Senate Honors Thurmond, 95, for Casting His 15,000th Vote

Temporarily halting consideration of the federal budget, the Senate honored Armed Services Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) on Wednesday for becoming only the second senator in history to vote 15,000 times.

It was a procedural vote on an appropriations bill that prompted Thurmond to reach the milestone. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), who is about 140 votes ahead of Thurmond, achieved the 15,000-mark in May.

Having arrived in the Senate when some of his colleagues were still in grade school, Thurmond won kudos from political friends and foes alike Wednesday.

“I would like to thank Strom Thurmond, not always for his stands on issues, but for the way he treats people,” said Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), a liberal who rarely sides with the conservative Thurmond.

“They’ll never make another Strom Thurmond,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), who was 11 when Thurmond first arrived in the Senate in 1954.

Records are nothing new for Thurmond, known for his iron-grip handshake and push-up regimen.

At the age of 95, he is already the oldest senator to ever serve. He also holds the distinction for the longest filibuster, an attempt to block a civil rights bill in 1957 that lasted 24 hours, 18 minutes.