As we try to compete in this global marketplace, we need to rebuild our infrastructure. We need to rebuild our schools. We need to make sure that teachers and first responders and veterans who are coming home from serving our country so proudly have jobs waiting for them.

People are struggling. They're trying to make ends meet, and they're looking for Washington to deliver for them. And they don't feel that that's been happening as quickly as it should. We share that frustration. There's no one more frustrated than President Obama.

President Obama celebrates diversity, yet instinctively seeks common ground and builds on that common ground to make progress.

A new era of responsibility is here.

I think, traditionally, when the federal government has gathered statistics, it's been done in silos, so every agency really focuses on the statistics that are important to agency.

My goal in the new administration is to engage all of the stakeholders, everyone who can help us meet the challenges of the 21st century, and ensure that we work together.

Women now make up approximately half of the workforce - very positive. Two-thirds of all families are either headed by a single-head of household or two working parents, and particularly in this economically challenging time, that second income is more important than ever. However, women are still only earning 75 percent of what men are earning.