Kennedy returns for vote on stimulus bill

Leaning on his cane but smiling broadly, Senator Edward M. Kennedy returned yesterday to the Capitol to vote for ending debate on the stimulus bill, a key hurdle for its passage.
Expressing deep concern about the economy, he told reporters waiting outside: "It is time that we take action now." With little fanfare, he walked into the Senate chamber alongside his fellow Massachusetts senator, John F. Kerry, and stayed for only two minutes or so, just long enough to cast his vote and greet a couple of his colleagues.
Senator Barbara Boxer of California looked up as he arrived: "Here comes my hero," she said quietly, beaming.
His appearance was low-key enough, but that he felt the need to come at all underscored the importance of the bill and the unexpectedly tortured politics of getting it through Congress. Kennedy is suffering from brain cancer and had a seizure the last time he was in Washington, for President Obama's inauguration.
(...) Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia said Kennedy called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Friday and said: "Kennedy, reporting for duty."
But Kennedy did not appear at the Senate until yesterday.
When he did, he seemed to do his best to avoid attracting attention. Venturing barely 20 feet into the chamber, he extended a trembling hand to Senator Max Baucus, the Finance Committee chairman who managed the floor debate. He greeted Reid, who patted his shoulder. Senator Patty Murray of Washington turned from her conversation and smiled.
Kerry tapped him on the arm, and Kennedy signaled his support for the bill to Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who was presiding over the vote. A few moments later, he turned and ambled off the floor with Kerry at his side.
"He is a hero," Boxer said after the vote. "Because the fact is, we needed his vote today."
She said the three Republican senators who are backing the stimulus package wanted to have more than 60 votes - the bare minimum - to end debate. Kennedy's was number 61.
"So it was very selfless of him," she said. "He's a very selfless person. I'm so grateful to him for doing this."
(...)

After voting yesterday, the Associated Press reported, he walked down a corridor to a parlor where his wife, Vicki, and several aides waited. One helped him on with his coat and a blue scarf, and Kennedy stepped into an elevator.
Asked how he was feeling, Kennedy replied, "Some days are better than others."
"Glad to be back," he said as the elevator doors closed.
Kennedy plans to return to cast a final vote on the stimulus bill today, Kerry said in an interview. An aide said Kennedy planned to travel back and forth between Florida and Washington until the weather gets warmer in the capital.
Kerry said he spoke with Kennedy for about 20 minutes in his office before they went to vote, and Kennedy told him he was frustrated that Congress couldn't have passed a stimulus sooner.
"He's looking forward to continuing to get back, and taking on healthcare," Kerry said.
In a statement, Kennedy said not passing a stimulus package would make the consequences of the economy's "free-fall . . . even more disastrous."
"I returned to the Senate today to do all I can to support our president and his plan to get our country back on track," the statement said. "We face a historic crisis and must act quickly, boldly, and responsibly to enable our economy to begin growing again in Massachusetts and across America."

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Sen. Kennedy Ready to Cast Key Vote for Economic Stimulus, Senators Say

February 7, 2009

Ailing Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has returned to the Washington area and is waiting to cast a potentially decisive vote to advance the Democratic majority's economic stimulus package, according to several Democratic senators.

Kennedy, 76, arrived on Friday from Florida, where he had been recuperating since suffering a seizure during an Inauguration Day luncheon in the Capitol's Statuary Hall. Kennedy is battling a malignant brain tumor.

The White House helped to arrange for Kennedy's return to Washington, one senator said.Kennedy did not return to the Capitol on Friday, according to several senators, but placed a call to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "He told Harry Reid, 'Kennedy reporting for duty," West Virginia Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV said Saturday.

Kennedy aides did not return telephone calls or e-mails seeking comment on the senator's plans for the key vote or his arrangements for returning to and staying in the Washington area this weekend.

If he takes part in an expected Feb. 9 vote to limit debate on a compromise stimulus amendment hammered out Friday, it will be the first vote Kennedy has cast since Nov. 20, when he cast a procedural vote in favor of a bill to extend unemployment insurance (PL 110-449) -- and only his second Senate vote since he was diagnosed with the brain tumor in June. More votes on the stimulus are expected on Feb. 10.

In July, Kennedy received a standing ovation on the Senate floor when he returned from Massachusetts, where he was recovering from brain surgery, to cast a vote that ensured a Democratic victory on a bill blocking a cut in Medicare payments to physicians (PL 110-275). In early January, Kennedy presided over hearings of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that he chairs,Democratic senators started talking about Kennedy's return Friday, when Reid was still hoping to pass an economic recovery bill that night, and Kennedy's vote looked like it could make that possible.

