In order to create real, long-lasting reform, we must create a pathway to legal status for the millions of undocumented immigrants who have made lives for themselves and their families in the United States.
Agribusinesses should never dictate the quality of school meals.
I always try to follow my moral compass.
Someone who is wrongfully accused needs to do their best to put it behind them and move on.
I try to treat my orientation the same way I would if I was straight, which is to talk about it when it's relevant.
In my opinion, real reform, which lowers costs and ensures all Americans get the quality, affordable health care that they deserve, cannot be accomplished without a robust public option.
Americans' information independence is under attack, whether it's the repeal of net neutrality or the repeal of broadband privacy protections.
Far too many of our elected officials are chained to an ideology that is rooted in the past. They are keepers of normalcy who embrace things as they've always been.
We have to find a way that every Coloradan can participate in our economic growth and feel that all the changes that are occurring are working to their benefit rather than their detriment.
No American should have to live in constant fear that their employer can fire them just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Federal Communications Commission needs to listen and serve the American people, not special interests.
I oppose piracy and want to see intellectual property protected because that is what fosters and rewards innovation. But SOPA won't accomplish a meaningful reduction in piracy and causes massive collateral damage to the Internet ecosystem.
As long as you have money to live then it's not a terribly important thing. If you don't have enough to live, then it's very important thing.
I'm too busy thinking what I'm going to say next to remember what I've said, but my staff tells me I'm sometimes funny. Not always on purpose, though.
Without net neutrality protections, the Internet would no longer be a free and open ecosystem for innovation.
It is essential for our national security to know who resides within our borders.
Members of Congress wear two hats: one as Washington legislator, the other as listener and community leader back home.
I remember well my first 300 baud modem, which dialed up and scrolled text at an agonizingly slow speed.
We can pass practical, comprehensive immigration reform.
One of my main legislative efforts in education is to help expand and replicate successful charter schools. Charter schools are public schools with site-based governance.
The federal government has an exceptionally poor record of behaving responsibly with Americans' personal information when entrusted with it.
In the business world, if you're not looking ahead, you're missing something.
I support offering the public option to members of Congress, and as soon as I'm given the chance, I intend to go on it.
Churches should be able to decide what kinds of unions are sanctified by their denomination, but not what kinds of unions are accepted in the civil arena.
To have hundreds of people from every political and demographic group you can imagine coming out day after day to take part in the national health care debate is fantastic.
From my own perspective, I value productivity more than tradition, but the customs of the House evolve slowly.
It's insulting when somebody who is not a member of our community feels like they have a great understanding of what it's like to grow up gay in this country.
Lady Gaga is one of the most amazingly talented musicians to bring her gifts to humanity in a long time.
It can be a living hell to go through endless campus investigations. I've seen this go down, and there really is no winning once the accusation is made, even if the process provides formal vindication.
The NSA has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times a year since Congress gave it broad new powers in 2008.
Co-sponsoring a bill is fairly easy, like a group project which you work on with others.
If becoming a member of Congress is like going to college, then crafting legislation is our homework.
I derive a lot of the values that I try to bring into the public sphere from my private faith.
Coloradans of all walks of life value the environment.
Lawmakers who support CISA will tell you the bill includes some privacy protections. They're right. But these 'protections' are superficial and include broad loopholes that are so far-reaching as to render the protections meaningless.
In the absence of federal leadership, Coloradans should take our rightful role as leaders seriously and work with other states and countries to reduce carbon emissions.
Before running for Congress, I was an innovator and entrepreneur who founded several high-tech businesses that created hundreds of jobs and schools that found ways to serve those children that traditional schools couldn't.
Democratic, Republican members of Congress get along fine. But what you have is this institutional Hatfield and McCoy sentiment coming from our constituents, where the base of both sides doesn't want people to get along. But the majority of Americans, I feel, the majority, they are in the middle. They actually do want both sides to get together.
My parents were active in the anti-war movement in the 1960s, so I grew up with a tradition of civic activism around our dinner table and going to different marches for different causes.
I don't particularly care what people think of me as long as I know what I'm doing is right.
Only Congress can treat the gaping wound that is our broken immigration system.
Senators, representatives too often, we hear from our base, don't talk to the other side, don't with work with them.
Trying to enforce our out-of-touch laws is as foolish and impossible as trying to enforce a law requiring that water flow uphill.
We can no more condone the wastefulness of self-serving company executives than we can the sacrifice of the lives of our citizens in a senseless war.
Enterprise zones have succeeded in attracting needed capital to our urban poverty centers. Businesses and investors that wouldn't otherwise give these blighted areas a second glance react to the incentives and invest.
We need to prove to American voters, particularly independent voters who gave us this opportunity to lead, that this is not your grandfather's tax-and-spend Democratic Party.
There is a great deal of innovation occurring in Colorado, with some of the most brilliant minds and creative startup companies in the world formulating climate-change solutions right in our backyard.
Businesses have no place being 'too big to fail.'
Gay marriage won't be more of an issue 25 years from now than interracial marriage is today.
