Passing of Ted Kennedy Impacts Senate Schedule

The passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) will not just impact the health care debate he so passionately was a part of for half a century, but will reverberate to other issues as well. The loss of Kennedy leaves the Democrats with 59 votes in the Senate, one short of a filibuster-proof majority, until a special election is held in January.  Prior to his death, Democrat leaders had threatened to use a seldom-used procedural maneuver to pass health care reform without Republican support. It is not yet clear how the loss of Kennedy will play into the possibility of leaders using this procedure or if Democrats will work on getting bipartisan support. Kennedy had chaired the Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee which will be responsible for crafting much of the health care legislation in the Senate. Kennedy was the lead sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act which had stalled in the Senate because it was unable to attract the 60 votes needed for cloture.  Among other major issues that he worked on were education and immigration.