[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15268-15270]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD

  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, the death of Senator Robert Byrd is a 
tremendous loss to the Senate, the State of West Virginia, and the 
entire Nation. As the longest serving Member of Congress, his political 
career spanned multiple Presidencies, and he was a witness to countless 
American advances and achievements. He has served his state and our 
country for more than half a century, and he will be greatly missed.
  Senator Byrd embodied the history and traditions of the Senate, and 
his incredible knowledge of our Constitution, Congress and the 
legislative process benefited every Member who served alongside him. I 
met with Senator Byrd when I was first elected to the Senate, and I 
will be forever grateful for his generosity and willingness to assist 
his colleagues.
  I will always remember Senator Byrd as a committed public servant who 
was deeply devoted to his State and his country. He was known as the 
conscience of the Senate for his dedication to the body's history, 
legislative process and rules, serving as a principled legislator. He 
made many sacrifices to give his life to public service, and we owe a 
lot to Senator Byrd for this reason. I am deeply saddened by his 
passing and know he will be missed.
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise to pay tribute to a colleague 
whose devotion to this body, and to this Nation, was personal, 
heartfelt and legendary. I am talking about none other than the senior 
senator from West Virginia, Senator Robert Byrd.
  Senator Byrd's time on Earth was a life characterized by commitment. 
He exemplified this rare quality through his 70-year marriage to his 
high school sweetheart Erma James Byrd. But this was far from the only 
deep commitment in Senator Byrd's life. His dedication to the U.S. 
Senate was proved by his actions and his storied career. His life in 
the Senate began in 1958 with a victory that included 59 percent of the 
vote, the smallest margin of victory in Senator Byrd's half century-
plus career. During his 57 years in Congress, Byrd worked with 12 
future Presidents. He was known for telling his colleagues that he did 
not serve under any Presidents, but alongside them.
  In Senator Byrd's portrait in the Old Senate Chamber, his image is 
surrounded by his wife, the Bible, and the U.S. Constitution. This is 
only fitting, considering that Senator Byrd used references from the 
Bible and the U.S. Constitution in many of his speeches and in his 
everyday dealings with fellow lawmakers. In a speech by Senator Byrd on 
October 13, 1989, he said, ``The Constitution is the old landmark which 
they have set. And if we do not rise to the call of the moment and take 
a stand, take a strong stand, against our

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own personal interests or against party interests, and stand for the 
Constitution, then how might we face our children and grandchildren 
when they ask of us as Caesar did to the centurion, `How do we fare 
today?' and the centurion replied, You will be victorious. As for 
myself, whether I live or die, tonight I shall have earned the praise 
of Caesar.'''
  I can say that Senator Byrd is deserving of the praise of West 
Virginians, and, indeed, all Americans, for his devotion to the Senate 
and to our Nation. He will be missed by his colleagues, and we are 
grateful for his life's work.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, no Senator has ever loved the institution 
of the U.S. Senate more than Senator Robert Byrd. I firmly believe 
that. He truly believed that the upper Chamber of Congress was the 
greatest deliberative body on Earth and he always strived to preserve 
its traditions and history for the generations to come as well as being 
the Senate's foremost instructor on Senate procedure and process.
  I was able to be a ``student'' of Senator Byrd's instruction when we 
worked together in 2005 to preserve Senate rule XXII, commonly known as 
the ``filibuster.'' Senator Byrd joined with me, along with six other 
Republican Senators and six Democrat Senators to form what became the 
``Gang of 14.'' During the meetings between these 14 Members, which 
were often held in my office, I fondly recall the silence that would 
overcome the room when Senator Byrd spoke about the history of the 
filibuster and the rights of the minority in the Senate. It is not 
often that 13 members of the Senate are quiet for any given period of 
time. But Senator Byrd's stature and intellect brought the room to a 
standstill.
  Senator Byrd is remembered for being a strong majority leader and 
minority leader for his party. But as he reminded all of us during 
those meetings in my office, when he served as majority leader during 
President Reagan's time in office, Senator Byrd did not lead his 
Democratic caucus to filibuster any of President Reagan's judicial 
nominees. That was a different time with different leaders, but Senator 
Byrd's actions reflect his sincere desire for statesmanship and his 
respect for the President's nominees. His speech on the Senate floor in 
2005 regarding the filibuster reflected this desire when he said:

       I rise today to make a request of my fellow Senators. In so 
     doing, I reach out to all Senators on both sides of the 
     aisle, respectful of the institution of the Senate and of the 
     opinions of all Senators, respectful of the institution of 
     the Presidency as well. I ask each Senator to pause for a 
     moment and reflect seriously on the role of the Senate as it 
     has existed now for 217 years, and on the role that it will 
     play in the future if the so-called nuclear option or the so-
     called constitutional option--one in the same--is invoked. I 
     implore Senators to step back--step back, step back, step 
     back--from the precipice. Step back away from the cameras and 
     the commentators and contemplate the circumstances in which 
     we find ourselves. Things are not right, and the American 
     people know that things are not right. The political 
     discourse in our country has become so distorted, so 
     unpleasant, so strident, so unbelievable . . .

