WASHINGTON - CONFRONTING misgivings in his own party, President Barack Obama mounted a stout defense Thursday of his plans to overhaul America's economy, arguing that a delay on health care, energy and education reform would make recovery more fragile and the future less secure.

The president's wide-ranging proposals in the midst of the global economic crisis faced skepticism from both Democrats and Republicans, as lawmakers on the Senate Budget Committee heard testimony from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday. They questioned Mr Obama's long-term budget outlook and the deficits it envisions in the middle of the next decade.

Some Democrats sceptical DEMOCRATIC Sen. Kent Conrad, the committee chairman, called the track of future deficits 'unsustainable' and singled out Obama's proposal for spending US$634 billion on health care over the next 10 years. 'Some of us have a real pause about the notion of putting substantially more money into the health care system when we've already got a bloated system,' Mr Conrad said. ... more

Their doubts illustrated the complicated moving parts confronting Washington as the US economy continues to decline, credit remains clogged and a new president advances broad and expensive initiatives.

'I am not choosing to address these additional challenges just because I feel like it, or because I'm a glutton for punishment,' Mr Obama told the Business Roundtable, a group of top business executives. 'I am doing so because they are fundamental to our economic growth, and to ensuring that we don't have more crises like this in the future.'

Mr Obama said his health and energy changes would build a foundation for lasting recovery, arguing that the current economic crisis was precipitated by an 'illusion of prosperity.' He told the business leaders he wants government to 'right the ship' and then 'let private enterprise do its magic'.

Earlier in the day, Mr Obma pushed his message to officials from all US states, urging them to spend their shares of the US$787 billion stimulus fund wisely and quickly.

'You've got this wonderful mission. And it's rare where you get your chance to put your shoulder to the wheel of history and put it in a better direction,' Mr Obama told the gathering.

The president made the remarks during a brief appearance at a daylong White House conference with state officials aimed at making sure the stimulus funds are spent appropriately. The administration had asked each governor to send the state official in charge of stimulus money to learn about programmes and initiatives available under the legislation, which Obama signed into law on Feb. 17.

'If we see money being misspent, we're going to put a stop to it,' Mr Obama warned.

The president met resistance from at least one state, as Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, on Thursday rejected US$555 million in stimulus money that would expand state unemployment benefits, saying the money would have required the state to keep funding the expanded benefits after the stimulus money ran out.

Mr Geithner, who is at the center of the president's economic policy, took on a different front, defending Obama's ambitious new budget in his testimony before the Senate Budget Committee. He faced questions on the budget proposals and tax policies, as well as the rescue program for the financial sector, before he heads to London for talks Friday and Saturday with finance officials from the Group of 20 nations. -- AP