Kennedy Plans a January Return

Senator Still Recovering From Cancer Surgery, His Office Says

The office of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) announced yesterday that he will not return to the Capitol this month and will remain in Massachusetts recuperating from brain surgery.

The announcement marked a change in plans for Kennedy; his aides and colleagues had said throughout the summer that he would return this week as Congress reconvened after a five-week recess and headed into a final legislative sprint before the November elections.

Kennedy aides said that the radiation and chemotherapy treatments at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston are progressing but that doctors recommended he delay returning to Washington.

They also pointed to comments he made Aug. 25 before the Democratic National Convention in Denver as subtle hints that he would not be returning until next year.

"As Senator Kennedy said two weeks ago in Denver, he intends to be on the floor of the United States Senate next January when we begin to write the next great chapter of American progress. Senator Kennedy's doctors are pleased with his progress so far, and have recommended that he continue to work from home through the fall," spokesman Anthony Coley said.

Kennedy, the patriarch of the nation's leading liberal family, was operated on June 2 at Duke University Medical Center. A malignant brain tumor was removed, and experts have said that patients with this form of cancer often die within months but that the surgery can help them survive for several years.

Kennedy's only other recent public appearance came in early July, when he appeared in the Senate for a key vote on Medicare price issues. Kennedy, 76, was credited with swaying wavering Republicans to support the Democratic initiative.

Kennedy stayed in touch with staff members and colleagues on key issues for the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Of concern this fall is an effort to pass legislation granting parity in insurance coverage for those suffering from mental health ailments, a cause of Kennedy's for more than a decade.

His office said Kennedy hopes to be back in the Capitol in January to play a leading role in writing a national health insurance bill, one of the hallmarks of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign. After endorsing Obama in January, Kennedy received a tribute at the Denver convention, where he spoke of a passing of the torch.

"This November, the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans, so with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on," Kennedy told a cheering crowd.