[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9877]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   SENATOR ROBERT BYRD AND ERMA BYRD

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I wish to add one comment to Senator 
McConnell about Senator Byrd's comments about his holy marriage, a 
marriage which has inspired every person and every couple who is 
familiar with Robert and Erma Byrd.
  My wife Barbara and I have been here now for 28 years. When we came 
here, we noted right away this wonderful love affair between Robert and 
his beloved wife Erma. Many things that Senator Byrd does inspires 
every one of us in the Senate--his love of this institution, his 
passionate commitment to this institution, and all the unique features 
of it, his love affair with the constitution of the United States. But 
I guess as powerful and potent as those two commitments are and remain 
and always will in his heart and in our hearts, hopefully, his 
relationship with his wonderful, extraordinary wife Erma tops them all.
  I thank him for that inspiration and thank him for all those other 
things that he does which help to keep this body, this unique body in 
the history of the world.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I shan't leave this floor until I have said 
thank you to my noble friend, the able Senator from Michigan, the 
chairman of the committee on which I serve, the committee which 
authorizes the expenditures we must make if we are to keep our Nation 
strong, the Armed Services Committee. I thank him. He has been and is 
an inspiration to me. His dedication, his thoughtfulness, his 
courtliness--I thank him for all.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.

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