Our country must live within its means by controlling our spending, which rose by more than 40% over the last few years. We had a surplus in the Clinton Administration, but now, we're in the deficit spending mode. In addition, our country has a national debt of approximately $9.4 trillion. In 2007, our debt was about 36.8 percent of our GDP.

We must be fiscally responsible. A strong PAYGO system requiring all spending increases to be offset by other spending decreases would help to control our deficit spending. We must put more money in our wallets before we spend it!

In addition to the Economic Stimulus Plan that will provide some relief to Americans and small businesses, we also need to strengthen the housing market and expand affordable mortgage loan opportunities for families who are facing foreclosures. We need to provide more protection against sub-prime and risky loans. We need to index and raise the Minimum Wage for our working families so that they can maintain a means for survival in light of the ever increasing cost of health care, price of gasoline, and education.

We need to provide adequate funding and resources to achieve our goals under the federal legislation, No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). NCLB needs to be revised so that students can be fairly assessed, especially English Learners and students with Special Needs. Flexibility in assessment methods should be implemented. We need to look beyond a mere test score to determine whether a student is considered success or failure. Bridging the Achievement Gap is a challenge that we all, collectively, must find ways to resolve. We should continue to maintain and expand Class Size Reduction, and provide the necessary resources to students who are in needed.

We must recruit and retain qualified teachers by offering adequate incentives for them, particularly in low-income neighbourhood schools. Continual professional education is a must for teachers so that they can teach our children to compete globally. We must build and maintain partnerships with parents because the success of our students really is a by-product of the collaboration among the student, parent, and the schools.

Numerous studies have shown that early childhood education is vital to the development of a student. I am in support of universal pre-school to be available to all children one year prior to kindergarten. In the same vein, community college tuitions should be made affordable to all.

We could also use high efficiency appliances and compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use 2/3 of the energy but provide the same intensity. By replacing the standard light bulbs in every US home, we would prevent greenhouse gases equivalent of the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars, according to some experts.

The War in Iraq should have ended yesterday! It's time for us to bring our troops home. So far, we have lost More than 4,000 of our brave men and women. Families have been broken because of the Iraq war. Our honorable soldiers who have returned home, many are believed to be over-stressed and/or suicidal. The estimate cost of the war in Iraq alone will surpass $600 billion mark this year. We're spending $10 to $12 billion a month on the War; imagine what we can do with that kind of money in fixing our schools, our health care system, or our economy!

I support a realistic plan of immediate phased withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. I oppose building a permanent base in Iraq.

Global warming has resulted in temperature increases on both land and sea. The melting of glaciers, rise in sea level, and the extinction of species are becoming more evident. It is clear that the increase in greenhouse gases is attributed to human activities caused since the start of the industrial era. We also know that fossil fuel burning has produced much of the increase in CO2.

We should place a cap on the emission of carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and other gases that cause damage to our environment. We should provide tax credits for green projects. We should invest in the research and development of clean and renewable energy sources, and work with the United Nations and the international community to reach accords and commitments to resolve this serious problem before it becomes irreversible.

There seems to be a collapse in the ethical standards within our Government, and corruption appears to be such a common occurrence in recent years that people have become numb to the word. The public is unequivocally losing confidence in our federal government, as evidenced by one of the lowest-favorable ratings for Congress in recent years, rated at approximately 22%; Congress is the linchpin of our constitutional system.

We must restore Honesty, Integrity, and high Ethical Standards in government.

We should advocate for additional Ethics Reforms so that we, the people, will have a more transparent government, and our elected officials would be held accountable for their actions. We should strengthen our Conflict of Interests laws to govern law makers who conduct businesses that may actually or potentially run afoul of Senate or Congressional Ethics Rules. An Independent Committee should be empowered to oversee actions of the legislators. Earmarks should be significantly reduced, and where they are needed, they must be fully and timely disclosed before they are being voted upon.

We must instil a sense of fair play in our Congress, a system that applies to everyone. Then perhaps, we can restore confidence in our First Branch of Government.

Health insurance premiums increased by double-digits every year since about 8 years ago. Employee health insurance premiums have increased 75% in the last 10 years; Healthcare costs account for nearly 1/5 of the total personal income, and medical expenses cause half of all personal bankruptcies. Almost 47 million Americans, including 11 million children, have no health insurance. We are spending more money per capita (more than $6,000) than Canada (about $3,000); but yet, we cannot even provide the kind of health care that the Canadians are providing. Studies show that he U.S. ranks 37th in health system performance, between Costa Rica and Slovenia. The need to improve the system is urgent.

