On the recordJune 29, 2010
I come to my seat today on the floor of the Senate to take a few minutes to share my thoughts on the late Senator Robert Byrd and his tragic death a few days ago. I come with a perspective different than those who served with him for decades because this is my first term in the Senate. I was elected in 2004. In our caucus, which then was in the majority, we were asked to take responsibility for presiding, just as the current Presiding Officer is doing today. The day I picked was Friday mornings, not knowing we would not be here on a lot of Friday mornings except for a normal business session. But I did it on every Friday morning. For 2 years I presided over the Senate from about 10 in the morning until about 12:30 in the afternoon. Friday morning is the day Robert Byrd would come to the floor of the Senate and share and reshare some of his great speeches. I was here to listen to the entire speech on the tribute to mothers on Mother's Day. I heard him, oftentimes, talk so wonderfully about his lovely wife. I heard him talk about the Roman Empire, its rise and its fall. I heard him make speeches on the rules of the Senate, the details that no one in this room could ever come close to.
