WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sen. Al Franken, in office for barely five hours, took his first vote.

He joined many of his Democratic colleagues in voting down, 51-47, an amendment offered by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to halt an earmark on the Homeland Security Appropriations Act.

Franken sat in the back row of the Senate chamber on his first vote. By blocking the amendment, he preserved a $750,000 Homeland Security grant to the city of Minneapolis, Franken's office said.

Minutes before, sitting behind his desk in the office he’d moved into three hours earlier, he conducted his first briefing as a senator this afternoon for the Twin Cities media.

He called today’s events “emotional” and discussed his particularly deep emotions when he saw boyhood friends at his swearing-in. His eyes welled during the briefing when he was asked what his parents - who have both died - might have thought of him becoming a senator.

“I thought about them, of course,” he said. “They would have been so proud.”

Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on the floor that Franken wouldn’t take his seat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee until after the markup on the health care bill.

Franken said that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island has been sitting in for him during the recount period.

“It actually makes total sense,” Franken said of the delay for him to be fully part of the health policy debate. Whitehouse has been involved in key insurance issues. Franken said he’ll be closely monitoring the markup process, perhaps in person.

His comments on a couple of other topics:

• On some Republicans congratulating him at the swearing-in: “I was really gratified with how many of my Republican colleagues were there,” he said, noting warm greetings from Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, Thad Corchran of Mississippi, Orrin Hatch of Utah and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.

• On holding the Paul Wellstone family Bible: “He had a certain passion and integrity ... I’m not Paul. I can’t fill his shoes. I wanted him there, in a way.”