Political Quotes

“I want to join Senator Reid and all of my colleagues in congratulating Senator Robert Byrd on reaching yet another historic milestone in his lifetime of public service. In the history of the U.S. Senate, only one Senator, Robert Carlyle Byrd, has served for 50 years. A half century of service to his State, our Nation, this institution, and our Constitution. That is a remarkable achievement and one that we are not likely to see again for a very long time. Senator Byrd is, of course, a great student of history and the author of the definitive work on the history of the Senate. In fact, one could say that Robert C. Byrd is Senate history. Senator Byrd has served with (not under, with) 11 Presidents--very soon to be 12 Presidents. He was the first U.S. Senator ever to cast 15,000 votes, and he is the only Senator ever to cast 18,000 votes. Senator Byrd has served as majority leader, and held more leadership positions than any Senator in history. To help put the length of his service in perspective, consider a few facts: When Senator Byrd cast his first vote in the Senate--on January 8, 1959--his colleagues included Senators John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Vice President Richard Nixon was the Presiding Officer. Hawaii was not yet a State. And a state-of-the-art computer would have taken up half of the space of this Chamber and had roughly the same amount of computing power as a Palm Pilot.”