2. Concentrating on core issues, emphasizing key points, and achieving positive results in promoting the implementation of the major decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee Faced with the severe impact of the global financial crisis, the Central Committee sized up the situation and responded calmly by adopting a proactive fiscal policy and a moderately easy monetary policy, and fully implementing and constantly enriching and improving the package plan and policies and measures for responding to the impact of the crisis. The Standing Committee concentrated on core issues, emphasized key points, and made promoting the implementation of the major decisions and arrangements of the Central Committee the top priority of NPC oversight work. We exercised our oversight functions and powers in accordance with the law, applied a variety of oversight methods, and supervised and supported the State Council, Supreme People's Court, and Supreme People's Procuratorate in carrying out their work on the basis of the targets and tasks set forth in their work reports, in order to ensure that the year's tasks for economic and social development were accomplished successfully. 1) We strengthened oversight of economic work. Maintaining steady and rapid economic development was the foremost task in our economic work last year. It was especially important to improve the NPC's oversight of economic work due to the special circumstances under which our economic development encountered acute difficulties. At each meeting of the Standing Committee last year, we heard and deliberated reports of the State Council on its work in this area, and the Standing Committee and special committees carried out investigations and studies closely related to this issue. Given that the central government's investment plan was not only on a large scale and wide-ranging, but the time for implementing it was tight and the work load heavy, in order to ensure its effective implementation the Standing Committee, on the basis of advice from NPC deputies, chose four topics and launched three- month investigations and studies on projects to improve people's wellbeing such as low-income housing, education, and health; technological upgrading; innovations in science and technology; and water conservancy. The reports on these investigations and studies were heard and deliberated together with the related work report of the State Council at the Standing Committee meeting held in October. Investigation groups of the Standing Committee fully affirmed the results achieved by all localities and departments in conscientiously implementing the central government's investment plan. At the same time, to counter outstanding problems, such as the preparatory work of some projects not being done well, supporting funds not being fully available, local governments being saddled with risky debts, progress being uneven, and projects being launched indiscriminately, we promptly discussed these problems with local governments and relevant departments of the State Council by means of forums and exchanges, and submitted preliminary investigative reports to the State Council to help relevant authorities improve their work, policies, and measures. We invited leading comrades of relevant departments of the State Council to attend the Standing Committee meeting in October to hear our comments and suggestions personally. During the meeting, members of the Standing Committee stated that to use investment to stimulate economic growth, we must stay firmly rooted in the present while looking ahead to the future, plan scientifically, and not try to do more than we are capable of; strictly maintain the orientation of investment and optimize the investment structure; and ensure local governments make supporting funds available, standardize management procedures, and strengthen supervision over investment to prevent redundant construction and make sure funds are used where they are most needed. After the meeting, we collated the comments and suggestions of Standing Committee members and other comrades attending the meeting as observers, and submitted them together with the investigative reports to the State Council to study and deal with them. We required that the State Council submit a written report to the Standing Committee on how it dealt with them by the end of this April. It must be stressed here that we conducted investigations and studies on the special topics and deliberated the related work report of the State Council during the implementation of the central government's investment plan, and that it was a useful attempt by the Standing Committee to increase the intensity and raise the level of its oversight work. It not only made the NPC's oversight work expeditious, but also enriched its methods of oversight work. In future, we will further review our experiences and continually improve. (more) 