Kennedy's Legacy of Legislative Success
Obama called Ted Kennedy one of the 'most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy'
When Sen. Ted Kennedy died last week at the age of 77, the Massachusetts Democrat left behind a career as one of the most effective leaders in Congress. During his 46 years as a senator, the third longest of any senator in history, he helped craft legislation that profoundly reformed everything from the country's racial makeup to the federal government's role in education. That's not to say that he, or even Democrats, should be given all the credit, as much of his legislation was undertaken with Republicans in power. Below are some of his most important legislative accomplishments:
1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. The then freshman served as the floor manager for the bill, which overturned the immigration quota system that had favored Europeans. Immigrants now were prioritized based not on race but on skills and family ties. One result: an enormous shift in the ethnic makeup of America by the end of the 20th century.
1968 Fair Housing Act. Kennedy helped lead the fight for the third piece of major civil rights legislation in the 1960s, which outlawed discrimination in housing. It made it illegal to rent or sell a home (or refuse to do so) based on a person's race or ethnicity.
1968 Bilingual Education Act. Kennedy served as a key champion for the bill, which mandated that schools provide bilingual education programs.
1972 Title IX. This new law prohibited women from being discriminated against in schools, whether in the classroom or on the athletic field. One of the act's most important supporters, Kennedy also fought later attempts to water it down.
1972 Meals on Wheels Act and the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program. Kennedy's backing of these two bills helps ensure that senior citizens unable to leave their homes get nutritious meals and that low-income women and their children have access to food and nutrition and health services.
1975 Individual With Disabilities Education Act. Kennedy was a cosponsor of this law, mandating that all children with a disability have access to free public education that meets their needs.
1990 Americans With Disabilities Act. Under the act, introduced by Kennedy, no one can discriminate against a job applicant or employee for having a disability.
1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The bill, co-sponsored by Kennedy, protects the health insurance of Americans who change or lose their jobs.
1997 State Children's Health Insurance Program. Kennedy's bill provides insurance for children whose family incomes are both too high to qualify for Medicaid and too low to afford private coverage. Some called it the most far-reaching piece of healthcare legislation in a generation.
2001 No Child Left Behind Act. Kennedy supported President George W. Bush's bill, which enacted requirements and benchmarks for every public school in America to qualify for federal funding. But he later accused the White House of going back on its promise to adequately fund the act, an essential ingredient for success.
2003 Expansion of Medicare. The final bill was far more industry friendly than Kennedy's original legislation, leading him to say that his bill was "hijacked" by the GOP. Still, it did expand Medicare to include prescription drug benefits, as he wanted, making it the largest expansion of the program in its history.
- See photos of Ted Kennedy throughout his life.
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The Last of The Kennedy Dynasty
As soon as his cancer was detected, I noticed the immediate
attempt at the "canonization" of old Teddy Kennedy by the mainstream media.
They are saying what a "great American" he is. Let's get a couple
things clear & not twist the facts to change the real history.
1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was
expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a
classmate to cheat for him.
2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly
signed up for, four years instead of two. Oops! The man can't count to four!
His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a
step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition),
pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years,
and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea , where a war was
raging no preferential treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush
Received).
3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris , never advanced beyond the rank of
Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a
Person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!
4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia , he
was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was
clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his
headlights off after dark.. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked.
Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!
5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash and
hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he
was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of
those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the
report was unsealed. Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we?
6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick
Island in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's
keys to his Oldsmobile limousine and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo
Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no
guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha
Pond.
7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party passing several
houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene
of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him
what he already knew - that he was required by law to immediately
report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his
way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy
called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had
already been discovered. Before dying Kopechne had scratched at
the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car.
The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any
inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of-state to her
family before an autopsy could be conducted.
Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says
he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he
didn't call Police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed
Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his
family could fix the problem overnight. Since the accident Kennedy's "political
enemies" have referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick.
He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a
SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS.
Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's
insurance policy and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body
exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in
court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills.... A "token of friendship"?
8. Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but
Considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He
Authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil
Rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health
Care easier for the indigent, funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-
Income seniors, and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for
Liberalism". In his very first Senate roll he was the floor
Manager for the bill that turned U.S. Immigration policy upside
Down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world
Countries..
9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of
every expansion of an increase in immigration up to and including the
latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention
the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as
if he was the standard bearer for the nation in matters of "what is
Right" What a pompous ass!
10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud,
boisterous, and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than
"great American". "A blonde in every pond" is his motto.
Let's not allow the spin doctors to make this jerk a hero -- how
quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is.
Send this on, as a LOT of the younger people don't have a clue
about all of this, and us older ones tend to forget things that happened so
many years ago. Although I HAVEN'T!
ted kennedy
Was a disgrace to the human race. Period. Enough said.
Kennedy was WRONG about the 1965 Immigration Act
Proponents like Ted Kennedy repeatedly denied that the law would lead to a huge and sustained increase in the number of newcomers and become a vehicle for globalizing immigration.
What actually happened? One of the greatest waves of immigration in the nation's history — now currently more than a million (legal) immigrants annually, as well as about 12-20 million impoverished illegal aliens (including 8 million that have stolen American jobs) who are now clamoring for another mass amnesty.
Here is what Ted Kennedy blathered in 1965:
"The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs."
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