Obama urges Congress to pass costly stimulus bill
Citing an "economic crisis of historic proportions," President-elect Barack Obama urged Congress to pass a costly, job-creating stimulus bill as quickly as possible, a rare pre-inaugural call to action delivered as the outgoing Bush administration approved fresh billions to bail out one of the nation's largest banks.
Stock prices surged _ the biggest two-day percentage gain for the Dow Jones industrials in 21 years _ as investors took heart Monday from the actions and words of the incoming and departing chief executives.
"If we do not act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year," said Obama, 57 days shy of taking office in the shadow of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
He blended criticism of Detroit's beleaguered Big Three automakers _ General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC _ with a pledge of support for government aid to help them survive. "We can't allow the auto industry to ... vanish," he said, although he added that a blank check for an industry resistant to change was not the solution to its long-term decline
