Obama: Job losses are people, not stats

ELKHART, Ind., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Americans are doing their part to help extract the country from its recession, now it's time for Congress to do the same, President Obama said Monday.

"I know you all are doing your part out here and I think it's about time the government did its part too," Obama told a packed crowd at Concord Community High School in Elkhart, Ind. "That's what the recovery plan before Congress is about, and that is why I hope Congress passes it as soon as humanly possible, so we can get to work creating jobs, helping families and turning our economy around."

Obama reiterated key themes he made during recent days to pressure Congress to pass an economic stimulus package that totals more than $800 billion.

"(We) tend to take the measure of the economic crisis we face in numbers and statistics," Obama said. citing a report indicating nearly 600,000 jobs were lost in January. "We're talking about people in the audience today. ... This is the true measure of the economic crisis."

Elkhart has an unemployment rate topping 15 percent, about double that of the national average.

Recovery won't be fast or easy, Obama said. But if something isn't done, he said, economists indicate "our nation will sink into a crisis that, at some point, we may be unable to reverse."

The stimulus plan is "the gift that keeps on giving" because it will create jobs now and create infrastructure for jobs in the future, Obama said.

"It's not perfect," the president said. "It is the right size. It is the right scope. It has the right priorities to create jobs that will jump-start our economy and transform it for the 21st century."