U.S. Sen. Byrd in hospital after suffering a fall
WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Robert Byrd, the oldest member of the U.S. Senate and a fierce opponent of the Iraq war, was being treated in a hospital on Tuesday after falling in his home late on Monday, a spokesman for the senator said.
The 90-year-old Byrd complained of back pain while at work in the Senate on Tuesday, spokesman Jesse Jacobs said. After being examined by a Capitol physician, the West Virginia Democrat went to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington for tests and observation, Jacobs said. He was expected to remain in the hospital overnight.
Also on Tuesday, another prominent senator, John Warner of Virginia, was hospitalized because of a recurring heart problem. Warner, 81, a former husband of actress Elizabeth Taylor, is a former Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He is not seeking re-election this year.
As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Byrd has been one of several leading Democrats in Congress trying to bring the Iraq war to an end by tying troop withdrawals to war funds. Unlike many of his fellow Democrats, Byrd opposed the 2003 U.S. attack on Iraq from the outset.
Due to his hospitalization, Byrd missed a procedural vote on Tuesday on a bill to mandate U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq within the next four months.
Byrd was last elected to a six-year term in 2006. Democrats hold a narrow majority in the Senate and will try to increase their numbers in November's election, when one-third of the 100 Senate seats will be up for grabs. (Editing by Peter Cooney)
