Byrd stepping down from key Senate post

Made decision unpressured, his aides say

Robert Byrd served as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee for 10 years. (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON - Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, the senior member of the Senate, agreed yesterday to relinquish his chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee, as Democrats and President-elect Barack Obama prepare to grapple with the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Byrd, who will turn 91 this month, is a revered figure in the Senate but has had a series of health problems and hospitalizations in recent months. His Democratic colleagues increasingly feared that he was no longer up to the task of running the Senate's most powerful committee on a daily basis.

Persuading him to step aside, however, presented a delicate task and any effort to remove him forcibly, which would have required a vote by the Democratic caucus, could well have failed.

In the end, though, Byrd spared the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, from having to raise the issue. Without so much as requesting a meeting, Byrd, who served as majority leader himself for a dozen years, gave Reid 15-minutes' notice before issuing a statement yesterday relinquishing his post.

Byrd said that the time had come for new leadership, and that he would turn over the reins of the Appropriations Committee to Senator Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, who is next in line and who turned 84 in September. Byrd will remain a member of the committee and will continue to serve as the Senate's president pro tempore.

"I have been privileged to be a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee for 50 years and to have chaired the committee for 10 years, during a time of enormous change in our great country, both culturally and politically," Byrd said in his statement, in which he also praised the election of Obama.

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

Aides said that Byrd was well aware of the chatter among his colleagues and that he had made the decision of his own accord. Byrd, who is a fierce defender of Senate history and tradition, was also said to be uninterested in the manufactured title of chairman emeritus, which some Democrats had proposed as an incentive for him to step aside.

Reid issued a statement praising the West Virginia senator, who is well known for directing untold billions in federal spending to his home state over the decades.

"Last year, Senator Byrd cast his 18,000th Senate vote, by far a record in the history of our institution," Reid said.

"Every day of his Senate career has been dedicated to strengthening the Republic that he loves with all his heart."

Byrd gets around the Capitol in a wheelchair, but he continues to be a formidable force and one of the most eloquent voices in the chamber, often delivering impassioned speeches that harken back to an earlier era when rhetorical gifts were a matter of deep pride, and when senators spent far more time listening to one another in person rather than monitoring floor proceedings by watching C-Span.

His ailing health has not kept him from the Senate floor, and when Senator Edward M. Kennedy was diagnosed with a brain tumor in May, Byrd wept openly as he lauded his longtime friend. "Ted, Ted, my friend. I love you. And I miss you," Byrd said, wiping away tears.

He is also one of the few senators who still enjoy engaging in colloquies with other lawmakers and who will shout out encouraging words when he agrees with someone else's remarks.