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Byrd, 90, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the longest-serving senator in history, was staying overnight at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for observation, said spokesman Jesse Jacobs. It was not immediately clear whether he had suffered broken bones.
Jacobs said Byrd fell at his Virginia home Monday night. He came to his office Tuesday and was on the Senate floor to vote for an Indian health bill. But after noticing he was wincing in pain, Byrd's staff recommended that he see the Capitol physician, who "smartly for a 90-year-old man advised him to go to Walter Reed for observation."
Byrd, who as Senate president pro tempore is third in line to the presidency, walks haltingly with two canes. Due to his frail condition, some Senate Democrats reportedly explored ways to replace him as Appropriations chairman, but he continues to hold the post.
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On the Net:
Sen. Robert Byrd: http://www.byrd.senate.gov/
[Associated
Press]
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