HJR 63 Summary

• Honors President Barack Hussein Obama upon leaving office and recognizes the historic significance of his role as the first African-American President of the United States.

• Acknowledges Obama's background, including his birth in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961, education at Columbia University and Harvard Law School, and career as a community organizer, civil rights attorney, and constitutional law professor in Chicago.

• Details Obama's political career, including his election to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 and U.S. Senate in 2004, and his work on ethics reform, health care, early childhood education, alternative energy, and veterans benefits.

• Credits Obama with leading the country through an economic crisis, ending the War in Iraq, and enacting health care reform during his two terms as President.

• Recognizes the progress in African-American political representation, noting that prior to 1965 only 100 African-Americans held elective office nationwide, compared to thousands 52 years later.