Good afternoon. Before we begin, I'd like to say a few words about the necessary steps taken today to help avoid a collapse of our auto industry.
It would have had devastating consequences for our economy and our workers. With the short-term assistance provided by this package, the auto companies must bring all their stakeholders together, including labor, dealers, creditors and suppliers, to make the hard choices necessary to achieve long-term viability. The auto companies must not squander this chance to reform bad management practices, and begin the long-term restructuring that is absolutely necessary to save this critical industry and the millions of American jobs that depend on it, while also creating the fuel-efficient cars of tomorrow.
Whenever I've been asked how I measure the strength of the American economy, my answer is simple: jobs and wages. I know we will be headed in the right direction again when we are creating jobs instead of losing them, and when Americans are gaining ground in terms of their incomes instead of treading water or falling behind.
In recent weeks, I've announced members of my economic team who will help us make progress in these areas. Today, I'm announcing several other appointees who will play an integral role in our efforts to turn our economy around: Congresswoman Hilda Solis as secretary of Labor, former Congressman Ray LaHood as secretary of Transportation, Karen Mills as administrator of the Small Business Administration, and Mayor Ron Kirk as United States Trade Representative. Together with the appointees I've already announced, these leaders will help craft a 21st-century economic recovery plan with the goal of creating two-and- a-half million new jobs and strengthening our economy for the future.
If jobs and incomes are our yardstick, then the success of the American worker is key to the success of the American economy. For the past eight years, the Department of Labor has not lived up to its role either as an advocate for hardworking families or as an arbiter of fairness in relations between labor and management.
That will change when Hilda Solis is secretary of Labor. Under her leadership, I am confident that the Department of Labor will once again stand up for working families. I'm confident about that because Hilda has always been an advocate for everyday people. When she received an award several years ago, she said, "fighting for what is just is not always popular, but it is necessary," and that's exactly what she's done throughout her career, blazing new trails every step of the way.
Whether it's creating green jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced, or expanding access to affordable health care, or raising the minimum wage in California, Hilda has been a champion of our middle class. And I know that Hilda will show the same kind of leadership and vision as secretary of Labor that she's showed in California and on the Education and Labor Committee by protecting workers' rights, from organizing to collective bargaining, from keeping our workplaces safe to making our unions strong.
Standing up for our workers means putting them back to work and fueling economic growth. Our economy boomed in the 20th century when President Eisenhower remade the American landscape by building the interstate highway system. Now we need to remake our transportation system for the 21st century. Doing so will not only help meet our energy challenges by building more efficient cars, buses and subways or making Americans safer by rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, it will create millions of new jobs in the process.
Few understand our infrastructure challenge better than the outstanding public servant that I'm asking to lead the Department of Transportation, Ray LaHood. As congressman from Illinois, Ray served six years on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, leading efforts to modernize our aviation system by renewing our aging airports and ensuring that air traffic controllers were using cutting- edge technology.
Throughout his career, Ray has fought to improve mass transit and invest in our highways. But he has not only helped rebuild our landscape, he's helped beautify it by creating opportunities for bikers and runners to enjoy our great outdoors.
When I began this appointment process, I said I was committed to finding the best person for the job, regardless of party. Ray's appointment reflects that bipartisan spirit, a spirit we need to reclaim in this country to make progress for the American people and a spirit that Ray has embodied in all of his years in public service.