In his opening remarks Thursday morning, Dr. Ben Carson is expected to defend why he wants to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development after initially declining to be part of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration while talking up his bonafides for the job — specifically his hard-scrabble upbringing.

Carson, a famed neurosurgeon, plans to tell the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee about his desire to run the department and discuss his belief that the department could be an agent for good, and even to help families escape from poverty into a prosperous lives.