almost beyond compare. He already holds Senate
records for the most leadership positions held and for the
most roll call votes cast, over 17,600 and still counting.
Starting in 1946, Senator Byrd has run in 14 elections
for the West Virginia House of Delegates, the State
senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S.
Senate. He inspires the envy of all of us because he has
won all of these races, and I have no doubt that voters in
West Virginia will reelect him to a ninth Senate term this
fall. That is going to enable him in December 2009 to pass
the record that Carl Hayden has as the longest serving
Member of Congress in U.S. history. But Bob Byrd is not
here merely to set and break records. He is here to serve
the people of West Virginia and all Americans, and he has
done so admirably.
Senator Byrd is a testament to the values of hard work
and perseverance. Almost from the start, he has had a hard
life, but he has triumphed. His mother died from the 1918
flu pandemic, when Senator Byrd was just an infant. His
aunt and uncle raised him in the hardscrabble coalfields
of West Virginia during the Great Depression. He was the
valedictorian of his high school class, but he couldn't
afford to go to college. After high school, Senator Byrd
went to work. He pumped gas, sold produce, became a meat
cutter and welder. During World War II, he helped to build
Liberty and Victory ships in the Baltimore and Tampa
shipyards.
Following the war, he began his career as an elected
official, winning a seat in the House of Delegates in West
Virginia. In 1952, he was elected to the first of three
terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1958, he
was elected to the U.S. Senate. In his races since then,
he has carried all 55 of West Virginia's counties. In the
year 2000, he won all but 7 of West Virginia's 1,970
precincts. What a record. It is hard to find one that
compares in any way to the allegiance that he has had from
the constituents in West Virginia who not only send him
back here but love him as their representative at the same
time.
It just wasn't winning elections. Senator Byrd could
have rested on his laurels, but that is not his style. His
life and career have been a relentless pursuit of self-
improvement. In 1963, after 10 years of taking classes at
night, Senator Byrd earned his law degree cum laude from
American University. He didn't have to do that because he
wasn't going to become a lawyer, but he thought it would
make him a better person and a better Senator.
Senator Byrd is a great example to all of us, but he is
especially interesting for America's young people for
three reasons. First, he is truly a self-made man. Nothing
has been handed to him. He has earned it all. He knows
what it is like to be poor, and he knows what it is like
to do hard manual labor. That is why he has always been
the working man's champion.
Second, he is always striving to learn more and do more.
No other Senator can match his extensive knowledge on so
many subjects or can recite so many passages from the
Bible or from Roman history or from Shakespeare and other
playwrights and poets. Senator Byrd isn't content merely
to memorize what others have written. He literally wrote
the book on the history of the U.S. Senate. No one can
match his knowledge of Senate rules, precedents, and
parliamentary procedure.
Finally, Senator Byrd is a shining example to all of us
because of his steadfast commitment to principle,
especially with regard to the role of a U.S. Senator. He
has never wavered in his defense of our institution. All
Americans are deeply indebted to him for that dedication
and loyalty. At a time when the current administration is
intent on usurping powers that the Founding Fathers
reserved for Congress, we need Senator Byrd more than
ever, his reminders to all of us about what is appropriate
in terms of obeying the rules and the procedures we have
adopted, but more importantly, the honor that this
institution has developed over more than 200 years.
Senator Byrd has demonstrated that fearlessly standing
on principle, even when it is unpopular, is the key to a
successful political career and in life generally. His
concern for his State and his constituents, and his
ability to deliver for them, are legendary. But above all,
Senator Byrd has stood up for the Constitution. He is what
we refer to as a Senator's Senator. We are truly fortunate
to have him here, and we are truly privileged to serve
with him. He is also a wonderful colleague. He never
forgets a birthday or other important occasion, never
fails to remind us of the beauty of the seasons.
Yesterday his service here in the Senate reached 17,327
days, a record for which he can be appropriately proud. I
know that day was bittersweet because it also marked the
birthday of his beloved wife, Erma Ora James, his high
school sweetheart, and a coal miner's daughter. We were
all so sad when Erma passed away this past March, just 2
months shy of their 69th wedding anniversary. Their love
for each other, their respect for each other, was an
inspiration to every one of us.
Senator Byrd's record-setting day yesterday was tinged
with some sorrow and reflection, but I hope he can take
comfort in knowing that so many people here in the Senate
and all across America hold him in such high regard.
I would like to borrow a page from Senator Byrd by
quoting Shakespeare, who in ``Twelfth Night'' wrote:
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some
have greatness thrust upon them.
Senator Byrd has achieved greatness in the U.S. Senate.
He achieved it through his tireless service to the people
of West Virginia and his fearless defense of the
Constitution of the United States of America. The Senate
and the Nation are far better for his efforts. We wish him
well, a continued ability to serve, and look forward to
hearing from him when he talks about subjects that are so
familiar to him and yet are so far removed from the
typical daily thought that we run into.
Senator Byrd, when I first came here, invited me into
his office. He delivered a treatise on the former rulers
of Great Britain, the Kings of England. From memory, he
recalled the length of their terms, how they died, and who
succeeded each and every one of them. I sat there feeling
like I was back in the university or even earlier than
that, because he has this incredible memory of so many
things, and he can relate them wonderfully.
I come out of the computer business. Until I got here
and got to know Bob Byrd, I didn't realize that there was
someone who has the knowledge, the database, the
information that is very difficult to find in other than
very large capacity computers.
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I do want to talk for a
minute about Senator Byrd and recognize he has set a
record in the Senate, as many of my colleagues have noted
on the floor.
He marked his 17,327th day in office yesterday and
became the longest serving Senator in history. That is
truly a remarkable accomplishment, and I personally have
many fond memories of working with Senator Byrd and look
forward to many more.
I remember well when I came here as a freshman Senator
13\1/2\ years ago. Senator Byrd at the time brought in all
of us freshmen Senators to sit across from him in his very
important office and looked down at us and told us that we
would be presiding, as is the Presiding Officer today, and
told us about our responsibilities and made it very clear
he would be watching from his office, and if we were
reading any other material or talking to anyone it would
be noted.
I certainly did remember that during the many hours I
spent in the Presiding Officer's chair because I knew he
was watching. But I think it was a simple reminder to all
of us as to the importance of the office we hold here and
the respect we have to have for our colleagues.
I remember as well that he invited me to lunch several
months later with the Senator from Oregon, Mr. Hatfield, a
Republican, to sit down and talk with me about the
responsibilities I had as a Senator. And I was so
impressed sitting in the room with Senator Byrd and
Senator Hatfield, never in my life expecting to have that
kind of opportunity. And at that meeting they impressed
upon me the importance of working across the aisle and
respect for the minority and how important everybody's
voice is here. It was an important lesson and one I think
we all should be reminded of more often.
But just that simple act of inviting me to lunch with
two incredible leaders in the Senate is a memory I hold
dear, and I thank my colleague for doing that.
But, frankly, I think what I most will remember Senator
Byrd for--and is a good reminder to all of us, too--is
several years ago when my husband came out here to
Washington, DC--he lives in Washington State. I go home
every weekend. But he came out here because it was our
wedding anniversary, and instead of me having to fly home,
he flew out here. He was coming up the steps of the
Capitol, and I met him as Senator Byrd was walking out to
his car.
