Day 9: Obama Pushes Stimulus Plan, Meets With Joint Chiefs

On his ninth day in office, President Obama met with business leaders and CEOs at the White House and then touted his economic stimulus plan, which passed the house Wednesday evening 244-188 with no GOP votes.

"The plan now moves to the Senate, and I hope that we can continue to strengthen this plan before it gets to my desk. But what we can’t do is drag our feet or allow the same partisan differences to get in our way. We must move swiftly and boldly to put Americans back to work, and that is exactly what this plan begins to do,"" said Mr. Obama in a statement.

In the afternoon, Mr. Obama made his first trip to the Pentagon as president. After meeting with military leaders, the commander-in-chief told the assembled press that "difficult decisions" remain in regard to continued U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he was not specific as to his plans. Previously, he has promised a 16-month withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq.

"Our efforts to continue to go after extremist organizations that would do harm to our homeland is uppermost on our minds," Mr. Obama said.

In the evening, Mr. Obama got some good news from the House as his economic stimulus bill was approved. But despite repeated pleas to Republicans to back the bill, none voted for the bill.

Watch Chip Reid's CBS Evening News report on the stimulus bill and the president's day below: