New Lawmakers To Be Sworn In When 111th Congress Convenes Tuesday

January 6, 2009 7:17 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Newly-elected lawmakers will be sworn into office on Tuesday, when the new 111th Congress convenes. Included in the ceremony is Vice President-elect Joe Biden, who has yet to officially resign, but not Democrat Al Franken, winner of the Minnesota recount, and Roland Burris, who was appointed by disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat.

All incoming senators and congressmen will take their oath of office on the Senate and House floors at 12:00 pm ET. Biden, who was re-elected to a seventh Senate term in November, will take part in the swearing-in. A re-enactment will be held by lawmakers in their respective chambers after the ceremony.

The Vice President-elect has said he that he will wait until the inauguration of the new administration on Jan. 20 before he steps down from the Senate.

Much of the attention on the first day of session of the new Congress will be focused Burris, who has repeatedly said his appointment is "legal," and Democratic plans to seat Franken, who was declared by the Minnesota canvassing board as the winner of the recount but has yet to be certified by the state.

Burris, 71, was appointed by Blagojevich last Tuesday. Democrats have said his nomination is "tainted" by the charges that the governor, who is required under state law to choose a replacement for Obama, tried to sell the Senate seat. A former Illinois attorney general, Burris said in a CNN interview on Monday, "I intend to be sworn in... I will present myself to the Senate tomorrow afternoon, or tomorrow morning. And should they turn me away, I will then proceed to leave and then my lawyers will have to assess what the next of action will be."

Franken, meanwhile, was announced the winner of a manual, controversy-plagued, statewide recount on Monday against Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), but Republican leaders have vowed to block his swearing in. Coleman has also said he will challenge the recount results in court.

The Democrat won by only 225 votes. He had trailed on election night by a margin of 215, triggering a recount.

"After 62 days, after the careful and painstaking hand inspection of nearly 3 million ballots, after hours and hours of hard work by elections officials and volunteers across the state, I am proud and humbled to stand before you as the next Senator from Minnesota," Franken said in a statement. "This victory is incredibly humbling - not just because it was so narrow, but because of the tremendous responsibility it gives me on behalf of the people of Minnesota."

"I know this is not an easy day for Norm Coleman and his family... Norm has worked hard for this state and this country, and I hope to ask for his help to ensure that Minnesotans can continue to count on receiving excellent constituent services from their two Senators without interruption," he added.

Coleman, whose petition with the state Supreme Court to include roughly 650 rejected absentee ballots in the recount is still pending, said through attorney Tony Trimble, "There can be no count that is accurate or valid when 654 potentially valid absentee votes remain disenfranchised and when some votes are counted twice - leading to a violation of one of the most sacred principles of our constitution - 'One person, One vote.'"

"The utter lack of uniformity in the treatment of rejected absentee ballots... is perhaps the most troublesome aspect of the recount. Similar ballots were treated differently by different counties. This creates an Equal Protection violation that fatally taints any result that includes these ballots. This was precisely what the Minnesota Supreme Court order said to avoid... The fact is the Canvassing Board's current totals are invalid and unreliable," he added.

Democrats will have no choice but to wait the contest between Coleman and Franken to play out in court. As for Burris, his future remains unclear, Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-NV) said last week in no uncertain terms last week that Burris would not be seated.

"We say this without prejudice toward Roland Burris's ability, and we respect his years of public service. But this is not about Mr. Burris; it is about the integrity of a governor accused of attempting to sell this United States Senate seat. Under these circumstances, anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus," he said in a statement.

But in an appearance on NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday, Reid, while still maintaining that Burris' appointment is tainted, admitted that it was not completely impossible that he would be seated. "I'm an old trial lawyer. There's always room to negotiate," he said after also revealing that he would be privately meeting with Burris on Wednesday along with Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL).