President Obama Signs Economic Recovery Legislation

President Obama just signed into law the economic recovery plan, the biggest and boldest investment in America’s economy we’ve seen in 40 years.

Seriously, this is a big deal. Our economy is in freefall – we lost 3.6 million jobs in the past year – and a major fix is needed, now.

President Obama’s plan will inject billions of dollars into the economy, a move leading economists say is desperately needed to create jobs and get people spending again. Governors – Democrats and Republicans alike – have made it clear that the plan will help stop worst-case scenario job losses and budget cuts in their states.

What does this plan mean for you? Whether you’re in the workforce, in school, or both, you, your friends, and your family probably will be impacted by it. Here’s some of what the plan will do:

• Create or save 3.5 million jobs, from teachers and electricians to construction workers and police officers.
  
  
• Help 7 million students afford college by upping the maximum Pell Grant by $500, to $5350, and providing a $2,500 tax credit for college tuition.
  
  
• Direct $53.6 billion to the states to prevent cutbacks and layoffs in local school districts, and to modernize or repair public schools and higher education institutions.
  
  
• Build or fix highways and bridges, improve mass transit and high-speed rail, invest in clean energy and green jobs, and bring Internet to underserved communities.
  
  
• Help recently unemployed workers pay for health care (a.k.a. COBRA) and make ends meet until they can get new jobs.


• Cut taxes for 95% of American workers, $400 if you’re single, $800 if you’re a couple.

That’s just some of it. Check out more details at Recovery.gov, the White House’s new site about the plan and what’s happening with it. And if you want a cool visual on how it will work, check out this video from our friends at the Center for American Progress.

Of course, the plan isn’t perfect - compromises were made, and it’s only one of several steps needed on our road to recovery.

But it’s a bold, important first step, and you helped make it happen: nearly 10,000 of you contacted Congress asking them to pass the strongest bill possible, and your involvement helped restore funding to save teachers’ jobs, create green jobs, invest in higher education, and provide health care help. Nice work.

Thanks for your action on this – we’ll keep you in the loop on how the plan rolls out throughout the year.