When the norm is decency, other virtues can thrive: integrity, honesty, compassion, kindness, and trust.
Raja Krishnamoorthi
A high school diploma will no longer be sufficient. But that post secondary education does not have to be a four-year university or a four-year college. It can be career technical education, vocational education, community college.
In some ways, 'decency' is a hazy concept; we know it when we see it.
As an immigrant, I am grateful for the tremendous opportunities that this great nation has afforded me and my family. I am also aware of the ongoing challenges that immigrants confront, and understand that respecting law and borders is essential for keeping America strong.
Americans want Washington to put aside political differences, find common ground, and start producing real economic solutions for the middle class.
The most important thing is to recognize that research is our seed corn. It's a national security priority. It's not just a way to have enough going on that graduate students can do their Ph.D.s and scientists can publish. We have to do research, or we'll fall behind the rest of the world.
In the past, leaders of both parties have been able to reach across the partisan divide. They succeeded by retaining their own humanity and recognizing the same in their political opponents.
I've led programs that have helped thousands of individuals, small businesses, veterans, the disabled, farmers get low-interest loans to prosper.
When our Founding Fathers wrote the historic words 'all men are created equal,' they probably didn't have people like me in mind.
Working with a Republican co-sponsor, Rep. Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania, I introduced a bill to strengthen our nation's career and technical education programs and more closely align them with the needs of local businesses and industries.
Every night at dinner, my father would say something about the greatness of the United States - and tell us to make sure the government is there for the next people who come along and need it.
Donald Trump will become president even after losing the popular vote in our November elections by a wide margin. To govern effectively, he must appeal to a broader base than what he campaigned on and avoid the divisive rhetoric that alienated so many Americans.
We must reject the politics of meanness and contempt that increasingly dominate our airwaves and Internet.
When a foreign adversary knows that an American official has deceived or withheld vital information from our government, it creates a fundamental counterintelligence vulnerability that can render that official irreparably compromised.
In the private sector, as the president of a small business, my focus has been on driving the growth of our business, not driving any partisan political agenda.
If I am elected to Congress, I will put the interests of our community first, and I will actively seek input and respond to it.
As a candidate for Congress, I proposed a federal infrastructure bank to help local governments fund badly needed projects, including ones in my district. We need to repair and expand our crumbling transportation systems by creating many good-paying construction jobs.
Even people who have successfully obtained a visa are sometimes being turned back at the airport. Such incidents have never happened in the past but are increasing now because even low level officers of the border patrol department are being entrusted with too much discretion power on how they execute the laws.
I think that what is really important is that, at the grassroots level, Indian-Americans really engage in the political process. That means voting and volunteering and assisting candidates who support the agenda that is friendly to their values.
One of the best programs that the federal government sponsors is the Small Business Innovation Research program, in which more than 2.5 percent of federal research and development funding at the largest agencies goes directly to small businesses.
I believe the benefits of tax reform should flow to those who most need them most - hard-pressed working families struggling to reach or stay in the middle class.
We must have the strictest adherence to security procedures to protect against compromise by hostile foreign powers.
We should never waive the checks on government spending that taxpayers deserve.
For too long, people in Washington and Congress point fingers at each other, even as millions of middle-class Americans remain unemployed and our economy continues to sputter. They must realize that we are all in this together, and I respectfully submit that the best way to remind Congress of this is to tie their pay to their collective results.
I hope that President-elect Trump will drop his unrealistic campaign pledge to deport millions of immigrants who've made their lives in this country and contribute to our country.
There is too much blind partisanship in Congress, which has blocked progress on critical issues. Too many members view compromise as weakness rather than the essence of our democracy. This has to end.
I have strong differences with Mr. Trump on a woman's right to choose and what kind of justices belong on the Supreme Court.
I'm looking forward to going to Congress to pursue my Working Families Agenda and find areas of bipartisan agreement to move forward on important legislation.
The fact that Barack Hussein Obama became president is historic, to say the least. Actually, to become U.S. senator, that was historic, and then what he did later on - that's what inspired me to think about running for office.
Congress increasingly represents the diversity of America.
There's a lot of good, bipartisan legislation that passes in committee and then gets bottled up. As a businessman, it surprised me.
I think with the right leadership on both sides and the right president, we can get a lot done.
If I am elected to Congress, I plan to introduce legislation tying Congressional pay to performance.
In my roles as Deputy State Treasurer and Special Assistant Attorney General, I strove to make government more responsive, transparent, efficient, and proactive.
Voters should know what their representative is doing, what votes he casts, and who he pays, so my office will make this data readily available in a way which is easy to understand.
The American people need to know if public servants are operating in the best interests of the United States or the Kremlin.
The possibility that members of the Trump team coordinated and colluded with agents of the Kremlin on Russia's interference in our elections is a profound and disturbing one, but it is pivotal that we approach this issue with the seriousness it deserves.
Trumpcare would be devastating for millions of American families, but perhaps no one will bear the brunt of its cruelty more than older Americans.
In addition to skyrocketing premiums, Trumpcare also unravels protections that older Americans want and need in their health coverage.
All in all, Trumpcare is a bad plan for older Americans.
Losing access to quality and comprehensive coverage, including for prescription drugs, would be devastating to older Americans.
In some ways, political decency is a sign of a healthy democracy, but in other ways, it is the cause of it.
Our political system has been bankrupted by the failures of Congress to act in ways that give meaning to the struggles our constituents endure.
The truth is that searching for our commonality instead of our differences could transform our dysfunctional politics.
In truth, ending DACA will cost us tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity.
Each Dreamer in our country is more than a mere statistic; he or she is a proud American in everything but official documentation.
Illinois is home to a disproportionate share of Dreamers and would suffer a significant economic blow should they be compelled to leave.
There's another important reason not to send the Dreamers packing: they are essential to preserving the social insurance programs on which older Americans rely.
Our best path to economic growth and global competitiveness is to invest in our people - not to provide huge new tax breaks to special interests.
Cutting tax credits for education and training will result in more Americans working at minimum-wage jobs while U.S. companies go begging for the higher-paid skilled workers they need.
