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President Obama urged Congress "to act without delay" on his economic stimulus plan

10 February 2009 08:22 (UTC +04:00)

Washington â€“APA. President Obama appeared before a national audience Monday night to make the case for his economic stimulus plan, saying this is not your "run-of-the-mill recession."
President Obama urged Congress "to act without delay" on his economic stimulus plan.
The president stressed the urgency of passing the roughly $838 billion measure, which his administration and Democratic leaders say will help pull the U.S. economy out of its current skid.
"My bottom line is to make sure that we are saving or creating 4 million jobs, we are making sure that the financial system is working again, that homeowners are getting some relief," he said in his first prime time news conference.
Obama’s remarks came the day before the Senate votes on its version of the stimulus bill. The House passed its version of the stimulus bill nearly two weeks ago -- without a single Republican vote. If the measure passes the Senate, the two chambers will have to reconcile the differences between the two bills. See what’s in the bills Â»
Obama urged Congress "to act without delay," saying that only the federal government can break the "vicious cycle" gripping the U.S. economy.
"It is absolutely true that we cannot depend on government alone to create jobs or economic growth. That is and must be the role of the private sector," he said.
"But at this particular moment, with the private sector so weakened by this recession, the federal government is the only entity left with the resources to jolt our economy back to life."
Obama said the plan was "not perfect," but would create up to 4 million new jobs.