Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to help seniors navigate through a complicated and often overwhelming health care delivery system. Because of the fragmented nature of our healthcare system, we often fail to provide patients, their families, and caregivers with the necessary tools, information, and support to age well and with dignity in the setting of their preference. I believe that if we provide patients with better information about advance care planning in non-crisis situations, they will make decisions for themselves and their families that result in better care and better quality of life.

Our health care system is in need of sweeping reforms that will not only provide broader coverage but will also increase value and efficient access to quality care. As we provide meaningful reforms for the healthcare system, we should take the opportunity to refine and enhance those parts of the Medicare system that work well for seniors.

Currently, Medicare beneficiaries with advanced illnesses have a good option in the Medicare hospice benefit to receive care, family support, and counseling during the last six months of life. For those who are ill or in need of advanced illness care, but are not eligible for the hospice benefit, there are very few options for counseling and services that would help them make informed choices about their care options. Often, they are left in the dark about their treatment alternatives and without the support they and their family members need to prepare and plan for the care they want and need. Frankly, it is unconscionable to leave it to families to resolve these extraordinarily difficult decisions, often in moments of crisis, without appropriate information, materials and supportive services. The Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009 will help seniors and their families navigate through an extremely complex system and will help them make informed medical decisions.

My legislation would provide access to an advanced illness care management benefit, increase the awareness of advance care planning through a national education campaign and clearinghouse, reduce legal hurdles to the enforcement of advance directives, create incentives for hospitals and physicians to get accredited and certified in palliative care, increase compliance with medical orders and discharge instructions, educate entities including faith-based organizations on advance care planning issues, and increase integration and coordination between the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Collectively, these initiatives will create a more accessible environment for seniors to receive the care they need, when they need it, in the setting they prefer.

Specifically, the advanced illness care management benefit would allow Medicare beneficiaries who have been diagnosed with a life expectancy of 18 months or less to have access to the guidance and expertise of a hospice team and receive services such as consultations on palliative care, advance care planning that is patient-centered, and counseling, respite, and care giving training for their family members. This new advanced illness care management benefit will provide seniors with the support they need to make informed decisions.

This initiative builds upon the efforts of the hospice community and the private sector. For example, United Health Group has created an Advanced Illness model in their benefit design and offers this program to the seniors they serve in Medicare Advantage and Special Needs Plans. They have found by providing access to the hospice and palliative care teams earlier, patients experience an increase in the quality of their life and duplicative or futile care is reduced. Aetna and Kaiser Permanente have also implemented these types of programs with similar results.

In addition to the impact a lack of advance care planning and access to supportive services has on a patient's quality of life, inadequate access to advance care planning services contributes to 27 percent of Medicare costs spent in the last year of life. Advanced illness, palliative, and hospice care have been shown to improve quality of care at a reduced cost. Specifically, studies demonstrate that if an additional 2 percent of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries received palliative care, direct cost savings to the Medicare program would be $1.57 billion. Given health care costs are growing at an alarming rate and that seniors may not be getting the necessary information they need to make appropriate treatment decisions, we need to act now to provide them with access to advanced illness and advance care planning services.

I believe that rather than deny or withhold healthcare services, overall health reform should include a thoughtful process that informs patients, their families, and caregivers on how to navigate and think through decisions about when and how long to pursue treatments at the end-of-life. By doing this, we will provide a culture in which all of us will have the ability to age well, with dignity, in the setting of our choosing.

It is my hope that this legislation will be incorporated into the broader health care reform effort that is underway in the Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees. I look forward to working with Chairmen Baucus and Kennedy to implement these meaningful reforms so seniors have access to the information and services they need to receive the care they deserve.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation to help seniors navigate through a complicated and often overwhelming health care delivery system. Because of the fragmented nature of our healthcare system, we often fail to provide patients, their families, and caregivers with the necessary tools, information, and support to age well and with dignity in the setting of their preference. I believe that if we provide patients with better information about advance care planning in non-crisis situations, they will make decisions for themselves and their families that result in better care and better quality of life.

