In this video, music mogul Quincy Jones explains why he’s endorsing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) for president. The brains behind Michael Jackson’s hits of the 1980s and the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air in the 1990s says he’d “go to the ends of the earth” for Clinton.

I believe we need to find a way that we can insure all Americans, children and adults, and I believe the best way to do that is through the tax credit vehicle that has been proposed by myself and a number of others, which would allow all Americans, no matter their status, to obtain an insurance policy that would them or their family. I think that is moving in the direction of a private healthcare system like we have today, as opposed to what the Democrats are advocating, which is a larger role for government in healthcare, ultimately becoming a preeminent role.

One of my greatest fears is that continuing high healthcare costs will force companies to dump their employee healthcare plans and millions of Americans and their families will be left without healthcare insurance. We must prevent this dangerous scenario by giving individuals control over their healthcare so they do not have to rely on their employers or the government for their healthcare. The ‘Every American Insured Health Act’ does just that.  This legislation would ensure every American has access to affordable, quality health insurance through the free market.

Personal freedom means owning your own healthcare without the fear of losing your job, your employer taking your insurance away, or being forced into a government-run health care plan. We encourage all Americans to own their own homes, so why don’t we encourage people to own their own healthcare?

The ‘Every American Insured Health Act’ provides every American with a refundable, advanceable flat tax credit of $2,160 per individual and $5,400 per family that gives them the freedom to choose the healthcare plan that best meets their needs. The plan is budget neutral and puts an end to unfair discrimination in the IRS tax code that only benefits health coverage offered by employers and that disproportionately subsidizes Americans with more costly health plans and with higher incomes.  The plan also improves health insurance affordability in state marketplaces by turning patients into shoppers and giving them buying power.

I think it is very important that we have the tools we need to gather intelligence and information that can save American lives. It’s probably one of the highest priorities we have in the next week.

My hope is that the bipartisan position that the Finance Committee has staked out will be one that the administration will find a way to be part of. Then, when we get that accomplished, we move on to the broader health reform bill where Sen. Bennett (R-Utah) and I have produced the first bipartisan healthcare overhaul in 13 years.

I wanted a farm bill that I could vote for. Agriculture remains Georgia’s No. 1 industry, and the University of Georgia is a leader in agricultural research. The farm bill we passed last week wasn’t something I could vote on.

For one, it raised taxes on foreign companies that operate in the United States and create high-paying American jobs. These businesses employ more than 5 million Americans and about 176,000 Georgians. In my district alone, we have Chinese companies opening plants in Thomaston – which suffered manufacturing job losses in the textile industry – and in Peachtree City. Kia, which is South Korean, is opening a car plant in LaGrange. These are important jobs in these areas of Georgia and we need to encourage that, not discourage it by tacking on a $7.5 billion tax burden.

Second, I have concerns about the expensive expansion of the food stamp program and about the emphasis on conservation. Everybody likes conservation of land in theory, but we don’t see the repercussions until years down the road when local governments have to raise taxes on everybody to make up for the revenue lost when large tracts of land are taken off the tax rolls.

In this video, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) talks about his first six months in office as a freshman senator and compares his experience to the 20 years he spent serving in the House of Representatives. Read his op-ed on the subject here.

It is disheartening that the Farm Bill, which once garnered bipartisan support, was tarnished by political gimmicks. We were promised no tax hikes, but that promise was ignored at the 11th hour without a hearing and a chance to present the tax hike’s effect. Now we are looking at broken tax treaties with over 50 countries whose companies were courted by cities and states to build plants and create jobs in the United States, though proponents claim this only affects foreign countries. It affects American jobs and the American economy even before the likely retaliation by the countries with whom this bill breaks our treaties. After all that, 66 cents of every Farm Bill dollar is not even going to help farming or agriculture but is going to government entitlement / welfare programs. I could not vote for a bill that jeopardizes over 341,000 Texas jobs, 5.1 million American jobs, bloats the federal bureaucracy and hurts the overall American economy. A choice between voting for the Farm Bill and voting to save American workers is not much of a choice. I want to vote for a Farm Bill but not one that gives away the farm.

The U.S. House has passed a Farm Bill that gives family farmers the support they need and invests in our nation’s priorities. Our bill will make rural America stronger, move our nation towards energy independence and help end hunger in our country.

This bill further enhances rural programs and tailors them to the new needs of rural America in two specific areas: 1) better access to technology and 2) better targeting of help to our rural entrepreneurs.  The new Rural Entrepreneur and Micro-enterprise Assistance program will reach some of our most important businesses; those small companies employing 10 people or less.  These companies are the biggest drivers of economic development in rural America but often cannot secure the funding needed to grow their businesses.

The Rural Broadband Loan Program and the Community Connect grant program are two extremely important pieces for North Carolina and many other small communities across the country.  Having access to high-speed Internet can often mean the difference in the success of rural businesses.  The broadband loan program provides incentives for companies to build out to our most rural areas and bring quality, high-speed Internet connections to businesses, schools, and families.  This is a win-win for citizens and communities.

This resolution is a step — a small step perhaps, but important — in changing the mission of our troops in Iraq from policing the streets of Baghdad to military counterterrorism operations against the real enemies of the United States.