Republican Scott Brown became the junior senator from Massachusetts today, a week earlier than expected, and two weeks after his upset victory in the Bay State’s January 19 special election. Brown’s swearing-in marks the official end of the Democrats’ super majority by giving the GOP 41 votes in the 100-member Senate — enough to sustain a filibuster.

At the Capitol, Brown was joined by his wife, Gail, and sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden on the Senate floor, using bibles beloved by his two daughters, Ayla and Arianna, who were not able to attend the ceremony. Biden joked that he looks forward to setting up a basketball game with Brown in the near future. The veep also made a quip about Brown’s looks: ‘I hate being with good-looking guys,” he laughed.

In a brief press conference, Brown said it was a “great honor” to join the upper chamber, thanked his family, and made a special note of his appreciation for the support of Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). “I can’t promise I’ll be right in every vote I make. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes from time to time,” Brown said. He also addressed why he was “sworn-in so quickly after the results had been certified.”

“It’s because I want to get to work,” Brown said. “I felt it was appropriate to come down and start working. There are a lot of votes pending that I would like to participate in.” Earlier in the day, Senate Democrats proposed a new jobs bill, and Brown said he is already wary about it. “The last stimulus bill didn’t create one new job,” he said. With his early arrival, Brown will also have the opportunity to vote on the confirmation of Craig Becker, a prominent former union lawyer, to the National Labor Relations Board.

“These are urgent times for our nation,” Brown said. “The president this week submitted a $3.8 trillion budget. We’ll have to borrow 40 percent of that amount because we don’t have the money to pay for all that spending. I’m concerned we’re living beyond our means.” The CIA director, he added, “said there will be another al-Qaeda attack in the U.S. in the next three to six months. This is frightening news, and we owe the people of America everything we can do to deter and prevent future attacks on our nation.” On the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, Brown said he wants to “speak to generals in the field” about their position, and that “with two wars on,” the “top priority is to finish the job,” not to “introduce social change.”

Pushing for “JFK-style tax cuts” and a “payroll tax reduction” will be early goals, Brown said. He also said that he will push for bipartisan negotiations on health-care reform legislation.

Brown will move into his new Hill digs — the longtime (and spacious) office of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in the Russell Senate Office Building — within weeks. The staff of Paul Kirk, a Democrat who was temporarily appointed to fill the seat, is already packing boxes. Brown will bring with him a new staff, including Steven Schrage, a former aide to Mitt Romney, as chief of staff, and Gail Gitcho, a former Republican National Committee press operative, as communications director.