Remarks on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 02-07-2009

Thank you, everybody.  Please have a seat.  You guys can sit down, too.  (Laughter.)

Let me begin by saying thank you to a few people -- first of all, your outstanding Governor, Bill Ritter.  Please give Bill a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  Lieutenant Governor Barbara O'Brien.  (Applause.)  Secretary of State Bernie Buescher.  (Applause.)  Your outstanding Mayor, John Hickenlooper.  (Applause.)  Your new Senator, Michael Bennett.  (Applause.)  Your old senator, now my Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar.  (Applause.)  Mark Udall is not here, but give him a round of applause anyway.  (Applause.)

One of the outstanding leaders who helped shepherd this process through in record time -- please give Max Baucus of Montana a big round of applause.  Thank you, Max.  (Applause.)  To Secretary Federico Pena, one of my national co-chairs -- I would not be here if it were not for Federico.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  To Representative Diana DeGette, who is a -- we are in her district.  So, thank you so much.  (Applause.)  Representative Betsy Markey.  (Applause.)  Representative Jared Polis.  (Applause.)  Representative Ed Perlmutter.  (Applause.)

To all the other elected officials and outstanding leaders who are here.  And to the whole Namaste family and Mr. Jones for outstanding work, congratulations.  Give them a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  And to the best Vice President that we've had in a long time -- Joe Biden.  (Applause.)

It is great to be back in Denver.  (Applause.)  I was here last summer -- we had a good time -- (laughter) -- to accept the nomination of my party and to make a promise to people of all parties that I would do all that I could to give every American the chance to make of their lives what they will; to see their children climb higher than they did.  And I'm back today to say that we have begun the difficult work of keeping that promise.  We have begun the essential work of keeping the American Dream alive in our time.  And that's why we're here today.  (Applause.)

Now, I don't want to pretend that today marks the end of our economic problems.  Nor does it constitute all of what we're going to have to do to turn our economy around.  But today does mark the beginning of the end -- the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs; the beginning of what we need to do to provide relief for families worried they won't be able to pay next month's bills; the beginning of the first steps to set our economy on a firmer foundation, paving the way to long-term growth and prosperity.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that I will sign today -- a plan that meets the principles I laid out in January -- is the most sweeping economic recovery package in our history. It's the product of broad consultation and the recipient of broad support -- from business leaders, unions, public interest groups, from the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, as