January 7, 2003
Saxby Chambliss becomes the first person from the heart of Southwest Georgia to serve in the U.S. Senate. When all the pomp and circumstance was over on Capitol Hill, Saxby Chambliss was overcome by emotion.
Chambliss remembered his friend and mentor, the late Senator Paul Coverdale. “For Paul not to be here, it’s pretty emotional,” said a tearful Chambliss.
Hundreds of Georgia supporters watched his swearing in from a building adjacent to the capitol, and later, a reenactment with Vice President Dick Cheney was staged for the Chambliss family. “It’s an emotional day,” said Chambliss. “Here I am following in a line of succession of a number of great Senators from our state.”
“My wife gave me a Bible for Christmas, and I’m going to have all 100 Senators sign it,” said Chambliss.
Though they’re in different parties, Chambliss and Georgia’s senior Senator Zell Miller, a Democrat, look forward to working together. “I’m hopeful that we can move forward and get some things done better than we did in the last session, Miler said. “There was far too much partisan bickering that went on.”
“We’re going to be a great team,” Chambliss said of Miller. “He and I have discussed issues that we look forward to working on.”
Chambliss will serve on three powerful committees- the Armed Services, Intelligence, and Agriculture. Miller also serves on the Agriculture Committee, and it is unusual for two Senators from the same state to serve on the same powerful committee.
It seems that despite party differences, Chambliss and Miller will be able to work well together. Miller says that he feels like the junior Senator in a way, because Chambliss has already been in Washington so long as a Congressman.
posted at 6:45Pm by dave.miller@walb.com
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