(...) Rockefeller said he believes Kennedy is intent on taking part in the cloture vote. Kennedy's vote would actually put Democrats over the 60-vote threshold needed to end a GOP filibuster.

Democratic senators cited Kennedy's return as a reason to move quickly on the economic recovery package. "We have Sen. Kennedy, God bless him, who came here very sick," said Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill. "We want to give him a chance to vote and return to his doctor's care. . . . We're counting on his vote."

As chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Kennedy could also play a role in advancing the Obama administration's planned health care overhaul. Expanding health care has been a longtime goal of the senator, an early backer of Obama's presidential bid.

Several senators said Kennedy remains engaged through his staff in keeping track of discussions regarding health care and other issues. But Kennedy's illness has prompted questions about how he will balance the demands of his treatment schedule with the private meetings, hearings and markups that would be required to move legislation.

A Kennedy spokesman, Anthony Coley, said on Feb. 5 that Kennedy was "doing very well" but did not indicate when he might return to the Senate full-time. Coley said then that Kennedy was "continuing his treatment and physical rehabilitation in a warmer climate" and talking with his colleagues by phone and video conference about the planned health care overhaul and Cabinet nominees.

Friends in both parties said they believed Kennedy's veteran aides and his fellow se ators would be able to carry some of the load. "If he were to talk to nobody, everybody knows what he thinks. His presence is still large in the debate. And people are going to respond to that," Rockefeller said.

"The downside of his illness is that it takes away from the time he can put into working on issues," a senior Republican senator said. "But the upside is that he has a heck of a lot of good will around here. And that could help to move legislation."

Kennedy in Florida to work, recuperate from seizure

January 27, 2009

Senator Edward M. Kennedy is resting and working in Florida, his office said yesterday, since a seizure at a postinaugural luncheon in Washington last week.
The office said that Kennedy, who spent inauguration night in a Washington hospital for what a doctor called a seizure caused by simple fatigue, is combining work with rest in Florida, where he previously spent time recuperating from brain cancer treatment.
"The senator has returned to Florida where he's balancing his work with his treatment plan and getting some much needed rest," a spokeswoman said in a statement. Doctors urged the 76-year-old lawmaker to get some rest after the collapse during a luncheon to honor President Obama and Vice President Biden.
(...) There is no date for Kennedy's return to the Capitol. He has been closely involved with the Obama administration in shaping a major overhaul of the nation's healthcare system.

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Kennedy takes ill at luncheon

