"Death and the Senator" is a science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke.
As a member of a Senate committee, he has used his influence and rhetoric to refuse funding for an astrobiology project.
Thereupon, he hears from one of the space scientists, whose project he helped to kill, that the USSR is experimenting with medical treatment under zero gravity conditions in a space station in Earth orbit.
Although Steelman is offered a place on the treatment programme, which is highly experimental, he gives it up on seeing a young couple also waiting to be treated.
Back in Washington, D.C., he spends a few last quiet months with his family members, for which he had always been too busy with politics, and finds happiness in the role of a loving grandfather.