Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wrote a tribute song to Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), his close friend and colleague who passed away late last night.
According to Hatch's YouTube page, the song is entitled "Headed Home," and was recorded with the help of songwriter Phil Springer.
"Through the rainfall we can find a clear day/shoo the shadows and doubts away and touch the legacy that is ours/yours and mine and our children's for all time/Just honor him! Honor him! And everything will be a thing of the past," Springer croons.
"America! America! we're headed home/we're headed home/at last," he continues.
Hatch took to Twitter to share the song with his followers.
He said in consecutive Twitter messages "Cancer may have taken my friend, Ted, from us, but his legacy continues on. I wrote a tribute song to my friend Ted called 'Headed Home.'"
"Although Ted and I fought over politics most of the time, he was a passionate man who dedicated his life to public service...and did a lot of good for a lot of people. Ted will be greatly missed," he added.
Former President Jimmy Carter eulogized the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as a firm advocate for the disadvantaged while acknowledging that the 1980 Democratic primary between the two like handed Republicans the presidency.
"We've never seen anyone in the Senate that more assiduously and constantly and enthusiastically dedicated his life to trying to make sure that everything that the U.S. government decided was in the best interest of the people who were deprived of poor, neglected or felt the ravages of discrimination," Carter said during an appearance on CNN.
Kennedy challenged the incumbent President Carter during the 1980 presidential election. Carter managed to fend off Kennedy, only to go on to lose the presidential election to Republican candidate Ronald Reagan that fall.
Carter acknowledged the rift between the two men caused by the primary -- as well as the broader split within the party -- but said the two had long ago buried the hatchet.
"The Democratic Party division that was promulgated between the Kennedy group and mine never was healed during that summertime and the fall campaign," Carter said. "And that was one of the factors that was important in a general election."
"But after that occurred, and even before I went out of office, Ted Kennedy and I were completely reconciled as far as friendship was concerned," the former president added. "And since then, whenever I had a major problem that dealt with the Carter Center's business overseas or in any way related to health or welfare or the benefit of poor people in this country and others, I have called on Ted Kennedy as a friend and he's always been fully supportive."
Carter said he hoped that Kennedy's lifelong dedication to healthcare in the U.S. would be in the mind of senators as they take up legislation to overhaul healthcare this fall.
"I believe that would really be the culmination for the Kennedy family of acknowledging the great contribution that he's made to our country," he said.
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.
Officials so far are declining to comment on whether Sen. Edward Kennedy will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda.
Given Kennedy's prominent congressional role it is likely that the honor will be extended to his family, though officials with knowledge of such an offer are declining to comment on the matter other than to say that final arrangements have not been solidified.
"The family will make any announcement about services," said Terry Gainer, the Senate Sergeant at Arms. "The final decisions have not been made. The family and staff are working with the White House and Senate Leadership on the appropriate services."
Kennedy would be the 29th person to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda since Henry Clay, a former Speaker of the House, became the first in 1852. The honor - in which a casket or coffin is placed in the center of the Rotunda for public viewing - is reserved for presidents, members of Congress and military commanders.
Seven members of Congress have previously lain in state in the Capitol Rotunda - not including members who have gone on to become president or vice president.
Only three people who did not hold a political or military office have lain in honor in the Capitol Rotunda: Rosa Parks, and two U.S. capitol policemen - officer Jacob Chestnut and Detective John Gibson - who were killed in the line of duty in 1998 when a gunman stormed the Capitol.
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.
"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."
Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR), a group that has aired ads against the current healthcare reform proposals, announced on Wednesday that it would suspend its campaign in the wake of Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-Mass.) death.
CPR's decision demonstrates the respect Kennedy, a long standing proponent of health reform, garners in the debate over the legislation now being considered by Congress.
Here is CPR's statement:
With the sad news of Senator Kennedy's passing Conservatives for Patients Rights is immediately suspending our ad campaign for health care reform out of respect to the Kennedy family as well as the Senator's colleagues and supporters, to whom we extend our condolences. We know the debate will continue - a debate Senator Kennedy embraced with vigor - and we look forward to engaging in the debate in the months ahead. But now is a time for respect, reflection and remembrance. Senator Kennedy's lifetime of dedicated public service transcended multiple generations. His devotion to many issues and his relentless passion made him a hero to his supporters and worthy adversary to his opponents. His voice and presence will be missed.
Lawmakers and advocacy groups have already recognized the significant impact of Kennedy's death on healthcare reform. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who took over Kennedy's spot on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said "he fought to the very end for the cause of his life -- ensuring that all Americans have the health care they need."
Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern said "let us continue his cause. Let us take action this year to pass healthcare reform. And let us continue to build Kennedy's vision of America."
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.
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.
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