There is no greater testament to the grit and resilience of the American people than the extraor-dinary progress we have made together over the last year.  

America entered 2021 in the midst of a devastating health crisis, on the heels of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  We ended 2021 having created over 6.5 million new jobs, the most our Nation has ever recorded in a single year.  Our economy grew at a rate of 5.7 percent, the stron-gest growth in nearly 40 years.  As of February, the unemployment rate has fallen from 6.4 percent when I took office to 3.8 percent—the fastest decline in recorded history.  We are bringing everyone along, and leaving no one behind; child poverty is projected to reach the lowest level ever recorded, while long-term unemployment, youth unemployment, and Black and Hispanic unemployment have all dropped at record rates.  Though family budgets are still tight, millions more Americans are earn-ing paychecks today—and families have more money in their pockets than they did a year ago. 

This progress was no accident.  It was a direct result of the new economic vision for America I ran on—to build our economy from the bottom up and the middle out.

That vision was reflected in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which lifted our Nation out of crisis; fueled our efforts to vaccinate America and combat the COVID-19 pandemic globally; enabled small businesses and State and local governments to hire, rehire, and retain workers; and delivered immediate economic relief to tens of millions of Americans—to put food on their tables, keep a roof over their heads, enable them to work by keeping schools and child care providers open, and main-tain their dignity in the face of the pandemic.