President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Tuesday at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, a venue selected for its solar installation and its connection to the legislation's clean energy provisions.
The package targets the creation or preservation of 3.5 million jobs as the country contends with a 7.6 percent unemployment rate, its highest in 16 years. Administration officials had warned the figure could reach double digits without congressional action to address what they described as the worst economic conditions in 80 years.
About a third of the total, roughly $286 billion, is directed at tax cuts to support consumer spending. A further $120 billion goes to infrastructure: road construction, power grid improvements, and renewable energy projects.
The bill cleared Congress with unanimous House Republican opposition and support from only a handful of Senate Republicans. House Minority Leader John Boehner called it a missed opportunity that would harm middle-class families and do little to create jobs.
Obama's western trip continues Wednesday in Arizona, where he plans to announce a response to the mortgage foreclosure crisis. General Motors and Chrysler also faced a Tuesday deadline to deliver restructuring plans to the Treasury, a condition of their $17.4 billion taxpayer-funded bailout.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in February 2009, in its own words.