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roblems that led us into this crisis are deep and widespread. Our response must be equal to the task.For our plan to succeed, we must stabilize, repair, and reform our banking system, and get credit flowing again to families and businesses.We must write and enforce new rules of the road, to stop unscrupulous speculators from undermining our economy ever again.We must stem the spread of foreclosures and do everything we can to help responsible homeowners stay in their homes.And in the weeks ahead, I will submit a proposal for the federal budget that will begin to restore the discipline these challenging times demand. Our debt has doubled over the past eight years, and we’ve inherited a trilliondollar deficit – which we must add to in the short term in order to jumpstart our sick economy. But our longterm economic growth demands that we tame our burgeoning federal deficit。 that we invest in the things we need, and dispense with the things we don’t. This is a challenging agenda, but one we can and will achieve.This morning, I’m reminded of words President Kennedy spoke in another time of uncertainty. Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.America, we will prove equal to this task. It will take time, and it will take effort, but working together, we will turn this crisis into opportunity and emerge from our painful present into a brighter future. After a week spent with the fundamentally decent men and women of this nation, I have never been more certain of that. Thank you.The White HouseSaturday, February 7, 2009Yesterday began with some devastating news with regard to our economic crisis. But I39。m pleased to say it ended on a more positive note.In the morning, we received yet another round of alarming employment figures – the worst in more than 30 years. Another 600,000 jobs were lost in January. We39。ve now lost more than million jobs since this recession began.But by the evening, Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands.In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face. That was, after all, what last November39。s election was all about. Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it39。s received over the last month, and it will receive more in the days to e. But we can39。t afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary. The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now.Because if we don39。t move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could bee a national catastrophe. Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes, and their health care. Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold.Let39。s be clear: We can39。t expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can39。t rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges – the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools。 our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees.The American people know that our challenges are great. They don39。t expect Democratic solutions or Republican solutions – they expect American solutions.From the beginning, this recovery plan has had at its core a simple idea: Let39。s put Americans to work doing the work America needs done. It will save or create more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, all across the country – 16,000 in Maine, nearly 80,000 in Indiana – almost all of them in the private sector, and all of them jobs that help us recover today, and prosper tomorrow.Jobs that upgrade classrooms and laboratories in 10,000 schools nationwide – at least 485 in Florida alone – and train an army of teachers in math and science.Jobs that modernize our health care system, not only saving us billions of dollars, but countless lives.Jobs that construct a smart electric grid, connect every corner of the country to the information superhighway, double our capacity to generate renewable energy, and grow the economy of tomorrow.Jobs that rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and levees and dams, so that the tragedies of New Orleans and Minneapolis never happen again.It includes immediate tax relief for our struggling middle class in places like Ohio, where million workers will receive a tax cut of up to $1,000. It protects health insurance and provides unemployment insurance for those who39。ve lost their jobs. And it helps our states and munities avoid painful tax hikes or layoffs for our teachers, nurses, and first responders.That39。s what is at stake with this plan: putting Americans back to work, creating transformative economic change, and making a down payment on the American Dream that serves our children and our children39。s children for generations to e.Americans across this country are struggling, and they are watching to see if we39。re equal to the task before us. Let39。s show them that we are. And let39。s do whatever it takes to keep the promise of America alive in our time.Thank you.SATURDAY, February 21, 2009WEEKLY ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENTTO THE NATION THE PRESIDENT: Earlier this week, I signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act the most sweeping economic recovery plan in history. Because of this plan, million Americans will now go to work doing the work that America needs done.I39。m grateful to Congress, governors and mayors across the country, and to all of you whose support made this critical step possible.Because of what we did together, there will now be shovels in the ground