[Hillary Clinton] was trying to encourage us to become more active in politics and she said, 'If you leave all the decision-making to others, you might not like what they do, and you will have no one but yourself to blame.' It was such a challenge to the women in the room. And it really hit me: She's talking to me.

We must do everything we can to help our service members and veterans transition into civilian life once they return home, and that means preparing them for the tough job market.

I have since talked to some of my girlfriends sexual assault and found out that they had their own experiences that they never shared at the time. It was never talked about it. And I think it's because of that normal response - you feel badly, you feel responsible, you feel guilty, you feel like you did something wrong, you feel ashamed.

One of the things that Claire [ McCaskill] and I are trying to do is put systems on campus in place so that a survivor knows who to talk to - that there's somebody who's an expert on their campus that will know all their options from day one and really empower them to make their own decision about what they want to do.

Unfortunately, our [american] workplace rules are stuck in the seventies, when, out of a block of 10 houses, in more than half of them the husband went to work and the wife stayed home. Now on that same block almost eight of the wives work. That's one reason why I want equal pay for equal work, and why affordable day care, early childhood education, and universal pre-K are so important to me.

While we can never truly repay the debt we owe our heroes, the least we should do for our brave veterans is to ensure that the government takes a proactive approach to delivering the services and benefits they have earned, so they can access the care they need and so richly deserve.

As a 10-year-old girl, I would listen to my grandmother discuss issues, and she made a lasting impression on me.