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Byrd belongs to three powerful committees: Appropriations, Judiciary and Rules. He presides over the Democratic Conference, which elects committee chairmen; the Democratic Steering Committee, which makes committee assignments; and the Democratic Policy Committee, which advises him on the scheduling of bills. But his chief lever in managing the Senate's business is a 41-year-old tradition that the majority leader be recognized by the chair ahead of any other Senator. This enables Byrd to control the day's events by calling up bills and resolutions for action, moving for recess, and setting the Senate's next time of meeting.
His skill as ringmaster hung in the balance last fall when two liberal Democrats, South Dakota's Abourezk and Ohio's Howard Metzenbaum, filibustered for eight days against ending Government regulation of prices for new natural gas. Using Fritz Mondale as his unwitting dupe, Byrd demanded recognition and, through complicated, nimble maneuvering, crushed the filibuster in spite of the Senate's tradition of unlimited free speech. Without this whipcracking, he says, "I would have been thought of as a weak leader."
When the Senate is conducting business, the majority leader spends much of his time on the floor. Even while in his spacious office, 30 feet from the Senate chamber, he listens to the debate by loudspeaker. Twice a month during the session, he and the other Democratic congressional leaders exchange views on legislation with Carter over breakfast at the White House. On the off-weeks, Byrd and his lieutenants breakfast with O'Neill to decide which measures to push and which to bury. On the common situs picketing bill, they agreed that, because the toughest opposition was in the House, O'Neill should have first crack. The measure died in the House, and Byrd did not have to waste the Senate's time on the bill.
To break major deadlocks, he calls the antagonists to his office and pleads for compromise. On occasion, he names a mediator. If Byrd cannot work out Senators' differences on controversial legislation, he generally does not call it up for action. He tries to make a virtue out of his neutral style of leadership. Says he, in the slightly stilted language that is his trademark: "Leadership in the Senate requires an understanding of divers viewpoints and an accommodation to a multitude of views." For Senators who are spoiling for a show down, he preaches a favorite homily: "It might not be a bad idea to back away to avoid a skirmish today in order to win the war tomorrow. Patience and tenacity have always worked. And one has to keep trying."
The majority leader resents his reputation as a mere technician. Says he: "One can never enact legislation unless he makes it possible procedurally, so the technician is really a substantive actor." Besides, Byrd points out, he has helped to write some important legislation, including measures that require Senate confirmation of the President's director of the Office of Management and Budget and that limit the FBI director to a ten-year term.