[01:00.44]Yesterday began with some devastating news with regard to our economic crisis.
[01:04.26]But I'm pleased to say it ended on a more positive note.
[01:07.76]In the morning, we received yet another round of alarming employment figures – the worst in more than 30 years.
[01:14.35]Another 600,000 jobs were lost in January.
[01:18.42]We've now lost more than 3.6 million jobs since this recession began.
[01:24.05]But by the evening,
[01:26.42]Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands.
[01:31.70]In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression,
[01:35.22]the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face.
[01:40.87]That was, after all, what last November's election was all about.
[01:44.35]Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it's received over the last month
[01:48.47]and it will receive more in the days to come.
[01:51.22]But we can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary.
[01:56.10]The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now.
[02:01.75]Because if we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion,
[02:05.05]our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe.
[02:08.75]Millions of Americans will lose their jobs,their homes, and their health care.
[02:13.99]Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold.
[02:16.98]Let's be clear: We can't expect relief from the tired old theories that
[02:22.04]in eight short years
[02:23.16]doubled the national debt
[02:24.60]threw our economy into a tailspin
[02:26.40]and led us into this mess in the first place.
[02:29.46]We can't rely on a losing formula
[02:31.26]that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems
[02:35.87]while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges
[02:38.60]– the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools
[02:42.94]our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees.
[02:47.31]The American people know that our challenges are great.
[02:50.32]They don't expect Democratic solutions or Republican solutions
[02:53.70]– they expect American solutions.
[02:56.03]From the beginning,
[02:57.24]this recovery plan has had at its core a simple idea:
[03:01.03]Let's put Americans to work doing the work America needs done.
[03:05.20]It will save or create more than 3 million jobs over the next two years,
[03:08.83]all across the country – 16,000 in Maine,
[03:12.23]nearly 80,000 in Indiana
[03:14.42]– almost all of them in the private sector
[03:16.95]and all of them jobs that help us recover today, and prosper tomorrow.
[03:22.13]Jobs that upgrade classrooms and laboratories in 10,000 schools nationwide
[03:25.26]– at least 485 in Florida alone
[03:29.47]– and train an army of teachers in math and science.
[03:33.35]Jobs that modernize our health care system,
[03:36.08]not only saving us billions of dollars
[03:38.03]but countless lives.
[03:40.03]Jobs that construct a smart electric grid
[03:43.18]connect every corner of the country to the information superhighway
[03:46.55]double our capacity to generate renewable energy
[03:50.11]and grow the economy of tomorrow.
[03:52.57]Jobs that rebuild our crumbling roads
[03:54.38]bridges and levees and dams
[03:56.09]so that the tragedies of New Orleans and Minneapolis never happen again.
[04:00.90]It includes immediate tax relief for our struggling middle class in places like Ohio,
[04:06.01]where 4.5 million workers will receive a tax cut of up to $1,000.
[04:11.23]It protects health insurance and provides unemployment insurance
[04:14.39]for those who've lost their jobs.
[04:16.54]And it helps our states and communities avoid painful tax hikes
[04:20.74]or layoffs for our teachers, nurses, and first responders.
[04:25.11]That's what is at stake with this plan:
[04:27.52]putting Americans back to work,
[04:29.47]creating transformative economic change
[04:32.18]and making a down payment on the American Dream
[04:36.17]that serves our children and our children's children for generations to come.
[04:40.11]Americans across this country are struggling
[04:42.35]and they are watching to see if we're equal to the task before us.
[04:46.59]Let's show them that we are.
[04:48.50]And let's do whatever it takes to keep the promise of America alive in our time.
[04:54.40]Thank you.
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