[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 10 (Friday, February 8, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO SENATOR PAUL SARBANES

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I am delighted to extend, even though 
belatedly, happy birthday greetings to the senior Senator from 
Maryland, Mr. Sarbanes. His birthday was on February 3, so he has now 
reached the grand age of 69. Oh, to be 69 again!
  Let me say that Senator Sarbanes and I have more differences than 
just our ages. He is of Greek ancestry, and proud of it. I am of 
southern and Appalachian ancestry, and beyond that, going back through 
the years of time and change, of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, and I am proud 
of that.
  He is a member of the Greek Orthodox Church. I am a member of the 
Southern Missionary Baptist Church.
  He is from the Chesapeake region of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I 
am from the coalfields of southern West Virginia.
  His career began by waiting on tables, washing dishes, and mopping 
floors in the Mayflower Grill in downtown Salisbury, MD. Mine began by 
working in a gas station in the cold winter of January and February 
1935, having to walk 4 miles to work and 4 miles back, and earning $50 
a month, $600 a year.
  But, Mr. President, Senator Sarbanes and I share many common 
interests. One of these common interests that Senator Sarbanes and I 
share is our love for the Senate. And I have always appreciated that in 
Senator Sarbanes' career.
  I have observed Senator Sarbanes since he was first elected to the 
Senate in 1976--200 years after that historic year of 1776. I have 
admired the rational way that this perfectly reasonable man has always 
gone about his business.
  I watch him when he is listening to witnesses in committees. I serve 
on the Budget Committee of the Senate with Senator Sarbanes. He has a 
rare, subtle way of listening carefully and then going right to the 
crux of a matter. He is very effective in his questions and the manner 
in which he performs his work on committees.
  He is a thinker. I spoke of his Greek ancestry. Paul Sarbanes is the 
epitome of the Greek thinker, of which we have read so much in history.
  I have watched him as he has served as chairman of the Congressional 
Joint Economic Committee, as chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing, 
and Urban Affairs Committee.
  He is also the chairman of the impressive and influential Maryland 
congressional delegation, which includes Senator Barbara Mikulski in 
the Senate as well as Representative Steny Hoyer in the House.

  He has been a very effective member of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee and, as I earlier indicated, as a member of the Senate Budget 
Committee.
  There is a long list of reasons I admire Paul Sarbanes. One of the 
reasons I came to admire Paul Sarbanes was the support he gave to me 
when I was the majority leader and when I was minority leader in the 
Senate. During troubling times, during the most difficult votes, in the 
midst of the most controversial issues, I nearly always called upon 
Paul Sarbanes for his counsel, for his advice. Every leader would be 
fortunate to have a Paul Sarbanes as a colleague to whom he could go 
and seek advice and counsel.
  So there he was, with his advice and his friendship. I can't begin to 
say how much I appreciated that in Paul Sarbanes, as one of the most 
probing, acute intellects that I have seen in my 56 years of serving in 
legislative bodies. His word is his bond. His loyalty is unchallenged. 
His integrity is beyond reproach.
  So allow me to use these belated birthday greetings to say: Thank 
you; thank you, Senator Paul Sarbanes, for being a friend as well as a 
colleague; thank you for your tremendous work for your State and our 
country.
  I should also thank the people of the State of Maryland for having 
the wisdom and the common sense to send Paul Sarbanes here to be with 
us in 1982, in 1988, in 1994, and in 2000. He is now the longest 
serving U.S. Senator in the history of the State of Maryland. The 
Senate and our country are the better for it.

       Count your garden by the flowers,
       Never by the leaves that fall;
       Count your days by the sunny hours,
       Not remembering clouds at all.
       Count your nights by stars, not shadows;
       Count your days by smiles, not tears.

  And on this beautiful February afternoon, Paul Sarbanes, count your 
life by smiles, not tears.

                          ____________________