The Kennedy family is the only one to send three brothers to the U.S. Senate, and the fallen trio now has one of the most historic rooms on Capitol Hill named in their honor.

Without dissent, the Senate approved a resolution on Monday to rename the Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building “The Kennedy Caucus Room.”

Measuring 74 feet by 54 feet, the Russell Room is one of the oldest and largest Senate assembly rooms outside the U.S. Capitol. Featuring three chandeliers, it has hosted hearings on the sinking of the Titanic cruise ship (1912), the Watergate scandal (1973), and the explosive confirmation hearings for then Supreme Court-nominee Clarence Thomas that involved charges of sexual harassment (1991).

Edward Kennedy, one of the most effective U.S. lawmakers ever, died of cancer last month following nearly a half century in the Senate. In 1962, he was elected to the Senate seat earlier held by his older brother, President John Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.

Five years later, Robert Kennedy — elected to the Senate after serving as President Kennedy’s U.S. attorney general — was assassinated during his own run for the White House.

Earlier this year, in the same room, the Senate health committee, which Edward Kennedy had chaired, approved a bill that became an initial marker in the mushrooming battle to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system.

“May the Kennedy Caucus Room stand as a monument to three brothers who devoted their considerable talent and energy to serving the country that they loved, and that loved them back,” said Senator Chris Dodd, a chief sponsor of the resolution.

He warned that the U.S. government must not be in a position to “pull the plug on grandma.”

But Senator Charles Grassley, a leading Republican who could be key to President Barack Obama’s hopes of overhauling healthcare, acknowledged on Sunday that so-called “death panels” weren’t really a possibility anyway.

Grassley, the leading Republican in the Senate Finance Committee, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that his well-publicized comment about pulling the plug was only meant to convey the fears of voters.

“It won’t do that. But I wanted to explain why my constituents are concerned about it,” Grassley said.

He was quoted saying earlier this month that “You have every right to fear. You shouldn’t have counseling at the end of life, you should have done that 20 years before. Should not have a government run plan to decide when to pull the plug on grandma.”

He struggled a bit when asked to explain why he made the comments in the first place: “I said that because — two reasons. Number one, I was responding to a question at my town meetings. I let my constituents set the agenda. A person that asked me that question was reading from language that they got off of the Internet. It scared my constituents…”

Obama expressed outrage on Saturday about persistent rumors about the government-run “death panels” — an issue most notably raised by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who was the Republican vice presidential nominee last year.

“As every credible person who has looked into it has said, there are no so-called ‘death panels’ — an offensive notion to me and to the American people,” Obama said. “These are phony claims meant to divide us.”
The issue stems from a provision in a House of Representatives bill that would have provided government funding for optional counseling on end-of-life care issues such as hospice.

Obama’s healthcare plan has been hit from both sides, with liberal members of his own party pushing for major changes while Republicans and conservative Democrats fret about cost and government involvement. The debate likely will intensify next month when Congress returns from its summer recess.

Do you think Grassley’s acknowledgement will help end the debate over death panels?

For those holding out hope that healthcare reform and climate change legislation would not squeeze out efforts to overhaul the broken U.S. immigration system this year, think again.

At the “Three Amigos Summit” in Guadalajara, Mexico, President Barack Obama all but ruled out legislation passing this year, particularly since his top initiative — healthcare — has been put off until September and there still remains work to be done on climate change. And, oh yes, fixing the U.S. financial regulatory system too.

“That’s a pretty big stack of bills,” Obama told reporters alongside Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “I would anticipate that before the year is out, we will have draft (immigration) legislation, along with sponsors potentially in the House and the Senate who are ready to move this forward.”

“And when we come back next year, that we should be in a position to start acting,” he said, adding that it would require bipartisan cooperation — of which there has been little lately in Congress.

Obama repeated his desire for reforming the immigration system in a way that bolsters border security, creates a system to permit people into the United States and gives the 12 million illegal immigrants a way to eventually become citizens.