Our health care system is in need of sweeping reforms that will not only provide broader coverage but will also increase value and efficient access to quality care. As we provide meaningful reforms for the healthcare system, we should take the opportunity to refine and enhance those parts of the Medicare system that work well for seniors.

Currently, Medicare beneficiaries with advanced illnesses have a good option in the Medicare hospice benefit to receive care, family support, and counseling during the last six months of life. For those who are ill or in need of advanced illness care, but are not eligible for the hospice benefit, there are very few options for counseling and services that would help them make informed choices about their care options. Often, they are left in the dark about their treatment alternatives and without the support they and their family members need to prepare and plan for the care they want and need. Frankly, it is unconscionable to leave it to families to resolve these extraordinarily difficult decisions, often in moments of crisis, without appropriate information, materials and supportive services. The Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009 will help seniors and their families navigate through an extremely complex system and will help them make informed medical decisions.

My legislation would provide access to an advanced illness care management benefit, increase the awareness of advance care planning through a national education campaign and clearinghouse, reduce legal hurdles to the enforcement of advance directives, create incentives for hospitals and physicians to get accredited and certified in palliative care, increase compliance with medical orders and discharge instructions, educate entities including faith-based organizations on advance care planning issues, and increase integration and coordination between the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Collectively, these initiatives will create a more accessible environment for seniors to receive the care they need, when they need it, in the setting they prefer.

Specifically, the advanced illness care management benefit would allow Medicare beneficiaries who have been diagnosed with a life expectancy of 18 months or less to have access to the guidance and expertise of a hospice team and receive services such as consultations on palliative care, advance care planning that is patient-centered, and counseling, respite, and care giving training for their family members. This new advanced illness care management benefit will provide seniors with the support they need to make informed decisions.

This initiative builds upon the efforts of the hospice community and the private sector. For example, United Health Group has created an Advanced Illness model in their benefit design and offers this program to the seniors they serve in Medicare Advantage and Special Needs Plans. They have found by providing access to the hospice and palliative care teams earlier, patients experience an increase in the quality of their life and duplicative or futile care is reduced. Aetna and Kaiser Permanente have also implemented these types of programs with similar results.

In addition to the impact a lack of advance care planning and access to supportive services has on a patient's quality of life, inadequate access to advance care planning services contributes to 27 percent of Medicare costs spent in the last year of life. Advanced illness, palliative, and hospice care have been shown to improve quality of care at a reduced cost. Specifically, studies demonstrate that if an additional 2 percent of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries received palliative care, direct cost savings to the Medicare program would be $1.57 billion. Given health care costs are growing at an alarming rate and that seniors may not be getting the necessary information they need to make appropriate treatment decisions, we need to act now to provide them with access to advanced illness and advance care planning services.

I believe that rather than deny or withhold healthcare services, overall health reform should include a thoughtful process that informs patients, their families, and caregivers on how to navigate and think through decisions about when and how long to pursue treatments at the end-of-life. By doing this, we will provide a culture in which all of us will have the ability to age well, with dignity, in the setting of our choosing.

It is my hope that this legislation will be incorporated into the broader health care reform effort that is underway in the Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees. I look forward to working with Chairmen Baucus and Kennedy to implement these meaningful reforms so seniors have access to the information and services they need to receive the care they deserve.

Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to reauthorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's important programs to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its aquatic resources. This measure is a companion to H.R. 1771, a bill recently introduced in the House by Representatives Sarbanes, Wittman and Kratovil. Joining me in sponsoring this legislation are my colleagues Senator Webb from Virginia and Senators Mikulski and Cardin from neighboring Maryland.

Throughout my public career, I have been a strong advocate for protecting our natural resources. One of the most important efforts in Virginia's environmental history has been preservation of the Chesapeake Bay, the nation's most important estuary. I am proud that we brought record funding to efforts related to cleaning the Chesapeake Bay and the toughest regulations for water quality yet. The Commonwealth's 3,300 miles of coastal resources provide significant economic

contributions to tourism, recreation, commercial and sport fisheries, and wildlife enjoyment within our State. Yet the safety of the Bay is still in great jeopardy; pollution, habitat loss and other factors have taken their toll.

