Robert Carlyle Byrd was born on November 20, 1917. He is a West Virginia Democrat serving in the United States Senate. As of 2006, he is the longest-serving current member of the U.S. Congress, having served in the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 1953, until he entered the Senate on January 3, 1959. At 88, Byrd is the oldest member of Congress. Some call Byrd a “walking encyclopedia” (Byrd, 1993) on the history of both the American and Roman senates. Byrd was married to Erma Ora James Byrd for 68 years until her death on March 26, 2006.
As the longest-serving Democrat in the Senate, Byrd was president pro tempore of the Senate from 1989 until the Republicans won control of the Senate in 1995. After the Democrats managed to forge a tie in the Senate in the 2000 elections, Byrd was president pro tem again briefly in 2001, when outgoing Vice President Al Gore's tiebreaking vote temporarily gave the Democrats a majority. He stepped down when George W. Bush took office as president, as Vice President Dick Cheney's tiebreaking vote gave the Republicans a majority. He served as president pro tem again from June 2001 to January 2003, when Senator Jim Jeffords resigned from the Republican Party, giving control to the Democrats. He has served as a member of the Appropriations Committee since his first Senate term, and chaired the committee while serving as president pro tempore. He is currently the ranking Democrat on the committee. Byrd also serves as President pro tempore emeritus of the Senate Democratic caucus.
Byrd is currently serving his eighth six-year term in the Senate, which ends in January 2007. He will become the longest serving Senator in American history on June 10, 2006; passing Strom Thurmond of South Carolina...............
