An accurate census is critical to our democracy and to our economy. It underpins fair representation in government and allows us to ensure that our communities receive equitable funding for schools, roads, health care, and much more.
One of the critical issues that we have to confront is illegal immigration, because this is a multi-headed Hydra that affects our economy, our health care, our health care, our education systems, our national security, and also our local criminality.
I will fight every day to protect the health of our communities, to provide comprehensive care for our women and our mothers, to defend coverage for those who have pre-existing conditions, and to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable, quality health care.
For working mothers, creating a work-life balance is critical, as we must ensure we do not neglect any significant part of our lives - our children, our family's health, our own health and fitness, our marriage, and, of course, our careers.
Health care is one-sixth of our economy. If the government can control that, they can control just about everything. We need to understand what is going on, because there are much more economic models that can be used to give us good health care than what we have now.
The bottom line is that the federal government is an important partner in addressing issues like funding our public schools, fixing our crumbling roads and infrastructure, protecting our natural resources and ensuring that healthcare is affordable and protects people with pre-existing conditions.
I think the health of our water is tied to a lot: the health of our communities, hence our economy, the health of our basic human rights.
The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions: Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinion? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up, trusting our fellow citizens to join us in our determined pursuit-a living democracy?
While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system.
Our freedom is also incomplete, dear compatriots, as long as we are denied our security by criminals who prey on our communities, who rob our businesses and undermine our economy, who ply their destructive trade in drugs in our schools, and who do violence against our women and children.
Education is 'the guardian genius of our democracy.' Nothing really means more to our future, not our military defenses, not our missiles or our bombers, not our production economy, not even our democratic system of government. For all of these are worthless if we lack the brain power to support and sustain them.
The funding of rural roads is imperative if we want to continue to grow our economy and improve the overall health of our vast, rural regions in the commonwealth. As a native of the Eastern Shore, I know that a single trip down U.S. Route 13 and across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge - Tunnel can show us how important infrastructure is to rural Virginia.
The care economy impacts all of us: our children, elderly loved ones, family members with disabilities, child care workers, home health aides, nurses, and so many more. Care is something we all need, at different stages in our lives.
A true infrastructure investment must include transforming our economy to handle the climate crisis, supporting care workers, reforming SSI, making child care universal, rebuilding our crumbling public schools, and much more.
The Postal Service is critical to our economy, our seniors and veterans who count on lifesaving medications, our small businesses that need to ship their products, and even to our democracy.
My top three priorities for my first term in Congress are growing our economy; providing for quality, affordable health care; and keeping our nation and communities safe.
I've voted for Republicans who were strong on defense, who believed in a free and open economy but who also understood that there's a place for government in our lives, that government has a responsibility to those of our citizens who are in need and those of our citizens who are needy of health care.