[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 5966-5971]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRATULATING SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD ON CASTING HIS 17,000TH VOTE

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to remark on 
a truly historic moment that just took place about 15 seconds ago, a 
moment we all witnessed which is special in United States history in a 
way we will shortly lay out.
  Senator Robert Byrd is already recognized as an American icon. In 
1917, he began life as a virtual orphan. His mom passed away when he 
was a year old. His aunt and uncle brought him to West Virginia to 
raise him on their own.
  Hard working, enterprising, Robert Byrd made the most of every single 
opportunity along the way and rose to become the third longest serving 
Member of Congress in U.S. history.
  Among his many distinctions, Senator Byrd has held more leadership 
positions in this body, the U.S. Senate, than any other Senator in 
American history.
  Over the course of eight consecutive terms, Senator Byrd has cast 
more votes than any other Senator in the history of the Republic. 
Today, just a couple minutes ago, Senator Byrd cast his 17,000th vote 
in this Chamber. I applaud Senator Byrd for his commitment to public 
service. This vote is truly a milestone in his career and the history 
of the U.S. Senate.
  Without question, when history is written, Senator Byrd will hold a 
prominent place as a Senate legend.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The minority leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I join the majority leader and all the 
Members of our body in congratulating Senator Byrd on reaching this 
historic milestone. I thank him for his half century of service to the 
U.S. Congress. Seventeen thousand votes is an astonishing number. It is 
even more astonishing when you consider that Senator Byrd has now cast 
652 more votes than the first runner-up, Senator Thurmond. He has 
served 2 years less than Senator Thurmond.
  Here is another remarkable statistic: In the last 45 years in the 
Senate, Robert Byrd has voted on 98.72 percent of the questions put 
before this body. He has missed only about 1 percent of all votes cast 
over 45 years--the second highest percentage of all Senators who have 
cast 10,000 votes or more.
  From July 25, 1984, through September 17, 1997--a period of more than 
13 years--Senator Byrd did not miss one single vote. He cast 4,705 
consecutive votes--the second highest consecutive vote total in Senate 
history. Of the 11,708 persons who have ever served in the U.S. 
Congress, only two have served longer than Robert C. Byrd. But what 
makes Senator Byrd's vote totals and voting percentages even more 
remarkable are some of the other achievements Senator Byrd has recorded 
over these last 45 years.
  He is the first person ever to start and finish a law degree while 
serving in Congress. It took him 10 years. He graduated from American 
University Law School in 1963. President Kennedy was his commencement 
speaker.
  In 1994, he fulfilled a lifelong ambition. He finally received his 
bachelor's degree from Marshall University summa cum laude--the first 
person in his family ever to go to college.
  There are two reasons Senator Byrd has reached this historic 17,000-
vote milestone. First, Robert C. Byrd believes, in his bones, if you 
have a job to do, you do it. He is a coal miner's son who has worked 
hard all of his life. He got his first job when he was 7, selling the 
Cincinnati Post. He has been a produce boy, a gas station attendant, a 
head butcher, and the owner of a small grocery store. He is a man who 
believes in earning his pay, who knows how it feels to fall asleep at 
night exhausted but proud for having met his responsibilities for 1 
more day.
  The other reason Senator Byrd has reached this milestone is because 
of his great love of West Virginia, of this Nation, and of the Senate.
  Of course, the greatest love in Senator Byrd's life is his wife Erma. 
For the last 3 years, Mrs. Byrd's delicate health, and Senator Byrd's 
desire to be with her as much as possible, to support her, has made it 
even more difficult for Senator Byrd to answer every rollcall vote. Yet 
he has continued to do so.
  We are privileged to work with him.
  On this historic occasion, we congratulate him. And we thank Robert 
and Erma Byrd for all they have given this Senate and our Nation.
  (Applause, Senators rising.)
  Mr. BYRD. Thank you.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, 17,000 votes ago, I achieved a dream. I 
stood on the floor of the U.S. Senate and prepared to cast my first 
vote as a Senator from the Mountain State of West Virginia. Seventeen 
thousand votes later, I still feel much the same. It is a great honor,