NOAA has been a principal partner with the Bay region states and other Federal agencies in efforts to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem since 1984. Its mission is focusing NOAA capabilities in science, service, and stewardship to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. Congress formally authorized NOAA's participation in the Bay in Public Law 98-210 enacted in 1992 and reauthorized the program in 2002, Public Law 107-372. That authority expired 3 years ago, in 2006, and must be reauthorized.

Over the years, NOAA's work in the Chesapeake Bay has focused on three critical and interrelated areas--ecosystem science, coastal and living resources management, and environmental education--all part of an ecosystem approach for Bay restoration and management. The agency's science and research programs, conducted in collaboration with major academic institutions, are helping decision-makers survey and assess trends in living resources, understand and evaluate the responses of these resources to changes in their environment, and establish management goals and progress indicators. Through the Chesapeake Bay Observing System and the next-generation Chesapeake Bay Integrated Buoy System, NOAA is providing monitoring data on environmental conditions and water quality in the Bay necessary to track Bay restoration progress. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office's fish, shellfish and habitat restoration programs are helping to restore native oysters, blue crabs, and bay grasses throughout the watershed. And NOAA's pioneering Bay Watershed Education and Training program, B-WET, is making hands-on watershed education and training available to students and teachers throughout the watershed, bringing marine and weather sciences into the classroom and helping to foster stewardship of the Bay.

NOAA administers its work throughout the 64,000 square mile, 6 State watershed from offices in Maryland and Virginia, which collaborate with State and other Federal agencies, academic institutions, and nongovernmental organizations to support Bay protection and restoration goals. In Norfolk, Virginia, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office's science and education programs are incorporated into exhibits at Nauticus, our State's premier maritime center, which receives more than 350,000 visitors annually, and helps inform the public about NOAA's programs and activities. At the College of William and Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science, VIMS, NOAA is collaborating with a major academic partner to improve understanding of Bay fisheries and support improved oyster restoration. At Stingray Point, Norfolk and Jamestown, NOAA has deployed first-of-its-kind CBIBS interpretive buoys that are not only providing critical real-time data streams for scientists, but multidisciplinary education tools to users of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Water Trail. Throughout the Virginia and Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay, NOAA is assisting watermen impacted by reductions in blue-crab harvests.

But NOAA's work and responsibilities to the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort are far from complete. The partners in the Bay restoration need the agency's continued help and support. Throughout the Bay, ecologically important fish species are in decline or at risk due to disease, habitat loss, and other factors. Underwater grasses that once provided habitat to sustain these fisheries are at a fraction of their historic levels. As advanced as our science is, Chesapeake Bay managers still do not have adequate information about the estuary and its habitats to manage its living resources or mitigate diseases in fish and shellfish.

The legislation I am introducing today builds upon previous authorizations of the NOAA Bay Program and addresses several urgent, continuing or unmet needs in the watershed. The bill seeks to achieve five main objectives.

Increasing collaboration between the various programs and activities at NOAA to further NOAA's coastal resource stewardship mission.

Improving Bay monitoring capabilities and the coordination and organization of the substantial amounts of data collected and compiled by Federal, State, and local government agencies and academic institutions through further development of an integrated observations system and the Chesapeake Bay Interpretative Buoy System.

Strengthening the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training Program, B-WET, the competitively based program which provides students with meaningful Chesapeake Bay or stream outdoor experiences and teachers with professional development opportunities for Bay-related environmental education.

Supporting and encouraging public-private partnerships to restore finfish and shellfish populations, submerged aquatic vegetation and other critical coastal habitat through aquaculture, stock enhancements, propagation and other programs.

Ensuring that Federal funds are spent wisely and effectively on projects that have scientific and technical merit and are peer reviewed.

