Cord Byrd: “I have a wife at home and she needs me there. I ought to be there. I have stopped early on two occasions lately just to…”

“I have a wife at home and she needs me there. I ought to be there. I have stopped early on two occasions lately just to go be with her and let the Senate run its course. There is going to come a time when this Senator is going to keep the Senate in session a while. He can still do it. I say this in the very best of spirit to the leader--and he is doing the best he can--there comes a time when some of us have duties elsewhere and we would like to keep our rollcall records clean. Soon I will have cast 17,000 rollcall votes. So I have been here for my share of the votes. I am getting a little bit fed up staying around here. This last rollcall vote was 23 minutes and the one before that was 28 minutes. There is a lot of hooping and hollering. What do the American people think of us? It is time we went home if we don't work. I hope, Mr. Leader, that those of you who are so good at working out these things can get people to have voice votes or maybe cut down the time on their amendments.”