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Kirk Already Has Difficulty in First Full Senate Term
(IRN)-He has begun his own six-year term, but U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk says it was a rough go during the lame duck session, where he replaced Sen. Roland Burris as a result of a special election.

"We were definitely thrown in the deep end with the lame duck Congress," Kirk said. "When I arrived in Washington to serve as a senator, I had to, first of all, move twice. First, from the [office in the House of Representatives] into a trailer … then into Senator Burris' old spaces."

Kirk says the moving isn't over. Because seniority rules kick in, he is told that he will have to move again.

Kirk also had problems with the phone system in his temporary office. His office was inundated with calls from constituents. He says because of the many controversial issues lawmakers took up in the lame duck session, his office received over 125,000 phone calls from Illinoisans. Kirk says he had to work with the Senate sergeant at arms to expand the number of slots in his voice mail system. At the time his system wasn't able to accept more than 150 voice mails.

"It reminds you of how antiquated the Senate can become," Kirk said.

Kirk says his office is now only about 70 to 80 percent staffed. He plans to run his office 15 percent under last year's cost.

(Source: Illinois Radio Network)
01 06 11 by Newsroom
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