Happy 90th Senator Byrd
by WonkoKevin
As we get set to usher in yet more new members to our governments, it’s worthy to step back and say Happy Birthday to Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia. He turned 90 last Tuesday, and is our oldest and most experienced national politician. Here are the “records” that Senator Byrd has:
U.S. Senate Institutional Records
* longest serving U.S. Senator in history. (Senator Byrd had served 17,327 days in the U.S. Senate on June 12, 2006 - making him the longest serving U.S. Senator in history.)
* only person elected to nine full-terms in the U.S. Senate.
* presided over the shortest session of the U.S. Senate in history. (6/10ths of a second, February 27, 1989.)
* presided over the Senate for the longest continuous period in history. (21 hour, 8 minutes, March 7-8, 1960.)
* has served on a U.S. Senate Committee longer than other U.S. Senator in history. (U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, January 14, 1959-present.)
* only U.S. Senator to preside over more than one Senate impeachment trial. (Judge Alcee Hastings, October 20, 1989; Judge Walter Nixon, November 3, 1989.)
U.S. Senate Voting Records
* has cast more roll call votes than any other U.S. Senator. (Cast vote number 12,134 on April 27, 1990.)
* cast 4,705 consecutive votes - the second highest consecutive vote total in U.S. Senate history.
U.S. Senate Leadership
* has held the most leadership positions in the U.S. Senate (secretary of the majority conference, majority whip, minority leader, majority leader, and president pro tempore of the Senate.)
* one of two U.S. Senators to be elected Senate Majority Leader in non-consecutive terms. (Served as U.S. Senate Majority Leader in 95th and 96th Congresses, 1977-1981, and 100th Congress, 1987-1989.)
West Virginia
* has served in the U.S. Senate longer than any of the other U.S. Senator from West Virginia.
*only West Virginian to have served in both Houses of the West Virginia State Legislature and both Houses of the U.S. Congress.
* first public official in West Virginia to have won all of the state’s 55 counties in a contested election.
* first West Virginian elected without opposition in a general state election.
Personal
* only person to have begun and completed a law degree while serving in the United States Congress.
* first Senator to have completed a comprehensive history of the U.S. Senate based on his own insights, recollections, and the work of scholars.
