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As a new Congress begins, it's a day for proud lawmakers, warm greetings and shiny shoes

8:56 AM Wed, Jan 07, 2009 | Permalink
By John E. Mulligan, Washington bureau

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WASHINGTON -- With regional and partisan variations, the scene was played out in dozens of rooms around the Capitol yesterday: the proud lawmaker, freshly sworn in as a member of the 111th Congress, receiving droves of constituents, colleagues and political backers over drinks and hors d'oeuvres.

Especially at such Democrat-heavy gatherings as Sen. Jack Reed's party in the new Senate Visitors Center, there was a lot of celebration of the party's power surge at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Mator Kpangbai, a leader of Rhode Island's large Liberian community, was on hand, he said, mainly to express his thanks to Reed and Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy for their work over the years to protect the immigration status of exiles from the war-torn African nation. Kpangbai also expressed much hope in the Obama presidency.

``We're all excited about the Democratic trifecta,'' said Gerald T. Harrington of the Capitol City Group, a lobbying shop with offices here and in Providence. He referred, of course, to the advent of a Democratic President, Barack Obama, and the reenforced Democratic majorities in the Senate and the House.

Much in evidence on both sides of the Capitol were reminders of what a small and transitory world the Congress is. When Rep. James R. Langevin dropped by Reed's reception, it took him long minutes to get into the room because he was accosted by friends and constituents who wanted to have a word -- or a picture taken -- with him. The congressman's mother, June Langevin, was with him for yesterday's swearing-in festivities and looking forward to her winter retreat to Florida.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts paid a visit to the House for the ceremonial reenactment of the swearing-in of his son, Rhode Island Congressman Kennedy.

In the Old Senate Chamber once inhabited by Webster and Clay and Calhoun, Reed and his wife, Julia Hart Reed, lined up with their daughter, Emily, who turned two Monday, for a similar ceremony with Vice President Dick Cheney.

``Where'd you get those shoes?'' Sen. Joe Biden asked the toddler, marveling at her gleaming black Mary Janes.

The Delaware Democrat, who will replace Cheney in less than two weeks, spoke briefly with Jack and Julia Reed about the funeral for former Sen. Claiborne Pell, which featured eulogies by both senators, as well as their Democratic colleague from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, and former President Bill Clinton.

``We would never have believed that Claiborne Pell would have had what we'd call an Irish funeral!'' declared Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent who had also been among the morners at Newport's Trinity Episcopal Church on Monday.

``I was one of those kids'' who attended college with the help of the federal scholarship now known as ``the Pell grants,'' recalled Providence native Mike Donilon, a Georgetown University graduate and longtime political campaign consultant who is to become a top aide to the new vice president.

At the end of the day, Reed and Rhode Island's junior Democratic senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, took their turns delivering formal tributes to Pell on the Senate floor.