Quality Health care must be made affordable to all.

Medicaid and SCHIP should be expanded to provide broader coverage for the individuals. A single-payer system, similar to the VA system, or the Medicare system, would be an effective system where patients would have a choice of providers and hospitals, and comprehensive coverage and equal access for all medically necessary procedures without increasing the overall spending.

We should also be able to purchase prescription drugs from other developed countries if the drugs are deemed to be safe in accordance with the rules promulgated by the FDA.

We must first secure our borders with additional staffing and technology such as electronic sensors and surveillance equipment. We should then take a hard look at a guest worker program to help fill some of the jobs, farming or otherwise, that are much needed. We should expedite the current immigration backlog, which may take more than 10 years for family members to be reunited. We should maintain laws that will keep families together to the extent possible.

Our national security should be built on a strong, effective military and foreign policy. We must arm our men and women on the front lines with the best and highest quality equipment to protect themselves and the nation. We should also prevent and reduce the possibility of a nuclear confrontation or mishap. We should fund the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Act to ensure the secure transport, storage, and dismantlement of nuclear and chemical weapons. To the extent possible, we should utilize diplomacy and work with the United Nation and the international community in resolving dispute rather than making unilateral and major pre-emptive strikes that would cost lives and break up families.

I support a woman's right to make decisions with respect to her pregnancy within the purview of Roe v. Wade. I support the appointment of U.S. Supreme Court Justices who will not try to erode that decision. Privacy is a constitutional right under the 14th amendment; women should be allowed to control their fertility and child bearing, including access to termination of pregnancy. However, women who choose to have abortions performed should be given all information about the pro's and con's about abortions so that they can make an informed decision.

I oppose privatization of Social Security because it may leave many beneficiaries in poverty. Privatization adds a risk component to the equation which outweighs the potential rewards. Payouts would be based on inflation increases rather than earning increases over time, essentially freezing the retirees' standard of living at whatever point they retire. In addition, the management cost of privatization is too great, which is estimated to be between $1 trillion to $2 trillion for the first 10 years.

We can strengthen future Social Security benefits by ensuring that the money borrowed from the "Social Security Trust Fund" does not get depleted. We can also help the working families to build more wealth such as private pensions to supplement benefits from Social Security.

I oppose raising the age requirement to receiving Social Security because it would harm people who have little or no choice about when they stop working and who have few resources other than Social Security. Many low-wage workers may be in physical demanding or unpleasant jobs, lack the skills, or are unable to secure other jobs by that age. Also, such an increase is unfair to workers with below-average life expectancies, especially if they leave survivors who are eligible for benefits.

We should provide funding for stem cell research to help save lives and reduce human suffering. We could do so under the strictest ethical guidelines. The stem cell lines would have to be derived from unwanted and unused embryos donated by vitro fertilization clinics. Women donating embryos would have to provide written consent and could not receive a financial reward or other inducement.

California handles more than a third of our nation's freight traffic for movement by sea, air, land, and rail, totalling in excess of $200 billion in national trade revenue passing through the ports. Equally important is the traffic congestion situation, particularly in metropolitan areas. We can certainly identify with the negative effects traffic gridlock has on us as well as the economy, including the loss of personal time. We must provide a sound infrastructure for the movement of goods and people. In addition to providing adequate funding from the federal government, we need to improve or mass transit system and improving regulatory and legislative actions to facilitate the environmental process, including the reduction of pollutants from foreign-registry vehicles.

I strongly support the working men and women of America. I will fight for California's Working Families in the United States Congress. To strengthen the working families in America, Congress must enact laws that would protect them and ensure that if they work hard, the government would provide them the tools to get ahead. For example, Congress should lower taxes for middle class families and provide affordable health care to all Americans, strengthening our unions (e.g. passage of the Employee Free Choice Act), and creating trade policies that provide protection to the domestic labor force. The working men and women of our country form the backbone of the economy; therefore, it is an important component of the creation of economic policy. The Labor force converts our natural resources into goods and their productivity helps determine the health of our economy. Therefore, we need to take steps to improve the labor base in order to tackle the many problems our nation faces.

We are all grateful to our veterans for the services they provided to our country. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in many of our solders with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

It is our obligation to provide our veterans with the best level of health care that we can. We should also support programs to reduce the incidence of suicide among veterans, while addressing the physical and metal needs of our veterans. We should also invest in the training and retaining of healthcare professionals to effectively care for the needs of the returning veterans.