Kirk Will Be Seated Late due to "Paperwork"
Hot Air reports:
Via Guy Benson. To recap, Kirk finished ahead of Alexi Giannoulias by more than 70,000 votes. Giannoulias not only conceded the race but met with Kirk for a rift-mending post-election brewski a few days afterward. Because this was not only a regular election but a special election to fill out the last few weeks remaining in Obama’s Senate term, the winner will be seated immediately and participate in the lame-duck session, meaning that the public has an interest in approving the results expeditiously.
And yet, despite there being zero doubt as to who won, “paperwork” means Kirk won’t join the Senate until late November at the earliest. I’m not sure which is worse — the thought that Illinois Democrats are purposely dragging their feet to keep Kirk out of the chamber so that he can’t block lame-duck Democratic legislation or the thought that they’re not dragging their feet and this really is the fastest they can move.
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.” He even created a separate website for the issue, saveusfromthelameduck.com. Mr. Kirk’s office had no immediate comment on the dates…
