[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11830-11833]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD

  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, today I rise on the floor of the Senate 
recognizing that we have white roses and a black drape adorning the 
desk of the late Senator Robert C. Byrd.
  I had told him personally in the past that when my service is done I 
will have considered it a great privilege to have served in this body 
at the time when Robert Byrd served in this body. He was a lot of 
things. He was smart and tough and honest. Because he legislated and 
because of his career here, this is a better country, I am convinced of 
that.
  All of us know Senator Byrd grew old here and became someone with 
health problems in recent years and yet even last week would come to 
this Chamber and cast his vote. In recent weeks I had several visits 
with him on the floor of the Senate.
  All of us know as well that he loved his country. He, most of all, 
loved the Senate. He wrote a two-volume book of history on this body, 
and I say to anybody listening, if they enjoy history and enjoy knowing 
anything about the wonderful history of this body, read what Senator 
Byrd has written. It is extraordinary.
  He loved the Constitution of the United States, and he never appeared 
on the floor of the Senate without having a copy of that Constitution 
in his suit pocket. He always had a copy of the Constitution with him.
  He was also someone who did not just love the history of the Senate 
but loved Roman history. I recall sitting on the floor of the Senate 
many years ago when I first came to the Senate, listening to Senator 
Byrd talk about Roman history and the lessons in it for us. I recall 
him 1 day describing Hannibal crossing the Alps, with a conclusion of 
Hannibal, who had lost an eye--a one-eyed Carthaginian--on the plains, 
riding the last emaciated elephant before he was cornered, and taking a 
pill from a secret container in a ring and, rather than being captured, 
took his life.
  I learned a lot listening to Senator Byrd on the floor of the Senate 
about a lot of things, including Roman history.
  I also learned that he had one of the extraordinary memories you have 
ever known. And I thought today--because we are saddened but also 
mourning the loss of a friend and someone who served this country so 
well--I would read something he read on the floor of the Senate a 
couple of times, but he read the preamble to it and then recited it 
from memory, this great story. He did it because he was talking about a 
crime that occurred with respect to a dog, an animal. He talked a lot 
about his dog Billy, that he loved very much, and then he told us the 
story about a man named Vest, George G. Vest, who was to become a 
Senator later.
  I will read what Senator Byrd said. He said:

       At the turn of the century, George G. Vest delivered a 
     deeply touching summation before the jury in the trial 
     involving the killing of a dog, Old Drum. This occurred, I 
     think, in 1869. There were two brothers-in-law, both of whom 
     had fought in the Union Army. They lived in Johnson County, 
     MO. One was named Leonidas Hornsby. The other was named 
     Charles Burden.
       Burden owned a dog, and he was named ``Old Drum.'' He was a 
     great hunting dog. Any time that dog barked one could know 
     for sure that it was on the scent of a raccoon or other 
     animal.
       Leonidas Hornsby was a farmer who raised livestock and some 
     of his calves and lambs were being killed by animals. He, 
     therefore, swore to shoot any animal, any dog that appeared 
     on his property.
       One day there appeared on his property a hound. Someone 
     said: ``There's a dog out there in the yard.'' Hornsby said: 
     ``Shoot him.''
       The dog was killed. Charles Burden, the owner of the dog, 
     was not the kind of man to take something like this lightly. 
     He went to court.

  This was Old Drum that was killed.

       He won his case and was awarded $25. Hornsby appealed, and, 
     if I recall, on the appeal there was a reversal, whereupon 
     the owner of the dog decided to employ the best lawyer that 
     he could find in the area.
       He employed a lawyer by the name of George Graham Vest. 
     This lawyer gave a summation to the jury.

