Press Releases

“In every office and position of leadership, Tom Perez has proven himself a qualified leader and a capable public servant. As the son of immigrants, he has lived the American Dream – and as Secretary of Labor, he will keep working to reignite the American Dream for every American. I commend President Obama on his selection and I look forward to working with Secretary-designate Tom Perez to advance the cause of fairness, opportunity, and equality nationwide.”

“Our budget must always be a statement of our values, and only the Democratic budget advances our core national values of fairness, opportunity, and equality for all. It’s time for Republicans to abandon their ideological agenda and work with Democrats on a budget that puts the American Dream in reach for all Americans.”

"But it's important for people to know that this pay?as?you?go, this sensitivity to the impact of a deficit and a growing debt and interest on the payment on that debt has on our options and choices that we can make in a budget. And to protect Medicare and what it means to America's seniors and their families and those who depend on Medicare and Medicaid, that's near and dear to our hearts, more importantly to our heads, and we have most of that in the Affordable Care Act already..."

"It was an interesting collection of questions from our colleagues, ranging from climate change, to taxation, to stopping the cuts in biomedical research and what that means to the health of our nation. The President, again, was inspiring, was optimistic, was realistic and called upon us for unity and invited any thoughts that we had on how we go forward..."

"...Thank you for letting us honor you on your birthday. And I thought it would be fun if we had some of our former colleagues who had served with Lindy share their toast in her honor. And I want to start with another Ambassador, former Member of Congress, Margaret Heckler..."

“So again, we’ll be hearing from our other colleagues, but I just wanted to point out a few who are up here and recognize that everybody has a very strong interest in getting this done. You have come to the Hill, you’re the cavalry that has come to take the Hill for this very important cause. We can try to maneuver internally all we can to try to convince our colleagues, as Congresswoman Maloney has done, Congresswoman Lee, Congresswoman Matsui, Congresswoman DeLauro, and so many other Members of Congress, but without the outside mobilization we cannot get the boldest common denominator to get the best possible legislation passed."

“Whether named for St. Francis of Assisi, who cared for all of God’s creation, or St. Francis Xavier, who brought the faith to Asia, Pope Francis has been, and will be, a moral force to protect the poor and advance the faith.”