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2)
President Barack Obama addresses a joint session of
Congress in the House Chamber of the Capitol in Washington,
Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009. Vice President Joe Biden and House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi are behind the president.(AP
Photo/Evan Vucci)
Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, and the
first lady of the United States:
I've come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men
and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly
to the men and women who sent us here.
I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of
our economy is a concern that rises above all others. And
rightly so. If you haven't been personally affected by this
recession, you probably know someone who has — a friend, a
neighbor, a member of your family. You don't need to hear
another list of statistics to know that our economy is in
crisis, because you live it every day. It's the worry you wake up
with and the source of sleepless nights. It's the job you thought
you'd retire from but now have lost; the business you built your
dream upon that’s now hanging by a thread; the college
acceptance letter your child had to put back in the
envelope. The impact of this recession is real, and it is
everywhere.
But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken,
though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight
I want every American to know this:
We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of
America will emerge stronger than before.
The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny
of this nation. The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our
reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities, in
our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our
entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on
Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of
progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in
ample measure. What is required now is for this country to
pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and
take responsibility for our future once more.
Now if we're honest with ourselves, we'll admit that for
too long, we have not always met these responsibilities — as a
government or as a people. I say this not to lay blame or look
backwards, but because it is only by understanding how we arrived
at this moment that we'll be able to lift ourselves out of this
predicament.
The fact is, our economy did not fall into decline overnight.
Nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market
collapsed or the stock market sank. We have known for
decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy.
Yet we import more oil today than ever before. The cost of health
care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep
delaying reform. Our children will compete for jobs in a global
economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for. And
though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to
spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals
and through our government, than ever before.
In other words, we have lived through an era where too often,
short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity,
where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter,
or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer
wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our
future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick
profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they
knew they couldn't afford from banks and lenders who pushed
those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates
and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some
other day.
Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to
take charge of our future is here.
Now is the time to act boldly and wisely — to not only revive
this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity.
Now is the time to jump-start job creation, restart lending,
and invest in areas like energy, health care and education that
will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our
deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is
designed to do, and that's what I'd like to talk to you about
tonight.
It's an agenda that begins with jobs.
As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a
recovery plan by President's Day that would put people back to work
and put money in their pockets. Not because I believe in bigger
government — I don't. Not because I'm not mindful of the massive
debt we've inherited — I am. I called for action because the
failure to do so would have cost more jobs and caused more
hardships. In fact, a failure to act would have worsened our
long-term deficit by assuring weak economic growth for
years. That's why I pushed for quick action. And tonight, I am
grateful that this Congress delivered, and pleased to say that the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now law.
Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5
million jobs. More than 90 percent of these jobs will be in the
private sector — jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges,
constructing wind turbines and solar panels, laying
broadband and expanding mass transit.
Because of this plan, there are teachers who can now keep their
jobs and educate our kids. Health care professionals can continue
caring for our sick. There are 57 police officers who are still on
the streets of Minneapolis tonight because this plan
prevented the layoffs their department was about to
make.
Because of this plan, 95 percent of the working households in
America will receive a tax cut — a tax cut that you will see in
your paychecks beginning on April 1.
Because of this plan, families who are struggling to pay
tuition costs will receive a $2,500 tax credit for all four years
of college. And Americans who have lost their jobs in this
recession will be able to receive extended
unemployment benefits and continued health care
coverage to help them weather this storm.
I know there are some in this chamber and watching at home who
are skeptical of whether this plan will work. I understand
that skepticism. Here in Washington, we've all seen how quickly
good intentions can turn into broken promises and wasteful
spending. And with a plan of this scale comes
enormous responsibility to get it right.
That is why I have asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough,
unprecedented oversight effort — because nobody
messes with Joe. I have told each member of my Cabinet as
well as mayors and governors across the country that they
will be held accountable by me and the American people for
every dollar they spend. I have appointed a proven and
aggressive inspector general to ferret out any
and all cases of waste and fraud. And we have created a new
Web site called
recovery.gov so that every American can find out how and where
their money is being spent.
So the recovery plan we passed is the first step in getting our
economy back on track. But it is just the first step.
Because even if we manage this plan flawlessly, there will
be no real recovery unless we clean up the credit crisis that has
severely weakened our financial system.
I want to speak plainly and candidly about this issue
tonight, because every American should know that it directly
affects you and your family's well-being. You should also know that
the money you've deposited in banks across the country is
safe, your insurance is secure and you can rely on the
continued operation of our financial system. That is not the source
of concern.
The concern is that if we do not restart lending in this
country, our recovery will be choked off before it even
begins.