New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, who chairs the Senate immigration subcommittee, has said he would like to try to get immigration legislation done this year but has previously acknowledged it would be a tough slog to do that given everything else on the agenda.

The ranking Republican, Texas Senator John Cornyn, has pressed the administration to offer specifics about its plan for reform before Congress acts.

Click here for more Reuters political coverage.

- Photo credit: Reuters/Tomas Bravo (A U.S.-Mexico border crossing)

Nine months after losing the U.S. presidential election to Democrat Barack Obama, Republican John McCain is still taking center stage to voice disagreement with his former U.S. Senate colleague.

On Monday, McCain announced in a Senate speech that he would vote against Obama’s first U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, a federal judge for the past 17 years.

“She is an immensely qualified candidate,” McCain conceded.

But he added: “I do not believe that she shares my belief in judicial restraint.”

Echoing the concerns of a number of Senate Republican leaders, McCain complained she has ruled based not strictly by the law but also personal beliefs.

Despite a wall of Republican opposition, Sotomayor seems virtually certain to be confirmed this week by the Democratic-led Senate.

The American Bar Association gave Sotomayor its top rating, she has been supported by a number of law enforcement groups, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which often sides with Republicans, urged the Senate to confirm her, saying her record shows that she would be fair to business.

McCain said he monitored Sotomayor’s testimony at her Senate confirmation hearing last month. He said liked what he heard, but didn’t necessarily believe it.

“She clearly stated that ‘as a judge, I don’t make law.’ While I applaud this statement, it does not reflect her record as an appellate court judge.”

“As an appellate court judge, Judge Sotomayor has been overturned by the Supreme Court six times,” McCain said.

McCain lost to Obama after issuing countless warnings about the now popular president. He put out another warning on Monday — this one to fellow lawmakers.

“The American people will be watching this week when the Senate votes on Judge Sotomayor’s nomination. She is a judge who has forsworn judicial activism in her confirmation hearings, but who has a long record of it,” McCain said.

“If she uses her lifetime appointment on the bench as a perch to remake law in her own image of justice, I expect that Americans will hold us senators accountable,” McCain said.

Photo credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (Obama and McCain talk at a recent meeting)

President Barack Obama is pushing hard to get health care reform back on track after it veered a bit off course while he was in Europe last week.

He has spent the better part of the week pushing the issue. First he went after “nay-sayers and cynics,” warning them “don’t bet against us.”

“I just want to put everybody on notice, because there was a lot of chatter during the week that I was gone: We are going to get this done,” he said. “Inaction is not an option.”

Then he stood with nursing leaders in the Rose Garden and tried to buck people up.

“It’s time for us to buck up Congress, this administration, the entire federal government to be clear that we’ve got to get this done,” Obama said. “Our nurses are on board. The American people are on board. It’s now up to us.”

The last couple of days he has been meeting with lawmakers, listening to their concerns about the legislation and prodding them to action — not always to good effect.

Maine Senator Olympia Snowe said she told the president Thursday his goal of passing a bill early August wasn’t realistic.

“It is important for us to take the time to work through these issues,” she said after a White House visit. “I thought it was overly ambitious to accomplish passing it on the Senate floor before the August recess.”

Obama would like the House and the Senate to pass their versions of the legislation before beginning a month-long break in early August.

That would put them on track to reconcile the two measures in September and send Obama a final bill by his target date of mid-October.

One big hitch is how to pay the $1 trillion 10-year price tag.

Obama wants to pay for it primarily by wringing savings out the current system, which costs $2.4 trillion annually, twice that of any other nation. He’s suggested hundreds of billions in cuts and savings.

If additional revenue is needed, he has proposed reducing itemized tax deductions for those earning over $250,000.

The House measure would impose a tax on families with incomes greater than $350,000. The tax begins at 1 percent and hits 5.4 percent for millionaires. It would raise $544 billion over 10 years.

