[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 55 (Wednesday, May 6, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E781-E782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE TO SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD OF WEST VIRGINIA ON THE CASTING OF 
             HIS 15,000TH VOTE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. NICK J. RAHALL, II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 6, 1998

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize and to commend West 
Virginia's senior Senator, Robert C. Byrd, on the occasion of having 
cast his 15,000th vote in the United States Senate.
  Having cast that 15,000th vote on May 5, 1998 marks consistent voting 
by Senator Byrd for over 40 years, giving him a voting average of 98.7 
percent for his entire tenure, and earns for him the title of most 
votes cast by any Senator in the history of the United States Senate.
  I believe it is only fitting to note that his 15,000th vote was cast 
in favor of the ``Workforce Investment Partnership Act of 1998'', 
because no Member of the U.S. Senate has done more to provide for the 
training and education of this nation's workforce than Senator Robert 
C. Byrd. His understanding and devotion to the needs of his West 
Virginia constituents, and particularly his well documented efforts to 
ensure a strong economy in our State, has included his enormously 
successful efforts on behalf of securing jobs for the unemployed.
  Senator Robert C. Byrd has been setting voting records in the Senate 
since he was

[[Page E782]]

sworn in early in 1959. On January 8, 1959, Senator Byrd cast his first 
vote in the U.S. Senate. Fittingly, it was a vote on Senate procedure. 
On April 27, 1990, the Senator cast his 12,134th vote, earning him the 
record for greatest number of rollcall votes in Senate history. On July 
27, 1995, he became the first Senator in history to cast 14,000 votes, 
and he has now built on his record number of rollcall votes to be the 
first person in Senate history to cast 15,000 votes.
  In a historical context, Senator Byrd cast the first of his 15,000 
votes with Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, both of whom were 
there in the Chamber with him. When he cast his first vote, Hawaii was 
not yet a State, and the United States had not yet put a man in space.
  For 40 years, Senator Byrd has managed the run the Senate as Majority 
Leader, chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee, and has studied 
and written volumes on the history of the Senate, earning his place as 
the unrivaled expert on Senate rules.
  In the future, scholars and historians will write about Senator 
Byrd's remarkable impact on the Senate, as an orator, a parliamentary 
expert, a Senate historian, a legislative tactician, and an outstanding 
leader.
  Most certainly, he is all of those things.
  But more than that, he is the most revered, most beloved, most 
respected, member of Congress that his proud State of West Virginia has 
ever sent to Washington to represent them.
  As a historian himself, Senator Byrd is now a part of history, and 
will be always remembered for both the quantity and quality of his 
work, his service to his fellow Senators, and his unstinting service to 
West Virginians for nearly half a century.
  Certainly, no man or woman who has ever served in that body has ever 
loved the Senate, as an institution, more than Senator Robert C. Byrd, 
nor shared in the great esteem and honor the title of Senator has given 
to him. On May 5, 1998, as he made history in the Senate, he referred 
to himself as ``. . . a prince who still glories in the name of 
``Senator.'' To him, it is and has always been a position of trust--a 
trust he has honored all of his life.
  Congratulations, Senator Byrd, on the occasion of casting your 
15,000th vote, and for having been the only U.S. Senator in the life of 
the Senate to achieve that pinnacle.
  But more, I congratulate you for inspiring others, and encouraging 
both young and old alike to aspire to dignity, to knowledge, to trust 
and to honor whether they are your colleagues in the U.S. Senate, or a 
young student somewhere wondering whether he or she should think 
becoming a public servant.
  I had the high honor of serving on Senator Byrd's staff before 
returning to West Virginia and running for public office. I know first-
hand of Senator Byrd's example that encourages and inspires others to 
also serve their country by seeking public office.
  On May 5, 1998, Senator Byrd wondered where today's hero's are--who 
he wondered will the youth of today look up to as their hero's.
  Well, one of today's hero's resides in the United States Senate 
where, by example, he inspires and encourages all within the sound of 
his voice, and his name is Robert C. Byrd.
  I wish to convey to my friend, my mentor, my colleague Senator Byrd, 
my highest esteem, my deepest personal respect, and my overwhelming 
pride in him as a strong and most distinguished man, as a loving 
husband, father and grandfather, and as a greatly honored and trusted 
United States Senator from West Virginia.

                          ____________________