January 21, 2009

Senator Edward M. Kennedy suffered an apparent seizure yesterday that a doctor said was probably caused by "simple fatigue," inserting a dramatic turn of melancholy amid a triumphant celebration of the liberalism that Kennedy holds most dear.
Kennedy, who was diagnosed last spring with brain cancer after an initial seizure, was led from a post-inaugural congressional luncheon to an ambulance by medics and colleagues including Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts. He was taken to Washington Hospital Center, where the chief of neurosurgery said he was recovering while encircled by family.
Kennedy was expected to be released this morning after staying overnight for observation.
"I would be lying to you if I did not say that right now a part of me is with him," President Obama said at the luncheon after Kennedy left the room. "And I think that's true for all of us. This is a joyous time, but it's also a sobering time."
Less than two hours earlier, the Massachusetts Democrat had sat in a black fedora and sky-blue scarf feet away as Obama became the first black man to read the presidential oath taken by Kennedy's brother John nearly a half-century ago. For months, Kennedy had anticipated the historic occasion as the culmination of decades of his work on civil rights and immigration law.
Kennedy was "just beaming" in the hours before the inaugural ceremony, said Representative William Delahunt of Quincy. "He looked great. He was in a very happy, jocular mood."
After Obama's swearing-in, as Kennedy's press office released a statement declaring him "full of new hope," he joined other officials streaming off the viewing stand into the Capitol's Statuary Hall for a ritual lunch hosted by congressional leaders in honor of the new president. Kennedy was seated with other Senate veterans, including former vice president Walter Mondale, as he ate from a menu of pheasant and seafood stew prepared in honor of Abraham Lincoln's favorite foods.
Leading the table in conversation, Kennedy was in a "happy mood, regaling us with a few jokes," recalled Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. "And all of a sudden, he slumped his head like he was going into a seizure. . . . His teeth were clenched."
As the luncheon proceeded, Kennedy was removed in a wheelchair to another room to be treated, then taken to the ambulance in a stretcher.
Kennedy has been keeping an active schedule since his diagnosis last May, holding conference calls with his staff and working with other senators and Cabinet secretaries on healthcare matters. Despite worries about his condition, he insisted on flying to Denver in August for the Democratic National Convention, and delivered a rousing speech even after a bout with kidney stones the morning of his address.
(...) The white-haired lawmaker has shown a certain frailty in his return, using a cane owned by his father to steady his bad back. His hands and voice reveal a slight shakiness. Unlike in July - when a bloated and tired-looking Kennedy made a dramatic appearance on the Senate floor to cast the deciding vote on a Medicare funding bill - Kennedy this month allowed fellow senators to get close to him, accepting the hugs and handshakes doctors last summer had worried would be too much for his compromised immune system.
Yesterday's scare raised questions about whether the stubbornly hard-working lawmaker was exerting himself too much. Some people close to the senator were not happy with the idea of him sitting outside in the bitter January cold to see Obama take the oath of office, but Kennedy was determined to do so.
Yesterday morning, his color was strong, he was smiling, and he appeared spry as he made his way to the front of the Capitol for Obama's speech.
But the overwhelming emotional heft of the day - combined with the physical strain on an ill man - may have put too much of a burden on Kennedy. As he left the luncheon, Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia said that he assumed the "physical and emotional pressure" placed on Kennedy might have played a role in the seizure.
"I think it was more overexhaustion with the heat," said a waiter at the luncheon who asked not to be identified. "With the number of people in here and the food coming out, the temperature did increase a little bit."
Specialists say that it is not uncommon for patients with brain cancer to suffer seizures intermittently. Even if the patient, as in Kennedy's case, has had surgery to remove the tumor, the surrounding area in the brain remains abnormal. And the senator's tumor was in a brain region particularly prone to seizures. He was briefly hospitalized in late September after another seizure.
Seizures can happen for a number of different reasons - such as missed medication or dehydration - and do not necessarily signal that a tumor is getting worse, said Dr. Deepa Subramaniam, director of the Brain Tumor Center at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington.
Dr. Steven Schachter, an epilepsy specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and president of the American Epilepsy Society, said that in some patients, "certain situations may make it more likely that a seizure would occur, and stress - even happy stress, excitement - is one of those." Other contributing factors might include losing sleep and fever, said Schachter, who like Subramaniam is not treating Kennedy.
Even as Kennedy was being taken to an ambulance, close friends were heartened to see that he appeared to have full control of his most basic reflexes. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah took note of an "old Irish smile" breaking from Kennedy's lips, while Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut expressed relief that Kennedy found the energy to "bellow" that "he was resistant to any help."
"When he bellows," Dodd said, "he's usually in pretty good shape."

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Caroline Kennedy withdraws bid for US Senate seat

January 22, 2009

Caroline Kennedy announced early today that she was withdrawing from consideration for the vacant US Senate seat in New York, startling the political world after weeks in which she was considered a top contender for the post.
Yesterday, Kennedy called Governor David A. Paterson, who will choose a successor to former Senator Hillary Clinton, to inform him that she was no longer interested in the post.
"I informed Gov. Paterson today that for personal reasons I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the United States Senate," Kennedy said in a statement released by her public relations firm.
A person told of her decision said that Kennedy's concerns about the health of her uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, prompted her to withdraw. Senator Kennedy, who suffers from brain cancer, was hospitalized after suffering a seizure after the inauguration of Barack Obama Tuesday. He was released yesterday.
Caroline Kennedy believed that the job was hers if she would accept it, the person said, but aides to Paterson would not comment on whether that was true.
The news appeared to catch the governor off guard, throwing his administration into confusion and setting off conflicting news media reports.

