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Obama urges passage of his economic plan
(Associated Press WorldStream Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) WASHINGTON_Facing resistance from within his own party on his nearly $800 billion economic recovery plan, President-elect Barack Obama on Friday pointed to alarming new unemployment figures to urge its passage in Congress.
Obama sought to patch fissures with senior Democrats over key features of the still emerging plan, which he vowed to "hone and refine" with help from both Republican and Democratic lawmaker. The need for a plan grew more pressing with the release of a Labor Department report showing job losses of 524,000 in December and a 7.2 percent unemployment rate, the highest in 16 years.
The package is getting off to a rocky start, with top Democrats openly complaining about key provisions, especially the design of his tax cuts.
"If members of Congress have good ideas, if they can identify a project for me that will create jobs in an efficient way that does not hamper our ability over the long term to get control of our deficit, that is good for the economy, then I'm going to accept it," the president-elect said, speaking at a news conference during which he also announced his choices to lead America's intelligence agencies.
"What we can't do is drag this out when we just saw a half-million jobs lost," Obama added.
He noted that jobs were lost in all 12 months of 2008, and said it was it the worst year since World War II.
Congressional leaders have said they will finish work on Obama's economic recovery plan by mid-February.
But a call for a $3,000 tax break for job creation drew particular criticism in a closed-door meeting Friday, and numerous lawmakers said Obama had not ticketed enough of his tax proposal for energy and that more needed to be done to ease the housing crisis.
"All of their priorities are ones that we share," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "We just want to make sure that those functions, when they're written in the bill, are ones that can be used immediately and can create jobs."
Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, said that areas of broad agreement and universal sentiment of the need to act far outweigh areas of disagreement.
"Please don't get the idea there was some sort of breakdown here," Boxer told reporters.
Obama's aides and congressional Democrats have been at work for weeks on legislation to create new jobs, help the unemployed, cut taxes and aid cash-strapped states. There also are subsidies to help the newly unemployed afford their health care, a big new effort to improve the energy efficiency of federal buildings, and tax credits for business investment in plants and equipment.
Separately, Obama took time during Friday's news conference to send an unequivocal message that controversial Bush administration policies approving harsh interrogations, waterboarding, warrantless wiretapping and the secret transfer of prisoners to other governments with a history of torture are over.
Obama announced his choice for CIA director, former Clinton White House chief of staff Leon Panetta, and director of national intelligence, retired Adm. Dennis Blair. He said he has told both that he expects the Geneva Conventions to be honored.
Obama has criticized interrogation practices he says amount to torture and also has promised to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The president-elect, who takes office Jan. 20, said he has given the men the clear charge to restore the United States' record on human rights.
"I was clear throughout this campaign and was clear throughout this transition that under my administration the United States does not torture," Obama said, when asked at the news conference whether he would continue the Bush administration's policy of harsh interrogation. "We will abide by the Geneva Conventions. We will uphold our highest ideals."
Panetta is a former congressman, White House chief of staff and budget director with no direct intelligence experience.
Blair, a former head of the U.S. Pacific Command, won high marks for countering terrorism in southeast Asia after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He worked closely with foreign partners in crafting offensives that crippled the Jemaah Islamiyah terror faction in Indonesia and the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines.
Both men are garnering substantial support in Congress, although concerns exist about each.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden told The Associated Press on Thursday that he plans to question Blair about the role he played 10 years ago in U.S. efforts to rein in the Indonesian military as it brutally cracked down on civilians in East Timor. Staff aides to other members said they would be listening closely to the answers.
Paramilitary groups sponsored by the Indonesian military with U.S. financial and political patronage slaughtered more than 200,000 East Timorese over two decades. In 1999, as civilians were being massacred, Congress and the Clinton administration cut off all military ties.
Blair, then U.S. Pacific Command chief, pushed for renewing relations with the Indonesian army, reasoning that drawing it closer would give the U.S. more leverage. Obama spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said Blair was acting in accordance with U.S. policy.
"Admiral Blair condemned the conduct of Indonesian troops in East Timor, and he conveyed that if they behaved responsibly, the U.S. was prepared to resume normal relations. If they did not, they risked further negative consequences," she said.
The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network, a human rights group, called Blair a poor choice for intelligence director this week.
Panetta faced resistance from Congress earlier this week because of his lack of intelligence experience, but his prospects for an easy confirmation improved this week as key senators, including incoming Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, pledged their support after discussions with Obama, Panetta and Vice President-elect Joe Biden.
Also on Friday, Obama tapped John Brennan to coordinate counterterrorism policy for the White House National Security Council.
Brennan, Obama's top intelligence adviser through the campaign, took himself out of consideration for CIA head in November, saying he did not want to be a distraction. His potential appointment had raised a firestorm in liberal blogs that associate him with the Bush administration's interrogation, detention and rendition policies.
Copyright ? 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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