[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 11873]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I come to my seat today on the floor of 
the Senate to take a few minutes to share my thoughts on the late 
Senator Robert Byrd and his tragic death a few days ago. I come with a 
perspective different than those who served with him for decades 
because this is my first term in the Senate. I was elected in 2004.
  In our caucus, which then was in the majority, we were asked to take 
responsibility for presiding, just as the current Presiding Officer is 
doing today. The day I picked was Friday mornings, not knowing we would 
not be here on a lot of Friday mornings except for a normal business 
session. But I did it on every Friday morning. For 2 years I presided 
over the Senate from about 10 in the morning until about 12:30 in the 
afternoon.
  Friday morning is the day Robert Byrd would come to the floor of the 
Senate and share and reshare some of his great speeches. I was here to 
listen to the entire speech on the tribute to mothers on Mother's Day. 
I heard him, oftentimes, talk so wonderfully about his lovely wife. I 
heard him talk about the Roman Empire, its rise and its fall. I heard 
him make speeches on the rules of the Senate, the details that no one 
in this room could ever come close to.
  But, for me, the most important contribution of the Senator from West 
Virginia was the fact it didn't matter how experienced you were or what 
your party was, if you had a question on the rules of the Senate, you 
could go to the seat of Senator Byrd and you could get an answer that 
you could put in the bank. He loved sharing his knowledge. He loved the 
institution of the Senate. He never saw it from a partisan standpoint, 
he always saw it from a traditional and an institutional standpoint.
  There will be a lot of great tributes paid to Senator Byrd over the 
next few days and they will all be well deserved. I certainly share in 
the sympathy that all extend to his extended family for this tragic 
loss. But many in this Senate today and many who served in the years 
since he was first elected have benefited from the wisdom and 
``gentleman-ness'' that Robert Byrd represented. He is a tradition in 
the Senate. He is a tradition in the State of West Virginia. He will be 
missed, but I will be forever thankful to Robert Byrd for what he took 
the time to share with me, to help me understand the ways of the 
Senate. He truly was a Senator's Senator and I extend my sympathy to 
his family and the people of West Virginia on the tragic loss of this 
great Senator.
  I yield the floor.

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