This is for my friend Ted Kennedy

Source: Washington Life Magazine

Every “aye” vote in the Senate remains critical for the final passage of health care reform, and Senator Byrd’s health is described as fragile. Earlier this year he spent six months in the hospital with a staph infection, and he has used a wheelchair for his recent trips to the Senate to cast important votes.
The New York Times reports on the Senator’s most recent vote on health care reform:
“When the roll was called Thursday morning, the mood was solemn as senators called out ‘aye’ or ‘no.’ Senator Robert C. Byrd, the 92-year-old Democrat from West Virginia, deviated slightly from the protocol. ‘This is for my friend Ted Kennedy,’ Mr. Byrd said. ‘Aye!’ ”

Senator Kennedy, “with us in spirit,” voted “present”

Senator Kennedy died this past August. In a September address to Congress, President Obama read from a letter the Senator left him. Kennedy wrote that he was “confident in these closing days that while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the president who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society.” So far, it looks like Kennedy’s confidence was well placed.
The Senator’s widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, was present in the Senate to observe the voting this week. Senators read aloud from an op-ed article she had recently written for The Washington Post: “I humbly ask his colleagues to finish the work of his life.”
There were many references to Senator Kennedy over the past few weeks of debate and voting in the Senate. In yesterday’s 1:00 AM vote, at least two Republicans used the names of both John and Ted Kennedy to speak against the bill. This prompted a remark from Senator Baucus: “It is disrespectful — it is unseemly — for senators in this body to invoke the names of Ted Kennedy and Jack Kennedy in opposition to this bill.”
The general consensus is that Ted Kennedy was present in the Senate chamber in spirit during the vote. As Dana Milbank put it: “The final count was 60 to 39. By all accounts, the senior senator from Massachusetts, Edward M. Kennedy, voted present.”
Related posts:
Kennedy’s posthumous letter, Obama on American character, a Congressman’s apology
Should Obama have pitched health care differently? Will Kennedy’s death make a difference?
Edward Kennedy: Healthcare is a fundamental right, not a privilege