Durbin Remembers Ted Kennedy

Illinois Radio Network

An Illinois senator is praising the work done by U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who died Tuesday night of brain cancer.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says Kennedy had a big impact on America. "There is hardly a major piece of legislation that hasn't had his imprint," Durbin said, speaking via phone from France. "I don't know that anyone in the history of our country is liable to be able to have touched as many lives as Ted Kennedy did as a U.S. senator."

Kennedy had been undergoing treatment for a cancerous brain tumor since it was diagnosed last year. He made a surprise return to the Capitol last summer to cast the decisive vote for the Democrats on Medicare. He was there again in January to see Barack Obama sworn in as president, though Kennedy suffered a seizure at a luncheon afterward..

Meanwhile with the loss of Kennedy, the Senate has lost a key supporter in the fight for health care reform. "We have known for months that Ted was not likely to return," Durbin said. "While we had 60 votes on paper, we knew that we only had 59. We have been prepared for this. It makes it more difficult, more challenging, but the sad reality is that Ted has not been in any shape to come and help us for a long time."

Tributes to Kennedy are coming from political leaders from both parties. Vice President Joe Biden, a longtime Kennedy colleague in the Senate, says Kennedy restored his "sense of idealism" and his "faith in the possibilities of what this country could do." Ex-President George H.W. Bush calls Kennedy "a seminal figure in the United States Senate."

Link to article