“Today, I am proud to be joined by Majority Leader Hoyer, who will be with us momentarily, Congressman John Carter, Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz, Congressman Dave Reichert, Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, Congressman Chris Carney, VA Undersecretary Admiral Patrick Dunne, CAO Dan Beard; and Patricia Orsini, director of the Wounded Warrior Program as we announce the hiring of the first nine of the 25 wounded warriors who will continue to serve America as staff members in Congress.”

“By lifting the executive ban on federal funding for stem cell research, President Obama has given hope, and potentially health, to millions. Every family in America is just one diagnosis, one phone call, or one accident away from needing the benefits of embryonic stem cell research.”

“The gale force of President Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package could breathe new life into an emerging industry: small wind turbines.”

“Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced yesterday that nearly $44 billion in federal stimulus aid to schools will be available to states in the next 30 to 45 days — soon enough, education officials hope, to prevent hundreds of thousands of layoffs nationwide and program cuts that would hit home in schools across the Washington region.”

“Congress and President Obama acted swiftly on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create or preserve 3.5 million jobs by making historic investments in health care, highways and bridges, education, science and innovation, clean, efficient energy and tax cuts for 95 percent of American workers. The first installment of recovery grants to help rebuild our nation’s crumbling bridges and highways have been announced and in some states, jobs are already being created or saved.”

“The President’s plan for procurement reform is a common sense approach–in good economic times or bad. The House led the way in the last Congress to begin to crack down on no-bid contracts, expose contractors found to have committed fraud, link payment to performance, and provide much stronger oversight and transparency.”

“The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act will prevent tragic home foreclosures, strengthen the housing market and our economy, and protect the American Dream of homeownership for America’s families. Americans all agree that homeowners bear personal responsibility for their actions and their debts, but lenders must also act in good faith, lend responsibly, and work with homeowners who are at-risk of foreclosure because that is in the interests of lenders, borrowers, neighborhoods, and our nation’s economy.”

“For the moment, Pelosi is cloaking her instincts as an experienced street fighter in the soothing tones of bipartisanship. Though her eyes flash green when she puts a sharp point on an argument, she seems reticent to take shots at the House Republicans who voted en masse against the recovery package. For the first time since she rose to the speakership two years ago, Pelosi can at last brush aside the GOP’s obstructionism and get on with the work of undoing the damage done by eight years of Republican misrule.”

“As public officials, we take an oath of office to uphold the Constitution. It is the institutional duty of Congress — as an independent branch — to ensure against abuse of power through meaningful oversight over the Executive Branch. When there are credible allegations about the politicization of law enforcement, the need for Congressional oversight is at its greatest.”

“When Shirley Chisholm joined our colleagues Chairman John Conyers and Chairman Charlie Rangel, among others, to found the CBC, it had just 13 members. In that year, 1969, she imagined the organization that would grow to 42 members today, and serve as the conscience of the Congress. It stands as tribute to Congresswoman Chisholm’s vision of a Congress that represents all Americans.”