SENATE APPROPRIATIONS
Robert C. Byrd
West Virginia
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Byrd, 88, is the longest-serving member of the Senate. This will be his third stint as chairman of Appropriations, which he joined in 1959. He also served two terms as majority leader.
Byrd has used tenure on Appropriations to funnel more than $1 billion to West Virginia, building highways and opening federal offices across the state.
The son of a coal miner in rural southern West Virginia, he grew up in poverty and became one of the Senate's most powerful members. He is a master of the Senate's esoteric rules and carries a copy of the Constitution in his left breast pocket. He has been critical of Bush and an opponent of the Iraq war.
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