Tuesday, June 29, 2010

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Floor Statement Remembering Senator Robert Byrd
Remarks as Delivered on the Senate Floor

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I come to my seat today on the floor of the Senate to take a few minutes to share my thoughts on the late Senator Robert Byrd and his tragic death a few days ago. I come with a perspective different than those who served with him for decades because this is my first term in the Senate. I was elected in 2004.

In our caucus, which then was in the majority, we were asked to take responsibility for presiding, just as the current Presiding Officer is doing today. The day I picked was Friday mornings, not knowing we would not be here on a lot of Friday mornings except for a normal business session. But I did it on every Friday morning. For 2 years I presided over the Senate from about 10 in the morning until about 12:30 in the afternoon.

Friday morning is the day Robert Byrd would come to the floor of the Senate and share and reshare some of his great speeches. I was here to listen to the entire speech on the tribute to mothers on Mother's Day. I heard him, oftentimes, talk so wonderfully about his lovely wife. I heard him talk about the Roman Empire, its rise and its fall. I heard him make speeches on the rules of the Senate, the details that no one in this room could ever come close to.

But, for me, the most important contribution of the Senator from West Virginia was the fact it didn't matter how experienced you were or what your party was, if you had a question on the rules of the Senate, you could go to the seat of Senator Byrd and you could get an answer that you could put in the bank. He loved sharing his knowledge. He loved the institution of the Senate. He never saw it from a partisan standpoint, he always saw it from a traditional and an institutional standpoint.

There will be a lot of great tributes paid to Senator Byrd over the next few days and they will all be well deserved. I certainly share in the sympathy that all extend to his extended family for this tragic loss. But many in this Senate today and many who served in the years since he was first elected have benefited from the wisdom and ``gentleman-ness'' that Robert Byrd represented. He is a tradition in the Senate. He is a tradition in the State of West Virginia. He will be missed, but I will be forever thankful to Robert Byrd for what he took the time to share with me, to help me understand the ways of the Senate. He truly was a Senator's Senator and I extend my sympathy to his family and the people of West Virginia on the tragic loss of this great Senator.