USA Congress Senate - The Lion of the Senate When Ted Kennedy Rallied the Democrats in a GOP Congress

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Copyright 2015 by Nick Littlefield

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Simon & Schuster Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition November 2015

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Interior design by Ruth Lee-Mui

Jacket design by Jackie Seow

Jacket photograph Timothy Greenfield-Sanders/Corbis Outline

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Littlefield, Nick.

Lion of the Senate : when Ted Kennedy rallied the Democrats in a GOP Congress / Nick Littlefield. First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.

pagescm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1.Kennedy, Edward M. (Edward Moore), 19322009.2.United StatesPolitics and government19932001.3.United States. Congress. SenateBiography. 4.LegislatorsUnited StatesBiography.I.Title.

E840.8.K35L582015

973.92092dc23

[B]2015008579

ISBN 978-1-4767-9615-4

ISBN 978-1-4767-9617-8 (ebook)

Nick: To my wife, Jenny Littlefield, and my children, Frank, Tom, and Kate Lowenstein. I love you.

David: To my wife, Lainey, my son, Dan, my daughter-in-law, Maia Gemell, and my granddaughter, Lyra Gemell-Nexon. All of you enrich my life immeasurably.

This book had its genesis in several drafts begun by Nick Littlefield in 1998, shortly after he left his position as top domestic policy advisor to Senator Kennedy and Kennedys staff director for the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. Much of the narrative is based on verbatim notes he took on key meetings he attended and on his personal observations and experiences. The book is told in his voice and from his point of view. When the pronoun I is used, it refers to Nick. In 2012, when he was determined to finish the book after Senator Kennedys death, he asked David Nexon to join the project as his coauthor. David was Senator Kennedys chief health policy advisor for twenty-two years and was deeply involved in the events described in the book.

By Doris Kearns Goodwin

Everything in Washington is changed by Tuesdays Republican sweep, the New York Times noted. With the Republicans in control of the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time since 1954, when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn and a postage stamp cost three cents, and with the Republicans in control of the statehouses in seven of the eight largest states, it is evident that a power shift of major proportions has taken place. But is the transformation permanent?

At that moment in time, few could have predicted that in two years, a demoralized Democratic Party would not only rally to blunt Newt Gingrichs conservative agenda, but even more surprisingly, would manage to enact important progressive legislation.

Lion of the Senate tells the inside story of how this happened. It is a story of pitch-perfect leadership from Senator Ted Kennedy, of friendships forged across party lines, and of a time, unlike today, when members of both parties worked together on issues that made a difference in the lives of the American people. If it could happen then, it could happen again.

As chief of staff for the Labor and Human Resources Committee, which had been chaired by Senator Kennedy for eight years before the Republican takeover, Nick Littlefield was both a participant in and a keen observer of the dramatic two-year period that followed the Republican victory. And, happily, the verbatim notes Littlefield took during discussions with Kennedy, dinners with fellow senators, and preparations for meetings with President Bill Clinton, create an atmosphere of immediacy and intimacy. By telling the story from beginning to middle to end, Littlefield allows us to experience the legislative struggles as they unfolded, to let us feel as if we, too, are there, walking through the halls of Congress, sitting in on strategy sessions, waiting for key votes, wondering how each battle will turn out.

Right from the start, the book makes clear what the turnover from a majority to a minority party meant not only to Democratic senators and congressmen but also to the members of their committee staffs. The minority partys share in the Labor Committees budget would automatically be reduced by 50 percent; within days twenty of the forty Democratic staff members would lose their jobs. Offices would change hands along with the power to schedule hearings. Most importantly, the Republicans would now be in a position to set the agenda. And Newt Gingrich had made clear that he intended to follow up on every one of the far-reaching pledges the Republicans had made in their Contract with America.

Yet, even at this moment when Democrats despaired, Senator Kennedy assumed a leadership role, rallying his colleagues to fight in unison against the most harmful of Gingrichs legislative proposals. At the same time, he reached across the aisle, creating surprising alliances which, against all odds, increased the minimum wage, provided portable health insurance for people who moved from one job to another, and secured health care coverage for millions of low-income children. Without Republican cooperation and cosponsorships, none of these bills could have passed.

With a gift for storytelling, Littlefield details the shifting set of alliances Kennedy forged to pass each of these bills. In the process, he paints a colorful picture of everyday life in the Senate as well as a primer in how the Senate works. Arcane Senate rulesunanimous consent, cloture, perfecting amendmentscome to life in the telling of how various senators deployed them to obstruct or facilitate forward movement. Senator Kennedys mastery of these rules proved an essential weapon in his arsenal.

The ultimate key to Kennedys success, however, turned on the relationships he had carefully built and nurtured with his colleagues over the years. While he could argue passionately with Republican senators on the floor, he never betrayed impatience or disrespect toward them as individuals. On the contrary, he went out of his way to defer to the feelings of his fellow senators, often walking to their offices for meetings even if his senior position suggested they should come to him. In similar fashion, he would frequently defy protocol by journeying to the House when meeting with individual congressmen.