This legislation enhances NOAA's commitment to further scientific data collection, develops fishery management practices and habitat restoration, and strengthens Chesapeake Bay environmental education programs. Mr. President, the Bay is a national treasure and its restoration should be a national priority.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that letters of support be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to reauthorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's important programs to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its aquatic resources. This measure is a companion to H.R. 1771, a bill recently introduced in the House by Representatives Sarbanes, Wittman and Kratovil. Joining me in sponsoring this legislation are my colleagues Senator Webb from Virginia and Senators Mikulski and Cardin from neighboring Maryland.

Throughout my public career, I have been a strong advocate for protecting our natural resources. One of the most important efforts in Virginia's environmental history has been preservation of the Chesapeake Bay, the nation's most important estuary. I am proud that we brought record funding to efforts related to cleaning the Chesapeake Bay and the toughest regulations for water quality yet. The Commonwealth's 3,300 miles of coastal resources provide significant economic

contributions to tourism, recreation, commercial and sport fisheries, and wildlife enjoyment within our State. Yet the safety of the Bay is still in great jeopardy; pollution, habitat loss and other factors have taken their toll.

NOAA has been a principal partner with the Bay region states and other Federal agencies in efforts to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem since 1984. Its mission is focusing NOAA capabilities in science, service, and stewardship to protect and restore the Chesapeake Bay. Congress formally authorized NOAA's participation in the Bay in Public Law 98-210 enacted in 1992 and reauthorized the program in 2002, Public Law 107-372. That authority expired 3 years ago, in 2006, and must be reauthorized.

Over the years, NOAA's work in the Chesapeake Bay has focused on three critical and interrelated areas--ecosystem science, coastal and living resources management, and environmental education--all part of an ecosystem approach for Bay restoration and management. The agency's science and research programs, conducted in collaboration with major academic institutions, are helping decision-makers survey and assess trends in living resources, understand and evaluate the responses of these resources to changes in their environment, and establish management goals and progress indicators. Through the Chesapeake Bay Observing System and the next-generation Chesapeake Bay Integrated Buoy System, NOAA is providing monitoring data on environmental conditions and water quality in the Bay necessary to track Bay restoration progress. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office's fish, shellfish and habitat restoration programs are helping to restore native oysters, blue crabs, and bay grasses throughout the watershed. And NOAA's pioneering Bay Watershed Education and Training program, B-WET, is making hands-on watershed education and training available to students and teachers throughout the watershed, bringing marine and weather sciences into the classroom and helping to foster stewardship of the Bay.

NOAA administers its work throughout the 64,000 square mile, 6 State watershed from offices in Maryland and Virginia, which collaborate with State and other Federal agencies, academic institutions, and nongovernmental organizations to support Bay protection and restoration goals. In Norfolk, Virginia, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office's science and education programs are incorporated into exhibits at Nauticus, our State's premier maritime center, which receives more than 350,000 visitors annually, and helps inform the public about NOAA's programs and activities. At the College of William and Mary's Virginia Institute of Marine Science, VIMS, NOAA is collaborating with a major academic partner to improve understanding of Bay fisheries and support improved oyster restoration. At Stingray Point, Norfolk and Jamestown, NOAA has deployed first-of-its-kind CBIBS interpretive buoys that are not only providing critical real-time data streams for scientists, but multidisciplinary education tools to users of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Water Trail. Throughout the Virginia and Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay, NOAA is assisting watermen impacted by reductions in blue-crab harvests.

But NOAA's work and responsibilities to the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort are far from complete. The partners in the Bay restoration need the agency's continued help and support. Throughout the Bay, ecologically important fish species are in decline or at risk due to disease, habitat loss, and other factors. Underwater grasses that once provided habitat to sustain these fisheries are at a fraction of their historic levels. As advanced as our science is, Chesapeake Bay managers still do not have adequate information about the estuary and its habitats to manage its living resources or mitigate diseases in fish and shellfish.

The legislation I am introducing today builds upon previous authorizations of the NOAA Bay Program and addresses several urgent, continuing or unmet needs in the watershed. The bill seeks to achieve five main objectives.

