Washington -- President-elect George W. Bush named the last three members of his 14-member Cabinet at a January 2 news conference in Austin, Texas.

They are Democrat Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation; U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham of Michigan as Energy Secretary; and Linda Chavez as Secretary of Labor.

Bush said he could not think of a better way to start the New Year than to round out his Cabinet, which he characterized as "one of the strongest that any President has been ever able to assemble." All the Cabinet members must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

The three newest nominees stood beside Bush as he announced their names.

Mineta, an Asian-American, said "I am a Democrat with both a small 'd' and a large one," and that in the hard-fought contest between Bush and Vice President Al Gore, "I was proud to stand with my party."

But he said now "the challenge before all of us as Americans, regardless of party affiliation, is to find those areas where we can find bipartisan consensus on the policies and the programs that are needed to move this nation forward."

"Our national transportation policy must have one overriding, bipartisan goal. That is to give our economy the tools and the infrastructure it needs in order to create and sustain growth and prosperity."

Mineta was a former mayor of San Jose, California and longtime member of the U.S. House of Representatives. While in the House, he served as chairman of the House Transportation and Public Works Committee. He currently is serving as Commerce Secretary in the Clinton Administration.

Nominating Mineta gives give Bush a Democrat in the Cabinet -- meeting a goal he had set in the days following resolution of the protracted closely contested presidential election.

Abraham, an Arab-American, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994. He was defeated in his November re-election bid by the Democratic candidate.

He told Bush "it is a testament to the special place that America is that the grandson of four Lebanese immigrants can have the opportunity to serve in the Cabinet of the President of the United States."

Regarding energy policy, Abraham said there are vast resources in the United States that are crucial to the nation's security. "We can make good use of them while at the same time, I believe, meeting our responsibilities as good stewards of the land, the air, and the water. This is the duty of the next Secretary of Energy and I am very eager to take up the task," he said.

Chavez, who served as director of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission under President Ronald Reagan, spoke, in her remarks, of her deceased father, a house painter, who, she said taught her the dignity of labor. She also was grateful for her mother's work in restaurants and department stores to help support her family in her childhood.

"If I am confirmed as Secretary of Labor, I intend to keep faith with the men and the women who still work at jobs like those my parents held," she said.

Following the nominees' remarks, Bush took questions from reporters.

Asked to comment on the diversity of his Cabinet choices, Bush said they show "that I am not afraid to surround myself with strong and confident people. I believe the American people want a President who seeks the best...

"A good executive is one who understands how to recruit people and how to delegate," he said.

Asked whether President Clinton's January 2 meeting at the White House with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat would tie Bush's hands on the Middle East when he becomes President January 20, Bush responded:

"No, I am appreciative of the fact that the President is working endlessly to try to bring the parties together to achieve a lasting peace. I appreciate his efforts. He is a man, obviously, who is going to work up to the last minute of the last day of his administration, which is what the American people expect and so do I, and I appreciate so very much his strong attempt."

Bush made clear that "we have one President and our nation will speak with one voice, and the voice with which we'll speak is the voice of President Clinton, and as I say, he's giving it the very best shot he can and I certainly hope it works."

Asked about OPEC's reported plan to reduce oil production on January 17, Bush said "the fact that OPEC is thinking about reducing world supply of crude oil and thereby affecting the price at the pump and the price of heating oil indicates the need for us to have an energy policy that makes us less dependent on foreign sources of crude."