S564 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 15, 2009 

State of Illinois. Done at the City of Springfield, January 9, 2009. 

JESSE WHITE, 

Secretary of State. 

[State Seal Affixed] 

STATE OF ILLINOIS

Executive Department 

Springfield, Illinois 

CERTIFICATE OF APPOINTMENT

To the President of the Senate of the United 

States: 

This is to certify that, pursuant to the 

power vested in me by the Constitution of 

the United States and the laws of the State 

of Illinois, I, Rod R. Blagojevich, the governor of said State, do hereby appoint Roland Burris a Senator from said State to represent said State in the Senate of the United 

States until the vacancy therein caused by 

the resignation of Barack Obama, is filled by 

election as provided by law. 

Witness: His excellency our governor Rod 

R. Blagojevich, and our seal hereto affixed at 

Chicago, Illinois this 31st day of December, 

in the year of our Lord 2008. 

By the governor: 

ROD R. BLAGOJEVICH, 

Governor. 

FILED 

INDEX DEPARTMENT 

JAN 09 2009 

IN THE OFFICE OF 

SECRETARY OF STATE 

f 

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quorum call be rescinded.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. 


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January 15, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE 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 AfricanAmerican 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. 

f 

DISAPPROVAL OF OBLIGATIONS 

UNDER THE EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 

2008—Continued 

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent that all time be 

taken equally from both sides, as I 

know we are under limited time for the 

debate on the TARP renewal. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

Mr. DURBIN. Again I renew the request for a quorum call. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will call the roll. 

The legislative clerk proceeded to 

call the roll. 

Mr. COBURN. 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. COBURN. Mr. President, would 

the Chair be so kind as to advise me 

when I have used 7 minutes? 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

Chair will so advise. 

Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, we have 

before us today a hallmark piece of legislation that is supposed to be about 

credit and liquidity and the significant 

problems we ran into this last fall in 

this country when we no longer had a 

functioning, or barely had a functioning financial industry that allowed 

credit to flow which would allow commerce to ensue. 

It was my belief at the time, based on 

what I was told and what I saw, that 

extraordinary measures were going to 

be required for us to handle this significant problem. Consequently, I 

ended up voting for a financial recovery package that I must say has been 

handled in a way completely opposite 

of the way we were told it was going to 

be handled. That is now water under 

the bridge. The question before us 

today is: Are we going to give another 

$350 billion—not through an oversight 

process, through an appropriating process—are we going to write a blank 

check to the Treasury Department to 

accomplish again what we are assured 

by the transition team and the incoming administration is for very specific 

things? 

I would like to believe that. As a 

matter of fact, in a meeting yesterday 

with some of the officials of the incoming administration, I asked in a closed 

room where they were giving us this 

reassurance that this administration 

was not going to put more money into 

the auto industry under the pretext it 

has been done using the TARP funds; 

that this administration was not going 

to use this money for other industrial 

segments of our society but in fact 

would use this money only when and if 

it is necessary to keep liquidity rolling, to keep banks’ balance sheets to 

the point where we can accomplish 

what we need in order to have true 

commerce in this country. And I must 

say that I felt somewhat reassured 

walking out of that meeting. 

But one of the things I asked for in 

that meeting was a public statement so 

that the rest of America could have 

that same assurance. We find ourselves 

today, getting ready to vote on this— 

and that was communicated very directly, by the way, with some of the 

highest levels of the incoming administration—we are about to vote on it, yet 

there has been no public statement 

whatsoever that would assure either 

Members of this body or the American 

taxpayers that we are not going to be 

using it to bail out companies that are 

not competitive and have not had to do 

the hard things to maintain themselves 

to be competitive; we have no assurance we are not going to go to other industries and do the same thing; and we 

do not have, in fact, a public expression, an explanation, or a letter of intent of the incoming administration 

that they are going to use it in a very 

precise and direct manner to maintain 

liquidity of the financial sector. 

The other thing that we have not 

heard, along with maintaining that liquidity, is how the administration will 

handle the toxic assets, which is what 

we were told the money was for in the 

first place. 

So I come to the floor this afternoon 

wanting to support our new President. 

I want to support him. I talked to him 

about this issue prior to his senior staff 

coming and talking to us. But I find 

myself in the predicament of having 

been fooled once by the present administration not doing what they said they 

were going to do. They have not been 

transparent as to where and how the 

money is being spent. The American 

people haven’t had access. We don’t 

know the priorities under which it was 

done. And now we are being told again: 

Trust us. 

Well, I am willing to do that, provided we put out to the American people exactly what that means. And the 

only thing that I can figure as to why 

it has not been forthcoming—that is 

what we asked for yesterday afternoon 

in the meeting with those representing 

President-elect Obama—is that they do 

not want to commit. And I regret to 

say that if the incoming administration won’t commit on paper and publicly as to how they are going to use 

this money, I am disinclined to vote to 

give it to them. That pains me, because 

I want our new administration to be 

tremendously successful in the face of 

all the problems we have. 

To meet the goal of transparency and 

accountability—which is what this new 

administration is all about, and I believe it will be far greater than what 

we have seen in the past; I will give 

them credit for that—it is required 

that they publicly tell the American 

people how, when, why, and what they 

are going to use this money for. And 

my only conclusion would be, in the 

face of that statement not being forthcoming, is that they either have the 

votes and believe they can accomplish 

this without being forthcoming—which 

again goes exactly the opposite direction of what my friend Barack Obama 

campaigned on—or they weren’t necessarily truthful in what they told us 

on how they were going to use the 

money. 

So I stand ready to try to support 

them, if in fact we have assurances— 

public assurances and documented assurances—that they are going to follow 


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