President Barack Obama today commemorated the one-year anniversary of the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, saying the federal stimulus "rescued our economy from the worst of this crisis."
Obama said economists agree that without the $787 billion stimulus, the Great Recession would have been far worse.
He summarized the stimulus in three parts;
The first third provided $120 billion in tax cuts for 95 percent of the American people and small businesses.
The second third extended unemployment and retraining benefits for millions of Americans who had lost their jobs in the recession and provided relief for state and local governments to keep vital employees such as police, firefighters and teachers on the job.
The final third is coming in the form of investments in the company's future, including clean energy, transportation infrastructure and modern manufacturing.
Obama recently announced investments to create high-speed rail in several states, including Wisconsin, which will receive $823 million to build a new high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison and make improvements to the Amtrak line connecting Milwaukee to Chicago.
Obama noted that Japan, China and Europe have invested heavily in high-speed rail. China has invested in more than 42 high-speed rail lines.
"We're playing catch-up, and we shouldn't be," said Obama, adding that the projects will put hundreds of thousands of Americans to work.
Obama also noted stimulus investments in hybrid automobile battery technologies. Glendale-based Johnson Controls Inc. received a $299 million stimulus grant to develop the next generation of batteries. The research for the project will be done in Wisconsin.
Before the stimulus was signed into law, 98 percent of the production of hybrid batteries was being done in Asian countries, Obama said. By next year, United States companies will have the capacity to reach 20 percent of the market, and the U.S. share could grow to 40 percent by year 2015, Obama said.
Finally, Obama urged Congress to approve his new jobs bill to give small businesses a $5,000 tax credit for each new job they create.
Obama notes achievements on anniversary of stimulus
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