Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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January 3, 2009

Obama Urges Congress to Act on Economic Recovery Plan
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=2149E82:A6F02AD83191E160A32274F1892BE95021A4E82C900CD027&
 
In weekly radio address, US president-elect says, for too many families,
new year brings 'unease and uncertainty' as debts mount 
Barack Obama (file photo)U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is urging
congressional leaders to move quickly on an economic recovery plan,
designed to create three million jobs. In his weekly radio address
Saturday, Mr. Obama said, for too many families, the new year brings
"unease and uncertainty" as debts mount. The president elect - who takes
office January 20 - says he will meet next week with Democratic and
Republican leaders in Congress to discuss his economic recovery plan.
Many Republicans have expressed concern about his plan for a huge
stimulus package, which Mr. Obama's aides say could cost $775 billion.
In another economic development, the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday
outlined factors it says it will use as guidelines to save important
financial institutions from bankruptcy on a case-by-case basis. In the
guidelines for its Targeted Investment Program (TIP), the Treasury
Department says factors include the extent an institution is important
to the nation's financial and economic system. The department also
unveiled separate guidelines for a new insurance program that provides
government backing for a financial institution's potential losses from
troubled assets. The guidelines were delivered to Congress this week as
required by law. The programs were created as part of the $700 billion
financial bailout legislation (Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, or
EESA) enacted in October. In a separate development, The Treasury
Department on Friday finalized a $4 billion emergency loan to the
troubled automaker Chrysler.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.


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