Increasing collaboration between the various programs and activities at NOAA to further NOAA's coastal resource stewardship mission.

Improving Bay monitoring capabilities and the coordination and organization of the substantial amounts of data collected and compiled by Federal, State, and local government agencies and academic institutions through further development of an integrated observations system and the Chesapeake Bay Interpretative Buoy System.

Strengthening the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training Program, B-WET, the competitively based program which provides students with meaningful Chesapeake Bay or stream outdoor experiences and teachers with professional development opportunities for Bay-related environmental education.

Supporting and encouraging public-private partnerships to restore finfish and shellfish populations, submerged aquatic vegetation and other critical coastal habitat through aquaculture, stock enhancements, propagation and other programs.

Ensuring that Federal funds are spent wisely and effectively on projects that have scientific and technical merit and are peer reviewed.

This legislation enhances NOAA's commitment to further scientific data collection, develops fishery management practices and habitat restoration, and strengthens Chesapeake Bay environmental education programs. Mr. President, the Bay is a national treasure and its restoration should be a national priority.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that letters of support be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, last month, we honored an American hero, Elisha ``Ray'' Nance of Bedford, VA, who passed away at the age of 94. Mr. Nance was the last surviving member of what has come to be known as ``The Bedford Boys''--members of Company A, 116th Infantry, 29th Division.

For those who do not know the story, Mr. Nance was among 38 National Guardsmen from the close-knit community of Bedford who were called to active service in World War II. On June 6, 1944, 35 young men of Bedford's Company A were in the first wave to hit ``Omaha Beach'' at Normandy. Nineteen young men from Bedford died in the opening battle during the early morning of June 6, and two more Bedford boys died a few days later in the ensuing Normandy campaign.

``We Bedford boys,'' Nance recalled, ``competed to be in the first wave. We wanted to be there. We wanted to be the first on the beach,'' he would write as he recovered from his own severe wounds. The loss of 21 of the 35 soldiers from that small community of 3,200 people designated Bedford as the town that suffered the highest proportional losses on D-Day.

On Saturday, we marked the 65th anniversary of the Allied invasion at Normandy. And as we reflect upon all that was lost on Omaha Beach--and, ultimately, all that was gained as Allied forces successfully liberated Europe during World War II--it is appropriate to reflect for a moment on the heart-wrenching sacrifice made by this small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia.

In 1996, Congress designated Bedford as the most appropriate spot for the National D-Day Memorial. The Memorial, built upon a mixture of sand from Omaha Beach and farm dirt from central Virginia, and dedicated by then-President George W. Bush on June 6, 2001, and it now stands as a striking tribute to the valor, fidelity, and sacrifice of the Allied forces on D-Day. The historical events surrounding the Normandy landing provide the broad context for the story the Memorial attempts to tell, but the National D-Day Memorial is not about war: it is about service to our nation--the duties of citizenship--and subjugating oneself for a greater good. In short, it is about the character and patriotism we find in all of our small communities across America.

The Memorial has attracted over one million visitors since it opened in 2001, with over 50 percent visiting from out of state, and more than 10,000 students participate in the D-Day Memorial's educational programs each year.

However, expenses run just over $2 million each year, and the Memorial takes in less than $600,000 a year in admission fees and gifts. Recently, the non-profit foundation that operates the Memorial announced it does not have adequate resources to remain open through the end of the year. We must take action now, or we risk losing an important landmark that pays tribute to the unbelievable sacrifices our young men and their families during that fateful landing.

Therefore, I am introducing this legislation that would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, as a unit of the National Park System. This proposal is cosponsored by my esteemed Virginia colleague, Senator Webb.

I urge you to support this measure, which would protect and preserve this important monument to our D-Day veterans and their families and future generations of Americans.

Mr. President, last month, we honored an American hero, Elisha ``Ray'' Nance of Bedford, VA, who passed away at the age of 94. Mr. Nance was the last surviving member of what has come to be known as ``The Bedford Boys''--members of Company A, 116th Infantry, 29th Division.