You see the flow of credit is the lifeblood of our
economy. The ability to get a loan is how you finance the
purchase of everything from a home to a car to a college education;
how stores stock their shelves, farms buy equipment, and businesses
make payroll.
But credit has stopped flowing the way it should. Too many bad
loans from the housing crisis have made their way onto the books of
too many banks. With so much debt and so little confidence, these
banks are now fearful of lending out any more money to households,
to businesses or to each other. When there is no lending, families
can't afford to buy homes or cars. So businesses are forced to make
layoffs. Our economy suffers even more, and credit dries up even
further.
That is why this administration is moving swiftly and
aggressively to break this destructive cycle, restore
confidence and restart lending.
We will do so in several ways. First, we are creating a new
lending fund that represents the largest effort ever to help
provide auto loans, college loans and small business loans to the
consumers and entrepreneurs who keep this economy running.
Second, we have launched a housing plan that will help
responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower
their monthly payments and refinance their mortgages. It's a
plan that won't help speculators or that neighbor down the
street who bought a house he could never hope to afford, but it
will help millions of Americans who are struggling with declining
home values — Americans who will now be able to take advantage of
the lower interest rates that this plan has already helped bring
about. In fact, the average family who refinances today can save
nearly $2000 per year on their mortgage.
Third, we will act with the full force of the federal government
to ensure that the major banks that Americans depend on have enough
confidence and enough money to lend even in more difficult times.
And when we learn that a major bank has serious problems, we will
hold accountable those responsible, force the necessary
adjustments, provide the support to clean up their balance
sheets, and assure the continuity of a strong, viable
institution that can serve our people and our economy.
I understand that on any given day, Wall Street may be more
comforted by an approach that gives banks bailouts with no
strings attached and that holds nobody accountable for their
reckless decisions. But such an approach won't solve the
problem. And our goal is to quicken the day when we restart lending
to the American people and American business and end this crisis
once and for all.
I intend to hold these banks fully accountable for the
assistance they receive, and this time they will have to
clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending for
the American taxpayer. This time, CEOs won't be able to use
taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or
disappear on a private jet. Those days are over.
Still, this plan will require significant resources from
the federal government — and yes, probably more than we've already
set aside. But while the cost of action will be great, I can assure
you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it
could result in an economy that sputters along for not
months or years, but perhaps a decade. That would be worse for our
deficit, worse for business, worse for you and worse for the next
generation. And I refuse to let that happen.
I understand that when the last administration asked this
Congress to provide assistance for struggling banks,
Democrats and Republicans alike were infuriated by
the mismanagement and results that followed. So were the American
taxpayers. So was I.
So I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right
now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from
their bad decisions. I promise you — I get it.
But I also know that in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to
govern out of anger or yield to the politics of the moment.
My job — our job — is to solve the problem. Our job is to govern
with a sense of responsibility. I will not spend a single penny for
the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but
I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can't
pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can't get a
mortgage.
That's what this is about. It's not about helping banks — it's
about helping people. Because when credit is available again, that
young family can finally buy a new home. And then some company will
hire workers to build it. And then those workers will have money to
spend, and if they can get a loan too, maybe they'll finally buy
that car or open their own business. Investors will return
to the market, and American families will see their retirement
secured once more. Slowly but surely, confidence will return, and
our economy will recover.
So I ask this Congress to join me in doing whatever proves
necessary. Because we cannot consign our nation to an
open-ended recession. And to ensure that a crisis of this
magnitude never happens again, I ask Congress to move
quickly on legislation that will finally reform our outdated
regulatory system. It is time to put in place tough, new
commonsense rules of the road so that our financial market rewards
drive and innovation, and punishes shortcuts and
abuse.
The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are
the immediate steps we're taking to revive our economy in
the short-term. But the only way to fully restore America's
economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will
lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete
with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be
another American century is if we confront at last the price of our
dependence on oil and the high cost of health care, the
schools that aren't preparing our children and the mountain of debt
they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.
In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress.
So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on
a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document
differently. I see it as a vision for America — as a
blueprint for our future.
My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address
every issue. It reflects the stark reality of what we've
inherited — a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis
and a costly recession.
Given these realities, everyone in this chamber — Democrats and
Republicans — will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities
for which there are no dollars. And that includes me.
But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term
challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply
take care of themselves, that says government has no role in laying
the foundation for our common prosperity.
For history tells a different story. History reminds us that at
every moment of economic upheaval and transformation,
this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas. In the
midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast
to another that spurred commerce and industry. From
the turmoil of the industrial revolution came a
system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new
age. In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a
generation to college and created the largest middle-class in
history. And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation
of highways, an American on the moon and an explosion of technology
that still shapes our world.
