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The U.S. president, Barack Obama, said Saturday he hoped to turn into law within a month of his economic stimulus plan by 825,000 million dollars, hoping that the country will emerge from the current crisis more prosperous than before.

"I am pleased to say that both parties of Congress are already working on this plan, and hopes to become law in less than a month," Obama said in his weekly radio message first as president.


The president warned that the economic problems are not solved in a short period, but was confident that strong action will help put the country back on track. "If we act as citizens and not as partisan and began to work again to rebuild the country, I hope that out of this difficult situation even stronger and more prosperous than before," said the president.

Obama's comments took place at a time when applications for unemployment benefits in the United States reached the highest levels of the past 26 years and housing construction is the lowest in the last half century.


The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended January 17 rose to 589,000, the highest figure since November 1982. Last year in the United States lost 2.6 million jobs, bringing the unemployment rate to 7.2%, the highest in the past 16 years.

Also, the number of homes under construction fell by 15.5% between November and December 2008, according to the Department of Commerce, to a figure of 550,000 annualized units.


Obama warned that if nothing was done, the unemployment rate could reach double digits, and the U.S. economy would then stop producing one trillion (trillion) dollars less. He noted, however, that its recovery plan, which aims to increase production and create three to four million jobs, would give new life to an economy in free fall. The president said that it was not "a short-term program to boost employment," but "one that will invest in our most important priorities, such as energy and education, health insurance and new infrastructure needed to stay strong and competitive the twenty-first century. "

The project, called "Plan for the Recovery and Reinvestment States' plans to double in the next three years to energy production from alternative sources in the U.S., such as wind, solar and biofuels. Obama also proposed computerizing medical records across the country in five years, renovate and upgrade 10,000 schools and rebuild the country's infrastructure. Another goal of the plan is to give Internet access to millions of Americans who lack it.


The package of incentives is 825,000 million dollars to the Congress and the president met Friday with leaders from both parties to facilitate approval. Republicans said they were concerned about the amount of the package, arguing that seriously aggravate the budget deficit, which the Congressional Budget Office puts at 1.1 billion dollars in fiscal year 2009.

Republicans are promoting their own recovery plan, which aims to reduce individual tax rates, reduce taxes for small businesses and prohibit any increase in taxes, but do not have the necessary votes in either chamber of Congress Obama block the initiative.


In his address he emphasized that Obama is not designed "only to throw money to solve our problems." He promised that any decision on charges would be made public and that his administration would be totally responsible. "We will make an unprecedented effort to eliminate waste, inefficiency and wasteful spending in our government, and every American will know how and dollars are spent taxpayers www.recovery.gov entering the site," he added.