These issues are near and dear to my heart because they affect lower-income families that reside on 'side-streets' across America.

One important reason to have a public health insurance plan available in the exchange to employers is that it is a counterbalance to undue market power by insurance companies or by providers that may be the only system that is available in a geographic area.

Having said that, it makes no sense to me--and I'm just about to reintroduce legislation--let me give you an example.

I think your point about osteoporosis prevention is very well taken.

I think, first of all, that the best and most effective way to deal with the issues we've been discussing is to have a national health plan, one that everybody is in, and nobody is out.

It is also my belief that community health centers are the most effective instruments that we currently have to provide cost-effective quality healthcare to large numbers of low-income and poor people.

I think the most important point to stress is that nobody loses coverage. People have choices, and they only change coverage if they feel that what they're changing to is better or more affordable.

Thank you Mr. President for having the audacity to propose a budget that invests in early childhood education.

I commend President Obama for his forward-focused comprehensive approach to addressing inherited interconnected socioeconomic woes.

That is wonderful.

Many of them were put on the books as we decided that we needed to get tough on crime in the 1980s and the early 1990s.