  Senator Byrd recited the summation to the jury, and he did it without 
a note. It so reminded me of all the things I heard on the floor from 
Senator Byrd--yes, ``The Ambulance Down in the Valley,'' a piece of 
lengthy prose without a note, and this without a note. He recited the 
summation to the jury by George Vest:

       Gentlemen of the jury. The best friend a man has in the 
     world may turn against him and become his enemy. His son or 
     daughter whom he has reared with loving care may prove 
     ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those 
     whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may 
     become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has he 
     may lose. It flies away from him perhaps when he needs it 
     most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of 
     ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on 
     their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the 
     first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its 
     cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend 
     that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never 
     deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or 
     treacherous, is the dog.
       Gentlemen of the jury, a man's dog stands by him in 
     prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will 
     sleep on the cold ground when the wintry winds blow and the 
     snow drives fiercely, if only he can be near his master's 
     side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he 
     will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with 
     the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper 
     master as if he were a prince.
       When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take 
     wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in 
     his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If 
     fortune drives the master forth an outcast into the world, 
     friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher 
     privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against 
     danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene 
     of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and 
     his body is laid in the cold ground, no matter if all other 
     friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the 
     noble dog be found, his head between his paws and his eyes 
     sad but open, in alert watchfulness, faithful and true, even 
     unto death.

  Well, I read this summation to the jury in the case of Old Drum. But 
Senator Byrd recited it, as he did all of these similar circumstances, 
completely from memory.
  Senator Byrd came to the floor, and he had a way with words that does 
not so much exist in the Senate anymore. I was sitting on the floor one 
day when another Senator came to the floor and said some very 
disparaging things about a President of the United States. They 
referred to the President in a way that was very disparaging. Senator 
Byrd did not like that, no matter who the President was. He came to the 
floor, and I am sure the person who was disparaging the President at 
that point never understood what had happened to him after Senator Byrd 
was done.
  Mr. LEAHY. I remember that.
  Mr. DORGAN. But Senator Byrd came to the floor, and he stood up, and 
he said this: I have served here long enough to see pygmyies strut like 
Colossus. And he said, very like the fly in Aesop's fable, sitting on 
an axle of a chariot, ``My, what dust I do raise.''
  And it occurred to me he had just told someone what they had done was 
unbelievably foolish. I am not sure they understood it. But he wrapped 
it in such elegant language, as he always did.
  In addition to serving at a time early on in his career when things 
were different, when there was perhaps less anger and less partisanship 
and committee chairmen and ranking members got together and decided 
what we needed to do for the country and did it together and came to 
the floor together, he was also, on the floor of the Senate, someone 
who knew the rules. He studied the rules because he understood that 
knowing the rules to this Chamber and how this process works was also 
important to be successful here.

[[Page 11831]]

