And I don't only say that without two secretaries--also the President of the United States who made it very clear in this first term he wants both agencies to work together.

The Department's resistance to the President's open standard agenda appears to be founded largely on an incorrect assumption.

I am told that strategies have been modified and collaborative efforts are ongoing for both records transfer and IEHR.

About one-quarter of Medicare funds are spent on care at the end of life that is geared toward expensive high-tech interventions.

Americans are the only people on earth who believe that death is negotiable.

I think it is really sad when this important discussion degenerates into slogans and demagoguery, such as death panels.

But that is pretty unlikely----

These issues also have long been of personal interest to me.

I do not know that we should be encouraging college students to fill out advance directives and POLST orders.

Thanks to the Retirement Research Foundation, Maine's coalition received a three-year grant to develop their POLST Program in accordance with the national standards.

We have to make sure that everyone understands their options.

But, in fact, they also, as your Five Wishes document shows, can be used to direct the kind of care that they do want to receive.

Patients and their families should not have to fear that the process of dying will be marked by preventable pain.

patients and their families should be able to trust that the care that they receive in their final days is not only of high quality, but also consistent with their values, their wishes, and desire for autonomy and dignity.

We should be respecting individuals' wishes.

The terrifying bridge collapse that occurred in Senator Murray's State just 3 weeks ago once again highlights the importance of maintaining our Nation's highways and bridges.

MAP-21 is only a 2-year bill instead of the traditional 6-year bill, because we were unable to find further funding.

I so share the administration's belief that investment in transportation is critical to the health of our economy and to our economic recovery.