Obama and Biden to speak at Byrd memorial service in W.Va. on Friday

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will deliver remarks at the late Sen. Robert Byrd's memorial service Friday in West Virginia.

Byrd, a Democrat from the Mountain State, was the longest-serving lawmaker in the history of the U.S. Congress. He died early Monday morning at the age of 92.

In a statement Monday, Obama, the nation's first black president, praised Byrd, who was once in the Ku Klux Klan, for having the courage to change.

Biden, who served in the Senate with Byrd for more than three decades, called Byrd a legend of the upper chamber and a great friend and mentor.

It was announced Wednesday that Obama and Biden would attend the ceremony at the West Virginia state capitol in Charleston on Friday. Byrd will lie in repose on the Senate floor Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., before his body is transported to his home state.

The Senate adjourned earlier than usual Wednesday night, in part to allow time for Byrd's memorial. A military honor guard marched Byrd's casket up the Capitol steps Thursday morning and into the Senate chamber.

A number of senators are expected to pay their respects to Byrd on the Senate floor and attend the service in West Virginia. The late senator's family has requested that cameras not show Byrd lying in repose. C-SPAN typically has a camera fixed on the Senate floor while the chamber is in session.

Byrd will be buried in a private ceremony at a cemetery in Arlington, Va., on Monday.