Remembering Senator Robert C. Byrd

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, Members of the Senate are coming to the floor today from both sides of the aisle to acknowledge a moment in our history: the passing of ROBERT C. BYRD of West Virginia. Senator Byrd was the longest serving Senator in the history of the United States of America; a man who cast more than 18,000 votes; a man who served as majority leader, as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, as President pro tempore. He was, in fact, the Senate. He embodied the Senate in his life. It was his life.

Each of us, before we can become a Senator, takes a walk down this aisle and goes over to the side here where the Vice President of the United States swears us in. You put your hand on a Bible and you take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. You have to say that or you can't be a Senator. For many people, it is a formality. For ROBERT C. BYRD, it was a commitment, a life commitment to a document, the Constitution of the United States.

He used to carry one in his pocket every day of his life. That is the kind of commitment most people will not make because they think: Well, maybe I will change my mind. For ROBERT C. BYRD, there was no changing his mind. He was committed to that Constitution.

For him, it was the North Star, it was the guiding light, it was the document that created this Nation, and he had sworn on his Bible to uphold and defend it, and he meant it. That is why he was so extraordinary.

He understood this Constitution because he understood what our government is about. He made a point of saying whenever a new President would come in, even a President of his own party: I will work with the President but as a Senator; I do not work for the President. We are equal to the President because we are an equal branch of government. I will be glad to work with the President, but I have a responsibility as a Senator.

I remember so well in what I consider to be the finest hour I witnessed when it came to ROBERT C. BYRD. It was in October of 2002. It was a little over a year after 9/11. President George W. Bush was asking this Senate to vote for a resolution to invade Iraq. At the time, the pressure was building. Public sentiment was strongly in favor. Remember, there was talk about weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, attacks on our allies and friends, even on the United States if we did not move, and move quickly. There was a prevailing growing sentiment to go to war.

But the Senator from West Virginia stood up, took out his Constitution, and said: This is a mistake. We should not be going to war.

He proceeded day after day, week after week, and month after month to stand there at that desk and lead the charge against the invasion of Iraq. It was an amazing display of his talent, which was prodigious, and his commitment to this Constitution as he saw it, and the fact that he was politically fearless.

I agreed with him on that issue. I was inspired by him on that issue. I can recall when my wife and I went to a Mass in Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago, we were in the pew kneeling after communion. The church was quiet as people were returning from communion. An older fellow, whom I did not know, stood next to me in the aisle and looked down at me and said in a voice that could be heard across the church: Stick with BOB BYRD.

I came back and told him that story, and he just howled with laughter. I said: Senator Byrd, your reach is beyond West Virginia and beyond the Senate. It is in Chicago and across the country. What you are saying is resonating with a lot of people.

In the end, 23 people voted against that war--1 Republican and 22 Democrats. For a while, we were not popular. Over time I think that vote became more respected. ROBERT C. BYRD was our leader, and he used this Constitution as his inspiration.

He had such a sense of history. My favorite story related to about 16 or 18 years ago. I was a Member of the House of Representatives then on the Appropriations Committee, and Robert C. Byrd was the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He was a powerful man. We were supposed to meet downstairs in a conference committee, House and Senate, the conferees from both Appropriations Committees, on a transportation bill.

To no one's surprise and without any apology, Senator Byrd had quite a few West Virginia projects in that bill. Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia, a Republican, sat on the committee on the House side. When he looked at the West Virginia projects, he got upset. He said it publicly in the Washington Post and other places that he had thought Senator Byrd had gone too far.

That was a pretty bold move by Congressman Wolf to make those statements in the minority about the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I could not wait for that conference committee because the two of them would literally be in the same room. In fact, it turned out to be even better. They were not even in the same room, but Senator Byrd's staff had reserved a chair directly across the table from Congressman Wolf.

The place was packed, waiting for this confrontation. Senator Byrd came in last and sat down very quietly in his chair and waited his turn. Congressman Wolf at some point asked for recognition and went after the Byrd West Virginia projects. Frank is a passionate man. I served with him and agreed with him on many issues and disagreed on others. I respected him. He was passionate and committed and made it clear he thought this was unfair and unjust.

Senator Byrd, in his three-piece suit, sat across from him with hands on the table showing no emotion until after 15, 20 minutes, Congressman Wolf was exhausted by his protests about these Byrd projects, at which point Senator Byrd leaned over and said to whomever was presiding at that moment: May I speak? And they said: Of course.

Then he said--and I am going to paraphrase this. I think it is pretty close to what he said. There was no video camera there. I wish there had been. He said: In 1830, in January of 1830, January 19, 1830, which, if my memory serves me, was a Thursday, Daniel Webster and Mr. Hayne engaged in one of the most famous debates in American history. And off he went.