  Aside from that, he was a skillful legislator--very skillful. I 
watched him walk out of this Chamber from that door and very often stop 
as a bunch of Senate pages--high school kids who serve in the Senate--
would gather around and then he would spend 15, 20 minutes telling them 
a story about the Senate, about the history of this great place. Too 
many of us walk back and forth around here, walking very briskly 
because we are late to go here or there and we are working on a lot of 
things. Senator Byrd always took time to talk to the pages--not just 
talk to them but tell them stories about what this great Senate has 
meant to this great country.
  He also loved very much his late wife Erma and talked about her a lot 
to many of us.
  He loved to play the fiddle. Early on when I came to the Senate, if 
you expressed even the least interest in music, he would get you down 
to his office and put a tape in his recording device to show us that he 
played the fiddle on the program ``Hee Haw.'' He was so proud of that. 
He was someone who loved West Virginia, loved his country, and was a 
friend to all of us.
  Today is a very sad day for those of us who see a desk that was 
occupied by a great U.S. Senator for so many decades, now occupied with 
a dozen roses and a black cloth, signifying that we have lost this 
great man. America has lost a great public servant. As one Member of 
the Senate, I say it has been a great privilege--my great privilege--to 
serve while Senator Byrd served in this body.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I appreciate the words of the Senator 
from North Dakota. I recall sitting here on the floor, I tell my friend 
from North Dakota, who may well have been here at that time when 
Senator Byrd spoke of the pygmies strutting like a colossus. We both 
know who he meant and we both know the effect it had, and I thank him 
for reminding us of that.
  I believe all of us who served with him and knew Senator Byrd were 
saddened by the news of his passing. No Senator came to care more about 
the Constitution or was a more effective defender of our constitutional 
government than the senior Senator from West Virginia. How many times 
did we see him reach into his jacket pocket and hold up the 
Constitution? He would say: This is what guides me.
  I said in the Judiciary Committee today that many of us carry the 
Constitution and we can turn to it and read from it. Senator Byrd, if 
asked, would recite it verbatim from memory from page 1 straight 
through.
  Senator Byrd was a Senator's Senator. During the time before he 
stopped playing, some of us would be at an event with him where he 
would play the fiddle. I recall one of those times when he played the 
fiddle, and now his successor as President pro tempore, Senator Inouye, 
played the piano, playing compositions only requiring one hand, and the 
two of them played in the caucus room now named after our late Senator 
Ted Kennedy. I heard him play in the happy times and the enjoyable 
times when he would try to bring Senators of both parties together and 
act like human beings.
  I have also sat here with him when he reminded Senators of what the 
Constitution stood for, what our role was in the Constitution, when he 
spoke against going to war in Iraq without reason and without a 
declaration of war. It was one of the most powerful speeches I have 
heard him give. In over 36 years of serving with him, I heard many 
speeches.
  Others will speak of his records for time served in the Senate and in 
Congress and the number of votes he cast. I think of him more as a 
mentor and a friend. I recall in the fall of 1974 becoming the Senator-
elect and coming down here to talk to Senators and meeting with Senator 
Byrd and Senator Mansfield, Senator Mansfield being the leader, Senator 
Byrd the deputy leader. I recall one of the things he told me--both of 
them did: Always keep your word. Robert Byrd, Robert Carlyle Byrd, if 
he gave you his word, you could go to the bank with it, but he would 
expect the same in return, as he should. That is something all of us 
should be reminded of and all of us should seek to achieve.
  I was honored to sit near him on the Senate floor. Sitting near him 
in the same room we would engage in many discussions about the Senate 
and the rules or about the issues of the moment, or about our families. 
But now I sit here and I look at the flowers on his desk; I look at the 
drape on that desk. Over the many years I have had the privilege of 
representing the State of Vermont in this body, I have had to come on 
the floor of the Senate to see the traditional drapery and the flowers 
on either side of the aisle when we have lost dear colleagues; more 
than that, we have lost dear friends. Party is irrelevant. The 
friendship is what is important. It tugs at your heart and it tugs at 
your soul to see it. Walking in here and looking down the row where I 
sit and seeing that, I don't know when I have felt the tug so strong.
  Marcelle and I were privileged to know Bob and Erma, his wonderful 
Erma. We would see them in the grocery store in Northern Virginia. Our 
wives would drive in together for Senate matters. I recall sitting with 
him in his office 1 day when we spoke of the death of his grandson and 
how it tore him apart to have lost him in an accident. He had his 
portrait in his office with a black drapery. We sat there--this man who 
could be so composed--we sat and held hands while he cried about his 
grandson. At that time I did not have the privilege of being a 
grandfather yet. Today, I think I can more fully understand what he 
went through. I remember the emotion and the strength of it. This was 
not just the person whom we saw often as the leader of the Senate, the 
chairman of a major committee, ready and in control, but a human being 
mourning somebody very dear to him.
  He was a self-educated man. He learned much throughout his life, but 
then he had much to teach us all. It has been spoken about how he 
talked to the pages, but he would talk to anybody about his beloved 
Senate. He did more than that. He wrote the definitive history of the 
Senate. We all learned from him. He was a symbol of West Virginia. He 
was an accomplished legislator. He was an extraordinary American.
  As a form of tribute I suspect Senator Byrd himself would 
appreciate--let me quote from Pericles' funeral oration from Thucydides 
History of the Peloponnesian War about the inherent strength of 
democracy. Senator Byrd was well familiar with this passage, and with 
its relevance to our Constitution and our form of government. I heard 
him use it before. Pericles is said to have spoken this:

       Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the 
     institutions of others. Our government does not copy our 
     neighbors, but is an example to them. It is true that we are 
     called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of 
     the many and not of the few. But while there exists equal 
     justice to all and alike in their private disputes, the claim 
     of excellence is also recognized; and when a citizen is in 
     any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, 
     not as a matter of privilege, but as a reward of merit. 
     Neither is poverty an obstacle, but a man may benefit his 
     country whatever the obscurity of his condition.

