Keeping the people's government open is not a concession to me. Keeping vital service running and hundreds of thousands of Americans on the job is not something you 'give' to the other side.

Here's what I can tell the American people: 95 percent of you will get a tax cut. And if you make less than $250,000, less than a quarter-million dollars a year, then you will not see one dime's worth of tax increase.

Change is never easy, but always possible.

I think that Mr. Snowden raised some legitimate concerns. How he did it was something that did not follow the procedures and practices of our intelligence community. If everybody took the approach that I make my own decisions about these issues, then it would be very hard to have an organized government or any kind of national security system.

Religious freedom doesn't mean you can force others to live by your own beliefs

If we have actionable intelligence about high value terrorist targets and President [Pervez] Musharraf will not act, we will.

Libraries remind us that truth isn't about who yells the loudest but who has the right information.