Senator Byrd saw my husband, and he said: Welcome. Nice
to have you here at this end of the country. What brings
you here?
And my husband said: Well, it is our wedding
anniversary.
And Senator Byrd, who, as we well know, lost his beloved
wife just a few short weeks ago, was about to celebrate I
think it was his 67th wedding anniversary. He looked at my
husband and said: Which anniversary is this?
And my husband said: It is our 32d.
Senator Byrd paused and said: Well, it is a good start.
I think the message of that is important for all of us
in our everyday lives, in our responsibilities as spouses,
and as Senators, to remember it is a good start every day,
and you can't rest on your laurels and think back: Well,
we have done this for 32 years. The next 32 will be easy.
Every day you have to come out and work hard at whatever
role you are in at the time.
I certainly say to my good friend, Senator Byrd, how
much I respect and admire him. And today, as he marks his
17,328th day in office, I say to him: It is a good start.
Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to
Senator Byrd, a man I am honored to call colleague and
friend.
Senator Byrd is a hero and a patriot--as noble and
eloquent as the great Senators--from Cicero to Richard B.
Russell--of whom he has taught us all so much. He is a
living example of the great opportunity in America. He is
a living tribute to the preeminence of our constitutional
democracy.
Senator Byrd lives to serve the people of West Virginia
who sent him here, just as he would die to protect the
Constitution that guides his every step. It is his duty
and joy to use his prodigious legislative skill for West
Virginia, and it is West Virginians' great fortune to be
represented by a man who knows and does his job so well.
Several years ago, Senator Byrd turned one of my worst
days in the Senate into one of my best. It was the end of
session, late in the evening, and I had lost a fierce
battle over dairy policy. Most Senators were wandering out
to make their planes, and Senator Byrd stood up. In
ringing tones, he made a short speech about the battle I
just lost. In part, he said: ``He has stood up for the
people of Wisconsin. That is what I like about him. He
stands for principle. He stands for his people.''
No kinder words have been spoken about me in this
Chamber--no accolade of which I am more proud. Senator
Byrd, you too stand for principle. You stand for your
people. And that's what I like about you.
I am not an orator like Senator Byrd, and I certainly
don't have the words to say what his friendship has meant
to me and what his stewardship has meant to this country.
Let me instead borrow the words of Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow, a poet Senator Byrd quotes often here on the
floor and often from memory. I'm sure he knows this one,
too:
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time
Senator Byrd is a great man. His dedication to duty, his
love of country, and his devotion to his family are
examples to us all. He leaves footprints in the very soil
of this Nation that have and will continue to shape--for
the better--who we are. I am grateful for his friendship
and honored to serve with him.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I rise to add my voice to the
chorus of praise for an extraordinary Member of this
institution--my dear friend from West Virginia, Senator
Robert Byrd.
What a pleasure it has been to serve with Senator Byrd.
I am constantly inspired by his grace--his brilliance--
and his unmatched work ethic.
We honor Senator Byrd for reaching the milestone of
longest serving Senator in history--8 terms--nearly 48
years--and 17,666 votes.
These are stunning numbers, but this legend is much more
than the Cal Ripken, Jr., of the Senate.
Longevity is only part of the story. We know him best
for his intellect, his devotion to the people of West
Virginia, and his reverence for the institution of the
Senate; for keeping a copy of the Constitution in his
breast pocket--next to his heart--at all times, not for
symbolism but for constant counsel, for having served
beside numerous Presidents--both Democrat and Republican;
for standing with them when their cause is just--yet never
backing down from a fight with any President when he
believes important principles are at stake, particularly
when our role as a co-equal branch of government is
threatened.
And that is what I admire most about Senator Byrd: He
always stands on principle and fights for what he
believes, no matter what the odds.
What an inspiration this has been to me and to so many
of us.
What an inspiration--his love of this country, his
integrity, his absolute dedication to honest and
principled government.
And what an inspiration--his 68-year partnership with
his wife Erma--whom I know he misses dearly--and whom I
know is looking down on him today with tremendous pride
and love.
And it is for these reasons--far more than for his
longevity--that we honor him today.
But anyone who knows Senator Byrd realizes that these
words of praise are not sought because, despite his well-
earned title of Senate Historian--Senator Byrd is not one
to dwell on the past. He is a forward thinker.
For him, this special day is really just another day at
the office.
Because as Robert Byrd knows best of all--there are
crucial issues to debate. Problems to solve. And many more
votes to be cast.
Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I rise today to honor my
friend and colleague Robert Byrd, who yesterday officially
became the longest serving Member in the history of the
Senate.
As of June 12, 2006, Senator Byrd had officially served
West Virginia in the Senate for 17,327 days. That is an
astounding 47\1/2\ years since he took office on January
3, 1959. It was a time when a postage stamp cost $0.04,
gasoline was $0.25 per gallon, and you could buy a brand
new Ford car for a little over $2,100.
Senator Byrd has served through 10 Presidencies,
statehood for Alaska and Hawaii, wartime and peacetime,
surplus and deficit, the dawn of space travel and the
advent of the Information Age. And, as I stand here today,
I have to chuckle at the fact that when I was just
beginning the first grade, Senator Byrd was already
serving his second term in the Senate.
However, the indelible mark he has left on this
institution has more to do with the quality of his service
than the length of his service. Senator Byrd has a deep
love for his beloved home State of West Virginia, for the
institution of the U.S. Senate, and for our country.
Always ready with a copy of the Constitution in his
pocket, Senator Byrd understands just how sacred this
document truly is, and he fights every day to protect it.
He literally wrote the book on the rules and traditions
of the Senate, and he teaches by example, offering the
kind of eloquent, principled debate that has historically
filled this Chamber. His speeches are honest and
heartfelt, with a Shakespearean rhythm, peppered with
stories from his boyhood in the coalfields of Appalachia.
He is never shy about scolding colleagues when they put
politics before principles or when they violate the
practices of this great institution.
And yet he also exemplifies the cordial tradition of the
Senate, disagreeing without being disagreeable, and always
willing to offer a handshake to a political opponent at
the end of a hard-fought debate. He is a man of integrity,
who has demonstrated that an honest search for truth can
lead to a principled change of heart and a desire to seek
justice for all.
I know this remarkable accomplishment is a bittersweet
one, since Senator Byrd is not able to share it with his
beloved wife Erma, who passed away in March. Yesterday,
the day on which Senator Byrd set this record, was also
Erma's birthday. It is fitting that he marks this
milestone on the same day he celebrates Erma's life,
because he has often credited Erma's unconditional love
and support with sustaining him through his years of
service.
When asked last week about achieving this milestone,
Senator Byrd replied that ``records are fine, but what's
important is what I do for the people of West Virginia.''
That humble devotion to the people he serves is what
brought Robert Byrd to the Senate more than 47 years ago,
and it is what continues to drive him each and every day.
After I was sworn in last January, one of the first
Senators I met with was Senator Byrd. We sat down in his
hideaway on the first floor of the Capitol. After we posed
for a few photographs, I inquired after his wife, who I
had heard had taken a turn for the worse, and asked about
some of the figures in the many photos that lined the
walls. Eventually I asked him what advice he would give me
as a new Member of the Senate.
