Linkmeister

O Good and Faithful Servant

A selective list of Senator Kennedy's legislative accomplishments:

• Immigration (1965) Kennedy managed the successful floor battle to pass the Hart-Celler Act that abolished quotas and lifted a 1924 ban on immigration from Asia.
• Cancer (1971) After rising to the position of majority whip in 1969, Kennedy and Rep. Paul Rogers, D-Fla., passed legislation establishing a federal cancer research program that quadrupled the amount spent fighting cancer.
• Women's Sports (1972) Kennedy was a key Senate backer of Title IX, a 1972 amendment requiring colleges and universities to provide equal funding for men's and women's athletics.
• Campaign Finance (1974) Joining with Sen. Hugh Scott, R-Pa., Kennedy sponsored the sweeping overhaul of ethics rules after Watergate limiting political donations and establishing public financing for presidential candidates.
• Anti-Apartheid (1986) After President Ronald Reagan vetoed economic sanctions banning the purchase of gold, coal, iron and other goods from the apartheid government of South Africa in 1986, Kennedy spearheaded the bipartisan effort in both houses to override the veto.
• Family Leave (1990) Kennedy and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., authored the Family and Medical Leave Act requiring businesses to provide unpaid leave for family emergencies or after the birth of infants. It was signed by President Clinton in 1993.
• Health care (1996) Kennedy joined with Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, in 1996 to pass the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act, which allowed employees to keep health insurance after leaving their job and prohibited health insurance companies from refusing to renew coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.
• Minimum Wage (1996) Kennedy was the lead Senate sponsor of legislation increasing the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15. He reprised this role in 2007, after Democrats retook Congress, quarterbacking the effort to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 by 2009.
• Education (2001) Over the objections of some fellow Democrats, Kennedy helped pass President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act in 2001.

Damn. We should all do half as much.