Senate legend Robert Byrd said he would voluntarily give up the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee with the new Congress. Byrd will voluntarily give up chairmanship

Senate legend Robert Byrd, approaching 91 this month and hailing a “new day in Washington,” said he would voluntarily give up the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee with the new Congress.

“To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven,” said Byrd, who had fended off earlier challenges this past spring and summer. “Those Biblical words from Ecclesiastes 3:1 express my feelings about this particular time in my life.


“I have been privileged to be a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee for 50 years and to have chaired the committee for ten years, during a time of enormous change in our great country, both culturally and politically,” Byrd continued in a statement released by his office. “I have learned that nothing is quite so permanent as change. It is simply a part of living and should not be feared.”

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who is 84, will take over for Byrd on the powerful panel, which oversees hundreds of billions of dollars annually in federal spending. Byrd will officially hand off the gavel on Jan. 6, 2009.

Byrd’s announcement today provides a graceful ending for him and Democrats to what had become an increasingly tense situation over his ability to manage the panel given his age and failing health. After protecting Byrd earlier this year from calls for his ouster, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had been prepared to force the issue, when the party met to organize for the 111th Congress this month, but had always hoped that the chairman would first act voluntarily without being pushed.

This is what happened, Byrd’s staff told Politico, and it is a rare act, in fact, since elderly chairmen are often famously resistant to giving up power in such situations. The late Rep. Jamie Lee Whitten (D-Miss.) fought efforts to replace him as House Appropriations Committee chairman in the early 1990s, and 82-year-old Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) is campaigning to keep his job as the chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce panel.

“My Democratic colleagues and I accept his decision with tremendous gratitude for his outstanding tenure as chairman,” Reid said in a Friday afternoon statement. “When the 111th Senate commences work in January, Senator Daniel Inouye will be the new Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. There is no question that Sen. Byrd’s decision was eased by the knowledge that the gavel will continue to be in such capable hands.”

Inouye told Reid recently that he wanted to take over the committee, after giving mixed signals last year when the issue of ousting Byrd was first raised. Inouye’s willingness to take up the gavel is seen as critical in Reid’s decision in pushing Byrd to step down.

In a brief statement Friday night, Inouye said he was “humbled” by Byrd’s recommendation that he succeed him as chairman and only hoped “that I am sufficiently prepared to succeed my mentor who has assisted and guided me over the past 30 years.”

In fact since he has been on the panel since 1971, few doubt Inouye needs more schooling. And much as he was careful to defer to the full Democratic caucus which must officially decide on the chairmanships, Byrd and Reid’s blessing should seal the matter.

But Inouye has attracted some private criticism from his Democratic colleagues in recent weeks over his public supported for now-convicted Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska.). Inouye testified at Stevens’ public corruption trial, and he released a statement just two days before Election Day saying he would seek to block Stevens’ expulsion from the Senate if a resolution was brought to the floor. Inouye and Stevens have served together in the Senate for decades, and the two World War II veterans call each “brother,” their relationship is that close.

Inouye’s ascension to the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee will set off a chain-reaction among other Senate panels. Inouye currently chairs the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee but will have to give up that post. Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) is next in line on Commerce and could take over as chairman.

If Rockefeller takes the Commerce gavel, that means he has to give up his chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is next in line on that committee, and Democratic sources said she is interested in becoming chairwoman. Rockefeller’s office would not comment on his future plans.

Feinstein, for her part, chairs the Rules and Administration Committee, and would have to give it up. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) could end up as chairman of that panel, since the other senators who are more senior to him there already wield gavels on other committees.

Byrd will remain a member of the Appropriations Committee and expressed hope that he will continue to chair the Homeland Security subcommittee.

In making his announcement, Byrd had kind words for Barack Obama.

“To be serving in the Senate at such a momentous time in our history fills me with enormous pride,” Byrd said. “I endorsed President-elect Obama because I believed that we had taken the wrong course both at home and abroad. I am delighted with his victory. I was an early critic of the war in Iraq, as was the president-elect, who decried this war even before he was running for a United States Senate seat. I wish our new president every success with his commitment to unite us as one people."

In addition, Byrd will remain president pro tempore of the Senate by virtue of his seniority as the longest serving Democrat. That will mean he still remains third in line for the presidency, behind the vice president and speaker of the House.

Byrd was famous for his ability to steer billions of dollars in federal spending back to West Virginia, and he has never apologized for his willingness to do so, calling that a critical job for senators and members. But with a new Congress and a new administration, Byrd says he is ready to move on.

“A new day has dawned in Washington, and that is a good thing. For my part, I believe that it is time for a new day at the top of the Senate Appropriations Committee,” Byrd said.

Tributes and praise for Byrd, a towering figure among his colleagues, began to pour in as soon as he announced his decision.

“Robert C. Byrd is my friend. He is an absolute giant of the Senate – he is a living legend whose 50 years of dedicated and passionate service on the Appropriations Committee has been invaluable to our country and our state,” Rockefeller said in a statement.



“Senator Byrd taught me, from my very first day in the Senate, that no one person is bigger or more important that the Senate as a whole,” added Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Murray had taken over as floor manager for appropriations bills during the last two years as Byrd’s health deteriorated. “Senator Byrd has always put the Constitution and the Senate ahead of himself. Today is just one more example of that legendary affection for the Senate.

Byrd is famed for his eloquence on the floor, as well as fierce defense of the traditions and prerogatives of the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body.” This is not some embattled lawmaker who needs every last inch of turf. Byrd is a genuine historic figure who led Democrats for years, wrote Senate histories himself and drew a worldwide Internet audience of millions with his speeches on the Iraq war.

He has already walked the Senate floor longer than any senator in U.S. history and will still command an audience without the chairmanship. And in ceding the gavel to Inouye, there is a certain justice since the Hawaii Democrat has been loyal to him for years in the Democratic leadership and on the committee.

And in a sense, it is a very Byrd-like move to step aside in favor of Inouye. After all, Inouye served with Byrd in the leadership for years, only to lose out when he tried to move up after Byrd stepped down as majority leader in 1988 to take the Appropriations Committee post. In doing so, Byrd stepped in front of Inouye, who would have otherwise succeeded then-Appropriations Chairman John Stennis (D-Miss.), and at 84, he has waited a long time for some time at the helm.