Washington  - Veteran US Senator Ted Kennedy received a standing ovation Wednesday as he returned to Congress for the first time since being hospitalized and undergoing successful surgery on a malignant brain tumour.

Kennedy, the last surviving brother of slain president John F Kennedy, made his way back to Washington for a crucial Senate vote on health care, one of his signature issues over more than four decades of representing Massachusetts in the legislative chamber.

Kennedy, 76, was hospitalized and diagnosed with a glioma, a cancerous tumour of the brain, after suffering a seizure in mid May. He underwent surgery soon after and has been recuperating in his home state of Massachusetts.

One of the leading left-wing voices in the Democratic Party and an early supporter of presidential nominee Barack Obama, Kennedy is the third-longest serving senator in US history and is considered one of Congress' most effective-ever legislators. (dpa)