We will never stop illegal immigration until this country has a comprehensive, realistic immigration policy.

The privatization plan weakens Social Security and threatens our economic security by creating trillions of dollars in new debt.

One of the most important improvements in the No Child Left Behind Act for migrant students was the requirement for electronic transfer of migrant student records.

We need to work together, on a bipartisan basis, to create new jobs, increase job training, enact real and substantive middle class tax relief, and reward companies that create jobs at home.

If we do not get No Child Left Behind right for Limited English Proficient students, the law will be a failure for most schools in the 15th Congressional District, and for many across the nation.

As problems like identity theft become more prevalent, now more than ever, Americans need to take their financial health seriously - and this information is of the utmost importance.

Currently, only 70 percent of our high school students earn diplomas with their peers, and less than one-third of our high school students graduate prepared for success in a four-year college.

Tragically, the White House Task Force on Disadvantaged Youth reported that one-quarter of our young people are at serious risk of not achieving productive adulthood.

While I do commend the Administration on its commitment and focus on high school reform, I believe that we must focus on graduation as the key accountability measure.

We must not allow this generation to produce record numbers for the juvenile justice, runaway and homeless youth, or foster care systems.

Closing the gap for women entrepreneurs should be a priority for the federal government - and yet the Small Business Administration has failed in their promise to women business owners.

It's not about what we go through in life, but how we come out shining on the other side that makes us who we are.

In those few words you've summed up my life - my reason for existence. It's you. Any pain I've suffered, the mistakes I've made, the path laid out for me have all led here - to you.

God has disclosed himself in descriptive terms that give us enough information to be able to know who he is, and he has hidden enough of himself for us to learn the balance between faith and reason.

I think of my peace paintings as one long poem, with each painting being a single stanza.

Our love for Christ is more important to Him than all of our service to Him. Strict obedience and services are not enough. Love for Jesus must come first.

If you love people, you'll enjoy your life. If you don't, you won't love anything you do.

If they'd wanted a nice parrot, they wouldn't have asked for me.

I love that people want to know about poetry. It's one of the ways of keeping alive.

I now have a greater compassion than I have ever had before to know what it is to have the pain of a broken marriage. And I'm not saying I have an answer or solution for everyone.

The reading of a poem should be an experience. Its writing must be all the more so.