| August 26, 2009 Remembering U.S. Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy |
| Wednesday, August 26, 2009 9:01:21 AM - Middletown Ohio |
Posted By: Randy Lewis
Today the United States Senate lost arguable one its most recognizable faces and influential Senators to ever serve. Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy, the youngest of nine children born into a legendary political family, died just before midnight on August 25, 2009 at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, after battling a malignant brain tumor for more than a year.
Known as the "liberal lion of the Senate," he served for nearly 47 years, fighting for causes dear to his heart such as civil rights, welfare and healthcare. Kennedy was the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. More than 300 bills that Kennedy wrote have been enacted into law, and he was known for his ability to work with Republicans and to find compromises among Senate members with disparate view.
The long standing Senator played a major role in passing many pieces of legislation that have affected the lives of all Americans, including the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the National Cancer Act of 1971, the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, the COBRA Act of 1985, the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Ryan White AIDS Care Act in 1990, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the Mental Health Parity Act in 1996 and 2008, the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997, the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, and the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in 2009. During the 2000s, he was a leader of several failed efforts at immigration reform.
Kennedy served nine terms in the Senate (1962 - 2009) At the time of his death, he was the second most senior member of the Senate, after Robert Byrd of West Virginia, and the third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history. Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was 77 at the time of his death.
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