Viddler

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Before I begin, I just want to thank my outstanding Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, who's with us today. And I want to thank the folks at Cherry Hill Construction for having me here today. We just took a look at this construction site and I had a chance to talk to all the outstanding men and women who are working here.

Talking with them was a reminder of just how hard they work every single day, just how hard they fight on behalf of their families, and just how hard these times have been for working men and women like them.

Hardworking Americans have borne the brunt of this recession. They've been laid off in historic numbers; they've seen their hours trimmed and their wages cut; they've lived in fear of being the next ones to be let go. And that's not right.

Middle class Americans are the ones who built this country, made it great, and keep it going each and every day. And they deserve leaders in Washington who are willing to work as hard as they work; who are willing to fight for their futures as hard as they fight for their families.

We need to all live up to our responsibilities as faithfully as these workers here are living up to theirs. And that's why our goal is not just to rebound from this recession, but to start building an economy that works for all Americans; where everyone who's looking for work can find a job -- and not just a temporary job, but a permanent job that lasts from season to season; where our stock market isn't only rising again but our businesses are hiring again. That's our goal.

And I know that we have a lot of work to do to meet that goal. But I also know that thanks to the governor here in Virginia, Tim Kaine, thanks to two outstanding senators, Mark Warner and Jim Webb, and a great congressman, Congressmen Jim Moran and as well as Congressman Gerry Connolly, and thanks to the work of Ray here and the rest of my administration, we've made some meaningful