Obama Huddles With Economic Team, Congressional Leaders

This post was written by CBS News producer Jamie Farnsworth

On his first day back in Washington, D.C., after spending the holidays in Hawaii, President-elect Obama held a meeting with this economic team before convening with leaders on Capitol Hill.

"It is clear that we have to act and we have to act now to address this crisis and break the momentum of the recession," Mr. Obama told reporters.

Mr. Obama met with his team of economic advisers, including incoming Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner and Christina Romer, Director-designate Council of Economic Advisors, among others.

On November 24th, 2008, Mr. Obama announced this group of advisers saying, "I've sought leaders who could offer both sound judgment and fresh thinking, both a depth of experience and a wealth of bold new ideas – and most of all, who share my fundamental belief that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers."

Today in his transition office Mr. Obama reiterated the need to "act boldly" and "swiftly" to restore the economy.

At the conclusion of his meeting, he took questions from a few reporters, explaining the need for urgency on an economic recovery plan.

"We are going to do most of this work this month," Mr. Obama said. "The reason I'm here today is that we are going to present our latest ideas to congress."

President-elect Obama ended the meeting saying he expects Congress to have a bill passed soon.

"By the end of January or the first week in February, we'll have gotten the bulk of this done," he said.