Thomas Ferraro

Dubbed "the world's most exclusive club and deliberative body," the U.S. Senate is packed with white-haired lawmakers, many of whom have served in the chamber for decades.

While Americans generally retire in their mid-60s or so, about half of the 100 senators are 65 years or older.

And one of them, Democrat Robert Byrd, 91, of West Virginia, set the record on Wednesday as the longest serving member of the U.S. Congress ever -- 20,774 days.

Byrd made it clear he has no thoughts of leaving anytime soon. "I look forward to serving you for the next 56 years and 320 days," he said in a statement to mark his historic day.

"I am so deeply grateful to the people of the great state of West Virginia for demonstrating such confidence," added Byrd, who has been elected to an unprecedented nine full six-year Senate terms.

"My only regret is that my beloved wife, companion and confidant, my dear Erma, is not here with me," Byrd said. "I know that she is looking down from the heavens smiling at me and saying, 'Congratulations my dear Robert -- but don't let it go to your head.'"

Byrd broke the record for congressional longevity previously held by the late Carl Hayden, who like Byrd served in the House of Representatives before going to the Senate.

Democratic and Republican colleagues saluted Byrd for his many achievements, which include holding a number of leadership posts over the last half century as a bona fide Senate giant as well as a living legend.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid noted records are routinely broken, but predicted many of Byrd's will stand the test of time, such as having cast more than 18,500 Senate votes. "There will never be another senator like Senator Byrd," he said.

To be sure, Byrd doesn't hold all the records. At least not yet. Among the records yet to match is the mark as the oldest senator ever. That was set in 2002 when Senator Strom Thurmond, a month before retirement, turned 100.

On Friday, Byrd turns 92.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Byrd arriving at Capitol in February)

Don't expect the U.S. Congress -- packed with old men and women who have been in office for decades -- to embrace a proposal to term limit themselves.

Republican senators Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sam Brownback offered such a measure on Tuesday, saying it would be good to get fresh blood on Capitol Hill.

"Americans know real change in Washington will never happen until we end the era of permanent politicians," DeMint said.

"Over the last 20 years, Washington politicians have been re-elected about 90 percent of the time because the system is heavily tilted in favor of incumbents."

Coburn says the best way to ensure a  government of the people "is to replace the career politicians in Washington with citizen legislators who care more about the next generation than their next election."

The four Republican senators proposed a constitutional amendment that would limit members of the House of Representatives to three, two-year terms -- and members of the Senate to two, six-year terms. Easier said than done.

Previous efforts, dating back to the birth of the nation, have come up short and this one will likely fail as well.

Those in power like to remain in power, and they don't like to tinker with the U.S. Constitution. They also argue that Americans should be free to vote for whom they want.

Calls for congressional term limits have a history.

Republicans won control of the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years in 1994, promising congressional term limits. But once in power they failed to deliver.

A subsequent Supreme Court ruling struck down congressional term limits as unconstitutional. So backers of the proposed amendment want to change the Constitution.

To become law, the proposed amendment would have to clear a high bar in what has become an increasingly divided Congress. A two-thirds majority vote would be needed by both the House and Senate, and then the measure would have to be approved by three-fourths of the 50 states.

Interestingly enough, DeMint and Coburn, who often complain about the old ways of Congress, are in their first terms.

Hutchison and Brownback are in their fourth and third terms, respectively, and they don't plan to run for re-election. They would like to remain on the public payroll, however. They intend to run for governor of their states.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jason Reed (DeMint speaks alongside other lawmakers in February)

Senator Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat-turned-independent, is at it again -- comforting Republicans and irritating Democrats.

This time Lieberman is doing it by saying, "I probably will support some Republican candidates" in next year's congressional election --  even though he's still a member of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

"I'm going to call them as I see them," he said in an interview with ABC News that the network posted on its web site on Friday.

Lieberman riled Democrats last year by campaigning for Republican presidential nominee John McCain. And he upset many of them again this week by saying he would help Republicans block their proposal to create a government-backed insurance program to compete with private insurers.

When it comes to elections, Lieberman said, he backs people on both sides of the political aisle who are more interested in getting things done rather than playing politics.

"There's a hard core of partisan, passionate, hardcore Republicans," he told ABC. "There's a hard core of partisan Democrats on the other side."

"And inbetween is the larger group, which is people who really want to see the right thing done, or want something good done for this country and them -- and that means, sometimes, the better choice is somebody who's not a Democrat," Lieberman said.

Lieberman said in the hotly contested race in his home state of Connecticut, he backs incumbent Senate Democrat Chris Dodd.

Lieberman was the Democrats' 2000 U.S. vice presidential nominee and won three terms to the Senate as a Democrat. But he narrowly won a fourth Senate term in 2006 as an independent after he lost the Democratic nomination to an anti-Iraq war challenger.