For those who do not know the story, Mr. Nance was among 38 National Guardsmen from the close-knit community of Bedford who were called to active service in World War II. On June 6, 1944, 35 young men of Bedford's Company A were in the first wave to hit ``Omaha Beach'' at Normandy. Nineteen young men from Bedford died in the opening battle during the early morning of June 6, and two more Bedford boys died a few days later in the ensuing Normandy campaign.

``We Bedford boys,'' Nance recalled, ``competed to be in the first wave. We wanted to be there. We wanted to be the first on the beach,'' he would write as he recovered from his own severe wounds. The loss of 21 of the 35 soldiers from that small community of 3,200 people designated Bedford as the town that suffered the highest proportional losses on D-Day.

On Saturday, we marked the 65th anniversary of the Allied invasion at Normandy. And as we reflect upon all that was lost on Omaha Beach--and, ultimately, all that was gained as Allied forces successfully liberated Europe during World War II--it is appropriate to reflect for a moment on the heart-wrenching sacrifice made by this small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of central Virginia.

In 1996, Congress designated Bedford as the most appropriate spot for the National D-Day Memorial. The Memorial, built upon a mixture of sand from Omaha Beach and farm dirt from central Virginia, and dedicated by then-President George W. Bush on June 6, 2001, and it now stands as a striking tribute to the valor, fidelity, and sacrifice of the Allied forces on D-Day. The historical events surrounding the Normandy landing provide the broad context for the story the Memorial attempts to tell, but the National D-Day Memorial is not about war: it is about service to our nation--the duties of citizenship--and subjugating oneself for a greater good. In short, it is about the character and patriotism we find in all of our small communities across America.

The Memorial has attracted over one million visitors since it opened in 2001, with over 50 percent visiting from out of state, and more than 10,000 students participate in the D-Day Memorial's educational programs each year.

However, expenses run just over $2 million each year, and the Memorial takes in less than $600,000 a year in admission fees and gifts. Recently, the non-profit foundation that operates the Memorial announced it does not have adequate resources to remain open through the end of the year. We must take action now, or we risk losing an important landmark that pays tribute to the unbelievable sacrifices our young men and their families during that fateful landing.

Therefore, I am introducing this legislation that would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, as a unit of the National Park System. This proposal is cosponsored by my esteemed Virginia colleague, Senator Webb.

I urge you to support this measure, which would protect and preserve this important monument to our D-Day veterans and their families and future generations of Americans.

Mr. President, I wish to pay appropriate tribute today to an American hero--Elisha ``Ray'' Nance--of Bedford, VA.

He passed away last Sunday at the age of 94, and memorial services are being held today.

Mr. Nance was the last surviving member of what has come to be known as ``The Bedford Boys''--members of Company A, 116th Infantry, 29th Division.

Mr. Nance was among 38 National Guardsmen from the close-knit community of Bedford who were called to active service in World War II. On June 6, 1944, 19 were killed when they landed on Omaha Beach at the start of the D-day invasion. Two more died later.

``We Bedford boys,'' Nance recalled, ``we competed to be in the first wave. We wanted to be there. We wanted to be the first on the beach,'' he would write as he recovered from his own severe wounds.

Bedford recorded 21 casualties out of 38 men who served, all from the same small town of 3,200 people located in central Virginia.

That overwhelming loss led to Bedford's selection as the site of the National D-day Memorial--a worthy project I was honored to support, both as a private citizen and as Virginia Governor.

But Ray Nance's public service did not end with his military service.

To honor his fallen brethren, Nance returned home to Bedford and helped reorganize Company A of the Virginia National Guard, and served as its first commander. He then built a career as a rural postal carrier, and served in the Elks.

At the end of his life, he was a proud resident of the Elks National Home in Bedford.

In recent years, he visited the D-day Memorial often to help teach younger generations about the service, courage and sacrifice demonstrated by ``The Bedford Boys'' and others of the ``greatest generation.''

