Long-time U.S. senator steps down as panel chairman

In this May 15, 2008 file photo Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., presides over the committee's hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Byrd, the longest-serving senator in history, is stepping down from his cherished post as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

WASHINGTON The longest-serving U.S. senator in history, Robert Byrd, is stepping down from his cherished post as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Byrd, 90, has become increasingly frail in recent years, and the move did not come as a surprise.

The West Virginia Democrat, third in line of succession to the U.S president, is a Senate icon and a legend in his own state, where he's single-handedly responsible for directing home huge sums of federal largess for roads, universities, and economic development projects. It was a perk of his powerful perch as chairman or top minority member of the panel for the past 20 decades.

Before that, he was the Senate's Democratic leader for 12 years.

Byrd said Friday he made the decision voluntarily and had decided it's time for new leadership on the committee, which is among the most important in Congress for its control over federal agencies' budgets.

"A new day has dawned in Washington, and that is a good thing. For my part, I believe that it is time for a new day at the top of the Senate Appropriations Committee," Byrd said in a statement. He said he would remain as chairman of the subcommittee that writes the budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

Byrd will be replaced by Hawaii Democrat Daniel Inouye, 84, who's served in the Senate since 1963, and also has a reputation for shipping federal dollars back to his state.

While the decision was made by Byrd, it came after a monthslong whispering campaign by some of his Senate colleagues and their staff aides in hopes of easing him out. Byrd withstood the pressure earlier this year, but it resumed in recent days.

Byrd did not make reference to the leadership pressure in his statement, though he had criticized Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, over an account in Policito.com that cited anonymous sources as saying Reid was seeking to ease Byrd out of his chairmanship.

"I want to stress that this is a decision I made only after much personal soul-searching, and after being sure of the substantial Democratic pickup of seats in the Senate," Byrd said. "I am now confident that stepping aside as chairman will not adversely impact my home state of West Virginia."