``Learn the rules,'' Senator Byrd said. ``Not just the
rules but the precedents as well.'' He pointed to a series
of thick binders behind him, each one affixed with a hand-
written label. ``Not many people bother to learn them
these days. Everything is so rushed, so many demands on a
Senator's time. But these rules unlock the power of the
Senate. They're the keys to the kingdom.''
We spoke about the Senate's past, the Presidents he had
known, the bills he had managed. He told me too many
Senators today became quickly fixated on reaching the
White House, not understanding that in the constitutional
design it was the Senate that was supreme, the heart and
soul of the Republic.
``So few people read the Constitution today,'' Senator
Byrd said, pulling out a pocket copy from his breast
pocket. ``I've always said this document and the Holy
Bible, they've been all the guidance I need.''
On many occasions over the past year and a half, I have
remembered these wise words as I have performed my duties
in the Senate.
I am proud to call Robert Byrd a colleague, a friend,
and a mentor. I congratulate him on this remarkable
achievement and wish him all the best for many more years
of service to our country.
Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to
my friend and colleague, Senator Robert C. Byrd, who
today, on his 17,328th day in office, becomes the longest
serving Member of the Senate.
As I thought about Senator Byrd's remarkable career, I
wondered: What can I say that would properly honor his
long labors in service to this Senate and this Nation?
I decided to look back in history, the history that
Senator Byrd has quoted time and again, and seek the
advice of other Senators known for their oratory. And
while many great speakers have blessed the U.S. Senate
over its history, including Senator Byrd, I found wisdom
in the advice of the great Roman Senator and orator, Cato
the Elder.
He said: ``Rem tene; verba sequentur.'' ``Grasp the
subject, the words will follow.''
So I sat back and thought about Senator Byrd, both over
his long career that I have read about, and the 18 years I
have been privileged to work with him as a colleague.
A lot of thoughts came to mind.
Warm. Courteous. Kind.
Hardworking. Humble. Humorous.
Both well read and an accomplished author well worth
reading.
But none of these were quite right. I still hadn't
grasped the subject.
Then an image hit me, the image of Senator Byrd reaching
into his coat pocket for that copy of the Constitution he
always keeps by his heart.
That was it. I knew I had grasped my subject.
Time after time, Senator Byrd has taken this floor to
remind us we have duties beyond our parties, beyond our
passions, beyond our personal philosophies.
Our overwhelming duty is to our Nation's Constitution
and the unique responsibilities it assigns each House of
the legislative branch.
In particular, Senator Byrd constantly reminds us that
our duty as Senators is to be the more deliberative of the
two legislative bodies as the Framers envisioned this
Chamber to be. Federalist No. 62 says the Senate should be
a body that does not ``yield to the impulse of sudden and
violent passions'' or be ``seduced into pernicious
resolutions.''
So I thought about the history of this Senate. And I
would like to reflect on the very first Senator, William
Maclay of Pennsylvania, because his spirit is alive today
in Senator Byrd. Senator Maclay became known among his
colleagues as a stickler for following the Constitution,
which sometimes put him at odds with those same
colleagues. He also kept a meticulous diary of the
proceedings of that first Senate.
One of the earliest debates in the first Senate was over
what to call George Washington. It is hard to imagine now,
but there were many back then who thought that ``President
of the United States'' was not a fitting title, that
something grander was needed.
A title committee was appointed in the Senate to
consider titles such as, Your Elective Highness, and His
Highness, the President of the United States and Protector
of the Rights of the Same.
And those were some of the more modest proposals. The
Senate also thought about giving special, nobility-style
titles to members of the executive branch.
Senator Maclay found this absurd and in violation of the
Constitution. He waited for someone else to speak out. But
when no one else did, the very first Senator of the very
first Senate rose and said:
Mr. President, the Constitution of the United States has
designated our chief magistrate by the appellation of
President of the United States of America. This is his
title of office. We cannot alter, add to, or diminish it
without infringing on the Constitution. As to grades of
order or nobility, nothing of the kind can be established
by Congress.
In his diary, Maclay was even more biting about attempts
to establish lofty titles because he thought they violated
both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution.
He wrote:
Never will I consent to straining the Constitution, nor
will I consent to the exercise of doubtful power. We come
here the servants, not the lords, of our constituents.
Now does that sound like anybody we know?
Looking toward the future, Senator Maclay went on to
write:
The new government, instead of being a powerful machine
whose authority would support any measure, needs help . .
. and must be supported by the ablest names and most
shining characters which we can select.
I believe everyone here agrees that Senator Byrd
embodies the ``shining character'' and dedication to the
Constitution that the first Senator of the first Senate
thought would be crucial to the new Nation's success.
I also believe Senator Byrd has done so by following the
advice of that ancient Roman Senator who he has quoted so
often, Cato the Elder. Senator Byrd has truly grasped his
subject--the Constitution--and the words have followed for
nearly half a century.
I hope his words will continue to enlighten this Senate
and this Nation for years to come.
Senator Byrd, thank you.
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, the Book of Proverbs says:
``The silver-haired head is a crown of glory.''
Today, the crown of glory rests upon the silver-haired
head of our dear friend and colleague, Robert C. Byrd, for
yesterday he became the longest serving Senator in the
history of the Senate.
Senator Byrd has served in the Senate since January 3,
1959. That is longer than there have been 50 States in the
Union. That was before Charles de Gaulle was President of
France. That was before NASA had astronauts.
Senator Byrd has served as Senator during the terms of
10 Presidents, 9 majority leaders, and 8 Speakers of the
House of Representatives.
For 12 years, Senator Byrd served as the leader of
Senate Democrats. He served as majority leader, minority
leader, and then majority leader again.
Senator Byrd has served as the Senate's historian, elder
statesman, and conscience.
Senator Byrd has zealously defended the power of the
purse. Senator Byrd has zealously defended the Senate. And
Senator Byrd has zealously defended the Constitution of
the United States.
But notwithstanding his having held the high rank of
Senator for longer than any human being, Senator Byrd has
never forgotten whence he came.
Senator Robert C. Byrd grew up in the bituminous
coalfields of West Virginia, graduated from high school in
the depths of the Great Depression, and worked pumping
gas, selling produce, cutting meat, and welding ships.
Even though Senator Byrd reached the zenith of power,
Senator Byrd has always remained a man of the people.
Senator Robert C. Byrd is an assiduous pursuer of
knowledge, a tenacious friend, and a man of deep, abiding
faith.
Now Senator Byrd surpasses in length of service the
likes of Strom Thurmond, Carl Hayden, John Stennis,
Russell Long, and Richard Russell. And now Senator Byrd
stands in quality of service with the likes of Daniel
Webster, John Calhoun, Henry Clay, Robert La Follette, and
Robert Wagner.
I thank Almighty God that for more than 47 years,
Americans have been able to call him ``Senator.'' I thank
God that for more than 27 of those years, I have been
blessed to serve here with him. And I thank God that for
more than 27 years, I have been blessed to call him
``friend.''
