WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, the Senate's last surviving World War II veteran, died on Monday from complications of viral pneumonia, an aide said. He was 89 and will likely be replaced by a Republican.
Lautenberg battled a variety of ailments in recent months that limited him to few appearances on Capitol Hill, including one in April to vote for a bill backed by President Barack Obama to expand background checks for gun owners. The legislation was defeated primarily by Republicans.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is expected to name a fellow Republican to temporarily replace Lautenberg. New Jersey voters will elect a new senator to fill the seat as early as November 2013, Senate Democratic aides said.
Lautenberg's death leaves Obama's Democrats in control of the Senate by a margin of 54-45.
Lautenberg died just as the Senate was preparing to begin debate next week on an Obama-backed bill to implement a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. immigration system.
Backers of the bipartisan immigration bill, which would lead to the biggest changes in U.S. immigration law in a generation, said that they had been confident that Lautenberg would have voted for the measure.
But they also said that even if Christie picked a Republican to replace Lautenberg, the new senator would likely support the bill because of the state's big Hispanic population.
(Reporting by Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Paul Simao)
http://news.yahoo.com/democratic-senator-lautenberg-jersey-dies-party-aide-140201526.html
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