Since 2000, I have proposed changing the Constitution so that our popular vote decides the presidency.

I stood respectfully as Ronald Reagan was sworn in to his second term though I disagreed with him on many issues. I stood as well for the inauguration of George W. Bush's second term though I thought his war in Iraq was a tragic mistake.

There is no question that the federal government sometimes overdoes it in issuing rules and regulations.

Before I was elected to Congress, I worked in a courtroom. For years, I defended doctors and hospitals, and for years, I sued them on behalf of people who were victims of medical malpractice.

There is no question that President Barack Obama should be commended for the successful removal of Assad's ghastly chemical weapons stockpile. But it hasn't been enough.

American businesses and consumers deserve a debit card system with competition, transparency, and reasonable fees.

Chairing any Appropriations subcommittee is both a great honor and weighty responsibility.

We have to really appeal to that sensible center.

As a public official, when I take a position, I stand up to explain and defend it. I file annual financial disclosures, campaign finance reports, and have to face the scrutiny of public opinion.

A journalist gathers information for a media outlet that disseminates the information through a broadly defined 'medium' - including newspaper, nonfiction book, wire service, magazine, news Web site, television, radio or motion picture - for public use. This broad definition covers every form of legitimate journalism.

Everyone, regardless of the mode of expression, has a constitutionally protected right to free speech. But when it comes to freedom of the press, I believe we must define a journalist and the constitutional and statutory protections those journalists should receive.

We happen to believe that emissions going into the atmosphere are not good for us as humans or Mother Earth.

Those of us who believe in God and those of us who have dedicated our lives to helping others in the name of God don't want to take a second seat to anyone who is suggesting that one word out of the platform means that the Democrats across America are godless.

These are men and women who are willing to risk their lives in defense of their country. And the fact that their orientation - sexual orientation's been held against them is a blot on our nation's reputation.

You know, the purpose of reconciliation is to avoid the filibuster. The filibuster is an effort to talk something to death.

If we do nothing, as the Republicans suggest, we're going to see health care costs reach a point where small businesses can't afford it and families can't afford it. We're going to see people turned down from pre-existing conditions. We're going to find the Medicare doughnut hole - a gap in coverage that's going to hurt a lot of seniors.

There is no room for legal hair-splitting when it comes to the humane treatment of detainees - not in a nation founded on the rule of law and respect for human rights.

We can't do much about ensuring that the homeland is safe if our local police and sheriffs' departments don't have the personnel they need to keep our streets and neighborhoods secure.

Instead of incentivizing quick, short-term decisions, the federal government should be asking the tough questions when governments turn over publicly funded transportation assets to for-profit operators.

Credit card companies and banks usually aren't shy when they're trying to sell you something. Heck, Wells Fargo didn't even bother to ask consumers before signing them up for as many as two million checking and credit card accounts.

We've had enough with loopholes in our gun laws that allow dangerous people to get their hands on guns.

The for-profit college industry is clearly the single-heaviest subsidized business in America. More than any defense contractor or any farm operation... So many of them are a horrible waste of students' time and of taxpayer dollars.

Certain classes of weapons that are strictly military and have no useful purpose in sport, hunting, or self-defense should not be legally sold.

It is unacceptable that disabled veterans in Illinois rank at the bottom of the list when it comes to disability pay. We owe our disabled veterans more than speeches, parades and monuments.