C-SPAN Senate cameras “will be dark on Thursday during a six-hour memorial for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), multiple Senate sources said Wednesday, despite the fact that it will be the first time a senator will lie in repose since 1959,” The Hill reports.
Senate Rules Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has been sent a formal request by the Senate Radio-TV Correspondents Association to waive a standing Senate rule that bans photos and video footage when the Senate is not in session. The Senate will be adjourned from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. when the 92-year-old senator’s body will be in the chamber.
While Schumer hasn’t decided as of late afternoon, the request will almost certainly be unsuccessful. That’s because it would still require a unanimous resolution on the Senate floor, and any senator could have objected and defeated it. Byrd, who died early Monday morning, was highly respected on both sides of the aisle and was once a passionate opponent of C-SPAN cameras in the Senate chamber, making unanimous permission from all 99 current senators nearly impossible.
Byrd’s family had also requested that the cameras not be allowed, said the late senator’s office. Print reporters and even Senate staffers will also be barred from the beginning of the ceremony, when the senator’s family and friends will receive well-wishes from current members of Congress. The second-floor galleries will eventually be opened to the public, print press and Senate staff around 10:15 or 10:30 a.m.
(credit image – daylife/getty)
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