Susan Collins

I mentioned in my opening statement the tragic incident in Lac-Megantic in Canada, very close to the Maine border.

I am again disappointed with omission of the Small Community Air Service Development Program.

Thank you. Senator Reed.

I am also concerned that the Department has failed to publish a draft regulation to require a comprehensive oil spill response plan from the railroads.

Thank you very much for your testimony.

The President's request includes nearly $16 billion to support investments in keeping our aviation system the safest and most efficient airspace in the world.

It is perplexing to hear the administration talk about how important our Nation's infrastructure is...yet at the same time the administration continues to remain silent on trust fund reforms that must be put in place.

There may be some sort of middle ground here because in the case I gave you where the facility is not even a CBOC, it is a mobile unit that is open only 2 days a week, it just does not seem like a reasonable interpretation.

I really think this is something that should be finalized and should not have taken 6 years and still be pending.

I also want to associate myself with the comments of the Senator from Arkansas about slow payment to physicians and hospitals. This is a problem in my State as well.

I believe, just as you believe, that there are two solutions to this problem, consumer education and putting them in jail.

I know her. This does not mean she will go away, and by the way, I have got her back. I will not go away, so let the word go out that it is a bad idea to avoid a hearing in the Aging Committee.

Let no one think there is a dime's worth of difference between the Chairman of this Committee and the Ranking Member about the refusal of agencies of this government to participate in oversight hearings.

Today, our Committee continues its fight against the fraudsters, swindlers, and con artists that plague America's seniors.

The fact of the matter is that if you like sequester the House budget cuts below sequester on discretionary nondefense spending by nearly $300 billion.

This figure pales in comparison to what we spend on cancer, HIV/AIDS, and cardiovascular disease.

Do you know how many tax loopholes either the Senate Republican budget or the House Republican budget closed to address the deficit or closed to address national security or closed to address medical research? Zero.

A lot of that stuff is pretty disgraceful on the merits.

We have it within our capacity here in this country to make that difference, and I want to be a part of it, not just for her but for the future Tylers in this country.

I co-authored with then-Senator Evan Bayh in 2011.

The worst thing we can do is to make this a partisan issue.

I commend Senators Collins and Klobuchar for introducing the resolution to double the funding for Alzheimer's disease research.

I do not believe in big government. I believe in good government, and I know that what is happening in this Committee is going to change the face of the Alzheimer's community.

The annual cost of caring for Alzheimer's patients is $226 billion, yet we are spending less than three tenths of 1 percent of that amount--less than $600 million a year--on research.

With a 20 percent decline in the purchasing power of the NIH budget over the past decade, it has become increasingly challenging to create a path to move medical innovations from bench-side findings into bedside interventions for patients.