Obama healthcare bill jeopardised by Ted Kennedy’s death

The death of Senator Edward Kennedy, announced this morning, means that President Barack Obama has lost one of the most loyal public supporters of his controversial healthcare plan. It also means the Obama administration no longer has the 60-40 majority in the Senate necessary to pass bills without opposition filibustering. As a result, the high-profile healthcare bill, which needs all the help it can get, has yet another hurdle to jump in its long and difficult passage to law.

As reported here last week, Kennedy was trying to institute a change in Massachusetts law which would allow the state governor to immediately appoint a replacement senator in the event of his death or incapacity. Because the current governor, Deval Patrick, is a Democrat, he could be relied on to appoint another Democrat to replace Kennedy, and thus keep the 60-40 Senate majority alive.

Kennedy had been an ardent supporter of the healthcare reforms - indeed Obama said recently that Kennedy had done more to advance the issue in the United States than anyone else.

Desperate that the bill should not be jeopardised by his death, Kennedy, who had been suffering from a brain tumour since last year, wrote a poignant letter - described by some as his political 'will' - in which he suggested that the Massachusetts governor be allowed to appoint an interim replacement for the five-month period until a special election is held.

In the letter, obtained by the Boston Globe, Kennedy wrote: "It is vital for this commonwealth [the state of Massachusetts] to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate".

On Monday, before it was apparent to the general public that Kennedy was so close to death - news that he had been read the last rites by his Catholic priest did not emerge until last night - state Democrats were busy trying to push the Kennedy solution through.

According to a report in the Boston Herald, Robert A DeLeo, Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, gave his blessing to the effort to hand Governor Patrick the power to appoint a temporary successor.

Patrick, who became the state's first black governor when he replaced Republican Mitt Romnney in 2007, has remained silent so far on the fast-track succession proposal. But his deputy, Lt Gov Tim Murray, told the Herald: "Certainly I believe it should be given serious consideration."

In the meantime, Michael Moran, a Massachusetts legislative committee co-chairman overseeing the Kennedy plan, said: "I want to make sure that as a Democrat we have a Democratic voice in there for the five months that it might be vacant."

Asked whether he would support the change if the previous governor, Republican Mitt Romney, were still in charge, he laughed and said: "Of course there's a political side to this." ·