For the next 15 minutes, without a note, ROBERT C. BYRD tried to explain a very basic principle, and it was this: The Senate is created to give every State the same number of Senators--two Senators. The House is elected by popular vote. A small State such as West Virginia does not have much of a chance in the House of Representatives. It is small in a body of 435 Members. But in the Senate, every State, large and small--Virginia and West Virginia, Illinois, New York, California--each has two Senators.

The point Senator Byrd was making was: If I do not put the projects in in the Senate, we will never get them in in the House. That is what the Great Compromise, the Constitution, and the Senate and the House are all about.

It was a masterful presentation, which led to a compromise, one might expect, at the end of the day in which Senator Byrd did quite well for his State of West Virginia.

Years passed, and I was elected to this body. I came here and I saw Senator Byrd sitting in that seat one day, and I said: I want to tell you the most famous debate I can ever remember--there was not a camera in the room, and I do not think anyone recorded it--I recalled his debate with FRANK WOLF.

I said: What I remember particularly is when you said: January 19, 1830, which was a Thursday, if I recall.

He said: Yes, I think it was a Thursday.

I said: I don't doubt it was a Thursday, but that little detail was amazing.

He kind of smiled. He did not say anything more. About an hour passed before the next rollcall, and he called me over to that desk. He had brought out a perpetual calendar and found January 19, 1830, and said: Mr. Durbin, it was a Thursday.

I said: I didn't dispute it, Senator.

It was an example in my mind of a man who understood this Constitution, understood his use of that Constitution for his State--some would say he overused it, but he was fighting for his State every day he was here--his command of history and his command of the moment.

That was ROBERT C. BYRD. They do not make them like that anymore. There just are not many people in our generation who can even claim to be in that position.

I recall it and I remember very well another conversation I had with him. You see, history will show that in his early life, ROBERT C. BYRD was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Many of his detractors and enemies would bring that up. He would be very open about it, not deny it but say that he had changed, and his votes reflected it.

I once said to him: Of all these thousands and thousands of votes you have cast, are there any you would like to do over?

Oh, yes, he said. Three. There was one for an Eisenhower administration appointee which I voted against, and I wish I voted for him. I think that was a mistake. And, he said, I was wrong on the civil rights legislation. I voted the wrong way in the 1960s. And, he said, I made a mistake and voted for the deregulation of the airline industry which cut off airline service to my State of West

Virginia. Those were three.

If you have been in public life or even if you have been on this Earth a while, I think you have learned the value of redemption. ROBERT C. BYRD, in his early life, made a mistake with his membership in the Ku Klux Klan. He was open about it, and he demonstrated in his life that he was wrong and would do better in the future. That is redemption--political redemption--and, in my mind, it was total honesty.

There were so many other facets to this man too. Senator Leahy talked about him playing the fiddle. That is the first time I ever saw him in person. He came to Springfield, IL, in 1976, when he was aspiring to run for President of the United States. He stood out from the rest of the crowd because he got up and said a few words about why he wanted to be President. Then he reached in and grabbed his fiddle and started playing it.

I tell you, it brought the house down. I don't remember who else was there. I think Jimmy Carter was there. But I do remember that BOB BYRD was there.

When I came to the Senate, I thought: I cannot wait to see or hear him play that fiddle again. I learned that after his grandson died in an automobile accident, he said: I will never touch it again, in memory of my grandson. That is the kind of family commitment he made as well. He would sing and occasionally have a Christmas party downstairs, and a few of us would be lucky enough to get invited. He would sing. He was a man who had gone through some life experiences and family experiences that were very meaningful to him.

I remember another day when I was on the floor of the Senate and there was a debate about the future of the National Endowment for the Arts. Senator Ashcroft of Missouri wanted to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and take away all its money. I stood up to debate him. I was brandnew here, not smart enough to know when to sit down and shut up. I started debating: I thought it was wrong, the arts are important, so forth.

Through the door comes BOB BYRD. He walks in here and asks if he could be recognized. Everything stopped when he had asked for recognition. They said: Of course.

He said: I want to tell you what music meant to me. I was an orphan, and I was raised in a loving family. Early in life, they went out and bought me a fiddle. Music has always been a big, important part of my life. Out of nowhere, this man gives this beautiful speech, and then he quotes poetry during the course of the speech.

As one can tell, all of us who served with him are great fans of ROBERT C. BYRD and what he meant to this Senate and what he meant to this Nation. West Virginia has lost a great servant who was so proud of his home State. Time and again that was always the bottom line for him: Is this going to be good for the future of my little State of West Virginia? He fought for them and put them on the map in some regards and some projects. He was respected by his colleagues because of the commitment to the people who honored him by allowing him to serve in the Senate.

There may be a debate as to whether there is a heaven. If there is a heaven and they have a table for the greats in the Senate, I would ask Daniel Webster to pull up a chair for Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

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