[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 144 (Wednesday, October 7, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S10212]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   REMEMBERING SENATOR TED M. KENNEDY

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, today we remember our colleague and our 
friend Senator Ted Kennedy. There are few people alive today whose 
lives have not been impacted by the work of Senator Kennedy.
  A brilliant legislator, Senator Kennedy championed bipartisanship and 
compromise to leave behind an incomparable record. In his 45 plus years 
in the U.S. Senate, he authored over 2,500 bills and several hundred 
became law. Today, people with disabilities cannot be discriminated 
against in the workplace because of Senator Kennedy. Women must be paid 
the same as men for the same work because of Senator Kennedy. And low-
income children have access to health care because of Senator Kennedy.
  Like his brothers before him, Senator Kennedy challenged young people 
across America and around the world to devote their lives to something 
more than just themselves and lead by example. Whether it was 
championing civil rights legislation in the 1960s, condemning apartheid 
in South Africa before it became politically popular to do so, 
promoting the need for early childhood education or advocating for 
health care, Senator Kennedy led the charge.
  Senator Hubert Humphrey once said that the moral test of government 
is how it treats those in the dawn of life, our children, those in the 
twilight of life, our older citizens, and those in the shadows of life, 
people with disabilities, the homeless, the dispossessed. Senator 
Kennedy took up the causes of these Americans as his own. The poor, the 
powerless and the forgotten lost an ever-faithful protector and their 
tireless advocate.
  On a personal note, I recall in early 2007, during my first weeks in 
the Senate, Senator Kennedy gave me and other freshman Senators floor 
time to speak about increasing the minimum wage. In early 2009, when I 
was named to the HELP Committee, Senator Kennedy called to welcome me 
to the committee and invited me to hold field hearings in Pennsylvania 
on issues like health care and education. I will never forget his 
courtesy and the respect he showed to fellow Senators.
  In closing, I am reminded of the words Senator Kennedy spoke about 
Mike Mansfield when the majority leader retired:

       No one in this body personifies more nearly than Mike 
     Mansfield the ideal of the Senate. Wisdom, integrity, 
     compassion, fairness, humanity--these virtues are his daily 
     life. He inspired all of us, Democrat and Republican, by his 
     unequalled example. He could stretch this institution beyond 
     its ordinary ability, as easily as he could shame it for 
     failing to meet its responsibility.

  The same can be said about Senator Kennedy. We will miss him in this 
Chamber, but we will never forget the lessons he taught us or the 
legacy he leaves behind.

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