  Senator Byrd believed in this country. He believed that a youngster 
who had been adopted, who lived in a house without running water, who 
had to work for every single thing he obtained, could also rise to the 
highest positions in this body, a body he loved more than any other 
institution in our government, save one: the Constitution. The 
Constitution was his North Star and his lone star. It was what guided 
him.
  Senator Byrd was such an extraordinary man of merit and grit and 
determination who loved his family. I recall him speaking of his 
grandchildren and great-grandchildren and he would proudly tell you 
about each of them. I remember even after he was a widower walking by 
and leaning over and saying, How are you? He would say, I am fine. How 
is Marcelle? And Senators from both sides of the aisle would come just 
to talk with him.
  He drew strength from his deep faith. He took to heart his oath to 
support

[[Page 11832]]

and defend the Constitution of the United States. The arc of his career 
in public service is an inspiration to us all, and it will inspire 
Americans of generations to come.
  So, Robert, I say goodbye to you, my dear friend. I am not going to 
forget your friendship. I am not going to forget how you mentored me. 
But, especially, I will not forget, and I will always cherish even 
after I leave this body, your love of the Senate.
  Senator Byrd, you are one of a kind.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, Members of the Senate are coming to the 
floor today from both sides of the aisle to acknowledge a moment in our 
history: the passing of Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. Senator Byrd 
was the longest serving Senator in the history of the United States of 
America; a man who cast more than 18,000 votes; a man who served as 
majority leader, as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, as 
President pro tempore. He was, in fact, the Senate. He embodied the 
Senate in his life. It was his life.
  Each of us, before we can become a Senator, takes a walk down this 
aisle and goes over to the side here where the Vice President of the 
United States swears us in. You put your hand on a Bible and you take 
an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. You 
have to say that or you can't be a Senator. For many people, it is a 
formality. For Robert C. Byrd, it was a commitment, a life commitment 
to a document, the Constitution of the United States. He used to carry 
one in his pocket every day of his life. That is the kind of commitment 
most people will not make because they think: Well, maybe I will change 
my mind. For Robert C. Byrd, there was no changing his mind. He was 
committed to that Constitution.
  For him, it was the North Star, it was the guiding light, it was the 
document that created this Nation, and he had sworn on his Bible to 
uphold and defend it, and he meant it. That is why he was so 
extraordinary.
  He understood this Constitution because he understood what our 
government is about. He made a point of saying whenever a new President 
would come in, even a President of his own party: I will work with the 
President but as a Senator; I do not work for the President. We are 
equal to the President because we are an equal branch of government. I 
will be glad to work with the President, but I have a responsibility as 
a Senator.
  I remember so well in what I consider to be the finest hour I 
witnessed when it came to Robert C. Byrd. It was in October of 2002. It 
was a little over a year after 9/11. President George W. Bush was 
asking this Senate to vote for a resolution to invade Iraq. At the 
time, the pressure was building. Public sentiment was strongly in 
favor. Remember, there was talk about weapons of mass destruction, 
nuclear weapons, attacks on our allies and friends, even on the United 
States if we did not move, and move quickly. There was a prevailing 
growing sentiment to go to war.
  But the Senator from West Virginia stood up, took out his 
Constitution, and said: This is a mistake. We should not be going to 
war.
  He proceeded day after day, week after week, and month after month to 
stand there at that desk and lead the charge against the invasion of 
Iraq. It was an amazing display of his talent, which was prodigious, 
and his commitment to this Constitution as he saw it, and the fact that 
he was politically fearless.
  I agreed with him on that issue. I was inspired by him on that issue. 
I can recall when my wife and I went to a Mass in Old St. Patrick's 
