[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 9 (Thursday, January 15, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S564-S565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ADMINISTRATION OF OATH OF OFFICE

  The VICE PRESIDENT. If the Senator-designate will now present himself 
to the desk, the Chair will administer the oath of office.
  Mr. Burris, escorted by Mr. Durbin, advanced to the desk of the Vice 
President; the oath prescribed by law was administered to him by the 
Vice President; and he subscribed to the oath in the Official Oath 
Book.
  The VICE PRESIDENT. Congratulations.
  (Applause, Senators rising.)
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, there are many paths to the Senate. It is 
fair to say the path that brought our new colleague from Illinois to us 
was unique, and that is an understatement.
  Whatever complications surrounded his appointment, we made it clear 
from the beginning, both publicly and privately, that our concern was 
never with Mr. Burris. I did not have the pleasure of meeting Mr. 
Burris until last week. I found now-Senator Burris to be engaging, 
gracious, and he was very firm in his commitment to become a good and 
effective Senator.
  Given the uncertainty around his appointment, all of his statements 
and actions, again both publicly and privately, reflected a strong 
character that will serve him well as he begins his service for the 
people of Illinois.
  I also say to my friend, Dick Durbin, the senior Senator from 
Illinois, how much I appreciate working with him on this and the other 
matters we have worked on over the years. We have been in Washington 
together going back a long time, 1982. The people of the State of 
Illinois have been so well served by so many different people. I am 
confident that when the history books are written, even though Illinois 
has had some of the best of the best, my friend Dick Durbin will be 
right there with them.
  So to Senator Burris, on behalf of all Senators, Democrats and 
Republicans, we welcome you as a colleague and as a friend.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I first thank the majority leader for his 
kind statements. He is, indeed, more than just a colleague. For 26 
years, we have worked on Capitol Hill together, and never more closely 
than the last 6 when I have had the honor to serve as his assistant as 
the Democratic whip. He is truly a great public servant, not only for 
the State of Nevada but for the entire Nation.
  This was a test for us because we were all absolutely stricken by the 
news that the Governor of the State of Illinois was being arrested and 
under the circumstances which all America knows.
  The response by the Senate was to say to this Governor: No Senate 
seat is ever for sale, and we are going to uphold the integrity of this 
institution, even though some may try to sully that integrity.
  Senator Reid is right, throughout the stormy weeks that followed, I 
do not recall a single negative word spoken by anyone in the Senate or 
any of Roland Burris's former colleagues about him. You can search the 
record. Everything said about Roland Burris was positive. The 
circumstances that led to his appointment were the issue, the source of 
the controversy.
  The controversy came to an end on Monday. The Secretary of State 
Jesse White filed a new document after the Illinois Supreme Court 
ruled. The Secretary of the Senate ruled that this new document 
complied with the rules of the U.S. Senate, and Senator Burris had 
appeared in Springfield, as we asked him, to answer all questions about 
his appointment.
  At that point, we were ready to move forward. I can recall phone 
conversations with him over the weekend telling him that things were 
moving in the right direction, and if he could be patient because they 
were coming to a good end; the ruling of the Secretary of the Senate 
could make all the difference.
  Now we have this glorious day when so many of his friends from 
Illinois are here to witness his being sworn in by Vice President 
Cheney, and now he has left the floor for a few moments for the 
ceremonial oath that is going to be given in the Old Senate Chamber.
  While he is away, I want to say a word about my old friend, Roland 
Burris. He literally has been my friend for over 30 years. In 1978, 
when we were both brand new to this business, I ran for lieutenant 
governor for Illinois and he ran for comptroller. Nobody had ever heard 
of either of us or the offices we were running for. We were as obscure 
as possible, but we found kinship standing in the back of parade routes 
as the bigwigs in the front line went on. We struck up a friendship, a 
friendship that has extended over three decades. And it is a friendship 
that is based more on just that happenstance of running in the same 
year. You see, Roland and I are from the same part of Illinois. Roland 
Burris was born in Centralia, Illinois, a few miles away from my 
hometown of East St. Louis, Illinois.

  But there is more to the story. That is one of the central parts of 
our Nation when it comes to railroads. I come from a railroad family--
my mother, my father, my two brothers, and I all worked for the New 
York Central Railroad. Roland Burris's family were railroad workers as 
well. His father Earl ran a small grocery store to supplement his 
income as a laborer for the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. Earl 
Burris, Roland's father, had a strong sense of community and a low 
tolerance for injustice. On Memorial Day 1953, Earl Burris decided to 
take a stand against injustice by defying Centralia's unofficial 
``whites only'' policy for the city's public swimming pool. So he hired 
a lawyer and arranged for that lawyer to meet him and young Roland, 
then 16. They were all going to go to the swimming pool. Well, guess 
what. The lawyer didn't show up.
  Roland Burris later said that he remembered his father all summer 
long saying that if segregation and injustice were ever going to end, 
people needed to show up and be accountable. By the end of the summer, 
16-year-old Roland Burris had made up his mind he would show up. He 
would pursue a career in politics and the law. So off he went to 
Southern Illinois University, at Carbondale, which incidentally has a 
record of being one of the most productive colleges in America for the 
graduates of African Americans. Roland Burris was one of those. He 
studied political science and distinguished himself as a leader on 
campus. He headed a group that exposed discriminatory practices among 
Carbondale merchants toward African-American students.
  In 1963, he earned a law degree from Howard University. That same 
year, he became a Federal bank examiner at the U.S. Treasury 
Department--the first African American ever to hold such a position. In 
1964, he was hired by Continental Illinois National Bank, where he rose 
to the post of vice president in less than a decade. He is a past 
national executive director of Operation PUSH.

[[Page S565]]

  In Illinois, the land of Lincoln, we have elected more African 
Americans statewide than any State in our Union, and we are proud of 
it. But it is Roland Burris who led the way in 1978, as our first 
African-American State comptroller and later as the first African-
American attorney general in that land of Lincoln, State of Illinois. 
Roland Burris paved the way for so many to follow, including the man 
who will be sworn in as President Tuesday--Barack Obama. He has held 
two of our State's highest elective offices. He was Illinois' first 
African-American comptroller as well as our first African-American 
attorney general.
  Roland Burris is a good man and a dedicated public servant, and that 
is why he has returned to public life. Now he is the 48th Senator from 
the great State of Illinois, and the 1,907th person ever to be sworn 
into this distinguished body.
  Here is an interesting fact as well. Roland and his wife Berlean live 
on the south side of Chicago in a home once owned by the great, the 
immortal Mahalia Jackson, the original ``Queen of Gospel Music.'' In 
1948, Mahalia recorded a song that became so popular music stores 
couldn't keep it in stock. It sold 8 million copies. The title of that 
song was ``Move On Up A Little Higher.''
  For more than 50 years, Roland Burris has sought to move on up a 
little higher--not for his sake alone but for the chance to help 
others, including our great State of Illinois. I congratulate him. I 
know this was a rocky road to this great day in his life, but it was a 
road well traveled and one that I am sure will lead him to appreciate 
how important this institution is, not just as part of our government 
but as a part of our future.
  He is going to have a chance to not only serve as my colleague but 
the colleague of 99 other Senators who are going to be able to work 
with him and learn the values and talents that he brings to the job. I 
am honored today, by his being sworn into office, to no longer be both 
the senior and junior Senator from Illinois. We have a junior Senator--
his name is Roland Burris--and I look forward to serving with him.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a 
quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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