That ought to trouble all of us that we’re not number 1 in investing in our children, and it ought to trouble us morally, it ought to trouble us economically, and it ought to trouble us from a sense of competition.

Jim Himes

I go out and take oysters, clams and mussels every 2 weeks or so during late fall, winter and early spring. I particularly like to go out when there is a below-average ebb tide because that exposes clamming grounds and oysters that are usually under water.

late winter water fall

I remain as committed as ever to working across party lines with anyone who believes we must invest in the future of our economy by revitalizing our transportation infrastructure, ensuring every child is getting a world class education, and spurring research and development of new technologies.

child future education world

There's 12 ideas out there, I haven't gone deep on any one of them, but I do think it's important that this country grapple with the fact that a freedom that two generations of Americans… took for granted… [has] been taken away.

I promise you, it's not a middle class or a working family problem as much as it is, you know, fraud associated with underreporting income.

Number one, there is a moral dimension, two, there is an economic problem — you can reach a point in disparity where your economy as a whole suffers because productivity goes down, and the middle class doesn’t have purchasing power, etcetera.

What we’re saying here, is, instead of for corporations, we’d like to find ways to lower taxes for the middle class so that they can afford child care, now, I’m not naive — I don’t think I’m going to say that and have Republicans say, ‘I’m on board,’ I think it is going to take a lot of work.

Fraud is never OK, and of course, any time the government subsidizes something, there is a potential for fraud, we saw it with the PPP program. … But that's not a reason not to do it.

Early childhood is so important, the die is cast for a lot of Americans before they’re 5 years-old, and I hate to say that — it's not like there aren’t examples of 17-year-olds who had really, really rough childhoods and ultimately succeeded — but the reality is, for an awful lot of Americans, the die is cast, even before you’re 5 years old.

The report is going to be a little unsatisfying for that reason and that reason alone.