These are extraordinarily challenging times, but this administration has taken extraordinary actions. In recent weeks we have seen important signs of improvement in consumer and business confidence as well as in the lending and housing markets. And yet, as our nation confronts the most severe financial crisis in generations, for millions of Americans the economic setbacks continue. Jobs have been lost, retirement savings have been harmed and the bills have kept coming.

Upon taking office, we inherited an economy with impaired credit markets, falling home prices and a significant erosion in confidence. Over the past three months, we have responded by taking unprecedented steps to not just spur economic recovery and long-term stability, but more immediately, to provide help to those who need it.

In February, we passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is giving a tax cut to 95 percent of American workers, creating or saving 3.5 million jobs, providing nearly 4 million students with a new higher education tax cut and helping 1.4 million Americans purchase their first home by providing $6.5 billion in tax credits.

A critical piece of that Recovery Act is a one-time payment to more than 54 million federal benefit recipients. Starting this month, Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement and Veteran Affairs benefit recipients will get a $250 payment either by check or in many cases through direct deposit. More than $13 billion will be injected into our economy, and, importantly, you’ll get some extra money to help deal with these difficult times.

We are doing this as efficiently as possible, getting more than half of the 44 million Social Security benefit recipients their payments in the first week alone. With nearly 80 percent of these payments being made electronically, delivery is more secure and we are also saving taxpayers an estimated $13 million in paper and postage costs.

In proclaiming May as Older Americans Month, a tradition first established in 1963, President Obama recognized your significant contributions to our nation’s history and pledged to strengthen health care, retirement, community involvement and other programs vital to your interests. That includes ensuring that Social Security is always there to provide American seniors with essential support.

Every day we are working to get our economy back on track and get Americans back to work. While the process of repair will not happen overnight, our policies are showing progress. Families are avoiding foreclosure, homeowners are refinancing at historically low rates, and infrastructure projects are breaking ground and creating new jobs. We have worked to restore confidence in the banking system so that banks can increase lending to credit-worthy borrowers so that businesses can grow and families can thrive.

These are all important steps, but they are not enough. We must also prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again by bringing our 20th-century financial regulatory system into the 21st century so that responsible consumers and investors are better protected.

In 1958 Ethel Percy Andrus, a retired high school principal, founded AARP to create positive social change. More than half a century later, her idea has become a membership of 40 million Americans, each committed, in part, to ensuring we leave this country better than we found it.

The administration shares that commitment. We see this as a moment of historic opportunity to lay the foundation for long-term financial stability. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

Timothy Geithner is the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.