A number of Senate Democrats wanted to strip Lieberman of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee for backing McCain's White House bid. But with the support of Democratic President Barack Obama, Lieberman managed to keep it.

There was fear if he lost the chairmanship, he would become a Republican.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Lieberman embraces Obama after president's address to Congress Feb. 24)

If Ted Kennedy were alive, he would have been proud.

He also would have likely been counting votes.

And even raising his thunderous voice.

On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Kennedy's temporary replacement in the U.S. Senate echoed the fallen lawmaker's call for Democrats and Republicans to work together and finally overhaul the U.S. healthcare system.

In his first Senate speech since being sworn in last month, Paul Kirk said: "Of all the issues on which he led the Senate and our nation, the one Ted Kennedy called the cause of his life was the battle for affordable, quality health care."

"After decades of falling short of the mark ... (it) is at long last within reach," said Kirk, who was appointed by the Massachusetts governor to fill Kennedy's seat until a successor can be elected in a special election in January. Kennedy died of brain cancer in August.

During nearly a half century in the Senate, Kennedy was known as the "Liberal Lion" who roared in pushing legislation to help the needy.

Kirk, a former chairman of the Democratic party, did not roar. Instead, he spoke softly, almost in a monotone. But like Kennedy, he made his case.

"At this moment -- when America's families are imperiled by economic hardship and uncertainty, it provides them no comfort to see the United States Senate so politically polarized over an issue that should be bringing us together on their behalf," Kirk said. "These crises should not be dividing this chamber, they should be uniting us."

Kirk was quickly seated to replace Kennedy so Democrats, if they stick together, would retain the 60 votes needed in the 100-member Senate to clear Republican procedural hurdles.

But Kirk said, "This debate should not be about one party reaching 60 votes; it should be about 100 Senators reaching out to each other to reform a health care system so that it better reflects the true values and character of our nation."

Despite the Kennedyesque call for bipartisanship, there's no sign of it in sweeping Democratic healthcare legislation that includes a government-run public option to compete with private insurers.
If no Republican backs it, Senate Democrats will all have to help clear the way for it to become law.
At this point, Democrats figure they are a few votes short of 60, but are hopeful of hitting it once the vote is taken.

Kennedy's name is certain to again be invoked before the roll call begins, likely next month.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Senator Kennedy at National Press Club in 2007), Reuters/Molly Riley (Senator Paul Kirk listens to testimony at hearing in September)

If cars can be fuel-efficient, why can't education be time-efficient?

That's the premise that Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander is promoting.

Alexander served as U.S. education secretary in the administration of the first President George Bush and also as president of the University of Tennessee.

Speaking at the Reuters Washington Summit, Alexander suggested that more colleges take a look at allowing at least some students to obtain an undergraduate degree in three years rather than the normal four. "It's one way to attract students," he said.

How does he expect colleges to respond? "Skeptically," Alexander said. "Colleges don't change easily."

He said that the idea has been tried and worked on a limited basis -- and that the marketplace will likely determine how widespread a three-year degree becomes.

The United States has the best universities in the world, and they have been key to developing competitive advantages that help Americans produce 25 percent of all the world's wealth, he said.

But Alexander said tuition has soared, leaving students with unprecedented debt.

Writing in the Oct. 17 issue of Newsweek magazine, Alexander noted that Hartwick College, a small liberal arts school in upstate New York, offers three-year degrees to "well prepared-students" -- providing them the opportunity to save $43,000, the amount of one-year's tuition and fees.

He said a number of other "innovative colleges" are making the offer, too.

"The three-year degree could become the higher-education equivalent of the fuel-efficient car," wrote Alexander. "And that's both an opportunity and a warning for the best higher-education system in the world."

For more Reuters Washington Summit news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Senator Lamar Alexander at Reuters Washington Summit)

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Original Post Text:
If cars can be fuel-efficient, why can't education be time-efficient?

That's the premise that Republican U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander is promoting.

Alexander served as U.S. education secretary in the administration of the first President George Bush and also as president of the University of Tennessee.

Speaking at the Reuters Washington Summit, Alexander suggested that more colleges take a look at allowing at least some students to obtain an undergraduate degree in three years rather than the normal four. "It's one way to attract students," he said.

How does he expect colleges to respond? "Skeptically," Alexander said. "Colleges don't change easily."

He said that the idea has been tried and worked on a limited basis -- and that the marketplace will likely determine how widespread a three-year degree becomes.

The United States has the best universities in the world, and they have been key to developing competitive advantages that help Americans produce 25 percent of all the world's wealth, he said.

But Alexander said tuition has soared, leaving students with unprecedented debt.

Writing in the Oct. 17 issue of Newsweek magazine, Alexander noted that Hartwick College, a small liberal arts school in upstate New York, offers three-year degrees to "well prepared-students" -- providing them the opportunity to save $43,000, the amount of one-year's tuition and fees.

He said a number of other "innovative colleges" are making the offer, too.

