But I do know this: that the two and a half years that I've been at HUD, I am absolutely convinced that some of the best workers in the world are in Federal Government.

As you know, in this country Anglo-Americans are about 75 to 76 percent home ownership in this country, where Hispanics, African Americans are less than 50 percent.

In 1965, I marched for equality.

America is a place where you can be born into a low-income household but still lift yourself up, and it doesn't matter what color you are.

You can't rise as a class. You have to rise individually. It's what many of the civil rights-era people don't understand.

After leaving law school, I intentionally said that I never wanted to hold a job more than six years.

And I always like to stress, it's not a quota, not a set-aside, it's not about race, it's about giving opportunities to demonstrate their abilities to do work with the Federal Government.