Ted Kennedy -- Women's Rights Strongest Champion in Congress

For decades Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) was the Senate's strongest advocate for women's rights and gay rights. Of the more than 300 bills that the senator and his staff wrote and helped pass into law, many were directed at promoting equality and making the U.S. a fairer and more just nation, especially for those less advantaged.

The National Organization for Women was often able to meet with Sen. Kennedy to urge that he take leadership in passing important legislation that would advance equality and well-being for women. His Senate office was always open to women's rights advocates and the senator saw to it that staff was ready to work with us on our issues. His liberal leadership served as an important counterbalance during the dark years of right-wing conservative Republican leadership of Congress and the White House.

The senator was a dedicated supporter of women's reproductive rights, a sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment, a Senate leader in passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1994, a supporter of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and an advocate for many later improvements to civil rights laws that have benefited women. The senator was an early advocate of Title IX, the signature law that advances women's equality in academic and athletic programs at educational institutions receiving federal funds. Kennedy continued to support the principle of equal funding for women's sports throughout successive attacks on the Title IX.

That the senator remained in the Roman Catholic faith and yet supported women's access to reproductive health care services is an important fact about his legislative career. In 1994, with women's reproductive health advocates, he helped pass the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), which limited actions of aggressive abortion rights opponents and helped protect the safety of patients and clinic personnel.

In each new Congress, Sen. Kennedy was the prime sponsor of a joint resolution "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to equal rights for men and women," including the same language as in the Equal Rights Amendment NOW campaigned for in the '70s and early '80s.

It is due to Sen. Kennedy's determination and ability to maneuver controversial legislation that we owe the success of hate crimes legislation. He sponsored the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act which would prohibit violent acts based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability biases and which has passed both House and Senate several times in prior years, only to be stripped out by conservative Republican leaders and vetoed by George W. Bush in 2007. But it is in this Congress that NOW and allies believe that the bill will be adopted and finally signed into law.

His legislative legacy covers the wide span of women's concerns and only the highpoints can be covered here. Kennedy created the national community health center program in 1966 that has resulted in 1,200 health centers serving 20 million low-income patients.

In 1971, the senator introduced and led passage of the National Cancer Act which established the goal of eradicating cancer by funding increased research and development of more effective treatments.

Kennedy was an early advocate for a Canadian-style single-payer health care plan -- which NOW has supported for many years -- but later dropped those efforts when the Nixon administration's push to authorize employer-based Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) was successful. Concern about the need for universal health care led Sen. Kennedy to introduce in successive Congresses a Medicare-for-all bill -- which failed to ever gain passage. But the senator worked throughout the years to make incremental improvements in our health care system. In the mid '90s, the senator worked with Kansas Sen. Nancy (R) to pass the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act which concerns medical records privacy and facilitated coverage when workers moved from job to job. The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, which Kennedy backed, required insurance companies to cover mental health services in the same way group plans cover physical illness. But the State Child Health Insurance Program of 1997 was undoubtedly one of the senator's most important accomplishments, being the most significant expansion of health care coverage since the adoption of Medicaid in the '60s. Approximately 11 million low-income children are now covered. Kennedy pushed for funding for AIDS treatment under the Ryan White Act Care Act of 1990.

Kennedy was an early supporter of the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 that provides seniors with financial assistance to pay for medications, but later opposed it because of Republican plans to steer seniors to private insurance plans thereby weakening the traditional Medicare program. The act also failed to rein in prescription drug costs because of conservatives' desired prohibition against the government's ability to negotiate lower drug prices and has resulted in higher costs for seniors' health care.

As chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Sen. Kennedy's imprint and his capable staff work are embodied in the current health care reform bill, The Affordable Health Choices Act, adopted in mid-July. And, if this bill becomes the primary one adopted in the current debate, it will remain one of the senator's most important contributions.

Many progressive laws are attributed to the senator: Fair Housing Act of 1968, Bilingual Education Act of the same year, Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, Job Training Partnership Act 1982, Employment Opportunities for Disabled Americans Act of 1985, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 and 2004, College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 and the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and the Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program of 1972, among dozens others.

