our Senate family grieves today with the Byrd family over the loss of one of the most dedicated Americans ever to serve this country; one of the most devoted men ever to serve his State; one of the most distinguished Senators ever to serve in the Senate. Robert Byrd's mind was among the greatest the world has ever seen. As a boy, he was called upon, when he was in elementary school, to stand before the class and recite not paragraphs from the assignment of the night before but pages of the night before. He did this from memory. From his graduation as valedictorian of his high school class at the age of 16 to his death this morning as the Senate's President pro tempore at age 92, he mastered everything he touched with great thoughtfulness and skill. This good man could drive from his home here in Washington to West Virginia and back--it took 8 hours--reciting classic poetry the entire time, and not recite the same poem twice.
Editor's note · Context
The speaker is honoring the late Senator Robert Byrd and reflecting on his life and contributions.
Share
More from Harry Reid
McConnell is facing reality, and it bothers him a lot. The filibuster is on its way out. It’s not a question if. It’s a question of when it goes away.
The Republican Party that we now have is not the Republican Party of John Chafee, Mark Hatfield, those people who were really stalwarts in moving the country forward.
Get rid of the filibuster, is nothing that as Brock Obama said, at John Lewis` funeral, it’s part of the leftovers from the days of the slave owners. You got to get rid of it. It’s very, very bad.
You cannot have a democracy that record 60 percent of the vote on everything. And that’s what the Republicans have done. They have made a mockery of what the Senate should be.





