Lawmaker News

President Obama will not weigh in on whether he thinks the Massachusetts governor should be able to point a quick successor to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).

White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters at Martha's Vineyard on Thursday that the president prefers to leave the decision up to state officials.

"The decision of how Massachusetts will be represented in the United States Senate is up to the people and representatives of Massachusetts, and their governor," Burton said. "That's just not a scale that he's going to put his thumb on."

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has backed efforts pushed by the senator shortly before his death to appoint a quick interim senator to fill the vacancy before a special election could be held.

With the high-stakes debate over healthcare continuing this fall, a successor to Kennedy could be critical in determining the fate of reform Kennedy termed the cause of his life.

The White House declined to say how the senior senator's absence would affect the political calculus over healthcare, arguing that it would be inappropriate at this time.

"People are going to have discussions about this, but the president thinks today isn't the appropriate time to do that," Burton said.

The press secretary also described the personal role Kennedy had played with Obama, especially during the height of the presidential campaign.

"It was obviously incredible and immeasurable in some ways. He endorsed President Obama as a candidate at a time that provided a cannon burst for the campaign," Burton said. "It would be hard to replicate on any other way."

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) announced Thursday that he would not seek reelection to a fifth term in office, declining to run for any higher office in the immediate future.

"I will not seek another term as governor of Vermont," Douglas said during a press conference at Vermont's statehouse in Burlington.

"I know there will be some speculation about my future plans," Douglas quickly added. "I am not running for president. I'm not running for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House or any other office in 2010."

Douglas, a centrist Republican, has been elected to four two-year terms as Vermont's governor. National Republicans had sought to draw him into the Senate race in 2006, to run against then-Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for the open seat.

While Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is up for reelection in 2010, Sanders won't be up until 2012 -- leaving the slightest possibility open that Douglas could challenge the considerably less entrenched Sanders (relative to Leahy, at least) in that cycle.

Douglas cited a desire to hand over the reins of state government to someone new as part of his desire to decline reelection, noting that his first grandson had been born recently, and that he wished to spend more time with family after a grueling work schedule.

The family of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) set up a Twitter page late Wednesday night to distribute news about the funeral arrangements and memorials to supporters.

The family set up @kennedynews as "the Official Twitter account of the family of the late senator, Edward M. Kennedy," according to the biography of the account.

The family's Twitter page has also been tagging news on their tweets with "#tedkennedy".

The family has written three tweets:

This is the official account of the Kennedy family and staff. Will be used for info about memorial and funeral activities. #tedkennedy

Please RT - follow @kennedynews for official information about memorial and funeral activities for Senator Kennedy. #tedkennedy

Details about memorial events for Senator Ted Kennedy now live at tedkennedy.org http://bit.ly/KoQwn #tedkennedy Please RT

Cross-posted to the Twitter Room

The Senate has too many priorities on its agenda to handle "card check" legislation anytime soon, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday.

Reid told a lunch crowd at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would have to wait for the meanwhile.

"We have too many other things on our plate," Reid told the group, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The Senate is expected to focus intently on healthcare upon returning to Washington in September, with an intense climate change bill debate expected to follow before the end of the year.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka acknowledged earlier this week that EFCA would have to wait until after healthcare reform is finished, but it's unclear how long labor groups would be willing to wait for the Senate to take action on their top legislative priority.

Trumka had pledged to keep lawmakers accountable to pass the "card check" bill during a chat on the liberal blog firedoglake.

"We WILL PASS EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT legislation, we will not allow our 'friends' to pass on this essential part of an economic recovery solution!" he said.

The late Sen. Edward Kennedy's (D-Mass.) request to have a quick successor named to fill his Senate seat is a "reasonable request" that could make its was through the Massachusetts legislature quickly, Gov. Deval Patrick (D) said Thursday.

Patrick reiterated pledges he made Wednesday to sign a bill giving him the power to appoint an interim senator, and said he believed that state lawmakers may take up such legislation soon.

"I'm talking regularly with legislative leaders, and they're not, my sense is, in principle opposed to the idea," Patrick said during an interview on MSNBC. "There's a bill actually pending already. The thinking in the legislature is that they might take up the bill sooner" than had been thought, he added.

The proposal would reverse a 2004 law put in place by Democrats in the state house during the presidential election, fearing that then-Gov. Mitt Romney (R) would appoint a GOP candidate to replace Sen. John Kerry (D) in the Senate, should Kerry have won the presidency.

Patrick pointed out that he wasn't then in office, but that the bill to give him the power to appoint an interim senator between Kennedy's death and a special election was reasonable.

