Obama: US economy to recover early next year

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U.S. President Barack Obama Monday night urged the Congress to "act without delay" to resolve their differences and approve his massive stimulus package in the coming week.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during his first news conference as president in the East Room of the White House in Washington Feb. 9, 2009. [Xinhua/Zhang Yan]

In the first prime-time news conference of his presidency, Obama said the dire state of the American economy led him to believe "we need to put this recovery plan in motion as soon as possible."

"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," he said.

Obama said it is only government that can "break the vicious cycle," where lost jobs lead to people spending less money, which leads to even more layoffs.

"And breaking that cycle is exactly what the plan that's moving through Congress is designed to do," he said.

Hours ago, the U.S. Senate agreed via a key procedural vote to put the 827 billion dollars massive economic stimulus plan to the final vote scheduled for Tuesday.

Even after the package was approved by the Senate, lawmakers had to resolve differences between the Senate bill and an 819 billion version of the legislation approved last week by the House.

Once a final bill is crafted and passed by both chambers, the measure would be sent to Obama to sign into law. Obama has set a Feb.16 deadline for the package.

Obama has repeatedly urged the Congress to act swiftly.

"I want to thank the members of Congress who've worked so hard to move this plan forward, but I also want to urge all members of Congress to act without delay in the coming week to resolve their differences and pass this plan," said the president at Monday's press conference.

"We find ourselves in a rare moment where the citizens of our country and all countries are watching and waiting for us to lead," he said.

"It's a responsibility that this generation did not ask for, but one that we must accept for the future of our children and our grandchildren," he added.

Obama, who obviously tried to seek the public support through the press conference, vowed that he will "do whatever" to save the economy.

"The plan's not perfect. No plan is," he stated. "I can't tell you for sure that everything in this plan will work exactly as we hoped, but I can tell you with complete confidence that a failure to act will only deepen this crisis, as well as the pain felt by millions of Americans."

He noted that his administration, which he said inherited a deficit of over 1 trillion dollars and "the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression," should pay much attention to greater deficits.

"Those are deficits that could turn a crisis into a catastrophe, and I refuse to let that happen," said Obama. "As long as I hold this office, I will do whatever it takes to put this economy back on track and put this country back to work."

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2009)