Church in Chicago, we were in the pew kneeling after communion. The 
church was quiet as people were returning from communion. An older 
fellow, whom I did not know, stood next to me in the aisle and looked 
down at me and said in a voice that could be heard across the church: 
Stick with Bob Byrd.
  I came back and told him that story, and he just howled with 
laughter. I said: Senator Byrd, your reach is beyond West Virginia and 
beyond the Senate. It is in Chicago and across the country. What you 
are saying is resonating with a lot of people.
  In the end, 23 people voted against that war--1 Republican and 22 
Democrats. For a while, we were not popular. Over time I think that 
vote became more respected. Robert C. Byrd was our leader, and he used 
this Constitution as his inspiration.
  He had such a sense of history. My favorite story related to about 16 
or 18 years ago. I was a Member of the House of Representatives then on 
the Appropriations Committee, and Robert C. Byrd was the chairman of 
the Senate Appropriations Committee. He was a powerful man. We were 
supposed to meet downstairs in a conference committee, House and 
Senate, the conferees from both Appropriations Committees, on a 
transportation bill.
  To no one's surprise and without any apology, Senator Byrd had quite 
a few West Virginia projects in that bill. Congressman Frank Wolf of 
Virginia, a Republican, sat on the committee on the House side. When he 
looked at the West Virginia projects, he got upset. He said it publicly 
in the Washington Post and other places that he had thought Senator 
Byrd had gone too far.
  That was a pretty bold move by Congressman Wolf to make those 
statements in the minority about the chairman of the Senate 
Appropriations Committee. I could not wait for that conference 
committee because the two of them would literally be in the same room. 
In fact, it turned out to be even better. They were not even in the 
same room, but Senator Byrd's staff had reserved a chair directly 
across the table from Congressman Wolf.
  The place was packed, waiting for this confrontation. Senator Byrd 
came in last and sat down very quietly in his chair and waited his 
turn. Congressman Wolf at some point asked for recognition and went 
after the Byrd West Virginia projects. Frank is a passionate man. I 
served with him and agreed with him on many issues and disagreed on 
others. I respected him. He was passionate and committed and made it 
clear he thought this was unfair and unjust.
  Senator Byrd, in his three-piece suit, sat across from him with hands 
on the table showing no emotion until after 15, 20 minutes, Congressman 
Wolf was exhausted by his protests about these Byrd projects, at which 
point Senator Byrd leaned over and said to whomever was presiding at 
that moment: May I speak? And they said: Of course.
  Then he said--and I am going to paraphrase this. I think it is pretty 
close to what he said. There was no video camera there. I wish there 
had been. He said: In 1830, in January of 1830, January 19, 1830, 
which, if my memory serves me, was a Thursday, Daniel Webster and Mr. 
Hayne engaged in one of the most famous debates in American history. 
And off he went.
  For the next 15 minutes, without a note, Robert C. Byrd tried to 
explain a very basic principle, and it was this: The Senate is created 
to give every State the same number of Senators--two Senators. The 
House is elected by popular vote. A small State such as West Virginia 
does not have much of a chance in the House of Representatives. It is 
small in a body of 435 Members. But in the Senate, every State, large 
and small--Virginia and West Virginia, Illinois, New York, California--
each has two Senators.
  The point Senator Byrd was making was: If I do not put the projects 
in in the Senate, we will never get them in in the House. That is what 
the Great Compromise, the Constitution, and the Senate and the House 
are all about.
  It was a masterful presentation, which led to a compromise, one might 
expect, at the end of the day in which Senator Byrd did quite well for 
his State of West Virginia.
  Years passed, and I was elected to this body. I came here and I saw 
Senator Byrd sitting in that seat one day, and I said: I want to tell 
you the most famous debate I can ever remember--there was not a camera 
in the room, and I do not think anyone recorded it--I recalled his 
debate with Frank Wolf.
  I said: What I remember particularly is when you said: January 19, 
1830, which was a Thursday, if I recall.

