Uneasy About Byrd Uncertainty

Sen. Robert Byrd, 90, has been ill much of the past year, leaving Democrats unsure what role he will play. (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post)
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"It remains true that Senator Byrd is continuing his steady recovery through physical therapy as a result of his recent fall. He remains focused on the job at hand. Any suggestions that he is not fulfilling his duties as a United States Senator are baseless and untrue," the senator's office said in a statement issued last week.

Byrd fell Feb. 26 and was admitted to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he spent three days being treated for his injuries and for a urinary tract infection. He was later treated at another hospital after a reaction to an antibiotic he was taking for the infection.

Byrd walked with the aid of canes for much of last year, but since the fall has sometimes used a wheelchair. After reports last summer questioned his health, he said his sometimes flailing movements were the result of a benign tremor common to many elderly people.

"I will continue to do this work until this old body just gives out and drops. Don't expect that to be anytime soon," he declared in a floor speech last June.

Byrd has yielded some public duties as president pro tempore of the Senate -- which makes him third in the line of succession for the presidency. He does not gavel the chamber into session, and when House and Senate Democrats hold "enrollment ceremonies" to send important legislation to the White House, only House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) is on hand to sign the bills publicly.

Privately, Democratic aides said the question has shifted in recent months from whether Byrd will step down as chairman to when he would depart, with some suggesting waiting until the end of the year, as Republicans did in 1998. That was when Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), then 96, yielded the chairmanship of the Armed Services Committee to Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.). Thurmond died in 2003.

Next in line behind Byrd is Inouye, who said last week that he strongly opposes any effort to push Byrd aside. Should Byrd voluntarily step down, Inouye said, he would expect to become committee chairman, based on seniority tradition.

"No one would oppose it," he said.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) is next in line to be president pro tem of the Senate.