Kennedy's death leaves leader gap

WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers said Sunday that the best way for Congress to honor the late Sen. Edward Kennedy is to set aside the heated rhetoric of the health-care debate and pass a plan that cuts costs and extends coverage.

But a key Republican said Kennedy's death leaves Democrats without a leader capable of forging a bipartisan compromise.

Kennedy was long known as a personable senator who could engage in a blistering partisan debate one day and strike a deal with his adversaries the next. The liberal Democrat repeatedly worked with conservative Republicans to pass major legislation, including programs to expand health-care coverage for children and add a prescription drug benefit for older Americans on Medicare.

His absence, Democrats said, would be felt as lawmakers struggle to craft legislation aimed at cutting costs while providing coverage to the nearly 50 million Americans who lack it.

One longtime Kennedy friend and ally, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said lawmakers who want to honor the late senator should "put behind us the blistering days of August, enter the cool days of September, and start acting like senators again."

Many members of Congress have spent much of the August recess locked in a fierce debate over health care. It remains to be seen whether they get past those differences when Congress returns to work next week.

During the break, Democratic members of Congress have faced heated town hall gatherings across the country, with many of those attending hurling insults over Democratic plans to overhaul the nation's health-care system.

Dodd and other lawmakers close to Kennedy appeared on the Sunday morning news shows to remember the Massachusetts senator a day after his funeral Mass in Boston and his burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Northern Virginia.

Dodd said lawmakers who respect one another's opinions and are civil in their disagreements are more likely to reach legislative compromises.

"If you do all of those things, then you can achieve the kind of results that Teddy achieved and that the Senate as a body has achieved historically," Dodd said. "If you abandon civility, then you're going to be in trouble."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Kennedy's absence hurts the chances of Congress passing a health care plan.

Hatch, a conservative Republican, often differed with Kennedy on issues, but they were close friends who worked together on legislation.

"There is no other Democrat who could carry the base of the Democratic Party and get them to do what really has to be done in a compromise situation," Hatch said.

"He was able to acknowledge that he couldn't get everything he wanted through, but if he worked with us, he could get some things that were good. And, of course, I had to do the same."

Sen. Maria Cantwell, DWash., praised Kennedy's ability to reach compromises on major pieces of legislation, but she said lawmakers need to continue working to reduce the costs of health care.

"That was the magic of Sen. Kennedy, because he had the faith of the party loyalists, and they knew that he would always fight for them," Cantwell said. "And so when he went across the aisle to cut a deal with Orrin Hatch, as he did on the children's health-care initiative, or other policy, people knew that that was the best deal that could be cut."

Kennedy's illness meant he was absent from Congress for much of the past year, though his staff said he kept abreast of the health debate through frequent phone calls. Dodd, who temporarily took over from Kennedy as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told the panel that Kennedy was watching their debate on C-SPAN television and calling him daily to offer feedback.

Hatch and Dodd both said they would support Kennedy's widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, as an interim senator if Massachusetts allows a temporary appointment before a special election.

"Vicki ought to be considered," Hatch said. "She's a very brilliant lawyer. She's a very solid individual. I have nothing but great respect for her."

Current Massachusetts law requires a special election be held within five months to fill a seat that comes open before the end of a term.

Victoria Kennedy has said she's reluctant to serve, but she may change her mind after talking with her children and others, Dodd said.

The people of Massachusetts would welcome filling the seat, he said.

Dodd appeared on NBC's Meet the Press; Hatch appeared on CBS' Face the Nation and ABC's This Week.

Both appeared on CNN's State of the Union, as did Cantwell.

Information for this article was contributed by Nicole Gaouette and Jeff Plungis of Bloomberg News.