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There would have been more progress made on healthcare legislation this year had the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) been able to participate in negotiations, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday.

McCain, memorializing his fallen Senate colleague during an appearance on CNN, said that talks over the bill would have certainly been more serious than they are now, had Kennedy had the chance to be involved.

"I think we may have made progress on this health care issue if he had been there," McCain said. "He had this unique capability to sit people down at a table together -- and I've been there on numerous occasions -- and really negotiate, which means concessions."

The healthcare bill that came out of Kennedy's former committee, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has stalled in the Senate as Republicans have been unwilling to compromise on elements of the legislation, most notably the inclusion of a public (or "government-run") option for Americans.

McCain said that the negotiations over the bill would have had more weight with Kennedy's involvement.

"I think we would have made great progress. I'm not positive...of the outcome, but I know there would have been serious negotiations," McCain said. "So far, there really has not been serious negotiations, in all due respect. And that would have happened."

McCain praised Kennedy's ability to keep his word on commitments and compromises, citing it as a vital trait in being able to pass through legislation.

Kennedy, of course, is being eulogized Wednesday as one of the all-time masters of the Senate, having authored more than 2,500 pieces of legislation during his decades as a senator from Massachusetts.

While Americans should honor the legacy of the Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), Republicans won't allow healthcare reform to proceed in the late senator's honor, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said Wednesday.

"Certainly people honor Sen. Ted Kennedy for all of his work," Hensarling, a top House Republican, said during an appearance on CNBC. "But at the end of the day, this is a democracy, and I think the voice of the people have been heard quite loudly in the month of August."

Lawmakers have already invoked Kennedy's memory in the right over healthcare reform that's been stalled in Congress.

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) said that health reform legislation should bear Kennedy's name, while other lawmakers and groups have made a similar push.

"I would hope that this would cause individuals -- especially on the Senate side, as well as us in the House -- to sit down like never before to try to make sure that we pass a bill in a bipartisan way, and do it in short order," Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said this morning, appearing alongside Hensarling on CNBC. "I think that would be a fitting tribute to Sen. Edward Kennedy."

Hensarling, a former chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, dismissed those appeals.

"I don't believe that's in the cards if anybody's listening to the American people, regardless of people's leadership, legacy, or passions," he said. "I hope that at the end of the day, people vote their conscience and their principles."

A visibly shaken Vice President Joe Biden mourned the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as a remarkable figure in the history of the U.S. Senate, as well as a close personal friend.

"Today we lost a truly remarkable man," Biden said in remarks Wednesday morning, at times choking back tears. "To paraphrase Shakespeare, I don't think we shall ever see his like again."

"We truly, truly are distressed by his passing," Biden said of himself and his family.

The vice president detailed his closeness to Kennedy as a member of the Senate throughout the decades, including the Massachusetts senator's extensive outreach to Biden after his wife and daughter were killed in an automobile accident shortly after Biden's election.

Biden also recounted his seat in the Senate being positioned literally across the aisle from Kennedy in the Senate, saying he was a "witness to history" every day the Senate was in session.

"Don't you find it remarkable that one of the most partisan and liberal members serving in the history of the Senate had...so many of his foes embrace him?" a mournful Biden asked.

The vice president had been to talk about the stimulus and recovery during remarks at the Department of Energy this morning, but waved off the event as planned.

"I quite frankly think it would be inappropriate for me to dwell too much on the initiative that we're announcing today, and not speak to my friend," he said. "I apologize for us not being able to go into more detail about the energy bill, but I just think for me it would be inappropriate today."

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the only senator to have served longer than the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), mourned his friend Wednesday, saying his "heart and soul weeps."

Byrd said he hoped healthcare reform legislation in the Senate would be renamed in memoriam of Kennedy.

"I had hoped and prayed that this day would never come," Byrd said in a statement. "My heart and soul weeps at the lost of my best friend in the Senate, my beloved friend, Ted Kennedy."

Byrd's wistful statement focused on the work accomplished with Kennedy during decades together in the Senate, and called on the healthcare bill before Congress to be renamed in honor of Kennedy.

"In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American," Byrd said.

Byrd, who has himself suffered infirmities keeping him from active participation in the Senate in recent months, famously wept when his younger colleague Kennedy fell ill with brain cancer last year.

Those emotions were again on display in Byrd's statement this morning.

"God bless his wife Vicki, his family, and the institution that he served so ably, which will never be the same without his voice of eloquence and reason," Byrd said. "And God bless you Ted. I love you and will miss you terribly."

The passing of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) late Tuesday night has quickly become a catalyst for healthcare reform among his mourners, seeking to follow through on what the late senator called "the cause of my life."

