HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 502

(By Delegates Moore, Vest and McGraw)




Commending Robert C. Byrd, the senior senator from West Virginia, for his statesmanlike service to the State and to the nation.

Whereas, A segment of "Prime Time Live" which aired on the American Broadcasting Corporation on March 3, 1994, implied that Senator Byrd was involved in activities which were detrimental to the American public regarding the placement of federal installations and facilities; and

Whereas, Projects and activities sponsored by Senator Byrd in West Virginia were described on the broadcast as "pork barrel" which, by definition, has an odious and distasteful connotation and leads one to believe that public moneys have been squandered on unneeded and unwarranted projects to benefit some individual or some group; and
 Whereas, The Congress of the United States has for over two centuries committed millions of dollars in public moneys to projects and facilities throughout this land within the states of prominent senators, such as the military academies in Maryland, New York and Colorado, the shipyards in Pennsylvania and Virginia, the Everglades in Florida and the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming; and
 Whereas, Billions of dollars in public moneys have been spent on military installations in such states as California, Georgia, North Carolina, Kansas, Washington and, particularly, Arizona, the state of a senator who spoke critically of Senator Byrd during the broadcast, yet there have been no military bases permanently placed in West Virginia since the State's inception in 1863 nor has West Virginia ever benefited from the distribution of federal installations as extensively as has the majority of its forty-nine sister states; and
 Whereas, Modern technology no longer requires federal facilities to be located within the immediate confines of the nation's capital and the knowledge and benefits derived from projects and facilities located in West Virginia through the efforts of Senator Byrd will be fully shared with the nation and the world; and
 Whereas, Senator Byrd has compiled a distinguished career in the Congress of the United States based on diligent and unselfish public service which has ultimately led to his selection as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee; and
 Whereas, Senator Byrd has had the wisdom and foresight to recognize, on behalf of the nation, that West Virginia has the location, the labor, the brain power, the will and the desire to multiply America's investment in the State and that West Virginia has more than waited its turn to prove its potential; therefore, be it
 Resolved by the House of Delegates:
That Senator Byrd is commended for his dedicated service to the State of West Virginia and to the United States of America, for his vision in selecting sites for federal projects and facilities in states that value them but previously have been overlooked as potential sites, and for enduring unwarranted character attacks in the media simply for honorably and effectively representing his State and his constituents in the same manner in which other leading senators have done during the more than two hundred year history of this country; and, be it
 Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, the leadership of the United States Senate, the members of the West Virginia congressional delegation and the president of ABC News.