Some senators favor taxing more lavish employer-paid health insurance benefits. Workers are not currently taxed on payments their employers make for health insurance, which makes it a popular benefit. Obama opposes taxing insurance benefits, so the Senate is not considering other tax measures.

What do you think? Are we moving too fast on health care reform, and what’s the best way to pay for it?

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Photo credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (Obama boards Marine One on Thursday)

Senate Democrats will take up healthcare again today after a tough week.

Republican opposition is building after independent auditors estimated their initial efforts could cost more and cover fewer than initially hoped, reducing the chance of winning the bipartisan support that could ensure that any reforms will last.

Republican Sen. John McCain gave Reuters a grim prognosis last Friday and said the next few days will determine whether the effort succeeds or fails.

But Democratic Sen. Max Baucus still thinks he can get a bipartisan bill to President Obama by the end of the year.

Today, the Senate Health Committee, which is working on a bill that is likely to be less Republican-friendly than Baucus’s effort, will resume work on its bill at 3 p.m.

Folks at the White House have healthcare on the agenda today as well.

President Obama will sign a bill that establishes significantly tougher tobacco regulations in a Rose Garden ceremony.

And Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and two other White House officials appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to rebut Republican claims that their plan will lead to greater bureaucracy and a reduced level of care.

photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (Obama apeaks tothe American Medical Association in Chicago, June 15)

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Sure it’s a long way before the November 2010 U.S. congressional election — and a lot can happen between now and then. But at this point, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada seems to be in jeopardy of becoming the second Senate leader in a half century to be voted out of office.

A poll released on Tuesday by the Las Vegas Review-Journal found that half of Nevada voters had an unfavorable view of Reid, while 38 percent had a favorable view, the newspaper said.

Reid won reelection in 2004 to a fourth term with 61 percent of the vote. But his approval ratings have since slipped. He became Senate Democratic leader in 2005, and majority leader in 2007.

“Harry Reid could be in trouble,” said Jennifer Duffy, who tracks Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington.

Duffy said Reid faces the dangers of being a Senate leader while his party controls the White House.

“You have to be in tune with the White House as well as your constituents,” Duffy said.

Still, Duffy said, she now rates his race as “likely Democrat.” But she noted that’s largely because Reid doesn’t yet have a Republican opponent.

The statewide poll of 625 Nevadans was conducted by telephone last week by the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc., for the Nevada newspaper. With Democrats now holding 59 of 100 Senate seats, Reid could lose and his party could still end up retaining control the chamber in next year’s election.

Senate leaders are among the most powerful members of Congress and have routinely won their reelection. But in recent years they have faced unhappy constituents. Polls showed Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in trouble much of last year. He rallied down the stretch, however, and won a fifth term with 53 percent of the vote.

Democrat Tom Daschle of South Dakota was the last Senate leader to be ousted. He was unseated in 2004 as a top target of Republicans who branded him “the chief obstructionist” to then President George W. Bush’s conservative agenda.

Reid’s campaign manager brushed off the new Nevada poll.

“The primary number Senator Reid is worried about is Nevada’s 10.4 percent unemployment rate, and that’s why he’s focused on fixing the economy and creating jobs in Nevada,” Brandon Hall was quoted as saying by the Review-Journal. “Polling numbers move up and down. The only poll that really matters is on Election Day.”

REUTERS/Jason Reed      (U.S. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada)

Senator Arlen Specter, who has had some rocky times since switching from the Republican to Democratic party last week, had a really good day on Thursday.

Specter gained some power — the chairmanship of a Senate subcommittee — and lost a potential and powerful reelection foe, former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge.

“After careful consideration and many conversations with friends and family and the leadership of my party, I have decided not to seek the Republican nomination for Senate,” Ridge said in a statement.

Earlier on Thursday, Senate Democrats, who had stripped Specter of committee seniority this week, turned around and gave him the chairmanship of a Judiciary subcommittee on crime and drugs. 

