More and more job fields require some form of higher education, and the pressure is on for schools to adequately prepare our students to compete both nationally and globally and help drive economic growth.

It takes bold direction and leadership to heal a divided nation.

The job of the press is to defend their institution, hold the government accountable and freely report and gather information.

Solutions and ideas should come from the bottom up, generated by local communities and not mandated from Washington.

For Members of Congress, we are saying here on the Democratic side of the aisle we are not going to vote for another pay increase for Members of Congress until the American people get an increase.

Who knows? Maybe my life belongs to God. Maybe it belongs to me. But I do know one thing: I'm damned if it belongs to the government.

I was counsel on the full veterans committee, the first Vietnam veteran to serve as a full-committee counsel in Congress. It stunned me that there was a 600,000-case backlog of claims. During my time in the Senate, it became 900,000.

I was always accused of being too stiff. In 1974, when I ran my first primary race for state rep, I was chief aide to the speaker of the House, I knew the issues and understood state government. But what I found out the hard way is that you can know all the ins and outs but people want to know you, your family.