[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Pages 27975-27976]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 CONGRATULATING SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, this body often finds itself divided. But 
today we are united in our respect and affection for the senior Senator 
from West Virginia, Robert Byrd. I join with my colleagues in 
congratulating him on yet another historic milestone: becoming the 
longest serving Member of Congress.
  But I hasten to add that to salute Senator Byrd only for his 
remarkable longevity is to really kind of miss the point. The measure 
of a Senator is not just how many years he or she serves but the 
quality and the consequences of that service. That is where Senator 
Byrd has truly distinguished himself in Congress over the last 20,774 
days.
  The ``Almanac of American Politics'' says, Robert Byrd ``may come 
closer to the kind of Senator the Founding Fathers had in mind than any 
other.'' I could not agree more. He is a person of wise and mature 
judgment, a patriot with a deep love of country. He is passionately 
loyal to the Constitution, and a fierce defender of the role and 
prerogatives of Congress, the Senate in particular.
  Senator Byrd was once asked how many Presidents he has served under. 
He answered he had not served ``under'' any President, but he has 
served ``with'' 11 Presidents, as a proud Member of a separate and 
coequal branch of government.
  During his more than 56 years in Congress, Senator Byrd has witnessed 
many changes. Our population has grown by more than 125 million. There 
has been an explosion of new technologies. America has grown more 
prosperous, more diverse, more powerful.
  But across those nearly six decades of rapid change, there has been 
one constant: Senator Byrd's tireless service to his country, his 
passion for bringing new opportunities to the people of West Virginia, 
and his dedication to this branch of government, the U.S. Congress, and 
especially to this House of Congress, the U.S. Senate.
  Senator Byrd is a person of many accomplishments and a rich legacy. 
But, above all, in my brief time today I want to focus on his 
commitment to improving K through 12 public education in the United 
States and expanding access to higher education, especially for those 
of modest means.
  As my colleagues know, Robert C. Byrd was raised in the hardscrabble 
coal fields of West Virginia. His family was poor but rich in faith and 
values. And his parents nurtured in young Robert Byrd a lifelong 
passion for education and learning.
  He was valedictorian of his high school class but too poor to go to 
college right away. Of course, that was in the days before Pell grants 
and loans and Byrd Scholarships. So he worked as a shipyard welder and 
later as a butcher in a coal company town. It took him 12 years to save 
enough money to even start college.
  He was a U.S. Senator when he later earned his law degree. No other 
Member of Congress before or since has started and completed law school 
while serving in the Congress.
  But degrees do not begin to tell the story of the education of Robert 
Byrd. He is the ultimate lifetime learner. It is like for the last 
seven decades he has been enrolled in the Robert C. Byrd School of 
Continuing Education.
  Senator Byrd's erudition has borne fruit in no less than nine books 
he has written and published over the last two decades. We all know 
that he literally wrote the book on the U.S. Senate--a masterful four-
volume history of this institution that was an instant classic that 
will bear the burdens of time. What my colleagues may not know is that 
he also authored a highly respected history of the Roman Senate. Now, 
there are some who think Robert Byrd served in the Roman Senate, but 
that part of the Byrd legend just is not so.
  I have talked at length about Senator Byrd's education because this 
explains why he is so passionate about ensuring every American has 
access to a quality public education--both K through 12 and higher 
education.
  One thing Senator Byrd and I have in common--and we always kind of 
talk about it when we get together--is we are the only two Senators 
whose fathers were actually coal miners. We are both the sons of coal 
miners, neither of whom had very much formal education. My father only 
went to the 8th grade. Actually, he only went to the 6th grade, but we 
will not get into that. But, anyway, he said he went to the 8th grade, 
but, like I said, I will not get into that. But coming from a poor 
background, Senator Byrd believes, as I do, that a cardinal 
responsibility of government is to provide a ladder of opportunity so 
everyone, no matter how humble their background, has a shot at the 
American dream.
  Obviously, the most important rungs of that ladder of opportunity 
involve education--beginning with quality K through 12 public schools, 
and including access to college, vocational education, and other forms 
of higher education.
  During my 25 years in this body, no one has fought harder for public 
education than Senator Robert Byrd. As the longtime chairman and still 
the senior member of the Appropriations Committee, he has been the 
champion of education at every turn--fighting to reduce class sizes, 
improving teacher

[[Page 27976]]

training, bringing new technologies into the classroom, boosting access 
to higher education.
  In 1985, he created the only national merit-based college scholarship 
program funded through the U.S. Department of Education. Congress later 
named them in his honor. Originally, the Byrd Scholarships consisted of 
a 1-year $1,500 award to outstanding students. Today, Byrd Scholarships 
provide grants of up to $6,000 over 4 years.
  Senator Byrd is a great student of literature, and I am sure he knows 
The Canterbury Tales--a lot of it, probably, by heart. Describing the 
Clerk of Oxford, Chaucer might just as well have been describing Robert 
C. Byrd. Chaucer wrote:

       Filled with moral virtue was his speech; And gladly would 
     he learn and gladly teach.

  Senator Byrd is a great Senator and a great American. He has both 
written our Nation's history and left his mark on it. It has been an 
honor to serve with my friend, my longtime chairman, Senator Byrd, for 
the last 25 years.
  Today, as he reaches yet another historic milestone that no other 
Member of Congress has ever achieved--and I daresay probably no one 
ever will--we honor his service. And we express our respect and our 
love for this remarkable U.S. Senator.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I am glad I had the opportunity to hear 
the comments of the Senator from Iowa on Senator Byrd. We all have 
enormous respect for Senator Byrd. I had a chance this morning to say a 
word about him and to reflect on, among other things, that when I first 
came here as a young aide 42 years ago to Senator Baker, Senator Byrd 
had already been here for 10 years as a Senator.
  So it is quite a span of history, and all of us have many stories, 
including the instructions he would give us to stand behind our desk 
when we vote, and not work at the table when we preside. He kept order 
in the Senate, and we are grateful to him for that.

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