We want to be part of that conversation of course, but we also have to state very strongly how important the nonappropriated funding [NAF] that goes to our support services is.

I certainly will look forward to serving with you, and I just want to say that I know that you always were very supportive of my role.

I think the issue that sometimes gets lost is that the nonappropriated funding that comes from these activities impacts the programs that you have all been just talking about.

Some say early in-person voting is an alternative to voting by mail. While I fully support this opportunity, I would disagree with that.

I strongly believe this Congress must expand and improve absentee voting for all eligible voters and extend a bedrock promise of our democracy, a vote for every citizen.

The next step is to give hard-working Americans with busy lives the best chance to vote no matter what comes up on Election Day.

Historically, the Federal Government has opened the doors to those who have been shut out of the voting process.

The inordinate amount of time spent fundraising was unfair, and the public perceptions of pay-to-play and the runaway cost of campaigns were the main reason why the State of Connecticut implemented a public financing system.

No one wants to see this tilt one way or the other. We want to see fair elections and open elections.

If you are spending more time in district raising your money there, and not here in Washington, D.C., within the Beltway, then aren't we creating, in many respects, a more representative, a more Republic, democratic society?

None of us want to be telemarketers. My concern, and the reason that I have supported in concept public financing, is because I think we work better when we can focus our efforts on solving the problems that we want to solve for our constituents.