Exclusive: Byrd would voluntarily give up chairmanship

[babylonsister]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15409.html

Exclusive: Byrd would voluntarily give up chairmanship
By DAVID ROGERS | 11/7/08 2:03 PM EST


Robert Byrd gives up chairmanship.

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



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. I have learned that nothing is quite so permanent as change. It is simply a part of living and should not be feared. “

“To be serving in the Senate at such a momentous time in our history fills me with enormous pride. 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.

"From the Chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee effective January 6, 2009.”

“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,”

[bananas]

1. He's a hero - he deserves a medal for the last 8 years.