I think that what is really important is that, at the grassroots level, Indian-Americans really engage in the political process. That means voting and volunteering and assisting candidates who support the agenda that is friendly to their values.

One of the best programs that the federal government sponsors is the Small Business Innovation Research program, in which more than 2.5 percent of federal research and development funding at the largest agencies goes directly to small businesses.

I believe the benefits of tax reform should flow to those who most need them most - hard-pressed working families struggling to reach or stay in the middle class.

We must have the strictest adherence to security procedures to protect against compromise by hostile foreign powers.

We should never waive the checks on government spending that taxpayers deserve.

For too long, people in Washington and Congress point fingers at each other, even as millions of middle-class Americans remain unemployed and our economy continues to sputter. They must realize that we are all in this together, and I respectfully submit that the best way to remind Congress of this is to tie their pay to their collective results.

I hope that President-elect Trump will drop his unrealistic campaign pledge to deport millions of immigrants who've made their lives in this country and contribute to our country.

There is too much blind partisanship in Congress, which has blocked progress on critical issues. Too many members view compromise as weakness rather than the essence of our democracy. This has to end.

I have strong differences with Mr. Trump on a woman's right to choose and what kind of justices belong on the Supreme Court.

I'm looking forward to going to Congress to pursue my Working Families Agenda and find areas of bipartisan agreement to move forward on important legislation.

The fact that Barack Hussein Obama became president is historic, to say the least. Actually, to become U.S. senator, that was historic, and then what he did later on - that's what inspired me to think about running for office.

Congress increasingly represents the diversity of America.

There's a lot of good, bipartisan legislation that passes in committee and then gets bottled up. As a businessman, it surprised me.

I think with the right leadership on both sides and the right president, we can get a lot done.

If I am elected to Congress, I plan to introduce legislation tying Congressional pay to performance.

In my roles as Deputy State Treasurer and Special Assistant Attorney General, I strove to make government more responsive, transparent, efficient, and proactive.

Voters should know what their representative is doing, what votes he casts, and who he pays, so my office will make this data readily available in a way which is easy to understand.

The American people need to know if public servants are operating in the best interests of the United States or the Kremlin.

The possibility that members of the Trump team coordinated and colluded with agents of the Kremlin on Russia's interference in our elections is a profound and disturbing one, but it is pivotal that we approach this issue with the seriousness it deserves.

Trumpcare would be devastating for millions of American families, but perhaps no one will bear the brunt of its cruelty more than older Americans.

In addition to skyrocketing premiums, Trumpcare also unravels protections that older Americans want and need in their health coverage.

All in all, Trumpcare is a bad plan for older Americans.

Losing access to quality and comprehensive coverage, including for prescription drugs, would be devastating to older Americans.

In some ways, political decency is a sign of a healthy democracy, but in other ways, it is the cause of it.

Our political system has been bankrupted by the failures of Congress to act in ways that give meaning to the struggles our constituents endure.

The truth is that searching for our commonality instead of our differences could transform our dysfunctional politics.

In truth, ending DACA will cost us tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity.

Each Dreamer in our country is more than a mere statistic; he or she is a proud American in everything but official documentation.

Illinois is home to a disproportionate share of Dreamers and would suffer a significant economic blow should they be compelled to leave.

There's another important reason not to send the Dreamers packing: they are essential to preserving the social insurance programs on which older Americans rely.

Our best path to economic growth and global competitiveness is to invest in our people - not to provide huge new tax breaks to special interests.

Cutting tax credits for education and training will result in more Americans working at minimum-wage jobs while U.S. companies go begging for the higher-paid skilled workers they need.

Our country's history is a generation-spanning journey to effectuate the notion that 'all men are created equal' for the members of our ever-expanding national family: women, African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, gays and lesbians, the disabled, immigrants, and refugees.

America works best when we work together to expand the circle of inclusion.

Equality as a principle is at the heart of our democracy.

It is time to investigate Russian interference in our democracy and to address it in a manner that will help restore Americans' trust in their government.

When the chair of an investigating committee refuses to share vital findings or source information with any of his colleagues, his committee's ability to function has been fundamentally undermined.

Whenever the Congress represents the increasing diversity of the United States, that's a good thing.

I decided to run for Congress to get and keep people in the middle class.

When I was a young child, my parents came to America in search of a better life for them and their family.

My parents found good paying jobs, educated me and my brother in wonderful public schools, and entered the middle class.

While we were filming 'Munna Bhai MBBS,' we didn't think we were doing some kind of mainstream cinema. I only knew that I was doing a different kind of cinema.

The more you succeed, the more you want people to love your efforts.

At the end of the day, you don't remember 'Mother India' or 'Pyaasa' for the business it did, you remember them because they had a good story to tell.

There is no good or bad cinema, there are films that connect either less or more with audience.

The pressure is always there to make good films, but that is more from your mindset, either you have it or you don't have it.

One must always attempt to make good films, even if you fail it is ok. It is a journey, you have both good and bad days.

A director should be in a position where he is only directing. On the sets, he is only looking at the performances, thinking 'How I am going to shoot this?'

I would say films inspire me more than the makers.

Attenborough's 'Gandhi' shook me as a filmmaker.