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I want to take a minute or two,
if I can, to join my other colleagues who over the last
several days have paid tribute to our colleague from West
Virginia, my seatmate, Senator Robert Byrd, who, on
Monday, celebrated the unique landmark of serving longer
than any other person in the history of this remarkable
institution.
I said to Senator Byrd, my colleague and seatmate,
yesterday, his longevity is impressive but his record as a
U.S. Senator is really what excels. While serving for 47
years in this institution is certainly remarkable, what he
has done during those 47 years is what is truly
remarkable. His contribution to the public discourse and
debate of our country throughout that time has been truly
exemplary.
I noted the other day, in fact, that when Senator Byrd
was first elected to the House, there was a wonderful
picture taken that appeared with Senator Byrd and several
other Members of newly minted Congressmen who had been
elected in 1952 at the White House with Dwight Eisenhower.
In that group of pictures was also a newly minted
Congressman from Connecticut by the name of Thomas Dodd,
my father.
Senator Byrd and my father were elected to the House
together in 1952, and came to this body together in 1959.
So during these many years of public service, Robert C.
Byrd has had to serve with two Dodds in the U.S. Congress,
my father and myself. I sit next to Senator Byrd by
choice. I have been his seatmate for almost 15 or 16 years
now, and do so because I have enjoyed his company, his
wisdom, and listening to his contributions to the debate
and his knowledge of the Senate and its procedures.
I know we have a new group of pages who have arrived to
serve in our Nation's Capital here in the U.S. Senate in
the last few days. As someone who sat on the steps of the
Democratic side back in the early 1960s as a page, I say
to the pages, I would strongly urge you to listen to
Robert C. Byrd. If you want to have truly a great lesson
during your tenure here as pages, then listen to the
remarkable Senator from West Virginia, and you will learn
more in the short period of time you are here than almost
anything else I could advise you to do, except to read his
two-volume history of the U.S. Senate, which you may not
have time to do during your 2 or 3 weeks here as pages.
Senator Byrd, of course, has had significant
accomplishments. And I think of the time when I served as
a page, an unpaid page, back many years ago, and the
giants of the Senate in those days; certainly people such
as Lyndon Johnson, Mike Mansfield, Richard Russell,
Everett Dirksen, Margaret Chase Smith, Hubert Humphrey,
John Sherman Cooper, Stuart Symington--and so many others
who served during those years who were truly giants in
many ways.
They were Senators in the very fullest sense of the
word. They represented an institutional spirit that in
many ways is lacking today, and I regret that deeply. But
it was critical to the success of our democratic republic
how they related one to the other. It is a spirit of
independence and understanding that all Senators are equal
in this body, regardless of the positions they hold in the
institution. All 100 of us are equal Members representing
our respective States and constituencies. It is a spirit
that allows us to debate--sometimes very vigorously--our
differences, while still obliging us to seek common ground
for the common good of our country.
Robert Byrd certainly epitomizes that spirit--a vigorous
debater but also someone who recognizes it is vitally
important to reach common goals for the common good. It is
a spirit that refuses to submit to the encroachments of
any other institution or office in the land, including
that of the Executive.
I cannot count the times that Robert C. Byrd would
correct someone who said: I served under a President here.
I served under seven Presidents. Robert Byrd will quickly
tell you: You do not serve under any President. You serve
with Presidents. You are a member of a co-equal branch of
the U.S. Government as embodied in the Constitution of the
United States.
And how right he is. As Senators understand, Robert Byrd
understands implicitly that the Senate is a co-equal,
powerful branch of government, that our Founders wanted it
to be of equal weight in the deliberations of our country.
I carry with me a copy of the U.S. Constitution. I have
had this for many, many years, and it was given to me by
my seatmate, Robert C. Byrd. It is getting rather worn,
but his inscription inside is something I will cherish for
the rest of my days and life. One of the reasons I care so
deeply about this particular copy is of course it was
given to me by him and inscribed by him.
I think it is only fitting that someone who cares so
much about that document and this institution is now the
Senate's longest serving Member.
In his close to five decades of Senate service, Senator
Byrd has had an enormous impact on his State and on our
country. He, more than any other Member that I can think
of in the last half century, has worked to preserve the
delicate system of checks and balances conceived by the
Founders of our great Republic. That work is typified by
his opposition to the line-item veto and his insistence on
preserving the prerogatives of this institution in
relation to the other branches of government.
But more than that, he has also helped to bring good
jobs, better schools, and decent health care not only to
the constituents of West Virginia but also to millions of
people across this country because of his leadership.
He has never forgotten the good, hard-working people who
sent him here from his beloved West Virginia or why they
did so; that is, to make our Nation a stronger, more
prosperous, and more hopeful Nation for all of its
citizens.
Senator Byrd has had the courage and strength of
character to admit past errors--something that too few of
us do in this Chamber--and to seek genuine understanding
for the good of our country.
In his history of the U.S. Senate, Senator Byrd has
written that:
After 200 years, the Senate is still the anchor of the
Republic, is still the morning and evening star in the
American constitutional constellation.
More than any other U.S. Senator in this body, I believe
Senator Byrd has helped to ensure that this U.S. Senate
retains that unique distinction.
So I am pleased to join with my other colleagues in
wishing him well. I know more than anything else he would
have loved to have his beloved Erma here with him in these
days to celebrate this achievement. Of course, he lost
Erma just a few months ago. But I am certain, as all of us
are, that she is watching, with a great big smile, as she
celebrates with all of us the distinction that our
colleague from West Virginia has achieved this past
Monday--47-plus years in the U.S. Senate.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, the distinguished senior
Senator from West Virginia, our friend Robert Byrd, has
achieved yet another historic milestone. He is now the
longest serving Senator in the history of the Senate. But
what is most remarkable about Senator Byrd is not his
longevity, but his unique stature and accomplishment
within this body.
Senator Byrd is renowned for his unmatched knowledge of
the Senate's history. So he remembers very well that our
former colleague, Philip Hart of Michigan, was known as
the ``conscience of the Senate.'' Well, I believe that
history will remember the senior Senator from West
Virginia as the soul of the Senate.
No individual in my memory has been a more tenacious
champion of the traditions, prerogatives, and rules of
this body. No individual has had greater reverence for the
Constitution, and for the Founders' vision of an
assertive, independent, co-equal legislative branch. As
the ``Almanac of Americans'' says in its profile of
Senator Byrd, and I quote, he ``may come closer to the
kind of Senator that the Founding Fathers had in mind than
any other.'' By the way, if anyone here on the Senate
floor needs to look something up in the Constitution, we
know where to turn; Senator Byrd always carries a copy in
his left breast pocket, directly over his heart.
I have always had a special affinity for Senator Byrd,
because we are both the sons of coal miners, both raised
in humble circumstances. Reading about the Senator's early
years, lifting himself out of poverty as a welder and meat
cutter before running for the West Virginia Legislature in
1946, I am reminded of Thomas Edison's remark that
``opportunity is missed by most people because it is
dressed in overalls and looks like work.'' Well, Robert
Byrd made his own opportunities with relentless work,
self-education, and striving. And that incredible work
ethic continues right up to this day.
