Thread: Kirk Can’t Join Senate at Start of Lame Duck

By Danny Yadron
Republican Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois might not become Sen. Mark Kirk as soon as he would like.


Senator-elect Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) c(Photo by Frank Polich/Getty Images) State officials told Washington Wire that the five-term Republican, who defeated state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias in the contest for President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat, can’t fill his new post until Nov. 23, a week after the Senate convenes for the lame-duck session. The reason for the gap: Illinois election officials need time to certify the vote.

Mr. Kirk will miss a week’s worth of cloture votes, a bummer for the congressman who campaigned that he would be the “42nd Republican senator, with the opportunity to put the brakes on any lame-duck overreach.â€

I strongly suspect that Dick "I never met an illegal I didn't like" Durbin is behind this. Reid is promising to introduce the Dream Act during the lame duck session, which Kirk has stated he opposes.
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Illinois Republican Mark Kirk won't be seated in the U.S. Senate in time for the start of the lame duck session of Congress this month - unlike two other newly elected senators.

The session begins Nov. 15. But state officials say the paperwork officially declaring Kirk the winner of the Senate race won't be delivered until Nov. 29.

That should still allow Kirk to participate in two weeks of the session in December. He argued strongly during the campaign that voters needed to send him to the Senate quickly so he could help block spending and tax increases.

Two Democrats are expected to be sworn in at the start of the lame duck session. Chris Coons of Delaware will fill the remainder of Vice President Joe Biden's term, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia replaces the late Robert Byrd.

Funny how that works, isn't it? Delaware and West Virginia will both manage to seat their new senators immediately, yet the Illinois process is bogged down in "paperwork" and red tape. One wonders if this is the same sort of "paperwork"-related logistical snag that prevented military ballots from being mailed out in time a few weeks back. With all these humiliating snafus occurring, thank goodness Illinoisans just elected a new governor to whip the state government back into shape. Oh, wait.

(Note: I've reached out to the Kirk camp for their reaction to this story. Still waiting to hear back).

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/GuyBenson/ ... ck_session