Because of these layaway angels, many children did not have to wonder why Santa skipped them in 2011.

Perhaps the original layaway angel knew from experience, or simply deduced, that people resorting to the old-fashioned installment method of layaway may be struggling financially.

There are many reasons to worry; the evening news is full of them.

As we celebrate Women's History Month this March, it's important to remember the key role women have played in promoting a better understanding and relationships between our country and the rest of the world.

The work of these women doesn't end when they return home from overseas, as one goal of the Peace Corps' mission is to help promote a better understanding of other cultures here in the United States.

When Peace Corps was first proposed, some in Congress assumed that only men would be volunteers.

Nan Gorman was born in Memphis, Tenn., on St. Patrick's Day. She moved to Hazard in 1929 when her father, James Hagan, a recent medical school graduate and aspiring surgeon, went to work there.

Deep in the heart of Kentucky's rugged Eastern Mountain region, there lives a woman who has fascinated and inspired me for two decades. She is known locally these days as 'Mayor Nan' - the octogenarian chief executive of Hazard and advocate for its 5,467 residents.

401k savings accounts have become so important in the landscape of retirement planning that their security and expansion became a top priority in formulating and implementing the Pension Protection Act of 2006 that was enacted during my tenure as the U.S. Secretary of Labor.

In the best of years, millions of jobs are lost.

Washington policymakers have to understand the adverse implications of their actions on job creation, and they must reorder some of their priorities.

In normal times, laid-off workers are unemployed an average of eight weeks.

I love working in the garden.

The majority of the new jobs being created require higher skills, more education.

We have a lot of employers who are looking for skilled workers and not being able to find them. And we have workers who lack the requisite skills to access these good-paying jobs in high growth industries.

I will carry with me always the deep sense of what it feels like to be an outsider and how tough it was, how hard it was to adapt to this country.

My parents were very supportive.

I know that some people, when they are growing up and they - as a person of color in a majority community - that they may feel as if they are left out, or they feel a bit strange.

For any trade deal to move forward, there has to be agreement.

We are a Republic with different branches of government, and so the Senate and the House are going to be full partners in working with the White House.

The ingenuity and creativity of the private sector is essential to meeting American's needs for a skilled work force.

Even if it's a national issue, the federal government cannot provide all the answers.

Every person - we want to make sure that every person who wants a job will indeed get one.

I am not seeking any position in a Dole Administration.