One of my heroes growing up was Jackie Robinson. My mom, an ardent baseball fan from whom I got my love of the game, had an old baseball card of his from the 1950s and told us his amazing story of courage in integrating baseball.

Democratic, Republican members of Congress get along fine. But what you have is this institutional Hatfield and McCoy sentiment coming from our constituents, where the base of both sides doesn't want people to get along. But the majority of Americans, I feel, the majority, they are in the middle. They actually do want both sides to get together.

No American should have to live in constant fear that their employer can fire them just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

It's critical to show that we can meet our commitment to students with disabilities without raising taxes and without increasing the deficit. In the past, there's been strong support for full funding and I'm still hearing that from many of my colleagues.

Education can also be used as a soft power and as a soft force to transform societies. When I say transform societies it means we can tackle issues in political, social, cultural, economic areas. These are the most important things.

I grew up dancing, and for a while in college, I was a gym rat. I finally realized... I'm going to create a little more balance in my life and make exercise something that I enjoy doing. So I went back to dance when I started doing more musical theatre, and I've just found that it's the best thing that works for my body.

In literature classes, you don't learn about genes; in physics classes you don't learn about human evolution. So you get a fragmented view of the world. That makes it hard to find meaning in education.

Education must, be not only a transmission of culture but also a provider of alternative views of the world and a strengthener of the will to explore them.