Senate cameras won't film Byrd's last appearance

Senate cameras will be dark on Thursday during a six-hour memorial for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), multiple Senate sources said Wednesday, despite the fact that it will be the first time a senator will lie in repose since 1959.

Senate Rules Committee Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) had been sent a formal request to the Senate Radio-TV Correspondents' Association to waive a standing Senate rule that bans photos and video footage when the Senate is not in session. The Senate will be adjourned from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. when the 92-year-old senator's body will be in the chamber.

While Schumer hadn't decided as of late afternoon, the request will almost certainly be unsuccessful. That's because it would still require a unanimous resolution on the Senate floor, and any senator could object to and defeat it. Byrd, who died early Monday morning, was highly respected on both sides of the aisle and was once a passionate opponent of C-SPAN cameras in the Senate chamber, making unanimous permission from all 99 current senators nearly impossible.

Byrd's family had also requested that cameras not be allowed, said the late senator's office. Print reporters and even Senate staffers will also be barred from the beginning of the ceremony, when the senator's family and friends will receive well-wishes from current members of Congress. The second-floor galleries will eventually be opened to the public, print press and Senate staff, around 10:15 or 10:30 a.m.

But Senate cameras will stay dark all day. C-SPAN Programming Vice President Terry Murphy said the decision was disheartening to millions of Americans who would have liked to tune in.

"C-SPAN was disappointed to learn that while the public galleries will be open, Senate TV cameras will not be offering coverage of Thursday's lying-in-repose honor for Senator Byrd," Murphy said. "Our network's live coverage of past lying-in-state ceremonies in the Capitol Rotunda, such as those for Presidents Reagan and Ford and Rosa Parks's lying-in-honor ceremony, allowed millions more Americans to witness this special and unique honor afforded to a small handful of our nation's leaders."

The broadcast reporters' association offered to skip coverage during a portion of the event to allow for "private time" with family, friends or colleagues, but argued that the historic nature of the event and Byrd's legacy itself demanded coverage.

"It was Sen. Byrd himself who opened the Senate to television coverage in 1986. In the past few days, the nation has noted the senator’s long service and his work. The country has taken an interest in his passing. We believe it would be appropriate to allow those not able to pay their respects to Sen. Byrd in person to view the solemn proceedings," the association wrote in its request to Schumer.

"This is an historic moment in the Congressional legacy. And it’s unfolding in the very institution that the senator championed for most of his adult life. ... It would be remarkable if the historic record has no video documentation of the senator’s final time in the Senate."

Byrd's body will be escorted into the chamber at 9:50 a.m. by an honor guard. A short private ceremony will then proceed, during which family members will receive House or Senate members who wish to pay their respects. Senate Chaplain Barry Black will then deliver a prayer, and the chamber's upper-floor galleries will be opened until 4 p.m. as the senator's closed casket lies on the chamber floor.