Kirk, Durbin to break tradition at State of the Union

“Sit by ya!” might be heard regularly at elementary school cafeterias, but Illinois' two U.S. Senators are taking the phrase to a whole new level.

Republican Mark Kirk of Highland Park and Democrat Dick Durbin of Springfield would be traditionally sit apart at the State of the Union address on Jan. 25, as members of Congress are split by party affiliation, with Democrats and Republicans sitting on opposite sides of the center aisle in the House chamber.

The pair came up with the idea to break with that tradition as they were talking on the phone the other night.

Durbin and Kirk each released statements Wednesday calling for a renewed sense of bipartisanship in the wake of the Jan. 8 shooting in Tuscon, Ariz., which killed six people and injured more than a dozen including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Durbin noted that “the real test of bipartisanship will begin the next day (following the address), when we go back to work to debate some of the most important issues of our time.”