Obama pushes stimulus plan, meets economic advisers

President Barack Obama pledged yesterday to use a proposed $825 billion economic recovery package to create jobs, improve health care and expand renewable energy.

The new president, who took office on Tuesday with the United States in its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, met with his economic advisers yesterday after several days of lobbying lawmakers for quick passage of the stimulus package.

Obama's economic team is also working on a plan for the remaining half of a $700 billion bailout that Congress approved last year to help US financial firms. The plan is expected to help distressed banks as well as providing aid for people who face losing their homes. The Washington Post said yesterday the plan could go to Congress this week.

The White House did not immediately release details of what was discussed at the economic team meeting or who attended. Obama used his first weekly internet and radio address as president to press the case for quick passage of the plan.

Saying more people filed for unemployment this week than at any time in the past 26 years, Obama warned joblessness could hit double digits and the economy could fall $1 trillion short of its full capacity if nothing was done.

"If we do not act boldly and swiftly, a bad situation could become dramatically worse," he said. Obama hopes to sign an economic recovery plan into law within a month.

The White House posted a four-page report outlining the impact of the stimulus plan on its website, www.whitehouse.gov, yesterday morning. Aides said the report began to put "meat on the bones" of Obama's previously stated goals.

Obama said the economic recovery plan would save or create three to four million jobs while investing in clean energy development, education and improving health care efficiency.

He said he intended to double the US capacity to generate energy from renewable sources like wind, solar and biofuels, and also discussed building a new electricity grid with 4,828 km of transmission lines.

"We'll save taxpayers $2 billion a year by making 75 per cent of federal buildings more energy efficient, and save the average working family $350 on their energy bills by weatherising 2.5 million homes," Obama said.

The plan also includes a Clean Energy Financing Initiative with loan guarantees and other financing mechanisms that aim to encourage $100 billion in clean energy financing in three years, an aide said.

The president said the economic recovery programme included funds to computerise the nation's health records in five years, which he said would save billions of dollars in health care costs and countless lives.

The recovery programme includes what one aide said was "the single largest investment in preventive health care in our nation's history" to ensure people receive immunisations and get help to stop smoking and reduce obesity. Officials did not place a dollar figure on the programme.

Obama said the plan included financing to modernise or renovate 10,000 schools and provide grants for four million university students.

Funds would also be used to repair US roadways and expand the country's mass transit systems, to provide better security at 90 major US ports and to build more effective communications networks for police and other safety officials.

"I know that some are sceptical about the size and scale of this recovery plan," Obama said. To ensure accountability and transparency, the administration will post details of the spending programmes on a website called recovery.gov.