Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) was admitted to the hospital for the third time this year on Monday night, this time for overnight observation after suffering a high fever.

    Byrd, 90, the longest-serving senator in U.S. history, was taken to a Virginia hospital in the early evening and will stay there overnight after feeling ill throughout the day, spokesman Jesse Jacobs said. Jacobs said Byrd had felt "lethargic and sluggish" throughout the day, but attended the lone Senate vote of the day, at 5:30 p.m. He was one of 14 senators to vote against debating a climate change bill.

    Shortly thereafter, Byrd went home and reported the same symptoms to his caregiver. The caregiver discovered that Byrd had a fever and consulted the senator's physician, who recommended a hospital visit, Jacobs said.

    Byrd, who was elected in 1949 and now assumes the powerful Appropriations Committee chairmanship, was hospitalized briefly in February after a fall at his home and again in March for adverse reactions to medication.

    Some Democrats publicly speculated his chairmanship duties should be distributed elsewhere, but the senator quieted his critics with strong leadership of an April 15 committee hearing on President Bush's war supplemental measure.

    Last month, Byrd brought spectators and reporters to a standstill with a dramatic, tearful speech for Sen. Edward Kennedy on the day the Massachusetts Democrat was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

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