I will not stand for any tax increase for middle class or working Americans. There is no way I will support that.
— Raja Krishnamoorthi
I think it's so important we're a nation of laws but also a nation of immigrants.
When we came to this country, unfortunately, my father lost his job, and we were this close to destitution. We were put on food stamps. We were put in public housing.
When you encounter some form of discrimination or maybe even worse, I urge you to alert others. Regardless of how small the incident is, it has to be brought to the attention of people like me and also the law enforcement agencies.
A functioning democracy cannot stand when its people do not trust their leaders to uphold the law.
I think that what is really important is that, at the grassroots level, Indian-Americans really engage in the political process. That means voting and volunteering and assisting candidates who support the agenda that is friendly to their values.
As the son of legal immigrants to America who came from India, I support stronger border security for our nation as well as deporting undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes.
We need to invest in our crumbling infrastructure to create jobs and remain economically competitive.
Partisan politics is not my passion.
As the president of a cutting-edge research and development firm, I deal with the development of solutions to long-term national security and renewable energy problems every day and will bring this same perspective to Congress.
A porous border is a danger to America's national security, the people who live near it, and to those who cross it.
We cannot afford to balance the budget on the backs of America's middle class and seniors and must do what it takes to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, including enabling the government to negotiate the price of prescription drugs.
Congress increasingly represents the diversity of America.
The most important thing is to recognize that research is our seed corn. It's a national security priority. It's not just a way to have enough going on that graduate students can do their Ph.D.s and scientists can publish. We have to do research, or we'll fall behind the rest of the world.
So many of our businesses rely on green card holders - how are we supposed to attract these people if they think they'll be detained at the airport if they go abroad for a wedding or just to show their baby to relatives?
Illinois is becoming more diverse, more tolerant, and even more green.
One of the best programs that the federal government sponsors is the Small Business Innovation Research program, in which more than 2.5 percent of federal research and development funding at the largest agencies goes directly to small businesses.
I'm a product of public schools. They are resource-challenged, and when you take those dollars away from public schools and send them to private schools, you're further starving the system.
I'm an immigrant. I came here when I was 3 months old.
I've led programs that have helped thousands of individuals, small businesses, veterans, the disabled, farmers get low-interest loans to prosper.
Step one of the initial process of getting a non-immigrant visa is tough, renewing it is tough, and then transferring from the status of non-immigrant to immigrant or green card is tough. The only process which is easy is the last part of transferring from green card to citizenship, but getting there is quite a journey.
While U.S. investments in India are growing, we also need Indian investments in America.
As a party, Democrats must focus on the pocketbook issues that our constituents care about every day when they wake up to go to work, drop off their kids at school, and tuck them into bed at night.
Everyone agrees that our immigration system is broken. Building a wall with Mexico isn't going to fix it.
We need to cut unnecessary weapons programs like the F-35 fighter plane that cost trillions of dollars and don't even work.
In the private sector, as the president of a small business, my focus has been on driving the growth of our business, not driving any partisan political agenda.
A high school diploma will no longer be sufficient. But that post secondary education does not have to be a four-year university or a four-year college. It can be career technical education, vocational education, community college.
As an immigrant, I am grateful for the tremendous opportunities that this great nation has afforded me and my family. I am also aware of the ongoing challenges that immigrants confront, and understand that respecting law and borders is essential for keeping America strong.
My parents climbed their way to the middle class.
In terms of what I wanted to do before I got into politics, I was a businessman. I ran a company that makes and sells infrared night vision military technology and solar technology, so I wanted to grow that company and pursue groundbreaking technology in each of those areas.
Pocketbook and economic issues is pretty much all I campaigned on.
Mail enables businesses to deliver vital services and products, including medication, and allows these same businesses to receive payments in a timely way.
Illinois is large, but we do not always receive our fair share of federal resources because our leadership is often divided. When we all row together, good things happen.
As a small-business man myself, I believe strongly that improving the health of small businesses is the key to improving the economy, growing the middle class, and creating innovative products and services.
China is eating our lunch with regard to renewable energy.
One of the positives of the Illinois delegation is the congressmen and women work together on issues of local concern in a lot of different ways.
We have numerous mandirs, gurudwaras, and mosques in my Congressional district and all across the U.S.
Even people who have successfully obtained a visa are sometimes being turned back at the airport. Such incidents have never happened in the past but are increasing now because even low level officers of the border patrol department are being entrusted with too much discretion power on how they execute the laws.
I am hopeful that both India and U.S.A. would be able to expand their counter-terror partnership through wider intelligence sharing and effective coordination.
As a candidate for Congress, I proposed a federal infrastructure bank to help local governments fund badly needed projects, including ones in my district. We need to repair and expand our crumbling transportation systems by creating many good-paying construction jobs.
Ultimately, much of the dysfunction in Congress is due to the impact of big money, which drowns out the voices of working families and leads to the special treatment of special interests.
There is too much blind partisanship in Congress, which has blocked progress on critical issues. Too many members view compromise as weakness rather than the essence of our democracy. This has to end.
Making Congress into a less crisis-driven institution starts with electing members of Congress who can take the long view.
I believe you cannot survive in this global economy without some form of postsecondary education.
I strongly support screening all visitors and potential immigrants thoroughly to prevent bad actors from entering the country.
If I'm privileged to be elected, I'd be blessed to represent a diverse district, including South Asians and Indian Americans.
The fact that Barack Hussein Obama became president is historic, to say the least. Actually, to become U.S. senator, that was historic, and then what he did later on - that's what inspired me to think about running for office.
I was always a little skeptical of how voters would react to my name.
Mail in our country serves as an economic engine.
In my experience, union leaders are respected by their members.