"I think it's a very reasonable request, and it was so like Sen. Kennedy to look ahead and around the corner," he said.. "Given the significance of the proposals before the Congress right now, I think it's important to have two senators."

One of Sen. Chris Dodd's (D-Conn.) potential Republican opponents next fall is calling on Dodd to reject the permanent chairmanship of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee.

Dodd had managed the HELP committee in the absence of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who passed away late Tuesday night, in addition to his responsibilities as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Republican state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, a GOP primary candidate to face off against Dodd, demanded the incumbent Democrat reject taking over the HELP committee.

"I am calling on Senator Dodd to decline the position of the HELP Committee Chairman, if it is offered to him," Caligiuri said in a statement. "He should be finishing the job he has barely started of fixing the financial sector problems that got us into this economic disaster in the first place, and not spending his time promoting ill advised health care legislation."

Dodd said earlier today in a teleconference that he wasn't sure what his status with the committee would be going forward, and that it would take a few weeks to sort it out.

"Only in Washington would someone who failed miserably at one crucial job be considered for taking the reins on another important front," Caligiuri said. "In typical DC fashion, Senator Dodd is all politics all the time, hoping to secure this new post to dust his past failures under the rug and forge ahead with yet more bad legislation."

A Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday stood behind former Vice President Dick Cheney's opposition to a preliminary Justice Department probe into interrogations of terror suspects that may have broken the law.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) made his remarks on Twitter today:

Cheney's right, thank God after 911 he was there instead of his detractors, lest America would have suffered even more terrorist attacks.

"The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions," Cheney said in a statement on Monday.

"President Obama's decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security," he added.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Monday that he will appoint career Justice Department prosecutor John Durham to open an investigation of several incidents in which terror suspects may have been tortured by government agents.

Cross-posted to the Twitter Room

Democrats will not use budget reconciliation to pass healthcare reform because it's too politically risky, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) suggested Wednesday.

Gregg said that while "many people are beating the drum" for reconciliation, parliamentary rules would likely result in lawmakers being forced to vote only for tax hikes and spending cuts, and very little actual health policy.

"I don't see that they will use reconciliation, because it's a weapon that will basically shoot themselves in the foot," Gregg said during a phone call into CNBC.

Budget reconciliation would be used to short-circuit Senate rules on a filibuster to pass healthcare reform with a simple majority instead of the 60 votes necessary to end a filibuster.

But the Senate parliamentarian could rule non-budgetary issues in the bill out of order, meaning lawmakers would only be left to vote on taxes and spending contained in the bill.

Gregg argued that reconciliation would leave a number of lawmakers too politically exposed for them to risk invoking the tactic.

"You can't put most of the policy in the bill, and you're going to make Senate members who vote for it -- and House members, for that matter -- vote for the taxes and vote for the spending cuts to Medicare, for very little of the policy," he said. "As a practical matter, I don't see it working."

President Obama ordered flags at all U.S. government buildings to be flown at half-staff until the end of Sunday in honor of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).

The president issued a proclamation on Wednesday afternoon making the official decree of mourning for the veteran senator, also ordering U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff on the day of Kennedy's burial.

It is not clear when Kennedy will be buried, though preliminary reports have suggested his body will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery, near the graves of his two brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.).

Obama said in the proclamation:

Senator Edward M. Kennedy was not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy. Over the past half-century, nearly every major piece of legislation that has advanced the civil rights, health, and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts. With his passing,an important chapter in our American story has come to an end.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) fired up the political chattering class Wednesday, telling a radio station he would approve a plan to appoint an interim successor to the late-Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) until a special election could be held.

"Massachusetts needs two voices," Patrick said during an interview with WBUR-FM radio, which was later picked up by The Associated Press.

Currently, Massachusetts requires a special election to be held between 145 and 160 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. The law was first enacted in 2004 by Democrats who wanted to prevent then-Gov. Mitt Romney (R) from appointing a successor to Sen. John Kerry (D), should he have won the presidential election.

Kennedy first pitched the idea in a letter to state lawmakers last week, failing to cull significant political support. Democrats, including Patrick, remained silent on the proposed revision, while Republicans excoriated Kennedy for using the succession rule to advance a partisan agenda.

Despite Patrick's now-vocal support, it remains unclear whether the revision will clear the state legislature. Among other obstacles, the governor's approval ratings have reached record lows, and some lawmakers seem fearful of extending the Kennedy dynasty, even if by proxy.

--Tony Romm