After frantic talks between the governor's operation and Kennedy’s camp last night, Kennedy appeared to waver on whether to withdraw and was preparing a statement reasserting her interest in the job. But at about midnight, she decided to make clear she was taking her name out of consideration and released the statement saying so.
Kennedy's move comes nearly two months after she, along with several members of Congress and leading political officials, began lobbying the governor for the coveted Senate seat. She attracted relentless attention and was viewed by many as the most likely choice for Paterson, given her national stature and ties to the incoming Obama administration.
Kennedy had gained the support of some powerful backers in the state.
But her pursuit of the seat also set off resistance, with some local Democratic officials suggesting it smacked of entitlement.
Polls have showed voters preferring Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo for the position.
Paterson had planned to announce his selection on Friday or Saturday, but it was not clear how Kennedy’s move may affect the timing. The governor has been coy, and while he has praised Kennedy, he has also spoken approvingly of other candidates, including Cuomo and Representative Kirsten E. Gillibrand, who is beginning her second term in Congress from the Albany area.
Clinton resigned from the Senate yesterday, immediately after being sworn in as secretary of state. The governor has said that he would like to select a woman to succeed her, noting that if he were to choose a man, the number of female senators would drop to just 16.
Kennedy, 51, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, has never served in public office. The Senate seat was held by her uncle, Robert F. Kennedy, before his assassination.

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Kennedy Endorses Water Dog For Obama Family

Senator Ted Kennedy made an important political endorsement Tuesday.

Massachusetts' Senior Senator endorsed the Portugese water dog as the perfect pet for the nation's new first family.

President-elect Barack Obama made a very public promise to daughters Sasha and Malia the night he was elected. "You have earned the puppy that is coming with us to the White House," he said during his speech.

Ever since, speculation has abounded on what type of dog the first family would choose. The Obama's have said they need a dog that is hypoallergenic, because daughter Malia has allergies.

"A Portuguese water dog is the perfect choice for first dog," Kennedy said in a written statement. "The Obama girls -- and their parents -- will love a Portuguese water dog. They're loyal, smart, loving and they became a real part of the family. And they definitely do not shed."

Senator Kennedy and wife Vicki have three Portugese water dogs of their own. Sunny and Splash often accompany Kennedy to the Senate.

"They love being around people and being part of the action," he said.

The Kennedy's just added a third Portuguese water dog to the family, a puppy named Captains Courageous – or Cappy for short.

"I am proud to endorse the Portuguese water dog as the next First Dog of the United States," Senator Kennedy said. "They have a can do and hopeful spirit. They are smart. They are resilient. They are determined. They are optimistic. And they are tireless. Sounds like a perfect fit for the Obama Family and the Obama Administration."

Whatever dog the Obama's do choose, they have said the girls will be responsible for walking and cleaning up after their new pet.

