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Talk is cheap - except when Congress does it.

What I have come to realize over the twenty years when I have worked in different roles as a legislator is that no legislation is as good as the enforcement of it.

The important thing to understand about legislators is that there are dozens of competing interests and issues that occupy them. They are stretched thin.

To me, a politician's job is to listen to constituents' problems and try to sort them out.

I have no idea what goes on in another person's mind. As a legislator, I need to be good at persuading people, counting votes and getting to 50 percent plus one. I don't go back and say, 'Why did this person get to the right position?' It's only, 'Are you yes or are you no?'

We tend to talk, Democrats, as a party, in legislative terms.

On issues relating to taxes, you don't always speak with one voice.

My job in the Senate is not just to give speeches and do interviews, it's to solve problems.

I don't look forward to a time when every politician, every legislator goes to Washington absolutely committed to an extreme point of view. Elected representatives are sent to Washington to compromise, not to never compromise.

I think any advocate who is effective has fully acquainted himself or herself with the legislator they are going to meet. Know what committees they are on, what issues they are interested in, all in an effort to build a bridge for communicating with them.