Obama: ‘We cannot delay’ stimulus

President-elect Obama said Monday that the government has
“to act boldly and swiftly” to get the economy going again, hinting in his
remarks that any congressional delay will make things worse.

Obama, speaking to reporters after a meeting with his
economic team at the Washington transition headquarters, again expressed the
kind of urgency he stressed in meetings with congressional leaders throughout
the day.

{mosads}“We have to act, and we have to act now,” Obama said. “We
have to act boldly and swiftly. We cannot delay.”

The president-elect rejected suggestions that including
massive tax cuts in the stimulus package is a politically motivated move aimed
to get Republicans to support the measure.

“The notion [that] wanting to include relief for working
families in this plan is somehow a political ploy, when this was the
centerpiece of my economic plan, for the last two years, doesn’t make too much
sense,” he told reporters.

Calling the dire economic situation “an American
problem,” Obama said he will take his rescue and reinvestment plan to the
American people.

“We will be rolling this plan out to the American
people,” Obama said. “The American people have a right to know what is being
done.”

Obama was joined in the meeting by incoming Chief of
Staff Rahm Emanuel, Treasury Secretary-nominee Timothy Geithner, chief economic
adviser Lawrence Summers, energy czar Carol Browner, HHS Secretary-nominee Tom
Daschle and Ron Klain, incoming chief of staff to Vice President-elect Biden.

Also present were Christina Romer, Obama’s chairwoman of
the council economic affairs; Melody Barnes, the head of Obama’s domestic
policy council; and Peter Orzag, Obama’s incoming director of the Office of
Management and Budget.