[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 28185]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      U.S. SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 18, 2009

  Mr. RAHALL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the achievement of 
U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd on becoming the longest serving Member in 
the history of the United States Congress.
  Senator Robert C. Byrd has made a career of setting the standard for 
his fellow Members of Congress to emulate and today, he has, again, set 
the bar of Congressional service one notch higher.
  This is a history-making day. But Senator Byrd's record-setting 
achievement is not gauged best by the number of years, days, and hours 
he has spent in office--though he could tell us to the minute. It is, 
instead, more correctly measured by the wealth of hope his work has 
generated, the vast number of lives his efforts have touched and 
improved, and the multiple generations of citizens his struggles from 
virtual orphan to the heights of political power have inspired.
  His work, in short, has been monumental. His efforts have provided 
for public services and fundamental structures--modern highways, safer 
bridges, veterans centers, clean water systems--but these fall far 
short of the greatest and most lasting monument that he has given the 
people of West Virginia, his devotion and tireless work to make their 
lives richer.
  I am proud and awed--though not in the least surprised--to be able to 
congratulate West Virginia's senior Senator on becoming the longest 
serving Member in the history of the U.S. Congress. And I look forward 
to many more record-breaking years of Robert C. Byrd serving in the 
U.S. Senate and setting a wise and fruitful course for the future of 
West Virginia and the Nation.

                          ____________________