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a great privilege to serve the people in the Senate.
  Ours is a glorious country. Its people are wise. They are brave. They 
are hard-working and fairminded.
  Once it was possible for a poor young man with no important 
connections, with no PR firm behind him, with no fundraising apparatus 
racing at full tilt, to simply go out to the people, carrying his 
fiddle and having a mind full of poetry, and on the strength of his 
energy and his convictions, to be elected to the greatest deliberative 
body the world has ever known.
  That time is light-years away from today's reality. Too often now in 
America it is the size of the pocketbook that elects public officials. 
I regret that change. It keeps people out of public service instead of 
welcoming them into public service.
  This Senate is the forum which exists to welcome and to protect the 
airing of all points of view. Both sides of the aisle need to work 
together to ensure that the Senate will stay true to its constitutional 
purpose. We swear an oath before God and man to support and defend this 
Constitution. Many times I have sworn that oath before God and man to 
support the Constitution of the United States.
  I have had a good run in this wonderful institution. And like 
Majorian, who, when he became Emperor of the Roman Empire in 457 AD 
said, ``I still glory in the name of Senator.''
  My patient and devoted wife Erma, with whom I will celebrate a 67-
yearlong partnership 58 days from now, the Lord willing, deserves much 
of the credit for that good run. I also thank my talented staff for 
their tireless work and dedication.
  No man is an island, and I have had the good fortune to have many 
steadfast friends and supporters over the years. To the people of West 
Virginia, I owe my everlasting gratitude. They have expressed their 
faith in me time and time again. I am proud to be their Senator, and I 
hope to continue to serve for a long while.
  I thank my colleagues. They have been patient. They have known my 
shortcomings. I have said things from time to time that I regretted. We 
are all human. But my colleagues have been considerate of me, and I 
thank them.
  Pericles, the brilliant Athenian statesman, gave mankind one of the 
greatest funeral orations ever made. This address was delivered in 431 
BC as a memorial to the first Athenian soldier who fell in the 
Peloponnesian War. In this address, Pericles said:

       It is greatness of soul alone that never grows old, nor is 
     it wealth that delights in the latter stage of life as some 
     give out, so much as honor.

  And so it is honor itself that never grows old. I thank my colleagues 
for the honor they show today.
  Finally, but most of all from Chronicles, 29th chapter, verses 11 and 
12:

       Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the 
     glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in 
     the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, 
     O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
       Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over 
     all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand 
     it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.

  (Applause, Senators rising.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, the Senator from West Virginia honors us 
all with that last statement he made.
  Over the years I have been here, it has been my privilege to travel 
with the Senator from West Virginia to many events. I want to recall 
one for the Senate that I am sure the Senator will remember.
  We were in West Virginia with the British American Parliamentary 
Conference. One of our guests from Britain made the mistake of saying 
it was too bad that their American cousins did not know anything about 
British history.
  My colleague was the host that evening. And making a closing 
statement for that dinner, Senator Byrd decided to show our British 
cousins his wealth of knowledge about the history of Britain and 
proceeded to name every monarch, every spouse, every person who had a 
personal relationship with every monarch, and a complete history of the 
monarchy of Great Britain.
  Needless to say, when he finished, which was quite a few minutes 
later, the British stood and applauded politely, and we have never 
heard such a comment again from our British cousins. There have been 
many other occasions we have had together.
  I wanted to say that one of the great joys of serving in the Senate 
is my being able to get to know my friend from West Virginia. We have 
had our disagreements, but that is natural because this aisle separates 
us once in a while. But nothing has separated Robert Byrd from each 
Senator in the Senate. He has been the most agreeable Senator, on a 
personal basis, that I have known in the Senate. I think every Senator 
will say the same thing. He always has a smile. He always increases 
that smile if we remember to ask about Erma.
  Mr. President, I join in the applause, but I think the Senate itself 
has been honored today to witness this historic mark in his career.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I wanted to say that last night I had the 
pleasure of going to the Smithsonian Institution and meeting members of 
the Baseball Hall of Fame. There were people there who were, to me--as 
a young boy, I wanted to be a baseball player and always listened to 
the game of the day. There were people there, including Gaylord Perry, 
Dave Winfield, Joe Morgan, Sandy Koufax, Stan Musial.
  I have to say to my friend from West Virginia, as great an experience 
as that was for me visiting with those great athletes of yesteryear, 
that pales in comparison to the experiences I have had while serving 
with the ``Babe Ruth'' of the U.S. Senate.
  When I was elected to this leadership job, Senator Byrd supported me. 
I wrote him a letter--and I am confident he remembers that like he does 
everything else--and I said I believed he was the Babe Ruth of the U.S. 
Senate. When I say that, he is a member of the hall of fame, of course, 
but the Babe Ruth in the Baseball Hall of Fame stands above all the 
rest. In the Senate, Senator Robert Byrd stands above all of us. I have 
a degree in history and I know something about it. I know we have great 
Senators here, but I have had the opportunity to serve with the 
greatest.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I rise for a moment to add my voice 
to those who praise Senator Robert C. Byrd. I think what every public 
servant deserves, and occasionally gets, is a recognition that his or 
her service is in fact profoundly appreciated. That is usually not the 
case. The American people are not as aware of what goes on in these 
Halls, or even in their own legislative halls, as they ought to be.
  But I take special happiness out of this day for Senator Byrd because 
he has accomplished something that nobody else has with his 17,000th 
vote. He rose to cast his vote, as he always does. When somebody comes 
to greet him, argue with him, plead with him, and he is at his seat, he 
always rises, be that a man or a woman. He has brought, in my judgment, 
not only a tautness to the debates that we have in this Chamber, not 
always agreeing with the majority or with the minority, but he knows 
his mind and he knows his soul, and he knows his God. He does not 
deviate from that and he cares not who appreciates that or who doesn't.
  In other words, Senator Byrd is a man who, over the years, through 
the crucible of tough experiences and steadfast devotion not only to 
his God but also to the great figure who is not here today, who is so 
much part of his life and who brings out even in saying her name a 
great emotion in me, and that is his absolutely wonderful, wonderful 
wife Erma, honors us by his service.
  I was with him earlier this morning as he was talking to 
schoolteachers from all over the United States who are trying to get 
their students to write better. It is called the ``writers project,'' 
which he has been instrumental in doing. He talked to them of