[[Page 11833]]

  He said: Yes, I think it was a Thursday.
  I said: I don't doubt it was a Thursday, but that little detail was 
amazing.
  He kind of smiled. He did not say anything more. About an hour passed 
before the next rollcall, and he called me over to that desk. He had 
brought out a perpetual calendar and found January 19, 1830, and said: 
Mr. Durbin, it was a Thursday.
  I said: I didn't dispute it, Senator.
  It was an example in my mind of a man who understood this 
Constitution, understood his use of that Constitution for his State--
some would say he overused it, but he was fighting for his State every 
day he was here--his command of history and his command of the moment.
  That was Robert C. Byrd. They do not make them like that anymore. 
There just are not many people in our generation who can even claim to 
be in that position.
  I recall it and I remember very well another conversation I had with 
him. You see, history will show that in his early life, Robert C. Byrd 
was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Many of his detractors and enemies 
would bring that up. He would be very open about it, not deny it but 
say that he had changed, and his votes reflected it.
  I once said to him: Of all these thousands and thousands of votes you 
have cast, are there any you would like to do over?
  Oh, yes, he said. Three. There was one for an Eisenhower 
administration appointee which I voted against, and I wish I voted for 
him. I think that was a mistake. And, he said, I was wrong on the civil 
rights legislation. I voted the wrong way in the 1960s. And, he said, I 
made a mistake and voted for the deregulation of the airline industry 
which cut off airline service to my State of West Virginia. Those were 
three.
  If you have been in public life or even if you have been on this 
Earth a while, I think you have learned the value of redemption. Robert 
C. Byrd, in his early life, made a mistake with his membership in the 
Ku Klux Klan. He was open about it, and he demonstrated in his life 
that he was wrong and would do better in the future. That is 
redemption--political redemption--and, in my mind, it was total 
honesty.
  There were so many other facets to this man too. Senator Leahy talked 
about him playing the fiddle. That is the first time I ever saw him in 
person. He came to Springfield, IL, in 1976, when he was aspiring to 
run for President of the United States. He stood out from the rest of 
the crowd because he got up and said a few words about why he wanted to 
be President. Then he reached in and grabbed his fiddle and started 
playing it.
  I tell you, it brought the house down. I don't remember who else was 
there. I think Jimmy Carter was there. But I do remember that Bob Byrd 
was there.
  When I came to the Senate, I thought: I cannot wait to see or hear 
him play that fiddle again. I learned that after his grandson died in 
an automobile accident, he said: I will never touch it again, in memory 
of my grandson. That is the kind of family commitment he made as well. 
He would sing and occasionally have a Christmas party downstairs, and a 
few of us would be lucky enough to get invited. He would sing. He was a 
man who had gone through some life experiences and family experiences 
that were very meaningful to him.
  I remember another day when I was on the floor of the Senate and 
there was a debate about the future of the National Endowment for the 
Arts. Senator Ashcroft of Missouri wanted to eliminate the National 
Endowment for the Arts and take away all its money. I stood up to 
debate him. I was brandnew here, not smart enough to know when to sit 
down and shut up. I started debating: I thought it was wrong, the arts 
are important, so forth.
  Through the door comes Bob Byrd. He walks in here and asks if he 
could be recognized. Everything stopped when he had asked for 
recognition. They said: Of course.
  He said: I want to tell you what music meant to me. I was an orphan, 
and I was raised in a loving family. Early in life, they went out and 
bought me a fiddle. Music has always been a big, important part of my 
life. Out of nowhere, this man gives this beautiful speech, and then he 
quotes poetry during the course of the speech.
  As one can tell, all of us who served with him are great fans of 
Robert C. Byrd and what he meant to this Senate and what he meant to 
this Nation. West Virginia has lost a great servant who was so proud of 
his home State. Time and again that was always the bottom line for him: 
Is this going to be good for the future of my little State of West 
Virginia? He fought for them and put them on the map in some regards 
and some projects. He was respected by his colleagues because of the 
commitment to the people who honored him by allowing him to serve in 
the Senate.
  There may be a debate as to whether there is a heaven. If there is a 
heaven and they have a table for the greats in the Senate, I would ask 
Daniel Webster to pull up a chair for Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.

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