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Home Tips > Tips By Category > Tips you can implement daily Ted Kennedy attended Barack Obama's presidential inauguration in Washington, but then suffered a seizure at the luncheon immediately afterwards. He was taken via wheelchair from the Capitol building and then by ambulance to Washington Hospital Center. The following morning, he was released from the hospital to his home in Washington, as doctors attributed the episode to "simple fatigue".
As the 111th Congress began, Kennedy dropped his spot on the Senate Judiciary Committee in order to focus all his attentions on health care issues, which he regarded as "the cause of my life". He saw the characteristics of the Obama administration and the Democratic majorities in Congress as representing the third and best great chance for universal health care, following the lost 1971 Nixon and 1993 Clinton opportunities, and as his last big legislative battle.
Kennedy made another surprise appearance in the Senate to break a Republican filibuster against the Obama stimulus package. As spring arrived, Kennedy appeared on Capitol Hill more frequently, although staffers often did not announce his attendance at committee meetings until they were sure Kennedy was well enough to appear.
On March 4, 2009, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown announced that Kennedy had been granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his work in the Northern Ireland peace process, and for his contribution to UK–US relations, although the move caused some controversy in the UK due to his connections with Gerry Adams of the Irish republican political party Sinn Féin. Later in March, a bill reauthorizing and expanding the AmeriCorps program was renamed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act by Senator Hatch in Kennedy's honor.
Kennedy threw the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park before the Boston Red Sox season opener in April, echoing what his grandfather "Honey Fitz" had done to open the park in 1912.[188] Even when his illness prevented him from being a major factor in health plan deliberations, his symbolic presence still made him one of the key senators involved.
However, by June 2009 Kennedy had not cast a Senate vote in three months, and his health had forced him to retreat to Massachusetts where he was undergoing another round of chemotherapy. In his absence, premature release of his health committee's expansive plan resulted in a poor public reception.
Kennedy's friend Chris Dodd had taken over his role on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, but Republican senators and other observers said that the lack of Kennedy's physical presence had resulted in less consultation with them and was making successful negotiation more difficult.
Democrats also missed Kennedy's ability to smooth divisions on the health proposals. Kennedy did cut a television commercial for Dodd, who was struggling early on in his 2010 re-election bid. In July, HBO began showing a documentary tribute to Kennedy's life, Teddy: In His Own Words.
A health care reform bill was voted out of the committee with content Kennedy favored, but still faced a long, difficult process before having a chance at becoming law. At the end of July 2009, Kennedy was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
He was unable to attend the ceremony to receive this medal, and attended a private service but not the public funeral when his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver died in mid-August.
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