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public service and the need for accuracy and being fair. What he was 
really saying is that doing something in your life which is not only 
important but which you give yourself to profoundly, completely, an 
utter devotion to duty, is what separates the great and the near great.
  I am very proud to serve with Senator Byrd. We have served together 
for 20 years now and have known each other for close to 40 years. Our 
wives are good friends; we are good friends. I sit behind him in the 
seat that Senator Moynihan used to occupy. I enjoy seeing people coming 
up to him and making their case, which talks not only of his courtesy, 
because he is so often on the floor, but also of his power to get 
things done, which then makes me say that there is no possible way to 
describe, from the point of view of the Senators in my State of West 
Virginia, what he has meant, does mean, and will mean for that State.
  West Virginia is a State that has always had to struggle. We have 
always had to keep pushing the rock uphill, not daring to take one hand 
off for fear that the rock may roll back over the top of us. It takes a 
tough person and a moral person and a determined person to fight the 
battles that are needed to be won for our people in West Virginia. That 
comes to Senator Byrd instinctively.
  I am so proud of this day because I cannot help but feel that when 
Senator Byrd goes to bed tonight, he will have a strong and profound 
sense of satisfaction--not that he needs to feel that, but that will 
make me feel better if he does feel that, because he serves our State 
and our Nation as few people have in the history of our country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida is recognized.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I join with our colleagues and 
just tell Senator Byrd what a mentor he has been to the newer Members 
of the Senate. There are moments and experiences here that one never, 
never will forget. I will never forget the first time, with somewhat 
trembling knees, I rose to give my first speech. In the course of that 
speech, I happened to mention it was my maiden speech in the Senate.
  Of course, I was speaking to an empty Chamber, except for the 
Presiding Officer. All of a sudden, the doors swing open and in strides 
Senator Byrd. As I finished my remarks, Senator Byrd rose to his feet 
and said:

       Will the Senator yield?

