"Before Social Security existed, about half of America's senior citizens lived in poverty."

"If you want to know if your food contains gluten, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, trans-fats or MSG, you simply read the ingredients listed on the label."

"In 49 countries around the world, including all of Europe, people have the opportunity of knowing whether or not they are eating food which contains genetically engineered ingredients. In the United States, we don't."

"When a mother goes to the store and purchases food for her child, she has the right to know what she is feeding her family."

"Fossil fuel corporations are supposed to pay the government fair market royalties in exchange for the right to drill on public lands or in federal waters."

"Coal and oil lobbyists added fossil fuels to a bill aimed at helping American manufacturers, so they too could claim 'manufacturing' tax deductions."

"I have seven beautiful grandchildren, four of whom are girls."

"History will record that the Citizens United decision is one of the worst in the history of our country."

"If the U.S. can transform its domestic market for HIV/AIDS drugs, it will certainly transform the world market and make HIV/AIDS drugs more affordable for everyone, everywhere."

"From the beginning, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has presented very difficult challenges."

"When World AIDS Day was first observed in 1988, there was no truly effective treatment for what was almost always a deadly disease."

"The Federal Reserve has the responsibility to protect the credit rights of consumers."

"We should make a major financial commitment to improving our roads and bridges."

"For too long, unfunded federal mandates have drained the budgets of states and communities. The strength and vitality of our communities must be restored."

"Vermonters often ask me whether I am pessimistic about the future of our country. My honest answer is that I am not."

"States used to protect consumers from predatory lenders, but strong state usury laws were obliterated by a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision."

"Finland is no utopia."

"In Finland, where 80 percent of workers belong to unions, all employees enjoy at least 30 days paid vacation, and the gap between the rich and poor is far more equitable than in the United States."

"Representative Spencer Bachus is one of the only people I know from Alabama. I bet I'm the only socialist he knows."

"If credit unions can grow and prosper with a 15 percent cap, so can banks."

"In 2003, GlaxoSmithKline paid $88 million in civil fines for overcharging Medicaid for its anti-depressant Paxil."

"In 2004, Warner-Lambert, a division of Pfizer Inc., pled guilty to two felonies and agreed to pay $430 million for fraudulently promoting the drug Neurontin."

"In 1999, Hoffmann-LaRoche paid a $500 million criminal fine for leading a worldwide conspiracy to fix prices for certain vitamins."

"For every $1 billion we invest in public transportation, we create 30,000 jobs, save thousands of dollars a year for each commuter, and dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions."

"I see a future where American companies lead the world in the production of hybrid-plug in cars and electric vehicles."

"Even the alternative weekly newspapers, traditionally a bastion of progressive thought and analysis, have been bought by a monopoly franchise and made a predictable shift to the right in their coverage of local news."

"The right wing has monopolized the AM radio airwaves."

"Private insurance companies in America are reaping huge profits."

"For much of America, the all-American values depicted in Norman Rockwell's classic illustrations are idealistic. For those of us from Vermont, they're realistic. That's what we do."

"Ted Kennedy devoted his lifetime to protecting those most in need, and tens of millions of Americans have been the beneficiaries."

"Ted Kennedy will go down in history as one of the giants of the U.S. Senate and one the most accomplished legislators in American history."

"The Senate voted 59 to 39 in favor of an amendment I offered to the Budget Resolution calling on the Fed to tell the American people who they loaned $2.2 trillion to and how much each bank received."

"Capitalism does a number of things very well: it helps create an entrepreneurial spirit; it gets people motivated to come up with new ideas, and that's a good thing."

"If we are going to reverse the race to the bottom, workers must have the right to engage in collective bargaining."

"I am not aware how you succeed politically when you insult women, who far more than men consistently provide you with great margins of support."

"In 2005, Republicans passed a 360-page reconciliation bill without a single Democratic vote that provided deep cuts to Medicaid and raised premiums on Medicare beneficiaries."

"In 2001, Republicans used reconciliation to pass President Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut that mainly benefited the wealthy."

"In 1996, Republicans used reconciliation to pass major legislation that ended six decades of welfare policy."

"Senate Republicans have engaged in a record number of filibusters and other obstructionist tactics."

"If we completely repealed the estate tax, it would provide an estimated $32 billion tax break for the Walton family - the founders of Wal-Mart."

"While commentators on Fox and right-wing radio have the backing of Rupert Murdoch, a major Republican contributor, and other conservative corporations, progressives understand that their position is extremely vulnerable."

"If there is a silver lining in the action of MSNBC against Keith Olbermann, it is that people will now pay more attention to the political role of corporate media in America."

"Comcast rents modems directly to consumers, thereby competing directly with companies like Zoom. It has every reason to make Zoom modems more expensive or even to drive companies like Zoom out of business."

"Citizens in a democracy need diverse sources of news and information."

"Each and every year, the United States loses an estimated $100 billion a year in tax revenues due to offshore tax abuses by the wealthy and large corporations."

"Ford's federal income tax rate was just 2.3 percent in 2009 even though it made $3 billion in profits."

"Before Congress cuts funding for Head Start, Social Security, and financial aid for college, we have got to make sure that large, profitable corporations are paying their fair share of taxes."

"The deficit crisis is real and must be addressed. But it cannot be solved on the backs of the weak and vulnerable."

"Legislation must be passed which undoes the damage caused by excessive de-regulation. That means reinstalling the regulatory firewalls that were ripped down in 1999."

"There must be a major economic recovery package which puts Americans to work at decent wages."