The battle for human rights — at home and abroad — is far from over. We should never be surprised nor discouraged because the impact of our efforts h… - Jimmy Carter

We've made a major expansion in what is called countercyclical revenue sharing to focus into the most deprived urban ghetto, unemployed areas, to be administered by Patricia Harris. And I've already signed into law a $4 billion public works bill. Under a new urban program that we are proposing, the Secretary of HUD, Patricia Harris, will have the authority to target large amounts of this money, in her judgment, on areas that are the most needy. For a long time in the past whenever a Federal program was approved by the Congress and the Republican Presidents, a large portion of that money went to areas where the need was least, in the suburban areas for housing and jobs went to areas with already low unemployment. We have reversed that now, and we're going to send the Federal money where it's needed most. Another of my first tasks has been to reorganize the Federal Government and to handle discrimination complaints faster and more effectively than we have in the past. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission now has a backlog of 130,000 cases. Many of these cases aren't considered for 3 years. There are seven different Federal agencies that are supposed to be taking care of these needs, these discriminatory practices. That's not been done yet. Because these cases have dragged on so long, quite often the witnesses have disappeared and the victims have given up. This is one of our top priorities--to reorganize the structure. It's not an easy or quick thing that can be done, and the person in charge of it is Eleanor Holmes Norton.

The excessive punishment of prisoners and the use of the death penalty in the United States, alone in the developed world, have continued to fall most heavily on the poor, mentally ill, and people of color. It was on this subject that I made the best speech of my life.

I've not had a chance to watch the television programs, except that my staff puts together an 18- or 20-minute recap on some of the highlights. And I see those on occasion. I spent all yesterday and today in my regular business and meeting with Prime Minister Barre. But my assessment from the brief time I've watched it, and also from my own staff, is that he has enhanced his position, because he was in a situation where, literally, for weeks, all kinds of allegations or charges were made, including criminal violation of the writing of checks to avoid paying of taxes, which is fraudulent and illegal. He was alleged to be an embezzler by a convicted felon. And on that basis, the chairman and the minority leader of the Senate [committee] had called for his immediate resignation, and he had not had a chance to answer those charges. Now that he has answered the charges--I hope and believe successfully--I think he's certainly enhanced his position.