Supporters of the healthcare reform bills before Congress, on which Kennedy had placed his imprimatur, summoned the liberal senator's legacy on Wednesday in speaking about health legislation's prospects in the future.

"Senator Kennedy said that 'health care is the fight of his life,'" Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in his statement on Kennedy's death. "Today, we pick up the torch and recommit ourselves to health insurance reform."

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who took over Kennedy's spot as head of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee in the senator's absence, made note of Kennedy's legacy on healthcare.

The statements build on a perhaps obvious theme in statements by supporters of healthcare reform that will emerge today, drawing on Kennedy's cachet on healthcare to advance Kennedy's most prized legislative priority.

"He fought to the very end for the cause of his life -- ensuring that all Americans have the health care they need," Dodd said in a statement.

One of the top labor unions supporting health reform bills before the House and Senate also called on the Congress to "build on Senator Kennedy's vision of America" and pass healthcare reform.

"In Senator Kennedy

Hours after Sen. Edward Kennedy's (D-Mass.) passing from brain cancer at the age of 77, questions abound over who will succeed him, and how long that succession will take.

Massachusetts state law mandates that a special election be held to fill the vacant seat within 145 to 160 days of when the seat becomes vacant, placing the date of a potential special election between January 18, 2010 and February 2, 2010.

But with landmark healthcare legislation -- the trademark political issue of the late senator's lifetime -- in the balance in the Senate, Kennedy wrote Massachusetts lawmakers in recent weeks, urging them to reverse a 2004 law stripping the governor of the ability to appoint a nominee to succeed him quickly in the case of a vacancy.

"I therefore am writing to urge you to work together to amend the law through the normal legislative process to provide for a temporary gubernatorial appointment until the special election occurs," Kennedy wrote to Massachusetts lawmakers and top political officials in the state. Kennedy wanted the governor to be able to appoint a nominee, with the condition that any successor would give a personal commitment to not seek reelection in the following cycle.

The 2004 law was put in place by Democratic lawmakers in the statehouse in order to block then-Gov. Mitt Romney (R) from appointing a Republican successor to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), should Kerry have won the presidential election that year.

It's unclear whether or not state lawmakers could change the law after Kennedy's passing to allow Gov. Deval Patrick (D), a relatively unpopular incumbent, from appointing a senator.

Due to the long incumbencies of Kennedy and Kerry, the state of Massachusetts has not gone through a special election to fill a Senate vacancy since Kennedy himself was elected. Kennedy was elected in a November 1962 special election in a race to fill the vacancy left by his brother, President John F. Kennedy, who was elected president.

The current vacancy weighs on the prospects for healthcare legislation and a number of other legislative priorities for Democrats in the upper house. But some whip counts have long counted Kennedy -- along with another ailing Senate veteran, Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) -- as unable to vote, leaving congressional Democrats short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster, but prepared for the prospect of lawmaking in Kennedy's absence.

Outpourings of condolences have flowed since early this morning, after veteran Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) succumbed to brain cancer at the age of 77.

Lawmakers and political figures in both parties mourned the "Liberal Lion" of the Senate, and sent their best wishes to the Kennedy clan.

President Obama said:

Michelle and I were heartbroken to learn this morning of the death of our dear friend, Senator Ted Kennedy.

For five decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the civil rights, health and economic well being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts.

I valued his wise counsel in the Senate, where, regardless of the swirl of events, he always had time for a new colleague. I cherished his confidence and momentous support in my race for the Presidency. And even as he waged a valiant struggle with a mortal illness, I've profited as President from his encouragement and wisdom.

An important chapter in our history has come to an end. Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States Senator of our time.

And the Kennedy family has lost their patriarch, a tower of strength and support through good times and bad.

Our hearts and prayers go out to them today -- to his wonderful wife, Vicki, his children Ted Jr., Patrick and Kara, his grandchildren and his extended family.

The Kennedy family said in a statement:

We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it's hard to imagine any of them without him.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and wife Maria Shriver, a niece of Kennedy:

Maria and I are immensely saddened by the passing of Uncle Teddy. He was known to the world as the Lion of the Senate, a champion of social justice, and a political icon.

Most importantly, he was the rock of our family: a loving husband, father, brother and uncle. He was a man of great faith and character.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said:

Because of Ted Kennedy, more young children could afford to become healthy. More young adults could afford to become students. More of our oldest citizens and our poorest citizens could get the care they need to live longer, fuller lives. More minorities, women and immigrants could realize the rights our founding documents promised them. And more Americans could be proud of their country.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) said:

Today, with the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the American people have lost a great patriot, and the Kennedy family has lost a beloved patriarch. Over a lifetime of leadership, Senator Kennedy's statesmanship and political prowess produced a wealth of accomplishment that has improved opportunity for every American.

