[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13915]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, I join my colleagues in paying 
tribute to our colleague Robert Byrd of West Virginia. He served his 
beautiful mountain State for a record-setting 57 years in Congress, 
including 51 years in this Chamber. He cast more rollcall votes and 
served in more leadership positions than any other Senator in U.S. 
history, including 12 years as his party's leader. He revered this body 
so much that he wrote four volumes on Senate history from 1789 to 1989. 
Over nine terms, he mastered parliamentary procedure in an effort to 
protect the Senate's rules and to defend the legislative branch's 
authority. He carried a copy of the Constitution in his pocket, and he 
peppered his speeches with frequent references to the intent of our 
Framers. When asked how many Presidents he had served under, he 
replied, ``None. I have served with Presidents, not under them.''
  Senator Byrd will enter the history books as one of the Senate's true 
giants, but his beginnings were humble. His biography is a shining 
testament to the American dream. He was adopted in infancy and raised 
in impoverished coal-mining towns. His first job was to collect garbage 
scraps for his family's hogs. Although he graduated valedictorian of 
his 1934 high school class, at first he could not afford college. He 
married his high school sweetheart, Erma Ora James, with whom he 
enjoyed 68 happy years. The outstanding work ethic and solid values 
that he learned while growing up in Raleigh County helped him later 
devote 10 grueling years of his life to studying while simultaneously 
serving as a Member of Congress. When he finally earned his law degree 
in 1963, President John F. Kennedy awarded him his diploma.
  Senator Byrd served his beloved home State with unprecedented 
devotion. He wrote in his autobiography that ``it has been my constant 
desire to improve the lives of the people who have sent me to 
Washington time and again.'' Virtually every county in West Virginia 
will long remember his hard work, dedication, and legendary 
contributions. Like many Americans today, I commend him for his 
outstanding service to his State, to our Nation, and to the institution 
of the Senate.

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