Indeed, We Must Foster Cost-saving Competition. And

I Have Been Immeasurably Honored To Serve The People Of Maine For Nearly 40 Years In Public Office And For The Past 17 Years In The United States Senate. It Was Incredibly Difficult To Decide That I Would Not Seek A Fourth Term In The Senate.

Two Truths Are All Too Often Overshadowed In Today's Political Discourse: Public Service Is A Most Honorable Pursuit, And So Is Bipartisanship.

What Happens Is That, You Know, On Mondays, At Least In The Senate, You Know, Monday Night Wed Have What Youd Call A Bed-check Vote. Just To Get, You Know, The Machinery Of The Senate Up And Running So They Can Start The Committee Process; On Tuesday Morning, Things Go. By Thursday, You Know, Jet Fumes, The Smell Of Jet Fumes.

One Difficulty In Making The Senate Work The Way It Was Intended Is That America's Electorate Is Increasingly Divided Into Red And Blue States, With Lawmakers Representing Just One Color Or The Other.

We Recognized In 1996 That, With Progress In The Field Of Genetics Accelerating At A Breathtaking Pace, We Need To Ensure That Advances In Treatment And Prevention Of Disease Do Not Constitute A New Basis For Discrimination.