Senator Kennedy had a grand vision for America, and an unparalleled ability to effect change. Rooted in his deep patriotism, his abiding faith, and his deep concern for the least among us, no one has done more than Senator Kennedy to educate our children, care for our seniors, and ensure equality for all Americans.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), one of Kennedy's closest Republican friends in the Senate, said:

Many have come before, and many will come after, but Ted Kennedy's name will always be remembered as someone who lived and breathed the United States Senate and the work completed within its chamber. When I first came to the United States Senate I was filled with conservative fire in my belly and an itch to take on any and everyone who stood in my way, including Ted Kennedy. As I began working within the confines of my office I soon found out that while we almost always disagreed on most issues, once in a while we could actually get together and find the common ground, which is essential in passing legislation.

Former President George H.W. Bush said:

While we didn't see eye-to-eye on many political issues through the years, I always respected his steadfast public service - so much so, in fact, that I invited him to my library in 2003 to receive the Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service. Ted Kennedy was a seminal figure in the United States Senate -- a leader who answered the call to duty for some 47 years, and whose death closes a remarkable chapter in that body's history.

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan said:

I was terribly saddened to hear of the death of Ted Kennedy tonight.

Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised by how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family. But Ronnie and Ted could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another. In recent years, Ted and I found our common ground in stem cell research, and I considered him an ally and a dear friend. I will miss him.

My heart goes out to Vicki and the entire Kennedy family.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said:

I would like to extend our sympathies to the Kennedy family as we hear word about the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy. He believed in our country and fought passionately for his convictions.

Former President George W. Bush isn't to blame for the current budget situation, one freshman Republican lawmaker argued Tuesday.

"It's not George W. Bush's fault," conservative Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) argued during an appearance on a conservative radio news program.

Chaffetz blamed Democrats and insufficiently conservative Republicans in Congress in recent years for having driven up the deficit to record levels this year.

"This 'credit card Congress' has done absolutely nothing under Democratic control to curb spending," he said.

"Look, and I am very critical of the Bush administration, but fundamentally we need to remember that it's Congress that authorizes and spends money, not the president," Chaffetz added. "The reality is that Democrats have been in control -- and believe me, when the Republicans were in control, it was bad then -- but now it's literally four times worse than what it was, with no end in sight."

The first-term congressman's claims take a slightly different tack than the Obama administration, which saw its Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, argue in an interview with the Wall Street Journal posted today that the Bush administration was fundamentally to blame for current deficits.

The previous administration's failure to pay for tax cuts, an expansion in Medicare benefits, and extended military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan largely explain the current budget situation, Geithner asserted.

Republicans are have a "very good chance" of taking back control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said this week.

Cantor said concerns about Democratic control of the White House and both houses of Congress have driven Americans to increasingly back GOP candidates.

"The country feels better when there's a check and a balance," Cantor said in an interview with the conservative PajamasTV website. "That's why I think the Republicans in the House are poised to have a very good chance of taking back the House. It's the only chance to provide that check and balance."

Political prognosticators have forecast likely Republican gains in 2010, though few have predicted the Republicans picking up the 40 or more House seats necessary to wrest control from Democrats, who have been in charge since the 2006 elections.

"We have unfettered one-party rule. And part of what we're seeing...is people are tired of the status quo and business as usual," Cantor said. "People don't want an unbalanced approach."

The Virginia Republican said that Hollywood, usually considered a reliable Democratic base, could be an ally in rebuilding a Republican majority.

"It's still easier to run against Hollywood as a Republican, because the image is out there that everyone is to the left of the left here," Cantor explained. "But I know there are plenty of friends here, which is why we try and come here and say, 'Listen, we need your help.'"

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) slammed on Tuesday President Obama's mid-year budget review for making "assumptions that defy logic as much as his spending defies gravity."

The administration announced today that it increased the projected budget deficit to $9 trillion over the next decade from $7.1 trillion and estimated unemployment would pass 10 percent.

The fifth-term Republican implied that the estimate could be even worse, accusing the White House of using faulty assumptions to draft its estimate.

"Adding insult to gimmickry, President Obama's budget continues to assume that Congressional Democrats will allow 'stimulus' pet projects to expire, that a government take-over of health care will be budget neutral and that the economy will return to a roaring 3.2 percent growth next year," Issa said in a release.

He also hit at the administration's economic policies, saying that the Obama administration "vastly underestimated every aspect of our financial crisis: from unemployment to deficits, from mythical 'jobs saved or created' to projected economic growth."

Cross-posted to the Twitter Room