  And then proceeded to give a history of the maiden speeches of the 
Senate. What a mark upon this junior Senator, what a pleasant memory 
that he is such a great mentor to all of us. We thank him.
  I thank the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it is entirely appropriate for the Senate 
to pause for a few moments to recognize not only the record of 17,000 
votes, but also the presence and continued service of a remarkable man 
who happens to be the senior Senator from West Virginia.
  Bob Byrd is our Lou Gehrig the iron man of the Senate. For me, Bob 
Byrd personifies what our Founding Fathers were thinking about when 
they were thinking about a United States Senate. He brings the kind of 
qualities that the Founding Fathers believed were so important for 
service to the Nation.
  When history records his remarkable service to the United State 
Senate, they will find there has been no one--no one--in this body who 
has defended the Constitution of the United States more vigorously, 
tenaciously, and with a greater understanding, awareness, and belief in 
its words.
  There has been no one in history that has better understood the 
importance of the United States Senate and its role in our great 
democracy. Bob Byrd understands what our Founding Fathers intended, and 
because of his constant and persistent efforts, this institution is 
finer and all of us are finer Senators.
  Senator Byrd, we are grateful for your service and this country is 
appreciative and grateful for your defense of the Constitution and for 
your service to this country. I am grateful to have you as a friend.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I add my voice as well to my seatmate, if I 
may. I sit in this chair by choice. Senator Byrd sits in his chair by 
choice as well, but he makes the choice before I do. I wanted to find 
out where he was going to sit so I could sit next to him. I did that 
because I wanted to sit next to the best, to learn everything I 
possibly could about the ability of this institution to provide the 
kind of leadership I think the country expects of us.
  Several thoughts come to mind. This is a day of obvious significance 
in the number of votes that have been cast, 17,000, but it is far more 
important to talk about quality than quantity. Quantity is not an 
insignificant achievement, but the quality of my colleague and friend's 
service is what I think about when the name Robert C. Byrd comes to my 
mind.
  I carry with me every single day, 7 days a week, a rather threadbare 
copy of the United States Constitution given to me many years ago--I 
can't even read it well now; it is so worn out--I may need a new copy--
given to me by my seatmate, Robert C. Byrd. I revere it. I tell people 
why I carry it because it reminds me of the incredible gift given to me 
by the people of Connecticut to serve in this Chamber, to remind me of 
the importance of an oath we all made, and that is to do everything we 
can to preserve, protect, and defend the principles upon which this 
Nation was founded. Robert C. Byrd, in my mind, is the embodiment of 
that goal.
  It has often been said that the man and the moment come together. I 
do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West 
Virginia that he would have been a great Senator at any moment. Some 
were right for the time. Robert C. Byrd, in my view, would have been 
right at any time. He would have been right at the founding of this 
country. He would have been in the leadership crafting this 
Constitution. He would have been right during the great conflict of 
civil war in this Nation. He would have been right at the great moments 
of international threat we faced in the 20th century. I cannot think of 
a single moment in this Nation's 220-plus year history where he would 
not have been a valuable asset to this country. Certainly today that is 
not any less true.
  I join my colleagues in thanking the Senator from West Virginia for 
the privilege of serving with him. He has now had to endure two members 
of my family as colleagues. Senator Byrd was elected to the Senate in 
1958 along with my father. He served with my father in the House. I 
have now had the privilege of serving with Senator Byrd for 24 years, 
twice the length of service of my father. That is an awful lot of time 
to put up with members of the Dodd family. We thank Senator Byrd for 
his endurance through all of that time.
  There is no one I admire more, there is no one to whom I listen more 
closely and carefully when he speaks on any subject matter. I echo the 
comments of my colleague from Massachusetts. If I had to pick out any 
particular point of service for which I admire the Senator most, it is 
his unyielding defense of the Constitution. All matters come and go. We 
cast votes on such a variety of issues, but Senator Byrd's 
determination to defend and protect this document which serves as our 
rudder as we sail through the most difficult of waters is something 
that I admire beyond all else.
  I join in this moment in saying: Thank you for your service, thank 
you for your friendship, and I look forward to many more years of 
sitting next to you on the floor of the Senate.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. DAYTON. Mr. President, I join with my more senior colleagues in 
paying my respects and tribute to the great Senator from West Virginia, 
Mr. Byrd. It is a mark of his greatness that he has had such a powerful 
effect on not only the most senior of his colleagues who have been here 
the longest, but also the more junior Members of the Senate, such as 
myself.
  When I arrived here in January 2001, just a little over 3 years ago, 
I was one

