Word: byrds
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...amendments might slip through, weary Senators set up camp in and around the chamber, trying to catch a few minutes' sleep and listening for the bell that signaled roll calls. After several votes that were made harrowingly close by the absence of heavy sleepers, Byrd ordered aides to compile a roster of Senators, listing the nooks and hallways where they were catnapping, so they could be roused in time. Abourezk and Metzenbaum spelled each other occasionally and consented to several brief meal-and-shower breaks for their colleagues during the all-night session...
Through the night, Byrd met constantly with other Senators on the floor and in his office. On Thursday morning he sensed that the moment was ripe for a compromise. "Last night did some good," he said. "Psychologically, it made us all realize we had to find a solution." The one he found was a proposal by Henry ("Scoop") Jackson to raise the price ceiling to $2.03-higher than the Carter plan but lower than what decontrol advocates figured the free-market price would be ($2.75 to $3.25). Byrd won the approval of Abourezk and Metzenbaum for the Jackson compromise...
...framing this new be-kind-to-Congress policy, Carter is relying more and more on the counsel of Byrd. The majority leader at first found Carter aloof and inflexible, disliked his early criticisms of Congress and resented his refusal to follow advice on how to handle the Senate. Though both men are products of the rural South, having made it to the top by dint of single-minded persistence, Carter's remote manner irritated Byrd. But after realizing that the majority leader's predictions of senatorial behavior were unerringly accurate, Carter began listening. He actively sought Byrd...
...Byrd likes to emphasize that he may now be Carter's friend but he is still the Senate's man. "We are under no obligation to rubber stamp anything the President sends up here," he told his fellows last week. Indeed, he has even refused to place on the Senate calendar a number of Carter proposals-including instant voter registration and the creation of a consumer protection agency-that he senses his colleagues do not want. Byrd has cautioned Carter against pressing for early adoption of the Panama Canal treaty, and he even publicly bawled out Vice President...
...Byrd's friends say he does have strong views but prefers not to impose them directly on his colleagues. That leadership style is well suited to the Senate's new hunger for recognition as an efficient deliberative body. Neither a cajoling arm twister like Lyndon Johnson nor a permissive parent like mild-mannered Mike Mansfield, Byrd is distinguished by his ability to gauge correctly what a majority of the Senate wants. Then he manipulates the rules and cashes in enough old favors to ensure that its will is done...