One product of that work ethic, and of Senator Byrd's
always impressive erudition, is his history of this body.
It is recognized as the definitive history of the Senate
during its first 200 years, and widely praised for its
graceful writing. On this score, Senator Byrd has much in
common with Winston Churchill. Both were prolific writers.
And both were major players in the events that they
chronicled.
On a personal note, let me just say that I have always
valued Senator Byrd's friendship, wisdom, and advice. And
I will always appreciate the way he tutored me in the ways
of the Senate when I first came to this body in 1984.
So I join with my colleagues from both sides of the
aisle in saluting our friend. Senator Byrd is the longest
serving Member of this body. But there are still many
chapters yet to be written in the career of this great
Senator. As the late Senator Paul Wellstone used to say,
``The future belongs to those with passion.'' By that
standard, Senator Byrd is very much a man of the future.
I say to my friend, it has been an honor to serve with
him.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a
man who may be the most important friend that the people
of West Virginia have ever sent to Washington or ever will
send to Washington. He is the senior Senator of West
Virginia, and today he becomes America's senior Senator.
The Senate is housed in this beautiful Chamber of marble
columns and intricate architecture. But the Senate is not
a building; it is not a seal or a symbol or an idea. The
Senate is a group of 100 men and women who are chosen by
the people to craft the laws that define and govern the
American people.
While the Senate is not a building, it does have
individuals who serve as pillars upon which the rest of us
place our trust and reliance. Today, we salute one such
pillar. The senior Senator from West Virginia enters the
record books as the longest serving Senator.
Note, I say that he enters the record books, not the
history books. I say that because I expect the senior
Senator from West Virginia to be making history on this
floor for many years to come.
In an earlier time, we would have called Robert Byrd a
renaissance man in the mold of such American luminaries as
Jefferson or Franklin. Consider that he is a poet, an
accomplished musician, an author, the foremost historian
of this Chamber, a parliamentary expert, an intensely
devout Christian, an unrivaled legislator, a scholar of
our Constitution, and earned a J.D. while a Member of this
Chamber.
Yet all of these accomplishments as an individual are
dwarfed by what he has done and will continue to do for
the people of West Virginia. He has brought new industries
like biotechnology, biometrics and other high-tech, high-
skilled work to West Virginia. He has fought for dams,
roadways, hospitals, and highways. It is hard to imagine
that one man might have such a transformative impact on a
State. Yet friend and foe alike would concede this point
to Robert Byrd.
I say today that Senator Byrd becomes America's senior
Senator. In many ways, he always has been. No man or woman
more rigorously defends the role of this Chamber in our
governmental structure, and no man or woman fights more
ardently to preserve that beautiful document he carries in
his breast pocket--the U.S. Constitution. One of the first
things I did when I was sworn in as a Member of this body
was to take the whole Landrieu family to see Senator Byrd
and have him give us a talk on the Constitution and the
role of the Senate.
For the last 6 years, it has been my pleasure to serve
under Senator Byrd's leadership on the Senate
Appropriations Committee. In that capacity, he has proven
repeatedly that he is a friend to the people of Louisiana
and understands the tragedy that has befallen them. I
thank him for that help and friendship.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that
today is a bittersweet anniversary, for it is also Erma's
birthday. A woman whose life, and now memory, Senator Byrd
so obviously cherished.
So, Mr. President, I thank America's senior Senator for
his service to this country and for his friendship.
I conclude my remarks, as he so often does, with a verse
of poetry--one of the Senator's favorites--the final verse
of ``The Building of the Ship'' by Longfellow:
Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O UNION, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
'Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock and tempest's roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee,
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears,
Are all with thee,--are all with thee!
AUTHORIZATION TO SUBMIT TRIBUTES TO SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD
AND FORMER SENATOR BOB DOLE
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent
that Senators be permitted to submit tributes to Senator
Byrd and former Senator Dole for the Record until Friday,
June 16, and that each be printed as a Senate document.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, earlier in the week, on
Monday to be exact, Senator Robert C. Byrd, our very
distinguished colleague, became the longest serving
Senator in the history of the U.S. Senate. It is obviously
a moment to celebrate and recognize his accomplishments in
the service of the Nation. Our celebration is tempered
only by the fact that his beloved wife Erma, with whom he
spent nearly 69 years of marriage, passed away recently.
I want to join my colleagues who, in the course of this
week, have paid tribute to the senior Senator from West
Virginia. Senator Byrd this year completes his eighth
Senate term, having first been elected to the Senate in
1958. Prior to that, he served 6 years in the U.S. House
of Representatives and, before that, 6 years in the West
Virginia Legislature.
In his now almost 48 years in the U.S. Senate, he has
held an extraordinary range of committee and subcommittee
assignments and has served in leadership positions as
secretary of the majority conference, majority whip,
minority leader, majority leader, and President pro
tempore. His vote has been recorded on nearly 99 percent
of all Senate roll calls since 1959. Indeed, he has cast
far more votes than any other Senator in our Nation's
history.
It is not for his longevity, however, that we honor our
colleague, the senior Senator from West Virginia. It is,
rather, the manner in which he has faithfully carried out
his responsibilities as a U.S. Senator and his abiding
dedication to the Constitution of the United States and
the system of government it created. No Member of the U.S.
Congress understands better than Senator Byrd the
Constitution's role in framing our lives as Americans. As
he has written:
Only the Constitution's genius affords our people the
powers and prerogatives that truly keep us a free nation,
most centrally through maintenance of the checks and
balances and separation of powers.
Over many years, while vigorously and effectively
representing the people of West Virginia, Senator Byrd has
made the study, exposition, and defense of the
Constitution his life's work. In so doing, he has spoken
not only for West Virginians but for us all. If, as
Senator Byrd has said, the Senate functions as the central
pillar of our constitutional system, then I would say that
Senator Byrd himself is the central pillar of the Senate.
His commitment to the Senate and its history, its custom,
and procedures is equaled only by his commitment to the
State of West Virginia, our Nation, and our Constitution.
No one is more keenly attuned to the Senate's role in
assuring the proper functioning of our constitutional
system. He has studied the Senate's origins in Roman and
British history. He has, as he puts it, ``ponder[ed] the
lives of the framers and founders and set down a four-
volume history of the Senate.'' And he has read the
journals and other writings of the early Members of this
body. He has mastered the Senate rules to a degree that
few, if any, have ever attained. Even in the most
contentious debates, Senator Robert C. Byrd remains a
steady voice for courtesy and civility. Indeed, his is the
voice of courtesy and civility.
Senator Byrd begins his autobiography, ``Child of the
Appalachian Coalfields,'' with an observation by William
James: ``The best use of life is to invest it in something
which will outlast life.''
This certainly is what he has done.
It was not foreordained that he would some day be a U.S.
Senator from West Virginia. Born in North Carolina, he
lost his mother in the great influenza epidemic of 1918,
when he was a year old, whereupon he was adopted by an
aunt and her husband and moved with them to West Virginia.
His adopted father was a coal miner, and he grew up in
company towns. He was an excellent student, valedictorian
of his high school class, ``a self-styled sort of
somebody,'' one high school teacher later said, but his
prospects were few. As another teacher observed:
Knowing the background and how hard it would be to move
out from that background, I picture him as being an office
man or a scrip clerk at one of the mines.
