Cord Byrd: “we are rapidly approaching that season when we shall witness the departure of many of our colleagues who have elected…”

“we are rapidly approaching that season when we shall witness the departure of many of our colleagues who have elected not to serve beyond this Congress. Mr. President, I was the 1,579th Senator of 1,826 men and women who have served in the U.S. Senate from the beginning. I have seen many fine Senators come and go. As I think back over the years, something good might well have been said about most, if not all, of these Senators. We are prone, of course, to deliver heartfelt eulogies, speeches declaring our regrets that our colleagues choose to leave the service of this body. About all of these Senators whom I have seen depart the Senate, some good could be said, unlike Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus, the Roman emperor who served from 180 to 192 A.D., one of the few Roman emperors about whom nothing good could be said. I don't think that any of the Senators that I can recall at the moment who voluntarily retired with honor from this body were Senators about whom nothing good could be said. But shortly, we will witness the departure of one of the truly outstanding United States Senators of our time, and when I say 'of our time,' I mean my time as a Member of Congress for 44 years, a Member of this body for 38 years. The departure of Sam Nunn will be an irreparable loss.”