Full Text of HR1631 95th General Assembly
HR1631 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the | 3 |
| Illinois House of Representatives resolve to congratulate | 4 |
| Barack Obama for his ascendency to the office of United States | 5 |
| President; and
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| WHEREAS, Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in | 7 |
| Honolulu, Hawaii; his father, Barack Obama, Sr., was born of | 8 |
| Luo ethnicity in Nyanza Province, Kenya; his mother, Ann | 9 |
| Dunham, grew up in Wichita, Kansas; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1967, Barack Obama and his family moved to | 11 |
| Jakarta, Indonesia; after four years of attending school in | 12 |
| Jakarta, he returned to Hawaii to live with his maternal | 13 |
| grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, and later his mother; | 14 |
| when he was in the fifth grade, he enrolled at the esteemed | 15 |
| Punahou Academy, graduating with honors in 1979; and
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| WHEREAS, After high school, Barack Obama studied at the | 17 |
| Occidental College in Los Angeles, California for two years; he | 18 |
| then transferred to Columbia University in New York, graduating | 19 |
| in 1983 with a degree in political science; and
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| WHEREAS, After working at Business International | 21 |
| Corporation, a company that provided international business |
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| information to corporate clients, and NYPIRG, Barack Obama | 2 |
| moved to Chicago in 1985; in Chicago, he worked as a community | 3 |
| organizer with low-income residents in Chicago's Roseland | 4 |
| community and the Altgeld Gardens public housing development on | 5 |
| the South Side; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1988, Barack Obama entered Harvard Law School; | 7 |
| in February of 1990, he was elected the first African-American | 8 |
| editor of the Harvard Law Review; in 1991, he graduated from | 9 |
| Harvard magna cum laude; after law school, he returned to | 10 |
| Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer, joining the firm | 11 |
| of Miner, Barnhill & Galland; he also taught at the University | 12 |
| of Chicago Law School and he helped organize voter registration | 13 |
| drives during Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign; and
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| WHEREAS, Barack Obama's advocacy work for the less | 15 |
| fortunate led him to run for the Illinois State Senate; he was | 16 |
| elected in 1996 from the south side neighborhood of Hyde Park; | 17 |
| as a State Senator, he worked with both Democrats and | 18 |
| Republicans in drafting legislation on ethics, expanding | 19 |
| health care services, and the creation of early childhood | 20 |
| education programs for the poor; he also created a state | 21 |
| earned-income tax credit for the working poor and worked with | 22 |
| law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of | 23 |
| interrogations and confessions in all capital cases; and
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| WHEREAS, In 2000, Barack Obama made an unsuccessful | 2 |
| Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives | 3 |
| seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush; not one | 4 |
| to rest on his laurels, he decided to run for the U.S. Senate | 5 |
| open seat vacated by Republican Peter Fitzgerald in 2004; | 6 |
| receiving 70 percent of the vote, he once again achieved | 7 |
| victory with the largest electoral victory in Illinois history; | 8 |
| upon winning the election, he became only the third African | 9 |
| American elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction; and
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| WHEREAS, Immediately going into action after he was sworn | 11 |
| into office on January 4, 2005, Barack Obama partnered with | 12 |
| Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana on a bill that | 13 |
| expanded efforts to destroy weapons of mass destruction in | 14 |
| Eastern Europe and Russia and with Republican Sen. Tom Corburn | 15 |
| of Oklahoma to create a website that tracks all federal | 16 |
| spending; he was also the first to raise the threat of avian | 17 |
| flu on the Senate floor, spoke out for victims of Hurricane | 18 |
| Katrina, pushed for alternative energy development, and | 19 |
| championed improved veterans' benefits; he also worked with | 20 |
| Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin to eliminate gifts of | 21 |
| travel on corporate jets by lobbyists to members of Congress; | 22 |
| and | 23 |
| WHEREAS, In February of 2007, Barack Obama made headlines | 24 |
| and history when he announced his candidacy for the 2008 |
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| Democratic presidential nomination; after a successful primary | 2 |
| bid, he went on to achieve victory against opponent John | 3 |
| McCain, once again making history as the first African-American | 4 |
| President in history; and
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| WHEREAS, In 1988, Barack Obama met his wife, Michelle, when | 6 |
| he was a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley & | 7 |
| Austin; they were married in October of 1992; together, they | 8 |
| have two daughters, Malia and Sasha; and
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| WHEREAS, Barack Obama's incredible success in government | 10 |
| makes him a shining beacon of Illinois' Lincoln legacy and a | 11 |
| role model for the people of this State, the nation, and the | 12 |
| world; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 14 |
| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 15 |
| congratulate Barack Obama for his ascendency to the office of | 16 |
| United States President and give him our best wishes for his | 17 |
| bright future; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That we recognize both the momentous occasion of | 19 |
| his election and recognize the significant barriers of progress | 20 |
| that have been breached by this paradigm shift in politics; and | 21 |
| be it further |
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 2 |
| presented to Barack Obama as a symbol of our esteem and | 3 |
| respect.
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