CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
– CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
March 24, 2009 – 8:52 p.m.
Senators Laud Return of Kennedy
By Kathleen Hunter and Emily Ethridge, CQ Staff
Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday publicly heralded the return to the Senate of fellow Democrat Edward M. Kennedy .
“We were all happy to see Sen. Kennedy back yesterday,” said Reid, D-Nev. “He’s back for the duration.”
The 77-year-old Kennedy, D-Mass., who is battling a malignant brain tumor, returned to the Capitol the evening of March 23 to cast a procedural vote on legislation that is close to his heart — a bill (
He is expected to remain at work at least through the Easter recess, which is slated to begin April 3.
As chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Kennedy is positioned to play a central role in the coming debate over health care.
Kennedy has made just sporadic appearances on Capitol Hill since his diagnosis last spring. He cast a key vote Feb. 9 to advance an economic stimulus package (PL 111-5), and appeared at a March 5 event at the White House on expanding health care.
The senator has spent much of the past several months in Florida after suffering a seizure Jan. 20 during a luncheon to honor President Obama’s inauguration.
Now, Reid said, “The weather is warm, and he’s in fighting shape.”
The Senate’s “Liberal Lion” has kept a low profile since his return to the Capitol this week. But during the March 23 vote, Democratic senators surrounded him with a chorus of “Good to see you!”
Freshman Democrats, in particular, swarmed around him.
“I’m a huge fan of yours!” said New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand , introducing herself as a senator to Kennedy for the first time. “You look fantastic: Fit and healthy.”
Gillibrand, who previously served in the House, replaced Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate.
Kennedy whispered for a few minutes with close friend and HELP Committee colleague Orrin G. Hatch , R-Utah, before making his way to the Republican side of the chamber to shake hands and joke with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and others.
Hatch later said he was pleased to see Kennedy back in the Senate.
“He is a master legislator and has this ebullient, humorous personality,” Hatch said. “We differ widely on political solutions but we are very good friends.”
Comments
Did Senator Kennedy have his nose in E-Verify, stripped by the Democratic Leadership? The Senators involved in the killing of E-Verify are using the excuse that funding was removed because, it was holding up the enactment of the Stimulus package. Compared to the other provisions, E-Verify was hardly what you could call pork? Sen. Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi's credence just doesn't wash? It was a secret deliberate, treacherous act insisted upon by the business communities. Even though the Stimulus was crammed with earmarks, they zeroed in on the the amendment that Sen. Sessions tried to bring to the floor. It's obvious to most Americans that the 50 Democrats had no intentions of allowing E-Verify to stay in place. Cannot even imagine the livid expressions when these legislators, found out it was still funded until September. The special interest lobby must have been equally furious.
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