I believe that there are barriers, educational barriers, cultural barriers, societal barriers, that are keeping people from accessing the promise of a vibrant free enterprise economy.

The government doesn't run the economy. The economy is run by the private sector. The job of the president is to ensure we [the state] have policies that allow the private sector to grow and prosper.

As Pope Francis visits the United States for the very first time, it is our privilege as Catholics and Americans to welcome His Holiness to our country. Here, he will find people who are uniquely free.

Unlike any other leader in modern American history, we are led today by a president that has decided to pit Americans against each other.

That thought process that somehow other people have to be worse off in order for you to be better off does not work. People get on boats people jump fences to get away from that kind of thought process.

First of all, what we [in USA] need to understand is the middle class is what makes us different and exceptional. Every country has rich people, but what has made us different throughout history is that we have this broad-based vibrant middle class.

When I got to the Senate, one of the things that most bothered me is this lack of urgency about the major issues.