In the context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a still-stagnant economy, President Barack Obama faces two important questions on energy transmission: a decision on the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and the question of increasing American natural gas exports. These are choices that will resonate from Crimea to Cove Point.
In my judgment, the president should reject Keystone and step up natural gas exports.
Federal spending is like a massive ship that takes a very long time to turn.
By any measure, CapitalSource outperformed both our direct competitors and the financial services industry in general, particularly in the context of the near collapse of the financial services industry where 19 of the 20 largest financial institutions in the country either failed or were bailed out by the government.
What was once a fringe idea - finding a way to use the record levels of overseas capital to finance new projects in the United States - is now mainstream. The support is there; we just have to work out the details.
Imagine a country where the vast majority of seniors live in poverty, a country where for many there are no golden years, but a time of struggle and dependence. That was the United States before the creation of Social Security, which has proven to be one of the most effective and important government programs in our history.
We have to start grounding our policies in facts and recognize that a strong economy is critical for funding progressive priorities.
New highways, ports, and runways appear economically foolish if we don't understand the economic growth that flows from such investments.
I'm a blue-collar kid who went on to become a successful entrepreneur. I was the youngest CEO in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. Now I've served my country for six years in the House of Representatives.
One of the things I've pledged is in my first hundred days, only to do bipartisan proposals. Wouldn't it be amazing if a president looked at the American people at the inauguration and said, 'I represent every one of you, whether you voted for me or not and this is how I'm going to prove it.'
The impact of low interest rates is broad and deep. Many Americans rely on interest income from their savings to help cover their cost of living.
There's a lot of new subject matter to learn. You start slowly peeling the onion and start figuring out how the policy and the politics intersect.
Oil is largely our energy past, and Keystone does little to respond to the actual challenges and opportunities before us.
For years, comprehensive tax reform has eluded legislators.
Maryland is never going to be the low-cost place to live and work, and we shouldn't try to be because we have a lot of other stuff we bring to the table. And you get what you pay for.
I leave Medicare alone. I create a new system for everyone under 65 where they get health care as a right. It's a basic plan. We roll Medicaid into that, but then we allow people to have choices and get private insurance to supplement that basic government plan.
I basically applied to law school as a way of telling my parents that I wasn't going to medical school.
We have been dealt a very weak hand by the financial market meltdown, bailouts, and recession. We can't act like it's a strong one.
We already spend too few days in Congress working on meaningful legislation; we simply can't afford to waste more time on legislation that doesn't move the needle to improve the lives of everyday Americans.
Small businesses are more nimble and innovative than large corporations, and as a result are much more likely to develop the breakthrough ideas we need for global competitiveness.
