Edward Kennedy

U.S. Sen. Al Franken said today that the absence of the ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy was already “a major loss” to the Senate debate on health care reform, and now the Massachusetts Democrat’s death “just makes me more determined to get it done.” 

“The lantern is lit” is the cryptic message Sen. Ted Kennedy used to summon Sen. Amy Klobuchar to his tiny, memorabilia-bedecked U.S. Capitol office, where the liberal lion held a small salon of senators rapt with Irish yarns, Boston stories and tales from the campaign trail.

President Obama called Congress’ “liberal lion,” Edward Kennedy, the “greatest United States senator of our time” — and his burial at Arlington National Cemetery will match that praise. But conservative bloggers are already complaining about his funeral, forecasting it’ll be a “Wellstone memorial on steroids.”

In a statement, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar recalled the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s “wit and stories” and “fiery zest,” calling him an “inspiration.”

In a story on the Senate Judiciary Committee taking up Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court next week, the New York Times makes mention of something noted here last week: committee member Al Franken’s 1991 TV portrayal of a U.S. senator on the same committee, questioning a Supreme Court nominee.

Norm Coleman isn’t the only obstacle to Democrats wielding 60 votes in the U.S. Senate. Edward Kennedy’s battle with brain cancer and Robert Byrd’s staph infection have effectively whittled an otherwise filibuster-proof majority down to 57 — for now.

Al Franken will break the first Republican filibuster of an Obama nominee. That was the vow of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid before GOP senators blocked President Obama’s nomination of David Hayes as deputy Secretary of the Interior. “If we have to wait until Al Franken comes, he’s going to be confirmed,” said Reid.

As Congress prepares to consider a series of consumer-friendly finance reforms, some minority advocates, researchers and lawmakers are pointing to a trend as another reason the reforms are urgently needed.

While Rep. Jim Ramstad’s name has been floated as a possible choice for “drug czar” in the administration of Barack Obama, the retiring nine-term congressman has apparently set his sights on another job, head of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — and the Republican has enlisted Democrats, notably Sen. Edward Kennedy and Reps. Patrick Kennedy and Pete Stark, to lobby on his behalf.