Terri Sewell

We could have done a better job explaining what was in the Affordable Care Act, but when you talk to people and you don't label it, people get really excited about what's in it. It is going to make a big difference for people.

I think at the end of the day we have to raise the debt ceiling, because America pays its bills.

Collaboration is really important.

I think that one thing I have learned as a freshman is that it is really important to collaborate.

I think that something is fundamentally wrong if a person of his great wealth is only paying 13.9 percent effective tax rate and most of Americans are paying 28, 30 percent and they make far less.

You grow up with a heightened sense of the Civil Rights Movement, but I think it wasn't until I became of age that I really had a great appreciation for the struggle that took place.

I'm benefitting from the sacrifices and seeds sown by Shirley Chisholm, John Lewis, and so many others. Those of us who are beneficiaries owe it to have a season of service in which we try to give back.

When you have incidences like the Trayvon Martin verdict, the erosion of certain fundamental rights like voting, it just reminds us that we're always one Supreme Court justice vote away from losing the progress that has been made.

Don't count on Congress. Laws come into being because people on the ground demand it.