Obama launches new web site to track federal spending

With Congress set to consider his stimulus package before Feb. 16, President Obama promised that his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan would "immediately jumpstart job creation as well as long-term economic growth."

The pitch came just four days into his first term of office and acknowledged some of the concerns expressed about his proposal by his opponents. "I know that some are skeptical about the size and scale of this recovery plan," President Obama said. But the new president insisted the plan would work and pledged to provide public oversight with "unprecedented measures"  to hold him accountable for results. 

"We won't just throw money at our problems - we'll invest in what works," the president said. "Instead of politicians doling out money behind a veil of secrecy, decisions about where we invest will be made public, and informed by independent experts whenever possible. We'll launch an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars by going to a new website called recovery.gov."