I know that government doesn't have the all solutions that real solutions do not come from the top down. Instead, the ways to end poverty come from all of us. We are part of the solution.

I asked for everything that we had available from the federal government...and the federal effort was just a little slow in coming. I can't understand why.

My values, our values, aren't about pointing fingers. They are about offering a helping hand.

The president addressed that issue when he removed Mr. Brown, and I thank him for that,

Poverty is everyone's problem. It cuts across any line you can name: age, race, social, geographic or religious. Whether you are black or white; rich, middle-class or poor, we are ALL touched by poverty.

We also know that our revenue stream is probably going to have a $750 million to perhaps $1 billion deficit because the southeast region produced an extraordinary amount of our revenue stream and that is in hard state dollars,