[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 170]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNIZING 50 YEARS OF TIRELESS WORK FOR WEST VIRGINIA BY SENATOR 
                             ROBERT C. BYRD

  (Mr. RAHALL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 50th anniversary of West 
Virginia's senior Senator's service to the people of West Virginia in 
the United States Congress. It was Winston Churchill who perhaps best 
foresaw the defining nature of the tenure of Senator Robert Byrd's 
tireless work on behalf of the State of West Virginia, our Nation, the 
House and the Senate and, of course, our Federal Constitution. 
Churchill said, ``Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the 
courage to continue that counts.''
  Senator Byrd has seen success. He has never lost an election. But 
Robert C. Byrd does not measure success by personal standards, but by 
the public good. He does not seek success, only to serve. And through 
his service, West Virginians have prospered, America has been 
strengthened, the Congress has been ennobled, and the Constitution 
secured. Failure has been rare and momentary but always used as a 
catapult to advance the next charge for the cause of the day.
  It is common to celebrate milestones in our Nation's capital, Mr. 
Speaker; but tenure no matter the length is temporary. What matters, 
what measures the man, Mr. Speaker, is not the number of terms but the 
depth of his determination, not the years but the heights of his 
horizons and not one more sunrise but the courage of his convictions.
  By this measure, Mr. Speaker, Robert C. Byrd's record can never be 
outdone.

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