First, the year 2004, the year past, the Comptroller General of the United States, David A. Walker, said that arguably it was the worst year in American fiscal history, clearly setting our Nation on an unsustainable path.

I think the job of leadership is to expand what can be talked about and to get consensus on the nature of the problem, and that is most of the job. Because once you do that, once you have diagnosis, treatment options are obvious.

This Congress is simply not doing its job under Republican leadership.

Equality under the law is the slow triumph of hope over history.

I do not support a federal minimum wage. I think every state has a different economy, a different cost of living. I don't believe that's the role of the federal government.

High levels of economic inequality lead to imbalances in political power, as those at the top use their economic weight to shape our politics in ways that give them more economic power.

People can see a picture of my body from the neck down and know who it is because of my beauty marks or whatever you call them, moles. I've always had them, and I've always loved them. Obviously you have to be careful with that; I get them checked regularly and make sure that they're healthy.

After a great deal of thought and discussions with my family, I have decided not to seek re-election in 2014. Politics shouldn't be a career, and I never intended to make it one.