Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), the longest serving member in the history of the Senate, turned 91 years old today.
The AP reports:
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.
[...]
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.
