WASHINGTON - WITH his inauguration less than two weeks away, Mr Barack Obama faced distractions over his choice of an intelligence team, the president-elect's Senate replacement and evidence Congress can't act as quickly as hoped on a massive economic stimulus package.

In his first week in Washington, Mr Obama is focusing on securing bipartisan support for a sweeping and costly economic plan aimed at pulling the United States out of recession.

To a public wary of government spending, Mr Obama is offering a salve with his massive economic stimulus package: the promise of long-term fiscal discipline.

Budget-conscious lawmakers are pressing Mr Obama to embrace deficit-reduction goals even as he promotes a spending and tax cutting plan - expected to cost about US$775 billion (S$1.14 trilliion) - to jolt the economy out of its downward spiral.

Mr Obama on Tuesday vowed to 'bring a long-overdue sense of responsibility and accountability to Washington' and called the need for budget reform 'an absolute necessity.'

On Wednesday, he was expected to announce his selection of a chief performance officer, a White House official who will work with federal agencies to set performance standards and hold agency managers accountable for progress.

This is likely to reassure Republican and Democratic fiscal conservatives who are worried about the near US$1 trillion price tag for a stimulus package.

On Wednesday, Mr Obama was to join the three living former presidents, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, for a lunch at the White House hosted by President George W. Bush. It will be the first time all the living presidents have gathered at the White House since 1981.

Mr Bush and Mr Obama also will meet privately for roughly 30 minutes in the Oval Office before the lunch. That one-on-one meeting, coming just 13 days before Mr Obama's inauguration, is more likely to zero in on grim current events, with war in the Gaza Strip and the US economy in a recession.

'It's going to be an interesting lunch,' Mr Bush told an interviewer recently. When asked what the five men would talk about, Mr Bush said: 'I don't know. I'm sure (Mr Obama's) going to ask us all questions, I would guess. If not, we'll just share war stories.'

As Congress opened for business Tuesday, Mr Obama promised he would forbid lawmakers from inserting pet projects into the massive economic stimulus plan.

But at the same time, Mr Obama warned that the US could face trillion-dollar deficits for years go come. Eight years ago the federal budget ran a surplus; the deficit on Sept 30 was about US$455 billion.

In a rare preinaugural move, Mr Obama has been meeting this week with congressional leaders to try to get the legislation ready for his signature shortly after his swearing in. He has predicted lawmakers would approve it within two weeks of his taking office Jan 20, though he had earlier hoped the legislation would be ready for him to sign as soon as took over leadership.

Compounding that distraction was the ugly bit of political theater that unfolded in Congress on Tuesday when the Senate barred Roland Burris from taking Mr Obama's vacated Illinois Senate seat.

Mr Burris was appointed by the state's embattled governor, Rod Blagojevich, who stands accused of trying to sell the position to the highest bidder.

Speaking to a mob of reporters who had followed him across the street for a news conference in a cold and steady rain outside the Capitol, the former Illinois attorney general said he was 'not seeking to have any type of confrontation.'

But Mr Burris, who would be the Senate's only black member, also said he was considering a federal lawsuit to force Senate Democrats to seat him. But even as Democrats refused to allow Burris to be sworn in, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate Rules Committee, said seating him was the legal thing to do.

Meanwhile, Mr Obama defended his reported pick to head the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, as 'one of the finest public servants that we've had,' likely in answer to grumbling from some members of Congress that the former chief of staff in the Clinton administration is too inexperienced in national security issues.

News of his selection struck sour chords from Ms Feinstein, the incoming Intelligence Committee chairwoman. She complained about Mr Panetta's lack of intelligence experience and Obama's failure to consult with her on the decision. Her committee will consider the nomination.

Ms Feinstein said on Tuesday that Mr Obama had apologised to her for not notifying her ahead of time that Panetta was his pick.

Meeting with reporters in the US Capitol on Tuesday, Vice President-elect Joe Biden said the Obama team made a 'mistake' in not consulting with top Senate officials before choosing Panetta.

Mr Biden said the lapse was a process mistake, but he praised the selection of Panetta, calling the Californian a 'strong figure' for the CIA who would 'take it on a new path.'

Separately, the CNN news network said Obama has approached its chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon who is on the faculty of Emory medical school in Atlanta, to be the next US surgeon general. During the Clinton administration, he was a White House fellow and special adviser to then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Two Democrats with knowledge of the discussions over the surgeon general spot said Gupta was under consideration but cautioned there was not yet a final decision on who would fill the post. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media on the matter.

With Democrats controlling the House and Senate, a version of Mr Obama's stimulus plan seems likely to become law within a few weeks.

He has promised Republicans a say in the process, saying bipartisan support is vital.

Mr Obama met on Monday with congressional leaders to seek backing for his economic plan. It could cost US$775 billion over two years, his advisers say, though they say they think add-ons by lawmakers could raise the price to US$850 billion. Mr Obama's advisers say an US$850 billion plan could generate about 3.2 million jobs by the first quarter of 2011.

His proposal includes tax cuts of up to US$300 billion - including US$500 for most individuals and US$1,000 for couples if one spouse is employed - as well as more than US$100 billion for businesses.

Some US$77 billion would be used to extend unemployment benefits and to subsidize health care for people who have lost their jobs.

The rest would go toward job-creation projects such as rebuilding roads and bridges and toward long-term goals like alternative energy programs. -- AP