Kennedy Returns to the Senate for Vote

Senator Edward Kennedy showed up unexpectedly on the Senate floor yesterday. He voted to restore Medicare reimbursements for doctors that had been cut.

Things were not looking good for supporters of the Medicare reimbursements, because they seemed to be one vote shy of the sixty votes they needed to end debate and pass the legislation.

All of sudden, Senator Kennedy, undergoing treatment in Boston for a brain tumor, showed up on the Senate floor.

Walking through what was described a wall of applause, Kennedy was accompanied by his son, Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, and Senator John Kerry.

Once Kennedy voted to end debate, others jumped on the bandwagon, and the reimbursements were restored. Spectators in the galleries burst into cheers, which you are not supposed to do as a visitor, but no one stopped them.