That's how we build the economy of the future. An economy with more jobs and less debt, we root it in fairness. We grow it with opportunity. And we build it together.

Right now Washington is wired to work well for those on Wall Street who can hire lobbyists and lawyers and it doesn't work very well for the rest of us.

Follow this pro-corporate trend to its logical conclusion, and sooner or later you'll end up with a Supreme Court that functions as a wholly owned subsidiary of big business.

If we started in 1960, and we said that as productivity goes up, then the minimum wage is going to go up the same. If that were the case, the minimum wage today would be about $22 an hour ... So my question is, what happened to the other $14.75?

There is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there—good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory.... Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea—God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.

Our democracy is an experiment, and it’s always evolving. We constantly re-design and re-imagine and improve on what we do together. But time and time again throughout our history, we have reaffirmed the simple truth that government matters.

The tools to build a future are available to us now. We don't start the debate by deciding who gets kicked to the curb. We are Americans. We start the debate by figuring out how to create better efficiencies, how to make small changes that will make the system fairer, how to grow the pool of those who contribute, how to rebuild a system that every single one of us can rely on to make sure that there is a baseline in retirement that no one falls below.

I'm really concerned that too big to fail has become too big to jail. That just seems wrong to me.

I am not willing to stand by while billion dollar corporations benefit from tax breaks and funding for food assistance, education, and medical research is slashed.

In a democracy, hostage tactics are the last resort for those who can't win their fights through elections, can't win their fights in Congress, can't win their fights for the Presidency, and can't win their fights in Courts. For this right-wing minority, hostage-taking is all they have left – a last gasp of those who cannot cope with the realities of our democracy. The time has come for those legislators who cannot cope with the reality of our democracy to get out of the way – so that those of us in BOTH parties can get back to working on solving the real problems faced by the American people. We have real work to do.

The Republican vision is clear: "I've got mine, the rest of you are on your own."

Behind all the slogans of the Tea Party and all the thinly veiled calls for anarchy in Washington, behind all that there’s a reality. The American people don’t want the extremist Republican’s bizarre vision of a future without government. They don’t support it. Why? Because the American people know that without government, we would no longer be a great nation with a bright future. The American people know that government matters.... Because the bogeyman government is like the bogeyman under the bed. It’s not real. It doesn’t exist. What is real, what does exist, are all those specific and important things that we as Americans have chosen to do together through our government.

The decisions we make about Social Security benefits are not just about math. At their core, these decisions are about our values. I believe we must honor our promises, make good on a system that millions of people paid into faithfully throughout their working years, and support the right of every person to retire with dignity - and that means protecting and expanding Social Security.

If you're caught with an ounce of cocaine, the chances are good you're going to jail.... Evidently, if you launder nearly a billion dollars for drug cartels and violate our international sanctions, your company pays a fine and you go home and sleep in your own bed at night.

In the face of high risk, many people become cautious. Others say, it's all on the line, so give it everything you've got. I’m hard-wired to be in the latter group.

Hardworking men and women who are busting their tails in full-time jobs shouldn't be left in poverty.

Unfortunately, some senators are backing a bill that would cause interest rates on student loans to drop for a few years before they rise sharply, with no cap on interest rates, leaving students vulnerable to skyrocketing costs. They are asking students to focus on the low rates they'd possibly get in the first year or two and ignore the long-term consequences. In the world of mortgages, this was called a teaser rate - and this is the kind of mortgage deal that nearly crashed our entire economy. The student loan program already reaps big profits for the federal government. This year alone, student loans will bring in an estimated $51 billion in profits - money that comes straight from the pockets of college students and their parents. If you're wondering why the federal government is generating mega-profits off of a program that is supposed to help our students, you're not alone. And yet that's exactly what this group of senators proposes: more of the same.

It's time to end the debate about whether the Affordable Care Act should exist and whether it should be funded. Congress voted for this law. President Obama signed this law. The Supreme Court upheld this law. The President ran for reelection on this law. His opponent said he would repeal it – and his opponent lost by five million votes.

I want every little girl to grow up thinking about becoming a doctor or a scientist, a union leader or a small business owner. I don't want her to have to think about how she will get by on wages that are lower just because she is female.

Corporations are not people. People have hearts, they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance. They live, they love and they die. And that matters. That matters because we don’t run this country for corporations, we run it for people.

People feel like the system is rigged against them. And here's the painful part: they're right. The system is rigged. Look around. Oil companies guzzle down billions in subsidies. Billionaires pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. Wall Street CEOs—the same ones who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs—still strut around Congress, no shame, demanding favors, and acting like we should thank them. Anyone here have a problem with that? Well I do.

It is critical that the American people, and not just their financial institutions, be represented at the negotiating table.

We lose eight children and teenagers to gun violence every day. If a mysterious virus suddenly started killing eight of our children every day, America would mobilize teams of doctors and public health officials. We would move heaven and earth until we found a way to protect our children. But not with gun violence.

Americans are fighters. We are tough, resourceful and creative. If we have the chance to fight on a level playing field—where everyone pays a fair share and everyone has a real shot—then no one can stop us.