[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 76 (Wednesday, June 14, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5821-S5823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I want to take a minute or 2, 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 1958. 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 Capitol 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 of 3 weeks here as pages.
Senator Byrd, of course, has had significant accomplishments. And I
think
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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 coequal
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 coequal, 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--that I carry
a copy of the Constitution given to me by this person who cherishes and
loves the Constitution as much as Robert C. Byrd does. 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 last Monday--47 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 two-volume 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
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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 mew 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!
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Hawaii is recognized.
Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I have 5
minutes in morning business.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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