Bill Nelson: “God bless America, and God bless Senator Byrd and what he has meant to this institution, and for serving in this…”

“God bless America, and God bless Senator Byrd and what he has meant to this institution, and for serving in this institution, the Congress of the United States, for over a half century. We have had the privilege of again having one of the great insights into American history as seen through the prism of Senator Byrd's observation after a half century of American politics and American history. When I was a Member of the other body, the House of Representatives, one of the great delights I had was to sit at the knee of Congressman Claude Pepper, a former Senator. He was a walking political history book. And along with that delightful personality, you could learn so much just listening. Of course, he was always a great delight. The Senator who presides and I both had the pleasure of being with Claude Pepper. So often I would hear when he would take what he would call his 'boys'--those members of the Rules Committee--on a trip and those younger Members of Congress--younger by one-half and sometimes two-thirds the age of the venerable Claude Pepper--could not keep up with the energetic pace he kept on those congressional delegation trips. And so, likewise, it has been such a privilege for me that I have now had the opportunity to come here to the Senate and sometimes to sit at the knee and learn from the senior Senator from West Virginia.”