111th Congress Convenes today - Roland Burris Does Not Get Seated..

Today the House and Senate convened for the new 111th Congress. They seemed to be eager to get things going, and they began their ceremonial duties by swearing in 32 senators who won in November. There was supposed to be 33 you would think but Democrat Roland Burris of Illinois was not among them,  not seated because he lacked a signature on his paperwork. He plans to fight back with a lawsuit, thanks to tainted Gov. Rod Blagojevich, making ill-fated governorship decisons by choosing Burris to be Barack Obama's replacement in the Senate. Everyone agrees that Burris would serve well, and probabally deserves the nomination. His credentials are of the best. But members of Congress, especially on the democratic side, refuse to back him.
This Congress is stronger now than it has ever been according to the Democrats, as they have now gained 7 seats in the Senate and 21 seats in the House. Hopefully they will be able to end the war in Iraq, expand health care and fix the economy besides a myriad of other things on their agenda.
One of the first things on the agenda today was to elect a speaker, and today Nancy Pelosi became the new House speaker.
Another action took place today that is important for the liberal party. Democrats pretty much conveyed confidence in the strength of their majority status, as they repealed a 6-year term limit for committee chairman. During its inception in Congress in 1994 when Republicans were the majority, this term limit became law.
CSPAN will become a very popular channel to watch on TV as more and more Americans have a need to follow the lawmakers in action, especially as this crazy economy now dictates it.

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