Word: byrds
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...With Byrd's coaching. Carter and Congress seem headed toward mutual respect this session, though probably not affection. The man from Plains is not the kind of bourbon-sipping, backslapping politician who gets along easily with the good ole boys in Congress. But he intends to work harder at consulting and compromising with them, and in the face of the November elections, the Democrats seem more willing to make peace with their President. In his State of the Union message this week, Carter will outline his urgent goals for 1978: an energy bill, a tax cut, the passage of Panama...
Because so much of this action will be dominated by the Senate, its dour and aloof majority leader, Robert Carlyle Byrd of West Virginia, 60, will become the most important power broker in Congress. The last session belonged to bluff Speaker Tip O'Neill, who worked closely with the inexperienced President and his aides, patiently teaching them how to get along with the people on Capitol Hill. O'Neill took charge of Administration measures and pushed many of them through the House, including the energy bill, which whipped through with few changes?only...
This year much of what Carter gets from Congress will be largely due to Byrd, a night-school lawyer who is a first-rate legislative technician. His job is to act as the Senate's traffic cop, controlling the flow of legislation and debate. A master of the Senate's rules and precedents, Byrd hustles through an endless round of meetings with committee chairmen, powerful Senate barons and rebellious mavericks, trying to head off trouble. He pleads with recalcitrant Senators for support, does favors to pacify them, like scheduling their pet bills, or tries to put off action on controversial...
...Byrd has an intense devotion and dedication to the Senate, and for nearly 20 years he has worked tirelessly and uncomplainingly in its service. In many ways, he personifies its transformation and that of the entire Congress: its insistence on staying free from the Executive Branch's control, its new sense of self-importance and its anxiety about how it is regarded by the American public. Because Byrd shows little interest in ideology or the formulation of policy, his leadership allows the Senators, who traditionally have been more individualistic than the Representatives, to follow their own convictions and accentuates...
...some degree, what many members of Byrd's Senate and the House describe as independence is not high-minded statesmanship but an old-fashioned desire to take positions that will play well in their districts. With elections coming up in November, a lot of members will be more cautious this session, particularly since there is no national consensus on many key issues. Experts forecast only a moderately productive session, with a number of important matters?among them, national health insurance and reform of the tax and welfare systems?postponed in a rush to adjourn by Oct. 1 so that legislators...