Thomas Daschle: “I join the majority leader and all the Members of our body in congratulating Senator Byrd on reaching this historic…”

“I join the majority leader and all the Members of our body in congratulating Senator Byrd on reaching this historic milestone. I thank him for his half century of service to the U.S. Congress. Seventeen thousand votes is an astonishing number. It is even more astonishing when you consider that Senator Byrd has now cast 652 more votes than the first runner-up, Senator Thurmond. He has served 2 years less than Senator Thurmond. Here is another remarkable statistic: In the last 45 years in the Senate, Robert Byrd has voted on 98.72 percent of the questions put before this body. He has missed only about 1 percent of all votes cast over 45 years--the second highest percentage of all Senators who have cast 10,000 votes or more. From July 25, 1984, through September 17, 1997--a period of more than 13 years--Senator Byrd did not miss one single vote. He cast 4,705 consecutive votes--the second highest consecutive vote total in Senate history. Of the 11,708 persons who have ever served in the U.S. Congress, only two have served longer than Robert C. Byrd.”