Lifting veil of privacy, friends discuss Caroline Kennedy

When community groups and the Board of Education were caught in an acrimonious dispute over an arts program, education officials brought in a fixer: Caroline Kennedy.
The daughter of a president and niece of two senators listened attentively, asked probing questions and proposed various scenarios to resolve the dispute. Under her prompting, a compromise was reached.
"People were pushing themselves back from the table and folding their arms," recalled Stephanie Dua, chief executive officer of the Fund for Public Schools. "She was very good at defusing the situation. ... She has a very easy style about her but she’s very sharp."
The episode is an intriguing glimpse into how Kennedy might fill the role of U.S. senator if she is appointed to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In a series of interviews with The Associated Press, friends and colleagues of Kennedy painted a picture of a reserved but intelligent and tenacious woman who writes her own speeches and who, despite her vast wealth, still takes the subway.
Those interviewed did not provide an impartial view — but, with several speaking publicly for the first time about their relationship, they offered a rare look inside the private world of a woman America fell in love with decades ago as she rode her pony over the White House lawn.
___
Much was made of Kennedy’s decision last January to support Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, but she is no stranger to politics. Paul G. Kirk Jr. remembers meeting her at the age of 16 or so, soaking in as much as she could while on the campaign trail with her uncle Teddy.
She was "lively, engaged, inquisitive," said the family friend and former head of the Democratic Party. "She might hear two or three people ask the senator the same question if he was in a forum. They’d get back in the car, and she’d follow up."
By the time she was in Columbia University Law School more than a decade later, her intellectual curiosity, and her studiousness, still made an impression.
"She’s the A-plus student who does 110 percent," said classmate, friend and eventual co-author Ellen Alderman. "We were nerds ... the two Type A personalities who had worked very hard in school."
Inspired by some of their law school case studies, Kennedy and Alderman had a book proposal completed before they graduated. Soon they were traveling the country, interviewing people who had been caught up in civil rights cases for "In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action."
Kennedy was very good at putting their interviewees at ease, Alderman said. There was never any talk then of a political career, she said, but looking back she’s unsurprised.
"For me now it seems very natural," she said. "The most important part of the research we did was talking to people and listening to them. And she’s terrific on the legal end, on the analysis and the issues, and she’s terrific on the people end, on understanding how the law and government affects people every day."
___
Kennedy had her first daughter, Rose, around the same time she graduated from Columbia in 1988, and her professional life took shape around her children.
When Alderman became pregnant, she recalls, Kennedy became her "mommy mentor," showing her what she needed to pack a diaper bag, and giving her advice on work: "You can still do it, you’re just not going to have eight, 10, 12 hours at a time," Alderman recalls her saying.
Kennedy had help around the house, but she never delegated parenting — picking her three kids up from school and knowing who their friends were and where they were, said Esther Newberg, her friend and literary agent. Kennedy joined the board at her children’s school, and colleagues said she’d never attend a meeting if it meant missing a recital or another such event.
Kennedy’s friends and colleagues talk about what a remarkably "normal" life she lives, but one could argue they’re not the best judges. After all, her circle includes famous authors, a co-president of HBO, a former head of the Democratic National Committee, senators and the president-elect.
Kennedy’s finances — estimated by some at more than $400 million — never came up, Alderman said. The co-authors swapped who paid for dinner, and they flew coach. Kennedy has an assistant but does not use a driver, takes the subway around New York and books her own flights, friends said.
Her six-room apartment is at an exclusive address on Park Avenue where a larger unit was recently listed for $13 million. Friends describe it as a low-key place covered with books and decorated with slip-covered sofas.
Kennedy and her husband, museum designer Edwin Schlossberg, enjoy entertaining, frequently hosting buffet-style gatherings, Newberg said. Sometimes, he cooks.
Like thousands of New Yorkers, the couple hosted a debate-watching party the night of the face-off between vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. Talkative guests were shuffled into a separate room with a television so the true political junkies could hunker down in the den and hear every word.
When she wasn’t playing hostess, Caroline Kennedy chose the den.
___
Compared to the sharp-elbowed style common among New York politicians, Kennedy’s personality in a series of recent media interviews has seemed quiet, soft-spoken.
But those who have worked with Kennedy said her sometimes reserved demeanor could be misleading. More than one spoke of an instance where they had watched her listen carefully to each person’s point of view, then argue her point calmly but tenaciously, until she achieved her goal.
"If you aren’t as loud as I am, often people mistake that for not being effective and that’s just wrong," said Elaine Jones, the former president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where Kennedy served on the board. "I know how able, substantive and tough-minded Caroline is. Now others have got to see that in her. And she may have to project it."
While she never practiced law, Kennedy did heavy-duty research before board meetings and contributed to detailed legal debates over which cases would be selected by the NAACP fund, Jones said.
Kennedy also has been instrumental in selecting at least some of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award winners, who are honored for risking their careers to take a stand for their principles.
For the 2000 honor, she convinced the award committee to select a relative unknown, Hilda Solis, now the likely incoming secretary of labor, said Kirk, a committee member. Kennedy won the panel over with her argument that it was important to acknowledge lesser-known public servants so as to inspire others at every level of government.
Kennedy writes all her own speeches, says another longtime friend and colleague, Heather Campion. Preparing for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, speech writer and strategist Bob Shrum recounted handing her a draft of her speech, only to have her rewrite it from top to bottom.
Kirk said she seems to have taken to heart an oft-repeated family quote that she has included in her speeches again and again over the years: "Each of us can make a difference and all of us must try."
___
After years of focusing on her young children, Kennedy began to look for an alternative to the books on which she had been working.
"I’d like to work with people. Being a writer is a solitary job," she told Campion shortly before she went to work for the New York City Board of Education in 2002.
In her 22 months working three days a week at the agency, she was credited with raising tens of millions of dollars and revamping fundraising operations. Friends argue those fundraising skills would serve her well if she’s chosen as senator. Whoever is selected to fill Clinton’s seat would have to run for election to the seat in 2010, and — if successful — again in 2012.
Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama for the Democratic nomination came at a vital moment in his campaign, and friends said she loved campaigning and seemed invigorated by it.
"Presumably she could have had an appointment," said Campion, who at Kennedy’s request broke decades of public silence about their friendship. "There are a lot of great ambassadorships," Campion said she told Kennedy earlier.
There seemed easier ways to contribute without thrusting herself into the intensive public scrutiny that would come with a Senate bid.
But, Campion recounted, Kennedy was unconvinced by the warning.
She said: "But I want to make a difference ... and I love New York."

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