The greatest problem America faces is the decline of middle class incomes.

The export market is based, on high-paying jobs. I`ve seen statistics that show that people make over 88 a year generally benefit from this because these are export jobs.

When I started to get involved in the crime issue, people said, "it's a local issue." I said, "No, there are lots of ways the federal government can help." And the best way the federal government can help, and did in the Crime Bill, is to find programs that work around the country and help them spread.

Soft money will find its way and seep into the political system and corrode it, unless we plug every hole.

I told the President, I told Rahm Emanuel and others in the administration that I thought the policy they took to try to bring about negotiations is counter-productive, because when you give the Palestinians hope that the United States will do its negotiating for them, they are not going to sit down and talk.

I think teaching should be an exalted profession, not a picked-on profession.

The bottom line is very simple. You negotiate on this, they will up the ante for the debt ceiling.