Technologies, including cell phones, have the potential to help millions of poor people out of poverty by enabling access to a range of safe, affordable financial services - most importantly, savings accounts - that have long been out of reach.

I had to sign the paper to shut down the government. It's terrible.... [But] what the shutdown showed many, many people is the importance of the role of government. And as frustrated [as people get with] Washington, there are so many things [the government does] that are so important to people's lives every day. The panda cam, paying small businesses their loans - these are all things that shut down.

Technologies, including cell phones, have the potential to help millions of poor people out of poverty by enabling access to a range of safe, affordable financial services - most importantly, savings accounts - that have long been out of reach.

Savings is an important tool because it can help the poor deal with the ups and downs of irregular earnings, and help them build reserves for a rainy day.

I have been fortunate to work in places where people have a passion for their work. At HHS the passion sort of exceeds passion - it's a vocation.... I obviously knew that there were certainly some challenges that I would be taking on both with the work and the politics. [But] I probably did not have the right expectation level with regard to the number and volume of crises that would occur.

Putting People First was progressivism revived, and at its best.

While we've made progress with our numbers, this will be a harder-to-reach group, and we have less money to do it.... Many people don't know or understand about the tax credit that they can receive. And so affordability is a barrier. We know that a disproportionate number of those who are still uninsured are young.