This morning, we’ve learned that our economy created 900,000 jobs in March. Means the first two months of our administration has seen more new jobs created than the first two months in any administration in history. But we still have a long way to go to get our economy back on track after the worst economic and job crisis in nearly a century. But my message to the American people is this: Help is here. But as we get the economy back on its feet, we need to do the hard work of building back better for good, for — not just for a while — but for good. Not just the short term, but for good. That’s why I proposed the American Jobs Plan on Wednesday in Pittsburgh. An eight-year program that invests in our roads, our bridges, broadband, airports, ports and fixing our water systems. It’s going to repair our V.A. hospitals across the country, many of them are more than 50 years old, and are in real need of help. It will invest in research and development to outcompete China and the rest of the world. Independent analysis shows that if we pass this plan, the economy will create 19 million jobs — good jobs, blue-collar jobs, jobs that pay well. Inaction is not an option. The American people have been promised actionable infrastructure for decades. They’ve been promised that after our leaders would take our country and make it more competitive, for decades. I’ve made my plan to address this long overdue need. And it’s clear: Polls already show strong support for infrastructure investment from the American people, whether they’re Democrats, Republicans or independents. Congress should debate my plan. Change it and offer alternatives if they think that’s what they have to do. But Congress should act.
