Senate votes to allow rotunda use for Inouye service

The Senate passed a resolution Tuesday night allowing the Capitol rotunda to be used for the late-Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).

S. Con. Res. 64 authorizes Inouye to “lie in state” in the rotunda this week. The measure was passed by unanimous consent. The service is expected on take place Thursday.

“Senator Inouye was one of the noblest souls this body has ever seen," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a release Tuesday. "He was a true patriot and statesman who represented our fiftieth state from the first day it joined the union. He was an institution unto himself, and he deserves to spend one more day in this institution to which he dedicated his life’s work.”

Before leaving for the evening, the Senate also passed S. Res. 624, honoring the life and death of Inouye, who represented Hawaii in Congress since statehood in 1959.

He had been hospitalized earlier this month at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., for respiratory complications.

Most of Tuesday was spent eulogizing Inouye on the Senate floor. He was the second longest service senator in U.S. history.