I have no personal vendetta against Clarence Thomas. I seek only to provide the committee with information which it may regard as relevant.

It would have been more comfortable to remain silent.

I see myself as an educator.

Certainly my life will not ever be as private and discreet, and perhaps I should even use the word insulated, as it was before.

The FBI has had a history of sex discrimination complaints brought against it, as well as race discrimination.

If you think about the way the hearings were structured, the hearings were really about Thomas' race and my gender.

Telling the world is the most difficult experience of my life, but it is very close to having to live through the experience that occasion this meeting.

I was aware, however, that telling at any point in my career could adversely affect my future career.

I am really proud to be a part in whatever way of women becoming active in the political scene. I think it was the first time that people came to terms with the reality of what it meant to have a Senate made up of 98 men and two women.

I thought that by saying no and explaining my reasons my employer would abandon his social suggestions. However, to my regret, in the following few weeks, he continued to ask me out on several occasions.

But the issue of sexual harassment is not the end of it. There are other issues - political issues, gender issues - that people need to be educated about.

For my undergraduate work, I went to Oklahoma State University and graduated from there in 1977.

The real problem is that the way that power is given out in our society pits us against each other.

But I think it would be irresponsible for me not to say what I really believe in my heart to be true - that there are some serious inequities that we face as women and that we can work to address these inequities.

I resent the idea that people would blame the messenger for the message, rather than looking at the content of the message itself.

The experience of testifying and the aftermath have changed my life.

Because I was extremely uncomfortable talking about sex with him at all and particularly in such a graphic way, I told him that I did not want to talk about these subjects.

What we really need to be understanding is that all of these things matter and they all stem from the fact that certain people live with power and authority and they want to maintain it.

During this period at the Department of Education, my working relationship with Judge Thomas was positive.

I did what my conscience told me to do, and you can't fail if you do that.

Well, of course it was a very trying time for me, and fortunately I had a lot of people who were supportive. A lot of people who were writing and calling and saying they were praying for me. Some people sent me Scripture, and that helped.

I'm not sure I can say there is a clean line between me as an individual and me as a lawyer.

My parents are older, and they lead a somewhat sheltered life. It was difficult to talk with them about things that were embarrassing to me, and that I had never spoken to them about.

Testifying has helped me understand that one individual's behavior and actions make a difference. That my actions are important to people other than myself.

I think, though, as African-American women, we are always trained to value our community even at the expense of ourselves, and so we attempt to protect the African-American community.

One of the things I was taught in law school is that I'd never be able to think the same again - that being a lawyer is something that's part of who I am as an individual now.

I have no personal vendetta against Clarence Thomas. I seek only to provide the committee with information which it may regard as relevant.

When I think of what has happened in a larger sense, beyond myself, then I would not change anything.

What I wanted was for everyone listening to understand that these things mattered - not necessarily for me, but in this particular forum they mattered in terms of whether of not we were getting a person who should sit on the Supreme Court.

We have a history of gender and racial bias on our court that continues to undermine the system. Excluding individuals based on race is antagonistic to the pursuit of justice.

In July of 1983, I left Washington, DC area and have had minimal contact with Judge Clarence Thomas since.

I became the messenger who had to be killed.

You cant always expect a certain result but you can expect to do your best.

But the issue of sexual harassment is not the end of it. There are other issues political issues gender issues that people need to be educated about.

And yes, there's a simplicity to writing books because you're not a member of a team, so you make all the decisions yourself instead of deferring to a committee.

One of the great joys this year and the year before has been how all of the people in this body, men and women, Republicans and Democrats, have worked together so well with our chairman and the chairman of the full committee to address the issues of housing for our soldiers.

If the many allegations made to this date are true, then the burglars who broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate were, in effect, breaking into the home of every citizen.

Obama's health care plan will be written by a committee whose head, John Conyers, says he doesn't understand it. It'll be passed by Congress that has not read it, signed by a president who smokes, funded by a Treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, overseen by a Surgeon General who is obese, and financed by a country that's nearly broke. What could possibly go wrong?

Our greatest privilege and responsibility as leaders of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs is to provide our veterans with a system that cares for their wounds and ensures that they have an opportunity to succeed.

To do so, we are creating a Fairness for Switzerland Committee that will not only disseminate some of the facts, but also protect a relationship that is important to all of us in North America.

If I were John Bolton, I'd take great consolation in the words of my principal supporter on the committee, who gave a ringing endorsement, which was, There is no evidence that he has broken any laws.

I am persuaded, that if any attempt is made to improve the education of the poor, and such an unmanly spirit should guide the resolution of a society or committee for that purpose, it would render the design abortive.

Madam Speaker, I have spent more than half my life as a member of the Resources Committee. In that time I have supported numerous wilderness designations. In fact, I cannot recall ever opposing a wilderness bill.

The SSRC committee turned attention from team research for building a model of the United States to doing one for world trade in order to investigate the international transmission mechanism.

There were no gifts. Everything is properly accounted for. I provided testimony and evidence to the committee... This was all stuff that was previously known.

People just want to hear some common sense... and I bring to bear the experience in local government and state government and national government - I was the first woman in history on the Senate Finance Committee - not to mention the diplomatic international experience.

Nothing is really media driven or committee driven, so you can actually just produce something.

Can anything be more Un-American than the Un-American committee?

During the presidential primaries of 1940, I received a request from the Democratic National Committee to sing God Bless America before the speeches.