Get me a stimulus plan quickly, Obama says

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Congress must quickly but deliberately move on a package to help pull the U.S. economy out of the morass, President-elect Barack Obama said Monday.

Obama, meeting in Washington with his economic advisers and congressional leaders, said "the most important message today is that the situation is getting worse, we've got to act boldly, and we've got to act swiftly. We cannot delay."

Among the ideas Obama presented to Congress was a tax cut for workers and businesses of about $300 billion -- about 40 percent of the stimulus proposal's price tag.

The president-elect said he expected Congress to begin working on a stimulus proposal this week.

"I expect to sign a bill to create 3 million jobs for the American people shortly after I get inaugurated" on Jan. 20, he said. "(We) anticipate that by the end of January or the first week in February we have gotten the bulk of this done."

Obama said the economic crisis was neither a Republican nor a Democratic problem but "an American problem, and we're all going to have to chip in and do the hard work that's required and what the American people expect of us."

Leaders cannot "simply throw money at the problem," Obama said, but must demand oversight and strict accountability about how the plan operates.

"(The) most important task for us is to stabilize the patient," Obama said of the economic situation. "The economy is badly damaged; it is very sick. And so we have to take whatever is -- steps are required to make sure that it is stabilized."