I've still got a lot to learn about Washington. Thursday, I accidentally spent some of my own money.

To effectively address the scandals in Washington, which revolve around the multiple ways lobbyists use money to buy influence, Congress must reform the lobbying, campaign finance and ethics rules, and create new means for enforcing these rules.

[Fred Wertheimer, a longtime advocate for campaign finance reform, called DeLay] the king of a Washington-lobbyist, influence-money approach for governing America. ... pay-to-play philosophy.

In the end, we may be hurting the very people we should be concerned about - the inner-city poor, those who already have to live with many risks in their daily lives, those who do not have clout here in Washington.

The reason that he got a sitting with Washington was that his father was Charles Wilson Peale, a very prominent American artist, a friend of the revolution. On the morning of the sitting, he (Rembrandt) was so frightened about confronting the great man, that he said he could barely mix his colors. And so his father had to come along to hold his hand, so to speak.

Washington is going to send another packet for me to send back, so the money is coming.