Senate returns to raucous start

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By S.A. Miller

Senate Democrats are bracing for a raucous opening day of the 111th Congress this week if disputed new members Roland W. Burris of Illinois and Al Franken of Minnesota try to claim seats in the chamber.

Democratic leaders said Mr. Burris, a Democrat appointed by Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich amid federal corruption charges he offered to sell that Senate seat, could be blocked from entering the chamber for the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday.

But Mr. Burris still is expected to arrive Monday in Washington and attempt to gain access to the Senate floor as Illinois' appointed junior senator.

"As of this moment, he is not allowed on the Senate floor," a senior Democratic aide said.

Mr. Franken, a Democrat holding a 225-vote lead in a fiercely contested recount battle with incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, will run into a Republican filibuster if he tries to take the oath.

"I can assure you that there will be no way that people on our side of the aisle will agree to seat any senator without a valid certificate," Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the incoming chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Friday in a conference call with reporters.

Political turmoil is unheard of in a Senate swearing-in ceremony, and the drama threatens to mar the start of a session in which the Democrat-led Congress has high hopes for working with President-elect Barack Obama, including plans to pass a massive economic stimulus in the next three weeks.

"This is a big distraction for them," a Republican leadership aide said. "It is not what they want to be talking about right now."

Neither the appointment of Mr. Burris nor the election of Mr. Franken has been certified by state officials, making it difficult for them to demand to be seated.

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White has refused to certify the appointment by Mr. Blagojevich -- a step that is legally required but is almost always a pro forma move.