Oregon Public Broadcasting

Northwest senators are remembering Ted Kennedy's important influence in their political lives. Correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports they're mentioning key moments in their relationships with the iconic senator.

In a conference call with reporters, Washington Senator Patty Murray recalled the first time she worked on a bill with Ted Kennedy.

It was 1993; the bill was the Family and Medical Leave Act, which allows people time away from work for medical reasons.

Murray says Kennedy shepherded it through Senate committees. Afterwards, she visited him on the Senate floor to thank him for his work.

She says Kennedy told her that he remembered spending time in the hospital when his son had cancer.

Patty Murray: “And meeting so many other family members who couldn't take time off from their jobs or were forced to quit a job to be there. And he said, ‘I'm here making sure that doesn't happen in our country again.'”

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley was a Senate intern in 1976. He remembers Kennedy's passion during a speech to him and his peers.

Washington Senator Maria Cantwell calls her Massachusetts colleague “our champion”, an effective legislator who will be “sorely missed.”