While Senator-elect Scott Brown, R-Massachusetts, initially noted that he would like to be sworn in on February 11 to accommodate meetings to hire a staff, he changed course yesterday and has now demanded to be sworn in today.
Brown's election to the U.
S.
Senate in a special election to replace the late Senator Edward Kennedy made big news last month as Massachusetts elected its first Republican Senator in the past thirty years.
Of Brown's demand, Jim Manley, a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid, noted, "If that's what he wants to do, I expect he'll be sworn in as early as the afternoon.
" In a letter to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Brown counselor Daniel Winslow wrote, "While Sen.
-elect Brown had tentatively planned to be sworn into office on Feb.
11, he has been advised that there are a number of votes scheduled prior to that date.
For that reason, he wants certification to occur immediately.
As he is the duly elected U.
S.
senate representative from the commonwealth of Massachusetts, he is entitled to be seated now.
" Interim Senator Paul Kirk, who had been appointed on a temporary basis by Patrick to fill the seat vacated by Kennedy, will deliver a final speech on the Senate floor this afternoon at roughly 3:45 P.
M.
to, according to him, "discuss the urgent need to move beyond political polarization.
" Though a Democrat, Governor Patrick has indicated that he will comply with Brown's wishes and put together the appropriate paperwork in time for Brown to take office this afternoon.
Brown's election to the U.
S.
Senate in a special election to replace the late Senator Edward Kennedy made big news last month as Massachusetts elected its first Republican Senator in the past thirty years.
Of Brown's demand, Jim Manley, a spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid, noted, "If that's what he wants to do, I expect he'll be sworn in as early as the afternoon.
" In a letter to Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Brown counselor Daniel Winslow wrote, "While Sen.
-elect Brown had tentatively planned to be sworn into office on Feb.
11, he has been advised that there are a number of votes scheduled prior to that date.
For that reason, he wants certification to occur immediately.
As he is the duly elected U.
S.
senate representative from the commonwealth of Massachusetts, he is entitled to be seated now.
" Interim Senator Paul Kirk, who had been appointed on a temporary basis by Patrick to fill the seat vacated by Kennedy, will deliver a final speech on the Senate floor this afternoon at roughly 3:45 P.
M.
to, according to him, "discuss the urgent need to move beyond political polarization.
" Though a Democrat, Governor Patrick has indicated that he will comply with Brown's wishes and put together the appropriate paperwork in time for Brown to take office this afternoon.
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