Across the country military families are facing dire financial circumstances due to longer than expected tours of duties. They are being penalized for their patriotism - no one should have to choose between doing right by their country and doing right by their families.

My first meeting as a senator, my first day, they were already talking about the next election. Part of that's the permanent campaign, part of that's a word I've been using more frequently, 'tribal.' Our politics has become tribal: It's us versus them.

Filibusters should require 35 senators to... make a commitment to continually debate an issue in reality, not just in theory. The number of votes needed to overcome a filibuster should be reduced to 55 from 60.

As with any difficult challenge that the public and policymakers face, there is no single solution or silver bullet that will serve as the answer to how the United States works to reduce carbon emissions.

We know that a college degree is rapidly becoming the price of admission to the global economy.

To win the war on terror, we must know who our friends are and where our enemies are hiding. We can't continue fighting terrorism using the same foreign policy blueprints that were in place before September 11th.

Those who obstruct the Senate should pay a price in public notoriety and physical exhaustion. That would lead to a significant decline in frivolous filibusters.

Washington is totally out of touch with mainstream America.

You now have six-year campaigns for the Senate - you never stop running. It's not uncommon for a member of the Senate to have a fundraising breakfast, a fundraising lunch and a fundraising dinner, and then when the Senate breaks for the week to go home, more fundraisers. And that's driven by the cost of campaigning.

My mother wrote a book. Unfortunately, it ended up being published posthumously. But I'm glad she did, because it taught me a lot about my family that, otherwise, I probably wouldn't know.

The United States must not allow North Korea to exacerbate tensions between our key strategic allies in Asia. As the leader of the free world, the United States needs to support our regional allies who are standing up to a Stalinist regime that is intent on developing nuclear weapons.

You wouldn't run for the United States Senate or for governor or for anything else without answering people's questions about what you believe. And I think the Supreme Court is no different.

It shouldn't take a constitutional crisis or an attack on the nation to create honest dialogue in the Senate.

I've had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should. There is much too much partisanship and not enough progress.

America is stronger than ever. We will forever remember those we lost on September 11, 2001. In honoring their memory, we will remain true to our commitment to freedom and democracy.

I've always cared about education, and I worked with Senator Schumer on making several thousand dollars of college tuition tax deductible. That will help a lot of your middle class families make college more affordable.

Sometimes, it takes leaving to gain some perspective. I see that clearly every time I leave Washington, D.C., and return to Indiana. I see the bizarre bubble that seems to enclose the Beltway and makes people forget what regular people care about.

We should be proud of liberating the 26 million people in Iraq and should remember that this is why it is important to stick it out to it's successful conclusion.

Baseball may be our national pastime, but the age-old tradition of taking a swing at Congress is a sport with even deeper historical roots in the American experience. Since the founding of our country, citizens from Ben Franklin to David Letterman have made fun of their elected officials.

As Indiana's governor, I balanced eight budgets, never raised taxes, and left the largest surplus in state history. It wasn't always easy. Cuts had to be made and some initiatives deferred. Occasionally I had to say 'no.'

Tim Kaine is a good man.

The only way Democrats can govern in this country is by making common cause with moderates and independents.

It doesn't take a degree in economics to know that something is wrong when it takes $30 or $40 to fill up the gas tank.

I find the world just too complex to embrace a single ideological point of view.

We need a foreign policy that is both tough... and smart. The good news? That is the historic legacy of the Democratic Party.

You just hope that we haven't soured an entire generation on the necessity, from time to time, of using force because Iraq has been such a debacle. That would be tragic because Iran is a grave threat.

We shouldn't have someone working in the Oval Office trying to discredit and smear a private individual who's just speaking their mind about an important issue facing the country. That is not going to move our nation forward.

Challenges of historic import threaten America's future. Action on the deficit, economy, energy, health care and much more is imperative, yet our legislative institutions fail to act. Congress must be reformed.

Families and businesses are tightening their belts to make ends meet - and Washington should too.

Massive debts owed to foreign creditors weaken our global influence and threaten high inflation and steep tax increases for our children and grandchildren.

Any time a president is re-elected, he has a little more political clout to get things done.

A few decades ago, the Irish decided they were tired of being always near the bottom of Europe's economic indicators. So they envisioned a better future for their country, and they put their people on the right road to get there.

Mothers - especially single mothers - are heroic in their efforts to raise our nation's children, but men must also take responsibility for their children and recognize the impact they have on their families' well-being.

We must do all we can to help improve the deplorable human rights situation of the North Korean people.

Our success as a party will largely be determined by how well we do here in the heartland... The time has come to be secure about our values. The time has come to lead.

If I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months.

What is required from members of Congress and the public alike is a new spirit of devotion to the national welfare beyond party or self-interest.

People come into public life for different reasons. None of us are ego-challenged, I think, or we probably wouldn't be doing what we're doing, so if anyone tells you that they don't like the sound of the applause and the ego gratification, I don't think they're being straight with you.

If one of my boys was asking me if they should go into politics, I'd say there's only one reason to go into public life and that's to help people.

Filibusters have proliferated because under current rules just one or two determined senators can stop the Senate from functioning. Today, the mere threat of a filibuster is enough to stop a vote; senators are rarely asked to pull all-nighters like Jimmy Stewart in 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.'

Of course, the genesis of a good portion of the gridlock in Congress does not reside in Congress itself. Ultimate reform will require each of us, as voters and Americans, to take a long look in the mirror, because in many ways, our representatives in Washington reflect the people who have sent them there.

I'm pleased to offer analysis of public policy and politics to the millions of Americans who get their news from Fox.

The amount of U.S. debt held by countries such as China and Japan is at a historic high, with foreign investors holding half of America's publicly held debt. This dependence raises the specter that other nations will be able to influence our policies in ways antithetical to American interests.

I love working for the people of Indiana. I love helping our citizens make the most of their lives, but I do not love Congress.

What we need to do is to come together as a people and solve the problems facing our country. And unfortunately, Washington is just not doing enough of that these days.

Hoosiers are very independent.

If I could help educate our children at an institution for higher learning, that would be a noble thing.

What matters is moving forward and focusing on practical results for the American people.

Bob Corker's a very reasonable person.

In Indiana, we don't have an official state religion, but if we did, it would be basketball.