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of 12 freshman Senators from both sides of the aisle. We were given 
many words of encouragement from our colleagues, but basically left to 
find our own way or flounder along the way. It was Senator Byrd who 
took it upon himself to convene tutorials with the 12 of us. We 
convened promptly at 4 o'clock in his office, and he shared with us his 
perspective on the Senate.
  From the four volumes he has orated and published as the history of 
the U.S. Senate, as well as the volume he orated from his own direct 
knowledge and reading about the Roman Senate, there is no one who 
possesses more wisdom and a broader understanding of the historical 
role and the responsibility of this body and this great democracy and 
Republic.
  Those of us who had the benefit of those tutorials learned more from 
those sessions about how to conduct ourselves in the Chamber where he 
has served with such greatness than from anything else.
  When the time came for us to preside, as we took the majority, I had 
the opportunity, through many hours, to watch and listen to Senator 
Byrd, particularly in the fall of 2002 when we were debating the 
resolution to give the President authority to make the final decision 
on whether to commit this Nation to war in Iraq.
  Senator Byrd was heroic in standing forth and taking a stand which I 
supported because of the compelling wisdom of his words and the power 
and the eloquence to remind us that we had a constitutional 
responsibility in this body which we were forsaking by abdicating that 
responsibility to the President.
  I believe Senator Byrd received over 20,000 phone calls from his 
fellow citizens around the country. Back in my State of Minnesota, I 
heard time and again from those who were so admiring of his courage and 
his steadfastness as I was then, too. I learned more about the U.S. 
Constitution during that time than I had ever learned before in my 
life, and I learned more about the proper role of the Senate than I 
possibly could have learned through years of experience, just by having 
the benefit of serving with and listening to and learning from Senator 
Robert Byrd.
  I am very proud to pay tribute to him today. He has been the most 
influential Member of this body in my development here, and I am 
grateful beyond words for the privilege of serving with him.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I, too, rise to bring the attention of the 
Senate to a historic occasion. Those who are witnessing this debate may 
not realize that they are seeing a moment in the history of the United 
States of America that is not likely to be repeated.
  Our colleague, the distinguished and senior Senator from West 
Virginia, Robert C. Byrd, has just cast his 17,000th vote in this body. 
I do not rise today to bring any embarrassment to my colleague. I am 
honored to call him friend. I rise to congratulate and honor him, and 
to note the historical span of his service to our country.
  On January 8, 1959, Senator Byrd cast his first vote in the Senate. 
Fittingly, it was a vote on Senate procedure. He has since become a 
master of the rules of the Senate. When Senator Byrd rises and raises a 
parliamentary point, a hush falls over this Chamber, respectful of the 
fact that this man from West Virginia knows more about the procedure 
and rules of the Senate than any person.
  On April 27, 1990, Senator Byrd cast his 12,134th vote earning him 
the record for the greatest number of rollcall votes in Senate history.
  On May 5, 1998, he became the first Senator in history to cast 15,000 
votes.
  Let us put this in historic context. When Senator Byrd cast his first 
vote, Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson were in the Chamber with 
him and Richard Nixon was the Presiding Officer of the body. When he 
cast his first vote, Hawaii had not yet become a State and the United 
States had not yet launched a man into space. When he cast his first 
vote, a state-of-the-art computer would have taken up half the space of 
this Chamber and had roughly the same amount of computing power as 
today's Palm Pilot.
  Senator Byrd has served with 11 Presidents--and I underline the word 
``with'' because Senator Byrd makes it clear that he has never served 
under any President.
  He brings to mind often the words of the Constitution which give 
equality to the branches of Government.
  He has been a candidate for election. As he said, he stood before the 
bar of public opinion 11 different times, 8 times as a candidate for 
the Senate and 3 times as a candidate for the House. And he has never 
lost.
  Senator Byrd has served in the Senate as majority leader and held 
more leadership positions in the Senate than any other Senator in the 
history of the United States. He has chaired the Senate Appropriations 
Committee, on which I am honored to serve, and currently serves as the 
panel's ranking member. He has earned his place as the unrivaled expert 
on Senate rules and he has become perhaps the most popular political 
figure in his home State of West Virginia. He was named ``West 
Virginian of the Century'' by the residents of his home State. What 
greater honor could they give him.
  As of this Friday, Senator Byrd will have served, if my calculation 
is correct, 18,716 days in Congress, 51 years, 3 months, and 2 days. Of 
the 11,708 individuals who have served in Congress, only 2 have served 
longer: Carl Hayden of Arizona for 56 years and Representative Jamie 
Whitten of Mississippi for 53 years.
  Senator Byrd will become the longest serving Member on June 11, 2006. 
He has cast more rollcall votes than any other Senator in history. 
Strom Thurmond ranks No. 2 with 16,348 votes.
  We are all privileged to have served in this body. Few Senators in 
the history of this institution have had such a command of both the 
nature and nuance of Senate debate as Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, 
and few, if any, spanning the entire history of this body have had such 
a reservoir of knowledge, from Roman and Greek history to the 
deliberations of the Founding Fathers to hundreds, maybe even 
thousands, of poems which Senator Byrd has committed to memory.
  Perhaps it is through his love of poetry that I have gained a deeper 
understanding of my colleague. President Kennedy once said:

       When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him 
     of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's 
     concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of 
     his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art 
     establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the 
     touchstone of our judgment.

