[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 79 (Friday, June 8, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S6000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REFLECTIONS ON THE SENATE

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, seeing the current Presiding Officer, the 
very distinguished senior Senator from Illinois, in the chair reminds 
me of the days when I first came to this Chamber. At that time, 
representing the great State of Illinois was the inimitable Everett 
Dirksen, with his unruly, one might say unkempt--at least in 
appearance--hair, his florid and flowery oratory, his mellifluous 
voice, a master at painting word pictures: Everett Dirksen. I can see 
him standing there. He was the minority leader. And then on this side 
of the aisle, in the next row behind me and across the aisle, sat the 
other Senator from the State of Illinois, Paul Douglas: Learned, also a 
great orator, very impressive--the two Senators from Illinois.
  Illinois is continuing in that tradition of Dirksen and Douglas. It 
sends to the Senate the Senator who presently presides, Richard Durbin, 
formerly a Member of the House of Representatives, who served there 
with distinction on the Appropriations Committee, who comes to the 
Senate Chamber very well equipped, indeed, well equipped by experience, 
well equipped by heredity, a factor never to be overlooked, a factor 
which in some ways lays out the destiny of each of us ahead of our 
years, who also is a very fine speaker, one who does his homework, who 
likes service to the people.
  Then there is Senator Fitzgerald. I believe he is the youngest 
Senator in today's Chamber, who came to the U.S. Senate, I believe, as 
a former member of the Senate of the State of Illinois. I hope I am 
correct. If I am not, I hope the Presiding Officer will indicate by nod 
that I am in error.
  In any event, I express appreciation to the Senator who presently 
presides for his patience in awaiting my tardy arrival.
  I sat in the chair earlier today as the President pro tempore of the 
Senate, having been elected to that honor by my colleagues, first of 
all, on this side of the aisle, and then all of my colleagues through a 
Senate resolution.
  Senators are not to speak from the chair. If compliments are to be 
directed to the Chair or criticism is to be directed to the Chair, the 
Chair is not supposed to respond. The Chair is only to respond when 
called upon by way of a parliamentary inquiry or, if necessary, to make 
a ruling on a point of order. And, of course, it is his or her 
responsibility to maintain order in the chair. The Chair has the 
responsibility to maintain, or to restore if necessary, order in the 
galleries, or in the Senate Chamber, without being called upon by a 
Senator from the floor. It is the Chair's responsibility to maintain 
order in the Senate, and the Chair should not await a call by a Senator 
from the floor for order and decorum; the Chair has that 
responsibility.
  As I sat there earlier today--we, of course, can't call attention to 
visitors in the galleries. But there are visitors in the galleries. And 
as I sat in the chair earlier today watching the visitors in the 
galleries, I reflected. It is a good time to reflect when one is in the 
chair and nothing is going on on the floor at a given moment and when 
no Senator is speaking. It is an excellent time for reflection. As I 
reflected on the silent audience that sits every day in these 
galleries--I reflected upon the fact that there in those galleries sit 
the people--our auditors--the people who send us here, the people who 
pay us our salaries. Silently they sit viewing the Senate, pondering 
what is said by Senators, watching over our shoulders. They are always 
there.
  Sometimes we may be prone to forget that the people are watching, but 
they are watching. There in the galleries rests the sovereignty of all 
that is the Government of this Republic.

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