  He was not only a leader in 2005 against removing the judicial 
filibuster rule, he was a life-long leader in the Senate against 
allowing Senators to issue secret holds. His motives were noble, and he 
fought for its elimination until the end. In his final speech, entered 
into the Record but not delivered, he defended an individual Senator's 
right to block legislation in secret. ``Our Founding Fathers intended 
the Senate,'' he lectured colleagues last month in one of his last 
appearances, to have ``unlimited debate and the protection of minority 
rights.''
  Senator Byrd's respect for Senate rules and procedure were second 
only to his defense and passion for the Constitution. Because of his 
leadership, we were able to establish September 17 as Constitution Day. 
Now, annually, students across the country will learn about and 
celebrate the document that governs our Nation and hopefully understand 
the significance of this unparalleled document that has established 
freedom and sovereignty of our citizens for hundreds of years.
  Senator Byrd spent practically all of his adult life serving the 
American people for which we are all grateful. Even when he disagreed 
with his peers in the Senate, he respected their intellect and views. I 
am honored to have served beside him. He once said, ``On the great 
issues, the Senate has always been blessed with senators who were able 
to rise above party and consider first and foremost the national 
interest.'' I agree and hope the Senate continues to attract candidates 
who will rise above politics for the good of our country and who will 
appreciate the history of the institution as Senator Byrd did.
  Senator Byrd gave his life to the service of his country and the 
Senate and the Nation will miss him and the important leadership and 
sense of history that he brought to this body every day.
  Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, today I would like to add to the heartfelt 
sentiments we have heard expressed by many colleagues and many more 
around the country over these past several weeks in paying tribute to 
our departed colleague, Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.
  As an American, pondering what Senator Byrd has done, the history he 
has been a part of, and the path he took from the small towns of 
southern West Virginia's coalfields, is inspiring. From the perspective 
of a new Senator, I must say that the life and career of Senator Byrd 
is more than a little daunting. I have served just shy of 20 months, 
and I have voted in this Chamber slightly more than 600 times.
  Those numbers seem like rounding errors compared to the numbers we 
have heard over the last several days in reference to the service of 
Senator Byrd: Elected to nine full terms, more than 51 years in the 
Senate--more than 4 years longer than the next longest serving Senator; 
he cast nearly 19,000 votes, 18,689, including 4,705 consecutive votes; 
he was twice majority leader; served also as Whip, conference 
secretary, minority leader, and President pro tempore; and he served on 
the Appropriations Committee continuously since being placed there in 
1959 by then-majority leader Lyndon Johnson as a freshman in this 
body--more than 3 years before I was born and only about 2 weeks after 
Alaska became a State.
  I am told by colleagues who served longer with Senator Byrd that 
while he was proud of those facts, the record he cherished the most was 
the time he spent with the love of his life, his childhood sweetheart 
and wife of 68 years, Erma. Senator Byrd was a man of deep faith, but 
from what I have heard of them as a couple, I do not doubt that all the 
glories of the afterlife pale for Senator Byrd compared to rejoining 
Erma.
  I came to the Senate too late to hear most of his greatest speeches, 
but when he spoke, whether it was about a funding bill or the wars that 
we continue to wage, you listened. We all felt a great sadness when 
Senator Kennedy died last year, but many of us probably came to 
appreciate the depth of the historical significance of his departure 
from this body months earlier when we heard and saw another of the 
great legislators in American history, Robert C. Byrd, weep openly and 
unabashedly as he paid tribute to his friend and colleague. My service 
with Senator Byrd was nowhere as lengthy as his with Senator Kennedy, 
but I am profoundly affected by the honor of knowing the man, even for 
these past 2 years.
  In the short time we did serve together, I have still been able to 
learn from Senator Byrd. He was a statesman and a pillar of this 
institution, and a genuine historical figure that my son Jacob will 
learn about in school. But the thing that I will take from watching 
Senator Byrd that showed every day that we served together was that 
nothing was more important than the work he did for the people of the 
State that sent him here. All of us look to the people of our States 
for guidance on the matters of the day, and certainly Senator Byrd was 
attuned to the thoughts of the people of West Virginia. But there was 
more to it than just knowing what the people of his State thought.

