Senate the Senate Met at 9:30 A.M
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 111 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 155 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009 No. 171 Senate The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was from the State of New Mexico, to perform record will never be broken. Of course, called to order by the Honorable TOM the duties of the Chair. they were wrong. UDALL, a Senator from the State of ROBERT C. BYRD, Throughout history, forecasters have New Mexico. President pro tempore. sentenced themselves to ridicule for Mr. UDALL of New Mexico thereupon prematurely assuming a skyscraper’s PRAYER assumed the chair as Acting President height would never be topped, for The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- pro tempore. promising an invention’s ingenuity fered the following prayer: f would never be outdone, or for con- tending an athletic feat would never be Let us pray. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY surpassed. Eternal God, the Lord of life, we love LEADER You but not enough. We look to You Even so, I am willing to risk pre- but depend too often on our own The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- dicting that many of Senator ROBERT strength. We listen for You but make a pore. The majority leader is recog- BYRD’s records will never be matched. lot of noise ourselves at the same time. nized. Since coming to the Senate in 1959, We try to understand, as long as it f Senator BYRD has cast more than 18,500 votes. No one else, past or present, doesn’t change us more than we desire. SCHEDULE Today, draw our Senators closer to even comes close. He is the only Sen- You. Empower our lawmakers to be- Mr. REID. Mr. President, following ator who has ever been elected to nine come what You desire them to be. Give leader remarks, the Senate will be in a full terms in this body. He has presided them Your continual guidance so that period of morning business. Senator over both the shortest session in Sen- they will console the downhearted and ROCKEFELLER will then be recognized ate history—not even one second provide deliverance to those held cap- for as much time as he may consume. long—and presided for the longest con- tive by evil. Help our lawmakers to Following his remarks, there will be an tinuous period—more than 21 hours. No hear Your invitation to move to a additional 2 hours of morning business. one has ever served on a Senate Com- higher level of ethical fitness. The majority will control the first mittee longer than Senator BYRD. Just We pray in Your strong Name. Amen. hour and the Republicans will control days after being sworn in, he joined the the next hour. Appropriation Committee he would f Following morning business, the Sen- later chair. He has held the most lead- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ate will resume postcloture debate on ership positions in Senate history, and the nomination of David Hamilton to continues to serve as our President Pro The Honorable TOM UDALL led the be U.S. circuit judge for the Seventh Tempore. Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: Circuit. And just moments ago, when this I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the The postcloture debate time expires body was gaveled into session, Senator United States of America, and to the Repub- about 11 p.m. tonight. It is my hope lic for which it stands, one nation under God, BYRD realized one more unparalleled indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. that time will not be necessary because accomplishment: he has just become it is basically wasted Senate time. the longest-serving Member of Con- f Yesterday, we were able to reach an gress in U.S. history. APPOINTMENT OF ACTING agreement to consider S. 1963, the Every day since January 3, 1953—that PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus is 56 years, 10 months and 16 days— Health Services Act of 2009 upon dis- West Virginians have been proud to be The PRESIDING OFFICER. The position of the Hamilton nomination. presented in Washington, by ROBERT clerk will please read a communication Senators should expect votes in rela- BYRD. to the Senate from the President pro tion to the Coburn amendment and He began his service in the House the tempore (Mr. BYRD). passage of the bill. same day Alaska became our 49th The legislative clerk read the fol- State, and was months into his Senate lowing letter: f service when Hawaii became our 50th. U.S. SENATE, CONGRATULATING SENATOR Senator BYRD has served in this Na- PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, ROBERT BYRD tion’s Congress for more than a quarter Washington, DC, November 18, 2009. To the Senate: Mr. REID. Mr. President, when base- of the time it has existed. And he has Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, ball legend Lou Gehrig retired after served in Congress longer than more of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby playing 2,130 consecutive games, every than a quarter of today’s sitting Sen- appoint the Honorable TOM UDALL, a Senator expert drew the same conclusion: this ators—and the President of the United ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S11441 . VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:41 Jan 30, 2010 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD09\S18NO9.REC S18NO9 mmaher on DSK69SOYB1PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE S11442 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 18, 2009 States—have been alive. That doesn’t ator BYRD started delivering a series of and triumphs. But he has run the race even count one Senator who was born lectures that ultimately became the as if to win. He is still at it and we are just days after his first election to rep- book that all of us are familiar with grateful for his astonishing record of resent West Virginia’s Sixth Congres- and which all of us admire. And the service to the people of West Virginia, sional District, and a second who was story of how those lectures came about to the United States Senate, and to the born just weeks after that. says a lot about the man who has now Nation he loves. A dozen men have called the Oval Of- served in Congress longer than any In achieving this latest milestone, fice his own while Senator BYRD has other man or woman in the history of Senator BYRD surpasses a former col- called the Capitol building his office. our country. league of his—Carl Hayden, another He twice won every single one of The story goes that it was a quiet legendary figure who served the people West Virginia’s 55 counties. And Friday morning here in the Senate and of Arizona in the Senate for 42 years. throughout one of the longest political Senator BYRD, as the majority leader, Carl Hayden was known to many as the careers in history, no one ever has de- went down to the floor without plan- ‘‘Silent Senator.’’ That probably isn’t a feated ROBERT BYRD in a single elec- ning to say much of anything at all, phrase many would use to describe tion. except that there wouldn’t be any Senator BYRD. But what they both But though each one of those cam- votes that day. But then he looked up share is an undying love of this great paigns—after each of the 12 times he to the gallery, and he saw one of his country of ours and of the U.S. Con- has taken an oath to represent the peo- granddaughters up there with some of gress. So I would like to join my col- ple of West Virginia—on every single her classmates, and he thought it leagues, my fellow Americans, the peo- one of the 20,774 days he has served—he might be a good idea if they had some- ple of West Virginia, and the Byrd fam- has never taken the privilege for grant- thing to talk about when they got back ily in celebrating this historic occa- ed. to school. sion. Senator BYRD, congratulations. As a former leader of both the major- So, quite extemporaneously and f ity and the minority caucuses in the quite by happenstance, he delivered a GUANTANAMO Senate, he knows better than most speech to an empty Chamber on the Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, this that legislation is the art of com- history of the Senate. A week went by, morning, the Attorney General will ap- promise. It is telling that the man who and the same thing happened again. pear before the Senate Judiciary Com- has served here longer than any other Senator BYRD came to the floor to mittee for an oversight hearing. American has come to the conclusion make some brief statement about the Among other matters, he will be asked that we must work together as part- floor business. He looked up to the gal- questions about the Administration’s ners, not partisans, for the good of our lery, and he saw another one of his recent decision to voluntarily bring country—and, of course, the State of granddaughters. Of course he couldn’t terrorist detainees from Guantanamo West Virginia. give a history lesson to one and not to Bay, Cuba, into the United States, in- He has seen partisanship and biparti- another. So he gave another history cluding for purposes of civilian trial.