Kennedy returns to Senate for crucial vote

WASHINGTON, July 9 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy returned to Capitol Hill Wednesday to cast the decisive vote on a stalled Medicare proposal.

The Massachusetts Democrat had been absent from the upper chamber since he was diagnosed two months ago with brain cancer, The Hill reported.

The proposal to prevent a scheduled 10.6 percent cut to physicians who treat Medicare patients fell one vote short of the needed 60 votes on June 26. With Kennedy's vote, the bill cleared the Senate.

Kennedy, 76, the longtime chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, underwent successful brain surgery at Duke University Medical Center on June 2 and has been undergoing cancer treatments in Massachusetts for the tumor, the newspaper reported.