Remember Senator Edward M. Kennedy

Floor Speech

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Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, as I look around this Chamber, I see men and women of remarkable talents and abilities. I also have a strong sense, we all do, that there is a tremendous void now in our midst. A very special Senator, a very special friend, a Member who played a unique role within this body for nearly a half century is no longer with us.

We have had many glowing and richly earned tributes to Senator Ted Kennedy over these last couple of weeks. He was not only the most accomplished and effective Senator of the last 50 years, he was truly one of the towering figures in the entire history of the Senate. Yet for all his accomplishments, for all the historic bills he authored and shepherded into law, for all the titanic battles he fought, I will remember Ted Kennedy first and foremost as just a good and decent human being.

I remember his extraordinary generosity, his courage, his passion, his capacity for friendship and caring, and, of course, that great sense of humor. I remember one time I was in my office and we had a phone conversation. It was about a disagreement we had. It was right at St. Patrick's Day so we were having this discussion on the phone and tempers got a little heated. I think I was holding the phone out about like this. He probably was too. I think our voices got raised to a very high decibel level, sort of yelling at each other, and pretty soon we just hung up on each other.

I felt very badly; I know he did too. So several hours later, when I came on the Senate floor and I saw Ted at his desk, I went up to him, I pulled up a chair next to him. He would get that kind of pixie smile on his face, have a twinkle in his eye.

I said: Ted, I'm sorry about that conversation we had. I should not have lost my temper as I did. I said: My staff is a little concerned about our relationship.

He sort of got that great smile and chuckled. Well, he said, forget about it. I just told my staff that is just the way two Irish men celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

That is just the way he was. He could disarm you immediately and you would move on. He had a great disarming sense of humor.

Ted came from a remarkable family--so many tough breaks, so many triumphs, so many contributions to our Nation--both in war and in peace. Ted and his siblings were born into great wealth. They could have lived lives of luxury and leisure, but they chose instead to devote themselves to public service. They devoted themselves to making the world a better place for others, especially those in the shadows of life.

There are so many things I could focus on this morning in my brief remarks, but I want to focus on just one aspect of Ted Kennedy: all that he did to improve the lives of people with disabilities in our country. I thought about this: With the death of Eunice Kennedy Shriver on August 11, and all she did to found the Special Olympics now being carried on by her son Tim, then the death of Ted on August 25, people with disabilities in this country lost two great champions.

Their sister Rosemary lived her entire life with a severe intellectual disability. The entire Kennedy family is well acquainted with the joys and struggles of those with disabilities. Those of us who were in the church in Boston

at the funeral--and those probably watching on television--heard the very eloquent speech by Teddy Jr. about his battle with cancer at a young age, losing his leg and his confronting his disabilities, and how Ted helped him get through that.

In 1975, Senator Kennedy helped to pass what is now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act--IDEA. In 1978 he passed legislation expanding the jurisdiction of the Civil Rights Commission to protect people from discrimination on the basis of disability. In 1980 he introduced the Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons Act, protecting the rights of people in government institutions, including the elderly and people with intellectual and mental disabilities.

Nineteen years ago he was one of my most important leaders and partners in passing the Americans with Disabilities Act--1990. I will never forget, after I had been in the Senate for 2 years, Republicans were in charge, and then in 1986 Democrats came back, took charge, and Senator Kennedy wanted me on his education and health committee. I sort of played a little hard to get.

I said: Well, maybe, but I am really interested in disability issues. He knew about that. He knew about my work on some of the stuff I had done in the House before I came here, especially for people with hearing problems. I said I would like to come on his committee, but I said I would be interested in working on disability issues.

He got back to me and said: Tell you what, I have the Disability Policy Subcommittee and you can chair it.

I am a freshman Senator. He didn't have to do that for me. I was astounded at his great generosity. So I have always appreciated that. He had already had this great, extensive record on disability issues. Yet he let me take the lead. Then when the Americans with Disabilities Act came up, he could have taken that himself. He was the chairman of the committee.

As I said, he had this long history of championing the causes of people with disabilities. Yet he knew how passionately I felt about it, and he let me author the bill. He let me take it on the floor. He let me be the floor manager of it and put my name on it. He didn't have to do that. He was the chairman. He could have had his name on it. He could have floor-managed it. But he let me do it in spite of the fact that I was just a freshman Senator.

He was an indispensable leader in bringing disparate groups together to get the Americans with Disabilities Act passed. I will never forget that great act of generosity on his part in letting me take the lead.

Ted always insisted that our focus should be not on disability but on ability; that people with disabilities must be fully included in our American family. Americans with disabilities had no better friend, no tougher fighter, no more relentless champion than Ted Kennedy.

Yesterday I accepted the chairmanship of the Senate HELP Committee, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. It is a great honor and a great challenge and, I must add, somewhat daunting to carry on the legacy of Senator Ted Kennedy. He dedicated his life to making our economy work for all Americans, to secure a quality education for every child and, of course, securing quality, affordable health care for every citizen as a right and not a privilege.

In the Democratic cloakroom, there is a page from the Cape Cod Times with a wonderful picture of Ted and a quote from him. Here is the quote:

Since I was a boy I have known the joy of sailing the waters of Cape Cod and for all my years in public life I have believed that America must sail toward the shores of liberty and justice for all. There is no end to that journey, only the next great voyage.

We have heard many eloquent tributes to Senator Kennedy.

But the tribute that would matter most for him would be for his colleagues to come together, on a bipartisan basis, to pass a strong, comprehensive health reform bill this year.

It is time for us to sail ahead on this next great voyage to a better and more just and more caring America. So as we sadly contemplate the empty desk draped in black, we say farewell to a beloved colleague. He is no longer with us, but his work continues. His spirit is here. And as he said, the cause endures.

May Ted Kennedy rest in peace. But may we not rest until we have completed the cause of his life, the cause he fought for until his last breath, ensuring quality, affordable health care for every American.

I yield the floor.

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