been lost as a consequence of this recession. an endepthic that demands our relentless and sustained response. now, last month the house passed a new jobs bill. the senate, as we speak, is hard at work developing its own job creation package. creating good, sustainable jobs is the single-most important thing we can do to rebuild the middle class, and i won't rest until we're doing just that. but we also need to reverse the overall erosion in middle class security. so that when this economy does come back, working americans are free to pursue their dreams again. there are a variety of immediate steps we can take to do just that. steps we're poised to begin taking in the budget that i'll put forward next week. joe already spoke about some of these proposals in detail. proposals that make it a bit easier for families to get by,