Kennedy won passage in 1989 for the National Military Child Care Act which set up a child care system that is regarded as the best on the nation (and one that should be emulated for the rest of the country). The senator is also responsible for adding the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE) to the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 which received over 255,000 calls for help in 2008. Since 1994, Sen. Kennedy sponsored the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which prohibits discriminatory treatment on the basis of sexual orientation, but the bill has yet to be adopted.

Early in his career, Kennedy worked with President Lyndon B. Johnson (D) to adopt a ban on restrictive poll taxes in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and pushed through an immigration reform bill that same year to end an unfair quota system based on national origin. He continued to work on fair immigration policy and to strengthen the Voting Rights Act. Throughout the years, Kennedy's legislative agenda aimed to blunt many of the regressive proposals advanced by conservative Republican presidents.

A dedicated defender of civil rights laws, Sen. Kennedy opposed President Ronald Reagan's appointment in 1987 of Judge Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court. Also opposed by civil rights and women's rights organizations including NOW, Bork was seen as ready to dismantle important civil rights protections and to undermine women's rights, among other concerns. Thanks to Sen. Kennedy's outspoken criticism of Judge Bork and the diligent organizing of NOW and other groups, Bork was not confirmed.

Later, the senator was influential in helping more moderate U.S. Supreme Court nominees, including his former Judiciary staff counsel Stephen Breyer, in gaining appointment and confirmation to the high court. Kennedy also opposed confirmation of conservative Supreme Court nominees Samuel Alito Jr. and John G. Roberts Jr. - both of whom were later confirmed. Both Alito and Roberts were seen by NOW and allies as opponents of women's rights, civil rights and consumer protections. Certainly, the regressive Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. Supreme Court ruling, against Lily Ledbetter's claim of unfair sex-based pay discrimination, has borne out those fears.

During the '90s when right-wing attacks on affirmative action escalated, Sen. Kennedy remained a firm supporter of these important efforts that have benefited countless women and persons of color in education and employment.

The senator was instrumental in getting the Civil Rights Act of 1991 adopted; the law expanded employee rights (including protections against on-the-job harassment) in discrimination cases, but fell short of a stronger bill because of a compromise with Southern Democrats and Republicans. An earlier act of vital importance to women, the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988 -- also championed by Kennedy -- specified that recipients of federal funds must comply with civil rights laws in all areas, not just in the particular program or activity which benefits from federal funding. The act overturned the Supreme Court's 1984 decision in Grove City v. Bell which eliminated Title IX's applicability to athletics programs, later vetoed by President Reagan, but overridden by Congress. NOW was closely involved in advocating for both improvements to the law.

The Massachusetts senator helped to create the National Teachers Corps in the mid '60s and managed the successful passage of President Bill Clinton's National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993 that created the AmeriCorps program. Later, the senator worked with conservative Republican leadership to pass the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, a flawed approach at improving test scores of elementary and secondary school children. Kennedy later became dissatisfied with implementation and inadequate funding of the act. At many points, Sen. Kennedy led efforts to pass legislation that expanded federal grant and loan programs for college students.

Low-income women are indebted to Sen. Kennedy for his tireless work on behalf of raising the federal minimum wage, something which right-wing Republican members vociferously opposed for many years. Women comprise more than 60 percent of the 13 million minimum wage workers and the low levels the wage was kept at for many years trapped them in poverty. Through persistent efforts and tactful floor strategies, Kennedy helped to pass several increases from the low of $5.15 to the current $7.25 an hour. Other economic security initiatives of the senator resulted in strengthening of Unemployment Insurance -- under-funded in many states and inadequate to meet the need during the current recession. Other important protections for workers were achieved under his leadership.

An advocate for equal pay, Kennedy helped advance the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to restore a fair rule for filing pay discrimination claims and is now law. He was a co-sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, adopted by the House but waiting for Senate consideration that would ease investigation of charges of pay discrimination and prevent retaliation. The even more effective Fair Pay Act, of which Kennedy was a co-sponsor, would prohibit sex-based wage discrimination and would do a great deal to close the wage gap for women.

NOW will miss Sen. Kennedy -- no other member of Congress has achieved so much for women. We can only hope that another member of Congress will step forward to take his place as a highly effective, thoughtful, caring and determined political leader on behalf of women's equality.