In those years of the Great Depression, there was
obviously no money for college. Robert Byrd took what jobs
he could get: shop clerk, butcher, a welder in a Baltimore
shipyard during World War II. We were honored to have had
him in our State.
In 1946 he was elected to the first of three terms in
the State legislature. Of the decision to run for office
he has said:
I grew up in a state where we didn't have much hope. I
wanted to help my people and give them hope . . .
He did not abandon his hopes of continuing his
education. Upon his election to the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1952, he enrolled in law school. When
he learned that he would be denied a law degree because he
had never received a college degree in the law school in
which he had enrolled, he transferred to the Washington
College of Law at American University where he went to
night classes for 10 years and received his law degree cum
laude in 1963--a remarkable achievement. By that time he
had been a Senator from West Virginia for 5 years. Robert
Byrd is the only person ever to have served in either
House of Congress to begin and complete a law degree while
serving.
Twenty years later, the College of Law at American
University honored him as the First Distinguished Fellow
of the honor society established by the late dean of the
college, a most fitting tribute. Eleven years later, in
1994, he received his bachelor's degree in political
science from Marshall University in recognition of the
credits accumulated there and other places over a period
of many years.
Of the many awards he has received in the course of his
long and distinguished career, Senator Byrd has said that
none means more to him than the tribute from the Governor
and legislature of his State in naming him ``West
Virginian of the 20th Century.''
As his colleague here in the Senate for the past 30
years and as one who has the deepest respect and
admiration for him and cherishes his counsel and
friendship, I submit that he will be remembered not only
for his service to his State but for the courage and
dedication and tenacity he has shown and continues to show
every day in the service of our Nation. It is a privilege
to be his colleague here in the U.S. Senate.
I yield the floor.
Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, it is indeed a privilege and
honor for me to join my colleagues in commemorating and
honoring my friend and colleague, Senator Robert C. Byrd,
on the occasion of his becoming the longest serving
Senator in the history of our country, passing the old
mark of 17,326 days on June 12, 2006. The fact that West
Virginians have returned him to the Page
S5940 deg. Senate in eight prior elections speaks volumes
of the love and affection and respect they feel for him as
their Senator who serves them most effectively.
When I first came to the Senate in 1990 from the other
side of the Capitol, Senator Byrd was one of the first
Senators I met with to get advice and counsel, which he
generously shared with me. Of course, he gave me a copy of
a pocket edition of the Constitution, the document upon
which our country is based and one that is ever-present in
his pocket. Over the years, he has been most generous with
his friendships, and indeed I feel a sense of kinship and
aloha with him. In Hawaii, this feeling of kinship is
often referred to as being part of the ohana, or family,
and used with love and endearment.
With stewards like Senator Robert C. Byrd, we can rest
assured that our country is in good hands. I look forward
to his continuing friendship and serving with him for many
years to come.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I take this opportunity to
congratulate my friend, the distinguished Senator from
West Virginia, who has achieved the distinction of being
the longest serving Senator in the history of the Senate.
Even though this is definitely a noteworthy achievement,
what has set Senator Byrd apart from all others who have
served as Senators is the dedication he has shown to the
duties of his office, his respect for the traditions of
the Senate, and his leadership of this body during his
service in the Senate.
As President pro tempore, majority leader, and chairman
of the Appropriations Committee, he has succeeded in
protecting and enforcing the rules of the Senate, first
written by Thomas Jefferson during his service as Vice
President and the Presiding Officer of the Senate, and he
used his leadership skills to successfully lead the Senate
in changing the rules when a consensus for modernizing the
rules permitted. His insights into the needs of his
constituents and his devotion to their well-being have
been admirable.
Perhaps his greatest contribution to our understanding
of the Senate was his authorship of the ``Addresses on the
History of the United States Senate,'' the most
comprehensive account of the role the Senate has played
over the years.
I commend the Senator from West Virginia for his
illustrious and record-breaking career in the Senate, and
I wish for him many more years of service in this body.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr President, I am sorry that I was not
present on the floor on Monday when my colleagues paid
tribute to my friend, Robert C. Byrd, but I would like to
add my voice to the chorus speaking on his unsurpassed
contributions to the U.S. Senate and to America.
I say without hesitation Senator Byrd is one of the most
remarkable men I have ever had the privilege to work with.
Although I have been here for 33 years, he is the only
Member whom I have looked up to as my senior--my senior in
every way.
When my days are finished in this Chamber, my children,
my grandchildren, and my great-grandchildren will know
that I served with the greatest servant of the U.S. Senate
of all who have served.
Once someone said of another West Virginian, Stonewall
Jackson, that ``his character and will make him a
stonewall and more of a stonewall than any man I've ever
known.''
I say the same of Robert Byrd. When he walks on the
floor, Constitution in his pocket, and he looks around,
raises his voice, and points his finger, he is our
stonewall. He is the unshakable rock of this institution.
He is our foundation. He is the protector of this body.
I am absolutely certain that the Senator's service,
knowledge, and contributions to the Senate will never be
surpassed. This country gentleman has no peer. No one has
given as much to this institution or loved it as much as
the senior Senator from West Virginia.
The Senate is what it is because of Robert Byrd. And he
is our wise senior, not because of the records but because
he is a man of his conviction. He has told the truth on
every issue that confronts our country. He is our rock of
integrity.
When I was elected at age 29, and 6 weeks later, before
I was sworn in, my wife and daughter were killed in a
terrible car accident, Senator Byrd came to the funeral
home. He waited in a long line to pay his respects. It was
an act of kindness that I have never forgotten.
I know how bittersweet this honor is for him, as his
lifemate, Erma, would have been 89 years old this week. We
all admire the love and devotion the two of them had for
each other, in health and in sickness. We know his first
love was not in the Chamber; it was at home. We also know
how proud she would be of him this week.
One of America's favorite West Virginians, who also set
a lot of records in his day, is Mr. Clutch, Jerry West. He
once said: ``You can't get much done in life if you only
work on the days when you feel good.''
Senator Byrd has worked 17,331 days--days that have been
good and bad. In all that time, he has made the most out
of every one of them and gotten more done than anyone will
ever know. It has been an honor serving with him for
12,209 of those days. I look forward to many more days and
years together.
Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. President, I join my colleagues in
paying tribute to one of our most distinguished Members,
the senior Senator from West Virginia, Mr. Byrd.
As he passes the milestone of becoming the Senate's
longest serving Member, I would remind him of a statement
by Yogi Berra when they asked him about one of his many
records. He said, ``I knew that one would stand until it
was broken.'' Perhaps when medical science allows us to
live to be 150 years old his record may be broken, but
until then, I think he is safe.
Knowing the Senator's affection for the simple truth, I
just want to make three points in recognizing this
achievement which he embodies to an extraordinary degree.
The first is: Your life is what you make it.
Our former colleague, Senator Dave Durenberger told me
the story of a Friday afternoon in the Senate in 1987 when
he was standing in for Senator Dole for the procedural
``wrap up'' with Senator Byrd. The Twins were in the World
Series at the time and on the Record, Senator Durenberger
asked Senator Byrd if he wanted to come to Minnesota to
see one of the games.
