I've been on enough sports teams in my life to have experienced the magic of what can happen when a group of people care for and love each other.Collection: Sports
We need mental health counselors in every school that needs one.Collection: Health
I embrace a Green New Deal; I just think we have to have public-private partnerships if we're going to get there. We have to align the environmental incentives with the financial incentives.Collection: Environmental
Everyone has to do their part, too. No one is disconnected. And everyone has to improve their skills, take care of their own health to the extent they can and contribute their time and talents to the community and country.Collection: Health
Happiness is found by deeply experiencing the exact moment we are in.Collection: Happiness
I think the idea of participating in your own health care and being responsible to the extent you can be of your own health, it seems to me a lot like self-reliance and individual responsibility. This cuts through the partisan divide.
My grandparents and my mom prayed the rosary a lot, and later in life, I had a priest friend of mine teach me centering prayer, based on Father Thomas Keating's work. That led to practicing different kinds of meditation off and on as I got older.
When I talk about 'working class,' I don't talk about 'white working class,'. I talk about 'working class,' and a third of working class people are people of color. If you are black, white, brown, gay, straight, you want a good job. There is no more unifying theme than that.
While the political debate over abortion will continue for a very long time, the federal government can and should be doing more to support programs and services that provide women with better options.
I just find Bobby Kennedy's short campaign for president so inspiring because his rhetoric identified what America can be like if we care about each other.
Obviously, I have certain policy positions that I push and advocate for that would benefit people dealing in a system that breeds inequality and makes life more difficult for people.
And I believe that if we can care about whether or not our neighbor has a good job or access to affordable health care for their children, and we move to implement the policies that can improve these situations, we will unleash vast amounts of human potential and recapture the American spirit.
I think our failure as a caucus has been not to focus on economic issues. I think we - and I'm supportive of all the issues that - that we talk about, but you need an economic - a robust, economic message that - that covers everybody.
I've been in Congress 14 years. I've been on the Appropriations Committee in which we are in charge of trying to move legislation.
I got kids that are growing up in a Donald Trump world because we screwed up because we haven't been able to craft a message and push policies that connect with working class people.
Trump is president of the United States. We can't blame our voters. We clearly did something terribly wrong.
I have come to believe that we must trust women and families - not politicians - to make the best decisions for their lives.
I love having the ball with two minutes left, down a touchdown. That's when I'm right in the zone... I'm a Catholic and a quarterback. Those are the two things that really shape my life. I'd much rather be the underdog than the favorite any day of the week.
The Italian culture and values have significantly shaped who I am, and I would never intentionally demean or degrade the very culture that has been so integral to my life.
I know from the stories of my grandparents and great-grandparents the real struggles and discrimination that Italian Americans faced when they first immigrated to America.
The biggest piece of advice I have is - listen. Don't jump to the answer or what you think the answer is. The more you listen, the more you learn.
It's a lot easier to negotiate and be skillful from the majority. I want Paul Ryan negotiating with us. I don't want to have to negotiate with Paul Ryan.
If you love your neighbor and are compassionate, are you automatically a Christian? Practicing present-moment awareness does not entail joining any religion or accepting any belief system.
As a Catholic, I find mindfulness helps me participate in my religion more wholeheartedly. If you are praying the rosary, participating in the rituals at Mass, or listening to the priest preach, you will actually be paying attention! Whatever your religion is, it can enhance the experience of participating in that religion.
I love studying different religions. For me, learning and drawing from the different religious traditions is essential to being a good public servant. And the connections between our various religious traditions become our public ethic; they tie us together.
The American people need to know we understand that they elected us to fight for economic opportunity for all. We need to create America 2.0 - a multicultural, progressive, and innovative country that fights every day for ordinary people.
Wherever you interact with people, you have the opportunity to influence people. This isn't something you necessarily jam down somebody's throat, but it is something you can - gently and over time - begin to cultivate wherever you are.
We need a brand as a party that says we're the party that are going to help working-class people, white people, black people, brown people, gay people, straight people, improve opportunity for them to grow their wages, to have security, economic security.
The key to - and magic of - good campaigns is when you pull people together. You unite them around a common theme.
We focus sometimes too much on the minimum wage, and we should be talking about living wages and middle class wages and pensions and benefits and the kind of thing that people in the industrial Midwest talk about all the time.
My great grandfather emigrated from Italy, and my grandfather worked in a steel mill and was able to raise kids and have a family and go on vacation.
The people I represent in Northeast Ohio and the tens of millions of workers across our country are proud to be called blue collar.
Democrats must adopt a progressive economic message that focuses on large, direct infrastructure investments, affordable health care, portable pensions, and public-private investments that promote advanced manufacturing.
Between the fundraising, being away from family, the environment of hyperpartisanship, Washington is really stressing people out.
I've heard from CEOs of major corporations and members of Congress talk about their spouses getting mad at them when they're home because they're spaced out and thinking about work. It's so easy for all of us to have our mind on the last meeting or the next one.
Mindfulness helps you to be where you are when you're there. When I'm interacting with constituents who are suffering, that matters.
I would think that conserving our natural resources should be a conservative position: Not to waste food, and not to throw away a lot of the food that we buy.
I wrote 'A Mindful Nation' to promote the values of slowing down, taking care of ourselves, being kind, and helping each other. It seems to me that if we embrace these values individually, it will benefit us collectively. And our country will be a little bit better off as a result.
For most of us, starting off in the morning, your iPhone wakes you up, you immediately start checking emails or texts or whatever, and you're up and running until you go to bed.