It was Barack Obama’s first major speech since he won the White House.
The president-elect setting out to warn and rally Americans whose economy is spiraling down.
"I don't believe it's too late to change course, but it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible...in short, a bad situation could become dramatically worse," said Obama.
Obama laid out his American recovery and reinvestment plan:
- A thousand dollar tax cut for 95% of families.
- New moves to halt the mortgage meltdown and regulate Wall Street.
- Jobs programs to insulate homes, and federal buildings, repair bridges and roads.
- Switch to solar and wind power and upgrade our power grid.
- More computers for schools, more broadband lines.
- Digitize medical records and fight disease.
Big programs! Laid out online for everyone to follow.
The estimated cost: one trillion dollars
"I know the scale of this plan is unprecedented, but so is the severity of our situation," said Obama.
House speaker Pelosi says democrats, and the nation, agree with Obama.
"His economic recovery package, almost sight unseen, is supported by 79% of the American people," said Pelosi.
Republicans want a month of debate. "Yes, our economy needs help, but in the end how much debt are we gonna pile on future generations?" asked republican Congressman John Boehner of Ohio.
Some democrats question Obama cutting taxes on business. He says let's work weekends to work it out. "For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs," said Obama.
But so far there's no finger-pointing as Obama takes his huge economic plan public.
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