Senator Byrd said he has not seen a professional
baseball game, or football game, or Hollywood movie for
more than a decade. But he said he had not been idle. He
shared that he had read the Bible cover to cover many
times, had read all the plays of Shakespeare, all the
Lives of Plutarch and the entire Oxford Unabridged
Dictionary.
Many of us wonder what we might accomplish without the
many distractions of modern life. We should look to
Senator Byrd for the answer.
The second point I would like to make is: People change.
When we look at Robert Byrd's upbringing and the person
he has become, it underlies a basic truth which has been
made clear by all the great hearts and minds of history.
Life is not what happens to you: life is what you choose
to do with what happens to you.
Change and growth are always possible in people's lives,
if they have the courage to change and discipline to grow.
And my third point is: This Senate is unique.
For the sake of the 100 of us who temporarily occupy
these seats, Senator Byrd has embodied the truth that the
Senate is unique in human history and its value must be
preserved.
The genius of our Founders was their understanding of
the heights and depths of human endeavor and their ability
to translate those thoughts into practical institutions
which maximized the heights and minimized the depths.
They knew that the philosophy of democracy must honor
both the principle of majority rule and the protection of
minority rights. And so in article I of the Constitution
they created a House to operate mostly by majority rule
and a Senate mostly to protect minority rights. The
balance they struck has given a dynamic quality to the
Congress that serves our Nation well on every conceivable
issue.
I have often gone up to Senator Byrd on this floor and
told him that he has given me something I could not get
from any other source: a proper appreciation for the
living history of the Senate that leads to reverence for
this institution.
Robert Byrd and his service in the Senate is a great
American story. It tells anyone who will listen how a
person from humble origin can rise to leadership and then
strive his whole life to keep the way open for those who
would come up behind him.
We know that great ideas are just a generation from
extinction. I am grateful to have had the chance to see
many of those great ideas embodied and standing on this
floor in the person of Senator Robert C. Byrd.
My tribute to him will be to try to learn and live out
the lessons he has lovingly and forcefully tried to teach
us all in this Chamber.
Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, I rise today to offer a
tribute to my colleague Senator Robert Byrd. Few men in
our Nation's history have had such a large hand in shaping
the U.S. Senate and the destiny of our country as Robert
Byrd. No one in our country's history has served in the
Senate longer or with more distinction.
Senator Byrd's Senate career truly is a remarkable
American success story. Only in America could a young man
from the coalfields of Appalachia use hard work,
intelligence, and determination to one day become the
longest serving Senator in U.S. history.
He has often been called the Senate's historian. I have
often been amazed at Senator Byrd's prolific ability to
weave the great authors and poets of the past into modern
relevant lessons for today's society. Cicero, Shakespeare,
Tacitus, Aquinas, Jefferson, and Washington are not simply
names memorized from a textbook for Senator Byrd. They are
living characters with indelible truths that we should all
spend more time studying and give more time to in quiet
reflection. Senator Byrd reminds us all of the importance
of the august traditions of the Senate and why this is the
world's greatest deliberative body.
You will never find Senator Byrd without his copy of the
Constitution. I dare say there are few individuals here in
this body with a greater love or commitment to those noble
ideas our Founding Fathers fought and died defending.
But above all, I have been most impressed with his love
and dedication to his family.
Senator Byrd and his beloved wife, Erma, were an amazing
example for what we should all strive for in a loving
marriage. For nearly 69 years Robert and Erma were
together side by side, living and loving together. I would
like to share some touching words that Senator Byrd gave
in testament to his great wife--his greatest treasure:
She met with kings and shahs, princes and princesses,
Governors and Senators, Presidents. She entertained the
high and the mighty, the powerful and the wealthy of this
Nation in a foreign land because it was important to her
husband who served as the majority leader of this Senate
and various other Senatorial offices. She did it all with
an innate, inherent graciousness, incredible patience, and
a soft, warm smile. She was a remarkable lady of great
wisdom, but most of all, great gentleness, yet she could
be tough when she saw injustice or unfairness.
I think America could use more devotion like that.
In closing, I congratulate Senator Byrd on his amazing
accomplishments and to his 17,331 days in service to his
country in the U.S. Senate. When the history books record
his deeds and actions, he will truly be remembered in the
pantheon of legends that have forever left their mark on
our great Nation.
Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, just a few days ago Senator
Robert C. Byrd set a very remarkable record. He is now the
longest serving Senator in the history of the Senate. The
Senate, the legislative body that means so much to him,
now honors him for his achievement and for the remarkable
record of service that he has given to the United States.
I appreciate having the opportunity to be a part of our
recognition of our colleague and his commitment to public
service and the people of his home State of West Virginia.
For almost 48 years now, Robert C. Byrd has carried the
title of U.S. Senator. I think it is fair to say that no
one has done so with a greater awareness of what it means
to be a Senator and of the institution the Senate
represents. He is truly our institutional memory and he is
the master of the Senate's rules and procedures. No one
knows better than he the precedents and prerogatives of
the Senate, and no one is a better protector, promoter and
defender of them than he is.
It is not just for the length of his service that
Senator Byrd is being honored, however. It isn't so much
the years he has served but the service he has provided to
the people of the United States and his State of West
Virginia that has earned him the accolades he has received
and will continue to receive from his colleagues and his
constituents.
Our celebration of this moment and all he has achieved
is softened by the loss of his beloved wife Erma, his
greatest friend and supporter, his companion through life
and almost 69 years of marriage, who passed away recently.
I am sure she is looking down on us all, proud and
thrilled to see Senator Byrd's continued efforts to
address the issues of importance to his beloved friends of
West Virginia and to note his recognition for being their
champion for so many years.
During my service in the Senate I have appreciated
working with Senator Byrd on a variety of issues, most
recently the miner safety act. We were both there at the
President's side as he took up his pen and signed the bill
into law. As he did, he noted Senator Byrd's presence
because he knew the bill was the result of Senator Byrd's
heartfelt concern for the miners of his State, for their
safety, and the security of their families.
I have no doubt that if we were to look up the words
``constituent service'' in any book it would immediately
refer us to Senator Byrd's work in the Senate. He has been
an active and effective advocate for the people of West
Virginia and he has worked tirelessly and diligently to
address their needs in the Congress.
Looking back, Senator Byrd's life reads like a Hollywood
movie script. He graduated first in his high school class
and married his high school sweetheart. He then spent 12
years saving the money he needed to start college.
Through the years that followed, he held a variety of
jobs that gave him an understanding of the needs of the
working people of his State. He also developed his talent
for the fiddle, and soon became known for that as well.
Before long he was a member of the State legislature and,
not too long thereafter, he came to the Senate.
Here in the Senate, no one has shown a greater
understanding of the history and meaning of the U.S.
Constitution and the role it plays in shaping our values
and our way of life as Americans. We both have a habit of
carrying a copy in our pocket to remind us of our job here
in the Senate and our responsibility as Senators to adhere
to the provisions of the Constitution and all it says and
requires us to do.
