Editing Robert Byrd (section)

=== Bill Clinton era ===
In February 1994, the Senate passed a $10 billion spending bill that would mostly be allocated to [[1994 Northridge earthquake|Los Angeles, California earthquake]] victims and military operations abroad. [[Bob Dole]], [[John Kerry]], [[John McCain]], and [[Russ Feingold]] partnered together to persuade the Senate in favor of cutting back the deficit expense. Byrd raised a procedural point to derail an attempt by Dole that would approve $50 billion in spending cuts over the following five years. McCain proposed killing highway demonstration projects with a $203 million price tag, leading Byrd to produce letters written by McCain that the latter had sent to the Appropriations Committee in 1991 in an attempt to gather highway grants for his home state of [[Arizona]]. Byrd said that McCain "is very considerate of the taxpayers when it comes to financing projects in other states, but he supports such projects in his own state".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/11/us/senate-votes-a-quake-relief-measure.html|title=Senate Votes a Quake Relief Measure|date=February 11, 1994|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=October 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004111120/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/11/us/senate-votes-a-quake-relief-measure.html|archive-date=October 4, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Along with [[Chuck Hagel]], in July 1997 Byrd sponsored the [[Byrd–Hagel Resolution]], which effectively prohibited the US from ratifying the [[Kyoto Protocol]] on limiting and reducing [[greenhouse gas emissions]].

In May 2000, Byrd and [[John Warner]] sponsored a provision threatening to withdraw American troops from Kosovo, the legislation if enacted cutting off funds for troops in Kosovo after July 1, 2001, without congressional consent. The language would have also withheld 25 percent of the money for Kosovo in the bill unless the assertion that European countries were living up to their promises to provide reconstruction money for the province was certified by President Clinton by July 15. Byrd argued that lawmakers had never approved nor debate whether American troops should be stationed in Kosovo. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the legislation in a vote of 23-to-3 that was said to reflect "widespread concern among lawmakers about an open-ended deployment of American soldiers".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/10/world/senators-seek-vote-in-congress-on-extending-kosovo-mission.html|title=Senators Seek Vote in Congress On Extending Kosovo Mission|date=May 10, 2000|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=September 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924145303/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/10/world/senators-seek-vote-in-congress-on-extending-kosovo-mission.html|archive-date=September 24, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

In November 2000, Congress passed an amendment sponsored by Byrd diverting tariff revenues from the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Treasury Department]] and instead allocating them to the industry complaining, the amount involved ranging from between $40 million and $200 million a year. The following month, [[Japan]] and the [[European Union]] led a group of countries in filing a joint complaint with the [[World Trade Organization]] to the law.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/22/business/group-of-countries-protests-us-change-in-dumping-law.html?mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=063675A65E2BB0248AADC957B886B076&gwt=pay|title=Group of Countries Protest U.S. Change in Dumping|date=December 22, 2000|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=September 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920085543/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/22/business/group-of-countries-protests-us-change-in-dumping-law.html?mtrref=www.nytimes.com&gwh=063675A65E2BB0248AADC957B886B076&gwt=pay|archive-date=September 20, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>