[[Page 15270]]

  His whole career was about making West Virginia a better place, 
expanding its infrastructure, educating its people, supporting its 
industries, and providing the circumstances in which economic 
development could take root and flourish. Improving the lives of the 
people of his State was what motivated Senator Byrd to come here almost 
19,000 times for votes on any number of issues.
  As I think of the impact Senator Byrd's career has had on West 
Virginia, I cannot help but think of the similarities between our two 
States. Alaska and West Virginia are both mostly rural, energy-
producing States with pockets of intractable poverty. It is a mark of 
respect for his success at changing the world for the better that West 
Virginia has fewer poverty-stricken residents, and that remote regions 
of his state are less difficult to travel to and from than when Senator 
Byrd was first elected to Congress. He was an ardent supporter of the 
Appalachian Regional Commission, ARC, which was created to help solve 
the problems of poverty and hopelessness in his State by upgrading 
insufficient public infrastructure, building and maintaining 
educational facilities, and providing access to public and private 
sector assistance to improve health care, foster economic development 
and diversity, and provide opportunities for the people of the region 
beyond energy extraction and the few other traditional industries that 
existed there.
  It is no surprise that when my predecessor, Senator Ted Stevens, was 
looking for a way to improve the lives of Alaskans, he saw in the ARC 
that his close friend and colleague, Senator Byrd, had worked so hard 
to support a model for the Denali Commission that he believed could 
create similar hope and opportunity in our State. My colleagues and I 
in the Alaska congressional delegation today are just as dedicated to 
the potential the Denali Commission represents for our State. We can 
only hope to have as much positive impact on the lives of Alaskans as 
Senator Byrd had with those of the West Virginians he was so proud to 
represent.
  I do not have as many great stories about Senator Byrd as many of our 
other colleagues, but I will close with observations about the man, 
hard at work doing what he knew was right for his people, which 
inspired me. As the Senate worked to reform the Nation's health care 
system last year, a number of votes were late at night or early in the 
morning, and as many will remember, the weather last December was 
uncharacteristically cold and snowy. As an Alaskan and a relatively 
young man, getting to the Capitol during a blizzard was not a big 
ordeal. Watching Senator Byrd, in his nineties and in obvious frail 
health, make his way to the Senate Chamber time and time again in his 
wheelchair, including for a final vote very early on the morning of 
Christmas Eve, was an inspiration. Seeing it then, and reflecting on it 
in the last several days, made me appreciate more fully the man's 
dedication to the people he served.
  Every State deserves Senators with those motivations, and while I 
will always marvel at the man's encyclopedic knowledge of the Senate 
and countless other things, the thing I will emulate about the life and 
career of Robert C. Byrd, for however long the voters of Alaska choose 
to have me as their Senator, is that my job is to make the lives of 
Alaskans better.
  I believe Senator Byrd would approve.
  Mr. BROWN of Massachusetts. Mr. President, today I rise to speak 
about our Nation's longest serving Senator who dedicated his life to 
public service. Senator Byrd first came to the Senate the same year I 
was born, 1959, and I took office just a few months before he passed 
away. Though I did not have the opportunity to know him well, each day 
I learn more of his legacy and his impact on what he referred to as the 
Second Great Senate.
  Robert Byrd was a staunch defender of the Constitution and the 
institution of the Senate. Many have told the story of how he carried 
his pocket Constitution in his jacket wherever he went to remind us all 
of that document's importance in making the laws of today. His speeches 
on the Senate floor were legendary and illustrated his devotion to the 
place where he served for more than 50 years.
  In his role as a Senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd worked 
tirelessly to modernize his State and end its economic isolation. But 
he did more than just serve his State. Robert Byrd's dedication to the 
complexity and the many traditions of the Senate was extraordinary. He 
was passionately, and often solely, committed to the Founders' wise 
intent that the Senate was to remain a bulwark against the power of the 
Presidency.
  Through relentless effort, dedication, and commitment, Robert Byrd 
rose from humble beginnings to become one of our Nation's most skilled 
legislators. I thank him for his many years of public service in 
representing West Virginia and our Nation. My thoughts and prayers go 
out to his family and friends as they mourn his great loss.
  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I rise today to offer my sincere 
condolences following the passing of my friend and colleague, Senator 
Robert C. Byrd. This is obviously the end of an era. Senator Byrd has 
seen the landing of man on the Moon, the passage of the Civil Rights 
Act, the resignation of one President and the impeachment trial of 
another, and countless other significant and historical landmarks 
during his unparalleled Senate career.
  Each of us has his or her own memories of Senator Byrd's kindness and 
devotion to the Senate as an institution. The place will not be the 
same without him.
  My wife Joyce and I extend our deepest condolences to his daughters 
and the entire Byrd family.

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