President Obama urged Congress to pass the economic stimulus package before the end of the holiday weekend so he could sign it into law in an effort to help the nation emerge from a recession.

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate were set to pass the bill after announcing earlier this week they had reached an agreement. President Obama said the job would generate or preserve 3.5 million jobs.

The package contains $507 billion in spending and $282 billion in tax cuts, according to Reuters.

When they finally pass our plan, I believe it will be a major step forward on our path to economic recovery, Obama told people gathered at a Caterpillar Inc plant. The company has recently announced more than 20,000 job cuts as the economy slows. Caterpillar would rehire some of the people have been recently laid off at the company, Obama said, quoting the company's chief executive.

The hope is, with the stimulus, that we actually stop losing jobs by the end of this year, said Josh Bivens, of the Economic Policy Institute, according to Reuters.

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