"This was a very powerful presentation, in terms of starkness, about health and health insurance and coverage, and basically the moral issue presented here. We were all in the same circumstance. This is a very rare disease that could have happened to anybody. It happened to a United States Senator; it happened to children of working families. There was nothing that they could do about it, and they were being put through this kind of system. This is about as stark as you can get, in terms of the compelling aspects of this issue. A secondary issue that came up that’s related to the public policy is family and medical leave. I’d have to leave the Senate on Friday, and I could go and tell Mike Mansfield that I wasn’t going to be there. Just in terms of the votes, I wasn’t going to be there. It wasn’t a question about me not—I should be with my son and I was going to be with him, but I wasn’t going to lose my job because I was leaving, and I was getting paid for it while I was gone. I was getting paid leave on this."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Democratic Party (United States) politiciansAcademics from the United StatesMembers of the United States SenatePoliticians from BostonUnited States presidential candidates, 1980
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ted_Kennedy
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Ted Kennedy
politician, lawyer, autobiographer
1932 – 2009 · United States
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (22 February 1932 – 25 August 2009) was the senior Democratic U.S. senator from Massachusetts. In office from November 1962 to August 2009, Kennedy was, at the time, the second-longest serving member of the Senate, after Robert Byrd of West Virginia. He was the younger brother of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, and the uncle of Caroline Kennedy.
389 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Ted Kennedy →
Related Quotes
"His partnerships with his fellow Senators are well-known and oft-recited, testimony to his skill and to his convictio…"
"Since Biden circa 2022 is often compared to 1970s Jimmy Carter due to a combination of sluggish job approval ratings,…"
"Senator Kennedy began his career setting a high standard when it comes to birthdays. It was when he reached the minim…"
"Run down the list--the rights of the disabled a most personal cause for Ted--who for far too long were left in the sh…"
"Ted Kennedy is the most prolific legislator in American history, but he is something more. Robert Kennedy once said t…"
"Without Ted, 18-year-olds might not be able to vote. There might not be a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Meals on Wh…"
"I think that John McCain and Ted Kennedy represent what the Senate has been at its best ... what it can be again, a p…"
"I think Senator Kennedy will go down as one of the giants in the Senate. While he has had a rather tumultuous life wi…"
"That sentence is not constructed lightly--it is the measure of a public servant who doesn't know the meaning of the w…"
"Ted Kennedy’s wit and stories, his passion for a cause and his country, and his love for the Senate just made you wan…"