Cord Byrd: “I rise at this moment to discuss a vote earlier today which began at approximately 12 noon on the Vitter amendment to…”

“I rise at this moment to discuss a vote earlier today which began at approximately 12 noon on the Vitter amendment to the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007, S. 1. Had I been permitted to vote, I would have voted for the Vitter amendment. Now, why do I say ``permitted''? Why do I say ``had I been permitted to vote''? I say it because even though I was in the Capitol Building and on my way to the Senate floor, and even though my staff had so advised the Democratic cloakroom and was told that I had time to get to the Senate Chamber, the leadership arbitrarily closed the vote before I could get to the floor. That action prevented me from doing my constitutional duty to represent the people of my State of West Virginia. I was not more than 5 minutes from the Senate Chamber. Next year, Mr. President, I will begin my 50th year of service in the Senate. In November, I was elected to serve an unprecedented ninth full term in the Senate. And I was also elected, just days ago, by my colleagues to serve as President pro tempore of the Senate, a position fourth in line in the order of succession to the Presidency of the United States. I have cast, as of 11:59 a.m. this morning, 17,779 rollcall votes. And the vote I was prevented from casting would have made that number 17,780. The last rollcall that I missed in casting a vote was on March 30, 2006. It was 5 days after my darling wife of nearly 69 years had passed away.”