  That is a magnificent quote which pays tribute to a man who has 
integrated poetry into his entire life. But if we were to end there 
when it comes to procedure and poetry, we would not tell the story of 
this great man's service.
  His is not just poetry when it comes to service in the Senate. It is 
also powerful prose. It is not just his eloquence but his integrity. 
Those of us who serve with him know that during the most recent debate 
on the invasion of Iraq, one voice in the Senate was heard above all 
others. This man, after many years of service, has not forgotten his 
responsibility to this Nation and the people he represents. He stood up 
and took controversial, difficult positions and did them with the kind 
of force and power which won friends for him far and wide.
  I have told this story before but it bears repeating. When I went to 
a Catholic parish in Chicago with my wife and we had come back from 
communion and were kneeling down, an elderly fellow walked up to me in 
the midst of the Iraqi debate and leaned over and said, ``Stick with 
Senator Byrd.''
  I came back to tell him that. His fans are far and wide, in Chicago, 
West Virginia, and across the United States of America, because time 
and again he spoke the truth and did it in a way that touched the 
hearts of Americans far and wide.
  He is an inspiration to all of us who have been honored to serve with 
him. He brings to this body the kind of decorum, the kind of integrity, 
and the

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kind of commitment to which all of us aspire.
  For all of his great and varied achievements, Senator Byrd shows his 
dedication and humiliation not by wielding his power like a club but by 
performing the most basic requirement of a Senator more times than any 
other Senator in history. I wish to recognize and honor the senior 
Senator from West Virginia for the quality as well as for the quantity 
of his service. It is entirely fitting that this noted lover of history 
today makes history himself. My commendation and congratulations to 
Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I rise to join so many of my colleagues 
and friends in paying tribute to the great Senator from West Virginia. 
As my friend from Illinois indicated, we are praising and honoring him 
today not just for the number of votes he has cast but for the courage 
of his votes. It is one thing to cast 17,000 votes; it is another to 
look at the quality and the integrity behind those votes.
  So I join with my colleagues in saying thank you to Senator Byrd. I 
was proud to join with Senator Byrd as he spoke out on the Iraq 
resolution and what our role in the Senate should be and is.
  I went home, as did my colleagues, and over and over again people 
asked me did I know Senator Byrd; did I work with Senator Byrd; listen 
to what he is saying because he is speaking for all of us.
  I also thank Senator Byrd for helping me as one of the 12 Members who 
came in 2000. When we were in the majority, we had the opportunity to 
preside over the Senate, and I am very grateful for all I learned about 
the Senate, about the process, about the importance of being dutiful in 
our responsibilities, and also about the important role we play in 
governing our country. I will forever be grateful to Senator Byrd for 
the lessons that I have learned and continue to learn.
  One of the most wonderful images I have of being in the Senate 
actually occurred during orientation when I was first elected and 
coming here in December of 2000. I had the opportunity to invite my son 
to join me in the Old Senate Chamber where we heard from Senator Byrd, 
some wonderful, eloquent words and stories from the early days in the 
Senate. It was captivating. It was inspirational. It was motivating. It 
was a wonderful opportunity for me to share with my son, the new 
venture I was undertaking and the responsibilities I was undertaking as 
a Senator from Michigan.
  I thank the great Senator from West Virginia for his friendship, for 
his courage, for his role in the Senate in helping us to understand our 
responsibilities and our duties to the country.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I join with many colleagues who came to 
the Senate Chamber today to express appreciation and recognition of 
Senator Robert Byrd as today he cast his 17,000th vote representing the 
people of West Virginia.
  I can hardly think of what more to say other than he has truly been 
an exemplary Member of this body and a pillar of this institution, 
someone we all respect. I only hope our votes can be cast as 
conscientiously as his have been all these many years. I join my 
