We echoed the dreams and hopes of Main Street America, the need to have a partner in Washington. That was only seven months ago!

Regrettably, our worst fears have been realized. Main Street's economic crisis continues to worsen. The unemployment rate reached 7.2 percent in December and is climbing. Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the nation has lost 3.6 million jobs. Over 11 million American workers are now unemployed, and another 1.9 million are "marginally attached" to the labor force.

As the government closest to the people, we are confronted daily by worried and anxious residents. Not a day goes by that I am not asked: What will this economy do to my job, my long-term savings, my home, and my pension fund?

I hear from parents who are getting laid off, families who are struggling to pay bills. I am confronted by grandparents struggling with retirement, and young people unable to secure financial aid now forced to forgo college. Small business owners forced to close their doors. Family businesses, several generations old, shutting down through no fault of their own.

Severe federal and state cuts to education, housing, health, public safety, youth programs, economic development, job training, arts, and infrastructure have resulted in a loss of critical services on Main Street. We are in real danger of failing to leave our children a better world than the one our parents left us.

This is where our role as mayors is more important today than perhaps at any time in American history. All of us in this room, the cities we represent, drive the national economy. 85 percent of the American people live in metro areas.

We account for 86 percent of all jobs, and 90 percent of wage income and gross domestic product. As President-elect Obama said at our meeting in June, cities are not the problem, cities are the solution.

We know how to generate wealth, prosperity, and opportunity. We know how to create sustainable economies. We do it every day by investing in our people, our environment, our businesses and our infrastructure. The surest way to reverse this systemic, long-term economic crisis is to invest in the American people, by investing in our cities.

76 years ago, Mayors Curley, La Guardia and Murphy formed our organization to help President Roosevelt end the great depression by putting Americans back to work. The new deal funded infrastructure, art and cultural projects that benefit citizens across America up to this very day. Three years ago, our beloved former president, Mike Guido, Immediate Past President Doug Palmer and I made a commitment.

With a presidential election within three years, we agreed to put aside our personal priorities and our voter registration cards, as only mayors can do.

Instead, we embarked on a three-year mission to develop a long-term plan to restore America's greatness.

And with your help, we announced our 10-Point Plan, strong cities, strong families for a strong America.

Building on our 10-Point Plan, we held five national policy forums this fall. The forums helped create a national agenda for the first 100 days of the new administration.

I want to thank the host mayors and all of the mayors who participated in these important forums on crime and public safety, infrastructure, poverty, environment and energy, and arts and tourism.

But as our economy continued its downward spiral, we focused our efforts on our "MainStreet Economic Recovery Plan" to create jobs and rebuild our nation's crumbling infrastructure.

The ten program areas in our main street economic recovery plan were built from the recommendation of our forums and our 10-Point Plan.

Our plan uses existing funding programs that can inject money into our economy quickly, programs like the community development block grant, the energy block grant, and the surface transportation program.

We continue our fight for direct funding to cities for fear that it not get stuck in state politics and bureaucracies. We have testified before Congress, and have released three "Ready to Go" reports on jobs and infrastructure projects.

Today, we are releasing our fourth report that shows that 779 cities are ready to create 1.6 million jobs.

Last month, we met with Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Reid and other Congressional leaders. We met with members of the transition team for the Obama administration to continue our advocacy of direct local funding.

Also last month, our Vice President Mayor Nickels led a meeting in Chicago with President-elect Obama's Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett and Intergovernmental Affairs Director Cecilia Muñoz - both of whom are here with us this morning.

President-elect Obama joined the mayors and urged us to leverage every dollar possible to create jobs and sustainable projects that benefit our communities for generations to come.

Last week, President-elect Obama invited us to join him at George Mason University as he outlined the principles of his economic recovery plan.

Just yesterday, Mayor Mufi Hannemann arranged for us to meet with Chairman Inouye of the Senate Appropriations Committee. And we had an opportunity to meet with Larry Summers, Director of the President-elect's National Economic Council.

In all of these meetings, we have continued to stress the need for direct local funding under the economic recovery plan, and our efforts have paid off.

On your table is our analysis of the bill released Thursday by Speaker Pelosi and Congressional leadership. This bill follows the goals outlined by President-elect Obama and authorizes $825 billion in spending to get our economy moving again.

This package is the first crucial step in a concerted effort to save and create three to four million jobs, jump-start our economy and begin the process of transforming our nation for the 21st century. It proposes a $275 billion tax package and $550 billion in carefully targeted priority investments with unprecedented accountability measures built in.

I am proud to report that these investments reflect the priorities of our ten point plan, the recommendations of our national forums and all 10 program areas contained in our main street economic recovery plan. And, as such, reflect an investment of $358 billion in our cities and communities.

Important conference tax policies have also been proposed, including energy tax incentives, municipal bonding capacity and the expansion of the earned income and child tax credits. It is also important to note that the new energy block grant, which we helped create less than two years ago, will be funded at $3.5 billion.

Make no mistake this program will allow us to rebuild our infrastructure, invest in sustainable technology, reduce carbon emissions and work to eliminate our dependency on foreign oil.

This is a defining moment for all of us and for our country. We have found a partner in Washington.

And just as our predecessors found a friend in their president seven decades ago, so too, do we now have an incoming president who understands our role, supports our mission, believes in cities, and who is ready to answer our call for a true partnership with America's mayors.

History shows that when we work together, we can accomplish great things. And so I ask of all you today, let us commit to secure passage of the president elect's economic recovery plan. Let us commit to deliver on our projects with all deliberate speed, transparency and accountability. Let us commit to the success of our new President. If he succeeds, we will succeed; if we succeed, he will succeed.

But, most importantly, if we stand together, if we both succeed, it is the American people, the people we all serve, who will prosper.

Thank you.