Mr. Speaker, democracy works best when the American electorate is engaged and informed.

As part of my efforts to fight identity theft, I worked with my colleagues on the Financial Services Committee to strengthen consumer protection with a reasonable notification requirement.

During a trip to Iraq last fall, I visited our theater hospital at Balad Air Force Base and witnessed these skilled medical professionals in action and met the brave soldiers whose lives they saved.

Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the nation - especially in the suburbs.

By overhauling current rules and speeding the entry of competitors in the market, we encourage competition and provide our constituents with new choices and cheaper bills.

Social security, bank account, and credit card numbers aren't just data. In the wrong hands they can wipe out someone's life savings, wreck their credit and cause financial ruin.

If we want to truly regain the public's trust, we can provide greater accountability and transparency with a simple step. Let's start by communicating to our constituents about the votes we take.

Under the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star Program, homes are independently verified to be measurably more energy efficient than average houses.

Even the best data security systems can't protect private taxpayer information from entrepreneurial foreign businesses than can make huge profits selling U.S. taxpayer information.

Many of our constituents have one option for cable TV and one price. Our constituents desire choice.

In fact, 80 percent of our domestic job growth comes from the small- and medium-sized business community.

The right response to the non-problem of global warming is to have the courage to do nothing.

Most people spend most of their time on low-priority busywork because it requires no additional knowledge, skills, or imagination-or courage. In a word, it's easier.

Wealth is conspicuous, but poverty hides.

Not knowing of the eternal leads to unfortunate errors.

Sometimes when we're waiting for God to speak, He's waiting for us to listen.

As long as I have a good time, the audience usually has a good time.

The sons of all of us will pay in the future if we of the present do not do justice in the present.

Government is a necessary evil

I'll bet I'm as old as you are." "I'm older than Sanskrit." "Well, I was waitress at the Last Supper." "I'm so old I remember when McDonald's had only sold a hundred burgers." "You win.