Jenkins spoke about her mother, a dairy farm wife with a talent for clever sayings. Jenkins used several of those in her remarks as part of the Profiles of Women in Government Lecture Series, many to describe current plights in government.
“If you want strawberries, don’t plant broccoli,” Jenkins said. “The problem happens when people plant one thing and want to reap another.”
Jenkins said she was for health care reform, just not the program passed through the House. 
She said after the speech that there was still a while to “play with it,” because the Senate was planning on coming up with its own proposal. The two bills would then meet in conference committee, where representatives from both chambers would hash out the final bill.
Jenkins said she was for legal immigration, but against illegal immigration, a view that she said matched most people in the second district. She also said she was against amnesty, though she added that she felt that would be the direction immigration would be pushed.
“I believe we need to secure the border and give businesses the tools to address this issue,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins ended her remarks by stating that everyone should feel a responsibility to improve the world, and country they live in.
“I’m confident that if we can just plant the right seeds … we can make this place better than we found it,” Jenkins said.
