Senator Edward M. Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate for forty-three years. He was elected in 1962 to finish the final two years of the Senate term of his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy, who was elected President in 1960. Since then, Kennedy has been re-elected to seven full terms, and is now the second most senior member of the Senate.

Throughout his career, Kennedy has fought for issues that benefit the citizens of Massachusetts and the nation. His effort to make quality health care accessible and affordable to every American is a battle that Kennedy has been waging ever since he arrived in the Senate. In addition, Kennedy is active on a wide range of other issues, including education reform and immigration reform, raising the minimum wage, defending the rights of workers and their families, strengthening civil rights, assisting individuals with disabilities, fighting for cleaner water and cleaner air, and protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare.

Kennedy is currently the senior Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in the Senate. He also serves on the Judiciary Committee, where he is the senior Democrat on the Immigration Subcommittee, and on the Armed Services Committee, where he is the senior Democrat on the Seapower Subcommittee. He is also a member of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and the Congressional Friends of Ireland, and a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Kennedy is the youngest of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia Law School. Kennedy lives in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, with his wife Victoria Reggie Kennedy. Together, they have five children – Kara, Edward Jr., and Patrick Kennedy, and Curran and Caroline Raclin. They also have four grandchildren.

Blog Entries by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

Recession Takes a Toll on America's Women

Posted April 23, 2008 | 10:44 AM (EST)


Every American has been hit by the current economic recession in one way or another -- home foreclosures, lost jobs, and rising costs of food, gas, and health care. But now it's becoming clear that the recession is affecting one group particularly hard -- women.

Last week the Senate Health,...

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Forging a Negotiated Path to Iraq's Future

Posted February 19, 2008 | 05:43 PM (EST)


If President Bush has his way, the US military will be forced to stay in Iraq indefinitely -- regardless of who wins the presidential election in November. I wanted to draw your attention to an op-ed I wrote in today's Boston Globe, laying out President Bush's worrisome plan:

The...
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Closing the Torture Loophole: Bringing America Back from the Brink

Posted February 13, 2008 | 04:52 PM (EST)


After months of Republican obstruction, the Senate will finally vote this afternoon on a provision that would end CIA torture once and for all. It is long past time that we apply the Army Field Manual's standards to all interrogations, leaving the Bush administration no doubt that torture is always...

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Barack Obama

Posted January 28, 2008 | 04:51 PM (EST)


Earlier today I endorsed Barack Obama for president, and I couldn't be more excited for the Democratic Party, the nation -- and the world.

Barack inspires me -- it's that simple. In the words of President Kennedy:

"The world is changing. The old ways will not do... It is time...

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A Nation of Laws, Not Men

Posted December 7, 2007 | 11:54 AM (EST)


I'm headed to the Senate floor right now to speak about startling news from today's newspapers:

The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives in the agency's custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal...
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Giving Needy Young Children a Real Head Start

Posted November 16, 2007 | 04:25 PM (EST)


When you ask parents what they want to accomplish in life, their answers always include opening doors of opportunity for their children, so they can grow up healthy and safe, graduate from high school and college, and achieve the American dream.

Head Start
was enacted as...

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My Challenge to the President

Posted October 3, 2007 | 11:02 AM (EST)


I want to make sure you see the latest video from Families USA, one of the most important advocates in the ongoing battle to protect children's health care.

Families USA is part of the broad, bipartisan effort that achieved a solid initial victory last week, when both the House...

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Mental and Physical Health: Equalizing Coverage

Posted September 26, 2007 | 10:57 AM (EST)


When you or a loved one is battling depression or another mental illness, the last thing you should have to worry about is whether your insurance will cover your medical care.

For too long, people living with mental illnesses have been forced to suffer from discrimination. Insurers charge more...

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Back to School

Posted September 6, 2007 | 09:09 AM (EST)


School is back in session -- and so is the United States Senate.

In July, I wrote to you about our impressive Senate victory for America's college students. Democrats passed the Higher Education Access Act, the largest student aid relief package since the GI Bill in...

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We Did It!

Posted July 25, 2007 | 12:04 PM (EST)


Senate Democrats opened the doors of opportunity for millions of hardworking students this week.

Yesterday, the Senate passed its version of the Higher Education Access Act, which calls for the greatest effort to increase opportunities for college since the GI Bill. It improves access to...

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Fixing the Broken Student Loan System

Posted April 18, 2007 | 11:08 AM (EST)


Whichever way you look at it, the student loan system is broken.

The cost of college education has skyrocketed. Tuition and expenses at a four-year public university cost nearly a third of the average family's income; at private colleges, the cost is almost three-quarters of their income.

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Abu Ghraib and American Moral Authority

Posted February 20, 2007 | 04:20 PM (EST)


We in the Kennedy family are immensely proud of Rory and all her accomplishments. Her compelling and important films expose injustice and challenge us to end it. Her latest documentary, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, describes in vivid terms how America has lost its way in Iraq and demonstrates that...

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Do-Something Democrats Tackle College Affordability

Posted February 16, 2007 | 10:04 AM (EST)


In recent years, the Republican House and Senate earned the title of the Do-Nothing Congress. They stayed mute as the war raged in Iraq. They refused to raise the minimum wage. They took more time off in Congress last year than in any year since 1948.

Now the Do-Something Democrats...

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Escalation? It's Not His Decision to Make

Posted January 9, 2007 | 04:36 PM (EST)


Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam, and we cannot allow history to repeat itself any longer. Our troops deserve better. We must act now.

Today, I introduced legislation to reclaim the people's right to a full voice in the president's plan to send more troops to Iraq. My bill will say...

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Priorities for the 110th Congress

Posted January 4, 2007 | 07:17 PM (EST)


The following is my floor statement on the Democrats' agenda in the 110th Congress:

Mr. President, Americans made it clear in the last election that they want a government which stands with them as they look to the future. Earlier today, our Majority Leader, Senator Reid, introduced ten bills that...

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Iraq for Sale: Further Evidence of the Bush Administration's Incompetence

Posted October 19, 2006 | 10:55 AM (EST)


The Iraq war is one of the greatest blunders in American history. The American people already know that the human and financial cost of the war has been far too great. Nearly 2,800 Americans have been killed and we are spending nearly $250 million on each day on the war...

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Video: I Support Net Neutrality

Posted September 13, 2006 | 02:14 PM (EST)


I'm proud to have been the first Senator with a website (Senate, Campaign), and I've always found the web useful for staying in touch with the people of Massachusetts. On almost any issue, I can...

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Katrina One Year Later

Posted August 28, 2006 | 10:43 AM (EST)


Americans still remember vividly the scenes from a year ago when Hurricane Katrina swept away entire communities, sent thousands of families for shelter in the Super Dome, and left hundreds of thousands more homeless and jobless. Americans throughout the land were moved to help in any way they could -...

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Roberts and Alito Misled Us

Posted July 30, 2006 | 01:11 PM (EST)


Just a few weeks ago, the Supreme Court finished its first term since the arrival of Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justice Alito. Sadly, the votes and opinions of our new Justices demonstrate that President Bush finally deserves his "Mission Accomplished" banner. He has succeeded in his effort to push...

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Empty Rhetoric, Empty Promises

Posted February 1, 2006 | 10:32 AM (EST)


Americans want to raise healthy families in safe neighborhoods, and give their children full lives. But today, they're facing a perfect storm of soaring costs for health care, for home heating oil, for gasoline prices, and for college tuition, a prescription drug fiasco for their parents' generation, and the shadow...

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