Whenever I think of Senator Byrd, the first thing that
comes to mind is his incredible knowledge and
understanding of world history and the American
experience. He also has a profound and substantive mastery
of the legacy of the written word. Whenever he takes to
the floor to present his views on an issue he always has a
ready reference to the precedents of the past, or the
words of some great author who had written something
appropriate to the moment.
Now, Senator Byrd, the great student of the history of
our Nation and so much more, is himself a part of the
great story of America and the traditions of the Senate.
Every day he joins us here to deliberate on the issues
before the Senate, he writes another chapter of his own
life's story, a story that will be forever told and retold
back in his home State, in the mountains and valleys of
West Virginia, by the people who live there who will
forever remember him and his legacy as their Senator--a
legacy that will never be forgotten.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the Senate has just marked
another milestone with the extraordinary service of the
senior Senator from West Virginia. I consider him a mentor
and a friend. I have had the privilege of serving with
Senator Byrd on the Judiciary Committee and I currently
serve with him on the Appropriations Committee. I know
firsthand his work as the Senate majority leader, the
Senate Democratic leader, and as our President pro
tempore.
He understands the role of the Senate and the need for
it to act as a check and a balance on the President. In
recent years, he has been discovered by a new generation
of Americans as a true Senator.
By his work and his example he teaches each of us every
day what the Senate should be and must be if the
constitutional design of the Founders is to serve and
preserve our rights and liberties.
One of the great privileges of serving in the Senate is
to serve with the senior Senator from West Virginia. One
of the great pleasures is to hear him speak on this floor.
His continuing contributions to the Senate and the Nation
are too numerous to recount but I would like to mention
one of the many outstanding moments.
Senator Byrd has preserved the Constitution from
numerous assaults. He takes seriously the Senate oath to
``support and defend'' the Constitution. He has protected
it from a number of ill-conceived and politically-
motivated amendments, including the so-called balanced
budget amendment and the line-item veto. The last time the
Senate considered amending the Constitution to cut back on
our individual liberties and limit the first amendment,
that guarantee in the Bill of Rights of our freedom of
religion and speech, it was in no small way thanks to
Senator Byrd that the Constitution and the rights of
Americans were preserved.
On March 29, 2000, he gave an extraordinary speech. I
was a manager on the matter and was fortunate to be
present. I noted at the time that ``periodically, we hear
greatness in speeches,'' and observed that this was a case
where the Senate had heard greatness. It is a speech that
students of the Constitution and of constitutional history
should study.
In the days ahead, we will again be challenged to amend
our Bill of Rights for the first time in over 200 years. I
can think of no one I would rather stand with and fight
for the Constitution than the senior Senator from West
Virginia. Every day he walks on the floor of this Senate
carrying the Constitution because he knows that the
liberties of the American people are not to be sacrificed
for passing political favor. He is a fierce advocate for
the Nation, the Constitution, the Senate, but first and
foremost, for the people of the State of West Virginia
whom he represents so ably.
I have said that I sit in the white hair row. It is a
row that I picked. Because of my seniority, I can sit just
about anywhere I want, but I sit in this row to sit near
Senator Byrd.
Senator Byrd is a Senator's Senator, but he is also a
Senator who respects and preserves the Constitution. We
are supposed to be the conscience of the Nation. There are
only 100 of us to represent 219 million Americans. Thank
goodness one of those 100 is Robert C. Byrd of West
Virginia.
Proceedings in the House of Representatives
Monday, June 12, 2006
Mr. MOLLOHAN. Mr. Speaker, this is a landmark day in the
history of the U.S. Congress.
On this day, the man who leads our West Virginia
delegation with such energy, integrity, and effectiveness
becomes the longest serving Member in the history of the
U.S. Senate. It is a great honor for me to join my
colleagues in saluting this latest record achievement of
our senior Senator, the Honorable Robert C. Byrd.
The distinguished career of Senator Byrd is well-known
to those of us who are so fortunate to serve with him and
to learn from him. He is a master of the legislative
process, a strong defender of our Democratic institutions,
a great intellect on policy issues, a constant voice of
clarity and of reason.
And, most important of all, he is an unwavering champion
of the people he was elected to serve: the citizens of
West Virginia. He never fails to give his very best to
them. It is this lifetime of faithful service that has
created such an amazing bond between Senator Byrd and the
people of the Mountain State--a bond built on trust,
respect and a deep gratitude for all that he accomplishes
on our behalf.
So on this day--his 17,327th as the Senator from West
Virginia--I call upon my colleagues to salute Senator
Robert C. Byrd on this extraordinary milestone. We are
honored, indeed, to serve alongside such a gifted and
accomplished leader.
Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, what do you get when you
multiply the power of the beacon by the strength of a
workhorse by the steadiness of an anchor? Robert C. Byrd.
We can celebrate his length of service today but we will
always prosper more from his daily leadership for West
Virginia over these past years.
We celebrate that definition of Senator Byrd today as he
becomes the longest serving Senator in the history of the
Republic.
Today, June 12, 2006, marks a record 17,327th day Robert
C. Byrd has served in the U.S. Senate. While we desire to
mark this milestone and unrivaled achievement with
celebration, I suspect the senior Senator from West
Virginia will spend this day as he has every day for the
past nearly 48 years--by going to work to improve and
enrich the lives of the people of West Virginia and
ardently defending the Constitution of the United States.
In total, Senator Byrd has served this Nation nearly 54
years in the U.S. Capitol. Senator Byrd served three terms
in this body before being elected to the Senate. Here on
the House side in Statuary Hall, the old House Chamber,
overlooking all, stands sentinel, Clio, the Muse of
History, in a winged chariot, a symbol of the passing of
time. The statue is there to witness and record the
history of the Republic for future generations.
Time does tell all, Mr. Speaker. That is why today is so
significant. Time trumpets talent, but talent ultimately
triumphs over time. Senator Byrd's time here is a direct
measurement of his talent, witnessed by the wisdom of the
people of West Virginia who have returned him to serve
again time after time. Democracies breed talent. The time
of tenure validates talent.
I send words of congratulations and comfort to my
Senator on this day, as I know it marks above all the
birthday of his lovely and beloved Erma, who recently left
us to rest eternally with our Lord in Heaven.
It remains one of my life's great privileges to serve
with a man I consider a mentor and friend. I have never
seen a greater example of a public servant and I have
attempted to emulate my service after his.
Senator Byrd has been an architect of advancement for
our State; the influence of his steady leadership over the
past five decades can be seen from the hills to the
valleys, from our towns and villages to our cities.
And it is with great excitement that I look forward to
the continued service of West Virginia's senior Senator.
For that is the brilliance of Robert C. Byrd--always with
his stern gaze firmly fixed on the future, a better, more
prosperous, more secure future for West Virginia and all
America.
As a beacon you will continue to shine your light of
advancement and progress across our entire State and
Nation; as a workhorse you will continue to spend each day
of your service dedicated to providing your people
opportunities for prosperity; as an anchor you will
continue to steady our land while giving generations of
West Virginians and Americans hope, faith, and prosperity.
To my friend, I congratulate you on all you have
achieved for your beloved West Virginia and all that you
will achieve in the future for our Nation.