The Public Record
Robert C. Byrd was a prominent Democratic politician who served as a U.S. Senator from West Virginia from 1959 until his death in 2010. He was known for his long tenure in the Senate, where he held various leadership positions, including Senate Majority Leader. Byrd was a strong advocate for the interests of his state, focusing on issues such as healthcare, defense, and infrastructure. His legislative efforts included promoting efficiency in defense acquisitions and improving health benefits for servicemembers through programs like TRICARE. Byrd's influence extended beyond West Virginia, as he played a significant role in shaping national policy during his time in office.
I was out of high school 16 years before I started to college. I went to law school for 10 years at night, not because I ever expected or intended or wanted to be a practicing lawyer, but in order that I might be at least a little better…
Those of us who stand for reelection in these honorable public offices stand before the bar of public opinion regularly if we wish to be reelected. If we are found not to be telling the truth, something other than the truth, and less than…
High officials in Government take an oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the land, and the law requires that they inform the appropriate committee or committees fully about actions such as this which violate international law…
Let us make sure we will look, and think, before we leap. We were in Lebanon before we even knew why. Some of the best of our fighting men were killed without really knowing why they were in Lebanon.
We need our President to exercise leadership in the difficult times, as well as the good ones.
Mr. President, I believe it is important that the American people be aware of the heroism and the progress of the freedom-loving peoples of Afghanistan. I believe that we should not let this sordid and brutal invasion by the Soviets be…
We cannot effectively be a peacekeeper among warring factions, if we have chosen sides in this conflict.
In the Senate, we Democrats did not believe it was in the U.S. interest to give the President carte blanche to continue the presence of our forces in the absence of clearly defined goals and objectives from the administration governing…
We sometimes forget that there is a minority around here. I do not want us to get into some kind of habit or mentality that the majority leader just automatically takes over the Senate.
Mr. President, the administration has not provided sufficient justification as to the national interests served by an open-ended commitment of U.S. combat forces in Lebanon.
All Senators in this body must ask themselves one fundamental question. Can any of us explain to our children the compelling national interest at stake in Lebanon which would warrant their going to that country and sacrificing their own…
The decision to go to war or to send the youth of this country to die in foreign lands is the most awesome decision that any government is ever called upon to make. As a result, our Government must produce evidence of a preponderant nature…
On this, the first occasion of our invocation of the War Powers Resolution, let us not be found wanting-in our courage, in the strength of our convictions, or in the sincerity of our purpose.
We were not elected to send our young people off to foreign lands as bargaining chips in a high stakes game with another branch of our Government. Politics is the art of compromise. War is not.
Mr. President, we are not haggling over a parochial institutional matter. We are demanding that there be a consensus in this country when we send our young men and women abroad to fight and die.
We should not expect more from the American people when it comes to the possible sacrifice of their own flesh and blood, if we are not prepared to demand the same sacrifice from our own children.
Those parents back in our home States may be asking us, months from now, why their children had to die. They will be asking us what purpose was served, what goal was achieved, what vital national interest was at stake which required the…
Obviously the President does not know what we know, or he does not want to know. His commitment to upgrading the quality of education is limited to his speeches, not his actions. Our children need more than a public relations campaign.
Mr. President, I am not concerned about the argument as to "who lost" this or "who lost" that or who lost El Salvador. I think to put the question in that context is being politically crass.
What is at stake is the ability of this Congress-and future Congresses-to effectively and responsibly exercise our constitutional power of the purse. The budget process, despite its manifold problems and frustrations, has served the…
The United States is the yardstick by which millions of people around the world measure their own nations and their own standards of life and progress.
Our country is not perfect. But no political experiment in history has been more successful than has been the United States of America. And no nation deliberately created by its own citizens has ever inspired as much admiration in other…
We have made a commitment to those who have labored through their lives and to those whom fate has left unable to provide for themselves-and we must defend that commitment.
Our lives are testimony to the value of education. We know it is the key to opportunity, to economic success, and to human dignity.
The reckless and unfair Kemp-Roth tax scheme has given us unconscionable tax cuts for the wealthy, a deep and prolonged recession, and a legacy of structural budget deficits which threatens our long-term economic recovery.
Politicians like Robert C. Byrd