colleagues in congratulating him today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Alexander). The Senator from New Jersey.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, I want to say a few words about our 
distinguished and beloved colleague, Senator Byrd, whose friendship I 
have treasured for many years--more than 20 years now. I seek and 
listen to what he says, to be aware of the knowledge he possesses about 
so many things, and the memories he carries.
  When I first arrived here, I met Senator Robert C. Byrd and extended 
my wishes that we would have a chance to serve together--this is 20 
years ago; and 20 years is a long time, except when it is compared to 
more than 40 years--and that he would continue to provide the kind of 
leadership and inspiration that he has for all of us for all these 
years.
  We wish him well. We want to see him continue to provide the example 
he has shown all of us, with his dignity and intelligence and knowledge 
and awareness of the rules that govern this body of ours--as fractious 
as they have become in recent years. We always want to pay attention 
when Senator Byrd issues a view of the process that is developing, 
about where we ought to be, about the courtesies we should extend to 
one another.
  I will never forget Senator Byrd, with his rage at one of the 
Senators who was addressing the President by his first name, saying: 
Where is he? Where is Bill? Why isn't Bill here? Senator Byrd stood up, 
with all his stature in front of him, saying: How dare you. How dare 
you call our President Bill. In all the years I have served with 
Republican Presidents, never, never would I dream of calling the 
President Ronald or George or otherwise.
  With that little reminder, he brought us all back to a reasonable 
state of dignity and comity that we need to be reminded about on many 
occasions.
  Very few have the knowledge stored in our being that Senator Robert 
C. Byrd has.
  Again, when I first arrived in the Senate, I had not been in 
Government before, so it was all very complicated and perplexing. But I 
wanted to spend some time with Senator Byrd, and he was courteous and 
he did it. We sat in his office, talking about the background of our 
society and our country. He talked about the English Kings from the 
period somewhere maybe about the time of William the Conqueror, the 
11th century, and he talked about how long each succeeding monarch 
served, the year that person took the office, and the year they left 
the office, what caused them to leave the office, who died, how they 
died, by assassination or otherwise, from the 11th century on up to 
contemporary times. You will hear Senator Byrd often quote from the 
early days of Roman and Greek civilization. It is remarkable.
  I come out of the computer business. I think I can safely say that I 
have never met a computer the equal of Robert C. Byrd, to have the 
depth of knowledge that he has and to be able to call upon it at so 
many times.
  I will bet that in the 17,000 votes Robert C. Byrd cast, he knows 
more about the votes he cast almost than any Senator who has been here 
just for 100 votes or 200 votes. He understood every one of them. He 
never cast a vote without thought.
  Each of us has had the experience, I am sure, of disagreeing, 
perhaps, with one another, even with a distinguished leader such as 
Senator Robert C. Byrd, and have him disagree with knowledge and with 
experience and say: This is why I think you are wrong. You are my 
friend, Frank, but I disagree with you on this, and I am going to vote 
the other way.
  It was always with respect and friendship that these exchanges took 
place.
  So we mark a historical moment. No one before has ever cast that many 
votes. As a matter of fact, very few have cast a number of votes that 
come anywhere close to the 17,000 mark. This is a record, as I think 
has been said by others, that will stand probably forever. It took 
Robert C. Byrd some eight terms to acquire the voting record that he 
has. When you know that person and you see the devotion and loyalty he 
brings to his family--he and his wife will celebrate their 67th 
anniversary, I believe. That is quite a tribute in a period like we now 
see in our country when the institution of marriage is not what it used 
to be. So we wish Mrs. Byrd, Erma Byrd, a return to better health--we 
know she has been having some difficult times these last few years--and 
for them to share many more good years together and for Robert C. Byrd 
to stand here as our example of what can be, as an example for children 
across this country.
  If they read the history of Robert C. Byrd, they will see his growth 
from a poverty stricken, uneducated, simple family, to go on as he did 
to reach the level of responsibility, of importance

[[Page 5971]]

