As Biden Leaves Senate, Burris Is Sworn In

Clinton, Retaining Seat for Now, Bids Colleagues Farewell

Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Hillary Rodham Clinton, two of the most influential members of the Senate, said goodbye to their colleagues yesterday, while the chamber welcomed Illinois's Roland W. Burris, a man it had tried to keep out.

Nine days after the Senate blocked Burris from even entering its chamber, leaving him to hold a news conference in the rain with only a handful of supporters, the former Illinois attorney general walked onto the Senate floor with Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.). Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus and House members from Illinois came to the Senate to cheer on Burris and greeted the pair as they entered.

Durbin, who for several days last week was one of the chief opponents of seating Burris because he was appointed by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), stood alongside Burris and introduced him to Senate staffers. After Burris was sworn in by Vice President Cheney, smiling senators lined up to congratulate and hug their new colleague, while dozens of his friends and supporters from Illinois applauded loudly from the visitors' gallery.

"He is the senator from Illinois. People will treat him well and with respect," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). "We will move on" from the controversy surrounding his appointment, she added.

Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.), who had likened the Senate's earlier attempts to block Burris to whites who opposed integration in the 1960s, said, "The Senate is much more diverse than it was yesterday." Burris replaces President-elect Barack Obama as the Senate's only African American member.

An unsuccessful candidate for Chicago mayor, the U.S. Senate and Illinois governor over the past three decades, Burris has little experience in the recent politics of Washington. He has so far relied on several former advisers in Illinois politics, but some Durbin aides are advising him on how to navigate Washington.

A beaming Burris told supporters at a private ceremony after the swearing-in that he would pose for pictures with everyone he could, until he began his new day job. "I've got to go vote very shortly," he said. "They're putting me to work. I cannot neglect my duties and miss my first vote in the United States Senate."

Burris's enthusiasm for the Senate was matched by the departing Biden, Delaware's longtime senator.

First elected to the chamber in 1972, when he was 29 years old, Biden spent nearly his entire adult life on Capitol Hill. He marked his last day in his trademark style, riding the Amtrak train from his home in Wilmington to Washington. But on this morning, he brought with him home-state reporters, wife Jill and sister Valerie.

In a speech that stretched more than 30 minutes, he raved about how much he had learned from his former colleagues, naming dozens, ranging in ideology from Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) to the late Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), who became such a good friend that Biden spoke at his 2003 funeral. As Biden looked at Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), one of his closest friends in the Senate, he spoke of entering the chamber when it had few women and departing a Senate with 16 female members.

"Although you've not seen the last of me," Biden concluded, "I say for the last time, and with confidence in all of you, optimism in our future and a heart with more gratitude than I can express, I yield the floor."

Clinton, only five years younger than the 66-year-old Biden but with 28 fewer years of Senate service, spoke next, thanking her colleagues and her adopted state of New York. Biden officially resigned his seat yesterday, while Clinton is waiting to be confirmed as secretary of state before formally stepping down.