Cord Byrd: “It goes without saying, Mr. President--I have said it many times already--that the chairman of this subcommittee is…”

“It goes without saying, Mr. President--I have said it many times already--that the chairman of this subcommittee is fully knowledgeable of the contents of the original bill, fully knowledgeable of what is in this conference report, and always--always considerate, always courteous, and is one of the finest chairmen I have ever served with on any subcommittee. And I served with a lot of chairmen of subcommittees. This one is almost without a flaw when it comes to being chairman of this subcommittee. It is a pleasure for me to serve with him. I would like to be chairman one day, but I am not the chairman, and I fully understand that. If somebody else other than I has to be chairman, I like Senator Gorton. We accomplish a lot for this Nation together. This is a great subcommittee. I have said many times it really is a western subcommittee, more so than it is eastern, as far as I am concerned. I have said that over the years. But we do our best because somebody has to do the work. I do enjoy it. I enjoy the collaboration we always have in connection with this bill. I do it understanding that the appropriations process is absolutely vital to the operation of Government and that we need to know about that process. We need to always understand the rules and the precedents of Government. If I had a larger vocabulary, I could say more about the chairmanship that is rendered by Mr. Gorton. I will not speak further.…”