"The three-year degree could become the higher-education equivalent of the fuel-efficient car," wrote Alexander. "And that's both an opportunity and a warning for the best higher-education system in the world."

For more Reuters Washington Summit news, click here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Senator Lamar Alexander at Reuters Washington Summit)

Republican Mike Castle ended months of speculation on Tuesday by saying he will run to fill U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's unexpired Senate term from Delaware.

The announcement raised again the questions: Will Biden's son, Beau, run for it, too? And if so, when will Beau announce?

Beau Biden recently returned from a nearly year-long deployment in Iraq as a member of the Delaware National Guard. He is back at his job as Delaware's elected attorney general.

The younger Biden has been widely expected to seek the Senate seat ever since his dad vacated it to become vice president. The seat is now held by Ted Kaufman, a former Joe Biden staffer, who has said he will not run to finish the term that expires in 2014.

A campaign between Beau Biden and Castle -- a nine-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a former Delaware governor -- would likely set up one of the most hotly contested and expensive Senate races in the nation.

Stakes are high.

The contest will help determine if Democrats retain their 60-vote majority in the 100-member Senate -- one big enough to clear Republican procedural hurdles.

Thirty-eight Senate seats are up for re-election next year, 19 now held by Republicans, the other 19 by Democrats.

In announcing his intention to run, Castle said: "It has never been more important for Delaware to have the strongest and most experienced leadership to represent us in Washington."

The non-partisan Cook Political Report lists the Senate race as a "tossup."

But the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report, following Castle's announcement, moved its classification of the contest from "safe for Democrats" to "lean takeover" by Republicans.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Biden at hearing when he was chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2007)

Things are really getting serious in the U.S. Congress. Telltale sign: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday shortened the Columbus Day recess.

With plenty of work to do, particularly on healthcare, and polls showing only one in four Americans approve of Congress, Reid cut the Senate recess to two days from the previously scheduled five.

"With all the things going on here, it just would not be right for us to take that week off," Reid announced on the Senate floor. "I apologize to everyone."

Reid said he expected the full Senate to be able to begin debate on healthcare during that week -- the Senate will now be off on Columbus Day, Oct. 12, and the following Friday, but open for business Tuesday through Thursday.

Reid took the action after consultations with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and as a battle over stalled legislation to revamp the U.S. healthcare system heated up.

If the Senate had taken the full week off, Republicans, no doubt, would have sought to make headlines by accusing Democrats, who control the chamber, of shirking their duties.

And with much of the Senate up for re-election next year, including Reid, Democrats are in no mood to take such hits.

On the other side of the Capitol, perhaps the more political savvy Democratic-led House of Representatives had long planned to work Columbus Day week -- taking off just Monday.

Depending on how things go, however, Democratic leaders could decide to give House members Friday off as well -- as they often do.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Senate side of Capitol)

A top Democratic strategist has a tip for political gamblers: Don't bet against Harry Reid.

Polls show the embattled Senate majority leader in jeopardy of being rejected by voters in his home state of Nevada for a fifth, six-year term. But Robert Menendez, the Senate Democratic campaign chief, said he expects Reid to pull through next year.

"I'm convinced that Harry Reid will win," Menendez told reporters on Tuesday at the headquarters for the Senate Democratic campaign committee. "I would not bet against Harry Reid."

He praised Reid for protecting Nevada against becoming the site for a proposed nuclear waste dump and helping stimulate its economy with new jobs.

Yet polls show the often outspoken and combative Reid less than loved by many constituents.

In fact, a Rasmussen survey released in mid-September found Reid trailing two potential Republican challengers by 10 percentage points and 7 percentage points, respectively.

Reid's numbers have conjured up memories of Democrat Tom Daschle, who in 2004 became the first Senate leader in a half century to be voted out of office.

Republicans made Daschle their top congressional target that year, branding the South Dakotan "chief obstructionist" to then-President George W. Bush's conservative agenda.

"Harry Reid is not Tom Daschle, and this (Nevada) is not South Dakota," said Menendez, noting that registered Democrats now outnumber registered Republicans in Nevada. South Dakota is a traditionally Republican state.

Overall, 38 Senate seats are up for election next year -- 19 now held by Republicans, 19 by Democrats. The November 2010 election is 14 months away, which Menendez called "an eternity in politics."

Yet he acknowledged Senate Democrats face a challenging environment in trying to retain their 60-vote majority in the 100-member chamber, their biggest in decades.

Menendez said Republicans seem to be betting against the U.S. economy rebounding and Democrats enacting healthcare reform. The campaign chief said he expects the Republican strategy to backfire.

But Jennifer Duffy, who tracks Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said she expects Senate Democrats to lose their 60-vote majority though retain control of the chamber.

According to Duffy, betting against Reid might be a pretty good bet. She lists his race as a "tossup."

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Photo Credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Reid walks out of West Wing after meeting with President Obama)