that he achieved, and the contributions he made to country in so many 
ways, reminding us about our responsibility to avoid conflict wherever 
we can do it, but always sticking up for his State and constituents who 
sent him here.
  I think I hold a voting record also. I think I am the only Senator on 
the books that ever, as a freshman, cast almost 7,000 votes. That, I 
think, is fairly remarkable. You have to discount the first 18 years I 
was here, but a freshman with 7,000 votes, it doesn't compare to 
Senator Byrd's record, no matter what.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I rise today to salute my senior 
colleague, Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. Today, the Senator 
passed a milestone that has never been passed before, and may never be 
passed again: he cast his 17,000th vote on the Senate floor. It's an 
amazing achievement. No other sitting Senator has cast more than 15,000 
votes. Senator Thurmond, who is no longer with us, cast the next 
highest total of 16,348 votes.
  Mr. President, Senator Byrd has had a long and distinguished career 
in the United States Senate. He was first elected to this body in 1958. 
Only Senator Thurmond served longer, but Senator Byrd may soon pass 
that record, too--he's only got two more years to go. He became the 
Democratic Leader in 1977, holding that position for six consecutive 2-
year terms, three terms as majority leader, and three as minority 
leader. He also served as President pro tempore--third in line in the 
order of succession to the Presidency, after the Vice President and the 
Speaker of the House--from 1989 to 1995 and 2001 to 2003.
  The Senator from West Virginia is also a master historian. His four-
volume, 3,000 page history of the U.S. Senate has been called ``the 
most ambitious study of the U.S. Senate in all of our history.'' He is 
a passionate advocate for understanding our history, not only among 
Senators, but for the entire country. In 2000, the Senator's efforts 
led to the creation of the Teaching American History Grant Program--
commonly referred to as the Byrd grants--to encourage better teaching 
of American history in our schools. I was fortunate to follow his lead 
with a bill I introduced last year, the American History and Civics 
Education Act, which Senator Byrd co-sponsored. The Senate passed it 
unanimously last year, 91 to 0. I hope the House will act on it soon. 
I'm sure one reason the Senate was prepared to support such a bill is 
that we have all learned the value of our history from one of history's 
great teachers: Senator Robert C. Byrd.
  I salute my colleague, the senior Senator from West Virginia, and 
wish him well as he sets a new record with each succeeding vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Graham of South Carolina). The Senator 
from Ohio.
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I join my colleagues today in 
congratulating my friend and colleague, my neighbor from West Virginia, 
for his great accomplishment today but, more importantly, for his great 
service in the Senate.
  When I first came to the Senate, I did what many of my colleagues 
have done, and that is I paid a visit to my colleague from West 
Virginia. I went into his historic office. He was kind enough to give 
me the books he has written about the Senate and was kind enough to 
autograph his books. Those books will always be a great treasure for me 
to keep.
  But they have not just been something that has been in my bookcase; 
they are something I can pull down to then read the history of the 
Senate. What wonderful books they are, what wonderful references, what 
wonderful stories they tell about the Senate. That is so because my 
colleague is not only a great Senator, he is a great historian. We are 
reminded of that many times when he comes to the Senate floor. Not only 
does he have a great institutional memory from his many years of the 
Senate, but because of his reading not only about the United States and 
the U.S. Senate, but because of his great love of history, he can put 
what we do in the United States in its historical perspective.
  As the new Members of the Senate, we take turns presiding over the 
Senate. One of the great benefits of doing that is to sit in the 
Presiding Officer's chair, as my colleague is doing now, and we have 
the opportunity to listen to our colleagues. I have had the 
opportunity, many times, to listen to Senator Byrd.
  I can remember many times listening to his speeches. Sometimes it was 
his great annual speech on Mother's Day, sometimes a speech on the U.S. 
Constitution, or a speech on whatever legislation is in front of us, or 
about the history of the Roman Senate or, as my colleague from Illinois 
has said, a speech about a pending resolution. It didn't matter what it 
was, it was always something for us to think about, always something 
for us to ponder and meditate on.
  Senator Byrd, thank you for your service and thank you for causing us 
to think. Whether we agree with you or not on every matter, you always 
make us think. That is the job of the Senate. As you referred a moment 
ago to this great deliberative body, you make sure that we are that, 
you make sure we continue to be that great deliberative body. I thank 
you for that.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, will the Senator yield quite briefly?
  Mr. DeWINE. Certainly, I yield.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I take a moment to thank my colleagues who 
have spoken. They have been so gracious. I shall never, never forget 
the beautiful words, the lovely phrases they have uttered here today. 
They have made this a very beautiful day. I know that my wife Erma has 
listened from home.
  I thank each and all of these wonderful, wonderful friends. That is 
what they are, they are friends. I shall never forget them. I shall not 
name them. The Record already has done that.
  I yield the floor and thank my friend from Ohio for his graciousness 
in yielding.
  THE PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio is recognized.
  Mr. DeWine. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. DeWine pertaining to the introduction of S. 2270 
are located in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills 
and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Graham of South Carolina). The clerk will 
call the roll.
  The assistant journal clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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