A Supreme Court ruling is supposed to provide clarity to contentious legal issues, but in the case of reproductive rights, it was just the beginning of a long, heated, and grueling debate.
— Mike Quigley
Technology has aided in serious advancements so that HIV detection tests now have near-perfect results. And those tests can detect HIV in the blood an average of nine to 11 days post-infection.
Americans donate blood every day - on high school and college campuses during blood drives, in workplaces after a coworker falls ill, and in hospitals as loved ones prepare for surgery.
Since 1975, violence has been recognized as a public health problem, in large part to former Surgeon Generals Dr. Koop and Dr. Satcher's pioneering efforts to make the health approach a national priority. Since then, we've seen that violence can be curbed - and stopped - if we treat it as we would any other epidemic health concern.
If nothing else, the cyber attacks that occurred during the 2016 presidential election have laid bare the very real vulnerabilities that exist across our government and the private sector. Imagine the harm that could be done if our enemies ever hack into the Department of Defense or Homeland Security.
President Trump's frequent, unfiltered use of his personal Twitter account as a means of official communication is unprecedented. If the President is going to take to social media to make sudden public policy proclamations, we must ensure that these statements are documented and preserved for future reference.
In many cases, here we are, putting out reports that we're spending $100 million a year on, and we're telling the public, 'Oh, you don't have access to them.'
This is a global economy. If you're not at the bargaining table, if you don't get an agreement, someone else does.
I taught policy and politics for seven years at a university. I told my students lobbyists are not a bad thing; they're absolutely vital.
I come from a state where four governors have gone to jail since I've been alive. Two of my last four predecessors in this seat went to jail or are going to jail.
When they talk about my job being important, I say, 'The important jobs are the ones that you'd notice if you left for a week.'
We didn't build the modern country to be bike-friendly - our initial round of infrastructure was not designed to think about how to get around if you're not in a car. So we've got to be targeting resources, both nationally and locally, to how people are going to get around in the new world.
Once you've stared death in the face, every day is a good day.
Racial politics in Chicago has a long history of being intertwined with the mayor's race, but I'd like to think we're past much of that.
Democracy is not a spectator sport.
Government influences your life every day. If there's a war, they're not drafting guys my age.
One of the things we have to understand is that federal transportation dollars require a local match. If that money isn't there, that money goes to another state.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees women across this country, including my daughters, the right to choose for themselves when and how to start their families. Yet, more than forty years after Roe v. Wade, women's reproductive rights remain in jeopardy.
There is no doubt that blood must be screened in order to keep Americans safe and healthy and I am committed to working with the FDA to ensure a safe, secure blood supply, across the board. However, public policy must always be rooted in the facts, not fear.
In Chicago in 2000, the Cure Violence health approach saw a 67 percent decline in shootings and killings, which soon replicated to 70 communities nationwide with multiple independent evaluations from world-renowned institutions, such as the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Violence of all forms is wreaking havoc in communities across the country, disproportionately impacting communities of color and shaving half a million years of life off our collective lifespan. But it doesn't have to be this way.
From bank accounts to financial systems, power grids to air traffic controls - our most critical infrastructure remain attractive cyber targets, and if they are ever compromised, the effects could be devastating.
In order to maintain public trust in government, elected officials must answer for what they do and say; this includes 140-character tweets.
A lot of the O'Hare Modernization Plan may have been a mistake.
I get lobbied by governments, schools, nurses, charities. It's not all a bad thing.
I'm thinking of trying to talk Jonathan Toews into running for Congress. We could use him.
I have never been reimbursed at the federal level. Never want to be in a million years. To me, it's just not worth the red flag.
The problem in D.C. is that everything is on paper, and it's theoretical.
Everything is connected, so you can't just live in a Trumpian world and be an isolationist when you're managing government by congressional district or by city. The mentality that you can cut off one area to punish a policy just doesn't work in the real world... it's cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Only in Chicago do they care more about who the mayor is than who's president.
You could make a case for job creation or education, police on the street, but none of those things can happen unless we got our financial house in order.
There's a world to save. Don't let anybody tell you you can't change the world. You can, and you have a moral responsibility to try.
Forty-two thousand people is an attractive target for people who want to hurt us. And a ballpark that's about 6 feet, at one point, from the street is as big a target as any we can imagine.
Honest to goodness, Brian Campbell, he was holding the Cup, and there was no one around for a minute. He says, 'Hold this for a second.' So he hands it to me - one of the best moments of my life.
As the father of two daughters, the ongoing struggle for women's equality is very personal for me. That's why it has been an honor during my time in Congress to support women's rights by advocating for reproductive rights, equal pay, access to paid maternity leave and quality child care.
The FDA first began prohibiting gay and bisexual men from donating blood in the early 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis, when the risk from blood transfusion was just beginning to be understood. In the decades to follow, the 'lifetime ban' was left largely unchanged.
By working together to keep health at the center of our focus, as well as the national conversation, we can create the safe communities we all want and deserve.
The fact that Russia has shown a willingness to disrupt elections and undermine institutions should come as no surprise. Just ask our allies across Europe, particularly in places like Georgia and Ukraine.
Despite the intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered in our presidential election, President Donald Trump and Republican leadership seem wholly uninterested in examining how and why Russia targeted us - and what we must do to prevent it from happening again.
It's time to elevate the debate in this country and allow the public to access the same neutral, unbiased, nonpartisan information that we in Congress rely on every day.
We should be growing and make ourselves, as a state and a nation, more competitive. India, China and these other countries are not waiting for us.
If I wanted to win all my fights, I would be a Yankee fan. I'm a Cub fan.
There are more kids playing hockey, and the game has become more diverse from a cultural, ethnic and geographic point of view, but we still don't have a lot of congressmen.
President Trump's executive order creating a Muslim ban undermines the foundational ideals of the United States, a nation founded by immigrants.
I learned that Chicago lunches are terrible. If I was a Chicago student, I would ask my mom to pack a lunch.
It is the duty of Congress to ensure our lead regulations are up to date and consistent with modern detection methods so that we can better protect children from the harmful consequences of exposure.
I was the last person to announce I was running for Congress in a big district, and I still won.
What I would like to do... once I take care of all my kids' student loans, is buy a red 1965 Mustang and fully restore it.
One of the cornerstones of our democracy is the peaceful transition of power.
Wrigley Field was built and designed at a time when people got to the ballpark by trolley, train, and horse cart.
