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Leadership. Character. Commitment. |
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vNews organizations seeking more information should call Senator Byrd's Communications Office at 202-224-3904. To hear portions of many of Senator Byrd's speeches, visit the Radio page. Also, high-resolution photographs are available from many events. |
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Remarks by Senator Byrd |
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April 01, 2004 |
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"Achieving a Milestone: 17,000 Senate Votes" |
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Senator Byrd delivered the following remarks after casting his record 17,000th roll call vote in the U.S. Senate. Seventeen thousand votes ago, I achieved a dream. I stood on the Floor of the United States Senate and prepared to cast my first vote as a Senator from the mountain state, West
Virginia. Seventeen thousand votes later, I still feel much the same. It is a great privilege to serve in the United States Senate. This is a glorious country. Its people are wise, brave, hardworking, and fair
minded. Once, it was possible for a poor young man, with no important connections, no PR firm behind him, no fund-raising apparatus racing at full tilt, to simply go to the people of his state, and, on the strength of his energy and
convictions, be elected to the greatest deliberative body in the world. That time is light years away from today's reality. Too often now in America it is the size of the pocketbook that elects public officials. I regret
that change. It keeps people out of public service instead of welcoming them in. This Senate is the forum which exists to welcome and protect the airing of all points of view. Both sides of the aisle need to work together
to insure that the Senate will stay true to its Constitutional purpose. We swear an oath before God to do so. I have had a "good run" in this wonderful institution. I "still glory in the name
of Senator." My patient and devoted wife, Erma, with whom I will celebrate a 67-year long partnership on May 29, deserves much of the credit for that "good run." I also thank my talented staff for their tireless work
and dedication. "No man is an island," and I have had the good fortune to have many steadfast friends and supporters over the years. To the people of West Virginia, I owe my everlasting gratitude. They
have expressed their faith in me time and time again. I am proud to be their Senator, and I hope to continue to serve them for many years, yet to come. Pericles, the brilliant Athenian statesman, gave mankind one of the
greatest funeral orations ever made. This address was delivered in 431 BC, as a memorial of the first Athenian soldiers who fell in the Peloponnesian War. In it, Pericles said, "It is greatness of soul alone that never
grows old, nor is it wealth that delights in the latter stage of life, as some give out, so much as honor." I thank my colleagues for the honor they show me today. ### |
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