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President Obama’s remarks at Elkhart, Indiana,Town Hall MeetingFebruary 9, 2009
I want to start by thanking Ed for coming here today and sharing his family’s storywith all of us.You know, we tend to take the measure of the economic crisis we face in numbersand statistics. But when we say we’ve lost 3.6 million jobs since this recession began – nearly 600,000 in the past month alone; when we say that this area has lost jobs faster than anywhere else in America, with an unemployment rate over 15 percent; when we talk about layoffs at companies like Monaco Coach, KeystoneRV, and Pilgrim International – companies that have sustained this community for years – we’re talking about Ed Neufeldt and people like him all across this country.We’re talking about folks who’ve lost their livelihood and don’t know what willtake its place. Parents who’ve lost their health care and lie awake nights prayingthe kids don’t get sick. Families who’ve lost the home that was their corner of theAmerican dream. Young people who put that college acceptance letter back in theenvelope because they just can’t afford it.That’s what those numbers and statistics mean. That is the true measure of thiseconomic crisis. Those are the stories I heard when I came here to Elkhart sixmonths ago and that I have carried with me every day since.I promised you back then that if elected President, I would do everything I could tohelp this community recover. And that’s why I’ve come back today – to tell youhow I intend to keep that promise.The situation we face could not be more serious. We have inherited an economiccrisis as deep and as dire as any since the Great Depression. Economists fromacross the spectrum have warned that if we don’t act immediately, millions more jobs will be lost, and national unemployment rates will approach double digits.More people will lose their homes and their health care. And our nation will sink into a crisis that, at some point, we may be unable to reverse.
 
So we can no longer afford to wait and see and hope for the best. We can nolonger posture and bicker and resort to the same failed ideas that got us into thismess in the first place – and that the American people rejected at the polls this past November. You didn’t send us to Washington because you were hoping for moreof the same. You sent us there with a mandate for change, and the expectation thatwe would act quickly and boldly to carry it out – and that is exactly what I intendto do as President of the United States.That is why I put forth a Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that is now beforeCongress. At its core is a very simple idea: to put Americans back to work doingthe work America needs done.The plan will save or create three to four million jobs over the next two years. Butnot just any jobs – jobs that meet the needs we’ve neglected for far too long andlay the groundwork for long-term economic growth: jobs fixing our schools;computerizing medical records to save costs and save lives; repairing our infrastructure; and investing in renewable energy to help us move toward energyindependence. The plan also calls for immediate tax relief for 95 percent of American workers. Now I know that some of you might be thinking, well that all sounds good, butwhen are we going to see any of that here in Elkhart? What does all that mean for our families and our community? Those are exactly the kind of questions youshould be asking of your President and your government, and today, I want to provide some answers – and I want to be as specific as I can.First, this plan will provide for extended unemployment insurance, health care andother assistance for workers and families who have lost their jobs in this recession.That will mean an additional $100 per month in unemployment benefits to morethan 450,000 Indiana workers, extended unemployment benefits for another 89,000folks who’ve been laid off and can’t find work, and job training assistance to helpmore than 51,000 people here get back on their feet.That is not only our moral responsibility – to lend a helping hand to our fellowAmericans in times of emergency – but it also makes good economic sense. If youdon’t have money, you can’t spend it. And if people don’t spend, our economywill continue to decline.
 
For that same reason, the plan includes badly needed tax relief for middle classworkers and families. The middle class is under siege, and we need to give youmore of the money you’ve earned, so you can spend it and pay your bills. Under our plan, individuals get $500 – families, $1,000 – providing relief for nearly 2.5million workers and their families here in Indiana.The plan will also provide a partially refundable $2,500 per-student tax credit tohelp 76,000 Hoosier families send their kids to college. This will benefit your household budgets in the short run, and will benefit America in the long run.But providing tax relief, and college assistance and help to folks who’ve lost their  jobs is not enough. A real recovery plan helps create more jobs and put people back to work.That’s why, between the investments our plan makes – and the tax relief for small businesses it provides – we’ll create or save nearly 80,000 badly needed jobs for Indiana in the next two years. Now, you may have heard some of the critics of our  plan saying that it would create mostly government jobs. That’s simply not true.More than 90 percent of these jobs will be in the private sector. More than 90 percent.But it’s not just the jobs that will benefit Indiana and the rest of America. It’s thework people will be doing: Rebuilding our roads, bridges, dams and levees. Roadslike US 31 here in Indiana that Hoosiers count on, and that connect small townsand rural communities to opportunities for economic growth. And I know that anew overpass downtown would make a big difference for businesses and familiesright here in Elkhart.We’ll also put people to work rebuilding our schools so all our kids can have theworld-class classrooms, labs and libraries they need to compete in today’s globaleconomy.Investing in clean alternative sources of energy and the electric grid we need totransport it from coast to coast, helping make Indiana an energy-producing state,not just an energy-consuming state. Weatherizing homes across this state, andinstalling state of the art equipment to help you control your energy costs.Building new high-speed broadband lines, reaching schools and small businessesin rural Indiana so they can connect and compete with their counterparts in any cityin any country in the world.
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