“I want Senator Specter to feel welcome in our caucus,” said Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, the Democrat who surrendered the chairmanship to make way for Specter. 

“It is something I’d like to do,” Specter said. 

Specter riled members of both parties last week in becoming the chamber’s newest Democrat.

Former Republican colleagues accused him of abandoning them merely to improve his chances for reelection to a sixth term in his increasingly Democratic state.

And Democrats were peeved by some of his initial action as their newest colleague.  Specter voted against President Barack Obama’s $3.4 trillion budget plan and opposed a Democratic bid to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

He also joked that Republican Norm Coleman may end winning the contested Senate race in Minnesota and denied a report he had told President Barack Obama “I’m a loyal Democrat.”

On Tuesday, Democrats stripped Specter of committee seniority and the Pennsylvania Democrat cried foul.

Specter said Senate Majority leader Harry Reid had assured him that he would maintain seniority if he became a Democrat.

Democratic aides, however, insisted Reid told Specter that the matter would be decided by the full Senate Democratic caucus, and would be revisited after the 2010 election.

An upbeat Specter said on Thursday, “I’m confident that the seniority will be restored in due course.”

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst.  (President Barack Obama and Senator Arlen Specter at the White House)

Democrat Al Franken went to Washington on Wednesday — but not to to claim the Minnesota Senate seat Republican incumbent Norm Coleman lost in the November election. Franken, a comic turned politician, called on Vice President Joe Biden at the White House to talk about policy issues and the still-unresolved Minnesota contest he hopes will end with a win for the Democrats.

“Minnesotans are eager to see Congress make progress on the administration’s agenda and I’m eager to do my part in that effort,” Franken said after his meeting with Biden.

He’s going to have to wait a while. A state court ruled last month that Franken should be certified the winner of the Minnesota Senate race.  But it’s far from over. The widely anticipated ruling merely signaled the end of another round in a long-running battle. Coleman’s legal challenge continues — and he has said he may take his case all  the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

For more Reuters political news, click here.

File photograph of Franken, Eric Miller/Reuters

A week after switching parties, former Republican-turned-Democratic U.S. Senator Arlen Specter has suffered the political equivalent of a kick in the pants.

The action — stripping him of Senate seniority — isn’t expected to change the outcome of any pending legislation. But it puts Specter on notice he must earn his Democratic stripes.

The figurative boot in the butt was administered on late Tuesday by Senate Democrats, who have been irritated by many of Specter’s initial moves as a member of their party.

Since leaving the Republican ranks, Specter has voted against President Barack Obama’s $3.4 trillion budget plan and opposed a Democratic bid to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. He also joked that Republican Norm Coleman by end up winning a contested Senate race in Minnesota and denied a report that he had told President Barack Obama “I’m a loyal Democrat.”

“Specter hasn’t done himself any favors the past week,” a top Democrat said.

In changing parties last week, however, Specter, 79, first elected to the Senate in 1980, told reporters he would continue to break party ranks when he sees fit.

He also said that Senate Majority leader Harry Reid had assured him that he would retain his seniority.

But the full Democratic-led Senate, on a voice vote on Tuesday, made Specter the chamber’s most junior Democrat.

“Let’s face it. Specter isn’t a warm and fuzzy guy, the type you go out of your way to help out,” said a top Democrat.”Specter now has a year and a half to make his case to his new Democratic colleagues.”

Senate Democrats have indicated they will revisit Specter’s seniority after the 2010 election, when the Pennsylvanian will be up for a sixth term.

Specter said in a statement on Wednesday: “Some members of the (Senate Democratic) caucus have raised concerns about my seniority, so the caucus will vote on my seniority at the same time subcommittee chairmanships are confirmed after the 2010 election.”

“I am eager to continue my work with my colleagues on the various committees on which I serve and will continue to be a staunch and effective advocate for Pennsylvania’s and the nation’s priorities,” Specter said.

REUTERS/Larry Downing   (Sen. Arlen Specter’s name plate sits on a desk)