WASHINGTON — The Senate is a resolutely superlative place, so it was resolved that the august body on Wednesday will open its session by saluting Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Congress’ longest-serving member.
“United States senators, like baseball fans, love statistics,” the West Virginia Democrat, who turns 92 on Friday, observed during a 1986 floor speech.
“From time to time, we stop to congratulate colleagues on their years of service, the number of votes they have cast, their tenure in a committee chairmanship,” he continued. “In this vast array of statistics, some record-holders stand out from the others.”
Byrd was paying tribute at the time to former Majority Leader Mike Mansfield. But on Nov. 18, it’s Byrd’s turn.
“I look forward to serving you for the next 56 years and 320 days,” Byrd said in a statement marking the occasion.
Here are some of Byrd’s statistics: He was already married to his beloved Erma for nearly four years when Thanksgiving was deemed a federal holiday in 1941. He began his political career four years later as a member of West Virginia’s House of Delegates. He remains the only member of Congress to earn a law degree while a member of the federal legislature, according to his Web site.
Erma passed away three years ago. Byrd says her absence at this milestone is his only regret.
“I know that she is looking down from the heavens smiling at me and saying congratulations my dear Robert — but don’t let it go to your head,” Byrd said.
Setting records, though, is old news to the white-maned lawmaker. Since June 12, 2006, Byrd has been the longest-serving senator and later that year was elected to an unprecedented ninth term. His colleagues have elected him to more leadership positions than any senator in history. He has cast more than 18,000 votes and, despite fragile health that has kept him from the Senate floor during much of the year, has a nearly 98 percent attendance record over the course of his career.
Which, by Byrd’s count, has spanned 20,774 days. On Wednesday, Byrd’s service breaks the record set by Sen. Carl Hayden, D-Ariz., who served from 1912 to 1969.
The arc of Byrd’s story is more complex than the numbers would suggest. It’s been long enough for him to rescind positions that he once trumpeted, such as his opposition to the Civil Rights Act. Lengthy enough to voice his regret, over and over, about joining the Ku Klux Klan a lifetime ago. Long enough to see and cheer the nation’s first black president, and to watch his one-time rival and later dear friend Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., succumb to brain cancer.
He’s made good on a storied pledge to become West Virginia’s billion dollar industry several times over, helping bring home $326 million in earmarks for 2008 alone, according to Citizens Against Government Waste.
He is the resident expert on the Senate’s arcane procedures and traditions, as well as the Constitution. Byrd is fond of telling his colleagues that he loves the Senate more than any of its members. But he has poured forth his affection for his favorites, anyway.
Byrd’s also been around enough to confound a months-long whispering campaign that he was not well enough to continue serving as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He stepped down only when he was ready, but still chairs the panel’s subcommittee on Homeland Security. In October after a season of illness and absence, Byrd personally managed a $44.1 billion spending agreement on security measures against natural disaster, terrorist attacks and other threats.
Wednesday would be about marking this new milestone, although it was unclear whether Byrd would be able to attend Wednesday’s session. Friday would be a celebration of his 92nd birthday. And next week, Byrd writes in his weekly column, should be about Thanksgiving.
As is his own tradition, Byrd marks the holiday with a history lesson: from the Pilgrims’ first celebration in 1621 through George Washington’s “Thanksgiving Proclamation,” to the designation of an official holiday in 1941.
What does Byrd give thanks for this year? The privilege, he writes, of representing “our great people in the United States Senate.”
Longer, of course, than anyone else.
West Virginia
Senate salutes Byrd today
Ready to become longest-serving Congress member
- West Virginia
-
-
Three aging state power plants to close
FirstEnergy Corp. announced Wednesday it will shut down three aging coal-fired power plants in West Virginia later this year.
The company’s Monongahela Power subsidiary will retire the Albright, Willow Island and Rivesville power stations by Sept. 1, affecting a total of 105 workers. -
Bills would ban children from tanning, tattoos
West Virginia lawmakers are looking to protect children from unhealthy decisions and to give parents more say in their children’s body art choices.
Bills moving through the Legislature would set the minimum age minors can receive their first tattoo and would ban indoor tanning for all children. -
Hackers post officers’ personal information
Hackers affiliated with the group Anonymous obtained personal information for more than 150 police officers from an old website of the West Virginia Chiefs of Police Association and posted the data online.
The FBI is investigating, said William Roper, the association’s president and the police chief of Ranson said. -
Bill would clarify secretary of state’s power
A West Virginia legislator wants state law to say clearly that the secretary of state has the authority to verify whether candidates running for election are eligible to hold office.
Sen. Clark Barnes, R-Randolph, introduced a bill Tuesday that would allow the secretary to refuse to certify candidates and keep them off the ballot if they don’t meet all the legal and constitutional requirements to serve. -
USDA kills 8 coyotes at University Town Centre
U.S. Department of Agriculture employees have killed eight coyotes in a hilltop shopping center complex near Morgantown. They aren’t sure how many remain nearby.
-
Texting bill evolves, heads to House
West Virginia drivers could get a ticket for texting or talking on their cellphone while driving under a bill the Senate unanimously approved Monday.
-
W.Va. texting bill evolves, heads to House
The Senate has approved a bill that would allow police to ticket drivers for texting or talking on their cellphones while on the road.
-
Report: Residents lacking savings
A nonprofit group says nearly one in five West Virginia residents have almost no savings or other assets to weather a financial crisis.
-
Lawmakers navigate lobby ban, social media
In this era of Twitter and smartphones, citizens and lobbyists alike have all sorts of ways to reach out to lawmakers at a moment’s notice. But the West Virginia Legislature has rules meant to insulate its members from last-minute pressures while they’re debating and voting on bills.
-
Firm shows off ‘Guardian Angel’ for miners
A West Virginia company is working on a piece of equipment designed to keep miners safer.
Trinity Resources, headquartered in Putnam County, demonstrated its a mobile mine safety chamber this week at the West Virginia Mining Symposium in Charleston. - More West Virginia Headlines
-
Three aging state power plants to close
