Byrd, Senate's longest-serving member, turns 91

[November 21, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The bang-bang-bang emanating from the Capitol's historic Senate Appropriations Committee parlor Thursday was the sound of Robert C. Byrd turning 91.

Someone at his birthday party there had handed the West Virginia Democrat a gavel, and he wielded it with expertise as those packing the ornate room nibbled birthday cake.

For those in the know, his gaveling carried poignant meaning. Byrd, history's longest-serving member, had announced earlier this month that he would give up his chairmanship of the panel in the new Congress that convenes in January.

He stepped aside only when he was good and ready.

For nearly a year, lobbyists and even his fellow senators had whispered to reporters and others that the increasingly frail Byrd could no longer serve in that capacity. There was much maneuvering to succeed him.

Byrd delighted in proving the rumormongers wrong by showing up for votes on the very days that the whispering grew loudest. When it was leaked this fall that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was ready to replace Byrd at the helm of the panel, Byrd issued a public statement ripping Reid's presumption.

Then Byrd stepped aside this month, on his own. His replacement: Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii -- who is 84.

Inside the party room Thursday, Byrd chaired the festivities in a snappy suede, fringed jacket. Spokesman Jesse Jacobs said the senator had admired it last month while in Nashville, where the Grand Ole Opry was giving him an award as a Grand Master Fiddler. Byrd's staff bought it and made it the senator's birthday gift, Jacobs said.

Byrd banged the gavel every time someone gave him a present, Jacobs said. Judging by the racket, which could be heard halfway across the first floor of the Senate side of the Capitol, Byrd cleaned up.

[Associated Press; By LAURIE KELLMAN]

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