Colorado: Biden

Here’s the text of President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress on Tuesday night, as prepared for delivery. Read the responses to the speech from Colorado’s congressional delegation here. Follow the live Twitter discussion here.

Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of the United States:

I’ve come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here.

I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others. And rightly so.

The president arrives in Denver today to whip the economy into shape. So is Colorado the "before" picture, or the "after" picture?

President Barack Obama will sign the $787 billion stimulus package at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science at a time when Colorado represents a little of both.

Home prices have shrunk and unemployment bumped up; Colorado-based companies have seen their stock prices plummet, and declining sales-tax revenues plague local governments. Conversation on the street or in the typical coffeehouse tends to turn to joblessness, fears of salary cuts, investment losses and health care costs.

But Obama will make his grand national gesture in a state where two of his pet industries of the future are thriving

Obama in Denver

on new ideas and ambition, and which are ready to spend money as soon as he caps his pen.

President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday a $787 billion economic stimulus package, a historic, multifaceted rescue plan aimed at creating millions of jobs, sparking consumer spending and stopping the country from sliding into what he has called an economic "catastrophe."

Characterizing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as the "most sweeping economic recovery package in our history," Obama said the bill's mix of tax cuts, infrastructure projects, energy and education investments, and aid to the unemployed and poor would create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years, including roughly 60,000 in Colorado.

"We have begun the essential work of keeping the American dream alive in our time," Obama said just

Obama in Denver

before signing the bill at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science in front of about 250 people.

According to a report in The Hill, the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Robert Menedez, D-N.J., said he assumes his organization will back Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., in his bid to retain former Sen. Ken Salazar’s seat in 2010.

From the article: “No Democratic incumbents were expected to leave their seats, but Menendez’s promise only means there won’t be open seats on top of the ones left by four members of the new administration — (Barack) Obama, Vice President (Joe) Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

“In those seats, three of the four appointees could run for election, and all three face potential primary challenges.