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Stimulus Is 'Major Milestone On Our Road To Recovery'

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The Associated Press

Published: February 15, 2009

WASHINGTON - Savoring his first big victory in Congress, President Barack Obama on Saturday celebrated the newly passed $787 billion economic stimulus bill as a "major milestone on our road to recovery."

Speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said, "I will sign this legislation into law shortly, and we'll begin making the immediate investments necessary to put people back to work doing the work America needs done."

At the same time, he cautioned, "This historic step won't be the end of what we do to turn our economy around, but rather the beginning. The problems that led us into this crisis are deep and widespread, and our response must be equal to the task."

President Barack Obama is going with the best deal he could get. The stimulus bill is a landmark legislative achievement for a new president who inherited economic spoilage along with the spoils of power. Now the nation anxiously waits to see if it works.

Undermining federal balance sheets that were already deeply in the red, Obama and Congress settled on a plan that aims to spend more on the crisis at hand than the government has spent waging the Iraq war for six years.

The bill passed Congress on Friday on votes split mostly along party lines, allowing Democratic leaders to deliver on their promise of clearing the legislation by mid-February.

The success of the stimulus package may be measured less by visible achievements than by what does not happen - the home that is not foreclosed, the family that doesn't slip into poverty, the disease that does not go undiagnosed.

"The one thing we'll never know is what would have happened if we didn't do it," said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight.

The stimulus wasn't just about throwing cash at the economy, though.

"There are seeds in this bill for long-term change," says Princeton historian Julian Zelizer. "There are things that can develop out of the research that can change our lives."

The Associated Press

WHAT'S NEXT

MONDAY: President Obama is expected to fly back to Washington. This is the earliest he could sign the economic stimulus package into law.

TUESDAY: Obama will be in Denver on Tuesday to talk about his economic agenda, which aides say is a more likely date for the stimulus package to become law.

WEDNESDAY: Obama will go to Phoenix on Wednesday to present a plan to fight foreclosures.

A wire report

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