I was raised in an Italian catholic family in Baltimore, Maryland. Our faith is very important to us, our patriotism, love of faith, love of family, love of country. I took pride in our Italian American heritage and to be the first woman speaker of the House and the first Italian American speaker of the House, it's quite thrilling for me.

Jobs are central to the American dream - and President Obama has focused on jobs from day one.

I do trust that the president is sincere in understanding that the public supports - that overwhelmingly the public supports - not sending these young people back. It was interpreted by some that we had a deal on the deal. But that wasn't on the package. We had an agreement to move forward, in our view, with the DREAM Act as a basis for how we protect the DREAMers and for further discussions on what provisions relating to the border might be in an accompanying bill or whatever as we go forward. So I trust the president in that regard.

I don't reject the concept of preemptive war. I'm a mother of five. I have five grandchildren. And I always say: Think of a lioness. Think of a mother bear. You come anywhere near our cubs, you're dead. And so, in terms of any threat to our country, people have to know we'll be there to preemptively strike. But what the president [Bush] did was, on the basis of no real intelligence for an imminent threat to our country, chose to go into a war for reasons that are still unknown to us.

Elect us, hold us accountable, and make a judgment and then go from there. But I do tell you that if the Democrats win, and have substantial majorities, the Congress of the United States will be more bipartisan.

I will not be making appointments to a committee that is not bipartisan.

For 25 years, it has been my privilege to represent the city of San Francisco and the great state of California; to work to strengthen our vibrant middle class; to secure opportunity and equality.