Ray Nance's life and example demonstrate the very best qualities--and the responsibilities--of citizenship.

My thoughts and prayers are with his widow Alpha and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A grateful Commonwealth and Nation thanks them for their lifetime of support for Ray Nance--a hero--and the last of ``The Bedford Boys.''

Mr. President, I rise today to state a principle that is known well by those of us who have served in the private sector, and that principle is simply this: What gets measured gets done.

This week, as my colleague from New Hampshire has already stated, we begin work on the Federal budget even as we are implementing the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

Both of these actions can either confirm the claims of critics, the skeptics who always say that Washington simply is not capable of managing the taxpayer's money responsibly or it could present us with a tailor-made opportunity to demonstrate that we can combine bold action with innovation and transparency as we work to get our economy and our country back on the right track.

In the near term, the targeted investments included in the Recovery Act are designed to create millions of new jobs.

The President's budget proposals, if they are enacted, will allow us to make longer term investments through the expanded use of electronic health records, the build-out of the smart grid, and through energy- saving improvements to millions of homes and businesses.

Now, I do not think the American people expect miracles--but they can, and they should, expect competence.

So we must put in place the people with the right skills, insist on appropriate measurements, and then demand transparency and accountability.

When I became Virginia's Governor at the peak of an earlier recession, back in 2002, I inherited a $6 billion revenue shortfall in Virginia's $34 billion annual budget.

Our administration made the painful spending cuts, but then we did something else: we used that opportunity to enact long-term budget reforms that continue to save taxpayer money today.

For instance, we renegotiated a number of our State contracts and leveraged our purchasing power. We reduced the cost of light bulbs from 32 cents to 23 cents. Now, saving nine-cents per bulb will not close a $6 billion shortfall, but the State buys an awful lot of light bulbs.

We found similar savings in procurement across much of State government, bundling our purchasing power the same way many major businesses do.

We examined and then eliminated outdated boards and commissions. We consolidated our State information technology activities. We took a whole new portfolio approach to managing our real estate holdings and our vehicle fleet, just as any business would.

These business-like reforms produced almost immediate taxpayer savings. And it accomplished something else as well: it created an expectation of transparency and accountability that resulted in Virginia being independently designated as the Nation's best managed State, and the best State for business investment.

I do not rise today to brag on the Commonwealth of Virginia well, perhaps a little bit. Instead, I rise today to suggest that this same approach--straight talk, tough choices, and an insistence on commonsense reform and accountability--is critically important here and now in Washington, DC.

President Obama has made it clear to Governors and mayors across the country that we need their help for this Recovery and Reinvestment Act to succeed. I commend the administration for insisting that accountability does not simply stop at the State capital, once a Governor releases funds to localities. We must have the same high standards of accountability at the local level as well.

I also am pleased that the administration's recovery.gov Web site conveys a lot of useful information to the taxpayers in a clear and user-friendly way. And by midweek, all but a handful of States are expected to launch similar Web sites of their own.

But as they launch these Web sites, we must make sure that they have standard metrics so we can actually

compare progress from one State to another.

It is also imperative that we keep the pressure on officials at every level of Government to continue to aggressively look for even more creative ways to make these sites more useful.

In recent weeks, I have spoken to key administration officials about what other steps we might take to promote transparency and accountability in implementing the Recovery Act.

If we do this right, it could build a solid foundation to promote longer term fiscal responsibility as we move forward in the Federal budget process.

For instance, I believe we should drill-down and reach consensus on commonsense definitions and metrics. Let me give you an example.

When I chaired the National Governors Association in 2005, we launched a major effort to reform our high schools. I was astonished to learn there was no common definition across the States of `high school graduate.'

So we spent months working with educators, academics and policymakers to reach a common definition so we could determine whether a high school graduate in Alaska or in New Mexico was meeting the same kind of qualifications as a high school graduate in Virginia.

That now allows us to look at those programs that work--and those that don't--across all of the States.

I believe that experience provides a useful model as we work to develop a common set of metrics that allows us to honestly and effectively track Federal spending, especially with the stimulus dollars where we are ramping up so many new initiatives in such a short time-frame.

To do this, we will need to work through existing organizations, such as the National Governors Association, the Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, and others, as we work to design effective measurement tools.

For example, most of us agree that expanding high speed Internet broadband to rural communities will create jobs. It will allow folks in every region of our Nation to have an opportunity to compete and win in the global economy.

Obviously, as we roll out broadband, we will track our progress by noting how many communities are served and the number of Internet connections that are added.

But what if we also came up with a way to capture information about how many rural businesses were able to launch or grow because of this expanded access to broadband? That information would allow us to measure the true value of broadband to the longer term economic viability of our rural communities.

Or consider our commitment to dramatically expand weatherization improvements to the homes of lower-income Americans. Now, certainly we will tally the number of structures that undergo these energy-saving upgrades, and it should be relatively easy to document the number of workers in the weatherization program.

But couldn't we also come up with some way to measure what one would reasonably expect to be a reduction in the annual demand for Government-funded heating and cooling assistance? And wouldn't that information be helpful as we consider funding levels for LIHEAP and similar assistance in the years to come?

In short, I believe every level of Government should go the extra mile in laying out exactly how the Federal dollars are being spent, and we should honestly measure and disclose program outcomes.

I also think, as we roll out these major expenditures, it is a good idea to link disbursements with predetermined timelines and checkpoints to better track our progress. Let's not wait until all of the money is spent before we determine whether the program works or not.

Consequently, if we do not see appropriate progress, we could delay or defer future payments.

In addition, Federal and State governments also should be encouraged to reach outside their comfort zones and challenge individuals in the private sector to step-up and provide specialized expertise.

Again, within the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we are going to be ramping up a series of important new initiatives on a very short timeline.

How do we get the expertise from the private sector to engage in this effort? For example, this could be part of the Serve America Act, which we will consider and vote on this week, which will promote and expand public service opportunities for our citizens.

We must try to draw upon the best and brightest to bring them into Government service, even if it is on a part-time basis, as we ramp up these new initiatives.

I am talking about men and women with proven management capabilities, individuals who can move with the speed of venture capitalists to embrace new ideas, or recently retired military leaders who have successfully overseen relief efforts.

This is the type of expertise we need to draw upon if we are going to ramp-up these programs successfully. And as we do this, we must also have the courage to cut back or eliminate programs that cannot prove their worth.

As a former Governor who enjoyed line-item veto authority, I wholeheartedly support President Obama's pledge to conduct a line-by- line review of the federal budget to identify waste and fraud.

I also encourage the administration to conduct a broad-based review of Governmental programs--a review that is horizontal, not just vertical.

Based upon my experience as Governor, and the experiences of countless Fortune 500 companies, I know that an enterprise-wide review could reveal additional opportunities to wring-out significant budget savings.

Typically, one can find sustainable savings in three areas: procurement, technology, and human resources.

That is why it is vitally important that the administration move quickly to appoint its chief performance officer, and that CPO must have the authority to act quickly, along with the chief information officer and chief technology officer. These individuals must have a mandate to work across multiple Federal agencies, and I hope they ruffle a few feathers.

Mr. President, I will say it again: what gets measured gets done.

In the short term, creating an expectation of transparency and accountability will maximize our `bang for the buck' as we continue to implement the Recovery Act.

And over the longer-term, this focus and genuine commitment to fiscal responsibility will demonstrate that Washington can, in fact, act with both confidence and restraint when it comes to spending the taxpayer's money.

I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Is there further debate on the amendment?

If not, the question is on agreeing to the amendment.

The amendment (No. 637) was rejected.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I understand that S. 542, introduced earlier today by Senator Reid, is at the desk and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for its second reading and object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2 p.m., Monday, March 9; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 1105, the Omnibus appropriations bill.

Mr. President, Senators should expect a series of rollcall votes in relation to amendments to the appropriations bill beginning at 5:30 p.m. Monday.

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order, following the remarks of Senator Bond.